Billiken Law

at 25% Miles was an awful three-point shooter. Right up to the Final Four game that is. 4 for 5 in the first half while Novak goes 0-fer. Uggh!

yeah, but there only needs to be 9 votes to boot Baylor out. If Baylor left I've heard that Arkansas would want to join the Big 12. They bailed on the SWC when it was crumbling and joined the SEC was expanding. They'd like to be back with Texas, Oklahoma and A&M. I think you'd then see South Carolina go to the ACC to get to 12 schools, (a move I've heard rumored by well-placed people) and then the SEC possibly take Louisville and Memphis.

talked to some people who have seen him and know his game - Burns is definitely not a wing but rather a 2 who is around 6-4. He's very athletic but likes to hang on the perimeter. No reason we couldn't take both Burnes and Liddell/Evans/Meyer.

I agree with you in regards to Baylor leaving the Big 12 and never deserving to be there. However, they may leave in a fashion that is not on their own volition. I have to think that with all of the conference shuffling taking place or rumored to take place Baylor would aim to rejoin it's old SWC bretheren, Rice, TCU, SMU and Houston in some way. CUSA could split and you could have those 5, along with UAB, Tulane and USM and that would be a good conference for all involved and geographically would make a LOT of sense.

Thanks Roy. Let me know when you're coming down to campus area and we'll have a brew or two. Anyway, the mention of Crean and MU was in response to a thread last week or so where the question was posed as to why the big-time local schools weren't recruiting him. I know MU looked at him and knows he has talent - no denying that. However, he didn't fit what Crean was after (post players) and like I said, there may be grade issues (am checking with some sources on that).

My friend's kid played on the Runnin Rebles. Will see what he has to say about Burns. I know Crean had some initial interest in him but this year's class was dedicated to post players (and Crean has gotten a 6-8 PF and a 7 ft. center). There may also be some grade issues with Burns. Unfortunately, that is all too common with MPS kids.

I saw Coleman the summer of 2002 at an AAU tourney in Milwaukee and couldn't figure out what the fuss was about. I think you are right that he'll end up at Minnesota. Funny to think that of the Big Three from their HS only Clarke has kept his committment.

Skip Bayless was guest hosting for Jim Rome last week and spoke of the Bliss/Baylor situation. Bayless knew Bliss when he was the hottest assistant on the market while at Indiana and he was a stright-laced, squeeky-clean coach. He went to SMU and the pressure to win started mounting and he let himself get involved with the same boosters who took down the SMU football program. He moved on to New Mexico and did things the right way there, but felt too much pressure and left for Baylor, a job that almost required rule breaking because of the situation it's in being a Big 12 member when it has no business being in that conference and he lost his way. A sad story for sure.

the thing with Steve and Barry's is that they carry everyone locally and if someone wants to buy a local team they can do it, even if just for novelty purposes. I can go into the one near my parents's place in East Lansing and buy a U of Detroit, Wayne State or Oakland U t-shirt. 90% of the store there is UM/MSU, with the rest other S&B schools (Duke, UNC, Cincy, etc.) and various local smaller schools. Why should Mizzou and Illinois have all of the market share here in St. Louis at one of these stores? Let's face it, not everyone is willing to come to the bookstore on campus and drop $17 on a SLU t-shirt. Give them a chance to drop $8 locally and guess what, you start seeing more SLU gear on the streets.

your dad is correct. However, Kemp was involved in some of the problems at UK under Sutton - he was kicked out for stealing jewlery from Sutton's kid, Sean, who was on the team.

From the PD today: "Mall matriculation: Don't go to Michigan State or Purdue but want to look like you do? Not to worry. Retail sources say Steve and Barry's University Sportswear, a discount chain of collegiate apparel stores out of Great Neck, N.Y., is bringing its logo sweats and caps for more than 100 schools to a big chunk of empty space at Northwest Plaza, perhaps the old JCPenney store. The store will be the first in Missouri for the chain, which Steve Shore and Barry Prevor started in the mid-1980s on college campuses. It has more than a dozen stores, mainly in the Midwest." My family lives in East Lansing, MI and has a Steve and Barry's in their local mall. They sell gear from every local college team, from UM and MSU to Eastern, Western and Central Michigan to U of Detroit. Everything in the store is under $20 too. There were a few outlets in Madison when I lived there selling about 100 different U of Wisconsin-Madison shirts, caps, etc. If SLU is serious about getting the name out and improving their marketing they need to get in on Steve and Barry's license the SLU name and logo to them.

My buddy is a die-hard Husker fan and wants me to get him some tickets for the Mizzou/Nebraska football game. When do tix go on sale and what is the best way to order them if you aren't in Columbia? Thanks.

Marquette is searching for a PF for their last scholarship. They lose Merritt this year and Jackson (JUCO) the year after that. They will only have 1 other legit PF, incoming freshman James Matthews, remaining after 2004-05. Shaw, if he's legit, could definitely get significant playing time at MU.

http://www.marquette.rivals.com/showmsg.as...0668436&style=1

Shaw likes Butler Incoming Butler freshman Nick Brooks of Robinson, Ill., has yet to play a game for the Bulldogs, but he might help them land another top recruit from Illinois. Matt Shaw, a 6-7 swingman and upcoming senior from Centralia, Ill., said he is seriously considering Butler after playing pickup games with Brooks. "He's a really great kid," Shaw said during the Nike camp. "It just shows the type of kids they have in their program." Shaw said he's received several offers from Missouri Valley Conference schools, but likely won't make a decision until close to the November signing date.

A few years ago my cousin (Iona College '94) and myself (Marquette '98) were at a Michigan State/Michigan football game and my cousin said to me "this is where we should have gone to school." True? When I worked in Madison Wisconsin-Madison grads used to say that the only good college experience includes college football? True as well? I will say this, as a student I have experienced few "college experiences" better than the upset of Louisville and rushing the floor with my fellow SLU students. Perhaps, college football can be a very enjoyable experience, especially when the team is playing well. My little brother is at MSU and was really excited about football season last year - until the team crashed and burned and nobody gave a damn anymore. I do wonder what it would have been like to have gone to MSU or a football school sometimes but I have no regets over spending 4 great years at Marquette nor my last year at SLU (with 2 more to go). So you get to go to 6 football games a year and get bombed out of your mind before the game. You can do that at SLU or MU, just you do it while watching 8 games a day on TV like my buddies and I did! My sister went to Michigan, she went to 5 football games in her 4 years. She still feels she had a great "college experience." For some, going to school in a city where you don't have to go to the same old places for 4 (or more likely 5) years is a great college experience. College is what you make of it, no matter where you go. I am always reminded of the comments by one of my interns in Madison who grew up wanting to go to Marquette but went to Wisconsin-Madison after his brother, a MU grad, talked him out of it. "Why go to MU where you work your a$$ off for 4 years when you could go to Madison and spend all your time drunk and high out of your mind?"

By the way, Roy, spent a little more time then I would have liked in the sand traps on Friday, though I did acquit myself rather well. However, they weren't as big as the 20 foot high traps at St. Andrews, but big enough!

Rachel is Travis's sister and she is a hell of a shooter and quite athletic. She's a friend and I know she's been working hard rehabbing from her ACL tear prior to last season. It's part of the Diener work-ethic. By the way, if every player on both Billiken teams worked as hard every day in and out of practice as Drew, Rachel, and the entire Diener family SLU would be hanging banners at a much greater frequency.

Greetings from Belfast, Billiken fans! This was linked on the Michigan State board. Anyone heard anything back in the Lou?? http://www.tigerboard.com/boards/display.php?message=854500

This would NOT be good but let's face it, it may be the motivation of the big (read public) schools in the BCS conferences. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Will BCS take aim at hoops? Commentary by TIM STEPHENS BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD What is the limit of greed? If you're a watcher of college sports and you think it stops with football, you might be wrong. The Bowl Championship Series cartel has seized complete control of the finances of major college football from the NCAA. As they move toward realigning the conferences — getting the most marketable teams under their umbrella — they're setting the stage for a much-anticipated football playoff. Will they stop there? A football playoff probably still remains several years away, but the point of any realignment will be to narrow the field of prospective participants and maximize market value. We're already seeing that with the Atlantic Coast Conference's looming raid of the Miami, Syracuse and Boston College from the Big East. Without those three, the Big East likely will cease to be a major factor in football. The marketable teams probably will be absorbed, and the others will be thrown into the trash can known as non-BCS land. Miami's invitation is expected to come during a conference call with ACC athletics directors on Monday. The Hurricanes will accept, and Boston College and Syracuse soon will follow. This is, and has been, a done deal for a while. The campus visits, etc., were window-dressing. The Big East schools left out understand this, and that's why they filed suit against Miami and Boston College on Friday in an attempt to stop the inevitable destruction of their programs if they lose BCS status. Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Rutgers and Connecticut say they have invested millions in their programs in part based on promises of Miami and BC officials to stay in the league. That lawsuit will be very interesting to watch. But it probably won't stop the depatures, which are part of a cunning plan to keep the big schools out from under the NCAA's thumb and to keep all the money in their hands. The ultimate payoff? A Division I football playoff worth billions. Those schools organizing it will want to pare down the field (translation: schools that share in the money). That takes time. They must absorb the teams that add market value (see Miami, Boston College and Syracuse). They must kill off some teams (see Tulane, which could drop football on Tuesday). They must legislate out others by raising I-A requirements (see Sun Belt and Mid-American Conference teams that are in danger of being demoted when new rules passed by the BCS majority and I-AA leftovers go into effect before 2005.) Or they must separate themselves so clearly through cumulative financial inequities (see BCS money vs. non-BCS money) that no one left outside the inner circle has a legitimate complaint. This is the way of big business — a hostile takeover of the marketplace. The BCS schools are winning on that front. When an 0-11 Duke football program that draws less than 20,000 in attendance per game can build a $20 million football complex while a much more successful East Carolina program swims in red ink, you can see what BCS membership means. Eventually, it shows up on the field because it shows up in recruiting. Ah, but will the BCS schools stop there? Enboldened by their successful coup of college football, might they next try to hijack the NCAA basketball tournament? Before you say it won't happen, you should know it has already been discussed in high places. That has always been the threat of the big schools whenever they feel like the little guys are infringing on their turf. Before, it was chest-thumping to get what they wanted — control over football. But this time, the big schools — i.e. the BCS, a revival of the old College Football Association — pretty much get whatever they want. So why do it? If this collection of schools ever moves to break off from the NCAA and hold their own hoops tournament, it will simply be about greed. Nothing more. "The direction is clear," CBS basketball analyst Billy Packer told The Washington Times. "When you put the five leagues (ACC, Southeastern, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pacific-10) on paper, you have to imagine one of the commissioners will see the road map. The group of five conferences made up of 60 teams will play for the football national championship and eventually for the basketball championship." Sports fans like to get warm and fuzzy over the Gonzagas of March Madness. The little-guy-who-could is one of the reasons the NCAA Tournament has become so popular during the past 25 years. The annual upsets are a big reason CBS is paying the NCAA $6 billion over 11 years to broadcast the tournament through 2014. The 70 or so BCS schools — a likely number by the time realignment shakes out — don't like sharing this money with other Division I basketball programs. Currently there are 326 schools in Division I, a number that has swelled with a number of schools — including Birmingham-Southern, Jacksonville State and Troy State in Alabama — joining the ranks in the past decade. The big boys smile and grit their teeth whenever a Gonzaga or a Butler advances in the tournament. They steam whenever a Troy State gets an automatic bid while one of their also-rans goes to the National Invitation Tournament. To them, it's money coming from their pockets. The way they see it, no one would care about Gonzaga or Butler if those schools weren't on the same stage as Duke and Michigan and Alabama. And they'd probably be right. Take away the opportunity — remove the competition and exposure — and you marginalize the little guy. You don't play him at all, or when you do, it's at your place with your refs. As proof, when's the last time you watched the Division II tournament? Thought so. A breakoff would marginalize all other Division I teams, just as it has done in football. Ah, but what about Cinderella? Wouldn't we miss these David vs. Goliath shows? Well, picture this: Maybe everyone in the BCS makes the new BCS hoops tournament. To their way of thinking, you'll get your Cinderella stories from the crummy 7-22 Baylor team that gets hot and advances a couple of rounds. Birmingham-Southern Athletics Director Joe Dean Jr. doesn't believe it would come to that. "It's easy to talk about (a superconference), but it's very difficult to actually put it together," Dean said. "It makes for good fodder, good discussion, but everything has worked very well to this point. There are always going to be changes of any organization, but I think (the BCS schools) can have their cake and eat it, too. ... "What the Big South Conference gets out of NCAA Tournament compared to what BCS conferences get is miniscule. ... At some point, the presidents of the BCS schools are going to have to ask themselves, 'how much is enough?' They're getting the lion's share of all the money now." One problem Dean sees for the BCS schools: scheduling. If they were to pull out of the NCAA, it is unlikely those left behind would schedule BCS programs. "(A breakoff) defeats the spirit of college athletics and I think the public would rise up against that," Dean said. Of course, the public hasn't exactly been coming to the defense of schools such as Brigham Young that have been hurt by the football split. The reason is simple: the BCS schools have the numbers — money, fans, television ratings — on their side. It also explains, for example, reported interest by Louisville and Memphis in joining a soon-to-be depleted Big East. Everyone assumes the Cardinals and Tigers would be shooting for BCS inclusion. That's true, but a weakened Big East has no guarantee of that. On the other hand, the non-football Big East schools such as Georgetown and St. John's probably would be included in any basketball reclassification. Their history and media markets would render illegitimate any new basketball tournament that didn't include them. Louisville and Memphis are smart to pursue that affiliation, as much for their strong basketball as for survival in football (and who is to say they aren't being "encouraged" behind the scenes?). Many of their current C-USA brethren, including UAB, might not be so lucky. If UAB or Southern Miss or virtually any other non-BCS team were knocked down a division, who in middle America (read: potential television viewer) is really going to care? That's the BCS mentality. In fact, schools such as UAB are exactly the kind of program the bluebloods of the BCS despise — the kind the system is set up to kill. The Blazers are good enough to beat BCS teams (see upsets of LSU in football and NCAA victories over Kentucky, Indiana and Virginia in basketball) but not strong enough or well-known enough to add money to the pot. They are, in the eyes of the BCS, expendable. That's why BCS leaders such as former SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer oftened warned that there was no room for "expansion teams" in major college sports. Of course, the definition of expansion team can be loosely defined as anyone not deemed worthy by the BCS. If the BCS goes the direction Packer believes, there likely are to be legal challenges. It's hard to imagine any program that has invested millions of dollars in elevating its program only to be relegated to a pseudo-Division II will go quietly without kicking and screaming its way into court. The BCS crowd also might be overestimating their own importance. It would seem hard to believe that fans of schools "demoted" by the system would ever even flip the channel to a "superconference" game, much less actually watch it. We're already seeing that somewhat in football, where resentment toward the cartel is the constant cry of fans of non-BCS schools. They're outnumbered, but collectively they represent a large block. Would the NCAA Tournament remain as popular if it wasn't all-inclusive as it is now? Isn't that part of the magic of NCAA basketball? On the other hand, when the presidents of the major schools began operating as a business rather than an educational extension, they unleashed the laws of business. Law 1 is supply and demand. The BCS clan might bank that given no alternative, you'll watch them. The non-BCS is Chek Cola. The BCS is Coke. So drink up. Tim Stephens is Sports Editor of the Birmingham Post-Herald.

it may not be designed to force them to stay but rather make them pay financially for leaving. UConn, where this suit was filed, stands to lose the most as they upgraded to I-A football and dropped $90 million on a stadium under the belief Miami and BC would be members. At the least the traitor schools will be forced to shell out a hefty sum to the remaining schools if they do leave.

I figure she either lost a bet or has strong feelings of pity!

I'm with you, Roy. Drew gave 5 years to the Billikens, excelled in the classroom and got the most out of his talents on the court. Sometimes people just don't have the talent to be a star but they maximize their abilities and give their all. That was Drew. I'd much rather have a marginal talent who plays his heart out than a talented kid who wastes talent and potential.

No, nothing personal - lots of guys try to pick up my fiancee. If I held a grudge against every player who asked out my fiancee then I really would have hated Cordell Henry at Marquette! I just found it rather strange and a bit disconcerting that he tried to do it during a time-out while the team was getting obliterated at Butler. I'm just going on repeated statements by coaches referring to him as immature and comments from others who know him on campus. I'd love to see him be a difference maker and I think he has the athletic ability to do it, just with everything I've been told and heard I'm not very confident.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/marq/jun03/145415.asp