ACE

We always seem to have a shortage of players that can score.

More good news. Timmerman verified my observation that it appeared the A-10 was doing better. It's still early, but this is encouraging and least looks like a nice improvement over last year. Plus, for all the hand-wringing about our attendance, Timmerman pointed in an earlier entry that Boston College drew just 4,000. This is a team from one of the almighty BCS conferences with more of a recent track record of success on the court. It doesn't make our attendance sound bad at all. It will get better if we can string some wins together and it well get even better next year. http://www.stltoday.com/blogs/sports-billi.../a-10-is-fifth/

I don't really follow baseball, but I think I know what you are getting at, yet I don't understand your logic. I look at it a little differently. If you can upgrade over a guy without much track record of success, you do it. If you have a player or coach you have low expectations for, don't accept it, get a better one. If you have a superstar Pujols/Majerus and they are in a little slump, you don't panic about it because they have a track record of success.

Skip, you are right on the money with this point. I am not sure why some folks can't see this. If you don't remember, watch a game from the previous two years on tape. You will see how defenses swarmed around Ian when he got the ball. He was a big focal point who was consistently double-teamed. He opened up the floor for everybody. Thanks to Sodie's poor recruiting, Ian also didn't have the benefit of playing alongside another big. I haven't seen the team play yet, but I don't think opposing defenses are too worried when Bryce gets the ball in the low post. It sounds like Barry can occasionally get something done in the low post, but he is more comfortable with the mid range game. Not really a back to the basket player.

It's funny how the critics from last year are now preaching patience, while the "kool aid" crew from last year have become the critics. Roy has had more x's and o's criticism of Majerus in a couple of weeks then he ever did for Sodie. I thought everybody was going to give this a little more time. People are certainly entitled to criticize, but I will give it more than 10 games into the Majerus era (with Sodie's players) before I do that. Forget the doom and gloom, there are a few reasons to think this could get better. - We only play four games before we begin conference play in over a month. All of these games are at home. There will be a lot of time for Majerus to practice. - While the scores have not been pretty, the bottom line is that we have won the games we were expected to win (favored) and lost those where we were the underdog. If we win the next four (which won't be easy), we will be 10-4 heading into conference play. That's not a bad place to be. - I originally had us beating SIU, but certainly the way we have been playing, there is now doubt. On the plus side, we will have a whole week to prepare for the game. - One more reason to be encouraged, it looks like the A-10 is better than last year. The conference has had some good wins. We still have a chance to have a decent RPI. I am willing to let this play out a little. We will know a lot more after these next four games. Sodie's roster has a lot of weaknesses, but I haven't given up hope that we can put together a solid season.

What a ridiculous post. I haven't seen the three programs you are talking about exactly knocking them dead this year either. Sounds like there is a lot of sleeping going on with them based on your descriptions. You must be living under a rock. As soon as he took over, Majerus made it very clear that this roster had a lot of weaknesses and knew it needed to be upgraded. He knew what he was getting into and with the 5 he has signed, he is on his way to improving the situation.

Wow Roy. Where could people possibly get the idea that you prefer Sodie to Majerus.

Those who are shocked by this have short memories. There are numerous recent examples of Sodie's players either getting trounced or have put up pi$$ poor offensive performances. With the exception of Barry, this still is a Sodie's Roster. Do people forget some of these results from recent years? Losses to: St. Bonnie, Duquesne, Oral Roberts, SEMO (a 16-point loss!!!), Austin Peay, LaSalle, scoring 33 points against A&M, scoring 37 and 39 points in two losses to St. Joe's!, losing at Gonzaga by 30, scoring 43 points in a 20 point loss to Houston, ending last season with a 60-40 loss to GW... We then lose Ian, have another non-descript recruiting class and this group is picking up where it left off.

This is picking it up and going with what we got. No point guard, no center and absolutely no depth. Think about this. When Sodie got canned, the only bigs on his roster were Bryce and AK. Unacceptable!

In the A10 recruiting ratings, the class of Mitchell and Relphorde were not rated very high for what that's worth. I'm not so sure those two would be getting big minutes this year with Sodie.

I totally agree there should be a sense of urgency for next year. Heck, I kept preaching that there needed to be a sense of urgency with Soderberg with respect to recruiting for Ian's senior year. We know how that turned out. I think RM certainly understands the urgency for next season, that is why he is talking about adding two or three in the spring. It is obvious that we need to add jucos in the spring, considering next year's junior class (AK, DM) have provided nothing to date.

I think they picked up on Conklin because of the Danny Ainge connection. Good article and this is just more of the benefit of having Majerus. Not only did his hire bring some national exposure back in the spring, but when we go into visiting cities, there will get more stories like this. We're getting our name out there in a way that we haven't seen since Spoonball was getting featured in Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and the rest. This is even better because with Spoonball it was like we were a cute novelty act. With Majerus, it shows the school is serious about building a program.

He's from the same hometown as Barry Eberhardt.

Roy, just trying to bring a little levity to the situation. But in all seriousness, I am surprised that more people weren't listening to what Majerus was saying about this team prior to the season. He was clearly telling fans to not expect too much right away. I heard it so often in interviews that I took him at his word. I don't think he was sandbagging. You demonstrated great patience with Soderberg after 5 seasons while many of us had enough, so I am surprised that you are not showing a little patience with Majerus after just 9 games! I think we will know a lot more at the end of December. We will be expected to lose tomorrow, but after that, we will have four consecutive home games, with the first two coming against difficult opponents. I think this stretch will tell us a lot about whether or not this team is starting to make progress.

We are clearly a Billikens.com house divided. I think we need to meet out in front of West Pine and settle this thing the old fashioned way. It's time to rumble! The Sodies vs. the Rickies. Leading the Sodies is Billiken Roy and he can bring along his right-hand men and the likes of Justin Johnson, Horace Dixon, Obi, and Darrin Clarke. On the other side are the Rickies, led by Nark who called for the revolution. He will get support from kshoe and anybody else who wants big-time basketball for SLU. At first glance this might seem like an even battle. Each side is rallying behind a hard-working, bald guy, hailing from up North who speaks with a nasally accent. But upon further examination, the Rickies have a clear weight advantage, and of course, better resources . And oh yeah, they also enjoy making trips to the NCAA Tournament - 11 vs. 0 for the Sodies. This battle won't be pretty. In fact it will probably by a slow down, grind it out affair, but in the end, I am confident that the Rickies will prevail. The Rickies might step on a few toes along the way and it may not always be pretty, but in the end, the Rickies will deliver NCAA Tourney appearances because they have a proven track record. Predictably, the Sodies will blame their failure on injuries and a lack of resources.

The number is a little misleading due to Tommie missing more than 1/2 the Furman game due to his tardiness.

Based on everything Tommie has said, it doesn't sound like he's upset.

Roy, quit trying to boost up Tom Frericks in an attempt to justify Soderberg's disasterous 9 win season. During Frericks "great" junior season, he only averaged 7 points and a whopping 5 blocks! That loss of production the following year was not a big deal. Sodie simply had a terrible team that season.

Relax Brian. This is likely a troll. That was the first post this idiot made. Not likely credible. The post should either be deleted or at the least ignored.

Nobody said anything close to that. You were calling it the Greek YMCA league and that is way off. BTW, what is Tom Frericks up to? You think he is good enough to play in the "Greek YMCA"?

So another "roymor" is not quite true?

Roy, will use the excuse of the Tom Frericks injury. Roy will belittle Ian's ability, yet for some bizarre reason, he seemed to think Frericks was a big-time center. I sort of remember Frericks as a sericeable, yet somewhat limited center. His injury shouldn't have caused the team to implode like that. It just further highlights the lack of depth that was a trademark of Soderberg teams.

All you need to know about Soderberg is that the guy playing for the Athens YMCA is far better than any big he left on this year's roster and even Justin Johnson is better than the guy who was in line to replace him - Adam Knollmeyer. After 5 years on the job, Sodie left the team without a center, a 4 and a questionable point guard, plus he missed postseason play 3 consecutive seasons... other than that, he was great.

They didn't even make the NIT and lost one of their top 3 players. When Sodergerg rightfully got canned, this roster was minus Ian and still without Eberhardt and Eckerle. What was Soderberg's plan to replace Ian? Who was he planning on using at the 4? Or was he just planning on saving more scholarships?

BUT WE'RE STILL PLAYING WITH SODERBERG'S ROSTER.