cheeseman

Roy - he has not written anything about select soccer either this summer. BMetz - nobody is asking the PD to hype the team just provide good information about the team and its players. Heck, if somebody drove through St. Louis or spent a night here, we hear about it when they become an athletic player in the pros - as if that really is a St. Louis connection. The least they could do is write an article or two about the topics that Roy shared.

As I said - the new arena is going to have a larger S/C room so this issue is resolved once the arena is built. KF - good point about Lee. However, I think when the S/C coach talked with the Tip Off Club last year, he said that it is his job to design programs for the athletes but it is their's to implement. He said he is in the room daily and at times that the athletes normally work out so he can monitor and offer advice. Sounds to me like what they provide is fine. SIU - thanks for answering my question about the number of S/C coaches - also you raised a very salient point about once the program is designed then it is up to the athlete to do it. Here is another thought - maybe the BB coaches should - maybe they do already - monitor the work out schedule of the players to make sure that they are showing up regularily and making progress. It would seem to me that if they were my players and I wanted them to work out more then it would be to my benefit to check up - as they say in the army - you must inspect what you expect!

I thought someone said that KS has moved up to D1 for this year which would make the game one that counts.

Big Al - reread your post - it clearly is presented as a question to the board - " has anyone heard anything about the Aug. 05 announcement about the arena." If any of us had any more information it would have been shared already. I still say - ask the AD department and then maybe you can share what you find out with us.

KN - do you have data to back your statement that the SLU basketball budgets are not equal to that of MVC teams? If so share it - if not, and I don't think you have it because this topic has been discussed many times on this board and it has been shown that SLU was right in the middle - in other words on par - with the CUSA teams. It is wild unsubstantiated statements like yours that simply show how uniformed some of SLU's fans are.

Before you all start hollering about the strenght and conditioning program - lets ask a few questions - 1. how many s/c coaches do other D1 schools have that do not have football? 2. will the new arena have an increased s/c space? - thought I heard that but needs to be validated. 3. Do other D1 schools provide individual one on one daily training for athletes like a personal trainer does at a Hammer Bodies? 4. Do other student athletes from other schools go to a Hammer Bodies type place on their own for this one on one attention - seems to me I remember David Lee doing it. I guess the point I am trying to make is - perhaps we offer what we are allowed to offer and the new arena could be an upgrade of space and equipment.

Roy, the only problem with your logic is that then ticket prices would have to be higher to make up for the lost revenue from the 4000 less potential ticket sales.

Al - why ask us - ask her!

I am starting to worry about you guys - you all seem to be rather preoccupied with Ian and his body. Now if you were talking about the cheerleaders I would be less concerned.

I hope Brad knows what he is doing - worrying about the NCAA selection committee with the young team he is going to war with seems a little silly to me. While I am a big supporter of running with the big dogs if you want to be a big dog - I am also smart enough to know that if the big dogs can beat the sh## out me then when is it being tough or being stupid. I would think we and Brad need to be more worried about surviving this year with players who do not become gun shy or loose faith in Brad than what the NCAA selection committee might think of us at the end of the year - it could be that what they think of us is irrelevent. I hope the team responds well and can look back at the season and feel good about what they accomplished.

Oakland is one of those teams that got lucky with some transfers and they all graduated so who knows how good they will be. Roy, actually, I think they lost to MU at their house.

I am not sure if he gets reclassified as a junior if he can play 5 years or not according to MSHAA - does anyone know that answer? Since he goes to a private school, they have great lattitude in deciding what credits they accept or not. While it might be in our best interest for him to be a senior - it maybe best for him to repeat his junior year from a scholastic reason. After all, we all need to hope any kid does what is best for him and if that works out also for us then great but if not, he has to make his decisions based on his long term needs.

How could you tell who was Ian? - I could not find him in the 5 photos shown.

I think you are correct - TL certainly will have a big impact. At this point, all that I have seen about TL and KL says they are different types of players and so the impact that both might have will manifest in different ways on the court.

Roy, I would not argue with your position - the point I was making was that the other team's defense would at least early on target DP and IV since they are known quantities. You could be correct that as the season progresses - TL and KL might take that role over.

3Star's point about which freshmen in the A10 were starters or played significant minutes is the key question. If the 5 listed started or played big minutes then the fact that there were 5 that avg. 10 pts is support to the idea that KL and TL can do so also. I do agree our front line has to chip in more than in the past. As far as Ian getting 10 pts per game - clearly doable for him. It is ok to talk about a more push the ball offensive style but even if Brad had 5 stallions he would still lean to a more conservative approach. He is a Bennett devotee and that is what got Bennett to Wisc. and got him out. Hopefully, Brad took note.

Taj - was the 3 pt shot in when Douglas and Gray were here?

Good points - but unless Brad really screws up, I can not help but to think that we can not be better.

Grawer can say what he wants to fans - pr spin - but when Clags was thinking about leaving when Spoon was hired, he said he was looking to go to Northen Iowa - not a high major - so what happened to IL? Also, Norm was not looking seriously at Highmark - he could have gotten him if he wanted him. Thankfully both came to SLU and stayed.

Taj - sorry if I misread any of your post. The point still is that in my opinion we are better off than at the start of Highmark and Clags second year. Also, you can not expect 3 freshmen by themselves to turn a team around when the coach won't play them. Had Brad played them more and earlier, the record might have been as good as the second year of Highmark and Clags. I do agree that H was a key component.

All I know is that when the Bills were on KTRS a few years ago, it was very hard to pick them up in your car in West County.

Lets look at this from a practical position - Avg. 10 pts a game by a freshman is not an impossible task - given that DP and Ian will be getting a lot of attention from the defense, why would it be so un heard of for KL and TL to avg. 10 pts? Just because they are freshmen - nonsense. Will they avg 10 pts - who knows but I would not rule it out - all you have to do is hit one three and couple of other baskets a game along with 3-4 FTs a game - would only require a 4 of 10 shooting night and that is not something that would be considered unheard of.

Taj - I disagree that we are now at the same point as when Highmark and Claggett were here. We are better off - here is why: 1. KL and TL are better players coming out of h.s. then where Highmark and Claggett - this is not a diss on those two just a statement of facts. Highmark was not being recruited by any D1 major school and Claggett was basically a mid major recruit. They both were great players for SLU but not at the same level of KL and TL when they came into the program. 2. Spoon - and I am generally a supporter of him - never put two consecutive years of good recruiting together. Brad has done that already - DP, LM, and DB along with KL and TL the next year. If he can get another good recruit or two then he will have 3 good years in a row - only something Spoon could dream of. 3. We won more games last year and were more competitive than Highmark and Clags first year at SLU. We have more to build on and with. Now all that being said, I am anxiously awaiting to see how this coming year turns out. As far as Brad on the hot seat - any coach who has a losing record after 3 years and only won 9 games is going to be considered on the hot seat by those not close to the program. After all, some of the posters have said he is in trouble. I think he would have to really screw up again for him to be let go this year - I did not think it would happen last year but it did so I guess anything is possible.

We did not win with him so it is a moot point - we simply need to find other ways to score if someone can not provide type of scoring for us.

Clearly, they are not only a second tier league member but stupid. They have no understanding of the big picture - another reason not to be a part of them.