cheeseman

What they could do is put students in the unbought PSL sections until they are sold - Missouri did that for awhile and then sent the kids to noman's land seats when those seats were sold. Another thing they could do is offer those seats with and without PSLs - in other words, you can continue to buy those seats without paying a PSL but you only have them for a year at a time. As soon as someone says they want them and will pay the PSL you will have to move on or pony up. My guess is that corporate sponsorship will buy some and most of the high rollers will pay also. Like I have said for sometime now - I know it is unpopular but - those of you who have had great seats at a very reasonable cost have been living on borrowed time and will have to pay up to keep them in the future. Consider yourself lucky up to now.

I am not saying JJ will do what SLU72 says but I won't be surprised if he does. The kid can play - hopefully he has figured out how to fit in with Brad'd system and will get the chance.

Roy, you are correct, Bonner got most of his baskets underneath from rebounds - why do you think he had such a hard time adjusting to the Pros - his outside shot was not there.

3Star is correct - Roy, as I have said before, Brad is the one who is pushing this - remember he lives in St. Charles. If Brad would play on a different date then we could play in the Savis. Whoever said this has never happened again has forgotten that we have not gotten home NIT games because of this problem before and when we played Iowa during the last NIT we could not use Savvis. Also, some of you have forgotten the big snit Fr. B got in with the Kiel Parnters a few years back when we could not get any good dates - ask Spoon. Call it what you will, it is only the tip of the iceberg for why we need our own arena. Has anyone thought that the Blues want all the good nights to win back their fan base? Grin and bear it - it is only 2 games.

You know the only problem with this article is that the fact that we finished in the top half the last few years - except last year - in CUSA seems to get completely lost. We did not struggle in the league - overall we held our own. We are not looking for an easier conference - we were forced out of CUSA by the defections which made the league not very potent.

Look at Duke when Coach K came - after 3 years there was talk of firing him but the Admin hung tough and the within the next couple of years his recruiting classes started to deliver - the rest is history. Brad did fine with what he was left with the first two years. Last year was the first of the drought recruiting years that Romar created - I doubt he would have recrutited his way around all the lost players and holes he had left. This year's recruiting class is better than the one before and if he ends up with a solid recruiting class this year then the Admin. will give him more time. Steve - I agree that if after the next 2 years, progress is not shown - record wise that is - it will be time to question Brad's ability to coach. What is odd is that nobody has ever said he does not know his Xs and Os so you would think that things would have to get better. Billikenbooster - sorry you took so personally some of the comments about your post about Brad telling Cherly that he was looking at a 9-21 season this year but you should have seen it coming given the unbridled optimism some on this board have shown. I was out of town at that time so this is the first chance I have had to comment on your post. Brad may have said what you reported however, he has to keep expectations in line or else he might find himself on the outside looking in. My guess is that the conversation went something like this - Cheryl: What do you think your record will be next year - you know we have this big fund raising thing going for the arena and we are getting close to releasing the PSL levels. Brad: Well, I am optimistic that our young players from last year profited from their playing and I think Tommie gained much valuable experience in the classroom and on the court last year and I like the other two new recruits potentials but worst case scenerio is that Ian comes home with bad European habits, Tommie has trouble adjusting from not being the pg, Kevin struggles as freshman usually do at first, Obie has to be redshirted, JJ and VN do not progress, and AD has a repeat of last year. If all that happens then maybe a 9-21 season could happen again. All that being said, the law of averages are on our side and I am hopeful that we will improve. I plan on being better after Christmas than earlier on but remember we are playing a tougher schedule. Brad may have simply been trying to keep a perspective - after all, the boss wants to hear both sides so there are no surprises. Billikenbooster, keep posting and sharing what you hear - that is what this kind of a board is all about. We have all been attacked by some numbskull who posts on this board.

Iggy - how did you find that out - I just got my BC ranking and it did not show my brick contribution.

It is always nice to know something official but I have said on this board before that the lawsuit ruling would be favorable to SLU. The lawsuit was grasping at straws and had no legal merit. I will be eagerly waiting for the announcements this August just as everyone else will.

How do you explain that in home and home games, a team that looses both games usually plays a closer game at home. Also, how do also explain that long standing rivals tend to have the lesser team win at home more than away. I saw the data but I think it leaves out much of the intangibles of playing at home in a snake pit.

One thing about Brad - all his players have to defend. Dustin will defend or he will not play very much. I have no doubt that he can step up to the task if he works at it. His transfering h.s. is probably his own concern for the level of coaching and style he was not getting at Civic - at least in his/parents mind. If his new home can provide better competition and instruction then SLU wins.

Two or three buy games at the Family Arena is not the end of the world.

Once again, we do not have all the information. Perhaps the coaches were asked to get their own cell phones and apply for reimbursement for calls they make that are job related much like applying for mileage reimbursement when you drive your car for work. I don't know but I am having trouble believing that the phones were simply taken away and no alternative approach offered. It seems to me that if Cherly thinks it is important for them to have cell phones then she can ask the booster club to pay for them. Here is another thought - maybe the men's bb coaches were the only ones who had school paid cell phones all the other coaches had to pony up on their own - who knows but what I do know is that we do not have the entire story. Next time someone goes to a Tip Off Club meeting ask the question.

Actually, I am very knowlegeable on this subject - I spent over 30 years working in this field. The state of MO does not have a statewide curriculum and most states do not. There certainly is not a national curriculum either unlike in France. All school district have to do is make sure that their overall student performance meets the No Child Left Behind Act and any state score requirements. Most districts follow their own standards and try to incorporate the state standards to some extent just to make sure they meet the minimum score requirements to keep the state off their backs but still provide much more which is what the community expects. The problem is the state tests have some very narrow objectives which most find hard to warrant spending much time on and leaving out other things that kids really need to know. Finally, the ACT is simply nationally normed standardized test that measures a variety of things but most importantly it measures if a person is a good test taker. Taking a standardized test is a skill some kids come by naturally and others struggle with. That is why nobody only uses standardized tests to admit kids - they use a combination of scores and grades. In Tommie's case what he did this year shows a couple of things about him - 1. he is smart enough and has the ability if he applies himself to go to college, 2. he either did not apply himself in high school or his overall high school experience was lacking for whatever the reason or both. This is great news about Tommie because now we know he can be successful at SLU - it is simply up to him.

Roy - I understand that you are upset about the PSL issue - I have always said that issue needs to be settled. Clearly there are things happening that have caused the SLU to choose not to come public with a plan yet - I don't know why but time will tell. Cherly has not control over what the Post does with their reporters. Marketing has continued to be a problem - might I suggest that those who have complained about some employees leaving should wonder if the poor marketing was a reason for their leaving. The two home games that will be played in St. Chas. that is really Brad's doing not Cheryl - if he would be interested in playing those games at a different time than they could be played at Savvis. All Cherly did was find a way for Brad to get what he wanted. I do not mean to say that everything is perfect but things are better than when Woolard was here. I am still confused about this cell phone issue - there must be a piece of info we are missing. I asked my son who works as a researcher and is a grad student about that and he said that nobody in area has lost their cell phones that he heard about.

Newberry - settle down. Levick is fine, give her a chance. She has raised more money for the arena than Woolard in less time. She has overseen the revisions on the arena that Woolard screwed up. Where did you hear this thing about the cell phones? I find it really hard to believe.

This now makes us like DePaul - they play all over Chicago sometimes and see what that does to their attendance. Buy games are not that well attended anyway so maybe it does make sense to give the tickets away to groups and/or offer a big promotion - I just got back from a week in Tampa and went to see the Cardinals play the Rays - $12 a ticket to sit in what where seats closer to the field than those going for 3xs. The seats were in right field. Additionally, you got a hot dog, soda, and cracker jack. The area where these seats were located was packed. The same could be done for these games.

Actually, they could play SIU at Carbondale and actually be closer to Tyler H's home than in St. Louis.

The $35 million is based on getting the TIF money. All along, SLU has said they could not bring the final decisions to conclusion until all the money stuff was worked out. Gister is correct - this TIF thing is holding things up. Steve, even if you bought a brick, all donations should be treated equal - every dollar buys the same amount of construction. The recent Supreme Court decision on eminent domain - while not exactly the same thing - has bearing on this case. What the courts said was that nothing in the Constitution prevents states from enacting laws to limit or allow that from happening. The same would apply to the TIF laws. The state already approved the TIF law so that is probably why those trying to block it are saying it is a separation of church and state thing - sounds kind of weak to me. SLU is not getting anything that any other group within the boundaries would be eligible to receive under the TIF. By the way, the courts have already ruled that public monies can be given to religious groups who provide a service that is contracted out by the public agency to the group. This is just a last ditch attempt to save the Masonic Hall - which by the way the arena does not impact. The home owners are also not impacted by the arena. Too bad we are all being caught up in this fight.

Wait a minute - now you are saying you did not hear it from him but from others - get your story correct.

Just because he is on the Eagles list now does not mean that he is going to play h.s. ball in the area - he apparently is moving out of the area.

Vtime - Jalensdad did not have to go talk to TL and his family to prove you wrong - he had said this for sometime now. I can not say what you heard or did not hear from TL - only you and TL can attest to that. What I can say is that Jalensdad has held firm on all his information about TL and has always been correct with what he has shared. Finally, since you did not respond to the second part of my post - the Hawkins kid matter - I assume you now understand that you were wrong but hey who knows, maybe Hawkins told you he was going to play on the eas side.

Vtime - you are simply missing the point. We all know that Jalensdad is closely connected to TL and his family. All some were trying to tell you was that for you or anyone to argue with Jalensdad on this topic would be like saying you know more about what Bush is thinking than Cheney does. You may have heard all kinds of rumors that many of us did not but Jalensdad has the accurate scoop. I mean you even said that when I reported that I had heard that Hawkins had transfered to an out of state school that he was on the east side now. By out of state school what I meant was that he had transfered out of the area. I got that information from someone who was connected with Hawkin's situation. But you insisted on saying that you knew more but were absolutely wrong. Just because you might hang around or be someplace when you hear rumors going around does not mean that you have the accurate info. Rumors are just that - rumors. Tell a phone, tell a graph, tell a high school harry type.

For those of you who think in MO you can transfer h.s. whenever you want and still play you need to remember that this is not IL. Roundtree would have to sit all of next year's bb season out if he transfered to Vashon. I suppose you could try to prove some kind of a hardship thing but the MSHAA is not real keen on those things when it comes to highly touted players and we all know that Irons is not their poster coach.

If he can play without any problems by the end of first semester - play him. If not then consider redshirting. The only concern I have with that is two years away from playing ball can really cause you to loose your edge.

Truth be told - any school would be lucky to get TL. Very good players are few and even top programs count their blessings when they get them not just SLU.