courtside

Macon isn't ready yet.

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Stsoccer, I just typed out a list of stuff and accidentally erased it when posting....I will post something shortly/soon for ya with thoughts.

Also up on the school website....is another recruiting article link here. Note: The Pateadores has long been a top national club soccer team....interestingly enough, former STL high school and college star Kevin Grimes,(Rosary, SMU) the fine 7 year head coach at Cal is a former head coach for The Pateadores club team when he formerly played professionally in that area. http://slubillikens.cstv.com/sports/m-socc.../040606aaa.html

Just a terrible stroy from this morning/last night http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=2400335

Be patient...less than two weeks to go.

For giggles only. ...not wasting any time are they. ESPN also has its pre-season top 25....X and GW were in "others to watch" area. Lunardi has 2 A-10 teams in his first installment...the above two teams. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology

If you are asking me if I attended SLU,...have degree form SLU etc...answer is yes....(and other places advanced degress)....I have been fortunate in life to have lived many many places after attending SLU and having had grown up in St. Louis. My personal and professional life....college and pro sports included have taken me to many places and people. I am not better or worse than anyone else on here..and prefer to just be like anyone else on here. Apparently because I don't rip on Marquette I am a big fan according to your logic. or that I don't hold some sort of conference or jesuit grudge or something. SLU and Marquette are both great schools with similar academics etc....Boston College and Georgetown are also great schools too, and I would be happy to discuss them if only more people would bring them up. In fact for overall experience they would rate higher to me than the first two mentioned...doesn't mean there aren't a lot of great people at SLU and Marquette, and that those great people wouldn't do well at those other places etc.... Do I root for SLU any less or think SLU any less no. Do I think SLU has a lot of wonderful things, sure, and also areas of improvement....and depending on the goal, or comparison, some areas more than others. I usually try not to cheerlead on this board. I don't find it my purpose or role here. I don't think any less of the people who do it however. Sometimes I get caught up on it but try not too...now at games etc...that is a different story. This is a message board. You isolate Marquette because they get mentioned more than the other examples of above...and naturally so. I think it is more of me not having a problem with them, and you having one with them....so maybe you should take it up with B-Law, or perhaps some administrative folks at Marquette. I know a few, just as I do at SLU and a LOT of other places. Have a better day.

As I have said before I post what I know....and say when I don't. I do not know if Stemler will attend SLU. I asked Roy his experiences on the topic due to what he has posted. And also....asked others in the industry that I know. My understanding is that SLU and Marquette are only a couple of people in the mix. I am aware that Ball State's point guard is transferring to Marquette and that presumably leaves Marquette with one scholarship left for next year. My guess would be that it goes to a "big" for them and not Stemler, but that is merely an eductaed guess, that by no means may end up happening. It really wouldn't surprise me either way. Al recruits are important to teams. Obviously for whatever reasons, Crean didn't want to pass up on Acker who came up unexpectedly. ....their direction will either be a power forward, or shooter.....will Crean take which one commits first? does he have preference of one need over another...is Stemler a top choice or fall back...only Tom Crean knows that right now. I do know some people in this business at the collegiate level and pro level based on my own life expereince. so, when I have any info I post it, and that is how I post. So the above is what I know on this particluar subject...which isn't as much as maybe some other ones that might be brought up, or more than another. etc... Depends on what it is....... If I obtain any further information before anyone else...which I don't anticipate but could hapen, I'll post it....just as I would be interested in the same from soneone else. There are enough trolls, rose-colored glassses folks, haters....negative people out there....on this board. I'll discuss any topic or team objectively as it pertains to this board or SLU. If you don't like it, you can always ignore posts, or threads etc....

Not exactly sure where you are coming from....maybe you are having a bad day....maybe you are new to the board....that is fine. No offense to B-Law, but I am not him. I am objective when it comes to SLU or any other team. This isn't a "rooting" board for me. I do that at games and in front of tv. Occasionally my rooting for SLU does come out in posts. But I try to keep everything objective. For example, I also grew up going to games at Mizzou and rooting for Mizzou as well....but you'd be hard pressed to find many folks on this board who affiliate me with the Tigers or hate because of that. Because I am objective with SLU or anyone else. I do try to also lend a profile and support to SLU soccer and other things SLU because I think it can only add value and publicity for those folks when obviously as it should be most of the topics are on SLU hoops. I come to this board to learn information(it actaually happens once in a while)....get a feel for a very small portion of SLU hoops community, for entertainment, and to provide an info I can due to who and what I know based on life expereinces in professional and collegiate athletics. ...and specifically at SLU. If you have a personal problem with me that I don't know about, I'd be happy to take it to another forum, pm, e-mail, or wherever to not waste the time of others on this board. We get enough trolls.

>If your story is correct, Brad has been given a 2nd chance >here and needs to take advantage of it. I don't >particularly care why a player chooses SLU (depsite the >constant condescending will get from the B-Laws and >Courtsides of the world) I just care that he'd be wearing >blue and white. Get it done. LOL...You have got to be kidding me. Do you even read this board? Unsolicited flame with zero knowledge, becoming sadly all too common here. Objectivity and accountability come with interest, support(since Luther Burden kid) and encouragement. etc....

And I will repeat, SLU is far from the only school with this problem. It is a long line.

I am sure a few hundred schools are saying the same thing. EVERY college team fights for "Bigs" .....tough to find.

Today's NY Times has a piece on Ryan Hollins. If I can find the link I will post it.

Ideas. Soccer. Need to have input, support, and action of the coaching staff and Athletic Dept. Research the successful schools....IU, UCONN etc...call them speak to people....have Athletic Dept people go to a game somewhere with successful atmosphere of college students. ...to get some ideas. Sam's Army is very organized and successful for the U.S. men's team. Because it isn't hoops, need to have promotions for students at EVERY home game. Giving stuff away, co-promoting with other events....lotsof signage, sponsors, etc... Take advantage of the weather when nice early in season for BBQ's...etc... Hype the very big games relentlessly. IU, any ACC, Pac 10 team etc...there will be big crowd oif people anyway...but hype it to students....the goal is to get students to go to soccer games, so if you spent a great deal of time marketing the big non-conference games, which are usually early in the season....the casual observer will see the high quality of play, and would come back to see more games. Start with the most socially active groups on campus....and people who stick around campus on weekends. Games are over well before the typical college kid even thinks of going out. ....start early get in some tailgating near campus.... The coaching staff must be very actively involved and aggressively recruiting kids to come to games....need to be very visible on campus, eat with students ....sell them on going to games....Donigan needs to be heavily involved. There needs to be signage EVERYWHERE opn campus, inside outside etc....banners etc...with team schedule and highlighting upcoming game(s)......every student at SLU should know when exactly the games are.....and what other activities will be taking place. There needs to be a designated student section at games. This section needs to be easily distinguishable at games. SOUND......SLU desperately needs a better sound system at soccer games.....speakers etc.....music pumping in pre-game....half time....this needs to be high quality. Even old farts, or parents with kids....will like any added atmosphere and excitement. Just like hops, need to market the event to students as THE place to be and THE thing to attend. For that night or weekend. Soccer plays a lot of Fri night, Sun afternoon games.....start with Fri night games....make it a post happy hour event....and pre-going out event for the boozers. But market to all types of students. Market the tradition. Nowhere near the soccer area of SLU is any indication of the tradition of the program. Should be all kinds of visual evidence at the soccer stadium. Bring back former players....and not just blue haired former players.....get them involved. Run it all first class.....have better pre-game and half time events. Have post-game events, concerts etc....tie in the soccer game to the event. Just a start....for soccer. Reward students for attending more games. Key is developing consistent student attendance. Give students incentive to go.

HEADLINE: It's a Wonderful Life Story BYLINE: Steve Rushin Steve Randall is a small man making small money in small towns, a 5'6" high school basketball coach who climbed a short professional ladder from Turtle Lake to Montfort to Oshkosh, Wis. He drives a banana-yellow Caprice Classic that cost $200 used, a car so mortifying that his three daughters put a for sale sign in the window whenever it's parked in the driveway. Lance Randall, Steve's only son, is a bigger man whose bigger plans draw him to bigger cities. At 25 he becomes the head coach at Webster University, whose streak of 13 losing seasons is broken his first season. Then he coaches the Birmingham Bullets in England, grounding himself in the professional game. Homesick after 9/11, Lance returns to the States as a D-I assistant at Saint Louis University, an ambitious young coach on the rise. In October 2004, 53-year-old Steve is poised for his 16th season at Oshkosh West High. During a routine angioplasty, doctors nick one of his arteries. A week later, while watching a Cardinals-Dodgers playoff game on TV, Steve tells his wife, Cindy, that he doesn't feel well. He lies down on the couch and dies. Lance, by now 33, and the father of a one-year-old girl, drives to Oshkosh for the wake and is struck dumb: A line extends for three blocks outside the funeral home, which stays open three extra hours to accommodate the mourners. "When 3,000 people show up at a high school phys-ed teacher's wake," he says, "you suddenly see the effect a simple man has had on so many people." The Oshkosh Northwestern receives hundreds of tributes to Coach Randall, from around the country and overseas. At the funeral players speak of his indelible impact on their lives. "That's when I had the epiphany," says Lance. "I had to do this." What Lance had to do was leave Saint Louis, walk away from his $56,000 salary, move his family in with his mother and accept a $4,000 part-time coaching stipend to take over his father's team at Oshkosh West, which already had a locker labeled randall. It means finding a full-time job that allows him to leave at 3 p.m. "I don't want to make the team practice at seven because the coach is doing double shifts at the Quik-Mart," says Lance, who signs on as a fund-raiser for the Experimental Aircraft Association. His first season is a fairy tale. Oshkosh West is ranked No. 1 in the state for the first time and takes an unbeaten record into the playoffs. "There was a fairy-tale ending to be written," says Lance. "But a lot of kids--not just ours--dream of winning state." West is upset in the sectional semis and sees two of its best players graduate. There is no happily ever after. This season the Wildcats' starting point guard is lost to suspension in December, but they are unbeaten. Over Christmas, West renames its home floor the Steven L. Randall Court and is touched by a strange magic. In early January senior Andy Polka--the quintessential Wisconsin name--makes a 75-foot heave at the buzzer to keep the Wildcats unbeaten. A teammate jumps up and down so hard in celebration that his shorts fall down, a spectacle spot-shadowed on SportsCenter. West continues to win, skating through sectionals, making it to Madison for the state tournament, where a metropolitan power from Milwaukee or Madison always wins. But that hardly matters. The Wildcats get to stay in Steve Randall's favorite Madison hotel, the InnTowner, where he and Lance holed up every year as state tourney spectators. And Oshkosh brings the tournament's biggest party of fans, bigger even than Madison's own Memorial High, West's powerhouse opponent for the state championship. With two minutes to go, Polka dunks to give West a 12-point lead. The crowd chants "STE-ven RAN-dall," reducing his widow to tears. The team buses back to Oshkosh that night, escorted by police and fire trucks, past congratulatory bedsheets. They are met at West End Pizza by a spontaneous pep rally for the new state champions. "I've been blessed beyond imagination," says Lance. "If I took over at Duke or won an NBA championship, it couldn't surpass what I've been a part of at Oshkosh West." Turns out, the small time is the big time. "They say 'Don't sweat the small stuff,'" Lance says. "But my dad has shown me, even in death, that the small stuff is what's important." Steve Randall so loved his players (and vice versa) that he cried at every postseason banquet. I tell him his dad reminds me of George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life. "You're the first person outside the family to mention that movie," says Lance. "It's my favorite. My parents gave it to me when I was little. I cry just taking it out of the box." The son inhales deeply and says, "You're exactly right: My dad was the richest man in town."

Rick is no longer a candidate at ASU. Search is re-openend and Randy Bennett is in the mix.

Schasz, Go pick up the book, "My Life on a Napkin." by Rick Majerus. I think you would enjoy it.

Yes, Acker has to sit out a year and gets 3 years of eligibility. they also recruited a kid out of Danny Hurley's HS team in Jersey for next year to be a back up pt guard....though he is a 2 guard. Crean likes tall, long athletic kids who can shoot....i.e. Stemler. But Marquette really needs a pf...as a top priority. The transfer takes up a scholarship for next year for them. so, they have one left, ....recently fired Ball St coach Tim Buckley was an assistant for Marquette for a year under Crean. ....and two other kids, including a current Frosh for Marquette played with Acker on same HS team in Chicago. ....connection must have been too good to pass up on a good player, Mid American Conference Frosh of the Year. Stemler may very well be in their mix still. ....reports have had Crean in about 5 different states last week recruiting.....Illinois included. Prior to the signing, many thought they would sign an inside player....and a shooter. Now they will have to pick one or the other.

Well...with the announcement of Maurice Acker from Ball State transferring to Marquette next year.....seems Marquette has one spot left....and they need a "big"....perhaps maybe moving away from Stemler....but wouldn't rule them out of the mix yet. But sure seems like a small positive for SLU fans who want Stemler.

Obviously. I just mentioned his prior relationship with Lisa Love, which helped lead to his being considered at ASU. ...I always say when I know something, I say so...when I don't I say so.....on this one, I'd bet a LOT of money I know a lot more than you. No offense...not trying to be a jerk or anything ....but I know a LOT on this topic, and people involved.... And I would like to leave it at that when it comes to Rick and not elaborate, and you'll just have to trust me on this one, not going into more detail on public message board....and I will leave it at that. Publicly, I can say I hope the best for him, and that this works out for him, and wish him all the best, a great coach, and great person....good for the game.

Credible sources saying Rick Majerus to ASU pending physical. .....but we'll see.

On the contrary Doc.....why don't you first calm down, take a breath, get a glass of water...and re-read this entire thread. I make/made comments about the Indy Star and the info you porvided....somehow...magically out of thin air that gets a reply from you which begins: paraphrasing..."Courtside's inegnius posts...etc...???" I merely pointed out to you that the Indy Star was late and sloppy covering the story at BEST. ...and somehow you take it as personal insult that the Indy Star was questioned. Do you work there? Or somebody you know? Then you try make things personal with your follow up posts etc.... somehow I...I...manage to just simply stay on topic. I then posted in response to Sampson's hire. After your previous misguided comments towards me....your defiance....and so forth...you absoluetly set yourself up for a mild playful post that had no ill will. It even had a smiley face Doc. What maore can I do? Maybe the kids are getting to you late in the school year...whatever...no problem...maybe change the water to a Scotch Rocks and kick back...whatever you need to do. But don't try to create something out out of nothing we me, or something personal with me that isn't there. No offense, I don't remember any of your posts on any other topics. You received incomplete at best information, and believed it to be true and I pointed it out. Whether that hurts your feelings or not, I don't really know or care. Anything else is simply in your head. Funny, nobody else is posting any problems with me. If anything I have a reputation on this board as being pretty objective and open to a lot of things and people. As I said, go back and read this thread.....I think you went wrong with your attacking comments and language after I pointed out to you that the Indy Star, not to my surprise wasn't hitting the mark. Good Day.

Steve ...other schools do it....and as I said, for a later in season, big game...etc....but you should be able to get hundreds of kids. If it works elsewhere....why not at SLU too?

I think we should all credit Dr. B for his tip on Kelvin Sampson. No, it wasn't one of his two original favorites.....and no it wasn't on the list of ten others he kindly posted from the Indy Star. And no, it wasn't one of his two latest favorites.... but let's all join in thanking him anyway....15th time is a charm....eh good Doc? ;-)