courtside
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Last time I checked Arizona played in a "Big" conference.
And the SEC and Pac 10 has done well so far. Two of the three Big East losses yesterday were to big conference schools as well.
I am not getting into the whole MVC thing etc...Packer Nance...
Again, you are seeing a conferecne shampion, Witcita St., Bucknell, etc...play in games against teams middle of pack in conferences.
I just don't get overly excited one way or another.
I wouldn't call it a ...gee this will shut up so and so thing....like I have seen from different boards etc...
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Sure I can Roy...and Nate Lasch is very vocal about it too.
Edwardsville can be faulted for not playing tougher non-conference opponents.
They are a very good team. And they may very well win at state....but they will definitely have to win without really being previously tested, a disadvantage imo.
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This if what Edwardsville will be trying to overcome. Their schedule. Can a good but untested team beat some schools who have played much stronger teams? With all do respect to their record, they start playing serious teams today.
Fri, 12/2/05 7:30 p.m. L vs Collinsville (6-8, 19-10) W 55-42
Wed, 12/7/05 12:30 p.m. L vs Belleville East (8-6, 21-9) at Savvis Center W 52-44
. Fri, 12/9/05 7:30 p.m. L vs Belleville West (0-14, 4-22) W 78-37
. Tue, 12/13/05 7:30 p.m. N vs Jerseyville (2-8, 11-20) W 78-36
. Fri, 12/16/05 7:30 p.m. L vs Granite City (3-11, 7-21) W 52-21
. Tue, 12/20/05 7:30 p.m. L at East St. Louis (6-8, 16-16) W 59-45
. Wed, 12/28/05 1:45 p.m. T vs Paris at Charleston W 76-25
. Thu, 12/29/05 1:45 p.m. T vs Olney at Charleston W 62-37
. Fri, 12/30/05 T vs Metamora at Charleston W 77-51
. Fri, 12/30/05 T vs Teutopolis at Charleston W 65-52
. Fri, 1/6/06 7:30 p.m. L at O'Fallon (7-7, 20-11) W 61-42
. Tue, 1/10/06 7:30 p.m. N vs Waterloo (7-3, 21-9) W 68-43
. Fri, 1/13/06 7:30 p.m. L vs Alton (12-2, 27-4) W 41-37
. Wed, 1/18/06 8:30 p.m. T vs Triad (2-8, 5-22) at Salem W 83-34
. Fri, 1/20/06 7 p.m. T vs Charleston at Salem W 72-43
. Sat, 1/21/06 9 p.m. T vs Mount Vernon (7-3, 18-8) at Salem W 53-39
. Fri, 1/27/06 7:30 p.m. L vs Belleville East (8-6, 21-9) W 67-59
. Tue, 1/31/06 7:30 p.m. N vs Civic Memorial (5-5, 19-11) W 66-49
. Fri, 2/3/06 7:30 p.m. L at Belleville West (0-14, 4-22) W 73-58
. Tue, 2/7/06 7:45 p.m. N at Highland (5-5, 14-16) W 62-33
. Fri, 2/10/06 7:30 p.m. L at Granite City (3-11, 7-21) W 49-34
. Tue, 2/14/06 7:30 p.m. L at Collinsville (6-8, 19-10) W 61-54
. Fri, 2/17/06 7:30 p.m. L vs East St. Louis (6-8, 16-16) W 60-46
. Tue, 2/21/06 7:30 p.m. L vs O'Fallon (7-7, 20-11) W 68-55
. Fri, 2/24/06 7:30 p.m. L vs Alton (12-2, 27-4) at Alton West El W 43-35
. Tue, 2/28/06 7:30 p.m. P vs Jerseyville (2-8, 11-20) W 65-48
. Fri, 3/3/06 7:30 p.m. P vs Sacred Heart-Gr. W 48-36
. Tue, 3/7/06 6 p.m. P vs Mt. Zion at Prairie Capit W 72-46
. Fri, 3/10/06 7:30 p.m. P vs Quincy (0-0, 6-3) at Prairie Capit W 58-39
. Tue, 3/14/06 7:30 p.m. P vs East St. Louis (6-8, 16-16) at SIU-Carbondal W 53-41
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It's Scheyer vs. Rose
Glenbrook N. senior duels Simeon junior
By Bob Sakamoto
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 17, 2006, 12:23 AM CST
For all Jon Scheyer has accomplished, you would think his legacy is complete.
Not according to sentiment in the Public League, which has it that Simeon's Derrick Rose, Crane's Sherron Collins and Marshall's Patrick Beverley are all better than the 6-foot-6-inch Glenbrook North star.
"I'm aware of it, but I can't worry about what other people think," Scheyer said. "This is my third time going Downstate, and to me, it's all about winning. I feel like I don't have anything to prove."
The 6-4 Rose, rated among the nation's top five juniors, will go head-to-head with Scheyer when Simeon (30-4) battles Glenbrook North (29-2) in the 6:30 p.m. Class AA quarterfinal Friday at Carver Arena in Peoria.
Rose, averaging 20 points, 8.5 rebounds and eight assists and shooting 40 percent from three-point range, has been dominant in the playoffs.
"As he matures, he is becoming more aggressive and confident in his game," said Simeon coach Robert Smith, who has banned interviews with his players. "He is doing whatever it takes for us to win."
Scheyer, who averages 29.4 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals, played against Rose at a basketball camp last summer.
"He is a great player, and Simeon is a really great team," Scheyer said. "It's going to be real fun playing them."
While Rose's explosive penetrating and soaring athleticism presents a matchup nightmare for Glenbrook North coach Dave Weber, Smith believes he has a remedy for Scheyer.
Simeon's 5-10 defensive specialist, Dexter Williams, who often guards Rose in practice, will harass Scheyer in a box-and-one scheme.
"As long as we win, it doesn't matter if I score two points or 30," Scheyer said. "Other guys like Matt Shamis, Zach Kelly and Tyler Cullitan have been stepping up in the playoffs."
Nobody has risen higher than Thornwood (24-6) in the postseason. The Thunderbirds have sprung consecutive upsets over Thornridge, Washington and Homewood-Flossmoor to reach Friday's 1:45 p.m. quarterfinal with Schaumburg (21-7).
They beat Washington in five overtimes and H-F in three.
"A lot of people are saying we don't belong here and we're supposed to lose on Friday," guard/forward Cameron Snelling said. "Stuff like that just makes us play harder."
Marshall (30-2) has overwhelmed its postseason competition, winning five games by an average of 34 points.
Edwardsville (30-0) will face a fast-breaking, zone-pressing attack featuring Patrick Beverley (32 points, six rebounds, six assists, five steals), Ryan Hare (23.6 points, 8.3 rebounds), Mike Stovall (16.7 points) and Darius Smith (12 points, eight rebounds, 5.5 assists) in the 8:15 p.m. game.
With a defense that is holding opponents to 44.4 points per game, West Aurora (29-1) is expected to emerge from the top bracket.
The Blackhawks will have to contend with Peoria Richwoods (24-6) and 6-9 Billy Cole in the noon quarterfinal. Cole (16 points, nine rebounds) has orally committed to Illinois.
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Nick Fazekas is that player for Nevada. Your Marquette buddies may have told you his final two choices were Nevada and Marquette....and he picked Nevada. His surrounding cast is not as good as past years, Kirk Snyder etc.... Their former coach Trent Johnson was Stanford assistant, did a great job....now has the Stanford job and has the two 7'0 twin studs...coming in already for Stanford next year. Fox picking up where he left off at Nevada.
Fazekas will play in NBA. Needs to bulk up, because of his foot condition runs strange to many...but has never stopped him.
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Matchups are everything... As opposed to this conference di dthis and that conference did that.
Syracuse should not have had a 5 seed. Maybe, maybe a 10. This conference tourney lightning in a bottle stuff gets too much factor in seedings. Marquette for example loses in conf tourney and falls to a 7...gets tough matchup and loses. That is the way it goes. But Syracuse getting a better seed than G-Town, WV, MU, same as Pitt....makes zero sense.
Wichita St. should have beaten Seton Hall. And they did.
Wichita St. would have received a better seed had they fared better in conf tourney.....
Nevada, again, a 5 seed, becasue they won their league and league tourney...as opposed to other factors...they weren't a 5 lebvel team this year...like their stronger recent year teams.
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I believe I went 12-4, disappointed. I would only change one pick if I had to do it all over again.
The four wrong were:
Marquette/Bama....knew it was tough matchup with Bama's athletes, but when a kid has the game of his life 31 points, 8-11 from three, etc...and avg's 8 a game, 20 something % from three. Marquette even had a few game winner looks, couldn't knock em down. But I wouldn't have changed the pick.
Winthrop v Tenn. Wouldn't have changed the pick. sometimes again, it doesn't go your way.
The one that hurt the most, San Diego St. v Indiana.....VERY disappointed. I still cannot believe San Diego St. lost that game. Wouldn't change the pick in a million years. Too many defenseive lapses late and SD ST really couldn't hang on after being in control. Very surpised at that one.
Monatana v Nevada...this one I possibly would have changed so that one bothers me in the sense I should have given it more thought. The rest I wouldn't have changed the picks.
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It isn't that I don't buy in for one...I am just saying, these kids need to improve a lot, and perhaps they will, to be national level ball players. They could easily go the other way too. Promising potential for some and we shall see where it goes.
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If these kids are so good...then they wouldn't/shouldn't be concerned with little old SLU and will get plenty of offers at different places, not just SLU.
Point being...the idea that he is the local D-I coach's son, so let's put him on team, is a tad far fetched.
I for one am not overly excited with some in the group. There will need to be some major development. And I am not talking Soderberg...more so about the others.
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How about the kid from Bama Felix...welcome to the dance. Averages 8 points a game, and in the twent something percent range from three and goes 8-11 from 3. WOW. Bama shot the lights out at times. They are capable...crazy team...beat teams like Florida, Tenn, then lose to Miss and Miss St...shows what an athletic team can do when given a chance.
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Had UWM...had Montana in many other pools.
Nevada isn't a major, and if anything critics will say what were they doing with a 5 seed?...so that one isn't a big deal. And Bama is an SEC major team.
Wichita St. was supposed to win.
Unfortunately I also had Winthrop. That one bites.
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>SH loses, BC in OT against Pacific. If BC loses this is
>gonna break a lot of brackets....a lot of hearts...there'll
>be a lot more green beer drunk in beantown tomorrow if this
>happens.
I disagree. Wichita St. WAS supposed to win. Conference champ who beat frankly a team less talented than UC who wasn't invited.
I had UWM in our ESPN bracket because OU struggles too much offensively for my taste. OU's seed was perhaps a bit high at 6...down year for them....I would agree they deserved a little bit worse seed.
BC and Pacific would be an upset. Pacific is a solid team. BC despite their strong finish struggled early and weren't as dominant as expected this year.
I actually have Wichita St. in sweet 16. Quite early to declare your statement, isn't it?
There are a lot of good and bad fans....good and bad media people...biased unbiased etc....
N. Iowa v Georgetown.....Bradley v KU. etc...these are the games the MVC needs to win to make some noise.
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Do you take BART? If yes how long is your ride in?....30-35 or so?
If you drive, how long is that taking you?
Just curious.
You would seem well positioned for Bears and Gaels games.....and certainly well positioned for this year's regional finals.
Do you ever see HS ball...? Big De La Salle North South matchup on Sat.
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You can never have too many shooters.
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And politely shooting down the point on Ahearn...tough to compare one guy on one team to another, one is Frosh one is Junior...different everything...etc..One would expect Lisch to have great stats then etc..
For this season and for your point...Ahearn's percentage was 2% worse than Lisch and AD. Those two are the only two applicable players in this scenario.
Ahearn however attempted 33 more 3's than Lisch and about oh...around 80 or so more than AD. His turnover to assist ratio was better than Lisch's...and comparable, slightly better but not significantly so than AD.
Free throws are huge. Not just the percentage, which was huge itself...in comaprison to 70-71%...which isn't bad for a Frosh....but the amount of Free Throw attempts for Ahearn was more than double Lisch, and obviously even way more than that to AD who was injured etc...some people totally disregard the value of ft %, and the value of attempts when you have that percentage. Those points are just as valuable as a long 3, a great dunk,etc...
Everyone here knows Lisch is a better recruit than Ahearn, and have a better career if healthy, ....I singled out Lisch only because he was the most comparable in shooting stats etc...best SLU offered....
Ahearn as it turns out would have been good enough to play at SLU and have a role on the team more so than some other guys who have been on the team. We know his weaknesses of needing more assists and better ratio, and defense...as he improves them each year.
People who say they are glad SLU didn't get Ahearn aren't being objective. He would have helped this year's team. Would have been a solid recruit, who has improved, and is local guy etc...
We all expect more from Lisch and Liddell as recruits and will get it...but it doesn't discount the value Ahearn would have brought to the team.
With that said, it is one to reemeber put in back of mind, leave it there and move on...as SLU attempts to recruit better players.
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My refernce wasn't saying Heathcoate was great or this or that...just giving the background...that opinion is everyone's own interpretation...fair enough.
I think Roy ....primarily what concerns me...and concerns is not the correct term....is the sometimes distorted veiw or memory some Bills fans have compared to say other places.
There isn't anything wrong with SLU. My belief is MOST of the STL area has always been apathetic to SLU outside of the small SLU community hoops fans community. And I believe that community is smaller than people may think.
If people would just get over the defensive minded mentality....when it comes to objectivity and form outsiders...whether it is media or other schools etc...
SLU certainly has potential. Romar was an encouraging hire, though it didn't work out...the idea was good though flawed. Soderberg is a good coach but will he get the athletes and players...was the thing when he came in....and to some extent is tsill the question, though he has a start...you can't win big tinme without players.
A new AD a new arena....the hope is Levick will upgrade marketing each year...etc...to students to fans etc...
SLU has to take advantage of what they have...and be at/near top of A-10 for a while, multiple years...make NCA's a few times...etc...and build from there. The A-10 isn't the toughest league out there, it certianly can be done pretty quickly imo....but building something more takes time.
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>Obsessed? Hardly. First, as an academic institution, Saint
>Louis University is rated ahead of Marquette. I have 2 good
>friends from the hometown and a brother-in-law who are all
>Marquette graduates.
>
>Ok, we're talking here about basketball, not academics. Of
>course, Marquette has had a better basketball program than
>SLU. But it is not like Marquette is light years ahead of
>SLU like Marquette people would have us believe. The head
>to head competition itself between the two schools proves
>that to not be the case.
>
>But I, and others on this board, will defend the alma mater
>against this smug, false elitism mentality of Marquette
>apologists.
>
>In the past, I actually advocated trying to keep good
>relations with Marquette with the future in mind.
.....ahhhhh the truth comes out...some Marquette buddies and that Marquette brother-in-law probably stickin it to ya when they can....I imagine...well...that you should have said up front, would have explained why you posted the word "Marquette" 45-50 times at my rough count in ONE thread. That isn't a misprint.
Can't believe I am responding to this but...SLU and Marquette have very similar academics....neither of which approach Georgetown, ND and BC overall...some areas sure. Both are good schools.
"Smug False elitism of Marquette apologists" .....Who and where are they...? your couple of buddies and your brother-in-law. B-Law?.....just remind B-Law he thought Ryan Amaroso was going to be Marquette's "inside" answer this year and beyond.....just teasing if he is reading....
There are nice people and jerks at every school and in every city.
Considering all of the bickering and in-fighting on this board...I don't hold it against SLU for example.
My approach is to take into consideration what SLU needs to do to win, where they have been, where they are, and where they want or need to be....and how to get there....
It isn't ..man I hate those guys cuz of possible ribbing of a handful in your inner-circle....although it makes a lot more sense to me now.
I am jealous however that you currently do get to live in the wonderful Bay Area...hope you get the chance to get together some time with Alameda Bob.
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As far as plays and x's and o's of the game Deane was/is a Jud Heathcoate guy....and Deane always designed good plays that got results, and his teams played very well defensively.
Deane was animated on side lines, which rubbed people the wrong way from afar. I agree with the timeouts. But if you look beyond that, his strengths were x's and o's.
His problem were other than a Cordell Henry, and Brian Wardle, he didn't want to go out and recruit like Spoon. He got complacent after achieving success. Dukiet was a small school Northeast coach...though only at their school briefly...then with the Deane hire, ....he actually did well coming from similar area...but he thought if I get really smart academic kids and coach em up, it would be good enough. And by any average standards ....going 100-55 in 5 years and making multiple NCAA's NIt final fours etc...it's pretty good. There were plenty of stiffs on those teams.
Their geographies may have been different, accents different....but both had a few NCAA teams...were fat cats...liked to have a beer and a good time...and faded away...not embracing the challenge of recruiting over time to continue to raise the level to deeper NCAA runs. They are a lot more similar than you might think. Maybe memory has some only considering home SLU games vs road games ofr opponent...and we all know how much tougher it is to win on road etc...or maybe people pick certain games from memory...or like you said Deane's sometimes radical time out usage.
Spoon went 122-90 in seven years at SLU...In fairness to Spoon, Deane did enter with much more to work with as Kevin O'Neill was a strong recruiter.(His problem is people skills) I read once where O'Neil sent a recruit 500 letters, and din't get him. He coahced NBA players Tony Smith(didn't recruit him though)...Jim McIlvaine, Amal McCaskill, Chris Crawford etc...and a host of other good players.
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Glenbrook North v Warren matchup has a crowd well over 13,000 at All State Arena last night for a round of 16 game.
I think about 4-5k went to Simeon's game.
State's top Junior vs State's top Senior in quarters.
Peoria Richwoods frankly very fortunate road to quarters...Edwardsville not catching that break.
#1 St. Joes lost earlier. And Marshall playing in their first quarters since Arthur Agee in the movie "Hoop Dreams" days. They crushed Jeff Jordan's Loyola team and a strong Crane team to get there.
Marhsll's coach is shall we say flamboyant, outspoken...no filter...kind of like another STL area coach some may know.
;-)
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Well...Dustin Maguire and team will certainly get a long awaited tough game test in state quarters. Marshall has been ranked #1 for about 6 weeks out of the hoops season earlier in the year. They have a first team all state guard, Patrick Beverly getting 36 a night. ...as well as other good players....high pressure team score routinely in the 80's....and have been doing it at state tourney too.
Will be interesting to see how Maguire can do individually and as a team.
Some other tough teams ranked slightly better they avoided for quarters...but Marshall is capable against those teams....i.e...Glenbrook North, Simeon...etc...
Marshall is certainly the real deal, and a win would open some eyes upstate for Edwardsville.
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You like many on the board are eerily obssessed with Marquette. I don't really care about one team that much. Marquette moved on to the Big East and SLU didn't let it go. Is it somehow Marquette's fault for taking the best situation offered to them? ..or the other school bitterness too. SLU had the opportunity for many decades to step up their hoops program and didn't do it. Grawer saved program...got them to close to NCAA, before falling back...and Spoon got them to NCAA entry level, before falling back. Actually I would say Spoon and Deane were very similar...two guys who were at heir destination dream jobs...had some early success....and then were too busy enjoying it when people started expecting more. The difference since then is level of cimmitment from the two schools to win in hoops.
I know SLU had good teams in the late 40's 50's etc..and they were noted.
The point is how SLU does overall as a program.....as opposed to what they did 13 years 8 months 11 days 24 minutes, 9 seconds ago against one team or a couple of teams.
It is like saying, ...many GW was an 8 seed, shoot SLU played them so tough at GW this year in that one game...man we are as good as them this year.
Or maybe Dave Leitao's DePaul team that lost to UCONN a few years ago in NCAA....and UCONN went on to win National Title....do the sit around and say ...man...if only we didn't meet them til the championship game....we could have been national champs or runners up.
and so on....
Somehow that doesn't measure up to overall team success with conference titles, NCAA appearances, NCAA deep runs...etc...I remember when Larry Hughes put up 40 one day...I believe it was against Marquette...here I will help you out with that one...
I responded to the recent decades of ball...not going into Ray Meyer, Denny Crum Digger Phelps Al McGuire....etc...merely statig their rich histories without having to post all of their accolades.
and you being up the late 40's to 60's....
Should I go back and add several decade ago info for the otehr schools too?
C'mon....I was being more than fair.
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Actually Footes..no SLU hasn't come close to DePaul...not trying to single you out...but often times other people, different people different times just throw out random things and they are accepted as truth.
People need to wake up and get off of the SLU defensive...again not you Footes...
SLU has made NCAA's 4 times since teams stopped going to NIT many decades ago....Obviously DePaul went yearly under Ray Meyer...but last 20 years includes 7 appearances for Joey Meyer, 3 NIT's for Joey Meyer...an NCAA under Kennedy and Leitao and NIT's under both. Multiple reg season titles too...SLU has not won one in this time.
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I hope the best for SLU as anyone else for many many years, and have been close to several people in the program over the years...but...let's keep emotions out of it.
Louisville? They were in the FINAL FOUR last year and 3 straight NCAA appearances under Pitino...Are you serious?
Cincy? Had 12 straight NCAA appearances...3 elite 8's and a Final Four. And came one win away from this year's NCAA tourney...though many thought they were snubbed this year...and did it without one of their best player's for last half of year.
You've got to be kidding me...do you really think UL and UC will fall off and not do well due to ONE year of NIT???? Should I post Pitino's career history for you here or not? WOW.
Notre Dame is Notre Dame...tough bleep if you don't like it. They will always be ND....get over it. That is never going to change. And they went to 3 straight NCAA's under Brey including Sweet 16 a few years ago...before 2 NIT's in his 5 years...
Marquette....3 NCAA appearances under Crean and a Final Four so far, new facilities, got into Big East Conference...record crowds(which don't interest me as much as others)...Since playing in Bradley Center in late 80's-present Marquette and SLU have been top 25 or better in attendance many times
DePaul...I will skip legendary Ray Meyer...and start with Joey Meyer...7 NCAA's 3 NIT's....DePaul made some mistakes with hires...i.e. Kennedy who did take them to NCAA and won a league title, and Leitao, a great hire, took them to NCAA's before heading to UVA back East....
All of these schools won reg season conference titles at different times in recent history and SLU has none. Not under Grawer, Spoon or since.
I didn't go into the rich history of UL hoops, UC hoops, ND hoops, Marquette hoops, or even DePaul hoops...who did well under Leito, NCAA's etc...and their deep history as well....ALL of these schools have rich histories and recent success as well.
SLU went to NCAA 3 times under Spoon, and once under Romar. Spoon never won a reg season conf title in his 7 years. He did well. ...during that time, SLU and Marquette traded home and home wins often....Kevin O'Neill, omitted went multiple times to NCAA's and had a sweet 16 as well, had a handful of NBA players....and the last half of the 90's Deane was their coach and went 2-3 times to NCAA tourney and deep NIT NYC runs...his problem though winning 100 games in that short time was his long term recruiting. O'Neill was a masterful recruiter...he recruited all of those Sean Elliott studs at Arizona...Steve Kerr etc...and carried on to Marquette through Deane.....Deane actually was/is a very good x's o's coach. His problem is his recruiting faded, and felt Marquette was a make the NCAA team....but the school decided it wanted more than that. ...I think he said something like Marquette will never make another final four and it pissed off his superiors...he was a fat cat in dream job...wasn't good enough. If a SLU coach won 100 games in 5 years with multiple NCAA's etc...he wouldn't get fired. SLU and Marquette had some nice home and home games and both temas won games during part of the 7 year Spoon era...Problem for SLU is not doing anything before it, not doing anything after it....and not having long hoops history...Maguire, Raymonds etc...Marquette was not good under Bob Dukiet during part of the 1980's NIT teams....
I had to look it up as to when... 1988-1991 MCC for Marquette.
SLU had 3 NIT's in 10 years under Grawer during the 80's...and he thankfully saved SLU hoops.
SLU also had 3 great seasons in the 1940's.
If you sit back and compare SLU overall to all of the above teams...and I kindly didn't go the McGuire, Meyer, Crum, Phelps etc...days...and take in all of that instead of dismissing it as not a big deal....then take a closer look at the time since....combine long history, past history, and recent history....
Basically you are looking at Grawer saving the program from going away from D-I and 3 NIT's...Spoon 3 NCAA's best 2nd round...and Romar won the conf tourney...This is since 1950.
If SLU can win the A-10...make the NCAA...and do it a few times...it will help their cause as far as timing goes when/if they get a chance to latch onto some of the bigger boys, and get into the mix, try to build something for the long term...make a commitment to winning hoops.
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...is when current Big East contract ends. So...if no extension between now and then...that is the chance.
I know this topic has been covered many times...but...
Notre Dame and Marquette would not join a Midwest League. I don't want to say never ever etc...but you get the idea.
I'll take ND first. Has anybody here listened to AD Kevin White talk? You would be re-thinking the ideas as long as he is AD. Most of ND's talk has been whether they would leave the Big East for either the ACC or Big Ten. They will always be a football independent unless they joined these leagues. White said publicly in a Q and A last week that ND is in Big East for long haul, and they love the conference for all sports, and like keeping football independent. They like the independent football money...like making any schedule they want. They do very well in the other non-revenue sports. Hoops can be more competitive again. They lost 7-8 games by total of 15 points this year. Tough schedule etc...
Marquette, loving being in Big East. finished 4th in first year with young club. With good recruits coming in next couple of years they figure to be in top part of the Big East through the end of that 2011 deal. Some of their most recent recruits are from NJ, NY etc...They love the conference.
Talk is of Big East going to 18 conference games from 16 to eliminate the unbalance scheduling.
S Florida doesn't fit for hoops...but many feel they are a football sleeping giant...already vastly improved....HUGE 40,000 plus school. They want Florida area for football.
Hypothetically if something happened to Big East....in order to get the above two schools...Georgetown, Nova need to be in mix. .....and some other top level hoops programs in or near big markets.
The ONLY hope some may have is a Catholic league. Schools like Drake or Bradley etc...have a ZERO and NEGATIVE chance of being in a conference with ND etc...NONE. or Butler etc...and these beyond far fetched names mentioned.
It would be very tough for some of the A-10 teams to be in a league with some of them...schools who haven't been good at hoops, have zero commitment...etc...
Any school not near a large market, with no commitment to hoops, etc...won't have a chance.
It wouldn't surprise me to see the same current set up continue beyond 2011. It is certainly not a given at all it will change in 2011. Marquette, DePaul, U of L and Cincy....will be competitive most years in hoops. The worst one this year was DePaul and they happen to be in 3rd largest market.
I posted this one other time...purely in the dream category....but if there was a hypothetical Catholic league...I would have.....I like 12 team leagues.....so....
Georgetown
ND
Villanova
DePaul
MU
SLU
Xavier
Seton Hall
St. Joes
St. John's
and a need to fill two spots....Creighton imo doesn't really fit for multiple reasons...especially geographically...but they are a possibility. Dayton would have to step it up in play...etc...
I just don't see a conference like this. Always possible.
Attendance figures aren't as important as media markets.
One could lobby for a Catholic conference...but it would need ND, G-Town, MU etc..to have a higher profile.
BC would be great to have in a conference but they love ACC and aren't leaving.
Mid Majors Win (again)!! N.W. St. and Bucknell Early
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HAd Iowa losing in second round, and considered them strongly to lose in first round. Northwestern St. can play....but also Iowa wasn't a strong 3 seed imo.