Bay Area Billiken

This is a Rhode Island home game. If SLU is to stay in this conference, this tournament needs to be moved somewhere to the West. Xavier, Dayton, and SLU need to get this thing out of Atlantic City, NJ. It is pretty clear to me.

Rebounds (butter fingers) and loose balls are hurting us too.

Ellis hits 1-2 FT, SLU 2-6 at line. 27-19 URI 2:21 left in first half.

URI took a dive on KM. Baron is getting the calls. Decks are stacked against us with this tournament in Atlantic City. SLU looks tentative, too slow, and thinking too much. Travel disparity could be a factor. Salecich and KM both have 2 fouls. Ellis still scoreless.

SLU is getting killed on the boards, and URI is getting the loose balls. SLU has too many turnovers. URI has been the aggressor so far. Looks like they want it more. Richmond has hit 4 3's off the bench. Can't stand his attitude, but they guy is a great shooter. Guard him.

13-1 run, 3 3's by Richmond. Guard him.

These are URI reserves that have fueled this run. Need to guard Richmond. URI is getting away with a lot of fouls on the ball away from the hoop. SLU 1-4 on FT's- need to make those FT's. Ellis is scoreless.

Understood.

On second thought, skip it re the Fordham Band. But it's too bad they won't let the SLU Band go to the A-10 Tournament. Atlantic City is 950 miles from St. Louis.

If SLU won't let the Band go to the A-10 Tournament, the Fordham Band could be available to substitute (except Spring Break starts today after classes at Fordham). After all, the St. Joe's radio announcers filled in at the LaSalle game due to the blizzard. They could just change the words of "The Ram"- A Bill, a Bill, a Bill to victory.

Hopefully, they will break into this filler show that started at the top of the hour on DirecTV 630.

DirecTV shows the game starting at 11:30 a.m. Pacific, which would be 1:30 p.m. in STL. For those with DirecTV, the game is supposed to be on Channel 630 in HD.

Whatever, I don't care about Bona. Let's just get a win for SLU.

St. Bona has 2,000 students, plays in a glorified high school gym, sits in rural and inaccessible Western New York, and has little in common with the other schools. Bona is in this league because of its distant past. Plus, they really don't like SLU, and the feeling has become mutual. Baron used to be Bona's coach. He complained about the refs there too.

Is the SLU Band there? Temple's Band made the 64 mile trip to Atlantic City.

Bonnies are getting schooled by Temple. Temple has good players and has a good coach. Plus, Atlantic City is a home court for Temple. Bona really doesn't belong in this league. I know the Bonnies are a proud lot, relying on their past with Bob Lanier. But they really belong in the MAAC.

You are correct. Net result is the same- Jacksonville replaces Lipscomb on our list. 8th potential NIT automatic bid went to Kent State today, although Kent State is potentially still on the bubble for an at large NCAA. NCAA is doubtful IMO. NIT is probably down to 24 at large bids and counting.

Mizzou has played assorted non-conference cupcakes at home for years, going back to Norm, through Pretty Q, and currently. This year Mizzou hosted its own Little 8: Tenn.-Martin, Texas Pan American, Chattanooga, Fairleigh Dickinson, Ark.-Pine Bluff, Austin Peay, UMKC, and Savannah State. There's not much doubt as to who is going to win those games. One of these years, Mizzou should get the Washington Generals on its non-conference schedule. So subtract those 8 cupcake wins, and Mizzou is what- 14-10. Plus, Mizzou has tanked.

With that, I agree. A 16 seed has never beaten a 1 seed in the 64 team field. Most of them have not been anywhere near close, akin to de facto byes or exhibitions. This year, we're looking at such potential matchups as Syracuse v. Lehigh, Kentucky v. the Winthrop/SWAC play-in winner, etc. I once sat through a Kentucky v. South Carolina State 2-15 opening round exhibition in Atlanta. The game wasn't close.

I think we may as well mine while we can: UAB (RPI 40 before the game) lost 58-44 to Southern Miss in C-USA. Shouldn't that take UAB off the bubble? That team has completely tanked down the stretch. That SLU-URI game tomorrow is getting bigger by the minute. One poster on the URI Board said the game is a (NCAA) play-in game. Here's hoping he's right. Another poster on the URI Board says the Selection Committe has taken notice of SLU.

Some of us, like yours truly, are just stating SLU's case. SLU does have a case, an argument to support an NCAA bid. This whole process is an ad hoc process. That's exactly what the "eye test" is, a subjective point of view. This year is convincing me that the NCAA should go to 96 teams. The NIT has become a joke this year. There would still be debates with 96 teams, but at least a lot of these situations, where there is no real difference between these teams, would become moot. On the other hand, that would ruin some of the fun. After all, this is March Madness.

Again, hate is a strong word. I will tell you that I, for one, do not "hate" Mizzou. Good grief, my cousin went to Mizzou. Another cousin was a Priest at the Newman Center at Mizzou. My Mom's side is from Northeast Missouri. They all root for Mizzou. But some of us root for SLU ahead of Mizzou. As for your "no apparent reason," the reasons are obvious. We are competing for the same media attention. We used to recruit the same players, although that usually is no longer the case. Frankly, I want SLU to take Mizzou's NCAA bid, but that applies to the rest of the BCS pretenders too.

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'm mining for a bid, looking for an opening, any place, no holds barred. Mizzou has tanked. It would be the ultimate justice for SLU to take Mizzou's place.

It's more a matter of turf protection. What we've heard is why would we (Mizzou) want to play SLU when we (Mizzou) have little to gain and everything to lose? What does Mizzou have to lose by playing SLU? It is a win-win for both schools. The last series drew huge crowds, 25,000 to the Dome for the first game. I was there, and Mizzou had more fans. All 3 games were highly competitive; SLU won at the Dome, led most of the game at Hearnes Center before losing late in the game, and lost on a buzzer beater at the now Scottrade Center. In fact, going back to the Dark Ages of Ron Ekker, the last time SLU and Mizzou played before the more recent 3 game deal, SLU took nationally ranked Mizzou into OT at the Checkerdome before falling after SLU's top player fouled out. Mizzou won easily the next year in Columbia. So of the 5 most recent meetings, 4 of them have been close games. Nebraska plays Creighton. All 4 Iowa D-1 schools (Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa, and Drake) play each other. Kentucky has been forced by the Commonwealth of Kentucky to play Louisville. Tennessee plays Memphis. Play the game.

Major upset in the making in C-USA- Southern Miss leads UAB 32-17 at half. And as noted above, Memphis lost to Houston 66-65. If UTEP wins the C-USA Tournament, C-USA could get only 1 bid, where I expected 3. In the Big East, Marquette beat Villanova 80-76, so that should end any remaining doubt- Marquette is in. UCLA is ahead of Arizona in the second half. Those 2 C-USA bids could be in the process of being transferred to the BCS Pac-10.