Bay Area Billiken

I was told by a Jesuit priest from an East Coast school, who was in the know re SLU, that the A-10 would not be big enough for SLU, citing TV. When I asked where he thought SLU should be, he thought about it and ultimately said the Big East.

Perhaps. I don't know Majerus. He made a similar comment re being led in the WGN Radio interview when he was asked about his comments at the Hillary rally. But my gut feeling is that Majerus would rather have SLU be in the Big East. One basis for that is when Majerus was asked if SLU's travel issues would be similar in the Big East, he responded that SLU would be flying charter in the Big East. I wish we could get audio of Kim Tucci's call into KFNS last night. He reportedly mentioned former SLU AD Doug Woolard, who steered SLU into the A-10, left and became the AD at South Florida, which was invited into the Big East. To me the A-10 is a tweener, between the Big East and the Missouri Valley. Majerus' recent comments (sans last night's interview on KTRS) could be interpreted as him saying that if SLU will not make the commitment to be big time (as in the chartered flights), then SLU should be in the MVC. Perhaps, the Coach is trying to push SLU forward. The contra school of thought is that Majerus thinks he could dominate the MVC. I do not think that would happen. Stay tuned, as I'm sure SLU is tuned, as the conference dominoes are about to start falling again. The Pac-10 is expanding by two teams, the Big Ten is adding one team. And a poster on the Dayton board (udpride.com) quotes a source, Rumors on Hoops, that Pitt will announce its move into the Big Ten. If that happens, then a spot opens in the Big East, although the Big East would probably want to fill that spot with a football school.

Rick Majerus gave a good interview to Mike Claiborne on 550 KTRS last night. Majerus did not sound like a coach that wants to leave. He noted he is being led into these conference discussions. When I hear Majerus actually speaking, I like much (but not all) of what he has to say. He was pumping up the team, trying to beat the drum for fan support and attendance for Saturday's big home game against Dayton. The motives of elements of the St. Louis media, many of whom are Mizzou grads/supporters/apologists with an agenda to suppress SLU, are fair game to question. Other media types are courted heavily by the St. Louis based Missouri Valley Conference, another adversary of St. Louis U., which competes with SLU for media attention and whose schools recruit in SLU's backyard. And don't listen to the rubbish coming from MVC fans re not wanting SLU. There is no question that the Missouri Valley Conference would covet having St. Louis U. as a member. It would elevate that mid-major league on multiple levels, nonetheleast of which would be in academics. When you come from St. Louis U., like us, you become conditioned to think that doom is imminent re Billiken Basketball. Why? Because we've been disappointed and burned so many times, really since the early 1970's. We've been close to completely turning the corner in the right direction with Rich Grawer, with Charlie Spoonhour, and now with Rick Majerus. Frankly, this young team is exciting and has the potential to take SLU to places it hasn't been in over 5 decades. We need to keep the faith. Rick Majerus may be controversial, but he is getting the job done.

SMC at Gonzaga is on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. Pacific (11 p.m. Eastern) on Thursday night.

I was in attendance at the first meeting in Moraga, which Gonzaga won. Gonzaga has had SMC's number, although the Zags did get upset at USF. It is extremely difficult for an opponent to win at The Kennel in Spokane. As usual, St. Mary's is on the bubble for an NCAA at large bid with an RPI of 44. As of today, SMC would be in the NCAA Tournament.

I don't think so re Colorado State. The Pac-10 would view Utah and either Colorado or BYU as the pair.

With the Pac-10 looking at forming its own TV network, Utah and BYU would bring the Salt Lake City market, and Colorado would bring the Denver market. Ray Ratto, the SF Chronicle sports columnist, thinks it will be Utah and BYU, reasoning that those two have an existing rivalry, with good support, and that both are on the western side of the Rockies. On the other hand, Colorado is a popular school for students from California. Those appear to be the three leading candidates for two Pac-10 spots. Colorado has been mentioned in the past for Pac-10 expansion, as was Texas at one time. Now there is even talk of Texas to the Big Ten to be aligned with similar highly rated public schools academically.

It is doubtful that Fresno State will be asked to join the Pac-10. I could see UNLV getting the nod before Fresno State, as UNLV would bring the Las Vegas market. Fresno State was once in the old PCAA (now Big West), moved to the WAC, but then eight of the WAC schools, the ones with more tradition and backing, broke off to form the Mountain West. The last Pac-10 expansion was in 1978 when Arizona and Arizona State left the old WAC to join the Pac-10. The Pac-10 is positioned in traveling pairs, and Utah and BYU would be a natural set to move. But Colorado has also been on the radar for some time.

Utah and BYU or Utah and Colorado.

Ray Ratto has a column re Pac-10 expansion in today's San Francisco Chronicle. He thinks the two targets are Utah and BYU, while there is also thought about Utah and Colorado. But Ratto notes that Utah would not want to break up its rivalry with BYU for a new one (with Colorado). Plus, Utah and BYU are both on the Western side of the Rockies. On the other hand, Utah itself would bring the Salt Lake City market, whereas Colorado would bring along the Denver market. The Pac-10 is exploring setting up its own TV network. Re Colorado, a good number of California college students go to college at Colorado. Ratto also notes the ominous notion that the big conferences may be looking to split off from the NCAA with 60 members, anywhere from 68 to 78 members if the Big East is included. With the Big 10 looking to add a 12th school, and now with the Pac-10 looking at adding 2 schools, renewed conference shuffling appears to be imminent. Coach Majerus' pronouncements to the contrary, it is my opinion that SLU had best continue to park itself in the A-10 while the dominoes fall again and attempt to land in the best possible place when that happens.

SLU's RPI needs to get below 75 to make the NIT. That may not seem to be the case, but with those NIT automatic bids going to lower conference regular season champs that don't win their conference tournaments, anywhere from 4-6 NIT bids are lost in the already paired down 32 team field.

SLU v. St. Joe's game can be seen on DirecTV Channel 642, Comcast Mid-Atlantic, per St. Joe's website. Also, St. Joe's website says the game is on Comcast Philadelphia, Comcast SportsNet South, Cox New England, and of course, Charter in St. Louis. Let's get another road win in a hostile environment.

Nine hour time change and a nap played a role- that and the need to be close to the Vatican so SLU could finally beat the dreaded Bonnies.

Greetings from Tuscany, Italy. We saw the Pope on Tuesday night, and now SLU has beaten St. Bona. All is well, all is well. Arivederci, Billiken Brethren.

Of course, the zone is now legal in the NBA. I think Coach was speaking in generalities. I don't follow the NBA that closely, but from the little I've seen of it (Golden State Warriors coached by Don Nelson), it still seemed mostly one on one.

I can't believe I'm typing this, but last night maybe Brad Soderberg's "Pack Defense" would have been more effective at the end. That defense used to give me qualms. But it was made for an opponent like GW. I don't advocate playing zone the whole game, only late in the game against certain teams with athletes that haven't shown they can shoot- especially when SLU has a more than 1 possession lead. There are plenty of risks associated with playing a zone- a good outside shooter can destroy it. But GW and Charlotte didn't show they had anyone who could hit outside shots. Also the defensive players can have a tendency to react too late, and it hurts defensive rebounding. In his WGN Radio interview Monday night, Coach Majerus mentioned he doesn't play zones, citing that the NBA doesn't play zones. I support the Coach, but I don't think the NBA is a good reason. This dribble drive start started with Coach Walberg at Pepperdine, which went with him to Calipari at Memphis. I remember first seeing it with those undermanned Pepperdine teams in the WCC. It really didn't help them. But it has proven to be hard to stop with other teams.

Why doesn't SLU switch to a zone to stop the dribble drive penetration? This especially applies when SLU has a good lead late in the game like last night against GW. One would think a zone would be effective to stop the dribble drive penetration of guards from teams like GW and Charlotte, who had not shown they could make outside shots. A zone might also protect against SLU's shot blocking bigs being in foul trouble. They are SLU's last line of defense against the dribble drive for layups. Coach Majerus does not play zones. But maybe he should consider them in these types of situations. This dribble drive is hard to stop playing man to man, especially late in the game when the defenders are tired.

I know it is against the Coach's principles, but why doesn't SLU play a zone late in the game to stop the opponent's dribble drive penetration? This is especially the case when SLU's shot blockers are in foul trouble. The SLU Basketball team is not an NBA finishing school.

I think SLU needs to play a game, which it is tonight. Having this whole week off, including having a weekend off, is too much off time at this time of year, and leads minds and voices to wander into collateral areas.

Here's hoping GW has been preparing for SLU's "myriad of changing zones."

Let's hope you are right. GW has a lot of athletes and plays 12 players. I was at the GW game in STL last season. GW is 11-7, 1-4 in the A-10. GW's Smith Center seats 5,000, and crowds have been over 3,000 at the last two A-10 games (Xavier and Richmond). It has not been an easy venue for SLU.

GW and Richmond are 109 miles, or 2 hours and 2 minutes apart per Yahoo! Maps. Unless there is something like an A-10 rule (and if there is, it should be changed), why would SLU fly back to STL on Thursday afternoon only to have to turn right around on Friday to fly somewhere presumably in Virginia to play Richmond on Saturday afternoon? Why would SLU fly out of STL in the 6 a.m. hour this morning (Tues.) for a Wed. night game, when there are 4 non-stops on American to Washington Reagan, (6:05 a.m., 11:25 a.m, 3:15 p.m., and 8:40 p.m.)? Why would SLU return on Thursday in the afternoon when there are flights at 6:50 a.m. (arrives 8:10 a.m.) and 9:45 a.m.? If classes are the issue, it looks like some could still be made with better flight times. Perhaps there is insufficient room for the SLU traveling party on other flights. Otherwise, what is happening here? May we please not hear that SLU is traveling twice (4 flights) to Philadelphia for the LaSalle and St. Joseph's games on Sat., Feb. 6 and Tues. Feb. 9?

SLU's RPI is now 112, a gain of 1 spot so far tonight.

Majerus was talking about Chicago talent, a recruiting hotbed, in the context of DePaul.

This is just tremendous PR for SLU, overall, in the Chicago (#3 nationally) media market. SLU has never had a Coach like this in my over 3 decades following the team who could be on WGN Radio in Chicago in prime time for almost an hour.