Bay Area Billiken

So that is not Gerry Pollard in that picture with Stu Durando. Those are the other two refs. Pollard is a big time ref, has reffed the Final 4. I've seen him this year reffing in the PAC-12.

I am trying to get a handle on how epically poor this SLU team's defense is. On the one hand I have had the thought if the players are simply physically incapable of playing defense. Some of SLU's players appear to be lacking in upper body strength. On the other hand, coaches, players say good defense is a matter of desire. Last night, the poor defense was joined by getting destroyed in the rebounding category. SLU was outrebounded 27-9 in the First Half and 38-21 for the game. Dayton had 13 offensive rebounds to SLU's 5. Dayton seemed to be getting to most of the loose balls, that and the loose balls seemed to finding Dayton players.

Gerry Pollard was the ref at the Missouri State at SLU game under Soderberg, when Ian Voyoukas tipped in the errant Tommie Liddell air ball shot, with the Missouri State connected video clock slightly out of sync with the game clock, a bit slower. After a long video review, Pollard exclaimed, "It's good boys." And thus SLU won by 1 point, setting off a cascading torrent of outrage in the Ozarks and among MoState fans. As for last night's game, SLU led by 7, 13-6 at 13:31. The refs definitely helped fuel the Dayton recovery and takeover of the game late in the de facto First Quarter and into the early part of the de facto Second Quarter. A whole series of highly questionable calls occurred, setting off several episodes of SLU fans' at the game booing, which was loud and audible on the CBS Sports Network telecast. After leading 23-19 after the "First Quarter," SLU was outscored 30-12 in the "Second Quarter," Ballgame. In advance I don't care if the truth re the refs runs afoul of the flamers' fire everyone narrative. You do not write the rules of engagement on this board. If the above leads to the expected sarcastic, negative responses from the usuals, so be it. So for those at the scene, (a) which ref (a) was the one that tossed the SLU fan; and (b) which ref is the one that threatened to toss Stu Durando. Based upon what I've read, both cases appear to be unjustified, and last night should not be the end of this. There should be an A10 conference level referee review, and if warranted, appropriate discipline.

Stats of Note: UD 18-33, 54.5% 3 PT; Rebounding: UD 38, SLU 21.

Tonight's Attendance: 6358.

Outrebounded 27-9 in 1st Half, UD 10-0 in offensive rebounds.

Ground the Flyers!

Watching on CBSSN, I also noted that play, and Jimerson indeed was fouled by 3 URI players, with the URI fans' boos audible. That booing was frankly hilarious. The A10 Saturday refs could have called three different Rams for a foul on that play, multiple choice, A, B and C would have all been correct. Given the muggings Jimerson routinely endures, as noted by CBSSN TV analyst Pete Gillen, I was surprised to get the foul call. Sincere Parker left the game with another injury. It appeared he was favoring his right shoulder.

BILLIKENS WIN!

Now a mini dust up in this ridiculous CAA cataclysmic struggle, delay for video review. Get this low con garbage off.

Lines: CBS Sports: SLU +5, o151.5. ESPN: RICH -5.5.

I don't see any available school in the East or in the South that is worthy of being added to the A10, and that includes from a pure basketball perspective College of Charleston (NET 102) and Belmont in Nashville (NET 131). However, I can see interest in both from a tourism perspective. Both have had their past moments in hoops, but both would be well out of both the NCAA (absent winning their respective conference tourneys) and NIT this season. In the past, Boston University, a very similar school to George Washington, has garnered some interest. But Boston U, now in the Patriot League, has a NET of 294. Likewise, Siena in Albany, NY has previously been mentioned. But Siena, in the Metro Atlantic (MAAC) has a horrible NET of 355. Both would bring a TV market, and a big one in Boston, but not a good basketball program. Boston is a nice city to visit. I think the A10 has expanded enough into the South with the additions of VCU, George Mason and Davidson, all after SLU joined the A10.

Dayton has a NET of 20. Barring a complete collapse, Dayton is IN. The NCAA cuts off today at NET 47.

SLU is not going back to the MVC. That is a non-starter. I doubt the A10 Eastern power centers and the newer Southern spur would support adding Valley schools Drake and Bradley. And frankly, why should SLU support adding any schools from either the East or the South that don't move the needle? At least Drake and Bradley have pretty good programs currently.

UMass has started to recover in Men's Basketball under Coach Frank Martin, NET of 86, would claim the last NIT bid. The A10 is #8 in Conference NET, whereas the MAC has free fallen to #24. The A10 will be a 2 team NCAA Tourney league if Dayton does not win the A10 Tournament. The MAC is without question a Juan Bid league in Hoops, with the only NCAA Bid being the auto bid to whoever wins the MAC Tourney. So this move is definitely a downgrade in Basketball, sacrificing the Basketball team for the D-1, FBS Football team, which has been wallowing in the deep abyss as an Independent. At this point, it is in the A10's best interests to not replace UMass, and stay at 14 teams, unless from SLU's perspective the replacement comes from the Central Time Zone. Drake of the MVC has a NET of 46 and as of today, per a pure following of the NET, would have the 35th of the 36 NCAA At Large Bids. Right now the best candidates for A10 expansion are Drake and Bradley, both from the MVC and both being old SLU MVC rivals. Bradley, NET 65 is NIT bound absent winning Arch Madness. No one else comes close to moving the needle. This being said, I don't think the majority East Coast with its Southern Spur A10 would be particularly interested in playing in Des Moines and Peoria.

Tommy Ray is from my high school and hometown, Quincy Notre Dame, up river in Quincy, same high school as SLU Soccer players Seth and Tanner Anderson. It’s great to see our QND Raiders doing well as SLU Billikens.

We’ll see you in Brooklyn! We saw Hamilton the first night it returned from the pandemic. I won’t give away the ending.

Nothing beats winning.

We saw last place Oregon State play at now 6th Place (of 12) Cal Thursday night in Berkeley, two sub-.500 teams. It was a good game, high energy on both sides, highly contested, played above the rim but also with good outside shooting, tough defense on both sides, and very entertaining. Ms. BAB and our guest, who has a share and gets a handful of Golden State Warriors NBA games, both commented how good it was to have those Pac-12 refs let the two teams play, not call fouls ad infitum and turn the game into a free throw shooting HORSE match. The lousy, regressing Atlantic 10 of hopelessness could and should take a needed lesson. Of course, they were probably asleep Back East. In the A10 almost every trip into the paint results in a foul, whether it's really a foul or not, if the shooter misses the shot. That slows down the game, as if the Eastern Block half court chess matches need any help in slowdown. Today matches two offensive minded, defensive challenged teams. The over/under is a high 163 points. SLU is now -5.5, a 5.5 point favorite. Let the players play, and let's watch an entertaining game. Swallow the whistles. Try it, you might actually like it.

Two wrongs don’t make a right …

To borrow from Cal: Who are we? SLU. And who’s gonna win? SLU. Go Bills!

SLU leads the all-time series 13-9 and has won the last 6 meetings. GW has never beaten SLU in St. Louis. Let’s Go Bills!

Never forget the rematch that same season, 2/13/08: @SLU 63 GW 38.

Line per cbssports: SLU -4.5, o163.5. ESPN concurs: SLU -4.5.

A10 Special