Quality Is Job 1

>I am a big Tim Smith fan. Seen him three times in Charleston >and if DP is 70% the player this kid is we have no problem. >In addition to being quick with great court sense, he's got >a good three, looks awkward shooting it but it falls a lot. >If DP is our version of Tim Smith, we've got CUSA's frosh of >the year playing for us. Someone tell me who Tim Smith is. Dwayne Polk will be just fine this year. He will run the team very well, and with the help of his teammates, the team will not skip a beat from last year. I don't know if Polk will be C-USA's freshman of the year, because the competition will be fierce, but he'll be in contention. In addition to being quick, shooting well, handling the ball well, having good court sense and knowing how to direct a team, Polk has a defensive mindset and has been a habitual champion. In the years that he was healthy, he led Vashon to three state championships, including going undefeated as a senior, and he also helped his Bonner League team to that championship this summer. He won't settle for anything other than winning, and I believe it will continue at SLU.

As of the Tip-Off club meeting earlier this month, Reggie still wasn't cleared to play. I don't know, but I think he's still out. Coach Thorpe seem to express concern whether Reggie will be ready at the start of the season, if I'm not mistaken.

Who did Tim Smith play for?

Why do you have DePaul in your list of possible NCAA invitees? I think the Bills will go 11-5 in Conference USA this year and will make the NCAA Tournament. I think they'll pass DePaul, stay ahead of Marquette, and possibly pass UAB. Anthony Drejaj won't have to handle the point any more than he's done the past two years, as Dwayne Polk will be just fine as the Bills' primary ballhandler.

How about, "Come to SLU, and you will anchor a national championship team"? Fundamentals and teamwork within a great system are crucial. It's all we griped about during the Olympics, but now that we're talking about SLU, we want to appeal to the players' attraction to the flamboyant? We can't have it both ways.

Clarke is a good wing/guard; he's going to be just a sophomore this year. He'll be a senior when Liddell and Lisch are sophomores. With development, defense, and one significant frontcourt recruit (Justin Johnson and Ian Vouyoukas will be seniors and Bryce Husak will be a junior then), the Bills could duplicate Marquette's 2003 feat.

I haven't seen Lisch play, so would you please compare him to someone I've seen? Is he somewhat like Erwin Claggett, since he can get his own shot?

The big man isn't as dominate in college basketball as it is in the NBA or in high school. It is possible for teams to lack height and still do well, particularly prior to the NCAA Tournament. In SLU's best two years, their main big man was 6-4 David Robinson. Guards dominate college basketball. To determine your predicted standings, look at teams' guards. The one thing I like about Athlon's C-USA projections is that, although they pick the Billikens eighth, they admit that they usually finish higher than projected.

...if you're trying to persuade the board's basketball fans who have made up their minds to NOT like soccer that they should like soccer, you're fighting a losing battle.

>Teacher, keep driving east for a couple of hours! Look for a >well known high school in the area covered by >85degrees/84degrees and 40 degrees/39degrees. http://tinyurl.com/5o9jr Muncie, Ind., is at 85-point something deg. W and 41-point something deg. N and is east of Indianapolis (I said Indiana, not Indianapolis), so I can't be too far off. However, Jordan Armstrong appears to be committed to Southern Illinois and wasn't offered by SLU. The coordinates you listed are around the Dayton/Cincinnati area, just a little east of Indiana. So, please tell us to whom you are referring. P.S., I'm now a future librarian, instead of a future teacher. I read your post before you edited it to include "clues."

>I believe the success of an on campus soccer field has given >the admin greater cause for going after an on campus >basketball arena. Just conider that SLU soccer has led the >nation in attendance for the last several years. >BillikenRich, don't bite the mouth that feeds you. ...it's men's basketball -- not men's soccer -- that pays the SLU athletic department bills, so it's not "biting the hand that feeds you" to disparage soccer. Again, I don't care for the sport of soccer, but I hope the Bills reach the NCAA semifinals this year. It will be good for SLU. Just don't look for me at a game (actually, the only place to look for me is at a basketball game, as I'm not interested enough in other sports to attend the games, though I do listen to the broadcasts of the Cardinals, the Rams, and the Tigers' football team).

I didn't get to meet Cheryl, and I arrived a few minutes late and missed some of the new athletic director's remarks. She said that she "just walked out of" the new facility she helped establish at Santa Clara, so she knows some things about getting it done. She said the first priority is basketball, but it will be a multipurpose facility. She said that, if SLU had all the money in the world, the facility would include practice facilities (the decision whether to have practice facilities or to simply make sure the teams have ample times allotted for practice hasn't been made). Furthermore, if SLU had more "all the money in the world," the facility would include the offices. She wants to expand the list of suitors for purchasing the naming rights. Also, besides naming the building, the naming rights to other things (she didn't specify) will be up for grabs. That's about all I can remember (that hasn't already been covered in this thread) on CL's discussion of the arena.

...we won't know who's going to speak. We can't even assume that Brad Soderberg will be there.

>Video games are an industry and many students spend hours >playing video games (should they get credit)? Working a >retail job is an actual job that non-students have (should >canteen workers get credit?). Feeding the homeless is an >actual job (should soup kitchen volunteers get credit?). Yes, video games are an industry, but do people get PAID to play the games? I don't think so. They may get paid to design, test, and review the games, but not to play them for pleasure. I don't think the comparison is valid. In my opinion, if the canteen workers aren't getting paid, but are paying for credit, then they should be able to count it as an internship. Feeding the homeless sounds like a volunteer job and should not be rewarded by either money or credit. I don't think the comparison is valid. Folks need to keep in mind that credit hours must be paid for -- even if they come from a non-paid (or paid) internship or practicum. Athletes are on scholarship, which pays for their credits. They're doing what some people do to make a living, so why can't it be an internship?

Roy, I disagree with you. I would say that Athlon and most preseason yearbooks pick SLU to finish in the middle of the pack, not near the bottom. It's been that way for a few years now.

Considering that some people earn a living by playing sports and that many people have done internships for academic credit (rather than or in addition to pay), I so no problem with schools giving student athletes credit for completing a season of a varsity sport -- especially considering how much money (some of) the sports generate for the school. Hey, maybe every school should do it. Don't some school departments benefit from research done by (or on) students who get credit rather than pay? I can't balk at this.

I don't remember Dillard being a voracious rebounder, though. These descriptions of Vas'shun Newborne make him sound like a player who can average 7.5 to 8 boards a game. Maybe Newborne is a taller version of Donnie Dobbs or Jeff Harris (but a better shooter). Of course, consider who Newborne is matched up against in these pick-up games: his teammates and some former Billikens -- not exactly comparision material.

>Don't we see Newbourne being mainly a rebounding 4 for the >majority of his minutes? Well, if Newborne is a rebounding 3, then Ohanon can be the 4 (and we probably don't expect as much rebounding from Izik). If the two are on the floor together and the Bills rebound well, then it doesn't really matter which position, nominally, either is playing.

I believe Larry bounced the ball off of Walker's back or backside, rather than his head. That play was awesome. If I remember correctly, Larry scored only 7 points in that game. It was one of few times he didn't score in double figures.

The preview didn't have the Billikens finishing eighth in C-USA. It said that, because of the depth of quality teams in C-USA, SLU could have a good season and still be no higher than eighth. The same thing could be said for the other seven teams in the top eight.

...billikenbooster was saying that with his tongue in his cheek!