SLURadioBoy

That’s what I was afraid of. That would make things tricky for SLU then since they don’t have any unused scholarships at the moment.

If Fletcher decided to transfer right now would that count against 2020 scholarships or 2021 for whatever school he went to? I wasn’t sure since the first semester is over now.

Looks like Cam isn’t happy about his role with the team so far.

I watched the 4th quarter of the CBC-SLU game online last night to see how Rob Martin and Larry Jr. we’re doing. Martin was very impressive scoring 11 points in the 4th when the score kept going back and forth. I believe he finished with 18 points. Unfortunately Hughes only scored 2 points for the game and that was a garbage time basket with less than 5 seconds left after the game was already decided. I wonder how hard SLU is recruiting Martin? He looks like he has a pretty impressive skill set, especially for his size (5’9”).

Frank just talked about Fletcher on his show. He said SLU finished second in his recruitment (first, I’ve ever heard that) and he has a great relationship with Tate. If Fletcher doesn’t want to stay at UK, he thinks SLU could be a possibility.

Holiman retweeted the highlight video of SLU’s win over Pine Bluff. Looks like he’s paying attention.

Yeah, I didn’t even post that one because I didn’t think it was worth it with his lame response. Most of the other writers seem to like the questions each week.

This isn’t a Mailbag submission, but The Athletic has SLU at #12 in their Power Rankings... 12. Saint Louis (5-0) Know who is blowing people out? The Billikens! In their four “let’s see how badly you actually beat this team” games against SIU Edwardsville, Arkansas Pine Bluff, Central Arkansas (all of whom are really bad) and Indiana State (not great, but at least better), across 288 possessions, Saint Louis scored 362 points and allowed 230. That’s good. That’s really good! In its fifth game, a matchup of relative equals against LSU, Saint Louis held out for an 85-81 win (in 66 possessions). That victory was a good illustration of the kind of offense this team is playing right now: Travis Ford’s team has the third-highest effective field goal percentage in DI. Just four teams have been more accurate from beyond the arc. If anything, Saint Louis could take more 3s; the Billikens don’t shoot them all that often for a team this good at it, though there may be some causation in that. What Saint Louis does do well is whip the ball around: 63.1 percent of its field goals follow an assist. This is an experienced, tight-knit group playing some of the prettiest offense in the sport and hugely energizing its fans in the process. (Just look at the mailbag questions every week. Never fails.) Before Saint Louis plays NC State on Thursday night — a good NC State team, by the way — it’s probably worth taking a moment to appreciate the work Ford has done. It didn’t go terribly for him at Oklahoma State, but the Cowboys never quite fulfilled their Marcus Smart-era promise during his tenure. After OSU, he took over a SLU program that had gone from a Rick Majerus-built top-10-level program that fell all the way down into the low 200s in the last two years under Jim Crews. Saint Louis was still at that level when Ford took over. But year over year, he has lifted the program out of that tailspin: From 273rd in Year 1 to 148th in Year 2 to 106th to 62nd to where they are now. It’s a classic slow-burn college hoops rebuild, and it’s peaking before our eyes.

Works for me. Thanks for your hard work!

I think everyone will approve of Andy Katz’s top rising star in college basketball. https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2020-12-08/10-rising-stars-college-basketball-you-should-keep-eye-ranked

Here’s another one... Hypothetically, let’s say Saint Louis beats Minnesota on the road in a few weeks and finishes undefeated in nonconference play. Then they finishing second in the A10 behind Richmond. Will that be enough to get them an at-large bid to the tournament? Or will the lack of high-major teams who were willing to play them hurt them? — Andy T. Yes! A SLU question. OK, so that is a lot of projecting, especially in a year when the NCAA Tournament selection committee might be drawing names out of a hat. So here’s the thing with the Billikens: They’re really good, which means they’d pass the eye test, if the committee is forced to go that route. Their league is very good this year, which means they will get a bump from how the A10 performs as a whole. They beat LSU already, which is a nice nonconference win. I don’t think anything is a guarantee, especially this season, but I’d argue that Saint Louis is very much in a good spot. Play well, win games, get a bid.

Donated via Venmo. Thanks for all you do, Steve!

ESPN+ now has Saturday’s game against LSU starting at 11:00 a.m.

Rothstein put out an article about 10 bold predictions for the season today and had the Bills winning the conference at number 10. 10. Saint Louis will win the Atlantic 10 regular season title Richmond was voted first in the Atlantic 10’s preseason poll a few weeks ago, but it would be foolish to ignore what the Billikens return and what they’ve already proven. Travis Ford bring back everyone of significance from last season’s team that won 23 games, headlined by three all-conference players in Jordan Goodwin, Hasahn French, and Javonte Perkins. Saint Louis also won at Richmond last season and played the majority of last year without two starting caliber wings — Gibson Jimerson and Fred Thatch — who only played in a total of 16 games due to injuries. This team is loaded and has a legitimate chance to be the best non power conference team in college basketball. https://collegehoopstoday.com/index.php/rothstein-files/10-bold-predictions-for-the-20-21-college-basketball-season/

I received an email from Chris May the other day saying that there won’t be fans allowed in Chaifetz for the unforeseen future and a ticket representative will be in touch with me soon about the Ticket Assurance Program.

Now the Billiken questions are growing! Saint Louis’ Yuri Collins led all freshmen in assists last year. With the emergence of Javonte Perkins, the return of Gibson Jimerson and the ability of Jordan Goodwin and Hasahn French to dominate down low, could Collins break out and lead the country in assists as a sophomore? — Andy T. With Northern Iowa dropping out of the Golden Window Classic that leaves Saint Louis with just 2 games there. Is a nonconference schedule featuring LSU, Nebraska and at Minnesota still strong enough to garner the Billikens a 6 seed or higher in the NCAAs? — Joel H. I cannot say it any clearer: There’s always a Saint Louis question in the mailbag. And now there are two! And I’ll answer them same way as I always have: Watch out for Yuri Collins to break out as a sophomore and lead the country in assists, and watch out for Saint Louis as a dark-horse national title contender.

Jon seems to like the matchups for the Bills...

Yes, it will have the same coverage as Cardinals games. 50K watts is the strongest an AM station can be. KMOX has always been known for their great signal, which bounces around to parts of 40 states. I just heard Chris May on KMOX and Rammer and Earl will definitely be back this season.

That makes sense, especially considering the fact that the SLC coach wasn’t incredibly complimentary to SLU in The Athletic’s article discussing Nesbitt’s recruitment. I’m sure he’s always pushing his players to go to the biggest school possible.

More attention for the A-10 and the Bills in the mailbag... Dana, how many Atlantic 10 teams do you think make the tournament this year? The league’s top half is the strongest it’s been in years. — Henley L. With Richmond’s Nick Sherod now being out for the season, does that make Saint Louis the favorite in an A-10 that should be very deep this season? — Andy T. Do you think UMass could be a sneaky team to compete at the top of the A10? I don’t think they’ll win the league but could they get top four? With Tre Mitchell potentially being the best player in the league and all the young guys on the team a year older and having transfers like Noah Fernandez, I think they could make some noise. — Amiel H. Dana — is Tre Mitchell and the supporting cast enough to make UMass a contender in A10 (top-three finish)? Where should Minuteman fans put their expectations? — Patrick N. VCU has been predicted to have a down year in the A-10. The two transfers — both talented big men — have received waivers for immediate eligibility. In addition to those two, they have a group of underclass guards that can shoot the ball well. Do you think that VCU will surprise anyone this year and come back from a down year in 2020? — David V. So much Atlantic 10! I love it. For starters, I am thrilled to see the league back in the big picture conversation. It makes college basketball that much better, and more entertaining. Which is the start to Henley’s answer. Totally agree that the A10 is shaping up to be the best its been in some time. The catch this year is everything is a mess, and we’re not going to have our normal body of work to judge by. Selection Sunday is going to feel like a game of darts, and I’l be curious to see how teams in the A10 are judged, what with scheduling challenges. Here’s what I think: Richmond and St. Louis are good enough to make the tournament, the Spiders even without Sherod. And although I understand the argument for the Billikens above Richmond without Sherod (which just stinks, by the way), I don’t discount the vote that still gave the Spiders the edge. Three double-figure scorers returning is a sweet place to start. After that, St. Bonaventure and Dayton still have to be respected as legit shots. Do not discount Jalen Crutcher simply putting the Flyers on his back and carrying them into March. And yes, Amiel, Tre Mitchell makes UMass intriguing as a spoiler/team on the rise. The Minutemen are really young, so I think the future is still ahead for Matt McCall but trending in the right way. Top three might be tough to crack, but top four? Not out of reach. Finally, I know it is particularly painful for VCU fans to watch Richmond succeed while the Rams try to regroup, but we have to be reasonable. VCU lost five players and is especially young. Sophomore Nah’Shon Hyland is going to be asked to do a lot this year, so I’d say practice some patience.

I didn’t realize this kid was already considered one of the top 25 players in his class. If he keeps getting better, it will be incredibly hard to keep him from going to one of the blue bloods. Hopefully Ford and Tate can get on him early and make a good impression.

Hope we have a shot at Nicholson then.

Frank talked a little big about the Hochman article about Kern today. He reiterated that SLU was recruiting Kern pretty heavy and then stopped. VCU never stopped going after him. SLU really likes Kern, but is looking to add some players that can make an immediate impact since they may have to replace Goodwin, French and Perkins. He still thinks they will go the grad transfer route and pick up players that have shown they can score at the college level since they may have to replace 45-50 points a game that the trio of seniors should bring this year. One interesting nugget he mentioned was that if Goodwin stayed in the draft, there was talk of Nesbitt joining the team this season to replace him. Apparently there was interest in both sides of that happening, but JGood decided to come back.

Frank just mentioned on his show that things can change, but he does not think Kern will be committing to SLU. Sounds like he will be signing with someone this week.

Frank just reiterated on his show that he doesn’t think SLU will sign anyone in the fall. He’s not even sure if they will sign anyone in the spring with the ability of everyone to come back next year.