STLBlazer

I graduated from UAB with a BS in Finance, concentrations on Financial Management and Investements & Instiutions and am now living in St. Louis. I moved here 2 months ago to be with my fiancee, a UAB grad, while she is in graduate school at UMSL. She has lived in St. Louis all of her life other than college at UAB. Pro sports was my first love so it's great to be in St. Louis. There was nothing to do in Birmingham so I welcomed the move up here (but I HATE cold weather). I will be rooting for SLU (except when they go down to UAB) and plan on attending some games. Hate to hear that you guys are leaving CUSA but I do understand why you would.

Got the info from someone else and that is all they gave me. Sorry. Personally I don't think Marquette will be #1 and we will be #3. There's too many good teams right now to tell. I'm sure someone has a sleeper team that will surprise everyone.

BLUE RIBBON FORECAST: 1-Marquette 2-Louisville 3-UAB 4-Charlotte 5-Cincinnati 6-Depaul 7-Memphis ALL CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM: Demon Brown Morris Finley Francisco Garcia Charles Gaines Robert Whaley PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Demon Brown NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Robert Whaley TOP BACKCOURTS: Charlotte Louisville UAB TOP FRONTCOURTS: Cinci Marquette UAB Conference RPI: 2002-2003: 8th of 31 Last five years: 6-7-10-8-8

I was at the UGA game this past weekend. It was a very hard fought game but I am very pleased with the outcome. We went up against all odds and SEC refs and for part of the 3rd quarter had the lead against the #4 team in the nation on their homecoming day. I hate to think about "what if" because our starting QB, Darrell Hackney, was knocked out the previous week against #13 TCU while we had the lead 24-16. We had to put in a redshirt frosh QB and ended up losing the lead and the game by 3 points. Basketball is my favorite sport and I'm very excited about this upcoming season. Thank God we have a new coach that disciplines the players, makes them hustle all the time, and has made UAB basketball fun to watch once again. It's hard to say how the league will play out this year because so many teams have improved from last year. The last 2 weeks of the regular season should be very interesting as teams compete for the NCAA bids. I'll be looking forward to our game versus you down in Bham. Haven't decided if I'll make the trip down there or not since it will be televised here in St. Louis. Good luck this season.

You guys have a new fan here in St. Louis. I just moved here last month after graduating from UAB so when you guys aren't playing us I will be rooting for you. I plan on making several of your home games that are during the week. Hate to hear that you are leaving CUSA but I can understand the position you are in. By the way...I saw the plans for your new basketball arena. I think it is awesome and also a wise choice to make it a multi-purpose facility to offset the costs for SLU by having a circus, concerts, arena football, etc.