Billikens_Fanatic

I'm all about dumping the WNBA, but not ready to instill a minor league NBA. One reason I don't think it would be popular is that NBA Europe is taking most of the pretty good players who aren't good enough for the NBA. I believe that guys would make more money over in Europe, so they would have little incentive being in the minors here. Also, the success of college basketball makes it very difficult for a minor league to be a success. In the minor leagues of baseball and hockey, where college coverage is basically nonexistant, nobody knows who the young players are in college. If you want to see good young baseballers play, you go to a minor league game rather than a college game. College basketball, on the other hand, introduces even the casual fan to a large number of good young players. I can't imagine people going to see a (more or less) second rate basketball player not only at the college level but in the minor leagues as well. Most cities that don't have a pro basketball team have at least one college team that would garner more interest (look no farther than St. Louis). I think the minor league teams would find it hard to succeed in markets with big college teams, because I don't think those who watch college basketball would switch to minor league basketball.

When asked at the scrimmage I went to last Friday with the recruits why he didn't dunk on a fast break, Fish simply replied "Two points is two points." Last time I checked, A dunk doesn't count as more points. If one of our best players chooses not to dunk, especially when that player is 6'2", why the heck should anyone care or question him? Plus, a scrimmage isn't a real game. IV made six 3's at the scrimmage. I guess we should make him our top perimeter option for next year.

Wow, I was impressed that a 17 year old kid could hold his own against our Bills, knock down a few treys, and play some good D. But for him to be doing it injured is insane. If that's the case, he has the potential to be a great player, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he gets some playing time his freshman year.

Tommie at least wasn't at this scrimmage. I'm not sure as to the official NCAA rules, so I'll defer to the more senior members of the board. Also rules people, Brad wasn't at this scrimmage. Are coaches not allowed to have organized practices now or something, or does anyone else have an idea why Brad wouldn't be there? As to Meyer, I really just had the impression that he had an off day. It seemed like he was holding his own on D, and he was able to get some open looks. It was just a matter of him not knocking those shots down. Since he is supposedly a great shooter, I would think that most games, if given those shots, he'll hit them. I didn't really see him create his own shot at all, but Fish and Reggie were the only guys really doing that (Lisch also did once, I think).

JJ was wearing sweats and a white T sitting on the bench next to Frericks. Not sure if he's injured or just has no desire to play.

I had the opportunity with other Blue Crew members and fans to watch Dwayne, Luke, and Lisch scrimmage today. Lisch, for a 17 year old kid, impressed me. He drained probably four 3's and a few other jump shots, with mainly Drejaj and DC guarding him. He has a sweet stroke, and with another year of experience and getting stronger, I think he would be a very nice fit for us. He didn't look very comfortable from the outset, but I think guys like Fisher and Drejaj joking around with him a bit to put him more at ease. Kevin also played some good D, getting a few steals. Dwayne's speed is incredible, and promises to be a great asset to the Billikens. He drained a few shots, made some nice looks inside, and showed off his hops with some rebounds. I can see why many on this board feel that he will carry us to victories. He makes everyone around him a better player. Luke was a bit rusty. He hit a couple shots, but missed some open looks too. I think he played in 2 of the 4 scrimmage games. Other notes: I kid you not, IV hit six 3's in a row in the shootaround, and another 3 in the scrimmage. If he can consistently hit them in game situations, it can really open up our offense. Of course I'm not expecting this, but one can hope. More importantly, Ian played a solid inside game BH is really, really tall. IO had a good scrimmage. He was on the receiving end of an awesome one hand alley oop, and had another dunk that nearly brought the rim down. He seemed less prone to turn the ball over, and focused on his inside game rather than honing his guard skills. AD is a fiery competitor, even in scrimmages. On several occasions he threw the ball against the West Pine doors when his man scored, and started up much trash talk. You gotta love having this kid on your team. RB and DC weren't hitting their shots, though Reggie had some nice moves inside. DC didn't look like he was trying nor cared that he was missing all his shots. Lisch traded off guarding DC and RB. I believe Polk guarded them for a bit too. And perhaps the highlight of the day: After being taunted by Blue Crew for laying up on a fast break, Fisher informed curious Blue Crewers that he hasn't had a dunk yet. But in the end, the Blue Crew was the fool, as Fisher threw it down with the left hand on a fast break with quite some authority. The place erupted, and Fisher just looked at us and smirked. Overall, I thought the scrimmage went very well. I was definitely impressed by the recruits, especially Polk and Lisch. And I'm sure Meyer just had an off day. I think all of our hopes for the future with these guys is merited. The next few years should be fun...

Actually I had World History with Edwin freshman year and saw him just about every class (minus road trips with the team). I guess he just didn't study outside the classroom or didn't understand the material. He even participated in a few discussions. I was surprised he did not pass and to learn his overall GPA.

The only way Kobe would ever be a Clipper is if it's in the terms of his probation. Though I don't care for Mr. Bryant, he is a winner, and would never agree to go to a losing franchise like the Clippers. I also think Telfair is more of a Jason Kidd-like point guard with court vision and passing skills. The only way a double team could help him is if it frees up a big man underneath. However, I wouldn't expect Telfair to take (or make) many shots, open or not.

I agree with Roy. Telfair's situation aside, the principal needs to remember that she is the educator, and as such, it is her responsibility to ensure that all of her students graduate meeting all requirements. Also, the principal should be conscious of the message that she is sending to other student-athletes: if you need to improve your game, just take a few weeks off in the middle of the school year to do so. Heck, college basketball players (at SLU at least) don't get to arbitrarily skip classes to independently practice. I didn't see Marque doing this last spring when he was a potential draft pick. If it's not tolerated at the college level, it definitely should not fly in high school.

I admittedly have not seen Telfair play. However, I can't help but think he's overrated because: 1. He's Stephon Marbury's cousin. and 2. He plays in New York City. The guy is way undersized (6-0, 160 lbs). He'd have a tough time matching up physically against many college PG's let alone NBA guards, more and more of whom are 6-8, 240 lbs. Telfair obviously should stay in school for another month to finish high school. He should probably go to Louisville and enhance his talent (and draft position.) That obviously isn't the popular thing to do today though. I know its the wrong sport, but I couldn't help but laugh at Michael Irvin during the NFL Draft say that Roy Williams (WR Texas) should NOT have stayed 4 years because if you don't come out early, it shows that you're not serious about the sport. Kids jump early for money. To grill someone for staying four years is absurd.

Professors who hand back their tests are not naive enough to think that no student will ever consider giving it to another student to study. Some profs even put their tests on reserve in the library for classes to look over. It's been my experience that those teachers that hand back old test NEVER use identical tests again. Those that hand them back expect them to be used as a study guide. If they use the same tests every year, they simply don't let you keep it. That's just been my experience.

All student athletes are given an approved absence from the university when their team travel conflicts with classes. This isn't just basketball, but any scholarship sport. Because of this, their academic timetable gets pushed back, but they never, to the best of my knowledge, get a free pass on any tests, papers, presentations, etc. I have had classes with a few basketball players. The only classes they missed were when the team was on the road. I think some teachers are more lenient about making up work than others, but that is at their own discretion.

like Vashon consistently dominates their competition and garners a bit of national attention. Their most notable product is probably Juan Dixon.

I do agree with most of your post. St Louis does have plenty of high school talent. It's just a matter of us being able to get those players and not let them go to bigger schools. However your fourth priority of having a recognizable NBA'er, while I think would help, isn't a big issue. Marquette had no big name before Wade, Depaul only had Q, who's roughly at Hughes level of recognition. The only NBA'er I could think of from Louisville was Samaki Walker, who's not as big as Hughes. So while there's no denying that single players can truly build a program (Tim Duncan - Wake Forest), I don't think it's necessary in building a winning tradition.

If Iverson made half of his shots, it would be a career best shooting day for him. I believe he made about 25% of his 3's and less than 40% of all shots. Most overrated NBAer, IMO. Want a great defensive game? Watch the Kings-Mavs tomorrow. (I'm just kiddding of course)

I agree AJ, but perhaps the worst trade was Valeri Bure for Mike Van Ryn. Van Ryn had a solid year for the Panthers. Bure of course played maybe 15 games for the rest of the season, and failed to even score a goal, I believe. We've lost a ton of young talent: Handzus, Nagy, Reasoner, Hecht, Bartecko, Papineau, etc. It's really quite pathetic. I really like young defensemen Backman and Jackman. I pray that Pleau doesn't trade them off for old washed up players.

sexiest coaches?!?! For some reason, when I think of Brad Soderberg, "sexy" does not come across my mind. (I suppose roommate StlCardinal is thankful of that :-)) However, collegeinsider.com disagrees. While a "best college coaches" list would of course be more interesting and significant, I thought this was funny nonetheless. I guess some ladies go for the "bald and goatee" look. They probably don't care for the massive amounts of sweat during the game, however. :-) Also included on the list was Huggins (what the?) and Painter from SIU. And missing was Pretty Q! Now if there was one list he would make amongst college basketball coaches, I would figure it would be this one!

The UNews today reported that Grand Forest apartments scheduled to be demolished this summer to make way for the new arena will remain standing as student housing next year. Has anyone else heard anything about the timeline of the new arena? Was it mentioned at the Billikens Club meeting? Or should we just assume that fund raising is taking a little while longer than originally hoped.

People in Alabama like football? I had no idea. :-) Of course basketball will never be bigger than football at Auburn, in the state of Alabama, or anywhere in the south. Yet other SEC schools like Florida, Miss. St., and Alabama have managed to field good basketball teams. If Mike Gottfried can take football-first-school Alabama to the Elite 8, there's no reason to think that Anderson can't take Auburn that far. The question is can Anderson lure in good recruits with C-USA falling apart? Just because Auburn basketball will never be bigger than Auburn football doesn't mean that Auburn basketball won't be bigger than UAB basketball when C-USA has nobody but UAB and Memphis. Maybe Anderson should stay, but you could hardly blame him if he goes to the bigger stage and jumps C-USA's sinking ship.

I understand. I think we can both agree that both Pujols and Renteria are fantastic hitters and should be in a Cards uniform for the rest of their careers!

Pujols wasn't quite 70 points, but was around 50; .320 to .370 are both excellent numbers. BUT Renteria had 50 more AB's with RISP, and had 11 more doubles and 8 more RBI's, so there's something to be said fot that. Also Pujols had more strikeouts than Renteria with RISP with 50 fewer AB's. Also Renteria led the Cards with a .320 average in late inning, close game situations whereas Pujols was just shy of .300, and Renteria led the Cards with a .500 average with bases loaded, and that is with leading the Cards in ABs with bases loaded as well. All I know is that I'd be pretty happy either having Edgar or Pujols batting for my team in tight games. I'm sure you'd agree with that :-)

>>-I am estatic to see Ray Ray back in a Redbird uniform. > Ecstatic isn't the first word that comes to mind with Ray Ray, but I'm at least hopeful. It seems like he's been playing pretty well in the preseason, and if he stays healthy and doesn't strike out as much (Rolen and Edmonds already do that enough), he'll be a nice fit, and I'd like to see him and Sanders platooned with So. > >-Everyone has heard a lot about Houston and Chicago's >pitching staffs, but has anyone else noticed that two of our >starting pitchers from last year's team--Harren and >Simotachi--may not even make this year's team. This tells >me that we (a) have upgraded our staff or ( made some real >bad personnel decisions. I hope that it is the former. >Regardless, a healthy Izzy will go a long way this season. >Plus, Wagner is now a Philly, and Prior may be out for a >while. Wagner has been the backbone for Houston over the last few years. Nothing against Izzy, but if we had a dominant closer like him, we would have won the Central last year, and could have gone much further in the playoffs in years past. Prior stands to lose about 3 or 4 starts from what I've been hearing, so I wouldn't think that would affect the Cubs too much. As far as our starters, we have a lot of question marks. Can Woody stay healthy? Can Morris return to his form 2 years ago? How will Carpenter pitch? It's nice to have a young arm like Marquis in there, but he's not exactly Mark Prior. Will the Jeff Suppan from the first half of last season start or will it be the Suppan who was terrible on the Red Sox? It's possible this staff could do really well, but it's also possible we could be the worse in the league. > >-Any preferences Womack v. Anderson v. Hart v. Luna? My >preference is Womack (due to his incredible speed) or Luna >(due to his long-term potential). > I like Anderson because he somehow wound up on my fantasy team. Alright, in all seriousness, I like Womack because he's the only one of the four that has actually proven something at his position. I'd play Luna every once in a while because he does seem like a good young player. >-I think this season will largely be determined by the >health of the teams' respective starting picthing. Prior is >hurt for the Cubs. Clemmons is an old man for the Stros. >Williams and Carpenter are coming off injuries for the >Cards. The team that stays the healthiest wins IMO. I agree in part. I think Prior is just missing April, so that shouldn't be too large of a factor, unless he recovers more slowly than anticipated. I think we should focus on our team rather than the Cubs or Astros, on keeping our pitching healthy and developing young pitchers like Simo, Haren, and Marquis. I think our bullpen is better than last year's, but that's not saying a whole lot. Lincoln and Kline have been pitching great in the preseason. If both could be viable set up men for Izzy, that would be huge, as the Cards were awful in blowing late game leads last season. All in all, we'll be decent. Tomko and Tino are gone, so at least we don't have to worry about them contributing to losses. Renteria is the most underrated player in the league, and one of, if not THE best all around shortstop in the game. We have the best player in the game in Pujols. Rolen and Edmonds are all stars. Sanders and Lankford could have very good seasons. We have the potential of having a great team, as long as everybody stays healthy, and the starters keep us in the game to let our offense win it with the bats. I think we might surprise a lot of people who are only looking at Houston and Chicago. Go Cards!

I agree Roy. Why would you give the ball to anybody other than the player of the year in all of college basketball? Nelson got a good look, and drained shots like that earlier in the game. I wouldn't imagine getting any higher percentage shot in 7 seconds with OSU getting a chance to set their defense. You know Marque would want to take a big shot like that last year, and everybody would be wanting him to. Nelson's the same way.

In the words of Jets head coach, "You play to win the game." You don't play to finish in the Top 25 rankings. Roy Williams was a good coach, but until he wins everything, he'll forever be remembered as never being able to take his team all the way. That's how you measure how good a team is. Any team can rack up a good regular season record, but unless they perform well in the playoffs, there is no point. Being a Blues fan yourself, can you possibly consider them one of the best teams over the past 5 or 10 years unless they have won it all at least once? Sports is about winning, not pretty finishes.

Ok, over the last five years in men's basketball, the champions were UConn, Michigan St, Duke, Maryland, and Syracuse. As far as your other randomly selected sports, in baseball: Miami, LSU, Miami, Texas, Rice. In volleyball: UCLA, BYU, UCLA, BYU, Hawaii. No Big 12 or SEC team has ever won a championship in volleyball. I'm not sure why you mentioned it. Womens basketball: Purdue, UConn, Notre Dame, UConn, UConn. And football: Florida St, Oklahoma, Miami, Ohio State, and USC/LSU. So the total tallies over the past 5 years with your chosen sports are: ACC: 3 Big 10: 3 Big 12: 2 Big East: 9 Mountain West: 2 Pac-10: 2.5 SEC: 1.5 WAC: 2 Now that we see your two conferences mediocrity in those sports, let's return to basketball. Nobody in the Big 12 has won it all since Kansas in 1988. Sure the SEC had Kentucky win it a couple of times in the '90s, but that's hardly dominates. There is something in college sports called a level playing field. No one conference truly dominates in most sports, which is what makes college sports so enjoyable to watch.