SLU_Nick

I have him just as a naive person. He might have lied to avoid embarrassment after the fact. That makes sense. A celibate, sheltered, uber-trusting mormon has NOT experienced anything like this in his life. This is not a Harvard-grad corporate CEO trying to manipulate everyone in his path with the intention of increased profits. So I guess I am putting him in the incredible dumb category not the clever, crafty, colluding category. The private investigation turning up the internet hoax was revealed to him the week before the BCS game. No wonder he played like S. What I am saying is not plausible is....him getting together with someone, crafting a sob story about a girlfriend who died the same week as his grandmother with the sole intention to drum up his heisman hopes. That is why I am saying he is victim. After he realized he was a victim...then thats when his dishonesty started and he tried (in his own mis-guided way) to cushion the blow/limit the fallout.

Are we all in general agreement that Manti was not part of the hoax and was indeed the victim?

You probably arent alone, but I am not worried in the least. We have 8 guys that I feel almost equally confident when they are in the game. Evans was a little off last night and we had other guys step up. Good teams can have a player or 2 struggle and the others will pick them up. DE will be fine.

Ah, HusakAttack..too bad...I was looking forward to cheering next to the Billiken Blue Blazer again. I will try to make enough noise for the both of us. I got my tickets from Meg today and and will be at the luncheon too. Go Bills. -Nick

Taj better be. Anyone else? I am heading up Sat morning and not sure how the alumni tickets or luncheons are working this year? -Nick

I am surprised at the level of schools looking at him. I honestly thought he was going to have some Big 10 looks...tampering rules make it so he wouldnt know which schools would come calling UNTIL he made the decision to leave, right? I would wager KC is dissapointed with the lack of interest. On the "if RM was here" discussion, I completely disagree that he would have had the same attitude if RM was here. RM has a level of authority so when he tells you are doing something wrong, you are more apt to listen because you know that he coached Andre Miller and helped him succeed in "the league." Nothing againt the Jims, but if I know I am the #2 player coming out of Illinois...I might not be listening either to 2 people who are self-labeled "interim". Then again, I was the Latrell Sprewell of the U-12 Boys and Girls Club league...

We are playing out of our minds on D.

I like the way we are subbing in waves....jakes defense is on point tonight

We look determined tonight!

This non-conference has pretty much been void of any consequence (on the court at least). I am watching every game thinking to myself, what can I actually take away from this? It's really not much. So some quick fire questions I am dying to have answered: 1. How good is KM? We know he is good, but does he single-handedly bring our swagger back which we have been lacking this year. 2. Does the play of JJ, MM, DE, RL, CE all elevate because they have a little weight lifted off their shoulders, how much. 3. Is our defense still good? 4. Is the A-10 going to be as tough as it seems. I can see us winning it or coming in around 7th. It has to be the hardest conference to predict. If I had to put a percentage on our chance to dance this year...I think it is sitting at right about 40% for me. That is of course a gut feeling...the depth of the A-10 scares me.

While disappointed, it is completely understandable. I am hopeful our Future Coach is out there recruiting right now.

I hope Franchise_08 isn't citing our boy Metz on twitter...

I cant see any other reason for KC not to play if he is not seriously injured. If I am JJ or MM, I am seriously pissed if KC is just milking his injury bc he is trying to manipulate the medical redshirt rules and get out of town. What other explanation is there to him not playing...

I didnt want to say this because I would get railroaded for rampant speculation. But it crossed my mind that KC would apply for a medical redshirt after milking this injury.....Players have lobbied in the past for medical redshirt. The rule of "if you play one minute, you cannot take a redshirt" seems to be more of a guideline rather than a rule lately. Hope I'm wrong.

I love the Derrick Rose story. Who was the walk-on we think? Was that the Peyton Jacks era? I would occasionally guard PJ at Simon Rec...kid could play.

Waiting for MB73 to come in here and debate this. I would say we are an A- with a healthy KC and maybe even KM. We did look much better defensively against Valpo but our great advantage should be the wave of good guards we have to throw at teams. Currently it looks like Jett and McCall are conserving energy out there knowing that they have to play 30-35 mins a piece. I personally, cant wait till we have a true 4 guard rotation and they can just bust their butts knowing that, when they get tired, they can rest and have a capable replacement coming in. Looks like we are taking full advantage of the "weak" schedule everyone, myself included, was complaining about back in Sept... -Nick

I am not sure what "the season is over" means but I still lean toward Clock in this one. It is just depressing to know that after all of the RM's ground work, which took 4+ years, the majority of fan base is 99.9% sure the pinnacle of this billiken basketball era was last season. The team has regressed, Conklin was a bigger loss than anyone thought, our recruiting pipeline is dry, we lost the chip on our shoulder, our defense no longer scares teams, our offense is anemic, and the "man in black" is not coming to the rescue. The stark difference between this year's team and last years, might secure RM's spot as the greatest bball mind who ever lived. The players seem to channeling the fan base as well. It feels like the players are just trying to "hold on" to any semblance of RM's apparition that still echoes in the rafters of Chaifetz. This is no longer RM's team and it's certainly not Jim Crews team. It is as if the players know they are playing at 80% of their ability, and try as they might, they just can't find that extra 20% without the big man barking at them in practice and from the bench. I feel so bad for the players because every last one of them bought into the system. This year was supposed to go down in Billikens history and be a discussion topic on here for years to come. Now it feels like the 2004 season. Yea, not sure what happened then either....it was in a word...forgettable. Of course I am still going to watch every game but my excitement for the program I have followed for over 9 years is just simply gone and I am looking around for someone to blame. Alas, I am not finding that responsible party. Today all I can think of when I reflect on Billiken Basketball is right there in my avatar. The palpable absence of the big man with the big heart (even if that heart ended up being a size too big). Get well soon Rick. You have done a great service to my University. Is this season over, maybe not. Did we reach the high water mark of performance last March...almost certainly. -Nick

Yea, tomorrow I think we might have some old "friends" revisit the board. I mean. We used to be tough to score on...now I can't remember our last stop that wasnt helped by the refs.... Ugh. I do not want to go back to sucking...

Anyone who thought Majerus' departure wasn't a big deal is a clown. (please don't check my posting history)

If you took the Santa Clara scoring over 100 on us....you probably got those odds about 20000000 to 1. Good lord. We are just not good.

Where the hell is ellis?

WestCoast--my thoughts exactly. The offense is not moving, the defense is terrible. We need KM. CR would help too.

Ugh..our defense is atrocious right now. Want to see Loe, Ellis, DE, JJ, MM at some point...I am over Barnett.

Grandy is high energy. Nice And 1 there. Looking like Manning and Crew are coming in.

Let's do this! One game at a time.