philliken

Boy was I off-base. Recently I 'challenged' Bryce's effort, heart, and ability. I even "bashed" him by calling him lazy at points. Well Mr. Husak of Mt. Vernon, IA, I am sorry. I was at the game tonight as usual, and I hate to admit that when you first started to shoot from the outside, I was pessimistic. I have NEVER in my life been happier to eat my own words. Believe me, I attempted to be the loudest as you got your standing ovation tonight; an ovation you most certainly deserved! I apologize for the public criticism, and congratulate you on your game. Keep up the good work.

If you get 2 correct, I'll buy you a round. 3 correct = 3 rounds, all of them means you're getting sh$tfaced.

I LOVE the optimism, but seriously? I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see him doing that well in ANY of the categories. He might get the points, could get the rebounds, but no way he dishes out 8 dimes, stuffs 4, and doesn't turn the ball over once. If you're right though, I meet you before the next game and buy all you're drinks.

SLU 66 - GeeDub 57

Another good point. I thought about that after my last post. The only retort I had to that was any D1 player should be conditioned enough to handle playing 21 minutes; especially since this isn't run and gun bball. But he does have the furthest to run up and down the court each time as well.

I don't think saying that he looked lazy through parts of the game is bashing. A players lack of hustle can cost a team a game - it didn't today - not even close. But there are going to be situations when we need everyone to give maximum effort - hell this is D1 basketball. Every player on every team regardless of talent level should give everything they've got. To repeat, I like Bryce, and I don't want to demean what he did for us today. Keep in mind also, a lot harsher things are said about other players on this team. I simply would like all the players to be motivated every second.

Believe me, I'm very open to criticism on my posts. And yes, on the stat sheet, it looks like he had a great game (at least on the glass). And I gave him credit for sticking with that basket, and for his help on the loose ball. Maybe I should have said that at times he looked lazy today. I know he's a big man, and it's gonna take him longer to get down the court. My arguement is that I saw 3 or 4 plays at least where he simply just didn't try to go after the board. That's what bothers me. I think guys like Kevin and Luke give 110% every minute, and I don't think we get that from Bryce. You're right that we didn't see a lot of what Bryce does from Ian, but if you rewatch some of that game (if you TiVoed it or whatever), you'll see what I'm talking about. Like I said, I'm not bashing Bryce, I like Bryce. And overall I am happy with what we've gotten from him. But I do think he could do more if he puts more heart into it. I even liked Bryce defensively today. Aside from the 2 blocks, he also contained the paint against a very good interior passing team. So, don't take my post as harsh. I just would like to see every player on the team give everything they have. I could have posted criticism on almost every player, but I was keeping a closer eye on Bryce today because of the recent activity.

I'm usually a big fan of Highmark and Gould, but today I was upset with something. They repeatedly praised Bryce for his strong EFFORT today. Now, he did have a nice rebounding total (9), but he seemed SO lazy out there. He scored 4 points (back to back I believe), but I think he could have easily had 4 or 5 more easy bounds. It seemed he didn't leave his feet if he didn't feel like it, reacted late, and let the bounce in the direction of other Billikens assuming they'd get it. Twice Richmond came up with the ball when I thought it should have easily been Bryce's. I'm not saying he had a horrible game, and I'm not picking on him, do you agree he just comes across as lazy - like he really doesn't want to be there? On the good note, he did have 2 nice blocks, and he stuck with his offensive rebounds, and even got involved on the steal by the baseline. So, not all bad. What'ya think?

Thanks guys. For the record Bill was by no means an ass to me. And it was his wife/family that were the ones to ask me. I know it was Bill trying to get me to sit, and he was appreciative when I did. Also, my seats are just off center court about 15 rows back, my buddy who has those tickets asked me to sit with him yesterday. I haven't had problems at my seats. I appreciate your guys support, and I don't plan on letting my ass remain in the seat.

So last night at the game, I was sitting second row beneath the basket opposite side of the student section. I was standing and applauding like any good fan should. Well late in the game, during Kevin's heroics, I was being told to sit down and let those behind me see better. My thought was (and no I didn't say this to them) get off your ass, stand up, and cheer. Now one of the gentleman is well respected alum Bill Slattery. Obviously I was accomodating Mr. Slattery, but was I wrong to feel upset at the fact that I was told to sit down during such a pivotal point?....hell at any point I should be allowed to stand and applaud. This is part of my problem with SOME fans, not all.

What the hell, I can't help myself. I'll drink the kool-aid tonight. I could use to be a bit more optimistic. SLU 61 - XU 57.

Of all places I found a bunch of stuff during the Christmas season at Crestwood Mall. There is a place there called Hibbet or Hibbert sports, and the Champs there also had gear. There was another small store (mostly high school gear) that had a few shirt options as well. That's the only mall I've ever been to where you have 3 store options for Bills wear.

I scrolled down and clickd the game. I have a black scree with an ad - doesn't say channel isn't working though.

Once again, I (gulp) agree with moy. It's a winnable game for SLU, but the road factor does us in. UD 63 - SLU 58.

LaSalle back to back 3s. Explorers 60 - SLU 58 Their 3s are killing us.

No, Tommie didn't dunk that ball......He SLAMMED that ball. That was thunderous! Now Danny hits a 3 - his 10th pt.

So did I. There was like 8 of us who are SLU alumns who road-tripped it to Louisville that year to see the tourny. We were about 2 rows off courtside at Freedom Hall. HEARTBROKEN. That was one of the best and worst game experiences as a fan.

Good call on Bryant. Wasn't that the day before SLU soccer lost in the quarterfinals on a snowy field at Maryland?

Box, you struck my curiousity about that season, so I went to the archives - highlighted games from that year. 2002-2003 Season Mar 1 Marquee hits a 3 to tie in regulation. 2 FTs to tie in the 1st OT. SLU 76- Tulane 74 (2OT) Feb 22 was the aforementioned DePaul game SLU 62-Dep 61 Feb 18 SLU ends a losing streak AT Cincy SLU 58 - Cin 55 Feb 12 was the epic battle home against #2 Louisville SLU 59 - Lou 58 Jan 25 Marquee scores 6 in the last minute and change SLU 69 - Mem 66 Aside from those W's, we had close losses too. Then SMS wins in OT 72-64 A ranked Marquette team beat us both games each by 4 points. The devastator was in the CUSA tourny semifinals, losing to UAB by 2. The next season was the 1pt drop to #2 Arizona. If only Marquee's toe was 1 more inch backwards, its a 3ball and a tie game.

You remember absolutely correct. I think we had 3 games that season that we won on the final possession. I still can't get over that shot from Mizzou though. I almost forgot that was the same season.

Just to clarify, Marquee didn't shoot the ball from midcourt. He drove to about the free throw line. My post was not very specific on that - made it sound like he hit a hail mary.

So before the last posession in overtime, I was thinking to myself how great it would be to witness a win at the buzzer. That got me thinking of the GREAT Billiken victories since I've been a fan. I'm not necessarily talking about great performances, good shooting nights, but good endings. I think the Louisville victory a few years back will be the most commonly thought of, but what other great endings were there (another mention could be the SIU game recently posted on youtube). For me it has to be a game against DePaul in Chicago at the Rosemont. I was home on break (5 or 6 years ago I want to say). We were trailing by 1 with the ball and about 4 seconds left. Josh bounced the inbound, and DePaul let it bounce all the way to midcourt where Marque picked it up and floated the game winner at the buzzer. That was a great game for me personally to be on the road and see a great game like that. Anybody else remember that game?...or have any other good finishes?

I hope that friendly reminder is only for those who live out of town. The team needs the fans now more than ever. Lets get off our butts and get to the game tomorrow. See you there. As far as the 360 goes, I have a damn mac and haven't gotten it to work right yet.

It's final Umass 82-Dayton 71 in Ohio.

Both Xavier and Dayton lost tonight. Temple 78-Xavier 59 OUCH! Umass up 9 with less than a minute left AT Dayton 78-69. While it's not good for the A10 to have two ranked teams lose, it shows better parity in the conference. Let's hope the Bills can make it 3 for 3 tomorrow night with a win against URI.