Pistol

Trivia Question of the Week: SLU played Fordham exactly one time before joining the A10, back in 1972. Where was this game held?

Maybe the best way to get rid of the soap opera and start operating like a business focused on the on-field product is to get rid of the nepotistic club that has been running the program. Too much nonsense lately. This generation can't be squandered. It was time to clean house.

New offer: Jurrell Baldwin - SF, 6-7, 185 - Chicago, IL (Hyde Park Academy) - AAU: Team Rose (Adidas 3SSB) - Twitter: @jurrell3_ Offers: Saint Louis. Interest: Dayton, Loyola-Chicago, Richmond, DePaul, Illinois, Boise State, SMU, Belmont, Murray State, Southern Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Valparaiso, Rice, Louisiana Tech, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Southern Indiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Albany, Southern Utah. Latest News: Baldwin received an offer from SLU. (1/24/23) Scouting Report: Baldwin is a big, physical, versatile scoring wing who creates mismatches because he's too strong for most wings and too quick for most bigs. He's got good handles for his size. He's tough and productive as a rebounder. He's a good shooter off the catch. He's become a more fluid athlete. He's a bit of a late bloomer, young for his class. He transferred from Homewood Flossmoor to Hyde Park Academy between his sophomore and junior seasons.

Maybe he didn't. He's rolling with 4 returning rotation players in the starting lineup and no one off the bench is getting more than mid-teens MPG. At 6-11, 0-5 in conference, and having lost 6 in a row - none of which were close - maybe it's time to make some changes. Maybe he has some answers on the bench.

We talked to the guys from the 2 Ramblers Podcast on the last @Midtown Madness episode and they said this is the case with several guys not getting minutes. Jacob Hutson (3.9 MPG, 0.8 PPG) started 19 games for Loyola last season. Grad transfer Jeameril Wilson (5.8 MPG, 1.6 PPG) started 30 games and averaged 11.2 PPG at Lehigh last season. Sheldon Edwards (9.7 MPG, 3.1 PPG) averaged 26 MPG and 11.4 PPG at Valpo last season. One of the reasons we all thought Loyola would be good this season is because of how much talent they were bringing in. But the only transfer Valentine seems to trust is Alston, the leading scorer who came from D-II California University-Pennsylvania. This isn't a knock on Alson - he's an impressive player - but it's baffling that he's letting so many other guys waste away. He's the only starter who wasn't in the rotation last season and the guy getting the most minutes off the bench (Saint Thomas) is now gone.

Any update on Pickett's status? Stu said he was day-to-day with a "lower body injury".

It's not just that - they draw up plays for her late in games. She gets the last shots by design, even on nights when she's ice cold. This was true last night, as a few of her attempts came in the last minute. They were misses, of course. I'd be using her as a decoy late in games when she's off - which is most games. She's been scouted and defenses are ready for her to take the last shot(s), so use her to draw defenders away from someone who will actually take a good shot. I'd also be encouraging her to draw more contact instead of shooting so many leaners, runners, and fadeaways, given her slashline of .311/.273/.886. Her 40-point game vs. VCU wasn't a huge shock to me. I thought there would be more games where she goes off, but it's only been a few - VCU, Green Bay, SIUE. Arguably a couple others, but those are the only 3 games she's shot over 40%, and she ended up with 31+ points in each of them.

Per his Instagram, Zhang is currently on a flight to Atlanta. I assume he's heading back to The Skill Factory, which is in Georgia. Regardless, given that he went back to China and we weren't sure of his status, this is a promising development.

Well, I laughed at all three of these harder than I expected. These thread title jokes went from corny to dark pretty quickly.

Trivia question of the week: Yuri Collins just passed Jameer Nelson in all-time assists and is now 66th in NCAA history, with 727. Which former A10 players does he still have to pass?

Yeah, @thetorch and another guy had all 11 in their answers. They both had South Dakota as the extra state, although I wonder if they'd have dropped that one or another if I had asked for 11 in the first place.

Not bad. The answer is: Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wyoming. It's only 11 - I goofed and included Georgia on my initial question but we had a player from there in the 80s. Latest NC player was K.C. Hankton. We had a guy (Roland Otto) from South Dakota in the 40s. We've had at least 3 players from Nebraska and I think Tony Manuel (1988-89) is the most recent.

No one's dodging your question, we just don't know. He makes about $2.4MM a year and he reportedly signed "a very lucrative extension" in February 2021. So if I had to guess, I'd say that puts him at 3 more seasons after this one. I don't know if the salary escalates from what it is now, but that would put the buyout in the $7MM to $7.5MM neighborhood if it stays the same, and more if he has increases built in. That's my best guess.

Bumping this to give as many people a shot as possible (because not everyone sees Twitter when posted here). Answer this question correctly - or more right than anyone else - and you can win a free SLU Nike hoodie (size L, fits like an XL). Since the program’s inception, SLU men’s basketball players have come from 38 different states. Which 12 states have never produced a Billiken men’s basketball player? 1. Answer in a reply to this thread or on the Twitter/Instagram post. 2. If there is more than one winner, we will draw a name randomly. 3. Do not list more than 12 states. The most correct out of 12 wins. 4. Continental U.S. only. We will contact the winner for shipping details. 5. One entry per person across all platforms. 6. Trivia honor code applies. 7. Yes, we are aware of how absurd this question is. 8. We mean where a player is actually from. Prep schools don’t count.

Fair enough. "Not renewed" instead of fired.