Pistol

Here's the post: You might've heard the news that a federal judge has approved the sale of UCBC to our new business partner, investor, and life-long Saint Louisan, Brian Travers. This final legal hurdle clears the way for Brian to invest in Urban Chestnut, strengthening the company and creating a path for a long and exciting future. The UCBC leadership team is looking forward to working with Brian and learning from his many years of experience creating and growing successful STL companies. Obviously, this has been a very long and challenging process, but we are incredibly optimistic about the future and are extremely grateful for this opportunity. Thank you... to our friends and family for sticking by our sides, to our key employees for trusting the process while keeping our operations running smoothly, to our distribution and retail partners for their unwavering support, and to our vendors for their patience and understanding. Most importantly, we want to thank YOU, our customers, who have continued to visit our taprooms and enjoy UCBC beer. We could not have made it this far without you, and we can’t wait for you to see what's next! The best is yet to come, thank you for being part of it. #Prost to New Beginnings!!

New interest: Ben Akoro - SF, 6-7, 185 - O'Fallon, IL (O'Fallon) - AAU: Team Herro (Nike EYBL) - Twitter: @ben_akoro Offers: None. Interest: Saint Louis, DePaul, Texas, Arizona State, Belmont, Eastern Illinois, North Dakota State, Kansas City, Austin Peay, Montana State, Nicholls State, Incarnate Word. Latest News: Akoro said SLU head coach Josh Schertz talks to his dad a lot. (2/15/25) Scouting Report: Akoro is a versatile two way player who scores on three levels. He's strong getting to the rim and effective operating out of the mid-range. He's a capable passer and rebounder with size, length, and ball handling skills. He can defend any position. He transferred from Principia to O'Fallon prior to his junior year. His parents played college basketball at Pittsburg State and his older sister played at Virginia Tech and SEMO.

This is hard to fathom, the way they've coughed it up lately. Great win. They were tied in the standings and needed this one to have a shot to avoid the first day of the A10 Tournament. In the women's bracket, the bottom 6 teams play on day 1. SLU (5-8) is currently 10th, or the best of the bottom 6. Duquesne is 9th at 6-7. SLU plays there on the 22nd.

Outside the top 3, maybe, but not the top 3. SJU and GMU both dominated SLU. Now it's Richmond's turn this weekend. I'd love to be wrong but the Spiders are the best of the bunch so I doubt I am.

Exactly. Which is why we said they will probably have some defectors like North Koreans at the Olympics.

Can't complain about the defense so far, that's for sure.

Offer from November that I missed at the tiime: Amir Jenkins - PG, 6-3, 175 - Worcester, MA (Worcester Academy) - AAU: BABC (Adidas 3SSB) - Twitter: @amirjenkins0 Offers: Saint Louis, George Washington, St. Bonaventure, Providence, San Diego, Albany, Bryant. Interest: Boston College, New Mexico State. Latest News: Jenkins visited Providence. (2/8/25) Scouting Report: Jenkins is a tough, skilled, high-scoring playmaker. He's got a lot of offensive tools, with a quick first step and good range on his shot. He sets the table for his teammates with vision and speed and leads with effort and vocal communication. He's hard to keep in front when he's going downhill. He won a gold medal for Team USA in the FIBA U18 3x3 World Cup. Rankings: 247Sports - 99. -I'm certain there's a lot more interest but haven't been able to verify yet.

Yes, and he was decent there. A few NIT appearances was good enough for a job at Miami in those days. He was fired after 4 years at Miami, though. Coached at Texas A&M-CC for a few years after that.

No one asked. Bard's Burgers is a great spot. It's deep Covington, too - not the kind of place out-of-towners find, but I'm glad you did.

How dare you suggest the mall closed.

When the water tower was originally painted to say "Florence Mall" in 1974, the mall was still in development. Kentucky's Department of Transportation determined that the advertisement was illegal because it was promoting something that didn't exist. So they changed the M to a Y and it became a local landmark. I've also been told that it is illegal in most states to advertise private businesses on water towers, which are generally municipal, county, or state properties. From what I can find online, this appears to be true. So they couldn't change it back to M if they wanted to - although the change has been a much better advertisement for the city and mall than the original ever could've been.

The game was a tie if you take out the 28-8 second quarter. The defense was mostly there in this game. Obviously not in the second. But this team can't score.

SLU is buying low.

What we lack in quality, we make up for in quantity. Plenty of places to go but none that I consider must-visits for beer nerds. Some good spaces for hanging out, though. I basically only buy packaged beer when I'm back in St. Louis.

I love their OTBS series. I also really appreciate them taking a lot of traditional styles and just nailing them. Center Ice was a fun spot but they just didn't make good beer. I thought they'd survive in their market niche for Blues fans. The original Urban Chestnut is still there, as are Rockwell, Blue Jay (3 very good lager breweries within one neighborhood is crazy), The Schlafly Tap Room, and Brick River Cider. UCBC's larger spot in the Grove, too. So there's still plenty of good stuff near SLU. Center Ice is gone, as is the latest in a string of breweries that inhabited the old Falstaff office building on Forest Park Parkway and Spring (Twisted Roots, Pappo's, 6 Row..). Real ones remember Buffalo Brewing next to Pappy's, too. Pappy's grew into that space after Buffalo left. The industry is definitely struggling. Wellspent also probably suffers from sharing a market with a bunch of excellent (and some truly world class) breweries. When you're within a half hour of Side Project, Perennial, Narrow Gauge, Modern, The Civil Life, Bluewood, 4 Hands, UCBC, Rockwell, Millpond, and others, it's just hard to stand out. Wellspent would easily be the best brewery in Cincinnati in terms of quality. (Sigh.)

Wellspent is for sale. Best beer in Midtown, IMO. I hope they find a buyer and keep the quality as high as it is. Sometimes, life happenings dictate change and we have to make one, and this is one of THOSE posts. I have guided this brewery since it's closure in late 2019 and reopening in February of 2020, just in time to close back down again and figure out an entirely new business model. As always, the customers pulled through and in a HUGE way. I've seen that time and again with Wellspent, and it's so heartening to see! As fun and fulfilling as this project is and continues to be for me, I have to pass it off to someone else. My commitments to my family, community, and other projects simply must take priority now. As such, if YOU ever thought of owning a brewery, here's your chance! If anyone has interest in this project, please reach out to me or the team there at Transworld. I love you all, always, and forever. Remember YOU are the ones who make Wellspent, the David standing next to the Goliaths, happen! -Eben

That was shared on the Spaces hosted by West Pine Bills the other night after the game and yesterday morning by Gaines on Twitter. It's a very good one, although I don't know how many people would get the "Jewel" reference outside of the biggest SLU fans.

Yeah, that's kind of my point. They manage to be really effective scoring despite not taking many threes. We're taking too many of them and missing way too many. Watching SLU play, shot selection is poor. Ball movement is poor. Too many shots are created off the dribble, not nearly enough off the catch. Spacing, cutting, and communication are all lacking. Easier to diagnose than solve, I know.

I agree - redesign the offense to create good looks down low. I haven't watched them play yet, but Texas is ranked #5 in the country and is also fifth from the bottom in 3PA, with just 11.2 per game. #7 LSU only takes 14.3 per game (I've seen them play). Obviously there are going to be some personnel differences with those programs and SLU and we can't replicate what they're doing exactly, but maybe we should take a look at what teams like Buffalo (18-2, 332nd in 3PA) and North Texas (16-5, 333rd in 3PA) are doing to score without relying on 3-point shooting.

The whiplash of following this team is wearing me out. It comes down to shooting. They don't take great shots and they don't make shots, period. Tillett has been forced to go bigger so they can actually rebound but young perimeter players like Bergstrom have moved further down the bench. The 3-point shooting numbers are abysmal: Shooting .244 from 3 for the season 5 straight games of making only 2-3 per game and the team percentage has been <20% in all 5 games Haven't hit 5 in a game since January 2 Haven't hit more than 5 since December 18 Have made 10+ only twice this season, against Cal Baptist and Ohio (both wins) The best streak they had, basically from the Cal Baptist to the Ohio game, was when Bergstrom found her shot. Now that they're going with a different lineup and style, she doesn't have a chance to find it in limited minutes. SLU's opponents have 102 more assists than the Bills this season. The difference in ball movement between SLU and opposing offenses has been remarkable. FT shooting is at .805 on the season. I've never seen such a wide gap between FT shooting and 3-point shooting. Meanwhile, opponents are shooting an excellent .393 from 3 against SLU. We have to address issues with both personnel and tactics. Too much bad basketball, and I don't think we're going to see any late season magic this time. Hope I'm wrong.

I think they just have to play big from here on out. It has worked lately.

This performance is all the more unexpected given the team defense this year. And Davidson destroyed SLU at SLU a couple weeks ago.

Since when is she sacred? I feel like people have mostly been even handed with her.

New interest: Jaydn Jenkins - PF, 6-9, 185 - Philadelphia, PA (Archbishop Wood) - AAU: Team Final (Nike EYBL) - Twitter: @jjaydn11_ Offers: St. Bonaventure, Albany, Bryant. Interest: Saint Louis, La Salle, Penn State, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Ohio, Northern Kentucky, James Madison. Latest News: Jenkins said SLU, St. Bonaventure, Penn State, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Ohio, James Madison, Albany, and Bryant are involved in his recruitment. (1/22/25) Scouting Report: Jenkins is a long, talented big man with a rapidly developing game. He's an elite shot blocker with tremendous length. He's also an outstanding rebounder at both ends. He showcases very good footwork and has a full arsenal of finishing moves. He can step out and shoot from outside.

It's the decision making that kills me. Rushing shots, taking contested/off balance shots, just not making good offensive reads. And then pair that with defensive lapses and a really tight game becomes a 9-point deficit at half.