Pistol

By legitimate I mean University housing, not housing for the special interests of Greeks. There's no reason to argue that the Greeks should get theirs when there are over 200 students unaccounted for in next year's housing for the second year in a row. Once the basic supply and demand issues are resolved, then SLU's Greeks can begin the discussion for something of an on-campus presence. Animal House is a classic, and I also enjoy Old School a lot. If I took these movies seriously, then maybe I'd look on the Greek system more favorably because everything's a good time for everyone. I don't think the abscence of an on-campus Greek row means that SLU is "lacking" in some way, as you suggest. Believe it or not, the majority of SLU students do not participate in the Greek system and aren't interested in doing so. I don't see a strong argument as to why this should suddenly be imposed upon them. One of the reasons I felt so comfortable when I came to SLU is that the Greek presence was minimal compared to a lot of big state schools. "People living in a community they want to live in is a good thing." I am in total agreement with you on this one. But don't assume that I was an exception to the rest of the non-Greek student body, who really just wishes they were in frats and sororities. That's insulting. If the rest of the student body wanted to join, they would. Why would you use Rolla (don't you mean Missouri University of Science and Technology?) as an example? I am familiar with it, and that's pretty much the opposite of what I'd want my college experience to be: 20+ fraternities, 4 sororities, terrible girl to guy ratio overall, small town, small athletic program, engineering school. There's nothing appealing about that for me. If that's the scene you want to create at SLU, I would start a campaign to make sure it doesn't happen.

I'll take 1, but 2 would be a huge mistake. Non-Greek students wouldn't want to walk through frat row to go to the basketball games. SLU shouldn't have to sacrifice space on campus for frat houses when there is such a demand for legitimate on-campus student housing. Plus, no frat houses are going to pop up as long as Biondi's around.

I tend to agree with you on this one. Marquette didn't get the "name" certain fans thought they would land, and that's not always a bad thing. The jury's still out on this guy and in a couple years we'll know whether they made the right choice or not.

Yes, that is the much larger question. Even if he had a wad of $1 bills, making it rain requires a lot. I'm guessing he didn't obtain that cash through conventional means. Reminds me of Donald Little at UC a few years back, who strapped his roommate to a chair while he "interrogated" him with hot wax and lighters because the kid owed him or stole from him a significant amount of money. On top of the obvious questions regarding the torture of another human being, I always wondered how Little had a significant amount of money to blow, how his roommate got it, and why he would take matters into his own hands before going through the authorities (which would probably become clear if I knew the answer to the first question). Jimbo- spot-on as always. Club culture and MMA culture (and the cheaper offshoots of both) are dumping grounds for the worst people our society cranks out.

Article from the front page of the U News with a few pics of the new arena: http://media.www.unewsonline.com/media/sto...g-3304679.shtml The photos are weak, but the idea is there. The entrance looks very nice and it's great to see the lettering up there- nice choice on the font, too. The writer had to be writing tongue-in-cheek with: "It is the end of an era-an era of busing basketball players and fans to and from the off-campus Scottrade Center. An era of hosting concerts in the parking lot behind Griesedieck. An era without Barry Manilow, Stevie Nicks and Raven-Symoné." Gee whiz, how did we ever survive that era? Although I will say I can't wait for SLU to have the revenue stream from the older crowds and tween crowds from these concerts. One Hannah Montana show and we're set. A side note: regarding an old thread about what to do with the West Pine Gym, I still contend that they need to rip it down and build more housing as soon as possible. Nice dorms for freshmen and sophomores should be first priority. My girlfriend's sister, who will be a sophomore in the fall, was one of the lucky sophs who reserved her space before the over 200 students who were left wondering where they'll be living. The U News wrote about this (albeit without a suggestion for a solution, typical of U News editorials): http://media.www.unewsonline.com/media/sto...g-3304689.shtml

One question: Why does he think Dorsey should have been arrested for making it rain? It's a completely asinine public display and if crimes could be charged for boorish behavior, this would be at the top of the list. But it's not a crime, and I don't get why this nerd thought Dorsey could have been arrested for it.

At least buying one will be easy. Plus, if Brad picked St. Charles in the St. Louis area, he'll be living nowhere near the inside of the 8-Mile.

Article also says Ben Braun took over at Rice- I hadn't heard that yet.

He had no other scholarships open, and it really came down to a choice between them? Anyway, I'm just repeating what Romar used to say about Kent Williams and SIU.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/co...39?OpenDocument Slaten's boss speaks out.

Kent Williams was a SLU killer if there ever was one. Romar constantly wondered aloud why Spoon didn't offer him. He should be a good assistant, too. Good hires.

Jealous of our dropouts? Um...yeah, you got it. I'm sure all those guys have moved on to bigger and better things, too. I like Bauman's comment- don't embarrass yourself or other CBC or MCC grads more than you already have.

I'm not sure what "media" you've been listening to, but ever since LaRussa's been in St. Louis, I'd say his reception among fans and media alike is lukewarm, given how well the team has done under him. He's always been compared to the beloved Whitey Herzog, poked fun at for his causes (i.e. animals, the environment) and for being "West Coast," and not really appealed to the average Midwestern Cardinals fan. Last year's drunk driving incident exacerbated the scrutiny he's gotten for non-baseball reasons. On the field he gets a ton of scrutiny for his "micromanagement" and working the numbers too much instead of going with his gut and letting them just play. I am by no means the biggest LaRussa fan around- his game management leaves me scratching my head quite a bit- but there's no way you can say the media is that easy on him. The fact is that he's won the division 7 of his 12 years here and one World Series title and deserves some credit. He isn't facing the NYC media by any means, but is in a market where baseball is incredibly important to the local culture. I think his bosses are a lot more to blame for the current situation for their complete and utter failure to develop a farm system while other division rivals have built nice squads largely from the farm. Congrats on the CBC diploma. I like how you make your argument based on Slaten (who we've all just discussed, love him or hate him, is a total a-hole), Martin Kilcoyne (eh), and Mike Shannon (who's great, but was never exactly "college material"). From what I've heard about Shannon, he's lucky he had a combination of great athletic ability and the discipline of the Christian Brothers because he'd have been kicked out of any other school.

Your appreciation for Slaten surprises me, Roy. I wouldn't have called that one. I've never personally listened to him for more than a few minutes without switching it off. I also don't live in St. Louis anymore, but tried to avoid him when I was there. I just can't take his abrasive personality and aggressiveness. He's very typical of the "shock jock" radio personality- loud, obnoxious, shameless, aggressive, knee-jerk, and insensitive. I do like that he holds people to their words and really knows how to argue properly. That's about all I'll give him. Aside from the radio stuff, I lost any shred of respect for Slaten after seeing him at a few of his son Troy's high school basketball games; if I remember right, Troy was a year younger than me, which would be the HS class of 2002. Anyway, Slaten would sit in one of the front rows and spend about 85% of the game actively berating the refs. He wouldn't just yell here and there and he rarely cheered positively for his son or Marquette, it was just constant screaming at the top of his lungs. I imagine it was embarrassing for Troy to see his dad act like an animal at his games. Inevitably, people around him would move away, creating a circle of empty bleacher space around a red-faced, sore-throated Kevin Slaten. Then he'd get on the air and complain about Mizzou and SLU not recruiting his son (a one-dimensional HS player at best). If I remember right he bounced around, from Arkansas State to Buffalo to UMSL- and no one's kicking themselves for not recruiting him.

I didn't hear the exchange, but how are some taking Slaten's side here? He started with introducing himself as "Kevin Slaten at 590 the FAN in St. Louis," and later claims to have said "Dave, we're on 590 the FAN." He never said they were on the air. Certainly someone who emphasizes word choice in arguments as much as Slaten does realizes what a significant difference there is between those prepositions. Sounds to me like he purposely withheld the fact they were live to Duncan in order to deceive him. That's about as unprofessional as a journalist could be. Say what you will about Duncan, Cards management, or anyone on that side, but Slaten is clearly in the wrong here. I hope he never lands another job. Good riddance.

I can't open 3-Star's link at work, and I know I've posted some of this before. Crean and his MU staff were absolutely hated by Soderberg and his staff. Not sure where the bad blood started (both have Wisco connections around the state, both were Big Ten assistants), but it was nasty. Crean often refused to shake hands after games, as did the assistants. At least once when SLU visited Marquette, Crean's staff forced SLU to have the day-before practice (scout and shootaround) in the hundred-year-old rickety gym on campus instead of their shiny new Al McGuire center, and not because the Al Center had another event. They didn't even extend the courtesy of putting out water or towels- bush league in every way. Crean is widely known as overbearing, aggressive, and detail-oriented, so there's every reason to believe he at least knew about this treatment. SLU's staff never treated Marquette or any other team this way when hosting; always opening the Scottrade Center the day before and day of the game, and often extending use of West Pine Gym if requested. Crean is a workaholic to a fault, which comes off as overbearing and aggressive, like I said above. This results in longer mid- and late-season practices for his teams, sometimes twice in a day even in the thick of the season. If you look at Marquette's schedule and results each year since he's been there, he's had a decent amount of teams that lose a lot more down the stretch than in the first half. He just plain wears them down. He might have gotten better about this in the past couple years, I don't know that for sure, but he is known for overworking his guys. The students I know from Marquette like Crean. I know in his earlier years there (once again, can't speak for the past 3 or so), he would go around to dorms and apartments before the season to build support among the student body. He'd literally go door to door and give them some rah-rah routine, which went a long way- student ticket demand there is extremely high. The students loved his energy. I wonder if he's had to keep this up or if it was just to build his program the first few years. This would be a lot harder to do at Indiana because it's so much bigger; plus, basketball is way more entrenched in the culture there. He also has a pretty big ego. Sometimes he's quotable and good with the press, sometimes he comes off as an a-hole. He has a lot of traits that might not make him a fun guy to hang out with or work with, but that could also help him as a D1 coach. He won't get into the kind of trouble that Sampson did, he doesn't seem dirty like that or slimy like a Bruce Pearl-type, and as far as I know hasn't been close to any violations. But he has had a fair share of players quit on him and personality conflicts (but hey, SLU fans might know what that's like, too). I'm personally not a Crean fan but see no reason why he wouldn't succeed at Indiana.

Good ol' Monty just became the most hated man on Stanford's campus.

It seems to me that Majerus is more inclined to take former players of his than former players of SLU, which is probably better for both parties. He'd be a tough guy to work for, even more so if you're not already familiar with working or playing for him.

I would imagine Jensen gets promoted. I don't think Diener and Majerus could handle each other- in fact, that would be a hilarious situation to watch. Diener might be too much of a character for Big Rick. He should stay at UVA. Which other former players would be possibilities?

One big difference: Majerus didn't MURDER anyone, and OJ very well may have. Murder is the kind of thing that would interfere with his job; my stipulation was that anything that doesn't interfere with his job (e.g. pro-choice, voting for Clinton, gorging himself on Italian food, etc.) shouldn't be an issue because they're his personal choices. And I stand by my words: as it stands, his resume speaks for itself.

Looks like Ohio State is wrapping it up. 88-82 with under a minute to go; UMass is fouling and trying to hit threes. Valiant effort by the Minutemen. I guess it's not over yet...

All good points. I guess my mark for an elite team was that even when they're down, they're still damn good (i.e. winning the conference, making the tournament). There's a very small number of teams that fall into that category. I like the list of 7 teams mentioned before (UNC, Duke, IU, UCLA, Arizona, Kentucky, and Kansas) by slu72. I'd put Michigan State, UConn, Texas, Memphis, and Louisville on the fringe of that group- not quite the same level because they haven't sustained it as long. Who would fall into your list of the elite programs?

I thought I read earlier that Alabama goes to 6A, but 5A is the next biggest.

Indiana made the final game in 2002. They only missed the tournament in 2004 and 2005 since Knight left. Arizona has made the tournament every year since 1985. Seeds have gone up and down, but that feat is nothing to shake a stick at. UCLA won their conference regular season in 1983, 1987, and 1992 in the gap you mention. They went to the tournament 9 times in that span, and every year after 1995 except 2003 and 2004, Lavin's last and Howland's first seasons. Call Tubby the beneficiary of Pitino's guys, but he still won with them in 1998. They've been to the tournament every year after that, too. I agree with you to an extent, but elite programs manage to stay elite. If 18-12 is a terrible year in their fans' eyes (and it is), then they shouldn't worry too bad. These programs always stay in the conversation.

This happened at SLU when I was there. Of course, it was with some bum that somehow got upstairs to the stacks, not a student, let alone a basketball player in the public eye. Wow.