brianstl

I think the SEC wish list of ACC schools starts with Virginia, UNC and Duke. As crazy as it sounds for the SEC, the academic prestige of those schools supposedly puts them higher on the list.

I am sure they did. I am just pointing out pledges made in FY22 were credited in their full amount to FY22 according to the press release they sent out when celebrating $609 million total SLU raised in the multi-year Accelerating Excellence Campaign. So the money pledged in FY22 is included in the FY22 total regardless of the year it was actually structured to be paid.

I am betting that most of the big Champions Center donations were in FY22 which ended June 30, 2022. $139 million was raised in total in FY22.

I don't buy that they all leave. It depends on the make up of the staff of the new coach. My guess is that one current staff member would be held over.

I didn’t see it as complaining. I was legitimately asking the one person who has the most responsibility to make sure the people running the university on a day to day basis are addressing the institution’s standing amongst its peers. To me that is a little more important than constantly complaining about posters on a message board.

He is on the staff now. The team is owned by SLU grad Jared Novelly.

What is the plan to get the university's ratings back into the 80's and for it to stopped being passed by other Jesuit institutions? Marquette, Gonzaga, Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount are all now higher rated than SLU. Creighton, San Francisco and Loyola Chicago are all on the verge of passing SLU in the rankings.

Everything I have seen says he is a grad transfer.

Dandridge and Mac Etienne are the only two bigs left out there the with a higher upside. David Muoka is still out there. Doesn’t have the upside of the the other two, but is a nice player. He would give you solid minutes on both ends. He would be a plus defender in the A10. Probably nothing spectacular, but he would fill a hole on this team very nicely. I’m sure the staff has been in contact with him. There just aren’t really any other likely immediately eligible bigs out there right now that would move the needle talent wise.

I have heard good reports about Bruce. It sounds like he is further along offensively than many of us thought. The things that scares me about him is where he will be defensively. That scares me about all freshmen, but especially international freshmen. If you want to have me feel like the T-Rank prediction is way off, sign a veteran big that is above average defensively.

Yes.

According to Bart Torvik's T-Tank system SLU will finish 15-16 and 8th in the A10 at 8-10. This is based on the current roster. I would put more weight into the conference prediction since the non-conference schedule isn't complete. It feels a little more pessimistic than where I think the team finishes, but not by much if they don't add a veteran big that can give them a solid 20-25 mpg. https://barttorvik.com/trankpre.php?conlimit=A10&state=All&year=2023&sort=

According to Stu, Hofstra and LA Tech are home games for this season.

French’s Jr. season was one of the best all-around performances from a Billiken in my fandom. It was without a doubt the most dominating defensive season of any Billiken during my fandom.

The team looks ready to go.

To be fair, the most recent Ford talk started because a poster said he should be coach of the year if the team wins 20 games. It wasn't started by the people that aren't happy with Ford.

They won’t save any money if Bol Bol makes the roster. As a fifth year player his minimum salary will be above $2 million next season.

I have been as hard as anyone when it comes on Ford’s results and I understand the frustration. I mocked that comment when it was made, but it is nothing more than coach speak.

A healthy and in shape Malcolm Dandridge would be the best traditional center the Billikens have had since Ian. I think he would be in shape because he would be motivated because he wouldn’t come in looking at a back up roll that has been his situation at Memphis. You never know about injuries. It is a roll of the dice. High ceiling with the downside being getting what he was at Memphis. That downside is better than what is on the roster right now. That is why I can’t blame a coach that is feeling heat like Ford for not ending the pursuit for him.

Have you seen everything Threads tracks once you download the app? No thanks.

I think that is because changes twitter has made to limit data scrapping.

The Ivy League Universities can afford to have that attitude about their athletic programs because they don't need their athletic programs to help market the school. The same can't be said about many other schools.

Paul Nondas was a JUCO kid on a NIT team during Spoon’s era. He was from Greece and as for as I know the only Billiken to have an international arrest warrant issued for him by Interpool. He was charged with desertion in Greece for not reporting to mandatory military service. I think he got that cleared up, but he never returned to SLU for his senior season.

NIL is just as important for international players. Just ask Gonzaga who lost Australian top prospect Alex Toohey to the NBL because Gonzaga did not put together a NIL good enough to keep him. With stuff like the NBL’s Next Star program (and the copycat programs to follow), the price on international talent isn’t going to be cheaper than US kids. This coming season there will probably 8 2024 draft picks playing in the NBL instead of college basketball. The big thing with the international kids is you are much more likely to get a really top flight international kid to take a chance on a non top name program if your program has the right relationships overseas. You are still going to have to find a way to pay the kid something considered around market rate.