TheRaginCajun

I was wondering if anyone knew the easiest way to get tickets for the game? I usually contact the team, but I may be getting fairly drunk before the game and I don't want to do anything that would poorly represent the program. TKBilliken, I am assuming you are just going to get tickets from Bruce's co-worker at Express Men whose father is a VP at Procter & Gamble?

If you read my full post before spitting out this venom you would have noticed the point of my post was to say that I can see why some people are up in arms about us joining the A-10 over the MVC, but that may be a little unreasonable of an opinion since you are taking the MVC at its highest point and the A-10 at one of its lowest. I think if you watched a lot of college basketball you would realize that the Valley is definitely making itself known and the A-10 is not even on the map at this point. I think you could see the voters and perceptions changing as Wichita State climbed the rankings earlier in the season and as Valley team after team beat big conference opponents. It does not look like any of the Valley teams have truly taken care of business though and I don't see any one team from that conference getting a real nice seed. However, the MVC is far ahead of the A-10 at this point and that cannot be debated. I think looking at the past and in the long-run the top half of the A-10 is better than the top half of the Valley.

I think one is obviously going to look at trends in a situation where comparing conferences. The MVC took care of business last year with 4 teams getting into the tournament and Bradley making a magical run and have certainly taken care of business this season and could match the number of teams that got in last year. They appear to be able to compete very favorably with teams from the power conferences and that is evident from top to bottom in their league and thru recent tournament success. The A-10 on the other hand is trending down, coming off a season where two teams made the tournament (would have been one had Xavier not won the conference tournament) and looks like a one bid conference this year. The A-10 has not shown the ability to truly compete with and beat teams from power conferences from top to bottom. I like the top half of the conference with teams like Xavier, Dayton, St. Joseph's, Charlotte, UMass, and George Washington, but the bottom feeders are going to kill us year in and year out. I mean it is easy to look at the A-10 at one of its lower points and the MVC at an all time high and say SLU made a mistake, but is that truly reasonable. I personally would love it if we could get the A-10 to a 10 team league and I think that would be a competitive league.

I think we have kind of been hurt by a couple of the teams we saw as contending for league championships and being quality teams kind of falling thru. Houston is not a good team, sits at 6-8 with a rpi of 108. This may be do in part to the season ending injury of an all-conference caliber player and playing without a big transfer for the 1st half of the season. Pacific is a pitiful 4-11 with an rpi over 200. Loyola-Chicago is 9-7 with an rpi over 100 as well. Loyola and Houston were two teams expected to have nice seasons and potentially tournament teams. Pacific lost a lot, but people still thought they would be a quality team. The win against Missouri State looks nice with them having an rpi right around 20. Ole Miss has an rpi right around 100. We have not been helped out much by our non-conference opponents.

I would say Dayton and Xavier would be the two teams closest to being able to stake a claim in the tournament. In the MVC it looks like the upper half of the conference would at least have a case at this point. I was looking at rpi's and it looks like there are 6 teams from the MVC with a rpi of 55 or below, there are 2 from the A-10. The MVC has figured it out and has essentially made a joke of the rpi. Something I found interesting, the #1 ranked team in the country, the Florida Gators, have an rpi of 30.

Curious as to who the two teams from the A-10 would be? Minus the automatic bid from the conference tournament who in our conference gets into the NCAA tournament?

Well this staff has thrown away scholies to power forwards like JJ, Bryce, Obi, and Horace Dixon. I would probably prefer taking a gamble on a power forward from the area rather than one out of state.

I think I may have to make the trip now that you got me thinking of the Montgomery Inn. For anyone who does make the trip to Cincinnati I would definitely recommend having diner at the Montgomery Inn and ordering their famous ribs, they are delicious and the Boathouse gives you a beautiful view of the Ohio River. TKBilliken, I am sure a three-way from Skyline is more to you and Bruce's liking. Didn't you date a guy from Moeller prior to dating Bruce?

I have a track record that seems to kind of get ignored since most of the things I have posted have been negative. I got slammed when I questioned Alexander's verbal because it was OJ who had reported it and I also got slammed for saying that the Swansey kid never made a visit and that Horace was not in summer school when someone claimed he passed with flying colors.

I am curious who this Mario guy is? Is he like the director of basketball operations or a lead assistant? I am sure TKBilliken and Bruce will give him hell once they invade the Cintas Center in the Nasty Nati.

I think high school recruiting is very relevant, although maybe not to the current coaching staff. I personally like hearing about local players and players we are targeting. However, a page long post about how Chaminade is not any better than DeSmet has no place on this board. I don't think anyone really cares which team is better and care even less about your opinion on the topic. It is obvious you either graduated from DeSmet or have children who attend DeSmet based on how aggitated you got based on a poster asking when Chaminade and Vianney surpassed the other teams in the MCC.

I believe that TKBilliken and his life partner, Bruce, will be making the treck to Cincinnati for the game. Bruce is a big fan of Skyline Chili and Graeter's Ice Cream. I am sure they would love to meet up with any SLU fans in the Queen City.

Thanks for the stats, I had no idea that Tommie was in the top 10 in the country for three point shooting. I would give some credit for the impressive block average for Ian to the fact that he gives up offensive rebound after offensive rebound.

I just found it comical that you wrote a page long post about how Chaminade is not any better than DeSmet. It did not appear to be warranted in the least and I am sure nobody really cares. Enjoy performing ###### on Bob Steiner tonight.

Is this a high school basketball board now? From the aggressiveness in your post, you likely graduated from DeSmet and now work for a graduate of Chaminade.

Obi is the epitome of lazy. I am not sure he would have ever worked out for us. He is just so slow right now and does not appear to have put any time in the weight room or trying to loose some pounds. We don't need a kid like that dragging down the rest of the team.

Is a college diploma a requirement for the postion?

The question that I have is whether or not SLU will be able to land a top tier JUCO player. We are having problems landing anyone from the high school level, I just quesion how realistic it is for us to expect to get a JUCO stud to sign.

The bottom line is that there are no recruits inked as of January 12, 2007. I am a little more hesitant to look at any bright side with regards to this DoctorB.

Can't say I am too excited about the win against Rhode Island last night. It was a poor display of basketball by both teams in my opinion and I came away fully believing SLU is not a tournament quality team, bottom line. Here are some thoughts: Tommie Liddell has become a star and just needs to be a little more aggressive in taking over. We play in a conference of mid-major athletes and he is a major athlete who has really become a scorer. Very pleased with his development. Luke Meyer plays the game right. He plays with such heart and desire that it is impossible for me to ever say anything negative about this kid. I really enjoy watching him play. He seems to be the guy that makes things happen for us, whether it is a big offensive rebound, a nice drive to the basket, or a timely steal, he makes big plays when we need them. Ian Vouyoukas is soft and has digressed. It is unfortunate to see, but the kid plays with zero heart. He gives up offensive rebound after offensive rebound and never attacks the glass at either end. Its almost like he is content to let his man get the board and just go for the big shot block. I am very upset with his digression and overall lack of heart and passion out there. He is supposed to be the senior the leadership and he should be dominating these games. Dustin McGuire. I am under the thinking that if you have not seen any significant minutes you should try to work yourself into the flow a little bit, play your ass off on the defensive end and be sound on the offensive end. This kid gets in the game and starts jackin up shots. I can't I say I noticed his defense much, but this is the area that is lacking according to those who attend practice. He was credited with one steal, but that was a ball he picked up after Luke knocked it loose and dove on the ground getting it away from the Ram player. Justin Johnson may be the worst player to ever suit up in a Billiken uniform. I have never seen a player manage to get his shot blocked by three differnt guys. It was nice to watch a game and not have to watch Kramer Soderberg tooling around on the sideline as if he is a member of the team. We are a slightly above average team in an awful conference. I will continue my rant in due time.

I hear we are trying to get Eckerle in as a walk-on and not using one of our numerous open scholarships on him. Apparently Eckerle will likely be able to attend SLU for free based on academics. I am not a fan of this; I say if he is good enough to play for us, offer him an athletic scholarship.

Yeah, I think Luke is exactly what you are looking for in a role player. He leaves it on the court night in and night out and is a solid all around player. He fights for rebounds and loose balls, seems to get key steals, and has shown the ability to make plays going to the basket.

I personally could care less. I just find it interesting that someone is going to say that 4 kids from the area and Ian signed with SLU because of their great relationship with Brad Soderberg. I am not going to argue, I just question the validity of that statement. I see us with 6 legitimate Division I recruits and only two of those are not from the area. I see us with three open scholarships and guys on the bench who are a joke and never should or do see the court. Brad is an absolute fraud. He came in with guys like Marque Perry, Kenny Brown, Josh Fisher, and Chris Sloan and said that they were the foundation and the program would take off once he was able to bring in legitimate athletes and his recruits. Well, three years later I am asking where the influx of talent is. We can't even fill a roster and will be going into the spring period once again looking to fill our scholarships. What a phony. Soderberg should be thanking Marque, Kenny, Josh, and Chris for getting him that extension. He has been bailed out long enough, your time is up.

What makes you think that Tommie, Kevin, Luke, Ian, and Dwayne chose SLU because of their relationships with Brad Soderberg? I specifically remember hearing TKBilliken say that Ian has no respect for Brad.

I would not call in because I feel my loyalty to the program is questionable at this point anyway. I think you have earned the right to receive some answers as a fan SignGuy. If I called in I would probably be dropped within 30 seconds.