Archy McNally

You know, the two toned face kind of reminded me of Braveheart. Starting to like this too. I thought, why is it grey, but blue would take away from the crazy eye. Give it a battle ax and it can stand in a shield wall. It is not gaudy like the Maryland flag. The jaws look like they can swallow you whole like a snake. This thing could open its jaws and bite your head off. How does everybody on here not love it?

Been awhile. I love this mascot because of all that has been said. It is creepy as hell, but it is a Billiken, it is supposed to be f___ing crazy. No non-SLU grad hears Billiken and thinks that is a run-of-the-mill mascot. Little tired of the giant freak headed goblin that had a little too much to drink. The maniac serial-killer sharp-edged muppet look is pretty cool. Not sure about the two toned face because it is a little gimmicky and takes away from the crazy eye. Probably fine, because it looks like it would be good on a logo. Not a big fan of giant heads anyway. Makes the mascot look like a cartoon for a 2 year old. I am not being sarcastic. I mean compared to a bear or tiger mascot that looks like it should be one of the stuffed animals in my kids bed, this thing is pretty awesome. Nobody knows what the heck it is, but you have the feeling it will kill any other mascot it runs across.

Spoon - Lets face it. He took the team to 3 NCAAs quickly after coming off the 5 win season. I like Grawer, but Spoon did the same thing and beyond, taking SMS to the NCAAs and beating SLU usually, and then took SLU to the promised land. Macauley Bonner Ferry Boushka Claggett I didn't see the guys from the 50s but I really don't need to. I wouldn't keep Musial or Hornsby off an all-Cardinal team because I didn't see them. And Bonner is a no-brainer obviously. Clagget in a hair over Mitchell, Kevin L, and maybe Evans. This is close. I think Claggett just could carry you offensively, and was a good enough ball-handler and defensive player. I think Mitchell and Kevin were better defenders than Monroe, Evans, Gray, just a little better all-around. I think they didn't have the turnover issues that Jett had. But all those players are very close and hard to judge. They are hard to judge and kicking one off a second team would be tough.

Yes he is the answer. This team has a lot of young talent. Although they look very good for Freshmen at SLU, they are not very good for upperclassmen. Sophs as a group don't look quite as talented as the fresh, but they don't look bad either, they just lack a guy that could eventually carry you offensively, and they are smaller in numbers. Take Roby. He is probably the best defender of the frosh guards. You put him out there 1 on 1 and he doesn't look too bad. Rebounds well. The other guys are not terrible at that. But there help defense needs work. They don't collapse like the other team. Remember Jett coming down and then jumping out on his guy, effectively guarding two guys. Even Kyle C was good at that. Conk was one of the best help defenders ever. McCall would help down and come down and get the rebound, and everybody wondered how he got it. They played great "D" as a group. But this team is a little too much 1 on 1 defensively and not enough "I have to guard everybody". A few do it fine, but the other ones are too green. I think ballhandling at every position but Austin needs work. Even if they are not a PG, they need to get better at it, relative to their position. Probably doesn't help that the best defenders are not the best offensively and vice versa (besides Austin). We play 12 guys and all clearly have something they are better at and something they are bad at and it shows itself when a good team takes advantage of it. And that is how they get to where they are. But those Fresh will eventually kill it. I think MR will be a nice scorer at shooting guard, Roby on the opposite wing looks talented, MB a nice big pure PG that can score also, MY will be a beast when his body transforms like Conk, Glaze, etc., and Jolly and Gillman will be great in the middle.

I think the 12-13 was the best, but just ran out of gas after traveling to NY for 3 straight games and then the West Coast for the next 2. Oregon was hot, not the best matchup, and was playing close to home the whole time.

Rammer doing the play by play for the Conklin screen is #1.

Agree.

And my guess is that AM is going to be better defensively than any of the freshmen guards because that is usually how it goes, the freshmen stink defensively and after a year or two they turn it around, just like McCall, Jett, Mitchell, etc...

Here is one. He is one of the few guys that steps up at the end of games and hits his FTs. During the year, SLU would do a good job of getting him the ball, he would draw the foul, and knock down both FTs. For some reason, we got away from that (mostly because we were playing from behind and Jett would have the ball), and our FT shooting was horrific. I think he has a very good handle and the decision-making and defense will improve from last year to next year to the next year just like McCall and Fisher and Newbury. I think he will be a solid PG and play the most minutes. If we are up, he will have the ball in his hands. I am not saying he will be all-conference, but I think he will be a good PG. As for who the scorers will be, I do not know. Something tells me we will struggle in that department, but that is nothing new.

Agree. Right now, those are the favorites. I like Lancona's defensive improvement from the 1st game to last.

And then I messed up my joke. "--Jim Crews"

Count me as one of those impressed with what he did at Evansville. He took them to 4 NCAA basketball tourneys. They have been terrible ever since he left. One more thing, I don't care who there coach is, there is going to be a big dropoff next year, I'd be happy if they are 0.500 or above in the conference. Too many "ifs" out there. --Jim

Looked pretty raw to me. But does look like he has the tools to score around the basket. He will play a lot next year regardless of whether he starts or not, because you know JM is going to get into foul trouble most games.

I could see why Ash didn't get playing time. After watching Nova this past weekend, they are full of guys that should be playing at 2 or 3, so they are playing them at Point, PF, and even Center to get the best players on the court. And they all want to jack up 3s.

That is my guess as well. Wonder what happened to MC, maybe hurt or something but did not want to give that info up. He showed ability to score. I like RA and think he will back up the 4 and 5 next year along with Glaze. They will need all 3 freshmen guards to step in as backups.

I was thinking that we match up defensively against them pretty well. Then I thought, that's 2 sided, they match up just as well and we might put a stinker on the scoreboard.

There is nothing wrong with a critical post and what you said is reasoned. However to just say "Crews ability to adjust is pathetic" does not seem very reasonable. Just kind of one of those statements you pull out when you don't like the coach. Has not SLU won a ton of close games this year? Wouldn't that be a sign the Coach is good at adjusting? Is this the same guy who went off on Crews right before we went on the conference season and tourney run last year? The message was then reposted about 8 months later to poke fun at him? If so, he needs to post crazy sh!t like this all the time, so we can get to the Final 4!

I will say his help defense has been very good. He gave St. Joe's a tough time when he trapped down on the bigs.

Loe did something in the second half that I was waiting for him to do all year, keep chucking it up there. He got his confidence going from the inside and the FT line and turned it into made 3 ptrs. Too many times earlier in the year, he would miss a couple 3's that would be in and out and then pass up some easy shots later. He needs to get that Cody Ellis like attitude and not pass up shots, because he is a much better shooter. Collectively for the season, our overall offensive efficiency is such that I don't see us making a run to the elite 8 or final four. But if Loe gets going, its a whole different story. Everyone knows Evans is going to try to post up and Jett is going to drive left. Loe has been a nice scorer on cuts and rebounds and posting up every now and then, but now he needs to get the ultimate confidence in his touch from the outside. If you would have told me a couple years ago that Loe was going to be able to score inside like he has due to his footwork he has shown this year, I would have told you he would be leading the team in scoring. But he lost the confidence and lets hope he got it back due to a game where the team took the night off defensively and he decided to chuck it up there.

On Conk, I don't agree, he was thinner his junior and senior year (but just as strong if not stronger) and he played better because of it. Definitely quicker, he started to deny the inbounds pass to the point guard his senior year. And I would argue Conk was a little taller than Glaze, Conk got the Majerus height cut that the first two classes seem to get. However, Highmark has stated Glaze is no taller than he is and I would tend to agree when seeing him on the court, especially when sneaking down low when attendance is not as large.

Oh, and John Manning has arrived defensively. He might not be Bill Russell, but he is a difference maker on the defensive end and the Bills will miss him when he is gone.

I thought Baniak was pretty good. Better his 1st two years than his next two years, which is what was disappointing. What changed, Spoon left.

No way, way better when he is in good shape and he still is strong as an ox. As Majerus stated, you are not going to outbulk the position. I don't remember him scoring well inside at all with the extra tummy. Being vertically challenged, being quicker helps a lot for his rebounding and finishing (like Jeff Harris), now he just needs to work on his decision making and fundamentals to take the next step. Another guy (like Manning) that should have redshirted his freshman year.

1) Pappys, (if you like ribs) the kids can always have the very good smoked turkey (although mine like pulled pork also). It says it opens at 11:00 but will actually open earlier on Saturday. If you get there by 10:45, there will probably be no line and hassle. Parking and entrance is behind place. Get ribs, they are the best I have had. 2) I like the Fountain, it is a little fufu but the ambiance and bathrooms are great and the kids should like it. 3) Who ever suggested the City Museum, that was a great idea. 4) Basilica is even better suggestion, have you heard of St. Paul's, Notre Dame... dumps! Our Basilica has the most gold mosaics in the world, all the walls are covered in them. It is actually a little over the top in gaudiness, it is overwhelming. It is worth a huge fortune and the most impressive piece of art in the city.

That's not how I recall those posts when Jett and company signed. And for good reason, the ESPN ratings were 91, 90, 88, and 80. Those ratings were highlighted in those posts. The last two classes are not as high, Roby's the closest at 78. And the 2010 class has proven they are the most talented SLU class in awhile. Loe was selected by the World team to play against the US HS All stars.