troutangler

The fact that you put Illinois State and UNI on par with the worst teams in the A-10 tells me all I need to know about you. What is the big deal about cities where colleges are located in anyway? I doubt you're traveling with the team to the east coast very often, so what benefit as a fan do you get out of SLU playing in Richmond, Pittsburgh, Dayton, and Olean? (Very exotic locales.... ) The Big 12's cities aren't exactly cosmopolitan either, and I doubt any of them would rather travel to A-10 cities. FWIW, MSU flies to every game except maybe Wichita. I know it surprises you guys that there are actually airports in these tiny little midwestern towns.

I think Tulsa would qualify as "anyone". We also beat an SEC team. (Albeit a weaker one) Tulsa's fans said the same thing about their defense on their board before we played them. We were up by 21 on them in the second half at one point if that tells you anything. Should be fun, I'm disappointed that I can't make it.

And they see the A-10 as something different?

Wow. Just wow. I don't know if this little lowly Valley team should even show up on the 19th by the way you talk. Why even take the court, seeing that SLU is a BCS program in waiting according to the experts on this board? The amount of sheer arrogance in these first five pages is hilarious at best. The A-10 really is a juggernaut though....all of those massive 3-5,000 seat facilities at places like La Salle, Fordham, and St. Bonaventure. Just keep assuming that MSU is on par with SEMO and a bunch of D2 schools though....that's fine.

You're pretty much right on as far as I know. My knowledge of D1 referee stuff is limited, but I know they're independent contractors. The schools may actually have a signed contract with each official for a game, but an assignor may assign the games to the official instead of the school picking each referee. Most high school referees are in associations. The association "serves" any number of schools in a given area that pay the association a fee to provide them with officials.

You think it's junk because your team just got beat by 16 in Carbondale last night. Referees are not employed by conferences. They are independent contractors. Just because they officiate numerous games in a given conference doesn't mean they "work for" that conference, no matter how you "term" them. I would bet quite a bit of money that 99% of you have never refereed a real basketball game in your lives. Blaming referees is what parents of 6th grade teams do....You guys are in good company.

This thread is idiotic. For a SLU fan to call the Valley "junk basketball" is pretty hilarious. Furthermore, there is no such thing as "Valley refs". Countless message board experts claim this every year. Most officials work in multiple conferences and none that I know of are employed exclusively by one conference. Hardly anyone goes to Carbondale and wins, so get over yourselves.

There are no such things as "Valley refs" (In reference to the "rinky dink" town comment) or "A-10 refs". Referees that work in the Valley work in the Big 10, Big 12, Sun Belt, etc. Referees that work in the A-10 work in the Big East, ACC, etc. as well.

Because SLU's tape that is being watched is a different camera that shows the clock and red light on the top of the backboard. The clock that the refs saw was on the TV screen, which was not in sync with the red light and the clock on the basket. Watch an NFL game sometime and watch the play clock on TV. It will hit "0" several times during the game and the offense will still get the play off. It is the same thing. The clock in the stadium is the official clock, not what is on TV.

I didn't say anything about forfeiting. I posted that because some of you guys were doubting that the tape actually existed when it was people in Springfield reporting it. I guess we "hicks" weren't just making it all up like you geniuses thought. By the way, I was very surprised my car wasn't on blocks when I came out of the game on Monday.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/st...6E?OpenDocument Who knows what, if anything, will come of it, but at least some of you who have been saying the tape is a doctoring or doesn't exist can quit with your crackpot theories now.

He is redshirting this year.

He is graduating also. He wants to be done with school and move on with his life it looks like, which is fine if that is what he wants to do. It wasn't a huge shock to me. The rumor was that he had quit once already, but changed his mind. He had been in the doghouse ever since the first game of the season. I doubt it was a messy thing. The Bears will be fine.

Frazier was "dropped" from the team today. We're thinking he was kicked off. http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...GS0701/61214014

Sky and Ahearn are the same age, but Sky redshirted and Ahearn/Bilyeu/Chaney didn't. Drew Richards was Mr. Basketball the year after Spencer, so he was a higher level recruit than Frazier. Most people expected him to be starting by now. But, most of us are in agreement that Frazier will be needed if we're going to get where we want to be. Shane and Spencer are Paige's cousins. Barry is Shane/Spencer's dad. Bill (Paige's dad) is Barry's brother. We won't bring any tractors, and we will have more than four teeth.

Hey guys. I've been reading your board for a while but haven't posted yet. As for our team: Starters PG Spencer Laurie 6'1" Junior (Springfield Kickapoo - Transfer from Mizzou. Sat out last year. He was Mr. Basketball on Kickapoo's team that won the state championship in 2003. He is a pass first point guard, but can also score. Good defender as well. SG Blake Ahearn 6'2" Senior (St. Louis) - Obviously you guys know a lot about him. He is our best player. Outstanding shooter from beyond the arc, as well as the best free throw shooter in the country. He is an underrated passer as well. He has been ragged on for his defense, but it has improved a lot in the last two seasons. SF Tyler Chaney 6'5" Senior (Neosho) - Our best defender. He will almost always guard the opponent's best player, except for centers. His shooting was off last year, but he has been very good this year. PF Nathan Bilyeu 6'6" Senior (Ozark) - Plays much bigger than he is. He's a ferocious rebounder. He likes to penetrate and play with his back to the basket, but he will pull up and shoot the three, as he is pretty good at it. C Drew Richards 6'9" Junior (Rogersville) - He is a better defender and shot blocker than he is as an offensive threat, although his offense is much better than it was last year. He leads the Valley in blocks so far this year. I think he had 16 before the Wilmington game on Saturday. Reserves: SF/PF Deven Mitchell 6'5" Junior (Springfield Kickapoo) - Probably our most improved player this year. He was injured all of last year and didn't play. He is an 80%+ free throw shooter and and excellent athlete and defender. He could start for us, and could probably start for a lot of teams in the Valley. C Kyle Rausch 6'10" Sophomore (Blue Springs) - He was a walk-on last year as a practice player. He has surprisingly moved in to the backup center role most of the time. He doesn't do one thing extremely well, but hustles his butt off by getting put-backs, blocking shots, etc. SF/PF Dale Lamberth 6'5" Junior (Oklahoma City) - He led the Valley in three point shooting percentage last year (Over 50% I believe). He had a foot injury a few weeks ago but has played well in the last couple of games. He also posts up now and then. PG/SG Shane Laurie 6'2" Sophomore (Springfield Kickapoo) - Spencer's brother. He backs up Spencer at PG and Ahearn at SG. His offensive game so far hasn't been what it was last year, but he is steady. C Sky Frazier 6'10" Junior (Washington) - You guys know a little about him also. Some people think he should be starting this year, but he and Hinson have butted heads this year, so he has been in the dog house some. He was the first big man off the bench against Wilmington on Saturday, so I think Hinson realizes he's going to need him for Valley play. PF/C Dex Manswell 6'8" Junior (Tobago) - He hasn't played significant minutes yet as a JUCO transfer, but not because a lack of ability. Most Bears fans think he should be playing a little more. Hinson has said he isn't playing extended minutes because he isn't in good enough shape, and he has had trouble with X's and O's, especially on defense. This guy is the most freakish athlete you'll see though. Consider it a treat if he gets an alley-oop thrown to him. We usually only play nine guys significant minutes, depending on foul trouble. Big men haven't given us trouble so far this year, but three point shooting has. Fortunately, we've been able to outscore most teams with our own offense, so that hasn't been a problem. I think quite a few of us will be up there on Monday, so it should be fun. Check out www.letsgobears.com if you want to chat with some of our fans on our forum. Good luck, but Go Bears.