RUBillsFan

Indeed. I think that is something SLU lacks this year. Drejaj was a leader last year. IV was never really a leader and he is the only senior starter. JJ, the only other senior provides no leadership at all. Luke is probably the closest thing to a veteran leader we have right now. Next year I expect Luke and Lisch and maybe Polk to be the main leaders of the team, but right now there is somewhat of a void in that area which is probably why the team has been so inconsistent.

On that note, it would be interesting if all the area teams decided to have a "real" bragging rights type tournament. They could have SLU, Mizzou, Mo St., and Illinois play in a tournament near the begining of the season. The Scottrade Center or maybe even the Ed could be the venue.

i know. I'm just saying I'd like to see SLU and Illinois play b/c I think it would be a good game.

Its 61 - 40 Ohio St. right now with 2:40 left. They game is being played at Illinois. UNC beat Ohio St. Ohio St. is beat Illnois in Illinois by 21. UNC beat SLU at SLU by 21. I know that means next to nothing, but I'd like to see how SLU would do against Illinois head to head.

Yeah the A-10 does have wayy to many teams. Does anyone think there is any chance of cutting some of the lower level teams (like the Bonnies so we don't have to worry about them anymore). If they cut the worst 4 teams they'd be back to actual A-10 (not 14), would improve the conference RPI, and help teams develop better rivalries. I say right now cut the Bonnies, Duquesne, Rhode Island, and La Salle.

I think Dayton could become a rival b/c we are near the same level as them and have played them in the past bfore we joined the A-10. Xavier has the same Jesuit school thing we had going with Marquette. But neather seems like a rival yet. You are right stability is a big thing b/c rivalries take time to grow. With that said I think we should schedule some non-conference games against old C-USA foes like Cincy, Louisville, or Marquette if possible b/c they would probably bring in more fans than playing a team like Ole Miss.

bump

Landing Powell would also help out a lot.

I don't think our big man troubles will be that bad next year, I think Adam Knollmeyer can step in and play as well as Ian played his sophmore year when he started a lot b/c of Frerick's injury. The supporting cast will be a lot better than Ian had then so we should be fine as long as AK can grab a few rebounds. Husak can be a capable back up to AK as well (about as good as JJ is this year for IV), but he cannot be a PF...so right now for next year we really have no backup for the already undersized Luke Meyer. Hopefully Brad will find a JUCO guy who can step in and play the PF position.

too bad. I think he could have helped out.

based on the numbers on this page it looks like SLU is basically getting their money's worth in terms of where the program is at. I'd say they are probably better than 93rd and they are 93rd in money spent, so you could say they are getting better than their money's worth overall. However, recruiting is a different story. Their sorry recruiting budget ranks 236 of 331 with that poor of a budget I'd say Brad has done a fine job recruiting and it is a miracle he landed Lisch and Liddel. Also it makes you wonder how he could get someone like Vouyoukas with that type of budget. The administration needs to fork over more resources if SLU wants to improve their program. The new arena will help, but the recruiting budget has to grow as well. If we want to be a top 50 team we need to spend top 50 money on everything including recruiting. Right now it looks like we will probably stay in the winning record/NIT appearance range with the occasional NCAA bid if the program doesn't get more cash.

I agree. Romar left the program in pretty poor shape. Remember Brad took over the program that after a 15-16 season in which we lost in the 1st round of the C-USA tourny. Not exactly same state of the program as when we made it to the NCAAs in 1998 or 2000. Brad coaxed a 16-14 record out of the team the next year and got us to the NIT. The next year we went 19-13, lost in the C-USA semifinals and the 2nd round of the NIT. Then injuries to key players (Reggie Bryant and Tom Frericks) killed the team and we struggled and finished 9-21 with a pretty young team. The very next year (last season) Brad had the team back to 16-13 and they probably got hosed on not being in the NIT. This year we had the best start to a season since 94-95 and still have hopes of the NCAA tournament. I think Brad has slightly improved the program from where he got it, but he hasn't improved it by leaps and bounds or made it to the NCAAs which makes people angry. If we regress next season which looks like it could happen, then I'll be on the fire Brad bandwagon, but for lets let the season play out. For me the Billikens making the NIT most years and the NCAA every once in a while is all I can ask for right now. I expect the program to build toward making the NCAA more often with the new arena, but I don't think we can ask for that much right now.

I agree. Remember when Carolina used the trap? We coughed the ball up like a cat with a hairball. Against Mizzou's defense we wouldn't stand a chance. I still don't think we are too far behind Mizzou b/c deep team with decent big gaurd could beat Mizzou on the road. We are just not set up well to beat a team like Mizzou. Here how I would rank them they are all very close in competition however except the last 2. 1. Illinois 2. SIUC 3. Mizzou 4. SLU 5. MO St. . 6. UMKC 7. SEMO

I was wondering about Obi as well. Does anyone have any info on the full Obi story?

1. Before Brad it wasn't like we were getting to the tournament every year. Lorenzo made it twice (if i remember correctly) once b/c of Larry Hughes and once b/c of the miracle tourny run (and Kenyon Martin's injury). Sure in the Claggett and Highmark we made it a few times, but SLU hasn't been a perrenial NCAA tourny team every (maybe NIT in the '50s) 2. Brad has recruited and gotten homegrown talent for the program (see Luke Meyer, Ian Vouyoukas, Tommie Liddel, Dwayne Polk, and Kevin Lisch) 3. The team doesn't consistently lack emotion as evidence by the 2nd half-comebacks.

okay, the Bonnies loss was awful. Its the next day. Its time to move on. One game isn't likely to get Brad fired no matter how much people here call for his head. The Bills have him for at least the rest of the season, if not the rest of his contract. With all that said, lets stop looking in the past and start to focus on the future. The Bonnies game proved that the Bills have to take this season one game at a time and focus on winning each game instead of just making it to the NCAA tourny (that will come if you try to win each game). So up next is Duquesne. They can be a tough team as evidence by how they beat BC. This is a home game that the Bills should win, but I'm not taking any wins for granted anymore. Here are things that need the Bills need to focus on for this next game. 1. Going with a deeper player rotation. GET Dustin and Knollmeyer some minutes. 2. Handle the ball better. No Turnovers. 3. Play tougher D. No giving up 26 points to one player or easy layups with the game on the line. 4. Box out. Stop giving up so many offensive rebounds. 5. Playing every aspect of the game with intensity for the entire game. If we do these things we should win against the Dukes and look better going forward from there.

i think the Santa Clara - UNC game applies here to show that one game doesn't matter that much over the course of a season. SLU needs to work harder now to get into the NCAA tournament, but one game does not kill their season. UNC didn't give up that after they lost to Sana Clara that year or fire Roy Williams after his first game coaching. The Bills shouldn't give up now or fire Brad. I believe we can still make it to the tournament.

UNC lost to Santa Clara in their first game 2 years ago. They went on to win the national title. I rest my case.

thank you Linda Bruno. hahaha. I think I would have torn out my hair if i had watched this on TV........maybe that is why Brad is bald?

what big name coach do you think we can get? I'm not thrilled with Brad, but I don't think we can do much better.

I agree. In many ways SLU sort of missed their chance to jump up a level while Mizzou was in the crapper with all sorts of scandal surrounding the program and before MO St. began improving. We neeed to do well the rest of the year or it could set us back a ways. If Brad doesn't show that this was just one bad game by still making it to the NCAAs then I'll start to think that it might be time for him to go.

I think it helps them get fired up if fans are cheering for them, but they should be able to play either way.

no need to make personal attacks. it was a bad loss. i'm angry with the Bills, but that does not mean we have to get angry at eachother.

this was a road game. that makes it just a bad loss. probably a really bad loss. regardless it is still ONE freaking game. no reason to flip out and declare that the world is going to end.

he's probably still ripping into his players for that crappy performance.