Clock_Tower

Yes but conferences are often judged by the entirety of its membership - and sometimes upon the median program or the bottom ones. And while Tulane and E Carolina are not top tier programs, the American has alot of “name” schools and schools w recent success - being National Champs UConn and ,Memphis, Final Four teams: Cincy, Houston and Witchita, State, teams with good prior success: Temple and new emerging big schools in Central and South Florida. Now, Dayton had the team which could have reached the Final Four. And while our Billikens are back on the right path, we have not yet won or played on the second weekend of the Tournament...

Exactly. Going "pro" such as the Turkish league and $45,000 would mark the end of one's dream -- the NBA. And why? Because of possible injury? The same risk that they faced before last year's college season? Why even play college for "free" at all? Instead of focusing on the likelihood of injury, how likely is it that G League and "pro" basketball will have their seasons this year and pay their players? Anyone hear of plan to re-start the G League? I hear of plans with the NBA with all games in Orlando Florida without no fans - butts in the seats - but nothing else. And assuming the owners and players can agree, MLB will make money due to high TV ratings/revenue (though not as much without butts in the seats due to COVID 19). Same with the NBA. SLU basketball has name recognition (together with the rest of the NCAA schools) and will make money from TV ratings even without butts in the seats or as many butts in the seats. SLU will open its doors to students because it desperately needs the revenue from tuition (many will not pay full price for online learning), from housing and from basketball to subsidize the non-revenue sports - and basketball is simply a large and visible part of SLU re-opening its campus to alumni, fans and future students. As to the NBA G league, not so sure. How will the players make $125k without butts (or as many) in the seats? Advertising revenue will be a bigger challenge as well -- not as much for MLB, NBA and I suspect NCAA college football/basketball, though, I suspect there will simply not be as much revenue to go around and that not all sports programs will have the revenues it had in the past. And believe it or not, my knowledge of Turkish league basketball is not extensive but I doubt all of the overseas "pro" opportunities will not exist or not be as attractive as in the past. Giving up being an NBA lottery pick and guaranteed millions for Obi Toppin to stay another year in college with your friends and possibly win an NCAA Championship is what most people talk about -- not worth the risk. Other than Little Bill, does anyone else think the chance to end their NBA dream in order to play low level "pro" by a college player with eligibility (Has and Goodwin) during this global pandemic when guaranteed "pro" money seems far more suspect than an ACL tear is - not worth the risk?

Sure. But go ahead and state ALL the other equally likely events: get struck by lightning, quit basketball, become an Instagram star...

Yep. Which is why playing another conference each year would add variety, make scheduling easier and could increase schedule strength if done right. For instance, team up with the American conference which has 12 teams and have use the preseason rankings to schedule. Our #1team plays their #1 team, our #2 plays their #2, etc. for game 1. A10 hosts games in even years. The second game we could have our #1 team play their #2 team and their #2 team plays our #1team. Same with #3 v #3 and then #3 v #4, etc. Because the A10 has 14 teams, our 2 bottom teams get to play each other or opt out. Who cares - they dont belong in the league anyway.

You are a disgusting human being.

Sad that the A10 is focused on potential savings of $80,000 to $100,000, A10 -- be proactive and instead schedule 2 games with another similar conference.

Good. SLU needs to be proactive. Parents/students simply won't pay this huge amount of money for online learning - nor should they. College is more than using your laptop. Online learning to supplement class learning? Sure. Zoom meetings with faculty (many who are older and may be of higher risk?) Sure. Replace a large lecture class? Sure. A new normal? Sure. And while no one is invincible, 19 to 23 years olds are probably the closest. But we, as a nation, have come so far in 2 months -- and August 17th is still 3 months away that we will be even further along by then.

Yes. I am not aware of anyone in the community like this when Grawer and Spoon were on our sidelines. Huge difference.

A Bomb. Despicable that you would "bad post" my wish that things work out Levi Stockard. Why do wish ill will upon Levi -- a local kid, good citizen, good basketball player who, by all accounts, wanted to be a Billiken. Only b/c Travis Ford has done such a great job for us do we found ourselves, this year, in such an unusual position. How many years would we have been thrilled to have a guy of his stature become a Billiken. And not only for his benefit as I believe most wish the best for good people but even if you are not such as person -- then for our your own crass benefit. No Billiken fan should wish ill for a local kid from a basketball power like Vashon High who has contacts with current eligible players like Russell and future eligible players like Nick Kern. Shameful.

Hope it works out for him.

My son is a graduating high school Senior this year - 2020 and my daughter is a high school Sophomore so I am quite familiar with many of the issues (though do not profess to be any expert on the subject). Here's some information: 1. The ACT (mostly used by Midwest schools) and the SAT (mostly used by East and West Coast schools) is certainly a major factor for both admissions and scholarships-- though we have found that grade point average is just as important.. Most kids do better on one versus the other but the elite kids truly do well on both -- and that's what separates them from their competition. 2. There has been a recent push to change the topics and format of the standardized scores to help disadvantaged students and also to incorporate your zip code or proximity to poor/disadvantaged areas into your test scores - but this failed. The intention is to reward disadvantaged students as 3 Star points out but I suspect too many issues exist as there are poor areas/homes in the wealthiest zip codes and a lot of wealthy areas/homes in or near poor areas/zip codes. 3. A major change which DID pass is that next year, you will now be able to sit for only a portion of the test: For instance, if you took the ACT and scored: 30 on English, 28 on Reading, 28 on Science and 26 on Math, schools will receive all 4 scores and your average/composite score of 28. Up until now, you had been required to sit for and take all 4 tests even though you might only want to increase your Math score. If you did, you might increase your Math to 28 but then you English could drop to 28 and you are no better off. Some schools allow you now to "superscore" by taking your top scores from multiple days of testing - but to do so now, you must send in your scores from the different days of testing. Next year, though, you will be able to sit for only the Math test and then you will be able to have the ACT add this to your other 3 scores and then send in your best 4 scores - thereby creating your own "super score" 4. SAT/ACT testing has been canceled this Spring due to COVID and studying this summer for the standardized tests will likely be more limited than in the past. 5. The biggest detraction to standardized testing is that kids are no longer going to a Saturday session or two OR spending $20 on an ACT/SAT prep book from the local bookstore and a few hours of your time as they did back in my day. Nowadays, kids are paying $70 to $125 per session for private tutor sessions and many are taking 15 to 20 sessions. Purchasing 5, 10 and 15 session packages is common and there are discounts the more sessions you purchase. Kids also go to Tutor A for English reading, Tutor B for Science and Tutor C for Math. Modern scientific calculators which can store formulas for the calculating areas of an irregular trapezoid ARE PERMITTED. Testing schemes and strategies is sophisticated. Being taught and prepared helps - and helps a lot. Are we any better off as a society? Probably not. But if your competition is doing this, then you need to do as well. I have heard up to $5,000 to $10,000 spent on their kids but even a more "reasonable" amount of $1500 to $2000 is money well spent (if it improves your child's score) when you consider that college tuition costs between $20,000 to $85,000 per year. "Buying" a high test score has become big business. 6. Many schools have been dropping the REQUIREMENT of the standardized testing though these same schools still use standardized test scores for admittance and to award scholarships. Frankly, many schools are desperate for students and feel they can attract more if they drop the requirement by appealing and marketing to all the kids who don't do well. I assume they are successful. The real question is: will SLU (and the others) stop awarding scholarships to those with high test scores and/or start shifting money to those without high scores -- or now without even having standardized test scores. I suspect that standardized testing will continue to be very, very important.

St. Bonaventure I presume? Nearly every A10 team could use a guy like Stockard. Good luck to you! Well, no luck when you play the Bills. Didn't he have one of his best games ever at K-State when he played us?

Do casual fans, or more than casual fans, realize that all teams in the March Madness Tournament are D1? Ask if they believe Florida Gulf Coast, College of Charleston, Lehigh, East Middle Tennessee State.... are all D1. vs are allowed to play with/against UCLA, Michigan, North Carolina...

Lack of football (and exposure from that) and what D1 means causes confusion as well. Most casual fans follow football over basketball. D1football has 130 teams vs 347 for basketball.

Yes. Every year we need to be in the running for our very best local players - whether they are 4* or 5^ McDonald's All Americans. And the better our program, the more they will consider staying home to play for us. And every once in awhile, a few will select us. At the same time, this is not the method for us to build and maintain our program. We lack the national TV exposure (lucky to just be able to watch our games on computers!) and the A10 is not on par with the ACC, etc. A strong head coach, with strong assistants/recruiters, and a combination of 3* and diamonds in the rough - who are both locals and non-locals - is our path. We have been through this for years: Chris Carrawell (Duke), Jahidi White (G-Town), Loren Woods (Wake Forest) used their skills to go to some of the best basketball and academic programs. Same recently with Caleb Love (UNC) and Fletcher (Kentucky). Keeping these kids in town, year after year, is not realistic. Having a strong, NCAA bound program each year as a local alternative is.