Clock_Tower

Cowboy. So you are saying Andre is incapable of posting up 6 foot guard? And your support is that he is more of a perimeter player than an interior player? Got it.

Yes. You're probably right. Jeff was just prior to Claggs/Highmark who - I don't think - ever played at the old Kiel. I recall Claggs and Highmark playing their Freshman year at the Arena and then, of course, they helped open our era at the new Kiel. After the Claggs,Highmark & H era, then along arrived Larry, Matt & Justin who, of course, played at the new Kiel. I recall the signs at the new Kiel - Ryan came AFTER Larry. Steve. Did you miss Larry Legend? Or just no signs yet?

I remember Mr. Rogers and his signs very well - which started at a young age. Enjoyed them!!

Ryan? Don't you mean Jeff?

Yes. Andre probably won't have much such posting up Marten Linssen in practice -- outside guy vs. inside guy. But Andre is still 6'8", showed forward skills in the video with his rebounding and I suspect will have a high level of success from 5 foot if his defender is much shorter than him.

Yes. Thanks the video. And Yes, Andre needs more strength and improved dribbling- but he can really shoot it and he is 6’8”!! Go ahead Duquesne, Davidson... Pack the lane again this year and dare Andre, Gibson, Javonte and Yuri to shoot from the outside! Double team French and give up the 3 pointer. It’s the Billikens, right? And put your 6’ or 6’2” guard on Andre and let’s see if Andre can post him up.

Nice. We will soon have a golf course on campus!!

Yes. I now see The Armory District. I remember plans and discussions though still not sure exactly what’s going on there. I do know that SLU had 50 years to acquire it for a song but didnt. Also am aware of The Foundry but again that is likely delayed and still unclear to me - a restaurant and retail boost to IKEA and The Grove. Assume the old Famous Barr warehouse is part of this? But I believe an MLS stadium was discussed about being located nearby. And I know alot of land is available from Grand parking garage to the old Pevely Dairy site on both sides of Grand. And room exists to build onto or nearby Chaifetz. An igloo dome could go over the soccer practice field and help other sports. Tennis courts could replace Fr Biondi’s lake. Improvements to existing baseball and softball field could be made. We are not as landlocked as some suggest. And priority for sports either exists or doesn’t. Balancing departments and competing groups is a given - and the same on our campus as compared to Xavier, Creighton and the others. I suggest that athletics was probably the LAST group to receive facility upgrades at SLU under Biondi - not the first. Sometimes it happens, but colleges don’t always wait for donor to knock on their door with a check to build and make upgrades. Excuses. Waiting another 20 years is not going to work. We either have institutional support or we don’t - and I am not seeing it.

Improved dribbling skills for Goodwin as well perimeter shooting would greatly help him. Also, French needs to improve to 60% from the FT line.

Just like SLU was awful years ago, Marquette has sure improved as well. Still urban, still lacks much greenspace. Yes, been on a lot of college campuses these past 4 years: Michigan, Texas, TCU, Baylor, A&M, LSU, Loyola New Orleans, Tulane, Alabama, Ole Miss, Florida, UCLA, Pepperdine, Stanford, Louisville, Kansas, Mizzou, Marquette, Miami Ohio, Dayton, DePaul,, Chicago Loyola, Butler, Purdue, Indiana. Here's some photos of Marquette. https://gomarquette.com/facilities What I like is the white dome they install for the cold weather. SLU could do this as well - for baseball, softball, soccer... or buy/use the Armory. What's the latest on it? Also, there is a lot of land between campus and the med school.

I applied, was accepted and nearly went to Villanova the year after Rollie Massimino won the National Championship in 1985. The number of applications they received the next year nearly doubled, GPA and test scores for that class increased... but they had a shortage of dorms, housing and I decided otherwise. Not sure how large that freshman class was, if even larger bc of the shortage of dorms, but their committee was, and could be, much more selective. With increased exposure/success/ success, schools not only have more applicants but they can be more selective and possibly give less scholarships.

I still remember Fr. Biondi hiring Charlie Spoonhour and stating that SLU would be a Top 50 program. Biondi compared SLU to Georgetown, Boston College... We are anything but a Top 50 program -- never have been. Top 150? Sure. And where will we be in 20 years? Even further behind where we are today. Go walk the campus of Marquette, Creighton, Georgetown and Boston College. Look at what they are doing. We are falling behind more than just the P5 schools.

No. Volleyball is not the critical test. But I suggest the size your school's annual athletics budget, your school's general sports facilities, whether or not your non-revenue sports are fully funded, if your non-revenue sports teams are regularly in the bottom dwellers or are highly competitive does help shape your application and your revenue streams, annual donations, ticket sales actually are factors which go along with your revenue sport's application - men's basketball. We all know that Butler's mens' basketball, as opposed to their women's volleyball team, is why Butler is in the Big East - though how programs treat their other program is actually important - and even more so when the men's basketball has demonstrated quite a few failures over the years.

Reinert. This isn't a situation of how much do we spend on the volleyball team vs. the school newspaper. I get the delicate balance you speak of. I get the constraints of a private school in these times. Instead, this is a case of does SLU make a true commitment to D1 athletics or not? If you say no, I respect that opinion. Instead, I suggest that SLU acts like it wants to be relevant in D1 athletics but its actions point in a different direction. And I get the inability of SLU to compete with the large, public SEC schools for facilities, etc. but SLU is falling further behind Marquette, Creighton, Boston College, Georgetown, etc. The Big East looks at more than the men's basketball team record/team and Chaveitz Arena. Again, I ask. Are we more attractive to the Big East now than we were back when they said No to us?

For most all college kids, the NBA is their dream. Is the NBA a realty? For nearlly all - NO. But stayng in college through your Senior year probably allows guys to maximize their chances to reach their dream. I doubt a guy's chance of making their dream/NBA is enhanced or realized by leaving college early and putting up stats in Italy. For head cases (Gordon) and non-students (Willie Reed), playing basketball anywhere keeps their dream alive -- but I believe Willie would have turned out better had he been able to handle the college classrooms.

And your point is? That Dr. Chaifetz will step in and make sure we: 1. Don't mess up our chance to join the Big East by offending other school Presidents like Fr. Biondi did? 2. Don't hire guys like Jim Crews and then sign them to standard/5 year contracts setting our program back? Hire guys like Soderberg to save money? Pete Gillen who had success and left for Providence and Virginia, Skip Prosser who had success and left for Wake Forest, Thad Matt who had success and left for Ohio State, Sean Miller who had succes and left for Arizona, Chris Mack who had success and left for Louisville - and now the new guy Travis Steele who left mostly on good terms for better programs vs. Rich Grawer who left after a 2 win season, half the guys quitting on him and who was bitter and refused to have anything to do with Fr. Biondi, Spoonhour who had great success but then who was nickled and dimed over cell phone reimbursements and ice cream bills before giving up and quiting - early "retirment" before soon resurfacing at UNLV. Romar who here for only 3 years, who landed very few guys and who bolted before things crashed here for his alma mater/West Coast. Ironic we are again talking about Nick Kern. Soderberg who was fired and couldn't get us to the NCAA Tournament. RM who rebuilt our program, who returned us to glory despite Sitaution set backs and then publicly feuding with Fr. Biondi and who likely was not going to return had he not died. Jim Crews who should never had been hired but eventually was fired. And now Travis Ford. Sure -- I see alot of comparision with Xavier. 3. Don't wait for years before building an on-campus facility while playing/practicing in West Pine Gym. 4. Supervise the SLU Title IX office twice within a decade while other programs around the country faced far greater complaints and fared far better. 5. Look the other way while our soccer program languished for years before thinking the re-installation of natural grass and upgrades to the concession stand will elevate us to our former glory? 6. Not keeping up with the competition for faclities for baseball, softball, volleyball, etc? Why doies SLU not have a indoor/outdoor tennis facilities, swim team facilties... 7. Not making better progress on fully funding non-revenue sports. I am not sure we have improved our sports program much as all since the Big East chose Creighton over us.

Xavier has had institutional support from their Presidents and have had first class Athletic Directors for years. SLU has not. End of story.

Yes. And it will depend as well, I assume, on what playing opportunities exist. If French and Goodwin can and are able to scrimmage with draft eligible players, no need to return to SLU yet. Keep at it!

And the dreadful Indiana football program sure has not taken any pressure off basketball at Indiana.

Good luck Diarra. And for his sake, hope he can transfer and play right away. Should have redshirted. And from memory, I recall most on this Board saying both Bell and Diarra are projects and likely only 1 will stay. Now we know.

When do their names need to be withdrawn? When is the draft?

Two comments: one: 1. Speaking of the best local AAU recruiting classes, how about Larry Hughes Justin Tatum and Matt Baniak from the AAU Eagles. Throw in Chris Heinrich (out of state) and I would say that might be the best recruiting class at SLU. 2. Too much criticism for RM recruiting and him being sick. Like all head coaches, RM sold playing time. Bigs assumed Willie Reed would stay and play - he didnt. Situation was devastating. Mitchell, Ellis and Remekun were underclassmen. But the youth of the class of Loe, Evans, Jett and McCall did more to scare away recruits than RM’s illness.

I sure hope Wake promotes from within or selects a high profie assistant coach, former Alum/NBA guy in that taking a lower level P5 or a mid major head coach would sure be devastating. Yes, May 20th is a long way out, but these are not normal times. And the right/wrong choice, plus possible immediate transfer rules, quite a shakeup coud occur with just 1 head coaching opening.

Good thoughts. A few more. First, Mizzou certainly had its fair share of bad luck/injuries/unexpected negative happenings. Odd near season ending injury Michael Porter and recently Tilmon. But who had excelled and thrived in Columbia under Martin? Who on their team never quits? Who elevates the play of guys around them? Who is their unselfish defensive stopper? Sure, Tilmon has been good/solid when healthy but who is lining up to have the career he has had? Mario McKinney quit. Torrence Watson regressed his Soph year and could not average 5 ppg. Mark Smith has been good but not great. Javon Pickett averageed 6 ppg. Losing conference seasons. No chance for NCAA Tourney. Nowhere close to being a bubble team. Where is the talk/hype of playing for Mizzou in the SEC? Are things better under Martin than they were under Haith? Seems more like the same. In contrast, we lost 4 guys due to S2, then lost Santos, followed by our top rated recruit in Gordon after half a season, lost 1 of our Big 3 for nearly the whole season, lost out best outside shooter for the season on a perimeter shooting challeneged team - and yet guys stepped up, never quit, personally improved, somehow learned to play defense, somehow learned to play together, put the team avoided dissension and went to the NCAA Tourney last year - and were on our way to the Dance again this year - certainly a bubble team - with all the new faces in our rebuilding year. Next year, we are poised to take a further leap. And K-State? Again, bottom dweller of the Big 12. Yawn. Few coaches are better salemen than Bruce Weber who has deep St. Louis contacts/ties along with Chris Lowery. But how much did Stockard improve and excel under them? How many NCAA Tournaments have they made? Who is lining up at Vashon to be the next Stockard? Davion Bradford looks like a good player - though we already had Bell and Diarra. Luke Kasubke looks like a good pick up - though Jimerson was already at SLU.

Guys. Not good to speculate negatively about newcomers who just committed to our program just days ago.