TRUESLU

Soderberg is no more the problem than Spoon was when he retired amd went to UNLV and had success, and when Romar left and went to Washington and had success. Soderberg is a very good coach IMO who had had to accept mediocre recruits, take chances on recruits who had or have potential, or rely on kids that wanted to stay in the St Louis area. He may have missed on some but why is a top notch kid going to come here--players from the past such as Jahadi White, Chris Carrawell,the Wake Forest center who's name escapes me. Its about practicing facilities, arena location and age, recruiting budgets, the conference the team is in, admission issues to a lesser degree--some things have been addressed, others haven't. Its about the failure of Fr. Biondi to deliver on his promise.

The NIT would be a positive for many of the reasons stated above. I would add, not making the NIT-and I dont think it will happen, given the expectations of the season, makes it even more imperative that SLU gets the nod.

I dunno Bay Area--cant see two A 10 schools in. UMass wins 8 of last 10, marquee win over Louisville, and 13 spots ahead of us in RPI. In the old days when the NIT needed to count on good turnouts/attendance for revenue, we'd have a better chance. Hope your optimism prevails. On the whole a disappointing season- real chance for wins on the road against UMass and Houston, and those losses to Duquesne and St Bonny still hurt. Not to pick on one player but Ian's inconsistent play the key IMO.

Bay Area--I agree with your sentiment and several of your points. Regretably Scullins has Washington, NC State, Iowa, and Providence in-- I forgot to mention previously UMass is in as a 5 seed-go figure

Per Scullin's nitology.com website, SLU is on the bubble and out. He's showing 6 other teams ahead of SLU in this category. Missouri is in the same categrory and a few notches ahead of us. The problem is the conference winners,Toledo, E Tenn St., So. Alabama among others, getting the automatic bid. He was 95% accurate last year in making his predictions. Doesn't bode well for us. Reviewing our RPI since 1999, including this year, the average RPI over this span is about 92-- a far cry from Father Biondi's promised Top 50 program. I guess we can "hope" for a better result next year.

Good work Box and Won and StlFan-- I certainly have a lot of respect for the "East" Division teams listed but how does that help in recruiting? Isn't that part of the problem SLU curently faces in recruiting? Or is it just the profile and success these teams have had, coupled with the strong "West" division teams, that makes the new conference compelling? I guess I could be persuaded. I wonder how quick certain of the A10 teams would be willing to drop their bretheren-St. Bonnies, Duquesne and some of the others? Anyway the current configuration won't work and will be a detriment to SLU's future.

I'm a long time viewer of this board, and previously posted some years ago under a different name. I've been a season ticket holder since the Grawer years so I'm in tune with Billiken BBall. In thinking about the recruiting woes of Brad, which have hampered all SLU coaches in recent memory for one reason or the other,I wonder just how enticing the A 10 conference is, or is not, for midwest recruits. In the end it probably isnt though I'll admit I favored it over the MVC back when the decison was made. But today is today--lousy TV contract, bulk of the A 10 teams on the east coast, the fact we're only going to get midwest recruits (mostly) who probably see no value in playing Fordahm and the like, etc--all begs for a new or another conference. Forget the all Catholic Conference--it won't happen-too much money to lose. Consider the below. I've omitted the MVC teams because I can't see them leaving anyway-Creighton and Bradley would be ideal fits but why should they leave, especially now: SLU XU Dayton Valpo Evansville Loyola at Chicago UW- Milwaukee Univ. of Detroit Oral Roberts Butler Cleveland St. This gives us 10 teams-other teams: Indiana St. or UMKC (but we'd make them go by Kansas City!). Most of the schools mentioned have had some success at one time or the other in the past. Not a resounding criteria but given the midwest locations and sizes, may be a good fit. Food for thought.