kmbilliken

What recuit and why did he lose him?

I was there. Sat at the bar the first half and then at a table with a couple of friends the second half.

Apparently that's the souting report on Tommie. If he goes left he's driving to the basket. If he goes right he's pulling up for the jumper. One of the opposing players said that in a post game interview a few games ago.

Luke never looked like a bust. He had a lot of trouble freshman year adjusting to scoring at this level, but he always was a heady player contributing with good defense and a good floor game when given the chance. I also saw a little from MR last game. He does seem to have some skills and appears to be athletic, but seems rushed. He's got good size and looks like he could develope into a power forward if he hit the weight room and worked on his post skills.

Agreed. There is enough time for both. The students just aren't fans.

If he wants to stick close to home and play he could go to either SIU-E or McKendree. Both are good schools and he'd see playing time. SIU is just turning D1 so it probably wouldn't be a winning team. McKendree has talented freshmen and sophomores with another good player coming in next year and are a top 25 NAIA team already. That would be a fun place to play with a chance to win a championship.

Bryce outside shot hasn't been falling recently, but he's shown in the past he's capable of making those. I think he's supposed to take those shots if they give them to him, otherwise RM would pull him. Bryce has progressed this year. He gives us valuable minutes and a defensive presence inside that no one else can provide.

I think Burns graduated in 81 or 82, so he wouldn't be in the last 25 years. I started following the Bills in 78 and in that time the best two players have been David Burns and Larry Hughes. The best point guard was Waldmann, best center Vouyukous, bestpower forward Bonner. Those are my top 5.

Mizzou needs more space because they have more things to cover: arrests, suspensions, shootings, court appearances. All we've got is basketball and a political commentary here and there.

I was wondering the same thing. The Eckerle to Husak connection has got to stop. Eckerle's passes would have been good if Husak had the hands to handle them and the ability to do something with the ball in traffic if he did catch it. His ability to do either is limited and you're setting him up for failure by passing to him in those situations. Eckerle would be better off to just stop and pop no matter how low a percentage shot since we'd at least be getting a shot off at the basket. Eberhard physically reminds me of Jeff Harris. Harris had limited jumping ability, but was very effective. He knew how to draw fouls and picked his spots. He was a bull, but a very intelligent one. Maybe Barry should watch some of the old Jeff Harris tapes.

They're selling papers. Its business, nothing personal. When having the Bills on the front page sells more papers, they'll be there.

Remember they beat us years ago. I think Steve Lanter who had been a very good point guard his first two years at Illinois before blowing out his knee was on that team. I think he went to McKendree to play with his brother since he still had eligibility left. I don't think we've played them since.

I'll never forget the SIU game where he was unstopable and led us to a comeback victory. The place was going nuts. He drove the length of the floor through a ton of defenders with time expiring and made an unbelievable contested layup at the buzzer. He certainly was trouble and had a disappointing career, but he had that one great game. His cellmate has probably heard that story a million times by now. In retrospect, he probably would have fit in better at Mizzou.

I wouldn't count on beating GW. They've got our number. They know it and we know it. We just need to bounce back and win Saturday. As long as we can avoid a 3 game losing steak we ought to be in.

Luke has been our best and most consistent player this year. We'll miss him. Usually jucos are much better their senior year and with the bigs coming in BE will be able to play his more natural position at 4 instead of 5 so I expect more out of him. If our 3 bigs coming in next year are anywhere close to their hype they've got to be able to better the output of BH and AK on both ends of the court. KM is supposed to be a hot shot point guard, but so was DP. I don't see him being any worse offensivelly(obviously) but not be as good defensively. KL and TL will be as good as this year and at least one of them will probably have an excellent senior year superior to this year. I think the key is getting 2 good jucos. Either a big man, scorer or point quard that will be able to contribute decent play. Not great, just good role players. If we can get that we will be significantly better and a bubble team. If we're relying on all freshmen newcomers we'll be better and a bubble NIT team.

Old news, but I think we would be worse with BS. He'd be a lame duck coach with a big whiff on the local recruiting class he was counting on. Team moral would be in the dumps and everyone would be calling for his ouster. This year isn't good, but there's hope for the future. That wouldn't be the case with BS.

When is the last time we blew somebody out on their own court? We're due. SLU by 12. Maybe not a blowout, but a convincing win.

Good. Maybe he can start working on getting a decent television schedule again. We've put a lot into upgrading our program, but without a decent local television package we'll still seem like a second rate program to the average fan.

Lisch, Liddell and Eberhardt will all start.The other two depend on if we bring in a juco or two. I sure would like to see a top notch juco point quard and big man signed

DB is having a very good senior year. He's no longer turning the ball over. He's playing aggressive as always, but is now under control. By his recent play he's deserving of starting, but I like him as our 6th man. He's doing well in that role now, so let him continue. He's getting his minutes and always in at crunch time. Nice win. I thought we beat Lasalle and the refs. Does anyone have any insight into the reffing situation? Are these guys just not the caliber of the refs from Conference USA?

My nominee for most disappointing would be Monroe Douglas. I know he's up there on the all time scoring list and was a good player for us, but he looked like a world beater the second half of his freshman year. He never was that good again. He was supremely talented, but never worked it and frustrated Grawer to no end. All the progress Grawer tried to coax from him each year was lost over the summer. The biggest flop had to be Ricky Crandell.

Does anyone think Dwayne has improved in his four years? He was always a good defender and ballhandler but he's now a worse shot than when he arrived. Player developement is a key for us. Luke has improved every year similar to Chris Sloan. Tommie improved his shot last year and his defense this year. With Bryce its hard to tell since he hardly played before, but I'm assuming he's improved because he's playing now. Kevin was so intense when he arrived it's not that easy to tell, but he still has great defense and his offensive numbers are up so he's improved. DB seems to have improved his court awareness and decisions tremendously this year. Who was the most improved player from freshman to senoir year as a Billiken? My vote would be Chris Sloan. He couldn't make a basket as a freshman. By the time he was a senior he was a very nice all around player and an offensive threat inside and outside.

Kevin and Tommie both had the gimme the ball and get out of my way attitude when the game was on the line their first two years. Now they seem more cerebral rather than relying on their instincts. If they get off a shot and miss, I'm fine with that but they've got to get off a shot.

I agree. If that's just a two game highlight reel he could help us right now

Grawer could coach and was doing an excellent job building the program when the administration pulled the rug out from underneath him by not letting Upchurch in school. Upchurch qualified academically, but that wasn't go enough so they told him he had to pass the summer bridge program to get in. That was a program for underpriviledged students that didn't otherwise qualify to show they academic and gain admission. He road the bus to the summer program and passed it, but they still didn't let him in. That wrecked Grawer's ability to recuit the city at a time when he was getting the best players from the PHL. He got Bonner the year before and Douglas and Gray the year before that. He never recovered recruitingwise until the Highmark, Claggett, Winfield (and a kid from Effingham) year. Then he never got the chance to build on that. With Biondi refusing to extend his contract how could he recruit in his last year if he's not signed for the next year? Grawer saved this program and then got the shaft.