TheChosenOne

I don't think Vienna ever played Vashon.

I don't know pistol, that d-bag who pulled up to the bar in his Ferrari was pretty classy..... Fear me, for I am Rice Owl.

and maybe extending his middle finger and saying suck one...

For a true freshman, Eric Gordon is the best scoring guard I have seen. I would love to see what he can do in the NCAA Tournament.

That would be a terrible idea for all players involved. Sampson is a cheat and he let you and your university down. There is no need to piss away your chances in the NCAA tournament and your future to make a statement in support of that man. If he cared about you he would not have put you in this position. I was really looking forward to seeing Gordon in the tournament to see what what he can do on the big stage so I hope this is just talk.

If I recall the only thing nostalgic about the game at Minute Made was having a 35 year old Mexican gentleman swear at us while holding his baby who happened to be wearing a wife beater and a gold chain. You can't recreate that no matter how hard you try. It really does not make sense in my opinion to keep trying to recreate stadiums from the past. That is the craze in baseball and I really don't understand why. I would rather see modern architecture on display at these ballparks. If you are spending hundreds of millions of dollars why build a stadium to look like one from the past. The NFL stadiums are awesome and they truly are taking advatage of modern architecture and creating stadiums that are luxurious and first class all the way. The new Dallas Stadium is going to be insane. I personally was hoping for a bigger and new version of West Pine Gym, but my pitch did not go over real well with Biondi.

Mizzou actually has a normal sized logo at center court of Mizzou Arena and it is dwarfed by most logos in the Big 12. Take a look at KU, K-State, Iowa State, and Texas A&M. The size of those logos is ridiculous. Apparently it is a competition in the Big 12 to see who can put the biggest most obnoxious logo at center court (although in some cases it is the majority of the court).

I checked the Cardinals website the other week and it did not look like the game was being broadcast. That will be a really nice experience for the team. A better game for our Billikens may be playing the Little League World Series Champions from Georgia though.

At this point I would take Memphis, UCLA, Kansas, and Duke. Those four teams have tremendous talent and other than Memphis play great team basketball. Kansas has so many guys who can beat you and those guys are seasoned. Duke has been my team this year from early on and I just love how they play. They really get after it on defense and speed teams up forcing turnovers and poor decisions. On offense they are loaded with guys who can hit the 3 and drive to the basket. Their weakness is inside so matchups will determine how confident I am with them. UCLA is just so sound and they have a lot of talent as well with Love, Shipp, Collison, Westbrook, and Mbah a Moute. They defend as well as any team in the country and this has seemed to make them immune to the upset. I am a little hesitant to pick Memphis. They have amazing athleticism, but in the past they have shown to be upset prone. It seems like in the past teams were able to get them out of their comfort zone and frustrate them. This year may be different with them finally having that point guard who can control the game in Rose. As far as people questioning their schedule I think that is ridiculous when you look at the nonconference teams they have beaten. The game this Saturday with Tennessee will give everyone an idea just how legit they are. Xavier has a nice team and could definitely make some noise. My concern with them is that they are a little soft inside. That mutant power forward they have, Josh Duncan, is more comfortable outside and does not seem to like to bang. UConn is a quality sleeper team due to their size and athleticism. AJ Price seems to have really elevated his game for them to go along with long leaper after long leaper they throw at you. It would be nice if they could get Dyson back to get another scorer from the guard position. Things seem to be wide open this year and that will make for an exciting tournament.

32 Teams make the NIT.

I did not see beyond the first two rounds, but I was amazed at the dunks they were doing. All of the guys were putting on a show. Howard and Green are just ridiculous. Green has just remarkable leaping ability and Howard can do dunks that you do not expect a man of his size being able to do. Howard is a tremendous leaper for his size and he really seems to enjoy putting on a show at these contests. I saw the SLU dunk contest the other week and the winner went to Tommie Liddell for successfully getting down a reverse dunk.

That was a mock bracket for last year and without looking at it too hard I think that could have been a legitimate torunament last season with the top teams left out of the NIT.

I like the travel element and that Tommie T brings us stuff that I would consider behind the scenes. Do any of the local media have a "good" relationship with Coach Majerus? It does not seem like many of the local media get much inside information. I feel like billikens.com has as much scoop as any where else. Martin Kilcoyne and the guys on the Fox Hole frequently joke around about the fortress that has become West Pine Gym and how nothing comes out of those walls.

Pullen has been playing very well for K-State. I think calling him the second most important player on their team is a little much, but he has really stepped up his game. In order for K-State to advance far in the NCAA tournament it will all be on their two stars Micheal Beasley and Bill Walker. When those two guys are on they are a tough team to beat. That is two NBA forwards (Beasley will be the #1 pick) who can score inside as well as outside.

Is anyone that upset about not getting this kid. I know he is a highly ranked recruit from the area, but I personally have not seen anything from him that makes me overly upset he is headed to U of I. I kind of see him as another Brandenburg; highly regarded prospect who doesn't have that killer instinct to take advantage of his skills. He is very soft at this point. He is just a junior though, so maybe he gets it together and becomes a star by the time he heads out to Champaign. Regardless I wish him well. I like to see St. Louis kids succceed no matter where they end up. For the St. Louis kids who possess quality cage fighting skills I encourage them to sign with the Tigers.

I have to agree Roy. I have been to games at numerous schools and can say that SLU's band is the most impressive. I was at the Texas A&M tournament last year and was watching the A&M game with a Billiken alumn who had been to almost every stadium in C-USA and he turned to me while the Aggie band was playing and said that you will not hear a band better than SLU's. They do an amazing job. It will be nice having them at our own building next year.

I can't wait to see the sea of 25 students wearing blue. When does the time come when they stop doing the whole "and the 6th man, the Blue Crew?" At least shine the light on someone with passion; my suggestion is....."and now the 6th Man Billiken Roy." He at least shows up for every game and bleeds Billiken Blue.

I fail to see how you could say that SLU is taking measures to improve its program and Mizzou is not. Mizzou's athletic program is on a different level than SLU's. Mizzou is a high major program with high major facilities and that is something that you cannot underestimate. Anderson realistically just finished up his first full recruiting class. He came in late and had to fill schollies for his first year and last year only had one scholarship available thanks to Quinn. I think Mizzou has a higher rated class than SLU coming in next year. Mizzou does not have a great record, but they have been in every game and return a nice nucleus of players to go along with a solid recruiting class. They are definintely the better team this year and will be next as well in the very least, beyond that it depends on the recruits coming into both programs. What recruit did Majerus beat Anderson out for?

Thanks.

A coworker of mine who is a big Illini fan stopped by and said he was hearing rumors that Tyler was committing to Illinois. Is there reason to think this rumor carries much weight?

I think you answer a lot of your questions. It is tough to really call these guys Anderson recruits since he came in for Quinn and had to fill a recruiting class with leftovers so to say. He did get some nice players in Hannah, Keon Lawrence (already committed to Quinn I believe), JT Tiller, and DeMarre Carroll, but he also probably had to reach for guys like Butterfield and that Volkus character. Three of those guys are JUCO transfers and it seems like kids go to JUCO for a reason and typically are not outstanding character guys. So his first recruiting class was a class he pieced together in a short period of time with what players were still available and without the ability to really target guys and go out and get them. He was fortunate to get Carroll to transfer and Tiller to switch his committment after having committed to UAB. He only had one scholarship available for his second recruiting class and got a kid who looks like he could become a solid player in Safford. So I would say this current recruiting class is Anderson's first true recruiting class with his "guys." I will base much of my opinion of Mike Anderson on the guys who come in next season. The two guys involved in this situation who could be labeled Anderson recruits are Butterfield and Hannah who both would be guys you called reaches as far as character.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would honestly advocate for further punishment beyond a one game suspension for these guys other than Hannah who obviously was involved in an altercation and Butterfield who was skating on thin ice to begin with. Brown, Horton, and Lyons have had no other off the court issues that I know of and they are being punished for being at a sketchy club. I realize Mike Anderson instituted some kind of no club rule so they were technically in the wrong for being there and are thus paying the price for it, but anything beyond that would seem pretty harsh in my opinion. College kids are going to go to bars/clubs with their friends; I am sure many of the younger posters on this board have been out shootin it with members of the Billikens. I am sure guys like Polk and Liddell have found themselves at places where potentially bad situations similar to the one involving Hannah could occur. If that is a picture from that night the suspensions are still coming since Keon Lawrence is front and center with a red hoody. It is interesting to see the assistant coaches son in that photo as well. Posing for a picture in front of a club you are told not to go to and posting it online is not the smartest thing to do.

Do you think witnesses are not saying anything to defend Hannah or because the people at the club are the type of people who keep their mouth shut in such a situation?

I think Mizzou would work SLU over. I think it would be a really bad match-up for SLU. Mizzou would pressure SLU the entire game and wear the Billikens down. Mizzou has way too much team quickness for the Bills. Mizzou's biggest weakness seems to be their lack of a true center and toughness inside other than DeMarre and SLU does not have anyone who would take advantge of that. I would imagine it would be similar to the game against GW last year in the conference tournament. I think Mizzou would definitely win next year as well. Beyond that, hopefully Majerus can work his magic and have SLU ready to be a consistent tournament team. I think Mizzou is too inconsistent to make a run in the conference tournament so I would agree that they would not have the best chance of being a tournament team out of the Missouri schools. They may be the best team in MO, but they play in by far the toughest conference of any team in MO and have little chance of winning multiple games in the Big 12 tourney let alone winning it. I would not think someone is crazy for choosing Mizzou out of this sorry group of teams though. Mizzou did beat Texas and played KU tough so they have at least demonstrated that they can play with any team in conference. Mizzou has lost a fair share of games, but all of their games have been competitve.

Pistol, maybe Burke and Majerus can have a nice debate before Larry the Cable Guy performs.