Ty Renfro

Directed at most of you. The overall feel I get on this board, as a relatively new poster, is pessimistic. Where's the spirit?

I think it's a pretty bold projection/prediction. Most of you guys seem like pessimists anyway, so more power to the blogger for trying to be upbeat. I watched a few games where Knollmeyer and MacGuire played, and I think he's right by saying they fit the mold of a Soderberg recruit, but would have never seen a Division One court under Majerus. I think a re-shuffling of the deck would be good. Reed, Conklin, etc will be better.

Per our SLU hoops blogger at TSN: A subjective Saint Louis season preview Filed under: Billikens Liddell Lisch RickMajerus SLU SaintLouis Oct 22, 2007 10:57 AM | 12 views [report abuse] St. Louis - Following one of the most tumultous off-seasons in the history of the Saint Louis program, the Bills hit the hardwood for the 2007-08 season looking to not only post back-to-back 20 win seasons, but to end an eight-season NCAA Tournament drought. While the big story this season will be the backcourt play of guards Kevin Lisch and Tommie Liddell, the bigger story, literally, is the hiring of head coach Rick Majerus. Lured away from his position at ESPN, Majerus brings instant credibility to Saint Louis, and a sudden national interest in the Atlantic Ten Conference. Majerus will tilt with the likes of Sean Miller at Xavier, Karl Hobbs at George Washington, and the match-up even Dick Vitale wants to see -- Majerus vs. Phil Martelli of Saint Joe's. The eyes of the college basketball world will be on Majerus this year, and with that comes two early contests that will challenge the Bills. An early November game at Pittsburgh, and a Dec. 4 battle with fellow Jesuit institution Boston College in Chestunt Hill. Both schools have made deep runs in the NCAA Tournament over the past couple of seasons and are led by two of the premier recruiting coaches in college basketball, Jamie Dixon and Al Skinner. While many publications call the loss of C Ian Voyoukas a loss for the Billikens, that could be the understatement of the year, as many Saint Louis fans saw better production in "Waterworld." Voyoukas went from maybe first or second round NBA prospect to EuroLeague journeyman in one season, which probably cost him millions of dollars. Voyoukas was seen in the Simon Rec Center the night before SLU's epic bout with Tyler Hansboro and North Carolina, lifting weights in anticipation to his clash with the Poplar Bluff, Mo. native. It didn't work, as Hansboro, who actually prepares himself for basketball in the offseason, dominated Voyoukas inside. Ian's loss will be felt on the perimiter, as teams would send a second defender down to guard Ian in the low post. With the Voyoukas threat gone, and the weak Bryce Husak down low, Lisch, Liddell and F Luke Meyer will have to work to establish open looks. JUCO transfer Barry Eberhardt will add a power presence that Saint Louis fans haven't seen in a long time, as the departed Brad Soderberg couldn't land a Boeing, more or less a 6'8-6'9 power foward during his tenure, which was a joke. Saint Louis' big non-conference home game this year will be a Dec. 15 late Saturday matchup against Missouri Valley power and regional rival Southern Illinois. While the Salukis are the darling of the mid-majors, SIU bested SLU in Carbondale last year, and are a pre-season top-10, which will make the taste of revenge even sweeter if SLU knocks them off at the Scott. SIU has historically played poorly in St. Louis, losing the last three games played at SLU, and getting bounced early from the Missouri Valley Tournament. SOCIETY BASKETBALL If you think that Jesuit schools produce the best basketball teams, you'll get a chance to back that theory, as Saint Louis plays six of their brother Jesuit institutions over the course of the 2007-08 season: 11.14 v. Detroit 12.4 @ Boston College 12.19 v. Loyola University Chicago 2.7 v. Xavier 2.20 v. Fordham 2.28 @ Saint Joseph's Recruiting problems under Soderberg will haunt Majerus this year, much like the Ty Willingham recruiting era at Notre Dame. The cupboard, with the exception of Lisch and Liddell is pretty bare for Majerus, and let me tell you, the words cupboard, bare, and Majerus are hardly ever spoken in the same sentence. Majerus will have to work with a weakling in Adam Knollmeyer, and a soft Dustin McGuire, two players that came to SLU because no other coach in D-I would offer them a scholarship. Thank God that will never be the case with Majerus. The 2008 recruiting class for SLU is one of the best in school history, but that's a season away. For now, SLU will look to improve on a 20-win season, and continue to climb the ladder in the Atlantic Ten. PREDICTION Saint Louis stuns the college basketball world early with three wins in three days at the Pittsburg tournament, beating Pitt 65-60. SLU goes into a Dec. 4 clash with BC undefeated, but falls back to earth. At 11-1, SLU is ranked #25 as it takes on #5 Southern Illinois and shocks the Salukis at home in a rout,80-58. SLU enters A-10 play ranked in the AP Top 20 and continues to roll through the A-10, stumbling on the road at Dayton, and losing a heartbreaker at Hawk Hill. SLU captures the A-10 Tournament in Atlantic City and comes in an 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Overall regular season record will be 28-2.

I heard about this on rivals three days ago, so no need to hype this guy up. No more of an insider than the guy who does the Sporting News site or Nate Lasch.

Yeah, Metz. When did he start working for the papers?

Once again, no sense counting on USA Today for great info: Sophomore Adam Knollmeyer has more upside than any Billiken big man, something that has Majerus licking his chops. The versatile forward averaged just four minutes per game during his freshman season but should handle a large bulk of the playing time down low. Um, you've got to be kidding me.

Seems like XU signed on Stan Burrell and Josh Duncan to long-term deals. They must be getting their PhD's.

I'm feeling Majerus will have the upper hand on Jamie Dixon. 3 wins in 3 days isn't a stretch. With Soderberg it was like hang on to your hats, but I feel more confident that Majerus won't take any crap on the floor.

I meant turd, not Kurd. Sorry.

Even if they were gassed like a turd, there's no excuse. The camera man kept the cameras on GW's half the whole time because they scored, they trapped us, they scored again, we turned the ball over, they scored. It was a horrible display of basketball. I'm searching for synonyms for how bad we were that night. Any suggestions?

Just look at Vlad Geuerro of the LAAofA. Tapes 'em up like a darn fool. Too bad they couldn't wrap up the Red Sox.

Did we even break the decade mark in the first half? We beat GeeW @ home a few weeks prior. Then we made them look like the 85 Bears.

Whoever wrote this obviously didn't finish J-School: and I quote from the same article: 'Majerus is fiercely loyal and expects nothing less from colleagues and players. Alex Jensen, an assistant coach at SLU, is just one of many former players he has helped break into the ranks of college coaching.' ' "All of [the players] have struggled with the mental part of it, because he wants you with him mentally all the time, 100 percent," adds Alex Jensen, who played for Majerus at Utah and is now an assistant on the SLU staff. ' why not just "adds Jensen?" Trying to fill a word quota? Other than that, the article just didn't do it for me.

Had a chance to watch Shimmy's Squad last night and they looked pretty good. They have a couple of guys running with them and it looked like our Lady Bills will be a contender in the A-10 this year. T. Lisch has a great jumper and we've got a couple of scrappy white girls at guards who can run the point. Shimmy has a tough offensive package, and it seems that after they get some of the early-season kinks worked out that you'll see a lot of fluidity to the "O."