Pick and Roll

Your post was actually pretty funny! This is how you should dress for the XU game just in case someone pulls a Burrell and you can figure-4 their ###!

I will never forget that game. SB should have been mobbed at the end of that game. I will never forget when he threw the ball into the older couple sitting in front of me. I hate that guy!!

The integrity of what has been compromised? Your expectations are that of a dreamland. You want all the benefits of winnings but shutter at the realities of getting there. You cannot have it all - it only exists in a world dominated by puppy dogs and ice cream, which doesn't exist.

You in fact have many more negative posts about RM than you do positive. Your posts defending his coaching style and technique are minimal at best. How do you know that RM is not a genuinely good person? Do you know him personally? You are making an inference that he is not a genuinely good person by your statement above; do you agree with this assessment?

What RM is explaining the consequences of being in a league that is geographically unsound while having his travel arrangements (i.e.- chartered flights) mismanaged. I guess you really don't see the light in this. You have become so disgusted with RM that you have lost your ability to be objective. The real question is: why do we continue to listen to you? Do you think that maybe this is a logical consequence of pulling out of the travel agreement? Maybe RM has a complaint that is legit and not being attenuated. Biondi knows this and that's why he is being quiet. He is the president of the university, he will not address this publicly. Do you think that the donors are pissed because they donated money to have chartered flights and now the money not being allocated for its original use? Do you think that RM is complaining about all this because he is personally being inconvenienced? Do you really think the kids are a pawn in this discussion over travel? If you do, then you are completely delusional and you do not have a clue. I think RM has the kids' best interest in mind especially when it comes to academics. You are sick of defending SLU like RM is sick of defending his student-athletes. At least you two can understand each other on this. So, now it appears that you are an ambassador of SLU at this juncture. How did you handle these phone calls and emails? Did you defend the student-athletes like you do here? Did you bash RM to satisfy your own personal vendetta at the mercy of SLU's reputation? It makes me a little concerned that every time RM mouths off that you become the PR person. By the way, it appears to me that you don't get it.

Thank you!

I was referring to the games after ND/Iowa State as you were, therefore only Rockhurst, UMKC and EIU are in the conversation. These three are area teams in my opinion. Granted, the KS and MVU games were part of the tourney which allowed us to play ND and Iowa State. You have to take the good with the bad in this situation. I guess you think this team is a lot better than it is. If we were to play 120ish RPI teams we would have lost most of them, or at least half of them, especially early in the season. We were not that good. We are not that good now. I don't think getting beat down, especially early in the season much less early in the career of these guys, is the best thing for our team. Think about how the GW loss was for our team last week, can you imagine a season-long string of these games (and the meltdowns to follow). That is not what I would wish for our team. I am afraid the viewing entertainment of the fans was pretty low on the list of priorities in making the schedule this year. What's best for the development of the team does not always coincide with what's fun to watch. I do believe as the team gets better the schedule should get more challenging proportionate to our anticipated progression. The future is bright but it will take some time to get there.

Looking at the schedule post-Chicago we played seven games. Two games (one of them not counting here is Rockhurst as a DII which doesn't register) we played opponents that have less than a 200 RPI with EIU being one of them with a 214 RPI (which you name above as an approved regional tune-up game) and UMKC having an RPI of 301. We played BG away which boasts an RPI of 172; we lost this game by 9 points and was not pretty. So, I am deducting from this that you have a problem with us playing Rockhurst and UMKC. Rockhurst is obvious - DII team which no Billiken fan likes; however, it was finals week and probably finals week for alot of other schools who are unwilling to travel at this time due to academics. For this, you probably take what you can get in order to stay home. That leaves UMKC, we didn't exactly smoke them with only a 7 point win. I agree these games are not exciting as fans but we aren't that good and we are really young. I liken this to starting out academically in college. You don't take organic chemistry your first semester freshman year to endure a challenge. You need to warm up to the pace of college rigors. This may not be very exciting as a student but you aren't doing this for the immediacy of the semester but rather the long-term career of the student. Same thing with basketball. You have to look at the big picture. I am sure RM doesn't care if you are excited as a fan by this schedule but rather is trying to accomplish something more long-term which the team will build on. I hope we get a game with Duke, UNC, Villanova, or the likes of one of these teams but I don't bank my happiness as a Billiken fan on this.

Don't you think the buy games are important this year, especially considering our players are barely out of pull-ups? It would be a daunting season if we played elite teams every game and lost by double digits on a consistent basis. I understand our SOS was lacking a bit this year but we have to learn to crawl before we walk. It is not realistic to think that this year would be ground-breaking. This year, IMO, is a building block to recruiting and setting up structure to this team's future. I think the schedule had some method to the madness which I have learned to understand. By the way, it would be very difficult to attract quality recruits or keep the decent recruits you have if you consistently lose by double digits (i.e.- see Fordham). To add to this, the sky has been falling in the 63108 zip code since I can remember. It is a state of mind we are used to as Billiken fans.

You really thought this article was presented in a way that was straightforward? I thought the article was hard to read. Actually, it was painful to read. I have to admit, I agree with McG; this article could have been edited by a third-grader with better results. You might be right though, a refresher course in understanding poor writing style may be in order. I will check the online courses at Mizzou.

Broy - This is an interesting thread you started. In an attempt to thrash RM you have exposed yourself to a couple of hypocrisies. You say that most of his answers are wrong. Outside of a few geographic and logistical errors, what was wrong with the interview. I would assume that your perpetual defense of the STUDENT-athlete would have you agreeing with RM's statements concerning the academic issues in relation to travel. This is where you are riding both sides of the fence in attempt to bash RM. I think the interview's main content is RM is trying to put the student-athlete first; a stance you often take in making RM look like a villain. So my question is the following: What is wrong with the content of RM's answers (other than what I stated above)? You complain that RM continues to harp the same issue with an attempt to make a point. Kind of reminds me of you. You do the same thing on here - you harp and become very repetitive in an attempt to bring negative light to RM. We get it, you don't like RM. We get it, RM doesn't like the geographic layout of the A-10. At least RM is objective with his stance (My personal opinion: I don't think the MVC is a good choice for SLU but I see his point concerning travel and geographic layout of the A-10). I think the firing of BS made you so upset that anyone could have filled the position and you would not like them. Everyone on here wants the Bills to win. We want great student-athletes who play basketball at an elite level. RM is bringing this to the program at a level unseen in the recent history of the program. The guy is on WGN with 2000 times more people listening continuing to appeal to a broader market - all in promoting the program. He brings a level of notoriety and attention to program previously unseen. I will take a little bad with the great amount of good that comes with RM.