Duff Man

RIP to a Billiken Legend. Condolences to his family.

Guy Phillips jumped on the Spoonball bandwagon and has been tormenting us ever since with his unprofessional PA work and inflated sense of celebrity...with the exception of the occasional reprieve when he's got something more important to do (like annoy Mizzou and Illini fans at the Braggin Rights game). Give the gig to someone who will actually take it seriously and take pride in his work.

Keith Carter wore 0 in 2012 before he peaced out.

Goodwin has also taken 88 more shots than Jett did, and Jett still has 14 more made FGs. Efficiency matters. Remember when everyone used to lament Jett's poor FT shooting? Well his 61.2% > Goodwin's 56.6% I'm not trying to pick on Goodwin because he's really improved from where he was mid soph year, and he fits so well with this current group. He's a guy who does MANY MANY things well and contributes on both sides and works his ass off on both ends and his aggressiveness set the tone for the entire team...but he's not a dominant offensive player who you just keep feeding the ball to (like Perkins or Jett or Claggett).

Yeah, they were all bad asses who improved mightily as they progressed. Why would not remember them at the peak of their value? Meanwhile other guys (not going to name any names) peaked soph year and never lived up to their true potential. Naturally we're going to glorify the former over the latter.

I feel like Melvin Robinson was made to switch to 54 from 50 his soph year because they realized after it was too late that 50 was supposed to be retired. Not sure if it was officially retired or if it was a Willie McGee 51 situation where Bud Smith gave up number 51 after a pair of starts for the Cardinals in 2001 and no Cardinals player has worn it since.

The idea that Jordair Jett was a one season supernova is revisionist history. Jett made all 10 defensive team as a 7th man on the deepest roster in program history. He was the best defensive player on the best team we've seen. He was not asked to do much offensively but he was a key part of the NCAA run that had them closer to the Sweet 16 than at any other point in my lifetime before Draymond twisted the knife. As a Junior, Jett was 3rd team all conference and once again all defensive A10 on a team that swept the A10 regular season and conf tournament titles. The only Billikens team to ever do that. He took it to another level the following year with Kwamain gone, but Jett was a key part of 2 great teams and was honored with all conference recognition before that magic senior year. Goodwin meanwhile has 1 first team all conference and 1 all defensive team and 1 NCAA tournament appearance....and people are ready to retire his number

Claggett is more worthy than any other Billiken past or present of having his number retired. 3x 1st team All Conf, Honorable Mention All-American. 2nd all-time leading scorer. Jordair Jett is certainly more worthy than anyone on the current roster having won conf POY and Honorable Mention All-American. I think we should also remember that Melvin Robinson wore 50 in 1989-90 and Cody Ellis wore 24 from 2010-2013 after the numbers were supposed to be "retired". I don't know when Boushka's 24 was retired but Larry Simmons wore it in the late 90s. This might have been the period when only 50 was retired while we had 24 and 43 banners hanging next to it. Bonner's 34 wasn't retired immediately as some have pointed out that Donnie Dobbs wore it from 92-94 and then Tyrone Caswell in the late 90s. I don't recall exactly when Bonner's 34 was retired. Bottom line: It's an exclusive club that doesn't really have any clear criteria or consistent rules.

I feel sorry for people who can't get hard to standard definition (sports) porn.

Eh, it's for the best that it ends abruptly with an ambiguous finish...it was a lot closer than I remembered...thanks for all the work uploading the old games

Reading the Twitter thread, I thought Tatum was not so much upset about Liddell getting Player of the Decade over himself and Beal, but rather upset that Roosevelt Jones got first team over BJ Young, Cam Biedscheid, and Caleb Love. Tatum gave a take somewhere - I forget where - about how Biedscheid was a guy who was so good (in HS) but didn't pan out. It's just funny to think that Tatum's NBA game is so mature, yet he's still a 22 year old getting fired up about a dumb list by the St Louis Post Dispatch

Big Mel was a poor man's Willie Reed. Cup of coffee = preseason - amazingly in a span of 12 days in 1995 Big Mel signed/was claimed and was waived/released from both the Sonics and Jazz - teams that would represent the Western Conference in the next 3 NBA finals. I assume back then being 7ft was good enough for an NBA team to kick the tires for 13th man. It was the Hack a Shaq era.

Bonner Hughes Claggett Jett Kwamain Love Evans Perry Jeffers

If Bess didn't make a roster, I'm not sure how either of these 2 will, much less get drafted. Goodwin doesn't have the handles to play PG at the next level, nor does he have the jump shot or explosiveness to be a SG at the next level. French needs to learn to shoot 3s if he's going to make it. Given his inability to shoot FTs, that's a long shot. I'd love to see them make it, but dear God I hope they keep their options open.

Glad to see the Big 3 all getting their All-conference due. What's great about this team is how everyone has settled into their role and flourished within the team unit. No time to rest on these laurels. Get the W Friday and keep it going.