Duff Man

What about the shot for cash?

Wasn't it Jordair Jett who got Justin Jordan's spot? If you want to make an omelet...

Small sample size obviously from the overhauled backcourt, but we're seeing first hand this season how much better/worse a team can play when you do/don't have a legit PG running a coherent offense.

The Greek

The Orlando Stewart game was 25 years ago tonight...

Just want to make sure I cast my vote against Tom Crean. His entire career is staked on the fact that in 2003 he rode Dwyane Wade to the Final 4. In 16 years at Marquette and Indiana he has made the NCAA tournament 8 times...and only twice - both in 2003 when he had an all-time great carrying his team - has Tom Crean won an NCAA tournament game against a better seeded team...while 4 times his teams have failed to live up to their seed. 2002: 5-seed lost to 12-seed Tulsa 71-69 2003: 3-seed defeated 14-seed Holy Cross 72-68, 6-seed Mizzou 101-92, 2-seed Pitt 77-74, 1-seed Kentucky 83-69, lost to 2-seed Kansas 94-61 2006: 7-seed lost to 10-seed Alabama 90-85 2007: 8-seed lost to 9-seed Michigan St 61-49 2008: 6-seed defeated 11-seed Kentucky 74-66, lost to 3-seed Stanford 82-81 2012: 4-seed defeated 13-seed New Mexico St 79-66, 12-seed VCU 63-61, lost to 1-seed Kentucky 102-90 2013: 1-seed defeated 16-seed James Madison 83-62, 9-seed Temple 58-52, lost to 4-seed Syracuse 61-50 2015: 10-seed lost to 7-seed Wichita St 81-76 If you ignore 2003, he has just 5 NCAA tournament wins in 15 seasons all against teams seeded 9 or worse (9, 11, 12, 13, and 16). In the conference tournaments Crean is just 9-16 with zero automatic bids. This is precisely the type of coach we should be trying to AVOID.

Isn't that what they said about the early Crews era Billikens? That they coached themselves...and then this past July we saw them get bounced from The Basketball Tournament as an undisciplined mess... now let me get this straight... Crews up by not punting the UMass game....which clinched the outright conference title and certainly helped their NCAA seed? so that they would be better poised to make a run in the A10 tournament - which people forget they got totally fuoked against the Bonnies by a no-call when Jordair had his wrist grabbed and was taken down - and remained down creating a 5 on 4 which led to a wide open 3 which went in and ultimately swung the game - which would have boosted their seed to the point of not having to play an elite team in the round of 32 bull****. Having a short bench and a star player with a knee problem, they were better off losing at the buzzer in the A10 quarters than playing another game or two that weekend and risking further injury to their best player. They ended up as a 5 seed...if they lost to Umass and won 2 games in the A10 tournament they probably would have still been a 5-seed...maybe they'd have avoided Louisville - who shouldn't have been a 4-seed anyway - but you can't blame Crews for the NCAA serving them a sandwich of a draw. The Dayton home loss on senior night was with a compromised Jordair - and Dayton went on to the Elite 8 remember. The loss at VCU was expected as VCU was nearly unbeatable at home during the Weber/Graham era. They came out flat against Duquesne...that's the one game you can point to and blame Crews for...for not having them motivated, for underestimating the A10 bottom feeders, for not having a plan to contain Micah Mason...but that was their first loss in 20 games FFS. All season they won close game after close game. You want to give Jordair and the players all the credit and none to Crews...fine....but the A10 voted him coach of the year back to back years for a reason...because on paper SLU was not the best team, but 2 years running they won the conference outright. I'm as disappointed with Crews as anyone for his lack of recruiting and player development - going back to not getting Crawford into the rotation his freshman year so he could hit some motherfuoking 3s against Louisville, but let's not just rewrite history and pretend he didn't coach the sh1t out of this team his first 2 years here (or 3 if you count 2011-12). Crews was a major part of the best 3-year run in school history - let's not completely lose sight of that just because he's failing now.

I'm evaluating Crews. Not defending. I thought he did fine given the circumstances with the 2013 incoming class. That said, it was the 2014 class with the full year of recruiting with 6 spots to fill that absolutely had to include the future stars of this program - ala Majerus' 2008 class that included Kwamain, Conklin, Reed, and Cassity - to be the springboard going forward.

I give Crews a pass on that class since he was not named permanent coach until very late in the recruiting cycle.

You really can't evaluate a recruiting class until the 2nd year. Say whatever you want about red flags being there while Crews was winning back to back outright A10 titles with Majerus' players, but the incoming 2014 freshmen was the first class Crews was able to recruit as the permanent coach. Bigs can take longer to develop - but your 'star' guards and wings usually identify themselves by this point of their 2nd season...and who of the Reynolds, Roby, Yarbrough, Bartley crop look poised to challenge for all conference recognition? At points during last season, I'd have said Yarbrough and maybe Bartley for his outside shooting and passing vision...but neither of those guys have progressed and have seemingly regressed. Roby and Reynolds each bring different things to the table as combo guards, but neither look like the starting point guard of an NCAA tournament team - nor do they look capable of shouldering the offensive load. To me Reynolds is backup who can come in and make things happen in spurts, but so much of his game relies on drawing fouls...he needs to be able to absorb contact and finish because he's not getting those calls against good teams on the road. Roby is intriguing as I do think he could be part of the rotation on an NCAA tournament team, and I do still like his upside...but offensively I'm not sure he's ever going to be at the level of a primary scorer or playmaker for a good team. The verdict on Crews hinges on whether that 2014 class can get their sh|t together over the next few weeks and turn in a competitive A10 season.

According to Basketball Reference, Willie is the 15th former Billiken to play in the NBA...*or ABA D.C. Wilcutt Marv Schatzman Ed Macauley Bob Ferry Bevo Nordmann Richard Parks* Barry Orms Rich Niemann Gene Moore* Harry Rogers* Robin Jones David Burns Anthony Bonner Larry Hughes Willie Reed http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/colleges.cgi?college=stlouis *ABA

I've long subscribed to the theory that in the 4 major sports, you absolutely need quality at Football: offensive line Baseball: starting pitching Basketball: point guard Hockey: goalie A point guard needs to be -fearless -capable of creating his own shot -capable of drawing help defenders and finding open teammates -capable of hitting open 3s -adept at navigating full court pressure -solid defensively If you don't have someone to fill this role, you will not be successful against good teams not matter how many other pieces you have. If you don't have at least 2 guys to fill this role, you will be extremely vulnerable (see: the Mo State game when Kwam was out).

"Just hours after leading an honesty session with his teammates the 26-year-old import was told via text message to skip a planned school clinic and instead head to the club’s base in Currajong for a meeting." When keeping it real goes wrong. Now that the Tatum ship has sailed, I'm pretty comfortable saying without question Brian Conklin is the former SLU player I'd most like to be a future head coach.

$5 - Anthony Bonner $4 - Dwayne Evans $4 - Jordair Jett $3 - Larry Hughes $1 - Justin Love $1 - Jim Crews

Kevin Lisch makes a cameo in this hilarious video that was featured on Deadspin this morning

I'm pretty sure if motherfuoking ISIS was going to target STL they would have hit the USMNT Friday night at Busch....if it was domestic terrorism then probably Bears/Rams on Sunday...if it was local terrorism to the STL, I could see the Blues/Hawks as a potential target. but no... a 60% full college basketball tilt between SLU and Hartford is the target of choice. Look, I understand that this in part is a generational thing between people who lived in time when a significant number of people died in fires every year and a generation that like Mr 05 alluded to, learned that after the 4th or 5th false alarm in that first month of college that unless you see/feel/smell/hear evidence of an actual fire - you'd be wise to just stay put and wait that sh1t out. I'll also point out that at a sporting event you're far more likely to die in a stampede or mass panic than in a fire or act of terrorism. The Paris plot was designed to cause such a panic and the fact that people didn't all attempt to evacuate the Stade de France saved lives. And what if there was a fire, by fleeing your seat that we can be sure is 100% not on fire, you're potentially running straight into the fire on your way to the exit. Gus mumbling something about this is out of our control does not make me think I need to leave. Gus saying 'we need everyone to evacuate in a calm but efficient manner' sounds about right.

I was shocked how everyone got up and left. When the PA announcer or someone live on the scene makes an announcement that we need to evacuate, that's when you get up. When a robot with recorded female voice announces that a fire alarm has been triggered and all the important people on the court are staying put - and there's no signs of smoke/fire - that's pretty good tell that it's a technical issue and there's no real danger.

John Duff had a 5-point play against Methdale in the first half of the Orlando Stewart (RIP) game. it happens at the 3:05 mark (Dan Patrick on the call, Travis Tadysak was on the court for the celebratory fist pump, Ed Hightower blew the call)

These are only games I attended in person. I missed the BC game in 2008. 10) SLU 60-46 New Mexico - 12/31/2012 http://www.slubillikens.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?db_oem_id=27200&id=1180005&catid=29819 On the list for it's significance in the development of the team moreso than the game/atmosphere. It was a game SLU absolutely had to have, and they won it comfortably. The Bills had dealt with the adversity and turmoil of losing coach Majerus, Kwamain to a broken foot, Jordair was playing with a groin injury, Evans with a back issue, Carter transferring, and survived the soft part of their non-conf schedule without dropping any more games. Now with Kwamain back, they looked impressive against a ranked opponent, holding the Lobos to 13 first half points. 9) Xavier 73-71 SLU 2/24/2010 Even though they lost, this was a huge benchmark both in terms of on the court performance as well as the atmosphere at Chaifetz. This game had a buzz that I hadn't felt at a Billikens game in ages. Kwamain was on fire and Willie was more than X could handle down low, but Cassity was overmatched trying guard Jordan Crawford and Willie's poor FT shooting ultimately did them in. Kwamain was 5-8 from 3 but missed the one at the end of the game that would have put them up 1. If they had pulled off the upset, they'd have been 3 wins (vs Duq, vs Tem, @ Day) away from a shared A10 title. 8) SLU 87-81 George Mason OT - 2/1/2014 http://www.slubillikens.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?db_oem_id=27200&id=3179475&catid=29819 There were not many tight home wins during that 3 year run of success, so this one stands out. 13-game win streak on the line. Mason had a poor record but were a handful. Rob Loe popped a late 3 to force OT and then added 2 more in OT to finish with 21 points. 7) SLU 68-65 Dayton 2OT - 2/13/2010 A game the Bills had no business winning, but funny things happen when you have Rick Majerus coaching against Brian Gregory. Down 14 at the half, SLU's young core of Mitchell/Cassity/Ellis/Conklin/Reed managed to take a 4 point lead with under 8 to play, before Dayton ran off 12 straight - leaving SLU down 8 with 2:20 to play. Cassity hit a pair of shots and Dayton missed a couple of front ends which set up the end of regulation sequence culminating with Kwamain's ridiculous banked 3 pointer that forced OT. 6) SLU 77-64 Washington - 11/20/2011 After years of waiting, finally we saw what this core of players could do together against a legit opponent. Conklin had 25 points while dominating inside against UW's 7 foot center. Conklin also set the pick heard round the world. Not as close as the final score would indicate, the Bills ran Washington off the court in the first half, doubling them up 50-25. 5) SLU 78-54 La Salle - 3/9/2013 Kwamain goes out in style with 19 points and 6 assists as a tight game turned into a blowout in the 2nd half. Rob Loe was perfect going 7-7 from the field including 3-3 from 3 and was also 3-3 from the line. They cut down the nets after the game as this win clinched a share of the A10 title - in a year when the A10 sent 6 teams to the dance. It was SLU's first share of a regular season conference title since 1971 (the following day when VCU lost to Temple it meant SLU had won their first outright regular season conference title since 1957). 4) SLU 64-62 VCU - 2/15/2014 A toss up between the 2013 and 2014 VCU games...this one was in doubt til the end, but Jordair went into his unstoppable crunch time mode while Loe popped a dagger 3 to ice it. There was a first half sequence (capped by the above dunk) that started with Jordair swatting away a Briante Weber layup attempt, McCall graps the ball and brings it upcourt then finds Evans on the wing who - thanks to Rob Loe sealing off the defenders - goes in for the emphatic dunk. A signature moment for that 2010 incoming class. 3) SLU 76-VCU 62 - 2/19/2013 This week was the height of Billiken-mania. A Tuesday night beat down of VCU ahead of the return trip to face Butler at Hinkle on Friday. SLU led 31-9 on the heels of a 21-1 first half run. An anti-climactic finish was spiced up by Rammer's legendary snub of Bo Boroski. 2) SLU 70-59 Xavier - 2/28/2012 Down 40-29 early in the 2nd half, SLU went on a 24-2 run with Conklin leading the way with 23 points. It's really a toss up between this and the Butler game for the #1 spot. 1) SLU 75-58 Butler - 1/31/2013 This was put up or shut up time. They'd endured early season injuries and the death of their coach, but had multiple bad losses on their home court and no signature win on their resume. Butler was in the top 10 having hit a miracle shot against the Zags at Hinkle the week before...and they simply had no answer what the Billikens were throwing at them. Jett owned Clarke. Evans owned Jones. There was nothing Brad Stevens could do. The first half masterclass set the tone for the rest of the season which saw them sweep the A10 regular season and tournament titles - including 2 more wins over Butler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8Jr19Bbx6s

Lee was the highest paid player on the NBA champions. Beal is about to get paid. Pretty sure neither is sweating his Q rating in the 314.

We all knew the worst case scenario (finishing 2nd) was a very likely - if not the most likely possibility. That said, the upside was worth the risk. You always take a shot at the local prodigy with family connections to the program and only back off when they tell you it's not happening. I understand people want to assign blame - and Crews deserves some blame for the season they just had - but to say we should write off all local AAU talent or that Jayson or Justin screwed the program over by wasting their resources, that's just reactionary nonsense. Justin wanted Jayson to go to SLU. He also respected his son's ability to make his own decision. I suspect there was a significant period of time when Jayson envisioned himself going to SLU. Kids change their minds. The appeal of chasing a national title with his friend while playing for a HOF coach beat out the appeal of being a home town hero. I think there's a strong case to be made that SLU's dreadful 2014-15 cost them any realistic shot at Tatum, but on that note I think Duke's title run and their ability to make Jayson (and his buddy Giles) feel like Royalty was the decisive blow.

Krysten ‏@KP_Rivals 12m12 minutes ago Top 2016 prospects Harry Giles & Jayson Tatum talk potential package deal but it won't be on purpose. @JeffEisenberg http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/top-recruits-harry-giles--jayson-tatum-ponder-potential-package-deal-121942885.html Jeff Eisenberg 5 hours ago The Dagger The increasing possibility that Giles and Tatum could opt to play together in college could make Duke, Kentucky or North Carolina next year’s big winners in recruiting. The Blue Devils are regarded as the favorite to land Tatum, while the Wildcats and Tar Heels are the only other programs both players are still considering. Whereas Jones and Okafor conducted weekly conference calls with one another’s family, went on visits together and ultimately committed during simultaneous press conferences, a potential Tatum-Giles package deal is not nearly as well organized. Tatum says he intends to commit “very soon” — definitely by the end of the summer. Giles still has a list of eight programs he is considering and intends to take his time. “I’d love to play together, but we have to do what’s right for both of us,” Giles said. “[The Okafor-Jones package deal] was a little different because they committed at the same time. If we go to the same school we’re not going to commit at the same time.” While Giles and Tatum could both envision themselves wearing the same uniform in college, both caution not to count out the other schools besides Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina on their respective lists. Giles is also considering Kansas, Ohio State, Syracuse, Wake Forest and UNLV. Tatum insists he has genuine interest in hometown school Saint Louis even though the Billikens lack the historical pedigree of the other programs pursuing him. “It’s definitely real,” Tatum said. “A lot of people don’t expect them to be on my list, but I love my hometown, I love the school, I love the players, the program, the people that work there, the atmosphere. I’ve visited the school numerous times and it’s still a strong possibility for me.”