Duff Man

Fab Melo ruled ineligible. if this is gonna be that kind of party, I'm gonna stick my Dickey in the mashed potatoes...

Did anyone else catch Jon Smif on the selection show? It's too bad Marcus Relphorde isn't still playing...we could have had a Final 4 scenario where every team had at least one Billiken past, present, or Dickey

Our problem is we missed too many open 3s.

Here are the top 10 conferences ranked by RPI, with projected number of bids, with total number of teams in the conference in parentheses. 1 Big Ten 6 bids (12 teams) 2 Big East 8-10 bids (16 teams) 3 SEC 4-6 bids (12 teams) 4 Big 12 5-6 bids (10 teams) 5 Moutain West 3-4 bids (8 teams) 6 ACC 4-6 bids (12 teams) 7 A10 3-4 bids (14 teams) 8 MVC 2 bids (10 teams) 9 CUSA 1-2 bids (12 teams) 10 PAC-12 1-3 bids (12 teams) 4 A10 bids is not a reach, rather it's an unlikely yet plausible scenario that required a series of events to play out as they now have.

You think wrong. No. Fortunately you're not on the committee.

There is universal consensus that SLU and Xavier are already in. If you don't believe it, then you're just not paying attention to the bubble situation. A Bonnies win means 4 bids for the A10. 4 bids for the A10 means more money and exposure for the conference. It's in SLU's best interest for the Bonnies to win.

Yes http://articles.chic...-sterling-brown Bracket http://ihsa.org/Spor...kb/4bracket.htm

heads. up. their. asses.

Google: Billikens Media Guide http://issuu.com/slubillikens/docs/1011mbbmediaguide

I know the media guide says Claggett is 11th with 98 games started, but the Billikens.com stats (which I realize aren't necessarily 100% accurate) has 91-92: 13 92-93: 28 93-94: 29 94-95: 31 (total: 101) I'm fairly certain Claggett started every game from his sophomore year onward, with the exception of the 1993 game @UAB which he missed to attend his aunt's funeral, so the discrepancy would have to fall in that 91-92 season when he started either 10 (media guide) or 13 (billikens.com) out of 28 games. If you add all the GS in Steve's table for the 91-92 season, you get 140 (28 x 5)...and every other stat on Claggett's line correlates with this 1995 draft scouting cheat sheet (which unfortunately doesn't include GS) - so we have no reason to think these numbers are incorrect. Not the most pressing issue in the world (confirming whether Claggett started the same number of games as Chris Sloan, or 3 fewer)...but would be nice to verify that the records are accurate.

Just a hunch, but I don't think he's finishing 4th in points... 1. 1972 Anthony Bonner 2. 1910 Erwin Claggett 3. 1880 Roland Gray 4. 1877 Monroe Douglass 5. 1703 Scott Highmark 5th is a realistic target given his scoring output this year. He'll need to revert back to his sophomore 16 PPG form to have a shot at passing Douglass and Gray, and even then it's somewhat dependent on how the team does in the postseason. To catch Bonner, he'll need to start averaging 18 PPG from now until the end of next year, not miss any games, and have the team advance a round or two in the A10 and NCAA tournaments each year.

No doubt Loe is a weapon, but his overall game is not polished to the point where Rick is comfortable with him on the floor in crunch time, short of a down 3 with less than 10 seconds to play scenario...

Don't forget the Sophomore Steals leader board... 1. 59 LaTodd Johnson 80-81 2. 50 Kwamain Mitchell 09-10 3. 49 Darryl Lenard 83-84 4. 46 Josh Fisher 01-02 5. 45 Erwin Claggett 92-93 6. 44 Orlando Stewart 90-91 7. 43 Corey Frazier 95-96 8. 38 Mike McCall 11-12 9. 37 Anthony Drejaj 03-04 10. 35 John Redden 97-98 11. 32 Jordair Jett 11-12 11. 32 Anthony Bonner 87-88

Ellis missing clutch open 3s against Rhode Island cost us a share of the A10 title. Kwamain, Kwamain, Ellis, McCall, in that order.

If the A10 final were on Saturday, they could potentially get a bump from beating Temple - but as it stands SLU's seed will be decided before the A10 final is played. That's because recent history indicates that teams that win their conference tournaments on Selection Sunday receive no bump. Last year Duke won the ACC tournament, and were shipped out west as Pittsburgh (who was 10th in the RPI, while Duke was 4th) got the 1-seed in the Southeast. Richmond was viewed as a bubble team heading into the A10 tournament, and only got a 12-seed despite winning the A10 title (with an RPI of 41). Kentucky was 7th in the RPI after winning the SEC tournament and they got a 4-seed. In 2010, Temple won the A10 tournament and climbed to 9th in the RPI and got a 5-seed. Simply put, the committees of recent years appear to have settled on most of the bracket before the Sunday games are played. They have to be ready to change things up if a dark horse wins a late automatic bid, but they're not making significant changes unless they have too. It wasn't always this way (Mizzou played their way into a 1-seed in 1994 by winning the Big 8 tournament on Selection Sunday), but I think it's been the standard-operating-procedure since 2002 when they introduced the pod system.

The general consensus heading into the season was that 11-3 (10-3 D1) non-conference 13-3 A10 24-6 (23-6 D1) was what was needed to be a lock for the dance, thus 24-6 was a common prediction from optimists.

Seeing that just grinds my gears that KM didn't take the last shot (or any shot in crunch time) against Rhody.

This dipsh1t was on McKernan yesterday saying Illinois still had a chance to play their way in...he worships the power conferences and values top 25 wins above all else. Basically you are as good as the best teams you've beaten, and since SLU's best wins are against X and Washington (bubble teams) SLU is on the bubble. Just ignore him

Hindsight is 20/20... The reality is that we don't have any elite scorers. We don't have Erwin Claggett consistently swishing awkward falling sideways 3s off the dribble, we don't have Larry Hughes breaking down defenders at will. If we're not hitting open shots, and our opposition is hitting the difficult contested ones, we're going to lose. We could make the Elite 8 and we could lose in the first round.

East coast bias, and superior talent aside...if Dunphy manages to lead Temple to the A10 title, despite losing Scootie Randall (for the season) and Micheal Eric (for half the season), he's A10 coach of the year. The fact remains Majerus has never been able to beat Dunphy - and given that it didn't happen this year when SLU was at home and Temple was still without Micheal Eric, gives Dunphy a huge edge in the coach of the year argument.

The A10 is just loaded with outstanding guards...for example (not an exhaustive list) Ramone Moore 18.2 PPG, 3.3 APG, 4.0 RPG, 1.1 SPG, 44.1 FG%, 40.3 3P%, 77.0 FT% Khalif Wyatt 17.0 PPG, 3.2 APG, 3.2 RPG, 2.1 SPG, 48.2 FG%, 38.7 3P%, 83.8 FT% Tu Holloway 17.3 PPG, 5.6 APG, 3.6 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 42.1 FG%, 34.6 3P%, 86.0 FT% Mark Lyons 16.0 PPG, 2.8 APG, 3.5 RPG, 1.4 SPG, 44.5 FG%, 40.6 3P%, 74.5 FT% Chaz Williams 15.5 PPG, 6.2 APG, 4.0 RPG, 2.1 SPG, 39.3 FG%, 36.1 3P%, 77.1 FT% Kevin Dillard 13.0 PPG, 5.8 APG, 2.5 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 40.7 FG%, 30.4 3P%, 81.8 FT% T.J. McConnell 11.7 PPG, 5.6 APG, 4.4 RPG, 3.0 SPG, 51.8 FG%, 48.6 3P%, 80.5 FT% Tyreek Duren 13.7 PPG, 4.2 APG, 3.6 RPG, 1.9 SPG, 49.0 FG%, 40.8 3P%, 81.6 FT% Earl Pettis 14.7 PPG, 2.3 APG, 4.1 RPG, 1.7 SPG, 46.3 FG%, 35.5 3P%, 77.1 FT% Carl Jones 16.4 PPG, 3.3 APG, 3.6 RPG, 1.4 SPG, 41.6 FG%, 33.6 3P%, 80.0 FT% Langston Galloway 15.5 PPG, 2.4 APG, 4.6 PPG, 1.2 SPG, 49.5 FG%, 46.5 3P%, 77.6 FT% Kwamain Mitchell 12.0 PPG, 3.7 APG, 2.6 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 44.3 FG%, 36.2 3P%, 63.6 FT% There's more to basketball than stats, and clearly the fact that SLU beat everyone except Temple and UMass (and URI, yet) will boost Kwamain's status, but I don't think he's cracking 2nd team A10 this time around.

The polls are bullsh1t precisely because there are too many non-experts voting in them. Ever thus to deadbeats, Lebowski.

NCAA seeds for A10 teams the last 4 years 2011 6 Xavier, 15-1 A10, RPI 24 7 Temple, 14-2 A10, RPI 29 12 Richmond, 13-3 A10, RPI 42, won A10 Tourney 2010 5 Temple, 14-2, RPI 9, won A10 Tourney 6 Xavier, 14-2, RPI 19 7 Richmond, 13-3, RPI 24 2009 4 Xavier, 12-4 A10, RPI 17 11 Temple, 11-5 A10, RPI 31, won A10 Tourney 12 Dayton, 11-5 A10, RPI 27 2008 3 Xavier, 14-2 A10, RPI 9 12 Temple, 11-5 A10, RPI 47, won A10 Tourney RPIforcast.com projects us to finish 25-6 (vs D1) - i.e. we win out the regular season then lose in the A10 semis - but only has our RPI going from 22 to 21 (20.9) under that scenario. Additionally they project Temple to go 4-1 the rest of the way, and losing on the A10 semis, giving them a final RPI of 20 (20.1) Based on all of the above...I'd project Projected 2012 6 Temple, 13-3 A10, RPI 20 7 SLU, 13-3 A10, RPI 21 12 (A10 conference tournament winner)

While I'd like for more people to come to the games, I'm content to earn real fans a few dozen at a time than try and appeal to the thousands bandwagon jumping dipsh1ts (read: Mizzou 'fans') who will drop us at the first bump in the road. re: overall attendance, lack of buzz Myriad of factors...in no particular order -SLU is being overshadowed by Mizzou and the Blues -3 buzzkilling losses @LMU, vs Temple, @UMass gave people reason to tune out -Casual fans are ignorant about the A10 -Challenging TV schedule -SLU's appeal is very much a nuanced charm, much like an album or film that requires repeat viewings in order to be appreciated Casual fans pay attention when we're undefeated, nationally ranked, beating 'name' opponents, and playing in the NCAA tournament. They don't care about our RPI, Kenpom rating, or place in the A10 standings. The media loves to hate on the A10...but to quote Michael Bolton... Why should I change? He's the one who sucks. The A10 is not the ideal conference - but ideal conference (e.g. the Great Midwest) no longer exists. SLU needs to be in a conference where they can earn at-large bids, and for the time being A10 is the best option available. As SLU is successful (read: NCAA tournament), more games will be televised on channels people can find, and the local casuals will come to appreciate the A10 for the nuanced stellar conference that it is. re: the students It can be debated until the end of time, but I don't think it's a good idea to give students free admission (or bundle it with tuition). We don't value things that are free the way we value things that cost money. Charge SOMETHING, just to get past the psychological effect of FREE = WORTHLESS. Plus, you can have one or two FREE STUDENT NIGHT promotions for less attractive games to draw them in - because then you've getting something for free that normally costs X dollars. You wonder why students only show up for half the games? It's because they view games as a social hang out spot they can hit up anytime. I wouldn't be against giving free tickets to the first dozen students who show up, just to make sure we don't alienate the broke @ss die hard fans - but most students should have to pay some nominal cost for admission.

Temple doesn't need to lose 2 games, they need to lose 1 game. Finishing tied for first is still a big deal, even if he don't own the tiebreaker. We haven't tied for a regular season conference title since 1971. The tiebreaker only applies to the tournament seeding. X finished tied for first with Temple in 2010 (and lost the lone head to head matchup) but they still count it in their streak of consecutive A10 titles. If we win out and Temple drops 1 game, we're claiming a share of the title.