bk18

I think Semling will get the job. He's got a good basketball resume and he just won the Div III title with the UWSP Pointers. He'd probably be cheaper than Moser. And did you see UWGB's uniforms? I had better ones in middle school. I doubt they have a lot of money to deal out to a coach.

That kind of clause would create too much politics. It would put Rick and Porter against each other a little bit.

He will take Rick's job when he retires. He's there just for that reason. Rick's health hasn't shown to be very reliable. I don't think UW-GB is the right move for him. I love Moser. The man is always smiling and waving to me and I've never met him - he has no clue who I am. He seems to work his butt off for recruiting too. He doesn't have the name to draw players in, but if he inherited the reigns at SLU, I think he'd be set as a premiere coach for the rest of his career. He'd have to wait longer and work harder at UW-GB to get to that level. I hope we throw out a reasonable raise for him as incentive to stay. I'm not at practices but I think he probably plays a major role in coaching at practice, way more than most assistants, just because I can't see Rick having the intensity and physical mobility as your average coach at practice. Like I said I've never been to practice, but I think Rick steps back a little bit - and plays the "God the Father" kind of role - the wise voice from above whereas Moser is like the "God the Son" kind of role - he's one in the same with Majerus, but he's more directly involved in working with the players - he can physically demonstrate Majerus' message/strategy. I realize I'm missing the Holy Spirit, but Rack 'Em Willie (youtube it) can show you who takes on that role.

I thought the second comment "in other news" you'd catch that I was just kidding. Although that chant is pretty cool, it'd be impossible and people who don't read the blog would think we were drunks trying to act like Barbarians. Just trying to get us kiwi cultured for Loe.

In other news: The Easter Bunny will be retiring this year and passing the torch to Billikens.com's finest ... Dirty Rican. He was recruited by the Easter bunny after his charismatic appearance at the Xavier game on February 24th. The Abominable snowman and John Travolta have also considered hiring some billikens.com members as doubles.

The Blue Crew will perform the Haka chant after every made Rob Loe basket (instead of Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi)

It's called a recking ball, a bulldozer, and some dump trucks.

These are just rumors. I doubt Willie is serious about the NBA right now. He might do it so he can get a glance at the process etc. IMO he'll be here all 4 years unless he is averaging 17 pts and 12 rebs per game next season. The NBA draft is too competitive to take a risk with anything less than that. He knows that SLU is going to be a top 20 team his senior year and he's going to get a lot of spotlight so he should be around for it.

I do understand the need for a track for the purposes you mention, but I hope they don't envision this track to be a long-term facility. It could be a short term solution - a track only costs around $80,000 if you own the land. That's not much and I would imagine it would at least get some use even if Varsity track moved somewhere else. I wish I knew more about the status on the old buildings under the bridge, but I just don't know how much longer we'll be able to buy up a plot of land that big. If any divided development happens down there, we'd have basically no options because when you have to buy from multiple owners at the same time, it's a lot harder and a lot more expensive. Those old buildings are begging to be bought by SLU and used for the proposed athletic complex. It couldn't get any easier for an urban campus.

Is this track/inner field official? Any articles? I think its a mistake. They might as well just practice on some high school's track. Cardinal Ritter is probably closer too. I can see why the athletes are excited about it, but there's a much better solution. I wonder how the reconstruction of Grand Ave and the bridge will affect their access to the track. That could be around 3 miles travel from campus (there and back) if the bridge is down and they have to take a detour. Not ideal.

Having your track at a high school is making a statement - a sad one. SLU is sitting on 700 million or so. Saving money is important, but build the facility THEN save. SLU's campus is great, but this would make it COMPLETE. Then SLU can sit back and let the money come back and save it.

The football stadium was a joke, but I think the track and athletic fields are reasonable. This kind of land isn't going to be available for anything close to as reasonable the price it is right now. And the "hard-on for conference realignment" is because I think we all know that the A-10 isn't permanent and I would kill myself if we settled into the MVC with Illinois St. et al. I have more respect for SLU and we need to make some moves soon or else those fears will become a reality. How much money do we spend on traveling 2,000 miles for every single away athletic competition. That's got to add up! We can't even have home track events because they would be at a high school on a terrible track! There's also other revenue opportunities for these facilities besides SLU athletic events. State track meet could be there, etc. There was talk about building a track near the med-campus. Why? That would be a waste of rubber! You can't be stingy and expect big results at the same time. It's time SLU stops building "sculpture parks for non-students to let their dogs play" (NE corner Lindell+Grand) and make some real moves. Recession = invest/spend money (wisely). This opportunity is GOLDEN!

A perfect example of how this can help a program sell itself into a good conference is Marquette. Marquette just like SLU is located right along the freeway and on the other side of the freeway there is an industrial valley (called the Menomonee Valley in Milwaukee - you may have gambled at the Potowatomi Casino right next to it). Marquette bought up some lots in the industrial valley and turned it into their "Valley Fields". They are used for Big East Athletic competitions (M,W soccer, track) as well as for club sports and intramural events. SLU does have Hermann Stadium for soccer games, but the current practice field is shared by Men's Varsity, Women's Varsity, and the Club team. Not to mention it's kind of small. After their investment in this facility, they left C-USA and got invited to the Big-East. SLU on the other hand, left C-USA for the A-10. Not bad, but the revenue difference and national media attention does not compare. When they joined the Big East, Marquette's application numbers skyrocketed. They soon passed SLU in US News and World Report University rankings. Marquette now can afford to be as selective as 67% acceptance rate and SLU still accepts 80% of students. Not to mention, with the location JUST next to the 64-40 freeway (especially the East-bound lanes on the ground), SLU would be able to advertise itself in ways that words cannot describe. Maybe with the 300+ yards of advertising length, SLU wouldn't have to lease so many billboards in the area. This is a big investment, but it will be money well spent. I hope someone with a fat wallet can get this going. Marquette's website said their complex only cost $8 million. Buying up the land might make the cost for SLU to be more like $50-70 million, but I think it would pay itself off when looking at the big picture for the University. And land that big near campus isn't going to be available much longer. Satelite map of Marquette's campus (top) and nearby Valley Fields in the industrial Menomonee Valley (bottom)

I'd like to see SLU make a statement that they want the university to have a high caliber athletic department with competitive teams by turning some of the dilapidated buildings in between the Frost and Doisey Campus (IE just South of 64-40 and West of Grand Ave.) The Grand Bridge will undergo reconstruction this July and the Metro Station will be improved to be one of the finest on the Metro link line. 27 million dollar project in total. This is the perfect opportunity for SLU to buy up a couple of the big old dilapidated warehouses in the valley underneath bridge (preferably right along the freeway just SW of Reinert Hall) and develop the land into an athletic complex. A high quality Billiken Blue track, tennis courts, and field hockey fields are a must. Some additional options are another soccer field so that the soccer team has a bigger practice field (the current one is quite small and also shared with club soccer teams), laCrosse fields, and a practice football field for intramural teams and maybe a future D3 team. The football Stadium is not practical any time soon, but SLU has some football history - first forward pass. And I think it is an option for the future - 10-20 years. It would be nice if we could at least start a D3 program before all the former players are deceased. I bet they would be willing to donate a lot to preserve that lost tradition.

I think Majerus likes to say the opposite of what he really believes. He said Cody Ellis couldn't touch the rim in January and he said Darrin would see a lot of minutes against Princeton and he didn't play a penny. I think when Rick was talking about leaving the A-10 for the MVC he didn't mean that directly - but it was his way of saying he wants us in a different conference where teams are closer. He probably would want to be in a league that would include perhaps Marquette, DePaul, Xavier, Dayton, Creighton, Drake, Butler and other similar schools. He just can't go out and say that because its too speculative for that moment. Biondi needs to make some moves quick to help us develop a stronger athletic program. We stand no chance in a good conference with the kind of athletic venues we have (besides Chaifetz and Hermann of course!). I'd say that baseball and softball are fine as well. But our track is a local high school's track and I would say that 90% of all high schools in the country have better tracks than that. We no longer have tennis courts on campus and I think the field hockey team has to travel 30+ minutes to practice. If SLU can make a big move and improve their athletic facilities and venues like they have with the Chaifetz Arena, we would have a spot in any reasonable conference we would want to get into. See my topic: Grand Valley SLU Athletic Complex

Right, and I think strength is the easier direction for him to take. You can only get so much quicker and agile through training. Although he would sacrifice some finesse with increased strength, I think that's the direction he should go.

I think the Big 10 will make some big changes this year. I just think its going to take another year before it impacts other conferences significantly. But man I hate the Atlantic 10. I just want to see SLU, Xavier, DePaul, Dayton, and Butler in the same conference somehow by 2013 and I don't want to see us have to travel east of Ohio for 80% of our games. I might be dreaming but its more reasonable than SLU getting a d1 football team anytime soon.

I think if Jon Smith puts on some muscle and works on his shot he could be fighting for a starting spot, but I am putting my money on Willie Reed. I think this is going to be his break out year. I'd like to see Cody be able to get on the Brian Conklin Get BIG 2010 program. His offense will be there, but he is a defensive liability because of lack of strength at the 4 and lack of speed at the 3. I heard Conklin can incline bench 3 Rick Ma's. Cody and JSmith should be able to do 2 by the end of the summer. Mitchell is the only player that is in elite physical condition overall. Even Conklin could work on his vertical and footwork. I don't know what I would tell Kwamain to work on this summer. Seriously, I'd have to say: do what you have done the past 2 summers, watch a lot of film, and make sure everyone else is busting their ars as much as you are.

I think Reed and Mitchell have the 5 and 1 set in stone until they graduate.

Now that the season's over, I think its time to bring this discussion back up. Will the Bills stay in the Atlantic 10? Will the Atlantic 10 be the same? What will changes be like elsewhere?

We better have a non-conference schedule loaded with solid teams if we want to be top 25. It's hard to be in the A-10 and make it to the top 25 unless your borderline perfect. We have very little margin for error. Look at Butler - they had 4 losses on the season and 0 conference losses and they got a 5 seed! They are in the Horizon League but anything outside the Big East, Big-10, Big 12, SEC, and ACC get very little respect. I think we have the potential to be a top 25 team, but we are going to have to learn to be outstanding on the road and we are going to have to learn to blow teams out. We had to keep out top players in for most games no matter how weak our opponent. We had 2 games total in 2010 where we won by more than 10 points. Big leads reduce injuries, keep players fresh for future games, and help improve player's mental exhaustion level low. Free throws and 3-point consistency is going to be important to be a high ranked team as well. How many top 25 teams shoot 61.9% at the line?

Thank you. this message says it.

nm

I was in the bottom 5 of the pool early on in the tournament. And now I am most likely going to be number one STUNNA! Why am I the only one smart enough to realize that everyone was going to pick Kansas so even if you did pick them, you would have 40 other people to compete against. Wow amateur hour for billikens.com basketball fans. -BK

Everyone's been discussing all the factors that might help or hurt us reel in Loe, but we can't forget about Andrew Bogut. Last time Majerus got a 7 footer from down under, he made him the #1 overall draft pick, AP player of the year, ESPN player of the year, Naismith Award Winner, Wooden Award Winner in just 2 years (before he could even legally drink in the US). Where will you go Rob Loe? Interesting side note about New Zealanders: People, especially Australians, call people from New Zealand "Kiwis". If Rob Loe joins the Billikens, the Blue Crew will perform the Haka chant after every made Rob Loe basket (instead of Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi) Interesting side note about Bogut: For the 2009-2010 Bucks season, Bogut bought out a group of 100 lower-section seats to be given to fans that would show up to support the Bucks by creating outrageous, loud cheering to support the home team. The group was given the name "Squad 6" (after Bogut's number 6), and potential members were instructed to tryout for the offer, initially by attending auditions at the Bradley Center for Bogut himself. The group of Squad 6 can easily be seen (and heard) at home games by their varied and often wild costumes, as well as loud chants, playing of instruments, and general rowdy, home-team helping fervor. http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/65688147.html