bsheldon

I'll pitch in my 2 cents: All of the freshman are the "real deal" and all of the hype they have garnered on this board over the last year is warranted. There is some real, real good talent there and the statement that this may be one of the best recruiting classes SLU has ever had may well prove to be true. RL he got the biggest reception, but probably played the poorest of the 4. He does have a sweet shot though. He just seems a bit timid. I hope that was just him having to constantly think about where he needs to be on the floor as he is learning Rick's program. JJ His strength is his best asset. Combined with his quickness and he maybe able to take the ball to the rack on a regular basis. He got past his defender on the perimeter and then went chest to chest with their wide body in a pretty good collision and still got his shot off after the tough foul. I think he is going to be real good. MM He definitely lived up to the billing. He has very long arms and has the ability to fill up some space on d and the speed to get to the hoop on o. He has a real nice looking shot. His 3's will fall--they just skipped out on a couple of them last night. He is going to be real fun to watch. DE Biggest surprise for me. First of all, RM started him which I found interesting--probably doesn't mean a damn thing, but it was interesting. He can play and I think he will be able to put up some nice numbers come conference time. He is kind of a tweener size and speed wise, but you can tell he has a knack for the ball. He can take slower defenders to the hole and he made a nice 10 ft pull up last night. I'm real excited to watch him play. BC Monster game. Sure not the toughest opponent, but still 8 for 8 from the field, kind of tough to down play that. I go back to last year's game against Richmond when WR didn't play and BC had to. He had something like 10 points in the first half of that game. He has the ability and now that we absolutely have to have it (as we did agaisnt Richmond last year) I hope he can consistantly deliver. He seemed like more of a beast than usual due to the lack of size of the opponent, but he still showed real good hands and footwork. If he can give us 8 or 10 a game and play good d on their bigs we should all be thrilled, but again I don't think 15-20 point games will be unheard of the rest of the way for him. CR Obviously, he has a lot of pressure on him to be the next WR. He sure didn't show it last night. towards the end of last season he was a very good player. He made some nice shots around the basket, and was a stud shot blocker. We need him to get back to doing that. I don't know if he is ever going to be able to consistantly post up and score come conference time when he is going to be one of the smallest bigs. Again last year his athleticism allowed him to play bigger than he is and I hope that returns. Maybe the 1988 Bobby Brown due is weighing him down? CE Well I'll just chalk it up as the first game of the year. He seemed a bit flat and really seemed to be teaching out there. He made a couple of shots. We all know he can put up some big numbers and we will need him to this year. KC Great 10 minutes. Maybe he puts it all together this year and becomes what few of us ever expected--fingers crossed. CS Again, first game of the season, but he still isn't making shots and some weren't close. He is still not afraid to shoot though. Eventually those either have to start going in or he has to sit. I actually started to type a whole new thread on him yesterday, but got sidetracked. His d came a long way last year and he become a very solid player. I am still hopeful he is the surprise and the savior of this season. He came in as a highly touted shooter and he showed it a bit early last season. If he can become a 35-40% 3 pt shooter we will win some big games this year. Again, I am hopeful. PE He may be the replacement for CS if CS doesn't start hitting his shots. PE has a nice stroke. He seems tenacious on D. IT will be interesting to see how the PT plays out. He seems to be a real good option off the bench if anyone is having a bit of an off night. He is the type of player that would have been a starter and relied on heavily 8 years ago. As a whole, I enjoyed the game. I am sure they are going to have a ton of things to talk about from the game film. They made a bunch of team d and individual d mistakes. That will improve. The shot making ability is either there or it isn't and we seem to have it to a certain degree. We finished 7 for 23 from behind the arc--not great, but not awful. MM's were really close to falling. We will probably live and die behind the arc this year. If we can get hot and stay hot, we can win some big games. I really am trying not to come to terms with we in a "next year" mode yet again. With the youth of our talent, we might just be, but again I am going to stay optimistic about this season until the play on the court leads me to feel otherwise. From what I saw last night in a very limited scope, I am still optimistic. SIDENOTE: Does anyone in the band ever walk around the building and listen to how things sound? There are mikes placed around the band and certain instruments really get blasted through the PA system and drown out the rest. Many times last night it just sounded like a big jarbled mess. Try sending someone up to sections 208-210 and listen. If you can get it to sound decent there it will sound good everywhere else.

As the season that I have anticipated more feverishly than any sporting season in my entire life has approached I went from being giddy to almost crushed in the past month. Now with the opening week of the season finally here, I stumbled upon a totally unexpected good sign: Looking at last year's season, I think it is more than fair to say that our best victory was over Richmond. They were the only tournament team that we defeated. Last weekend I was making a fire in the country and was tearing up some old newspaper and I stumbled on a Billikens article. It was the recap of the Richmond game. Guess who wasn't playing in that game? Willie Reed. I had totally forgetten that. It immediately lifted my spirtis, although just a bit, but right now I think we can all use as much good news and hope as possible. I just thought I would share my little ray of hope with all you as well.

Hteir shooting guard Travis Leslie is ranked as the #4 shooting guard in the country as well. A month ago I was really looking forward to this game as a true test of just how far we have come. Now, I am cringing a bit when I think about it. I'll stay as positive as possible in the meantime.

He (WR SR) is on 1380 AM right now.

Here is a pretty good article from Yahoo (Rivals) talking about which is the best conference outside the bix 6. The talking heads are basically saying the A-10 will be the 5th hardest conference in America this coming season and that the Bills will be near the top of that conference and gaining a birth to the dance. http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1136660

Yeah, I think he mentioned all of the returning players except the oft' forgotten and overlooked Paul Eckerle. He did not mention either of the Chicago recruits--Mike McCall nor Dwayne Evans. I think PT is going to be at a premium for sure--this is a good thing. I hope most everyone steps up and that KM won't have to play 35 minutes a game. If this is the case we are going to be a very good team.

http://www.nbadraftblog.com/2010-articles/october/atlantic-10-preview-part-ii.html This is one of the most in depth articles on the conference I have read. Pretty good stuff. It is in two parts listed alphabetically. I linked the one that has SLU in it. He seems to mention just about every player on our team. The only oddity in the entire article was that he picked Temple to only be a bubble team and to only win around 18 games. First, they will win more than that. And second they won't be in the bubble discussion with only 18 wins. He seems to be high on Dayton and X as well as the Dukies and Charlotte. He thinks RI and Richmond (as well as Temple) take steps backwards. He thinks the Bills are a bubble team that just might squeak into "The Dance." As with all predictions--they do't mean a whole lot, but I find them fun. Dayton is the perrenial preseason champion and we were supposed to finish 11th or 12th last year in the conference.

Real clever disguise--"Hoops Fan." What a stupid name. Some ****** that signs up just to stir up crap. Rican is probably correct.

You should start a new topic with this--it is a very good article.

I have been waiting for the Rammer to step in and fix all of this. I am shocked it took this long.

Absolutely hilarious. Well done sir.

I wasn't a part of the blue crew club, but everything else I'm in total agreement with.

I know it may be a bit premature to think about with what is going on with the team, but the season is going to happen no matter what transpires. Is there anything going on on campus? Is the team doing anything special? Are they even getting together at midnight or are they just going to have a regular practice on Friday? Are the students gathering to watch etc? Just curious if there is any buzz on campus in anticipation of the season. It has been a while since I was on campus when they use to do it at West Pine.

Here's hoping that there is something to the last several posts. I, too, hope that the silence means that there is nothing to the stories and that come next thursday at midnight we have a full team.

I sure hope you are correct. I agree that they shouldn't/wouldn't make a public announcement out of it. Anything to avoid bringing the spotlight on this situation. Time heals most ills and this too will fade away--especially if they are allowed to play and we have the season everyone is expecting.

Yikes! Super cool though, almost worth it.

I corresponded with the company as well about bumping up production of the pants. I was originally told Dec 7th. I pressed a bit to see if it was at all possible to get them sooner. I was told maybe late November was the best the could do. Obviously, not nearly soon enough. Does anyone know someone in textiles here in town--ask around. Someone has to be able to make some pants for less than $90. I for one hope they become readily available and it catches on. It would be so ridiculous people couldn't help but take notice and it would bring some attention to the program. UD can have their sweater vests--we will have goofy checkered pants.

Awesome. The only thing I would change is; instead of peadals to turn the thing--lets hook it up to a V8 and do some serious damage.

Not intentionally digging up dirt here, but just stumbling upon these as I read on different conferences across the country. Here is another case that may interesting to watch: Of course, I am not at all comparing SLU to the school in question, though. UNLV leading scorer Tre'Von Willis was arrested on felony assault charges after a woman claimed the guard attacked her, though his penalty for that could be as little as a suspension for one regular season game.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news;_ylt=At8fiGJ_5MSg.4gl_WCrJV7evbYF?slug=jn-dunn100510 This will be intriguing. She doesn't want to press charges, but she does have a broken jaw. I would think that is proof of wrong doing and he was arrested. He is their stud and one of the best players in the country. So, this will be very interesting to follow what happens bot at the legal and university levels.

I don't check this board several times a day everyday just to wait until NOV 2nd to find out. If they do not get the axe, can we, the members of this board, get a petition together to have Andy Strickland and d#ckbags at KSDK lined up on campus for a public beating from each and every one of us? That, I think, would make me feel a bit better.

These seriously need to become a tradition and something that will hopefully catch on. Again, though I think a nice casual pant style (khaki look) would be a big seller. How hard could it be ot find a seemstress to make up a few hundred pair. I for one would buy them for sure. heck I might even buy the PJ pant ones as well. Bring this up again when they are in stock in early Dec--we could all ask for them for Christmas presents and start a new tradition with the new year. Does anyone know anyone in the AD departmetn that has anything to with the Billiken apparel or the fan shop at the Fetz? These could instantly become top sellers.

Let's hope you are correct.

Am I the only one that thinks this is a bit premature? We haven't seen a single minute of playing time from RL yet and we are specutlating on his career as a Billiken? OK, fine. I'll play. I have to admit that IV's years are the ones that I didn't follow nearly as close as several years before that time and then again here in the last 3, but I did always catch the box scores in the paper and I tried to make a game every now and then. I think I only saw him play once or twice. Now with all of that said, I think it is tough to compare the two. From what I remember IV was basically it for us back then. He was our main offensive weapon. RL, even it great, in his first two years isn't going to be our primary scorer--probably not even 3rd on the list. He will hopefully only be asked to chip in 6-8 a game and hit a few big shot now and then. Again, this is hopeful speculation. The point is, RL's surrounding cast is superior, hopefully it will still be that way in 3-4 years. I have a feeling he is going to be real good right away and be fantastic in his jr and sr years. As an overall player I would bet that RL will be looked upon as being better. However, will he mean more to the team than IV? It would be tough to mean more to the club than IV did during his tenure. So, to answer the question--I vote for RL.

Before this gets ugly, let me be the first to say, welcome to our board.