slufan13

2 of our goals were pks. i'll give a detailed rundown in the morning.

yeah meant Jordair. I'll fix my mistake to avoid further confusion. Sorry about that.

@BWeixScout Add Jalen Reynolds to Myles Davis as academically ineligible, per@slrussell. Offseason for #Xavier couldn't have been worse.

Saw the team at the rec today. Got to take in about 45 minutes of play. Probably played at 80% effort. Got more intense at the end if it was close. Everyone was there. Femi played as well to make 14 players. Team 1: KM JJ DE CR RL Team 2: CE JB MM GG Femi Team 3: McBroom Carter Drew Manning CE Team 1: Went 4-0 while I watched. KM looked good. Very quick to the basket. Couldn't miss from 3. DE looked a lot better ball handling. Shot is smoother but still inconsistent. Played well in the post. CR looked improved on defense. Didn't get much on offense. RL looks bigger. Better on D. Smoother on offense. JJ was by far the most improved player out there. Shot loooked better. So quick. Got to the basket and finished with ease. Team 2: CE played well. Shot was good. Ballhandling improved. Tried to post up and didn't look bad at all. MM was fine. Didn't see much. Looked quick and better shot. JB looks bigger. Very good rebounder. Has a much quicker shot. Actually looked pretty good. GG looks like he's understanding the sytem but looks like he's still thinking too much. Needs a better feel for the game. So athletic though. Makes up for his lack of size. Femi had a lot of fun. Good to see him around the team still. Good defender. Team 3: Most interesting team for me. Carter is very quick. Great vision and a pass first pg. Smooth shot but didn't get any shots to fall. Got to the basket. Shorter than I expected. Needs to put on muscle. Drew isn't that big but looks muscular. Probably a legit 6'6 with a long wingspan. Actually had a very good shot. Very athletic and good defender. Think he could be the better out of him and KC. McBroom has extremely quick hands. Needs to get bigger and stronger but he could create a ton of steals. Thought he had a very very good shot. Possibly the best on the team. Manning looks really good. He'll contribute this year. Strong rebounder. Worked very hard in the post and made a good amount of shots. Also made 2 17 footers. Looks a lot less technical in the post and is played with a good feel for his surroundings. Just an open gym so nobody is going all out and its easier for players to get shots up and go to the basket but wanted to give some updates.

From Jon Rothstein who is constantly talking about and tweeting about the A10. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/09/10/rothstein-files-atlantic-10-offseason-notebook/ Couldn't copy and paste the actual article from my phone. Seemed too long anyway.

Was in Chaifetz today and it reminded me that we'll be raising a NCAA Tournament Banner this year. Do you think we'll do that in the first game? Some other game? Or will it just be up already before the first game.

Somewhat related to the schedule. Maybe do a midnight madness this year? I know RM never liked it but maybe Crews will allow it.

I'll add a couple more thoughts and a little more about individual players for those who are interested. I like the 4 defenders. Heskamp has some freshman moments but recovers extremely well in my opinion. Also, pretty decent attacking with the ball. David, the freshman from Minnesota, had looked really good on the season. Not as good last night but still solid at centerback. Plays big. Manning got cut in the eye and Briggs had to come in for a bit. Manning eventually came back in. Played pretty well. Maybe doesn't have natural instinct but is a good player. He sometimes gets too caught up in where he is on the field and doesn't keep his defender close enough or doesn't beat him to the ball. Roeckle sent in some outstanding crosses from the back. He is extremely solid in the back. Midfield was good last night. Robson defended well and held the ball pretty well too. Graydon has a very good first touch. Looks like hes trying to play stronger but gets outmuscled at times. He's only a 5'5 freshman so that will change eventually. Making a lot more short passes lately. In the preseason games, he was putting on great medium and long passes, but some of the guys didn't seem to be on the same page as him. Thought Sweetin played a lot better than he had. He's just rounding back up into form. Sent in some good crosses to Kristo in the first half. Brangman was fine. Had some bad mistakes but also is very quick and beat his man a couple times. Agree that Lee could have started if healthy but I like Maglasang out there too. Maglasang came on in the 2nd half. Didn't do a ton because he was asked to defend a lot more after we took the lead. Kristo didn't have a particularly good game. His teammates gave him a lot of chances but he just couldn't convert. It happens to a forward and I still like him out there for 90 minutes a game. Kingsley was fine. Can't really remember a whole lot from him. Made some good passes to Adnan but McGinty was constantly telling Kingsley where to be on the field. Adnan's goal was an incredible effort. He made it look effortless beating everyone on the way to the goal. Wish there would have been more people but attendance should rise as the team continues to play well. Louisville isn't as good as usual but I still think that we can get to the tournament this year with another quality win or 2. The A10 actually looks like it has chances for really good wins this year. A couple other random thoughts. Who is the older fan that is constantly yelling at the players and the refs? I can't remember him being happy about anything in the last 4 games. The head ref was terrible last night. He is supposed to be the one with the level head but he seemed to lose control of the game and himself at points. There was one point where he was too busy yelling at a Louisville player and he missed a clear foul on Louisville where both teams actually stopped play waiting for a call but nothing the ref missed it. I really like our uniforms. Anyone else a fan?

Have to get either a tie or a win tonight in my opinion. The A10 is pretty good this year which is good and bad. Good because it'll be more quality opponents and could boost RPI or whatever the use but bad because it'll be harder to get the automatic berth for the tournament. We're at Dayton and Xavier and also at Creighton so those games against good teams will be tougher to win. Between tonight and at home against Charlotte I think we need at least a win and a draw. I thought I saw in the paper earlier this year that SLU has never missed the tournament 3 years in a row. I like what I've seen so far and I really think this team could make a run once McGinty gets a set rotation down. I like the 4 in the back who usually play. (Heskamp, David, Manning, Roeckle). The midfield also seems pretty set now that Maglasang is back in the rotation (believe he was nursing a hip injury early in the year). Robson, Maglasang, Graydon, and maybe Karl or Sweetin or Hidalgo? Then I like Kristo and Bryce up top but nothing wrong with Adnan or Sweetin up there either. Agree that Kristo needs to play 90 minutes a game.

You can argue each way on hiring a guy now or waiting or doing whatever, but holding out hope that RM is going to come back is the worst thing that you can do. Honestly RM is a great coach, but I don't want him back. It's time to move forward now. He could help us go further than we ever have but if we want sustained success, it's time to move on and have a new plan in place. Even if we don't have a new coach now, there better be a plan in place and from what I understand, there is no current plan in place. I've said it before, it is best for RM and for the future of this program if RM never coaches again. At the very least, hire a damn assistant. If Whitesell leaves and we haven't hired an assistant to replace Crews, all we'll have a head coach who doesn't do much recruiting and an assistant who has zero experience.

We have 11 non conference games set. Last season we played 14 so you have to think we have at least 3 more games to add to our schedule. Now I know the athletic department has a lot going on right now, but I feel like our non conference schedule should be announced by now. I know some teams announced their schedule in mid July. Only 5 A10 teams have not announced their non conference schedule yet. I guess we're trying to be last again though. The A10 should be announcing the conference schedule this week.

SIUE @ SLU December 28th Eastern Illinois @ SLU December 19th

Maybe its just me but I feel like we're going to screw up this situation (not offer a good coach enough money and settle for like our 5th or 6th option) (not hire a coach until June) Also yeah maybe a new coach will bring in players or recruits but current guys could transfer away from SLU.

I'm not sure a coach would take this but maybe we could hire someone who could be an assistant for us this year with the promise that he'll be head coach next year. That way he can go out and recruit his players. The current players could get used to him a bit and he could implement some parts of his strategy to the team, while still keeping Majerus/Crews' strategy mostly in place. It would also fill the empty assistant spot. I don't know if someone would agree to that or what (I doubt it but someone could see this as a golden opportunity), but if May/Biondi don't want to hire a head coach now, I at least wish they would attempt to do this.

Completely agree. I love RM, but it's best for RM and it's best for the school if he never coaches again. If RM comes back to coach, we're pretty much on a year to year basis with our head coach until he retires.

We struggle enough as it is to fill assistant coaching spots. I really don't want it to be mid September and have 2 spots to fill. Also I know for a fact that Whitesell was the lead guy on a lot of recruits. Recruiting is going to be hard enough already but we certainly can't afford to lose our lead guy on some of our top targets.

Just came across this from August 26th. Mike Cunniff ‏@Mike_Cunniff Short list for St. John's asst. coach search: Darrick Martin, who played for Lav at UCLA, SLU assistant Jim Whitesell, and Gene Keady #stjbb

MoStBearsFan/Postcard?

Also maybe there won't be as many all day Majerus Christmas Break practices that caused us to struggle last year.

Tom Timmermann ‏@tomtimm Bad news if you have a souvenir Grandy Glaze #55 jersey: He's changed his uni number to 1 for this season. Says it's the # he's always worn

Also Eastern Illinois @ SLU On December 19th http://www.eiupanthers.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball&

December 28th http://www.siuecougars.com/sports/m-baskbl/2012-13/schedule

Saw tweets today that said Wells is choosing between Louisville Texas and Memphis and could decide this week

This years team is now known as the J Crew. Saw the whole team and coaching staff at the volleyball game tonight. They were all shaking hands and having a good time with each other and the coaches. Even Drew and Carter for anyone worried about that. Sweet Sixteen minimum. Backhand said undefeated until the Final Four. Sounds about right.

Was bored today so I figured I'd try to see what records are attainable this season. Got all current stats from here http://www.slubillikens.com/fls/27200/MBB/stats/HISTCARR.HTM#12 Got the current records from here http://slubillikens.com/fls/27200/MBB/201112/Recordbook.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=27200 Kwamain Mitchell: - Currently sits at 15th in career points. If he scores as many points as last year he'll finish 5th all time. If we play 34 games again and he averages 19.1 ppg, he would pass Bonner for most all time. - Currently ranks 8th all time in assists. Only needs 91 assists for the most all time. He has had at least 106 assists in every season. - Currently tied for 6th in steals. Would need to shatter his career high in steals for most all time, but looks like he'll finish 2nd in steals. - Currently 5th in 3 pointers made. Won't catch Clagget, Lisch or Highmark, but should finish in 4th all time. - 13th in games started. He would tie for most all time if we play 34 games again (assuming he starts every game) - He's played 3214 minutes. Averages 1071 minutes a season. If he does that again, will finish 3rd all time and just 21 minutes short of 2nd all time. Cody Ellis: - Currently 9th all time in 3 pointers made. Could finish in the top 5 if he makes as many as last season. Dwayne Evans: - Currently with 450 rebounds. If he gets 450 more the next 2 seasons, he'll finish 4th all time. Mike McCall: - 72 career steals. If he does that again over the next 2 years, he'll be in the top 5 all time. Jordair Jett: - 83 career steals. Probably has the best chance to pass Bonner for most all time, but he'll have to average about 55 steals a season. Just trying to find something else to talk about on here. Looking at all of this, stats-wise Kwamain Mitchell could go down as one of the greatest Billikens of all time