David King

Greatest W in the Crews era!!! Definitely something for PJ to build on!

Answers: Conference? In. It seems fairly clear it will be a 12 team conference and SLU is in. Coach? Crews is gone unless SLU makes the sweet 16, and even then it's questionable. I'm not even sure that Crews wants to keep the job. As I recall, RM had to push Crews hard to even take the job, and he originally planned to only stay for 1 year. Does conference choice dictate the qualityof the next HC? Hell yes! I gaurantee future SLU coach PJ Carlesimo ain't coaching in the A-10. It also dictates the quality of future incoming players. No doubt the conference issue is more important than anything that happens this season. But, I expect both inclusion in the All-Catholic Conference (60% of Butler's players will be required to be baptized Catholics), and a Big Dance appearance.

VCU is an A+? How many A+ teams are there? I think they're overrated.

Agree. Ain't no way PJ Carlesimo is coming to SLU unless we get into this new All-Catholic Conference. I still think we make the Big Dance, though.

Greatest win in the Crews era!

Absolutely right!

No doubt many former assistant coaches have made great coaches, and there are several assistant coaches today who will be great head coaches in the future. There are also several who will be bad coaches. I'm not sure SLU administartion is capable of evaluating the talent to determine which is which. I agree with Roy, that a recently fired coach is not ideal either. especially if they got fired for losing.- Capel, Wright, among others. A current coach from a lesser league with a proven track record is a better choice than the above two. A Gregg Marshall might be interested in a large pay raise when SLU moves to the Big East. Best of all is to follow the proven "Majerus Model". Hire an old school guy, proven winner, semi-retired. somebody who can jump right in and take over next years talent-filled veteran team. Gary Williams or Bobby Knight would be awesome but very unlikely. PJ Carlesimo is young, at 62 or 63 y.o. I'll bet he'd love to get back to the Big East. Of all potential coaches mentioned, PJ Carlesimo gives the highest probability of short-term success. Just like RM, we should be able to count on him for 5 yrs, or so. Unlike, RM, he'd inherit a program in pretty good shape,and he should winn immediately.

In order to placate the unwashed masses, the Catholic 7 will retain the rights to the name, and continue to publicly call the league "The Big East". Behind closed doors, though, league commissioners, administrators, insiders, and basically everyone who matters, will refer to it as "The Catholics Only League". Butler need not apply.

Disagreed. It is fairly clear that being a Catholic school results in a check in the positive column for the Catholic 7 decision-makers. Many insiders, including ND's Mike Brey, have stated the idea is to have a Catholic conference. While, I'm sure many other criteria are considered, being Catholic ranks pretty high. Since there are several Catholic schools that are very qualified for this new league, I believe Butler is out. While Butler does have a lot to offer, many here are overestimating their worth to this new conference. What they do have is a great coach that is committed to the school. sure, they had a good coach prior to Brad Stevens, but take away the coach, and there isn't much left. As somebody pointed out, their budget is about half of SLU's, and much lower than any in the existing catholic 7. Are they really going to bring in big $$$ to the new league, because it doesn't appear they are bringing in huge $$$ right now. Butler is out. San Fran was never mentioned in any meeting, ever, about any re-alignment Catholic or non-Catholic. If SLU doesn't make it, it's because Dayton was chosen over SLU.

Of all the potential coaches listed in this thread, P.J. Carlesimo would be the best hire. He took Seton Freaking Hall!! to the NCAA finals. he's a strict disciplinarian that stresses execution...similar to Majerus. In fact, Carlesimo's coaching career is similar to RM's in many ways. Bring him in next year with many returning players used to RM style, and we don't miss a beat. Unlikely that he'd be interersted, but if Bills go to the old Big East/new Catholic Conference, he could be lured back. Tommy Amaker is another decent choice. But, not too interested in Jay Wright. Villanova sucks this year too. Greg Marshall at Wichita State would be a very nice hire too. I vaguely recall he out-recruited Sodie for some Eastern european JUCO. but, he's had success everywhere he's been.

Good point...How old is Bobby Knight?

"In all the conference realignment talk today, this stuck out: Why Dayton over SLU? SLU has a larger media market that isn't covered, a much newer (and state-of-the-art)arena, and a better profile going forward?" You may be over-estimating the weight that the size of the media market carries in the decision making process. Probably more important is the % of viewers in that media market that watch the college basketball teams in the market. Los Angeles is huge, and they don't have pro football, and Green Bay is small, and they have a very successful franchise. Why is that? X and Dayton sharing the same market isn't necessarily a bad thing. They aren't mutually exclusive. Fans would watch both teams, and even more so when they are in the same league, and rivals. The team's arena probably has even less to do with the decision. Both Dayton's and SLU's should be considered adequate. If anything, Dayton has an advantage here. The NCAA starts the NCAA tournament in their arena. SLU has a better profile going forward? I believe it, but does the Catholic 7 believe? What is the case for that? Looking at RPI over the last 10 years. Dayton's past RPIs would increase overall Big East RPI more than SLU's; probably resulting in more NCAA bids for Big east, and surely more revenue generated, as a result, than the differences in the size of the media market. Looking at only historical data, Dayton is the obvious choice. Looking to the future, it appears SLU is a better choice. How to convince the Catholic 7 is the question.

Several good points here. It is up to SLU (May, Biondi?) to convince the Catholic 7 to consider SLU's bright future over Dayton's not-as-bright past. So, immediately announce Bruce Pearl as SLU's 2013-14 coach and it's a done deal!

It's all about money. To me, a 12 team league makes more sense than a 10 team league. But, if it does come down to 10 teams, the last slot is between SLU, Dayton, and possibly Creighton. As, Marquette AD, Larry Williams pointed out, one of the big factors in choosing new teams is how they effect the overall league RPI. Putting 6 teams in the NCAA tournament, instead of 5, probably would have more of a financial impact than whatever the differences are in TV market size, arena size, etc. While Creighton has had success in recent years, they are in a lousy conference , and I doubt they could stand up under Big East type scrutiny. So it comes down to Dayton and SLU, and Dayton has SLU beat in terms of positive potential RPI influence...but just barely. Over the past several years, Dayton has clearly outperformed SLU in terms of RPI, but in recent years ( more like last year) SLU has come on strong. Increased alumni support,new facilities, and a high profile coach, culminating in a strong showing last year show that SLU is trending in the right direction. However, now SLU is in limbo. The high profile coach is gone, and the big question is who will be next year's coach? That selection will send a strong signal on the seriousness of SLU's committment to a big time, Big East type program. SLU needs to be proactive now. If they wait until spring to announce the new coach, the Catholic 7 will have already made their decision. Crews is gone, regardless. The best thing to do- right now- is to announce the signing of Bruce Pearl as the next coach of the St Louis University Billikens men's basketball team!

Rumour has it that Bruce Pearl is in the process of converting to Catholicism... I can't think of any reason that he would do that, other than to polish his resume for the SLU job.

IMHO, RM was the greatest coach that ever coached the Billikens. He would have proved it, once and for all, this season. Our prayers are with him, and thanks for some great memories!

Full on panic mode here!

The bill's strong showing, coupled with Florida State's loss, should vault the Bill's into the USA Today Coaches Poll Top 25.

DE with 15 pts so far

Why does UPS have 37 p9oints?

I checked the stats: there has never been a team that only led SC Upstate by 6 pts @ 17:31 in 2nd half that made the sweet 16!

I heard they have the option to SKYPE Coach M at halftime.

36-28 at half

Picket Fence!

GG again!!