BillyKen

You can also catch the metro north train at 125th street. Harlem represent.

Anyone else notice that Stu referred to Andre Lorentsson as a guard multiple times? Mistake or are they thinking he is more of a 2-3 than a stretch 4?

“Splash Brothers” is obviously already taken. I suggest Gibson Jimmerson and Lorentsson be nicknamed the Sons of Splash (or perhaps SOS for those OK with being disrespectful and using the abbrevs).

Mike Lewis II

NYC WATCH PARTY IS AT: 5th And Mad Gametime: 10:00p.m. EST ADDRESS: 7 E 36th St, New York, NY 10016 (36th St. bw 5th Ave and Madison Ave) Space reserved on 2nd floor in front of massive screen that spans 2 levels (4 TVs in areas as well). Reserved space begins at 9:30pm https://www.slu.edu/postseason/watch-parties.php

We didn't see Ben Simmons dance. I am fine with waiting for Ja Morant to be drafted, sport the orange and blue, and dish dimes to KD and KP.

I apologize for the delay but the Barclays Center rep just sent me the following link for tickets: https://barclayscenter.spinzo.com/2018-barclays-center-classic-2018-11-21-FUDFP?group=barclays-center-classic-saint-louis-jbzu

SETON HALL GAME With regards to tickets for the Seton Hall game, I have been in contact with their ticket sales rep and they set up the following link for tickets to be purchased. Please note that this is not an official SLU sponsored event and that ticket sales do not go to the university. Also note that I have seen cheaper tickets available on StubHub. That said, this is good because it ensures that SLU fans are in the same section. Seton Hall Pre-game drinks: I will also personally be at Redd's Biergarten at 6pm on the 17th. Again, this is not an official alumni event, but would love for as many people as possible to come out! Redd's Biergarten is directly across the street from the Prudential Center. Address: 37 Edison Place, Newark, NJ 07102 (note that if you look it up online, another address also appears. These addresses will lead you to the same bar/restaurant but are around the corner from each other) PITTSBURGH GAME With regards to the Pitt game, I am also in discussion with someone from the Barclay's Group Sales team and will post a link early next week.

I think the only way this could even happen at first is if SLU agrees to have their games at Scottrade rather than the Fetz and do that for a few years to get its foot in the door and then demand true home games.

Looks like he is out this season with a broken tailbone. http://www.twcnews.com/nys/rochester/high-school-sports/2016/10/13/mcquaid-basketball-star-isaiah-stewart-likely-out-for-season-after-surgery-.html

There are always taxes. Assuming we are referring to U.S. citizens, the U.S. taxes all world wide income.

Anthony Bonner to play in a Celebrity Softball game at Yankee Stadium on June 3rd. http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/ticketing/true_blue_softball.jsp

What does Georgia have to do with it? Is there no internet there?

Without further ado, I was able to watch the kid play! First, let me provide the context of the game. This was an NYC ALL-STAR game for seniors. That said, the kids surprisingly seemed to really want to win, they played hard, and actually hustled and played D. In fact, it was quite a refreshing change from the typical all-star game. Now, let’s start with the physical attributes. I was impressed. I am 5’11” and I stood about 3 feet from Jermaine as he was casually shooting some 3s at halftime. He is AT LEAST 6’1”. If I had to guess, I would have said 6’2”. He is also cut for a kid his age but definitely has the frame to add muscle, which he will have to do in time. I arrived a few minutes into the game and did not see Jermaine’s 1st quarter play, but his team was up 15 when I arrived and he was on the bench (both teams played their starters and then subbed that line for the backups; generally, lines played at the same time and they matched up the best lines against each other). In the second quarter Jermaine was 0-4 (0-3 from 3) with 1 turnover. That said, he played solid D, used his length to deny desure buie the ball. He was very solid defending the inbounds throughout the game as well, again very good with ball denial. His one turnover came off of a pick where he attacked the hoop, was surrounded in traffic, and made a poor pass. In the 2nd half he definitely turned it on and shot 4/10 with 3 assists. 3 of his 4 makes were from downtown. He definitely loves the 3 ball. His other bucket was on what I thought was one of his more impressive plays. His team was down 5 with 2 to play, he showed that he wants the ball in his hands and wants to take the shots in the clutch. He came off a screen, attacked the rack with a quick cut to the hoop and used his strength and size advantage to draw a hard foul and get the and-1. HE ALSO HITS HIS FREE THROWS. 4/5 from what I saw! Jermaine had 3 assists. But, to be honest, they were not so impressive. All 3 were to Matt Ryan, the Notre Dame recruit. 2 of the 3 were simple passes to Ryan who was trailing on the play and nailed very deep 3’s. The 3rd was another pass to Ryan who pump faked, side stepped and drained a deep 2. THE POSITIVES: He hustles on D. May not be the best defender when his man has the ball, but 1) his ball denial was great and 2) he hustled for and dove for 2 loose balls, one where he flat out dove for the save. To me, his most impressive play came off an inbound where the opposition suddenly decided to press. Jermaine single handedly took the ball up displaying insane handle. He loves the behind the back dribble and uses his big frame and length to spin through defenders. He took on 3 guys with relative ease and had zero help. His handle was fantastic. He will be another legit threat from downtown, no doubt. He is a leader. Even in this all-star game, it was clear that when he stood on the court, the ball would go through him and that his team and the opposition knew he was the leader. Best player was Matt Ryan, but Jermaine was the leader. THE DOWNSIDE: He is a shoot first point guard. The main question on this board has been whether he is a “true point guard.” Based on the limited sample size I saw during this all-star game, I would say he is a true point in that he has legitimate handle. He is NOT a true point if you define true point as a pass first pg. He is a bit tall for a “true point.” He is more of today’s point guard in that he is long and looks for his shot before that of his team. While his ball denial was very strong, he was a bit slow when guarding defenders straight up. They got by him with their first step. He was able to use his size and length and came from behind to block 1 shot, but generally this was his weakness. He also needs to work on fighting through screens as he went under the screen. This may have been due to his knowledge of the man he was guarding, who did not attempt to shoot 3's off screens. ROOM FOR GROWTH: He needs to add some muscle. The plus is that he has the frame to do this. I would like to see him develop his passing, especially off the dribble. Defending his man one-on-one. He is quick in the open court but needs to work on his initial step to keep up with his man. OVERALL: While I wanted a pass first "true point guard," I am very excited about Jermaine. I am happier than I thought I would be. He can really stroke the 3. Since it was an all-star game, the players did not go to the locker room at half and were shooting around for 15 minutes. He displayed amazing form. He was one of the few guys who took the time to shoot throughout the entire break rather than talking and basically hanging out with the guys. He focuse on his 3. He shot over 50% from beyond the arc during this shoot around. He is very tall and I look forward to learning his wingspan, as it appears to be above average for his size/position. He can definitely handle the ball and I look forward to watching this kid grow. I would be shocked if he doesn't log at least 10 min per game next season, and potentially more. I was skeptical going in, but have high hopes for Jermaine. He will be a great player for us in time. Again, being a freshman point guard is a tough transition. If he can limit turnovers, improve his man D, and learn to pass of the dribble, the sky is the limit because he can flat out stroke it. I am impressed with the hustle and just hope that his knee(s) can hold up with his aggressive play. Very good get for Crews and Co. There is no way he is a 2-star. Definitely an under-the-radar potential diamond in the rough. That said, let's not blow this out of proportion guys, improvements need to be made, this is an INCREDIBLY SMALL sample size, and the transition to a college pg is tough.

In case any New Yorkers are interested in "seeing the kid play," Jermaine Bishop's team is playing at Baruch College today at 7:30. I will be there and will post a review this evening. It will be Bishop and NY's Mr. Basketball (Matt Ryan), who is a Notre Dame commit, against Jessie Govan, a G-Town commit, and Desure Buie, a Hofstra commit who has been mentioned on this board. https://notredame.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1751222

Yeah, I have refused to sign up for Twitter for years now, but decided that this was a worthy occasion. Seriously, it took about 5 min to set up an account, follow, and tweet. It was ridiculously easy and there is absolutely no reason why every active Billikens.com member cannot do the same. And, how often can you say that a potential future #1 pick retweeted you?

I agree with what you are saying and I am not saying we try to lose, but in the grand scheme of things, 5 games in 8 days is just hard. Especially if, as we saw against VCU, we shorten our bench and rely on 5 guys playing 35+ minutes. As Lunardi said the other day, teams are disproportionately measured by their NCAA success. While I certainly wouldn't say, "boys let's go tank this one" I think there would certainly be a silver lining to losing on Saturday in Brooklyn. I am not one who believes in the "we need to lose because it isn't good to head into the tournament with a long winning streak" but am simply saying that 5 games in 8 days is exhausting.

Agreed with all of the above except winning the A10. In theory, sure I of course would rather win and I will be in Brooklyn, so yes, that would be amazing to repeat. However, it is truly all about the Big Dance. I think we need to lose in Brooklyn and do so in the first or second round. After winning 3 games and 3 days we looked drained when we played Oregon last year. If that happens, then we fly cross-country to California (which is where most mock drafts have us thanks to WS and Kansas getting the preference for St. Louis) to play a Thursday/Saturday. That would be 5 games in 8 days + a trip cross-country. As we saw against VCU, when the game is tight, we will cut our roster down to 7 and our seniors will average 34+ minutes. I think 5 games in 8 days at those minutes is too much to ask for. While I do not promote trying to lose, perhaps increasing the frequency of rotations and giving the freshman more minutes in Brooklyn is in the best interest of our NCAA Tournament success.

Outside of women, who says the lower score first?

13-2 Non-Conference 12-4 in Conference 3-0 A-10 Tourney 2-1 NCAA Tourney 30-7 TOTAL

One would think that Butler would accept...or at least steal our idea, as they tried to steal our young fan, and hold a Joshua Invitational of their own.

Jamal Crawford = Top 10 Crossover EVER! I have argued this with many people many a time, and have won many over to my camp. I will say, to some extent, and depends on what you define as a "crossover." If Jamal's patented between the legs "crossover" constitutes a crossover in your book, then for sure Jamal cracks the crossover Top 10. Of course, Allen Iverson tops the list.

I am no Biondi fan but and I am sure he could have done more (I think he understands the importance of sports but sees it for its business purposes rather than having a passion for sports), but let's be honest, Lannon being on Marquette's Board of Directors surely didn't hurt. Not sure if there is anyway to sell the program when they clearly had the inside track on that one.

When asked about expansion, new Big East Commissioner Ackerman said, "Right now we love 10. Ten is a great number and we have no immediate plans to go beyond. We have so much on our plate that expansion isn't even on our radar right now. We're satisfied with 10 and that's where we'll be for the foreseeable future." Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/revamped-big-east-brings-new-commissioner-article-1.1383461#ixzz2XcyyjJ00 I think that clearly sums it up. They have 10. They have so much to do and figure out that they will sit tight and garner some stability. Then, in time, if it seems to be lucrative and in the conference's best interest, they will entertain the idea of expansion. All we have to do is win. If we just win, they will want to capitalize on our success. Just win, boys.

I am a US citizen and recently applied for dual Italian citizenship...it is possible. I also am halfway done with my LLM in Tax and can tell you that tax is paid where you receive earnings, essentially, regardless of whether you are a citizen (assuming you live in the particular country for a specific period of time per year). My dual US & Italian citizenship will have no bearing on my US citizenship. I think you mean that if you are a dual citizen and live in that other country, that you still pay payroll taxes but do not receive benefits...that I will look up, but will say that it does not seem accurate. Perhaps it is that you will not receive benefits during that time, but his benefits likely still accumulate for future use. But, if one is a dual citizen and lives in US, he still receives benefits.