WUH

It is hard to believe that just a year ago, this team did not even qualify for the A-10 tournament. Congratulations Billikens. The NCAA selection show is tomorrow at 4:30 at: http://www.ncaa.com/sports/soccer-men/d1

I really like Hidalgo. I wonder if he may transfer next season. I noticed that Tulsa won the Conference USA with Mark Pais in goal.

Please tell me the announcers at least gave us McBride!

Thanks so much for the update.

GameTracker says Adnan gets a goal; Billikens lead 2-0. The game is not online. http://www.cstv.com/gametracker/launch/gt_msoccer.html?event=1224860&school=fo&sport=msoccer&camefrom=&startschool=&

VCU advances over Charlotte...the final is set.

All games will be streamed free of charge on the A-10 conference website.

Unfortunately, I did not get to go today but it looks like Sweetin played and scored. That must mean he has yet to earn five yellow cards. It looks like Bryce, Kristo and Adnan had the others.

The basic rule is a one-game suspension for five cautions and a three-game suspension for eight cautions. You do get a two-game suspension for a red card on a fighting offense, so if Sweetin earned his fifth caution of the season on a yellow and a red card for fighting in the same game, he will serve one game for the fifth offense and an additional two for the fighting red card, or whatever you want to call it.

Missouri is in trouble again, huh? That is a little much. SLU has many analogs that do not include Biondi. SLU recently fired a VP for improper relations with his secretary. Happens all too often.

For what the polls are worth, look who is finally in this week: http://www.nscaa.com/rankings/1570/NCAADivisionI/men/National/Poll8 Ranked No. 23 behind Louisville and Creighton, two teams we smoked, but whatever. Xavier at No. 13. Charlotte is back in but VCU is out.

This is interesting reading. I have a question for you. Does the NCAA focus on mileage and the TES mileage calculator (https://web1.ncaa.org/TES/exec/miles) when assembling pods as they do in Division III? Looking at the 2011 NCAA tournament, in the midwest they grouped Creighton with Western Illinois with Northern Illinois, Louisville with Bradley and Loyola; Southern Methodist with Akron and Northwestern. Its way too early to know but I was just thinking about possible intriguing post season match-ups with Tulsa, SIUE, but who knows what will happen in the Summit, Horizon and Missouri Valley.

True.

It is different than international play. Players can sub-out and return with limitations. You can sub-out in the first half and return in in the second half or overtime. You can sub-out in the second half and return in that period once (or return in OT). In overtime, you can sub-out in the first and return in the second, but not in the same overtime period.

Temple was among my greatest concerns going in to the A-10. This game will be played on a Sunday afternoon on the road just before the team returns to play Charlotte with the postseason in mind. Classic trap game. You never know.

I do think fitness is a factor. He looks drained to me at times. He needs to train for the Go St. Louis Marathon and do speed work.

I appreciate the thoughtful response. I do not expect you to do this, but if you wanted to see the RPI percentage from last year, it is here: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/pdfs/2011/msoc-team-sheets-2011final

I would love to see it.

I know what you mean when you say ugly goal, but that was no easy goal as you can see. I was over on that end of the field. Respect to Raymond Lee for saving the day, not to mention Adnan and Christian Briggs (who was came in for Kristo). This was easily my favorite game in the McGinty era. Richmond on Sunday. I remember the loss to Richmond two years ago and feeling like the struggles may continue for awhile. So much for that feeling.

Indeed. I mention the NSCAA poll only for reference. I am not concerned about the polls. And, I do think there were times a few years ago when we were overrated in the polls. Poll karma, maybe. As far as the unofficial RPI, I am not sure that we will finish in the Top 25, but who knows. At least we avoid playing Duquesne, St. Bona, Rhode Island and UMass as far as I remember. The weekend games are critical. No doubt. The Sunday match against Temple on the road could be our trap game; a Sunday afternoon before the home game against Charlotte. Having said that, I think we run the table in conference.

The Billikens remain unranked (but receiving votes) in the latest NSCAA Coaches Poll. Tulsa is in after a 2-0 win over Creighton at home but no love for SLU after taking down Creighton 3-0 on the road. Incidentally, Creighton is ranked No. 24 despite the losses. http://www.nscaa.com/rankings/1410/NCAADivisionI/men/National/Poll6

As long as we have fans who expect a national championship each and every season, there are going to be people who are unhappy regardless of the coach. The expectations are still way too high. The Billiken Twitter feed posted a good quote from the UCA coach regarding Kristo: “They’ve got a forward that scored twice on us that’s really special, he’s going to be a pro someday."

The RPI is a ranking of sorts, but given the way it works, our RPI may get worse over the weekend even with a win over Central Arkansas because as you know, it is 50% opponents winning percentage and 25% opponent's opponents winning percentage. Our conference schedule is about as good as it usually gets, but we will not end the season ranked 13 in the RPI.

This dude alone is worth preserving tenure. You know he is going to need it. Look at that bio. Masters of Divinity from Harvard, PhD in Religious Studies, Juris Doctorate. Dude is for real.

The belief is that if SLU instituted a post-tenure review, it would be even harder to recruit and retain quality faculty. Biomedical and Biological Sciences are among the exceptions when it comes to faculty movement. Universities continue to invest more and more money in to these field and so attrition is higher as faculty move for higher salaries. But the University teaches more than science.