Billikenswin

I agree 100%. I think all of our recruits are now at least 3 stars on Scout or Rivals and they have moved up since last year. it used to be that happened only if a player signed with the likes of Duke or Kentucky!

this must be a joke! Our band is fantastic and much better than any piped in music for atmosphere. If you go to other arenas you can see how much better and louder our band is than most of the bands in the country!

I actually think he is pretty good and he at least knows and talks basketball theory and tactics. Dicky V drives me insane and Bill Walton is even worse. I never thought I would dislike a TV announcer more than Dicky V but Walton takes the cake for insane patter and ridiculous comments all laced with stupid favoritism.

The word is that Bob Knight will do our game on Saturday--if that turns out to be correct I think it will be great for our national reputation because he is a legendary coach who like Jim Crews and appreciates defense and team basketball like we play. We just need to make sure we play well and win the game!

I agree and I think we cannot give an answer to this quesiton until the season is over. KM's performance in the Memphis game in Columbus was absolutely outstanding against a favored team for a team in the big dance the first time for all of those players. JJ has more pure athletic firepower but KM was the much better shooter from long range. We should just feel blessed to have had them both.

It seems pretty clear that the staff is determined to continue to have big men who can shoot from deep and be effective in a high low setup. I think that makes a lot of sense. If these two guys get stronger we will have a nice tandem of 5 men.

I did read the article before commenting and before reading Cheeseman's post and I agree with him 100%. This woman has no clue whatsoever. She is singing the praises of ST JOE, a team we just wiped the floor with in their gym and she says of the A10 that it is made up of " VCU and a bunch of teams whose latest and greatest was at least a decade earlier" while she makes Butler sound like some kind of a big time A10 team last year. Earth to Dana--we beat Butler THREE times last year and VCU twice and we ranked 13th at seasons end and advanced to the third round of the big dance--The year before we beat highly ranked Memphis and came within an eyelash of beating No 1 seed Michigan State. This woman is a moron.

As I was watching I was thinking that if Manning had Gillman's offensive game and shooting touch he could be all A10 next year! Manning is strong as a bull and he will throw Gillman around in practice with Jolly less strong than Manning but more so than Gillman. If they could all work out and really hit the weights and Manning can have a Conklin summer then I think we have a positive future for the 5 spot.

I attended the first two games of the private/public event at Whitfield yesterday and watched Oakville beat Whitfield in overtime. Some observations: Oakville came out strong with Gillman hitting a long three clean and then a mid range jumper and two free throws. Whitfield had a big soph named Rucker who looked to be about 6'6' and 220. He was pushing and shoving on Gillman all day but in the early times, the refs were not calling anything and then they called two ticky tack fouls on Gillman and he sat most of the second quarter. That allowed Whitfield to get back in the game and it was close at halftime. In the second half Whitfield hit almost every shot they threw up from three and they took a six point lead despite some effective play from Gillman, including some nice rebound put backs. Oakville tied it at the buzzer of regulation with a wild 3 and then dominated in overtime as Gillman took over. He ended with 31 points and probably about 10 rebounds and 3 blocks although only the point total is official. Overall analysis of Gillman--he has guards who are not adept at feeding the post and they love to shoot so he will never get big stats on scoring although he could obviously score 25-30 a game if he had better guards. His offensive skills are impressive, particularly his shooting touch. He has a beautiful release and he is a great free throw shooter. He could be every bit as good as Loe as a big man who can hit the three and he is very good with both hands in the low block and he uses his left naturally in tight. He is a good passer generally but he made a couple of careless ones and young kids are inclined to do. His defensive skills need work although he can block shots and alter others. He will need to move his feet better but that is true of virtually ever player his size I see play in high school. The $64,000 question is can he put on weight and muscle enough to handle the wars inside in D1 basketball. He is thin and pretty agressive--although not as agressive as Jolly as indicated in his play in the game I watched on the internet. If he can grow bigger and tougher I think he could be a heck of a player because he has maybe the best shooting touch and release I have seen for a 6'11" center iin high school. I would have no qualms putting him in late in a game next year if we thought the other team would foul because he will be exellent from the line.

I agree with you on next year's class--a lot of players, particularly the three guards--- like MM, DE and JJ who seemed to be good with potential to be very good but we did not know how good they would be. The main difference is that we have some nice returning players so the frosh will not need to play huge minutes right from the start. McBroom seems to get better every game and Ash will be very good from the get go. Crawford seems to be a savvy and effective player now and he will only get better. Manning still needs development but he is a decent defender now to help in the post and I suspect that Tanner and Reggie will give us some very nice minutes at the four spot--or even the three spot at times. The new big guys are the real unknown. The one video I saw of the whole game for Jolly which was posted recently gave me some real hope that he could contribute next year. He is big and pretty agressive and pretty skilled for a kid in high school at that height. Gillman seems to be playing very well but I have not idea if he can put on enought muscle to play next year. I really like what I hear about Wellmer at well so the future looks bright but this is the year of years so far with great senior leadership and a nice bench.

I agree and our win at Vanderbilt when they had one of their stars playing looks a lot better now that we can see they have beat some "name" SEC teams without that star.

I had to be out of town and could only get the ESPN updates which seemed to come slow as molasses! I was having a breakdown in the second half when. They seemed to score every time we tried to make a comeback. Any win is good but I don't know if my heart can stand it. Loe was magnificent!

It helps to have a 6'10" center who is athletic and can score in the low post so he gets double and triple teamed when he gets the ball!

I could not agree more. I never go to any MU website and could care less about talking about them. We have a great team with a great coach and players who are real students. We should be incredibly proud. Most MU fans will never wake up and recognize that we have an excellent team so I say %^&*em!

I taped the game and just watched it. If you have it on tape go back and watch the first and fourth quarters. He played much better in those quarters and he was really a major factor in the comeback with the big center on the bench. I was impressed with how smart he is and how tenacious he played when the game is on the line. His shooting will need to improve but he is a heady player with a lot of upside. He was guarding bigger stronger players who were ranked highly and for the most part he held his own. His overall defense was good and he took two charges. He will learn a lot more from our staff on fundamentals but I see a player who could be a nice piece to our puzzle in a year or two.

I love your optimism but I do not know how you can possible predict that we win 20 games until you see our actual schedule and you see how all of the new players, including Ash, fit in and play on the court. We are going to miss this year's five seniors as much as we have ever missed a group of graduating players. Each of them has played a key role at times (only a few for Jake) and Dwayne, Jordair, Mike and Robb have all improved greatly since they arrived--so much that each of them can be considered among the best to have ever played their position as a Billiken--after evaluating their entire body of work and the team's incredible success while they have played at SLU. That Timmerman stat which indicated we have the best record in all of college basketball over the past year is incredible. I know it will be fun to watch all the new guys next year and we hope that GG and John have Conklin summers but I think we should understand how great this year's team is and enjoy it now!

This is an accurate summary and it truly baffles me as well.

Nice interview--not much new but another example of how excellent Jim Crews is with the media!

I watched it on tape and Roby is the most ready pre Billiken player on defense I have ever seen in high school. He is an excellent individual defender and a really great help defender. On offense he needs to tighten up his game he hit a beautiful 3 but missed two others and he made some excellent passes and some bad passes. He looks strong and frankly very mature but he has a ways to go on the offensive end. He will be game ready on defense with a bit of preseason training. The announcers were complimentary of Roby and of Jim Crews and the job he has done with the Billikens.

Really!!!!!!!!! Can you be a bigger jackass? give it a break.

I will be shocked if John does not start the season next year as the starter at the 5 position. He has many months to get bigger, stronger and improve his overall game and right now he is really tough on the defensive end. I was at the Dayton game and he really made a difference. His offense is yet to blossom although I have been to practice and have seen him hit many open jump shots and baby hooks. He has the real bulk and strength necessary to battle the big strong 5 guys in the conference. I do not see Reggie or Tanner in that role--they will have their hands full with some tough 4 men. If Jolly or Gillmann can bulk up a bit and give us some effective minutes at the 5 that would be great--sort of like Mike C is doing now at the 3--he is slowly learning the defensive end of things and his poise and intensity are nice qualities, particularly for a frosh!

With all due respect you are buying into the MU bs. I have personally talked to every AD since Grawer was here and every one attempted at one time or another to set up a series with MU. A few times those efforts were successful and the games were great and very close but they have stonewalled us for many years with pretty much the attirude that we won;t play you because we don't want to play you--and their coaches love it because they would not want to be embarrassed.

r I think you are probably right. We can all dream about a skilled 7 footer who is skinny but bulks up to be a truly effective player--sort of like a Rob Loe but accelerated. We will need a back up to Manning next year, either Jolly or Gillmann. I really like our post players this year because we lose nothing on defense when John comes in. I do not see Reggie or Tanner giving us many minutes at the 5.

From what I could see it appears Gillmann played less than 3 quarters last night. He has nice stats and a lot of rebounds and blocks so let's hope he can put on some weight and help off the bench next year.

I make more noise and lead more cheers than anyone within 100 feet of me. No one started this by commending the students. You started it by dissing the students and we wanted to set the record straight. There was a very nice crowd of students last night.