[To the classes of 2015-7 -- non-players]

With no disrespect to the player seniors of 2014 who set the stage: Classes of 2015-7, student section, the future is in your hands.

Next year, never in the history of SLU basketball will there have been a senior class who have sat through three consecutive NCAA appearances (all of which resulted in advance to the round of 32).

We old farts, especially those of us who believe in cheering on our team regardless of performance, have long bemoaned the lack of "tradition" at our AMDG alma mater. Well, you kids are the foundation for finally achieving one. You've lived through one of the best records in all of NCAA basketball for the past three years.

So, next year: Sitting in the student section should be a privilege. By the time the class of 2018 graduates, it should be based on seniority points.

Y'all should be rowdy and obnoxious and crazy and loud by two hours before every gametime from here on out. You should expect that our team makes the Dance every year. But even when they don't, a student ticket should be a badge of honor, not a perq for paying your tuition.

Some of us old farts have been coming to all the games, good but mostly bad, for decades. We always believed that you supporting your team was an integral part of the college experience.

But you young'uns -- you've had a team that isn't as much worthy of your support as you should be honored to show up to support them.

Even if it's freakin' Fontbonne next year, student sell-outs should be the norm. If the cosmos is in balance, then you'll go on to graduate and beg to be one of the other 9,000 people lucky enough to have a season ticket.

I own a t-shirt from about six or seven years ago that says "Billiken Basketball - A Winning Tradition." Then, it was just a BS marketing slogan. Now, it's, as one of the board posters is fond of saying: reality. Make something out of it, folks.

That is all.

+10000000 If we're to keep moving in the right the direction the students need to keep it up. having a consistent and large student presence, involvement and passion not only helps our current players and recruiting, but also puts pressure on the administration to put the right pieces together, keeping this basketball program a winner!

[And Now Your 14-15 Saint Louis Billikens...(let me see your prediction/desire for starting line-ups w/ rationale if you can.]

I have confidence that all the returning players will improve. I see RA, TL and MC as having huge summers. They've been quoted repeatedly saying how much they have learned from the seniors. Unless its just lip-service, I believe they "know what it takes" to be as successful as we've been these last 3 years and will work to improve their weaknesses The new guys seem to want to win and do it fast (I'm just basing this on what they've said on public forums i.e. twitter and Facebook). Their quotes don't mean much there unless they act on it, but it is great to see none-the-less. I'm excited to see what we can do. With that said I see the opening day lineup as AM, AY, MC, GG and JM. I HOPE Crews challenges TL and RA to take minutes from the seniors and does not set a lineup in stone. I also think MR will challenge AM all summer and the beginning of the year. I could honestly see him taking over the starting PG position. He has all the tools,competitiveness and toughness to really make an impact. He needs to add strength though to make a lasting impact against the great A10 teams we'll play. DR is a wild card to me. From what I've read and seen he is quite athletic and has a great shot. However, he will need time to learn our system and get used to playing D1 players every day. I think it could take him a year or two to "get it."

[Interim coach crews showed us]

Interim coach crews showed us today why he should never have been hired. Majerus would have won this game. Make no mistake this is not to bad mouth Crews. The blame for this hire goes to Chris May. He owes the seniors an apology for not getting them a head coach and thus screwing them over. They had no chance. Chris May as long as you go with Crews change your slogan from rise of the billikens to decline of the billikens.

Not today man, get this sh** out of here. I'm not a yes man by any means and have been critical of Crews this year, but today we just got out-played. Should be celebrating the Seniors and what they accomplished for OUR School!

[SLU Basketball on the Rise]

Good post. And I agree.

Bookmark this post. We may struggle next year. Which isn't a surprise considering we lose our entire starting 5. But in 2 years and beyond this program will begin to reach heights we haven't reached in decades. The group of Freshman we are bringing in are as good as we have recruited in a long time. We are going to have multiple kids who can handle the ball and score, except instead of being 6'0 and 6'1 they are going to be 6'3 and 6'4. We will have the same lock-down defense, but with more length on the perimeter. Big times are ahead for the Billikens.

I agree whole heartedly. It will be very interesting to see what impact Ash Yacoubou will have this year. I think he could be a very important piece the next two years. Grandy needs to work on fundamentals and Manning needs to keep adding mass and work on post moves. The freshmen (sophomores next year) need to get in better shape and continue to absorb the offense and defense. The FNG's need to come in ready to learn on the fly and fight for PT. I could easily see at 20-22 Win season (or more). By the end of the year I think we'll either be fighting for a Tourney spot or ending some other team's dreams. We are almost to the point that we "Re-load" not "Re-build" every year.

[Best Quote of the Tourney]

My favorite was in the media room after the NC State Game. After being asked about the strategy of pressing without practicing it Grandy Glaze said, “Sometimes when you dance, you’ve got to improvise.”

[Mods]

let the vcu and bonnie people have their fun posting here. when you're at the top people try to bring you down. human nature.