HoosierPal

I am in full agreement that the roster needs to be augmented with a player or two who plays with his back to the basket. As far as the others, Ford doesn't prescribe to the 1-5 routine. How many times have you seen Goodwin, Jacobs and Perkins on the floor at the same time? A lot. We have also seen Jacobs, as well as Goodwin, playing PG when Collins is out. As long as any new guys can score, I'm good.

Yeah, he played with Becton his second season. Lots of talent, not so much on results. I wonder how Ekker talked those guys into coming to SLU. Burns is up there, maybe tops on our JUCO list. Other JUCO's with solid Billiken careers include Dobbs, Love, Footes and Jeffers. I'd give Perkins a solid chance of joining the list by the end of next season.

The way I read SShoes, he wants to dump him. I can’t see taking away a year of a student -athletes career. He only has this time of his life once.

I don't care what his role is. I don't think kicking him into the curb is the right thing to do. He didn't ask to get injured. If we don't help Hankton get a waiver (again, if he is eligible - I believe he is game number's wise) then we are doing him a disservice. IF he gets a waiver, then the question is does he stay here or leave. I will leave that up to him, his family and the coaching staff. And what are the chances these days that ANY 5 year student-athlete stays at the same school for all five years. Sure there are some. But my guess is that the number who don't stay for all available 5 years is trending up and the number staying five years is trending down. Look at the number of GT's available last spring. A large portion of this board says "pick up a GT big" this off season. That GT big is currently on someone else's team. He is almost a commodity that we are shopping for.

Why? If KC is eligible for a medical waiver, wouldn't it be the right thing to do file the paperwork?

It’s getting chippy in Dayton. 5 technicals so far and 13 min still to go.

Thanks Billiken Roy. No you won't find me criticizing the refs (all that much). [Yes, French's 5th foul should have been on Perkins. The refs could and for me should have called illegal screens on about half of the screens set - on both teams- in the Dayton game....so there you go! ] But this is a public forum, so whatever makes people feel good if okay. Brighton, been there, done that. I officiated both volleyball and baseball maybe 15 years ago. It was at what would now be called the club level. But the pay and grief weren't worth it even back then. And frankly I wasn't very good.

For all you yahoo's complaining about officials, now is the time to step up to the plate. Become a HS official and work your way up to the college level.

No it is not covered but a little protected from the wind with fences. It was cold when we played, probably just above freezing. I played with gloves on. But it is a fast play. Every hole was occupied, but they do a good job staggering your start so there is no long wait at each hole.

Feb 10 Coach's Show with Rammer. Coach Ford is out, not on the air tonight. Saturday's game will honor the Miracle in Memphis, four wins in four days. Reminded all that Marque Perry was out with a broken ankle, and the team was struggling going into Memphis. Justin Love came on the show, via telephone. Rammer "Can you imagine it has been twenty years." Justin "You sound the same Rammer." Love thought he was going to be playing with Hughes at SLU. CUSA was loaded in those days. Talked about the Mizzou game, which SLU won. With Perry out, the team still had Redden and Fergerson, who were experienced vets. First tourney game was S. Miss, SLU having lost big to them in-season. Love said, "Turning point for the season was the Cincy game, Senior Night, at Cincy. Love " We got blown out 84-41, and had a team meeting." They came together after that game. Love commented on Jeffers and Redden leading the defensive charge. Game 2 in the tourney was Cincy. Payback. Rammer stated that SLU was ahead when Martin broke his league. "We were playing focused defense that game." At the end of the first half, Redden to an elbow to the head. Cincy player "popped off to Redden" and Redden responded, "I'll see you in the second half." The team backed this up in the second half. At the buzzer, Love said we celebrated the win, we weren't on anyone's radar. Back into the locker room, they refocused on the next day's game. Played Tulane the next night. "We didn't mess around. Up maybe 20 at half time." All business. DePaul for the championship game. Love said 'we were on fumes'. DePaul was good that year. Redden continued his pesky defense. "There was no second place. If we lose that game, there is no NCAA." Love was MVP of the CUSA tourney. Love said it should have been a team award. Love is coaching HS hoops (at Mascoutah). "Can still dunk on a good day." He is coming to Chaifetz Saturday. Coach Giacoletti and Coach Tate: Gypsy live of a coach. Tate has been unique in being stationed in Missouri. Ray G. grew up in Peoria IL, home of Richard Prior and Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon. Went to Minot State to play hoops. Lots of stops on the coaching trail. Head Coach at N. Dakota State in Fargo. (He spent 8 years in ND.) Got the next job at Eastern Washington, then the job at Utah. Andrew Bogat was there for one year. Resigned after this third year, went to Gonzaga as an assistant to his friend Mark Few. Next to Drake. After Drake, he spent 2 years out of coaching living in STL, broadcasting. He wasn't going to move, as he and his wife are taking care of her mother. So when Ford called, it fit perfectly. He doesn't recruit. He can't be on the floor at practice, but can be there an take notes. But when Tate 'went down' Ray picked up some of his tasks. [Tate is recovering well.] Ray called Corey 'the Mayor of St. Louis'. Tate: Duquesne beat us at every aspect of both games. Dayton: Ray G. players accepted the challenge. We showed a lot of what we are made of. Hasahn and Goodie did a great job of leading the team into the game. (Yes Ray G called him Goodie.) Rammer said the team silenced the crowd when coming back. Tate; coach brought out a big loud speaker to practice at Dayton, to get ready for the noise. LaSalle: Will Bailey has the scout. Rammer, "I still have the feel that this team hasn't hit on all cylinders yet." Ray G. Coach Ford has done an amazing job reinventing this team twice, when Fred went down and again when Gibson went down. Coach Tate "I'm the calm storm on the bench." Ray G. "Don't buy that." Tay Weaver: Got his extra year tearing his ACL. (He actually tore both ACL's while at E. Kentucky) He wanted to go out 'with a bang' so he came to SLU. No issues at all now with his ACL's . Came down to either Arizona or STL. When he came to visit, he felt at home with Coach Ford. All new teammates, but he feels like he has been with them four years. Coach has never told Tay not to shoot. Ford was mad at the Dayton game when Tay didn't shot. He really wasn't a shooter until his senior year in HS. He had been a slasher, and developed the jumper the summer before his last year. He has nine siblings. Two brothers play HS hoops, two sisters are cheerleaders. He rooms with Perkins, but says he is the better shooter. Team is really tight. This team is different than other teams he has been on as they can all talk to each other, even the captains. Says it is okay to say ‘Trey Weaver’ when he hits from the arc.

Agree with all: Aquarium, Ferris Wheel, Ropes, and Maze are all great. The mini golf course is fun also. It is a quick play, but well laid out. We saw it from the Ferris Wheel and went straight to it. And don't forget to visit the Whispering Arch at the Market Street entrance to the hotel. My Father showed it to me. He first experienced it when he shipped out from Union Station to the West Coast in WWII.

Just information, but Butler did 'recruit' Jordan Tucker to transfer over from Duke. Depending on which service you pick, he was Top 50 in High School. But Tucker has shown to be a good role player, and only started 4 times this season as now a Junior. These recruiting services don't bat 1.000. His main attribute is 37% three point shooter, but he doesn't defend or rebound all that well. And no, they don't get very many recruits at all from Indy. They have three from central Indiana on the roster, including GT Derrick Smits. Speaking of Derrick Smits, the GT from Valpo, several on this board wanted Ford to go after him. Yes he was hurt early one, but his 10 mpg, 3 ppg, 1.9 rpg are pretty much what we are getting from Jimmy Bell. I'd rather have Bell getting those minutes for us than Smits.

Just for information on refs, North Carolina remains livid on the non-call that gift wrapped a Duke victory over UNC. Butler Coach Jordan, when asked what he thought about the refs in the Big East, simply responded, Jordan replied: “I’ve got three technical fouls in Big East play. That might tell you how I feel.” The game headline in the Indy Star read "Jordan Lavell Unhappy with Refs". Arkansas had 4 players foul out in their OT loss to Missouri. Fans wanted blood. The refs are no better in any other league.

There is no A10 conspiracy, either formal or informal, against the Billikens. There is no under the table money being paid to call phantom fouls against the Billikens. There were plenty of incorrect calls yesterday on both sides. There were plenty of debatable calls in every basketball game played yesterday. It's part of the game.

Did you go off your meds toay?

....and go where? Remember, the A10, ACC, Big East and CAA all draw officials from the same pool. So you wouldn't want to go to any of those leagues as you would have the same officials.

This question has been repeatedly answered on this board and by Coach Ford in radio interviews. You really don't want an answer, do you?

Just information here. In the past 10 years, we have averaged 2.6 early player departures per off season. We have had two seasons with no departures. You can remove Graves, Bishop and Henriquez due to unique circumstances, but that still is 2.3 departures per off season.

I can shoot it wearing a coat.

Collins conference totals: 14 of 24, 58.3%.

I am not here to defend Fordham's athletic program. However, they have maybe the top woman's softball team in the A10, something like 7 or 8 champions last decade, and a decent men's soccer program. They made the NCAA quarterfinals in 2017 and have three NCAA tourney appearances this past decade. There is more to this than men's hoops. Don't really care if they go or stay.

Interesting observation on the three team list, all but two, Toppin and John Axel, might/could return next season. Of course some will GT out, one or two besides Toppin go make some money, but the future is bright for the A10.