HoosierPal

Two nice defensive plays for Matt.

Among the roughly 250 nominees for 2017 McDonald All-American teams were both Goodwin and French. Congratulations gentlemen.

My two comments, "SLU is ranked above Mizzou in the NCAA RPI" (as of January 10) plus "it's a known metric" seem to have caused a lot of consternation. Interesting how people react.

Your opinion is again noted.

It's a known metric. Your opinion is noted.

Look who is below the Bills in the current NCAA RPI ratings. Chicago State is above both of us. (First number is current RPI, second number is previous RPI.) Duquesne is sitting at 203 according to the NCAA. RPI / Previous Record / Road / Neutral / Home /Non D1 262 263 Chicago St. Western Athletic 4-14 1-11 1-1 0-2 2-0 263 260 Western Mich. Mid-American 4-10 0-6 0-3 3-1 1-0 264 265 Louisiana Tech Conference USA 10-6 1-4 1-0 6-2 2-0 265 262 Saint Louis Atlantic 10 4-11 0-3 0-2 4-6 0-0 266 274 UMES Mid-Eastern 4-12 2-10 0-1 0-1 2-0 267 264 Missouri Southeastern 5-9 0-1 1-3 4-5 0-0

OK OG, let's move ahead with our baseless assumptions. What would you expect to be a reasonable recovery time (for an athlete) following shoulder surgery? I'm assuming he will play through this for Althoff and have surgery in the spring.

The Majerus shows were classic. Rammer would get maybe one or two questions in and then Coach would have a 30 minute response weaving in food and personal stories into his answer. I remember I used to keep a pen and paper handy to write down Coach's recommended STL restaurant's and dishes off of menus. The best ever rec was the Ciopinno at LoRusso's Cucina.

Won't be tonight. There is some football game on 101 tonight. Something about a CFB National Championship?

Bishop last played on Dec 11 against Chicago State. The PD says he is out at least another week, if not longer. Wow. When he is able to return, he will not be in basketball shape. Unfortunately, further contributions this year are sketchy at best. Too bad our leading scorer and leader in assists will, at best, have a hobbled return. Hines will be it at PG for the bulk of the season. It is too late for a medical redshirt. Here's to wishing whatever is wrong with Mr. Bishop's ankle is thoroughly healed before he attempts to return.

I was watching the clock. We went exclusive zone from about the 5:30 mark on into halftime. Pretty much Man to Man the first half except for those minutes, and the entire second half, with one or two quick switches to zone for a defensive stand. Playing Man, we put a lot more pressure on the three point shooters.

Coach complimentary on crowd in post game interview. Liked the teams edge in second half. More + than - per Coach. Crawford hadn't practiced last two days due to leg issues.

Hopefully this will convince Ford to dump the zone and play man. By my count we played five min zone all at the end of the first half when Davidson had their best run running the lead from 10 to 16.

Report. Mike strained Hammie.

Crawford to the locker room. Said a few choice words on his way. Discouraging.

OK, someone in the know, I'm jumping way too far ahead here, BUT: does the Athletic Department pick up the medical tab (surgery) for all scholarship athletes? Example, was Welmer's surgery on his foot last year paid for by SLU? The obvious connection is that any surgery that Goodwin might (or might not) have or need, would he likely wait until under scholarship to avoid paying for it through his parent's health care plan. Leaping forward with my erroneous assumptions, if he enrolls early, would SLU pick up the tab for summer surgery? Or would Althoff's Athletic Department pay for surgery now? That would be interesting, as if he had surgery now, he would be done at for the HS.

Yes, Graves will be practicing with the team. Coach said he is an explosive scorer and played in a hard AAU league. Said he had two good games with BC, one against Nichols State where he scored 15. Said he is one of the top shooters in the nation. He said he sold Graves on SLU with "the system I use" saying it is how Graves wanted to play. [He did not mention the Billikens.com board as being influential.] He compared him to Phil Forte and Keiton Page. Said Davidson will be very hungry, coming in 0-2. They are much better than their record, per Coach. They have POY candidate Gibbs plus a very good 6'8" kid, Aldridge.

On Coach's KTRS Show, he said Bishop is out v Davidson and out at least another week if not longer.

The NCAA has a bunch of rules for walk on's and several others on Parent-Player relationships. When the NCAA changed their food rule several years ago, they allowed walk on's to eat at the athletic training table free. A coach can watch his son or daughter play during 'dead recruiting periods'. There are some things he can't do while watching - like contact other players - but he can attend all his son's or daughter's games.

One has to assume that if he walks on, it is because his Father is Coach. It is always an interesting conversation when a son follows his coaching father to his school. It does put pressure on both father and son in that situation. If the son isn't really, really good, the coach is criticized for any PT he gives him. Brooks stat line is interesting. He is 26 of 53 from behind the arc (49%) but only 13 of 30 inside the arc (43%) He hasn't had many FT attempts but is only 9 of 14. My pure guess would have been 'ice' at the FT line. 8 assists and 16 TO's in 11 games.

Well, I threw out the bait to see who I could hook. Coaches sons are typically preferred walk on's. I assume relatives get a break on tuition. I'm not sure if Alford's son at UCLA is on scholarship or a walk on. Cal's son is a walk on at Kentucky.

Strong noise from the street says the Bills are carefully watching a 6'2" SG from DeSmet. Currently he is averaging 10.3 ppg but hitting 49% from the three.

Thanks. I understand your phrase, "something wrong is going on".

You are correct on these two additions. Tate is the prime example of your first point.

I heard the term stress reaction used on the radio to describe Bishop's ankle injury. I have no idea what that is. Old guy?