johnbj14

While that is true, it also doesn’t mean much being right inside it, because it’s still short of what this team was supposed to be. At the end of the day, the team was supposed to make the tournament, and fell short of even the NIT.

Yes, look at the teams that were additions when the old BE fell. Butler: consistent winner at the mid-major level, on and off ranked in the years prior to the move, and 2 time Final Four participant in recent years. Also a huge level of fan support. Xavier and Creighton: same story as Butler without the F4’s. Rabid fanbases with big attendance numbers. UConn: legacy Big East member with multiple national titles in the last 25 years, including 1 in their brief time in the American. Winning will be a huge criteria of any addition, since each tournament team earns NCAA credits. Why add a team that doesn’t make the dance consistently?

SLU in the Big East would be a dream come true. Unfortunately we haven’t won anywhere close enough games in men’s hoops to be a legitimate candidate.

Brad might not even be eligible as a two time transfer. Until there’s confirmation he gets a waiver, someone else probably starts at center.

Interest does not equal an offer. Vice won’t play much this year because Creighton has a top 5 big man in the country. He would have started here and been an immediate contributor. As excited as I am about Medley, he’s a slight of frame pass first guard. Don’t think his interest would have been in the same ballpark if he backed out.

Vice just went to Creighton, which would be the highest offer any of the 4 players you named had this off-season. Offers aren’t an exact measure of success, but I think we lost a potentially really good big man, and the best of that group.

Maybe benchmark was not the best word. 25 wins should be the goal. 22/23 wins keeps the program in this weird zone it’s in right now: possibly NIT team, but definitely not NCAA Tournament caliber.

The problem is this core has not sniffed the tournament and lost its best players outside of Jimerson. There aren’t plentiful contributors out there like 4 weeks ago. Just because SLU has open spots, doesn’t mean there’s good players out there to fill them. Oh, and they need people to actually be interested in coming here.

Too lazy to blue font, but this is definitely because fans are too negative on Twitter and the board.

The Billikens need to win more games, period. Good A-10, bad A-10, the current level of success for SLU isn’t enough. The team the last two seasons has not had enough to truly be an at-large candidate. 25 regular season wins has to be the benchmark. If we’re still missing the tournament and hitting that mark? Then it’s time to focus on the conference.

Personally think we should be focused on internal improvement of SLU, and not worried about the conference as a whole. Even with a stronger A-10, the last two years wouldn’t have led to bids. Internal performance, and department expectations, are a way bigger concern right now.

Yeah the fan support thing is huge. Chaifetz holds 10K fans. In 2013-2014, the high water mark for attendance since Chaifetz opened, we averaged 8,400 fans a night. Last year we averaged about 1,800 less than that. This is not really a 1 to 1 relation, but the 6 win difference between those two groups absolutely shines through in attendance. It will be interesting to see if attendance drops off this year with less hype, but I do have a sneaking suspicion the department would be quicker to make moves if the crowds drastically shrink.

Marquette plays in an NBA arena and averages 14,633 fans per game. Assuming an average ticket price of 35 bucks a seat, which is probably a bit low, that’s 9.2 million in revenue right there. Considering they get good money from Jordan Brand as one of their signature schools, Big East TV deals, and have a huge donor base, that 23.4 number isn’t surprising in the slightest.

I can get with that logic as long as it’s coming with tournament appearances. Those are really what I want more of at the end of the day. It doesn’t seem like an unreasonable ask. The fact that SLU only has 2 NCAA Tournament appearances in the last 10 seasons is a really disheartening reality.

25 wins needs to be the expectation if we want this program to be a relevant mid-major name outside of the region. Needs to start happening, and soon.