Matty Light

Maybe this would help our FT shooting.

I don't know where you are getting this. If you are referring to women wearing the hijab, it does not cover the mouth or even the face. And that is the strict sharia tradition. Progressive Persian women will where a vail on their head, but it won't even cover all of their hair.

Jacobs has a lot of things to work on too. Jacobs does play great defense...for 25 seconds and then he loses discipline with the shot clock running down and gives up buckets. I agree with you that I don't want Hargrove dribbling. But I also get very nervous when Jacobs dribbled. He definitely is not a point guard. He has the ball skills of an Aaron Hines. Good enough to play point in a pinch, but you do not want him playing point if you can help it. I'm not giving up on Jacobs. He is still young and has a lot of potential. I just don't think he changes the team dynamic much when he's in. Great bench depth, though.

Every magical season has that one memorable moment. Now, I know that if we won the A-10 tournament without beating Dayton, the Championship game would be the "moment", but I want to have that moment on the road the the Championship that is magical. We came, oh so close, to beating Dayton this year. I would love to get that shot in the semis. Plus, it is probably the only path to an At-Large should we fail to win the whole damn thing. Really all it would take is for the officials to start calling the obvious moving screen Obi Toppin sets nearly every offensive set. He would probably play 10 minutes on the court the whole game. Anyone know which conference's officials will be doing the A-10 tourney?

It's not a bad bracket placement, either. Dayton would seem most vulnerable in their first game or their second. The #8, #9, and #4, #5 seeds are probably the most likely to win the tournament, other than Dayton. I know that seems counter-intuitive but I think being the team to knock off Dayton will be a big boost to whichever team does it. Dayton absolutely bites at the A-10 tournament. I think they have one win since they made the A-10 championship in 2015. That is 1-4 the last 4 tourneys.

If things broke where where neither Utah State nor SLU won its conference tournaments, I would think SLU is more likely to be selected. TV ratings and Power 6 conference is where the selection bias lies. Power 6 considerations don't apply when considering between ONLY these two teams. We made the miracle run last year and got to the tournament. We have Travis Ford as coach (those young Gen-X guys calling games love them some Travis Ford). And we have two of the most exciting players in the country--our uber-rebounding stud guard, Goodwin, and our defensive rim protector, French. We have the silky smooth jumper and athleticism of Perkins. We have the deft passing of true freshman PG, Collins. We also are the worst FT shooting team in basketball. It makes things that much more interesting. Trust me that CBS/AT&T would love to televise us in the tournament. So much content for those producers to mine. What would Utah State offer them?

+1 for the Red Door epidose.

I would love the seedings to play out how the percentages show. I would rather have Dayton, VCU, and St. Bonaventure on our side of the bracket than Duquesne, Davidson, Rhodey, and Richmond.

I never knew that was why Tatum burned a year of eligibility. As for that Freshman class of '97, It was just Baniak, Heinrich, and the CBC guys. Redden was the class ahead with Troy Robertson and Larry Simmons. But you're right. Those two classes disappointed (other than the glorious one year Larry gave us). The best players by the senior years for each class were transfers (Love, Fergerson, Jeffers).

Here's the thing about Tatum. He was not in my Freshman class. Larry was. I don't recall Tatum being on campus until Fall '98. I believe he failed to academically qualify for SLU out of high school so he had to catch up at Junior College. I had always assumed he played ball wherever he went to JC because his first season with the Billikens he was listed as a Soph and was always listed in the same class as me. He only played 3 years at SLU (another reason I assumed he played JC ball). A search of the Googles shows that Tatum spent his 4th year of eligibility at McKendree College where he was First Team All AMC Conference.* *In the 2002-03 season I never knew that.

No love for Justin Tatum? He wasn't a scorer but he was a presence in the paint. No one wanted to mess with him and he was the only defender we had that could hold down the fort against athletic bigs like Kelly Wise, Kenyon Martin, and Bobby Simmons. He probably would be better remembered if he hadn't shot FTs like Goodwin.

Nice to be a finalist. This award will be going to Toppin or Smith, I reckon.

In other conferences my most hated rivals were Cincinnati & Xavier (suck it, Ohio) but since we joined the A-10 it has most definitely been Duquesne. I hate playing Rhode Island and Richmond too, but we always seem to get the Dukes twice a year-and never sweep them. Why not, Dayton? It's the only rivalry that feels real and I like that. We are so far away from everyone else.

We need to sweep the remaining home slate. That is a given. Games at UMASS and GMason as well. We have played pretty well at Amherst and Fairfax so I believe they are winnable. However, given the exposed underbelly that is our FT shooting, we can't play down to our competition each time. This team needs to develop a killer instinct attitude. No more allowing weaker teams to hang around until the end of ball games. That is where FTs are going to burn us. The margin of error is just too small.

Agreed. Like Weaver, it has taken some time for Perkins to settle into his role on the team. He is comfortable now and we need to let him do his best thing--score. Like Justin Love, he's the guy you want taking the shots, especially if there will be a contested shot. If the shot clock hits 5 and we haven't found a good look yet, get the ball to Perkins and let him create his own shot.