Compton

Jalen Johnson belongs in that group too: SLU > Louisiana > Miss St. > Texas A&M I believe Jimmy Bell Jr. will take the lead (5 schools) if he gets picked up from the football transfer portal.

When Wichita St. left the MVC in 2017 they took a close look at UW-Milwaukee and Omaha before inviting Valpo. I'd guess both are still top candidates. Missouri State and their boosters have been angling to go FBS for years. When they hired Coach Steckel from Mizzou they explicitly said it was in hopes of positioning the school for FBS. That was just after Georgia Southern and Appalachian state made the leap from FCS to the FBS. After Steckel they hired Bobby Petrino for the same reasons. Their years of work are paying off. Whether C-USA, Sunbelt, or MAC, I think they were ready to take whatever came their way.

True. There's the inability to hold onto them on one side of it. On the other, some credit has to go to the MVC programs and coaches for getting the HS talent and/or coaching them up to the point of being attractive transfer targets for P5 programs. I imagine the MAC, CAA, Sunbelt, and C-USA schools have similar financial constraints while cranking out less than half the P5 transfers as the MVC.

The number of MVC transfers to P5 schools is impressive. Tied with the American for 4th behind the BigTen, BigXII, and ACC.

Anyone in their right mind.

Agreed. Hard to see why he's winding up there given his abilities. McNeese, the Southland, and Port Arthur don't have much to offer. Outside of the Ivy's, some ACC and Big Ten schools, and a handful of others, are there that many programs that hold themselves to a significantly higher academic standard than the NCAA? If he can can go to McNeese and not have to go to JuCo I'd think he'd be eligible at about 300 other DI programs.

He might be doing some similar things to when he was here, but he's doing them at a completely different level. People who defend the likes of LeBron James and grab an outsized number of boards among entire teams of giants have improved their game dramatically from the A10 level. But yeah, he's definitely exceptional and not the norm.

Welcome to SLU!

Those seem right. Goodwin being the most direct comp as a first big/name signing under a new coach. It's kinda hard comparing HS commits with transfers. Highest regarded transfers might be Bess, Isabell, and Wiley. We'll never know, but Avila probably would have gotten better offers than those three, and comparable offers to Goodwin and Gordon (which is to say high level P6 offers).

Did Curcic or Thames shut anyone down or light up the steal stats? LHJ played similar mpg as Curcic in 2022-23 and had a similar 3pt%. LHJ had a similar 3pt% as Thames this year. I don't see the case for them being in a more select class than LHJ.

The Hughes family transcends the Travis Ford era. And Curcic and Thames aren't any more deserving of a spot than LHJ is. I hope Schertz sees a place for him.

Oats just signed a big extension and is getting everything he could ask for at 'bama (including being one of the five highest paid coaches), he now carries a hefty buyout, and doesn't have any legacy UK connections. UK could overcome anything, but I think those obstacles take him out of the front-runner position.

The "wtf is a Billiken?" line is tired and makes you look dumb, especially if you're a sports reporter in Missouri with an interest in college basketball.

Is this referring to anyone in particular?

Duquesne beats GW, saving SLU from a last place finish.

Exciting times in the MAC these days.

True True. Although that critique is a bit less applicable in the case of UMass joining the MAC. Them joining CUSA would have been a pure football cash grab. The MAC has been more stable and geographically coherent almost every other D1 conference. The move to the MAC highlight's UMass basketball fans' status as second class citizens. However, outside of an invite from the ACC, the MAC was their most fan-friendly and geographically logical option.

Fordham just lost 82-80 at home to the Blue Devils of Central Connecticut State University.

I don't think that assessment is fair to LHJ, who is a ball hawk and was trying to force turnovers. He was out there going for steals and disrupting the opposing offense. He got whistles a couple times in the second half when he was going for steals, loose balls, rebounds, and inbounds passes. Maybe one was a legit foul, but the refs were pretty quick with the whistle when he mixed things up.

Our likelihood of winning goes up. More depth, more size, more experience, etc...

This could really screw over Georgetown. They already have poor attendance at Capital One - 3rd worst in the Big East and worse than Dayton, VCU, SLU, and Richmond last season. They could become the anchor sports tenant of Capital One Arena, but the facilities might struggle without the investment and political pull of major league tenants. The idea of the fan-base, especially students, being asked to trek to Potomac Yards for games, when they barely make it out to Capital One, seems unviable.

The Salukis just lost at home to Austin Peay 70-68. Austin Peay was 2-6 against D-I opponents going into tonight's game.

Agreed. But it's not just a now thing. We've consistently scheduled home-and-homes against mid-major teams. The year after winning the A10 and going to the tourney two years in a row we played at Indiana State and at Wichita State (who was still MVC at that time). We've always schedule home-and-homes against mid-major opponents alongside the P6s (e.g., Auburn, Vandy, K-State, Oregon State, Boston College, Seton Halls, and Butler)

Home-and-homes the last 15 years have included: New Mexico, Valpo, Indiana State, Boise State, Iona, Drake, Loyola Marymount, Portland, and Bowling Green. The CAA isn't really an outlier from those teams and their respective conferences.