Minerva N. Owl

Tick,, tick, tick. JGood is eligible for five more games on his two-way contract. The Lakers will be on a road trip through the Midwest next week when Goodwin's eligibility runs out. If he continues to play (and start) during this stretch of the schedule when the Lakers have lots of back-to-backs (in part because of make up games from the fires in LA in January), his last game of eligibility will be Wed March 26 in Indianapolis. Assuming Goodwin gets a regular NBA contract (and that he remains on the roster through next week), he will play as a regular member of the Lakers in Chicago on Thursday, March 27 and in Memphis on Saturday, March 29. Road trip?

Could this be a redemption game for GJ? That last game against Loyola would have been a pretty tough way to end his career. 0 for 5 from 3. 4 points total for GJ in the recent loss. How much of that was due to Loyola's defense (in response to GJ going lights out on Mardi Gras Saturday at Chaifetz)? I assumed that would be the last game of the career for Swope and GJ, and it was one of the worst I remember for GJ. Redemption? Wiz - You show ArkSt as A+ ... 14th ITN defending the 3. But that's against lesser competition. What are the prospects of finding a way to get GJ in the game more this time -- either cutting to the basket or somehow getting some 3s to drop this time so that he is closer to his normal offensive contribution? Winning would be very nice, as would making a run in this (diluted?) NIT, but it would also be nice to see a better version of GJ to rinse out that sour taste.

Not whining. Everyone agrees that part of what's fun about the NCAA tournament is the upsets. Part of the reasons there have been upsets is that teams that know how to win in conference are able to win in the tournament. Take Loyola when they were in the Valley. The prayers of Sr. Jean might have helped, but Loyola's conference experience taught them how to win. Now that Porter M is in Oklahoma, he's making big money, but they're not winning in conference. They were 6-12 in conference this year. I hear the committee counter my point: the Sooners had 7 Quad 1 wins. My response? They had 11 Quad 1 losses. And it's as bad or worse for worse for Texas, Miss St, Vandy, Georgia, Ark. Against Quad 1 teams, those six all have seriously losing records. Arkansas has 4 Quad 1 victories, so they should get in, right? To agree, you have to ignore Ark's 11 Quad 1 losses. How does it make sense to invite at large teams with losing conference records, especially when they've shown they are consistently losers against Quad 1 teams? I'm proposing a common sense policy: to get an at large bid, a team must have a winning record in conference. The current system rewards losers. Literally. The NET system and the emphasis on Quad 1 victories produces this result. Why is it good to have a tournament full of losers? It's a simple proposal: to get an at large bid, a team must have a winning record in conference. That's the drum the "mid-majors" should be banging. Change the selection policy: no at large bids to teams with losing records in conference. Until recently, the practice has been that March Madness has been for winners, not losers.

Proposal: Make it a requirement that at large bid teams must have a winning record in conference. Rationale: Teams that know how to win in conference learn how to win on the road and in difficult environments. That's why those teams often knock off middle of the pack big boys (who mostly win only at home in conference). It's really hard to win away from home in a hostile environment. Six of the SEC teams that got at large bids this year are losers in conference. A common sense policy could fix that: to get an at large bid a team must have a winning record in conference. That policy would have opened up at least six spots this year.

When is the last time the A10 was a one bid league? If VCU loses, do they get a dance invitation? A loss by VCU to Mason would leave them with a record of 26-7. VCU has lost just twice in 2025 (to SLU and Dayton, and to the Bonnies on New Year's Eve). But VCU had a soft non-conference schedule, with just one quad one win the entire season. VCU's rankings: NET: 31 KenPom: 30 BPI: 33 Torvik: 28 KPI: 38 SOR: 48 WAB: 54

I've been told it's possible to ride a wildcat, but a cougar will ride you ...

What's the difference between a wildcat and cougar?

When does eligibility run out for JGood? My sense is that he can play 10 more games on his two-way contract, but I don't know where to find the official countdown. My understanding is that players on a two-way contract can play 50 games per season at the NBA level, and this is prorated. JGood's first game with the Lakers was Feb 8, leaving 30+ games, so he's eligible for about 20, and now he has played in about 10, but there must be a better way to figure out how many more games before the Lakers are forced to make a decision. With Lebron injured and JGood seemingly the best player off the bench recently, he's likely to get a lot of playing time. Pay the man.

Q: Is this a reference to March 6, 1953 when "Easy" Ed Macauley scored 46 points for the Boston Celtics in a victory over the (Minneapolis) Lakers? https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/boxscore/1953-03-06/Minneapolis-at-Boston/179911 https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=most+points+scored+by+a+celtics+player+against+the+lakers+all-time+in+one+game

This iconic image -- two St. Louis area guys (a Billiken and a son-of-a-Billiken-shoulda-been-a-Billiken) in a contest between the Lakers and the Celtics -- is not the first time the two had met since they played a high school game at the Highland tournament. A little more research revealed that when Goodwin was on the Wizards in 2022-23, Goodwin played in two games for Washington against the Celtics with Tatum: Celtics 112 - Wizards 94 on Oct 30, 2022 and Wizards 130 - Celtics 111 on March 28, 2023. It would be pretty amazing for Goodwin to have his two-way contract with the Lakers converted (as many expect) and for these two St. Louis area guys to meet again in June during a possible series for the NBA championship between the Lakers and the Celtics.

Prior to the Celtics-Lakers game on March 8, 2025, I think the last time Tatum and Goodwin played against each other may have been Tatum's senior year of high school when Chaminade played against Althoff on January 9, 2016 at the Highland Shootout. This string (from 2016) has the details, summarized by BIlliken Roy: "Althoff was up one point at halftime. Second half was the Jayson Tatum show. Final was 81-66." This article in the BND notes that Goodwin and Tatum previously played together on the St. Louis Eagles (now Bradley Beal Elite). The article quotes Goodwin as saying that Goodwin and Tatum had previously played against each other many times in summer leagues: “Me and Tatum, we’ve been battling since we were younger,” Goodwin said. “I played with the (Illinois) Tigers and he played with Team 314, we used to have battles all the time in St. Louis at the Sports Center. We won most of the games. I practiced against them the whole summer. I know their game, they know my game but it’s who wants it more I think.” Michael Porter, Jr. (and his little brother) both played in the Highland tournament in 2016, too. In March 2016 (after they played against each other in the Highland Tournament on January 9, 2016), Tatum led Chaminade HS to the Missouri class 5 state title and Goodwin led Althoff Catholic HS to the Illinois 3A state title. So far as I can tell, while Goodwin and Tatum have practiced together in summers in recent years, they have not played an organized game against each other until March 8, 2025 when the Lakers played the Celtics.

What are the implications of VCU's loss (at home) to Dayton with regard to the A10 getting more than 1 bid? Suppose the Bills win out from here. With the loss, VCU dropped from 29 to 31 in the NET ranking. Is the A10 a 1 bid league now with VCU's loss (at home) to Dayton?

For a detailed discussion of whether and when the Lakers will convert JGood's contract, here's 11-minutes of conversation and various scenarios (on the Lakers Nation podcast) plus 500+ Youtube comments, almost all of them calling for the Lakers to sign Goodwin to a regular contract to make him eligible for the the playoffs. The hosts discuss two key dates: (Saturday) March 1 and (Tuesday) March 4, and they speculate a roster spot will be opened on March 1, and that the Lakers may wait until March 4 before they fill that spot, probably by converting Goodwin's two-way contract. In the meantime, the Lakers have a series of back-to-back games, including tonight (after their victory last night against the Timberwolves). With the injury to Rui Hachimura and little nagging injuries to their big stars, the Lakers may rest Lebron and Luka tonight, in which case JGood might see a lot of minutes tonight, perhaps even a start. The Lakers Nations guys expect Goodwin's contract to be converted in less than a week from now ...

The other day JGood kicked out to Lebron. Saturday night in Denver Lebron returned the favor to JGood, who nailed a corner 3, which basically iced the game. Soon afterwards Denver threw in the towel and emptied their bench. I saw a statistic that claimed in the G League Goodwin's 3 point shooting is still not great(30%), but from the corner Goodwin apparently was 40% this season for South Bay. Lakers fans keep calling for the LA to convert Goodwin's contract so he'll be eligible for the playoffs. For now his rebounding, disruptive D and corner 3 approach seems to have earned him a place in the rotation of the Lebron/Luka show. Highlights of JGood in the Feb 22 Lakers takedown at Denver here:

JGood looking good again tonight. Nationally televised on ABC. KDNL 30 in St. Louis. Big game: Lakers at Nuggets. Limited minutes for JGood in the first half, but when he was in he looked completely at home in his role: defensive disruptor and rebounder; on D force turnovers and crash the offensive boards to provide second chance shots for others. Let's see what JGood does in the second half. Nuggets have dominated the Lakers for a long time, but the Lakers have the halftime lead and a lot of energy tonight, including from JGood.

Rivera had the ball in his hands with UMass up by 5 points and 45 seconds on the game clock and 20 seconds on the shot clock ...

Links to media coverage of the Hargrove miracle game (Dec 16, 2023 SLU v. Louisiana Tech) are here (copied from the game thread): ... for easy reference later, here's a collection of some of the coverage of the Dec 16, 2023 game against Louisiana Tech, especially the final 28 seconds, when TJ Hargrove lit it up, scoring 11 points, including a buzzer beater for the 75-74 SLU victory: ESPN Sportscenter (Listed the buzzer beater in their daily top ten sports plays) Each of the shots taken by TJ Hargrove in the final 28 seconds are here. Also see here and here. The KMOX radio broadcast of this game, with Rammer and Earl on the call, (with the final 30 seconds beginning around the 2:12 mark in the recording) is here. Stu's article in the PD. KSDK Channel 5

In response to the comparison (Warlick & Goodwin) and the claim that Goodwin had a slow start but "was much improved by the end of the season", that's not quite accurate. Goodwin started the first game and every game. During the first game of Goodwin's freshmen year (SLU 63 Seattle 42) Goodwin scored 6 points, all free throws. He was 0-12 from the field, but he went to the line for ten FT, of which he made 6. By the third game of that season, he was a force: at Virginia Tech (SLU 77 Hokies 71) Goodwin scored 19 points. Warlick may have some traits similar to Goodwin, but it's definitely not accurate to say Goodwin came to SLU as an unskilled football player. In high school, he brought Althoff to the State championship game as a sophomore and they won it his junior year. Goodwin's senior year, he had shoulder problems, so he was shut down for his senior year of high school basketball. Warlick also was a high school star and state champion his sophomore and junior seasons, so there may be similarities, perhaps in tenacity and being a winner. But Goodwin was much more highly rated out of high school, and Goodwin showed much more ability much earlier, scoring 19 for the Billikens in his third game as a Billiken ... a victory over the Hokies on the road in November of his freshman year ... and then the triple double in January of his freshman year, as MusicCity noted. We haven't seen that yet from Warlick, but we can hope, as Warlick definitely has risen to the occasion when called upon in a small sample size.

OK ... if we're talking reality, then I grant that all this speculation is silly, but it nonetheless seems worthwhile to point out that the committee's 2024 snub of Indiana State was historic, and the choice to put in Virginia rather than Indiana State was a completely avoidable embarrassment for the committee. The committee did NOT follow their own guidelines. At selection time (March 17, 2024) Virginia was 54 in the NET, while Indiana State was 28 (the lowest in the NET era to be snubbed). It seems worthwhile to continue banging this drum, not because it is realistic that the Billikens will win out or get their NET as low as 28 (which I grant is blue koolaid Lala land dreaming on a snow day). Instead, if we grant that "the NCAA will do whatever is best for the NCAA", then it seems worthwhile to keep up the memory that the committee did NOT follow its own guidelines on March 17, 2024 when Virginia was invited (with a NET ranking of 54) while Indiana State was snubbed (with a NET ranking of 28). https://www.si.com/college/2024/03/20/march-madness-virginias-first-four-embarrassment-was-completely-avoidable https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2024/team-net-sheet?team=Virginia Virginia (NET 54) was gifted an invitation in March 2024. In their tournament (play-in) game, they were drubbed: 67-42. Indiana State (NET 28) was snubbed. In the NIT, they made an impressive run to the NIT Championship game. My point is simply that the committee did not follow their own guidelines in choosing Virginia in 2024. In the snow day dreamland world where the Billikens (or any other A10 team) manage to end the season with a NET under 30 without winning the A10 Championship game, I think there's a strong case to be made for the 2025 committee to come closer to following their own guidelines rather than gifting a big state school with a low NET ranking, a losing record down the stretch, just so the ACC can get five teams in the tournament, when a mid-major team with a much, much better NET ranking gets snubbed.

I'm on the side of those who think that speculating about the possibility of winning out from here and then losing the championship game of the A10 tourney requires special blue Koolaid made in La la land, but tomorrow is another snow day in St. Louis, so let's continue the speculative dream for a while. Here are a couple other variables that haven't been considered: 1) It's not just a matter of winning out ... There's the question of margin of victory in those wins. The Billikens moved up more than 50 spots in the NET over the last week with two victories in conference . A large margin of victory in each was a key factor. If we are dreaming in the La la land with blue koolaid, let's dream about winning each game by 20+ points. Winning big, especially in Quad 2 games, will move the Billikens up the NET even more. 2) Part of the "national story" is the possibility of putting the committee in the situation where they would be faced with a decision similar to what they faced last year, but with the same coach and the same Robbie Avila. I side with those who think that, given what Indiana State showed in their NIT run last year, the committee would vote to put Schertz and Avila in this time. 3) Last year, there were an unusual number of bid stealers. For these reasons, I think that if the Billikens win out (with large enough margins of victory to reach selection Sunday with a NET ranking of 28) going undefeated until Sunday, March 16 in the A10 Championship game, the committee will pick them, unlike Indiana State, which was snubbed on March 17, 2024 with a NET ranking of 28. *** Further, I agree with those who think that the more serious issue for the Billikens is how to get more support from the bench ... and how to keep Avila, Swope, and Jimmerson healthy. The team is gelling, but without Avila, this team is not too good. There has to be a better plan to steady the boat while Avila takes a breather during each half.

Earthquakes, tsunamis, exorcisms, a missing bus ... anything is possible with SLU. Coach Scherz told us that at the beginning of his coaching career, he worked at a camp run by Rick Majerus. I wonder if Majerus told Scherz about trips to Olean to play the Bonnies. Bay Area may need to warn Coach Scherz that, apparently having dodged a tsunami, he now might need to worry about the possibility of losing the team bus during the game. PS It's not directly connected, but somehow the tsunami threat reminds me that it's been a long time since we've seen the video of Majerus commenting on taking the team to Olean. Who has that link?

I was very surprised to hear Coach S In the post-game interview say that, coming into the game, UMass Lowell was not a very good 3-point shooting team. Here's the shooting stats for UMassL: Prior to playing SLU, UMassL was 36% from 3, ranked #110 (out of 350+), just ahead of Kansas and North Carolina ... so, actually pretty good. But on closer inspection, UMassL has been very inconsistent from 3: against Gonzaga and Washington they were 3-16 and 2-16, but three previous times they shot lights out from 3. It would have been more accurate to say that UMassL is very erratic from 3: sometimes awful and sometimes lights out. Given what we've seen so far the Bills on D, it's not too surprising, I think, that we got the hot-from-3 version of UMassL. The Bills snuck out with the W, but it will definitely help to learn how to defend the 3. As Captain Obvious would say, giving up 90 points on 63% shooting from 3 is not a good recipe for winning.

Took a road trip to KC for the game against Kansas State, Dec 21, 2019 ... Bills shocked KState 66-63 for an impressive neutral court victory. *** Also, two games against St. Bonaventure are memorable: During Ford's first year, the lost bus saga ... Feb 8, 2017 @ Oleans, after losing to Bonnies, the team also lost the bus. The bus driver apparently went bar hopping during the game. March 7, 2020 @ Chaifetz, five game winning streak, the Bills were on the bubble, and were in position to get in the tournament with a good run, but this was the last game before COVID. It was a Mardi Gras Saturday in St. Louis, with a very festive atmosphere, lots of energy, and a decisive win. Most of us didn't anticipate that the A10 tournament would be shut down days later ... Selection Sunday never came that year. *** On the whole, Ford sort of gave what was promised from the beginning: pretty good at recruiting, but not so great as a bench coach.