The local media tone

[davidnark]

The bandwagon local media guys -- notably Miklasz, Burwell, and Gordon -- have been quick to point out the obvious flaws in the current SLU program.

What hasn't been discussed at length, however, is that the very loyal Billiken media types -- Cusumano, Ramsey, and Earl Austin -- haven't exactly been vocal supporters of Brad lately. Cusumano has been very critical of Brad's recruiting and has made much some atypical negative comments about the games on his radio show. You can hear the frustration in Earl and Ramsey's voices on the broadcasts. And not just frustration regarding the performance and the refereeing; they have become more frequent critics of Brad's coaching.

The other very knowledgeble local college basketball media guy, Nate Lastch, posted some very eye-opening comments the other day. Keep in mind that Nate is very objective; he doesn't have ties to any local college or high school program. Most alarming was Nate's comment that SLU is not the leader on any of the Class of 2008 recruits (excepting Soderberg's kid, I assume).

Oh yeah, one more local radio guy, John Marzek (sp?), spoke with some knowledge of the program for several hours today and articulated the same issues with Brad. Maurice Scott called in to share his concerns.

Take all of this for what it is worth, but it appears Brad's support is dwindling among both the fans and the media.

[Schasz]

David,

That is not good news for Coach Soderberg because I've read where most of the media likes him as a person. I think they believe as many of the Billiken fans who express their views here that the HC must be held accountable after 5 years on the job. I think one thing that continues to bother me from afar is the common thread comment from Coach after these bad losses...I wish I had the answers. For criminy sakes...he's getting paid to have the freaking answers. Is he in waaaaay over his head????

[inthelou]

I admit I have not heard him do so but that guy has pumped Brad for so long to turn on him now would be unbelievable. You don't tell a fan base what a gem they have for 4 1/2 and then turn on him after a few conference losses.

[Clock_Tower]

Are you really surprised?

Miklasz, Burwell and Gordon have looked down upon SLU for years. IMO, they feel they must cover SLU because SLU is the local school but it pains them to do so. Could it be because they look at the program (not the head coach) is just not on the level of Mizzou and Illinois and most likely, in their opinion, never will be. Frankly, their comments about SLU and how they should have joined the Valley is really a double insult: 1) that they believe SLU is not capable anything better and 2) that they believe the Valley is nice league, with enjoyable basketball, but also not on the level of Mizzou and Illinois.

As to Cusumano, Ramsey and Earl, I take them quite seriously. Do you think they are simply as frustrated as we are or is there more to it? It's hard to be excited and optomistic with events of these past 2 weeks.

Normally, if your team underperforms, you can always say "We'll be better next year." With the loss of IV and no incoming recruits, we cannot even say that.

Still, I hold out hope, possibly blind faith, that Brad will land some JUCOs. We not only need talent but we need quantity. How do you explain no incoming recruits? Again, maybe only wishful thinking, but got to believe that Leon Powell had issues -- other than simply wanting to wait till for a better offer (Mizzou?) -- for not committing this past Fall and that Brad has realized that he does not have time to wait anymore for high school seniors to develop into contributors. Most JUCOs signed in the Spring. What scares me is Brad's apparent lack of a Plan B. SLU would be undefeated in the A 10 with Stemler. Fine, we didn't get him in losing out to IU. But where's Plan B? HD and OI is Plan C.

Still, even if SLU losses out the rest of the year, if Brad signs Leon Powell and 2 JUCOs of the level of David Robinson (SLU's version) and Donnie Campbell, I would extend Brad's contract.

[Nate Latsch]

So the other day I was thinking about some of the recent local recruits that SLU has missed out on, for one reason or another, and wanted to see what they are doing at their schools. The following is a short list of kids that the Billikens probably could have had, but ended up at other schools for whatever reason. Five of these players are starting in college. One is a high school player. I was just looking for kids who are making a significant impact on their teams, not just all the local kids who have gone D-1.

Here's what I came up with (the stats are a few days old):

Blake Ahearn (DeSmet) – was all-Missouri Valley Conference as a junior at Missouri State. Averaging 16.3 points per game as a senior this winter. The best free throw shooter in NCAA history. Has made more than 50 percent of his 3-point attempts this year.

Matt Shaw (Centralia, Ill.) – A 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward averaging 12.3 points per game this year for Southern Illinois.

Randal Falker (Gateway Tech) – A 6-7, 230-pound junior forward averaging 12.3 points per game this year for Southern Illinois.

Lance Stemler (Gibault H.S. and Southeastern Illinois Junior College) – A 6-8, 210-pound junior forward averaging 9 points per game as a starter at Indiana. He is averaging 4.7 rebounds per game (third on team) and has made 38 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Matt Lawrence (Lafayette) – Chose to walk-on at Missouri before any other schools offered him a scholarship. Now a starter in his sophomore season, Lawrence is averaging 12.1 points per game (second on team) and has made 49.5 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Josh Harrellson (St. Charles High) – A 6-9, 265-pound power forward/center who signed with Western Illinois, Harrellson is averaging 18.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.9 blocks per game this winter. He was not offered a scholarship by the Billikens.

- Nate

[p diddy]

when i listen, I hear brad and earl get really frustrated at the lack of execution on the floor. I don't hear them openly criticizing the coach on the air. one example, i remember earl giving a big sigh when danny stole the ball with a chance to take the lead in the open court and proceed to kick it into the fourth row of the student section. earl's response was an exasperated "oh danny" i got a chuckle out of that.

bad boyz for life

[Box and Won]

Terry Evans (Cardinal Ritter) - 6-5, 195 guard averaging 8.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game and 22 blocks and 41 steals (leading team in both categories) at Wisconsin-Green Bay. I'd take him over Danny Brown in a heartbeat. Here's what he did last year:

2005-06: Named to Horizon League all-defensive team ... set UWGB freshman records for blocks and steals in a season ... tied a league season high and set a career high with five steals vs. Loyola Feb. 8 ... scored 14 points and grabbed eight boards in a win over UW-Milwaukee Jan. 14 ... scored a career-high 15 points vs. Michigan State Dec. 21 ... posted a solid all-around game in a win over Eastern Michigan Dec. 14 with nine points, nine rebounds, five assists and three blocks ... posted 14 points at Wisconsin Dec. 7 ... scored 14 points, including 3-for-3 on 3-point attempts in a season-opening win over UNC Greensboro ... went 8-for-12 from the free throw line on his way to 12 points at Washington Nov. 14 ... set a career high with 12 rebounds, including six offensive, at Central Michigan Nov. 21 ... team's slam dunk contest winner

[Box and Won]

Early in the game, a Fordham player (Butler?) made an absent-minded play in which he let the ball go out of bounds. I commented, "That looked like a Danny Brown play." Little did I know, Danny would make his own "Danny Brown Play" later on.

[Box and Won]

Xavier Price is averaging 7.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game at Western Illinois.

[thetorch]

>So the other day I was thinking about some of the recent

>local recruits that SLU has missed out on, for one reason or

>another, and wanted to see what they are doing at their

>schools. The following is a short list of kids that the

>Billikens probably could have had, but ended up at other

>schools for whatever reason. Five of these players are

>starting in college. One is a high school player. I was just

>looking for kids who are making a significant impact on

>their teams, not just all the local kids who have gone D-1.

>

>Here's what I came up with (the stats are a few days old):

>

>Blake Ahearn (DeSmet) – was all-Missouri Valley Conference

>as a junior at Missouri State. Averaging 16.3 points per

>game as a senior this winter. The best free throw shooter in

>NCAA history. Has made more than 50 percent of his 3-point

>attempts this year.

>

>Matt Shaw (Centralia, Ill.) – A 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward

>averaging 12.3 points per game this year for Southern

>Illinois.

>

>Randal Falker (Gateway Tech) – A 6-7, 230-pound junior

>forward averaging 12.3 points per game this year for

>Southern Illinois.

>

>Lance Stemler (Gibault H.S. and Southeastern Illinois Junior

>College) – A 6-8, 210-pound junior forward averaging 9

>points per game as a starter at Indiana. He is averaging 4.7

>rebounds per game (third on team) and has made 38 percent of

>his 3-point attempts.

>

>Matt Lawrence (Lafayette) – Chose to walk-on at Missouri

>before any other schools offered him a scholarship. Now a

>starter in his sophomore season, Lawrence is averaging 12.1

>points per game (second on team) and has made 49.5 percent

>of his 3-point attempts.

>

>Josh Harrellson (St. Charles High) – A 6-9, 265-pound power

>forward/center who signed with Western Illinois, Harrellson

>is averaging 18.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.9 blocks per

>game this winter. He was not offered a scholarship by the

>Billikens.

>

>- Nate

C'mon Nate we have been over this ad nauseum.

Ahearn was a HUGE miss.

Falker was NOT COMING TO SLU EVER. He blew us off from the start. Can we really waste time pursuing a local mid major recruit who told Brad he was not interested in SLU.

Matt Lawrence was NOT COMING TO SLU ever. He wanted to play for Mizzou and nobody else. A scholarship offer means nothing to him, he was already going to school for free anywhere he wanted cuz of his grades.

Shaw was a miss. We offered him and lost out. Would he have come here if we offered him earlier? Who knows? SIUC is a better program why go to SLU instead? Bottom line we offered, he had our hat on his desk and he chose the salukis instead.

Stemler another miss. Should Brad had offered Stemler earlier? Yes. Would that have kept Sampson from coming after him late? No. Would Stemler have opted out of a commitment to go start at Indiana? He would have been a fool not to. Sorry but no matter what brad did or will do in a situation like that 99% of the time the kid will roll over and go play for the big time coach at the big time school. Thats the way it is, there is no use crying over it.

Harrellson is putting up big numbers but what proven big man has he played against? I've seen him play several times and western is a good fit for him. SLU needs bodies certainly but we shouldn't sign every kid within a 50 mile radius who is 6'8. We can't do that. Best of luck to Harrellson at Western but IMO he is two steps slow and not an upgrade from what we already have in AK, Husak, Ikeakor, Dixon at the time. Harrellson will not make or break SLU. Not saying he is a bad player but he is not a talent upgrade at this point. We need to be recruiting over the guys we have if we want to get better, not under them.

[thetorch]

C'mon

Terry Evans was a decent talent on par with the best guys in his class in the area until he got hurt. He has worked his ass off to play D-1 ball but 3 years ago watching him play pickup games I would have told you he will never play competitively again. We had just signed Polk another guy who had come off a major injury. Evan's injury was worse. Evans was another Floyd McClain waiting to happen. I applaud the kid for getting his game back and excelling but at the time he was a HUGE risk.

Xavier Price doesn't want to play in Tommie and Kevin's shadow for 3 years. He was way overhyped by recruiting gurus and the kid hit his peak as a freshman in HS. He is in a good place for him. And for as bad as we are now, Western Illinois is considerably worse. Xavier is a 3rd year player who is putting marginal numbers on a team that would be lucky to beat UMSL on a given night.

[AlumniFan]

when you find out that Brad has been dismissed?

Nark, you are probably one of the smartest basketball/SLU fans that I know, but your expressed vitriol and obsession with Brad's demise, in my humble opinion, is clouding your overall assessment of the situation.

BTW, some of these people getting air time do not follow SLU basketball that closely, they just like the air time.

"A strong man stands up for himself; a stronger man stands up for others." - Ben

[Box and Won]

I'm just saying that Evans, probably much moreso than Price, would be a nice contributor for this team right now.

[slufanskip]

And these kids are going to Mizzou, Mo St, SIU, and Carbondale. It seems rather silly to say these kids are all kids the Bills "probably could have had". What is that statement based on?

Lets talk about the local kids that did choose the Bills.

Tommie Liddell, Kevin Lisch, Luke Meyer, Dwayne Polk, Dustin and Adam K.

There are 5 mid to high major relatively local D1 schools. SLU, Mizzou, Mo St, SIU, and the Illini. It is silly to think SLU should get all the local D1 talent.

The Bills have obviously had an issue landing bigs. The problem isn't their local recruiting. It is the ability to fill in the roster beyond the local talent.

Ian, JJ, Bryce, Danny, Darren C, Obi, Horace. Only 1 starting caliber player out of the bunch.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of H Waldman

Official Sponser of the Stemmler and Ahearn could and would have helped club.

[CMA]

For criminy sakes...he's

>getting paid to have the freaking answers. Is he in waaaaay

>over his head????

This the coach's frustration over yet again a poor defensive effort. (and sound the same as comments by Mark Turgeon this week after WSU's 6th loss in 7 games, this time to Ill St)

He plays DM to get offense, but the kid, just cannot guard in a man to man, if you noted the consecutive penetrations off the dribble in the first half. Same with Johnson, lack of athleticism inhibits him defensively.

IMO the problem, on defense, is with the established guys (save Meyer) just not enough passion to play D - lots of road games ahead, UMass, Dayton, and the X are ahead

[CMA]

excluding the so called "big name" recruits from the state (Grimes, Hansborough, Steven Hill) as well as less well known but highly recruited guys ( like Tolliver now at Creighton), there are still a number of servicable D1 forwards from this "area".

By my count, over the last 3 classes, there are 24 forwards, that have or are currently playing at the D1 level... that went to HS within a 250 mile radius of St. Louis (excludes Chicago, Indy, and KC)... and that excludes the guys listed abovet

Warching SIU and Creighton last night, two teams that have 7 kids from what should be the SLU recruiting area (Tollivar, Watts, Boyle, Foster, Shaw, Tatum, Falker); 6 forwards, 1 guard

[billiken_roy]

with a wide open better handled liddell on his right hip, was the turning point in the game. i was screaming at brown and i feel he heard me all the way in new york. apparently i scared him though as he completely disappeared after that.

while that instant pretty much decided the remainder of the game, the real difference was not being able to capitalize the first half with dunston out. vouyoukas should have had 30 points and 20 rebounds. except for about a 3 minute stretch to open the second half when i think he scored 8 or 10 of his points and had 5 rebounds, he was ineffective the rest of the game.

[Illinois_Fan]

He is soft. It would be nice to see him actually get to the block and either put one of the glass with a post move "To The Basket" or dunk the ball.

[Marlow]

Because Terry Evans had a history as an outstanding high school player, and because he was coached by Marvin Neals, in my estimation, warranted a scholarship offer from SLU. Kids from Marvin's program are rock-solid in fundamentals and character. . .plus Marvin Neals is a great guy to have working on your side if you are the coach at a local university. Terry Eveans, hindsight or not, was definitely a better bet (even with the injury) than Danny Brown because there was more upside to an Evans scholarship.

[Majerus Magic]

Harrellson had 18 points and 18 rebounds against Leon Powell and Vashon.....sounds like a good game.