Major Majerus Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Here it's 1pm and nobody else has talked about last nite? Good turnout, but slightly disappointing - both hoops programs sent the newest, lowest level coaches - Sean Harrington for the men and I forget for the women. All the higher ranking coaches were either going out or returning from recruiting trips because this is the window for "in home visits." Sean confessed his Illini roots, but he's from IL and was working under Porter at IL State, so I think we have good coverage over there. KL and Dustin tagged along and took some questions - nothing new. I inquired about AK's health, and Kevin said he was fine and would be going full steam in the workouts now. All were very excited about the new guys...which I can understand. All were optimistic about Bryce working with RM and producing more. Shimmy will definitely come next time. She had a few players show up and take a few questions. BR was there and asked a bunch; surprised he's not on here yet. I forget the gal's name, but she was expected to be our top rebounder last year and blew out her acl - she looks to be in game shape now and her shoulders looked like could bench press RM - they should be fun to watch this year. I had season tickets for the ladies last year; they were fun then, and will be fun this year with the addition of several more wins, imo. Mark Wright took the stand and grilled unmercifully about the new arena. He took it well and gained some respect, imo. One of the questioners, who might have had a slight chip on his shoulder, thanked him for his detailed explanation and commented that it was the first time he really thought he understood what was happening. One of the things that came out was that the blue seat guys and anyone who gives 10K to the program get access to the private dining room...which will be in the basement with obviously no view of the court - this is a perk, with all the other restaurant options around? Go figure. I saw some other posters there, so maybe one or more of them will fill in the blanks. I can't make the Friday lunch, so hopefully, someone (or more) will summarize what is said at that event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Majerus Posted September 12, 2007 Author Share Posted September 12, 2007 PS - the new arena will be "wet." Beer on tap, for those wet behind the ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 PS - the new arena will be "wet." Beer on tap, for those wet behind the ears.Thanks for the info. I looked last night and was surprised no one had posted. It is rare I can make a Tuesday night and I look forward to hearing about the meetings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Thanks for the update, Unca. Wish I could have been there - I would have liked to hear Mark Wright's presentation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Here it's 1pm and nobody else has talked about last nite? Good turnout, but slightly disappointing - both hoops programs sent the newest, lowest level coaches - Sean Harrington for the men and I forget for the women. All the higher ranking coaches were either going out or returning from recruiting trips because this is the window for "in home visits." Sean confessed his Illini roots, but he's from IL and was working under Porter at IL State, so I think we have good coverage over there. KL and Dustin tagged along and took some questions - nothing new. I inquired about AK's health, and Kevin said he was fine and would be going full steam in the workouts now. All were very excited about the new guys...which I can understand. All were optimistic about Bryce working with RM and producing more. Shimmy will definitely come next time. She had a few players show up and take a few questions. BR was there and asked a bunch; surprised he's not on here yet. I forget the gal's name, but she was expected to be our top rebounder last year and blew out her acl - she looks to be in game shape now and her shoulders looked like could bench press RM - they should be fun to watch this year. I had season tickets for the ladies last year; they were fun then, and will be fun this year with the addition of several more wins, imo. Mark Wright took the stand and grilled unmercifully about the new arena. He took it well and gained some respect, imo. One of the questioners, who might have had a slight chip on his shoulder, thanked him for his detailed explanation and commented that it was the first time he really thought he understood what was happening. One of the things that came out was that the blue seat guys and anyone who gives 10K to the program get access to the private dining room...which will be in the basement with obviously no view of the court - this is a perk, with all the other restaurant options around? Go figure. I saw some other posters there, so maybe one or more of them will fill in the blanks. I can't make the Friday lunch, so hopefully, someone (or more) will summarize what is said at that event. i had marketing meetings this morning at home office branch so just catching up on stuff now. to add to unca's report, i agree about the turnout. might have been the biggest turnout for a billiken club meeting in a long time and i thought it was filled with a lot of new faces that typically arent there. obviously from overheard comments many were expecting to get up close and personal with coach majerus and likely the main reason for the crowd imo. while sean wasnt coach majerus, i thought he really handled himself very well. he gave a lot of answers and was very willing to field any and all questions. i'll get back to him the women's coach that showed was stephanie rich. just hired coach, went to college at wisconsin i believe she said and originally from iowa. she also brought along jenette benton who is the new director of basketball operations for the women's program. jenette is a former depaul player and i think she said originally from texas. the girls the brought along were jackie gilbert, hayley leak and heather king. all are seniors academically, however king redshirted last year due to injury and thus is a junior athletically. since she is a physical therapy major, she probably needs it! sean is the new director of basketball operations for the men's team. like i said above, really good information about anything we asked. i asked him to compare eberhardt to a big ten player he might have played with or against and he said that barry might be a better shooting sergio mcclain (who was a teammate of sean's at illinois). that is very encouraging because i really liked mcclain at illinois. one tough player and a leader supreme. he cemented that the billikens are definitely playing memphis in a closed scrimmage in memphis. sean said coach majerus likes to play denial man-to-man (more of a spoon man to man than a soderberg man to man) but that majerus indeed will plan for his opponents as well and is not afraid to use gimmick defenses and such. said emphatically that the team will not play full court defense twice when i asked about the man to man. the best part of the meeting were the q&a sessions by doug mcilhagga and mark wright. doug mac started by stating that father biondi will take all the time he needs to find the right person for AD. they are apparently in no hurry to fill the spot until they have thoroughly researched and interviewed. Mary Alice pointed out that Doug is serving as the interim AD and while i have been hard on Doug for his SID work, there is no doubt he has his hands on the dept right now and is doing a great job in that interim spot. it has to be extremely difficult to handle a position like that without the full authority of actually being the permanent AD. He said emphatically that a new AD would be hired in due time and there was no chance that there would be a vanderbilt like setup or a scenario where majerus and the basketball program reported to father biondi and not the new AD. the AD would be the boss. Second, doug mac addressed TV. he said that the Pitt game right now is supposed to be an ESPN game. he said there would likely be 3 other national games and then they are in process of negotiating with three local entities for 10 more games for local TV. a question was asked about radio, he said that slu will definitely stay on KFNS this season. but that their contract was up at season end. however they are very happy with the effort KFNS has made to be our radio station. a booster asked about signal strength, and Doug reminded us that KFNS is likely limited to wattage by govt regulation and there was nothing that could be done about that. mark wright took over then to talk about funding and the arena. as unca reported above, a booster very icy like, questioned what the hell happened with the size of the arena, the cost of the arena, the need to include the required booster limits etc. doug and mark together answered the question and reminded all that the original arena would have only been seats and the arena with no offices, no practice facilities and no training facilities. chery traded those 3k seats for the practice, offices and training space. as to cost, has always been approx $80m and nothing has changed on that. the rumors that the cost is now over $100m is wrong. as to the required booster limits, mark went through the numbers as to where the seats are going. i.e. 1000 to students, 500 to athletic dept. basically leaving 8500 for sale. we had just over 6k in season tix sales last year and the idea is that eventually a single game ticket will be impossible to get. he said that this year already we are at about 6500 in tix sales and the view is that there is a good chance when all is said and done we will be at 7k by opening day. the point is that a demand is readily approaching and an opportunity to create a solid dependable cash flow and if that 8500 sellout of season tix comes, the required gift levels will make all the more sense. he said that the surprise of the season tix renewal period was the return deposits on the arena seats and the fact that gold indeed is the most popular seat not red as they expected. a man asked if someone at the end of the priority line could jump over everyone if he was willing to buy a loyal blue seat. mark tried to explain that technically no, as everyone in front of him in line would get first shot at buying that ticket. so no that man didnt get to jump over anyone. as unca stated above, the arena club area will not have a court view. imo, that really takes away from that "priviledge". there was talk about road games and the billiken club chartering buses and getting tickets, mark made it known that the billiken club would have to pretty much organize these caravans on their own. a short discussion was had on the missouri state game which is thanksgiving eve. a booster more or less volunteered to do it, but i couldnt see who the man was from my seat. other than that, i cant think of a subject that stood out. the time that mark and doug took was very well spent and really good information and i am sure i am leaving some aspect out that they went over that might be of importance to others. the next meeting will be the tuesday after the start of practice and they seemed to think that shimmy would definitely be there and hopefully coach majerus as well. jan really outdid herself as the buffet was wonderful. spicy sausage, jambalaya, cheese sticks, deep fired dill pickles, southwestern egg rolls, salad, and dollar ham and turkey sandwiches. anyone want to question if the billiken club membership is worth it i say just joining and showing at the meetings and eating alone is worth the annual fee! you all not members, should join asap. put me down as your referral source. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worthington Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 For those in the know, who is "BR" that was referred to in the intial post? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Majerus Posted September 12, 2007 Author Share Posted September 12, 2007 You've probably already figured it out, but it's Billiken Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FromDaEastSide Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 he cemented that the illini are definitely playing memphis in a closed scrimmage in memphis. Roy, are the Billikens scrimmaging Memphis or are the Illini scrimmaging Memphis. Thanks for the recap of the meeting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Much thanks to Unca and BR for the report. Interesting that we will never play full court defense. I thought, without a lot of bigs this year, we may look to pressure more. Not knowing much about RM, I suppose pressing is not part of his regular arsenal of defenses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerballer Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 PS - the new arena will be "wet." Beer on tap, for those wet behind the ears.Now that is the kind of bills info I am looking for. What are these Tuesday meetings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Roy, are the Billikens scrimmaging Memphis or are the Illini scrimmaging Memphis. Thanks for the recap of the meeting. duh!!! i guess with the former illini guard sean harrington on stage i had illini on the brain. the billikens are playing at memphis in a closed scrimmage. i will try to go back and edit that. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Now that is the kind of bills info I am looking for. What are these Tuesday meetings? humphreys available to all billiken club members. contact margo at the billiken athletic office to join. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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