Random Thoughts --- Post Mortem (GeeDub)

[Taj79]

Streaming consciousness rules!

Driving home from the Smith center last night, I broke down at least six time sinto hysterical laughter. Which was either preceded or followed by an emotion in the complete opposite direction.

I have been associated with this program in some way for 33 years now (34 if you count your senior year in high school when you kind of know what school you will be going to). I thought I had seen it all. I lived through GeeDub in AC last year. St. Joe's in Cincy the year before. Two five-win seasons. Grawer's players leaving the program --- in mid GAME. Home games in West Pine. Talk of going Division III. The loss to McKendree. Ron Ekker. ushers and concession workers outnumbering fans at old Kiel. One concession window open during games. It could not go any lower. I was wrong.

Words and adjectives floating through my mind on last night's drive included: Woeful. Pathetic. Impotent. Pitiful. Embarrassing. Hysterical. And many, many, many others that if used, will get this post deleted.

I was going to stop in southeast DC and buy seven bullets for my six-chambered piece. Why seven? I figured jamming seven bullets into a six-round piece would eliminate any doubt when I went to blow my brains out. Then it dawned on me --- I have no brains. A person with an inkling of sense would have abandoned this program years ago.

Everything will be okay. Polk's a shooting guard. I know that, Vtime told me so.

Someone's daughter notwithstanding, I will be the first to tell you that my second half was devoted to visually identifying eye-candy in the stands, on the dance team, with the cheerleaders you name it. I'm a dirty old man, what can I say? What I CAN say is that the "talent" level in the stands was enough to pass my time. What else was I to do? It's not like a basketball game was being played to distract me.

Thank god the performance level on the court matched what I paid for my ticket. I walked up to the ticket counter, said "one please" and the lady slid a ticket out. I looked at her, she smiled, I saw "$0.00" on the price. I looked back at her, she shrugged and said "enjoy the game." Little did I know she was insulting me at that point! But I got the performance and the result I paid for.

Rain started in the DC metro area as I left my house north of Baltimore. For those of you who know what that means in terms of DC traffic --- right on! I met Steve at the Metor exit in Foggy Bottom at about 7:15 and we went to two local places to try and eat. It wasn't going to work and Steve was nice enough to suggest we bag it because "I don't want to miss a thing." In hindsight, we should have just ate and misse dthe whoel freaking thing. Also in hindsight, it's a good thing we didn't eat --- it would have never stayed down.

Met and sat with a young couple --- he's a SLU grad and she's a Duquesne grad but somehow it works. He posts on here so that's good and I had an enjoyable time. I think he said he was a 2000 grad so they were relatively young. Which was nice because their attendance brought the average age of SLU folks there down to about 84 1/2 years of age. That does not factor in Steve.

On the atendance note, that was the best attended game I have ever been to as far as Billiken turnout was concerned. The organizer, who I think I met in the subway afterwards, was the president of the DC chapter of the Alumni Club. That was a large group. The age thing is a joke, there were actually a lot of young folks there for the Bills. Maybe school is on break and the DC kids were home for the holidays? In any case, kudos. Too bad we didn't get to see a basketball game.

Speaking of eye candy --- let me nominate the two young ladies that do whatever young ladies do for intercollegiate basketball teams when they sit on the bench. I don't know if they are managers, trainers, go-fers, or whatever ---- but the geeDub ladies win hands down the "best dressed," or "best looking" or "best whatever" in my book right now. I'm serious, I'm in love ---- and it wouldn't be this way if I had something --- like a basketball game --- to distract my wandering eyes!!!!!

George Washington is bad, really. Of curse, we were worse last night. The problem was that even though Bryce towered over the GeeDub frontline, they more than compensated for that with athleticism. Diggs, Hollis and Kunat Kinte or whatever his name was were daringour little rascals to come into the paint. At one point, I was pleading for a reverse layup. At least give it a try and use the rim to shield your shot. I hate to credit Karl Hobbs but he did exactly what I would do with our team --- here's a zone, there's Lisch, let's see if someone else can beat us. Our level of athleticism is extremely low. Couple that with what appears to be a low talent level and what appears to be an enigma in the coaching box, and last night was not surprising.

The Billikens. What can I say? It woul d not surprise me if that whole bench ----- no, roster --- left for next year. I am serious. Someone said we have two shooters? And who would that be? Lisch I'll assume is one. Who are you counting as number two? I honestly could see Liddell saying screw it and check out of this situation. That was not the Tommie Liddell I am used to. But GeeDub's athleticism stunts and counters Tommie very well. Diggs was smiling at him and daring him to drive. I don't know if Diggs was covering Tommie or not but our interior offerings gave Diggs no cause to worry about anyone other than Liddell. Tommie is NOT a point guard, much like Polk is not a shooting guard. Yes, Tommie needs the ball in his hands to create, but that is for himslef, not really anyone else. That is not a selfish thing, that's what he appears to be best at. Even when he did dish off last night, Lisch was so heavily covered that Tommie had to go elsewhere and Polk won't shoot, Brown won't shoot, and Luke's release rivals in speed what Deiner's did. Tommie has to be the focal point, but with, as someone else said, two of our players being zeros as far as offensive options, well, yuck.

Lisch can be a valuable role player on almost any team. A gonzo defender. A zone buster. A heady leader. But his ability to do that is predicated on having other equla parts around him. So we play two-on-five. If Lisch is a fifth, sixth or seventh man, Luke is after that. I love Luke's work ethic an dhis dogged determination and would probably hire him in a heartbeat but he has spent four years out of position and gets swallowed up by guys with more athleticism that he. Which turns out to be just about every guy he ends up facing each night. Even in the big man-weak A10. I read Mark Adams' article on Majerus practices and watched Husak based on what I read there. Husak plays "small." He bends over in a prepatory way when on defense that he loses a lot in terms of presence. He has questionable hands. He wa not pointing his toes at the ball and showing his numbers at Adams' article said. By the time he did get around, Tommie or the wing on his side had eliminated him mentally as a potential option on the play. last night's game was played on the interior at a pace that did not seem to suit him. Ihave no feel whatsoever for Eberhardt based on lat night. None at all. it's hard to even say "wait'til next year' when the three guys next year involves --- Liddell, Lisch and Eberhardt --- did so dang poorly. Polk and Brown were wasted scholarships in the long run. I am certain Dswayne will be a great JV or high school coach some day. And I think I said early on yesterday that Eckerle might get his lunch money taken by the GeeDub players last night. it was close. All I will say is that if this program has to rely on the likes of Paul Eckerle to be a major contributor, stick a fork in it.

Majerus didn't impress me at all, although I didn't know really waht I was looking for. He stood the whole game and never lost his cool --- offering instructions at every break and every time out. Biancardi or whatever his name is is the one who tugged on Rick and must've said empty the bench late. Majerus wasn't going to do it. Knllmeyer showed me nothing. Relaphorde looked like a kid who had lost interest. Mitchell deserves some credit and might warrant keeping. The kid showed some nice heart in his three or four minute mop up duty. I guess Maguire travels so we have enough bodies in shoot around and game day practices to make a go of it.

My recommendation is not to take this game and lock and load chambers and fire. The good news is that we have the human factor going for us. I don't know how to explain that but it involves how we play like crap on the road and do okay at home. It would not surprise me to see this team win come Saturday. I expect that this same game will happen in reverse (sort of) when GeeDub comes into our house to play. I can't explain it only to call it the human factor ---- why teams play Jekyll and Hyde at home versus on the road, I don't know.

What irks me most is to have to sit there with some a-hole behind me rooting for our guys and team in some sort of misplaced pity-party manner. "Go Ooh-ooh, go." TYhen the parody on ooh-ooh being "ut-ooh." Another thing that bugs me is the feeling one gets walking out of a place like that even as you identify yourself by wearing the Billiken colors. I found myself zippingmy jacket up to the neck in order to hide and form of Billiken blue as I walked out of there. I was even going to ditch the hat by turning it inside-out but the dang interior was blue too. If I received one pity look in the Foggy Bottom Metro station for my Billiken emblem on my hat, I felt like I received 100.

You want to talk about how tough it is being a Billiken fan ------- shoot em, shoot me now ---- seems to be the mantra of the day. Satruday can't come soon enough.

[provos528]

Misery and Laughter in one true story..Thanks!

[slu72]

Taj, eye candy for free....what're you whining about?

[Taj79]

Au contraire ---- I'm not whining. I am trying to continue the hysteria that drove me home last night.

[moytoy12]

Great stuff Taj. By the way, I travel back to my company's HQ in Baltimore about once a month. We should grab a guiness some time.

[jzstldc]

Taj - it was a pleasure meeting and talking with you during the game last night - i look forward to seeing you at future Billiken games

[Bay Area Billiken]

Taj has a couple of years on me for following the Billikens. My first Billiken game was as a visiting high school Senior in 1978. One thinks he has seen it all, and then something like last night happens.

The great mystery to me is why the Billikens play so much better at home than they do on the road. I realize that is typical of most teams, except in SLU's case, it is such a radical difference. SLU will tease us with the occasional exception, such as last year's surprising win at St. Joe's. But overall, you can usually pick the game result in SLU's games simply based upon the venue, where the game is being played.

My family and I saw the IUPUI game in person, and SLU played a pretty good game in that one.

We went home impressed with the play of many of the players. Kevin Lisch and Tommie Liddell are both good college players, and any team would want them on its roster. Luke Meyer is a gamer who has basically played out of position for 4 years at SLU.

For whatever reason, SLU has had trouble away from St. Louis with GW. GW has athletes that seem to intimidate the Billikens. Yet SLU beat GW in St. Louis last year. And I would not be surprised at all to see the Billikens beat Dayton at home on Saturday night, and to beat GW in the rematch later in the season.

IMO, SLU needs to somehow put last night behind them and go out and beat Dayton at home on Saturday night, not just compete well, but win the game.

[Taj79]

Nice talking to you and your lovely wife as well "jzstldc." We'll meet again. I think she deserves something special ---- a trinket, a dinner, a show of appreciaiton --- for sitting through that debacle with you/me/the rest of the Bills atheltic supporters in the house. Except that condescending a-hole behind us. For reference sake, my wife (Kutztown University grad) lasted for about eight years before she said "no honey, that's something you can 'enjoy' on your own" and quit takign the beatings with me. Hope yours busts that scale.

Moy --- I'll see your Guiness and raise you a Grey Goose & cranberry with a splash of OJ. Age sucks. Food allergies, among other things, slow you down. Coupled with an allergy to molds and mildews makes me allergic to beer, of all things. Thank god that wasn't the case in the old Quad years ago. Send me a PM if and when you head this way and we'll make it happen.