Revisiting RickMa as Program Changer

[booyaa87]

To get back to the subject of this thread, the question was is the program better today with RM? The answer is obviously yes. The thought of Reed and Thompson as upperclassmen big men is exciting. We have 4 legit D1 caliber freshman players and maybe more (the jury is still out on Cassity and Cotto, IMO).

RM has already shown that he can recruit and build a program based on needs. We are not going to be a top team in this conf, this season, it is impossible to expect that when, often times, we have 4 frosh on the floor. Give him 2-3 recruiting classes and see how we look.

[Slumn1]

This kills me when people question RM's coaching style or handling of players. Since you are "close to the program", maybe you can help explain how he managed to compile a career record of 438-162 coming into this season while never having a losing season and taking a team to the national championship game in his career. Also, it wasn't like he as handed a national powerhouse when he had this success. He was at Utah. That has to be one of the hardest places in the country to sell to an 18 year old kid.

If he is that big of a piece of crap that can't handle college aged kids, how did Andre Miller, Keith Van Horn and numerous other players have so much success under him? How much better would those teams have been if he had the ability to develop leaders. Obviously he can't do it and wins anyway.

This may be hard for you to understand but I will try to explain it to you.

Have you ever watched and noticed how as people get older, they tend to be less tolerant and not understand how their kids could let their grandkids act as they do? Are the grandkids acting any different than their parents did? NO but the grandparents no longer have the tolerance, patience and proper attitude to deal with it. The older they get, the less they understand the ways of their grandkids and how to understand them.

There is no doubt RM had great success at Utah. No doubt that many players excelled playing for him. (Some also failed whether it was his fault or not).

The point is that what he did at Utah he did at Utah. Maybe he will eventually do it at SLU, maybe not. Understand that he is not the same guy today that he was 10 years ago. Ask Al Jensen if he has the same relationship with his players today that he had back when he played.

This doesn't make RM a bad person. How many CEO's have taken a company to great heights and then failed in their next job. That doesn't mean they weren't successful once does it?

Maybe RM is try to do too much too fast due to his age. Point is, if you were inside practices, listened to conversations (screaming matches that he has with players) and saw the whole picture, it might be clearer to you.

RM talks about past players that he says he keeps in touch with and would do anything for. No doubt he does, but that list is also short. I also know that he has had only 1 conversation with any of last years seniors. A players coach, I think not. Before you say they weren't his players, let me remind you how many times he said he loved Luke and would do anything for him.

He did not know as of Nov. 12th that:

A. Where Luke was playing overseas-he's not.

B. That Peyton is a grad asst. at Drake.

C. That Bryce had back surgery after the season.

D. If Dwayne was still living in Saint Louis or not.

Players coach that still relates-you tell me.

[booyaa87]

This may be hard for you to understand but I will try to explain it to you.

Have you ever watched and noticed how as people get older, they tend to be less tolerant and not understand how their kids could let their grandkids act as they do? Are the grandkids acting any different than their parents did? NO but the grandparents no longer have the tolerance, patience and proper attitude to deal with it. The older they get, the less they understand the ways of their grandkids and how to understand them.

There is no doubt RM had great success at Utah. No doubt that many players excelled playing for him. (Some also failed whether it was his fault or not).

The point is that what he did at Utah he did at Utah. Maybe he will eventually do it at SLU, maybe not. Understand that he is not the same guy today that he was 10 years ago. Ask Al Jensen if he has the same relationship with his players today that he had back when he played.

This doesn't make RM a bad person. How many CEO's have taken a company to great heights and then failed in their next job. That doesn't mean they weren't successful once does it?

Maybe RM is try to do too much too fast due to his age. Point is, if you were inside practices, listened to conversations (screaming matches that he has with players) and saw the whole picture, it might be clearer to you.

RM talks about past players that he says he keeps in touch with and would do anything for. No doubt he does, but that list is also short. I also know that he has had only 1 conversation with any of last years seniors. A players coach, I think not. Before you say they weren't his players, let me remind you how many times he said he loved Luke and would do anything for him.

He did not know as of Nov. 12th that:

A. Where Luke was playing overseas-he's not.

B. That Peyton is a grad asst. at Drake.

C. That Bryce had back surgery after the season.

D. If Dwayne was still living in Saint Louis or not.

Players coach that still relates-you tell me.

I honestly don't care if he knows what former players that he only coached for one season are doing after the have left. I really don't. Perhaps if he'd recruited them or known them for longer, he'd be more in touch with them.

Ok, so you are closer to the current situation than most of us and clearly feel like RM is a detriment to this team due to his treatment of players and indifference about what they do after they leave SLU. I have two questions for you:

1. Based on what you've heard, Would you consider RM: worse, the same or not as bad as Bobby Knight on his treatment of players?

2. Where do you see this program in 3 years? A roster full of really good players that will get into postseason play? A roster full of really good players that can't get into postseason play due to the personality of thier coach? Will we likely have a new coach, I assume you are not the only one that has noticed his poor treatment of this kids.

Obviously nobody knows for sure, but you can probably make a more educated guess than we can, since you are an insider.

[satrap]

Where do you see this program in 3 years? A roster full of really good players that will get into postseason play? A roster full of really good players that can't get into postseason play due to the personality of thier coach?

This gets to the nub of my query and I hope somebody like moytoy or other experienced Bill fans will re-address it.

The annoying part of this whole era (it's a little short to call it that, I know) is that we sacrificed alot of money and credibility as a U. to get RickMa, relative to BS, and it appears that it's an iffy proposition at best that we will be considerably better at the end of his tenure.

It may simply be too early to tell, of course, but we friggin' hired RickMa after our team had a pretty damned good record the year before, so the questions are natural.

[Cowboy]

-this has to be the hardest thread to believe of all time, in my opinion

-i cannot believe we are having to go over our history yet again, but this is the time in the world for instant gratification so a lack of patience should not surprise me as much as this does

-we lost a game on the road where the team did not play well and we come to this???

-April 27, 2007 is the day he took over as head coach, 583 days ago, 19.5 months ago

-did you expect some sort of miracle?

-actually, i think a miracle has happened

-we signed 7 players last year and 4 in the early period this year and we are recruiting high school sophs and jrs, we do not have to wait until the spring to find players to fill our roster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-the program has changed

-so back to this year........just so you remember, the 6 playing frosh are just that, frosh ......and 1 redshirt

-next year we will be playing 6 sophs and will have 4 new players next yr (femi + the 3 not to redshirt)

-and i have confidence those to come in future classes will be as good or better than what we have, and i like what we have

-there will be growing pains, none of us want to go through it, but i still firmly believe the future to be bright, much brighter than if we did not have rick majerus as our head coach

-if you want to go back to the brad days, go ahead, but i will take the current plan with rick at the helm at this point

[Tonka]

-this has to be the hardest thread to believe of all time, in my opinion

-i cannot believe we are having to go over our history yet again, but this is the time in the world for instant gratification so a lack of patience should not surprise me as much as this does

-we lost a game on the road where the team did not play well and we come to this???

-April 27, 2007 is the day he took over as head coach, 583 days ago, 19.5 months ago

-did you expect some sort of miracle?

-actually, i think a miracle has happened

-we signed 7 players last year and 4 in the early period this year and we are recruiting high school sophs and jrs, we do not have to wait until the spring to find players to fill our roster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-the program has changed

-so back to this year........just so you remember, the 6 playing frosh are just that, frosh ......and 1 redshirt

-next year we will be playing 6 sophs and will have 4 new players next yr (femi + the 3 not to redshirt)

-and i have confidence those to come in future classes will be as good or better than what we have, and i like what we have

-there will be growing pains, none of us want to go through it, but i still firmly believe the future to be bright, much brighter than if we did not have rick majerus as our head coach

-if you want to go back to the brad days, go ahead, but i will take the current plan with rick at the helm at this point

Not to mention we are only 5 games into this season. Is our 2-3 record that worse off than people expected at this point? The Detroit game was a frustrating loss and I certainly understand everybody's frustrations but this young team is going to have losses like this.

[Slumn1]

I honestly don't care if he knows what former players that he only coached for one season are doing after the have left. I really don't. Perhaps if he'd recruited them or known them for longer, he'd be more in touch with them.

Ok, so you are closer to the current situation than most of us and clearly feel like RM is a detriment to this team due to his treatment of players and indifference about what they do after they leave SLU. I have two questions for you:

1. Based on what you've heard, Would you consider RM: worse, the same or not as bad as Bobby Knight on his treatment of players?

2. Where do you see this program in 3 years? A roster full of really good players that will get into postseason play? A roster full of really good players that can't get into postseason play due to the personality of thier coach? Will we likely have a new coach, I assume you are not the only one that has noticed his poor treatment of this kids.

Obviously nobody knows for sure, but you can probably make a more educated guess than we can, since you are an insider.

I never said RM was a "detriment to this team".

I just stated what I have seen and what I have learned from certain individuals.

I was never involved with Bobby Knight so I could not fairly make a comparison.

As to where I see the rogram in 3 years.

We will see .500 ball this year and next which will be RM's last year. Some of this years freshmen won't be back (no surprise there) and if the new coach is from within, it may a long time before we return to the glory days.

[satrap]

-this has to be the hardest thread to believe of all time, in my opinion

-i cannot believe we are having to go over our history yet again, but this is the time in the world for instant gratification so a lack of patience should not surprise me as much as this does

-we lost a game on the road where the team did not play well and we come to this???

-April 27, 2007 is the day he took over as head coach, 583 days ago, 19.5 months ago

-did you expect some sort of miracle?

-actually, i think a miracle has happened

-we signed 7 players last year and 4 in the early period this year and we are recruiting high school sophs and jrs, we do not have to wait until the spring to find players to fill our roster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-the program has changed

-so back to this year........just so you remember, the 6 playing frosh are just that, frosh ......and 1 redshirt

-next year we will be playing 6 sophs and will have 4 new players next yr (femi + the 3 not to redshirt)

-and i have confidence those to come in future classes will be as good or better than what we have, and i like what we have

-there will be growing pains, none of us want to go through it, but i still firmly believe the future to be bright, much brighter than if we did not have rick majerus as our head coach

-if you want to go back to the brad days, go ahead, but i will take the current plan with rick at the helm at this point

You're overreacting. Message boards are made for this- nobody is calling for anything but discussion.

As far as expecting a miracle, of course I didn't. But the essence of the hire was that there was a miracle in the making. Why in the world would your respected AD quit over the whole thing if it wasn't something completely out of left field?

[Majerus Magic]

I never said RM was a "detriment to this team".

I just stated what I have seen and what I have learned from certain individuals.

I was never involved with Bobby Knight so I could not fairly make a comparison.

As to where I see the rogram in 3 years.

We will see .500 ball this year and next which will be RM's last year. Some of this years freshmen won't be back (no surprise there) and if the new coach is from within, it may a long time before we return to the glory days.

Barring a serious serious health issue, next year will not be Majerus' last year. By serious, I mean well known medical incident. Other than that, he is in it for the long hall.

[Billikan]

I never said RM was a "detriment to this team".

I just stated what I have seen and what I have learned from certain individuals.

I was never involved with Bobby Knight so I could not fairly make a comparison.

As to where I see the rogram in 3 years.

We will see .500 ball this year and next which will be RM's last year. Some of this years freshmen won't be back (no surprise there) and if the new coach is from within, it may a long time before we return to the glory days.

If you are watching practice then you must work for the university. I find it very distasteful that you insult the coach and say things like you are an "insider"--my question is what did he do to piss you off personally because I see a personal vendetta in these remarks. I have said many times that the coach is very excited about the future and he looks forward to when these freshmen are strong juniors after two years in the weight room and the addition of the new recruits. It is absolutely ridiculous to say that next year will be his last year and it is the kind of thing that unsavory opposing coaches try to use in back alley recruiting. I can never understand why people come on here and pretend to be fans when they are really trying to hurt the program. It disgusts me.

[Cowboy]

You're overreacting. Message boards are made for this- nobody is calling for anything but discussion.

As far as expecting a miracle, of course I didn't. But the essence of the hire was that there was a miracle in the making. Why in the world would your respected AD quit over the whole thing if it wasn't something completely out of left field?

-to me it is a ridiculous discussion

-you do not agree that signing 11 players in 2 years is a miracle considering what our past holds???

-cheryl left b/c she supported brad and thought he should be given another year, Fr Biondi held a different view, disagreements with bosses happen every day in this world, she decided to leave because of it, but i still very much appreciate what cheryl did for slu

-hiring a hof coach is out of left field???

-maybe against the grain of what slu has done in the past, but out of left field i don't think so

-who is saying rick is leaving??

-when we signed the players in the fall period he told the redshirt his idea was to coach him, that is 5 more years

[GOSLU68]

Bernie should have written this thread. What a lack of style, patience, and understanding calling for the end of an era a few games into the season.

I am a fan of BS and RM.

I see RM when I go to the games like anyone else who buys a ticket. He pulls players and speaks rationally to them when they need to have something pointed out. Even if that means they come out of the game to get the message. He uses time outs, also.

We have the best freshmen since Gray and Douglas year. So many that they haven't all had break out games, yet.

Slumn and Satrap must have an upside plan for the team but I don't read it when they post.

BS was a really nice guy and very approachable for a fan but you forget how he crushed IAN-it happens and then sometimes it is the opposition coach

who has a clue of how to defend a particular player.

Kevin and Tommie are too polite. Ruben Cotto is about as polite as Blake Ahearn. If he or any other Billikid can light it up give them more minutes. I was out of town for the UDM game but would like to see PE contribution because the boxscore says no points, no assists, no rebounds, no fouls I would like to see PE return to his form of last year. He played beyond his ability last year and I would like to see more of that before I would give him Cassity's minutes.

I have had a bad fall on the tailbone and if Kevin lacks legs under his jumpshot and free throw that still may be the cause. Our team may have problems currently but the flashes of good play from players like BE come when they get a chance to score. These guys have all played enough that we can see a

huge difference between their best play and what we are getting when they face new teams that are trying to shut them down. Let's start a hot streak in

Carbondale and wait for the season to play out before we order a hearse for anyone.

[GoBills]

-this has to be the hardest thread to believe of all time, in my opinion

-i cannot believe we are having to go over our history yet again, but this is the time in the world for instant gratification so a lack of patience should not surprise me as much as this does

-we lost a game on the road where the team did not play well and we come to this???

-April 27, 2007 is the day he took over as head coach, 583 days ago, 19.5 months ago

-did you expect some sort of miracle?

-actually, i think a miracle has happened

-we signed 7 players last year and 4 in the early period this year and we are recruiting high school sophs and jrs, we do not have to wait until the spring to find players to fill our roster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-the program has changed

-so back to this year........just so you remember, the 6 playing frosh are just that, frosh ......and 1 redshirt

-next year we will be playing 6 sophs and will have 4 new players next yr (femi + the 3 not to redshirt)

-and i have confidence those to come in future classes will be as good or better than what we have, and i like what we have

-there will be growing pains, none of us want to go through it, but i still firmly believe the future to be bright, much brighter than if we did not have rick majerus as our head coach

-if you want to go back to the brad days, go ahead, but i will take the current plan with rick at the helm at this point

Finally a voice of reason. The Bills will have roughly 11 players who will get to play with each other for 3 consecutive years. Sure, some Majerus critics will jump on that and say a few of those 11 may move on, but the bigger point is that there will be a talented core of players that will get a lot of experience playing together for a long time. That's a huge plus and positions this program very well for the future.

[redbirdfan]

This is a totally false statement. The worst thing about the internet is that this type of post looks like it has credibility when it is a total lie!

I take offense that you accuse me of making a false statement. The boys do have a set practice schedule with their academics being scheduled around their weekly practices. They have M-W-F practices that are routinely set for 4 hours a day they also have a T/Th schedule, also with a base 4 hour practice. All these practices have time built into them to extend the practice as necessary and they are extended beyond the 4 hours routinely and the boys don't mind at all. They are done when coach says they are done. In addition they have weekend practices that last anywhere from 3-6 hours. The boys also have weight training, mandatory "studyhall" time and attend turoring as needed. Sometimes they have individual and small group practices and /or training as well. RM also has "team bonding" activities and it's not uncommon at all for him to take a player or the team out to dinner. He also opened up his home to any player that had no where to go for Thanksgiving dinner. And even though he did hold a 10 a.m. practice that day, the invitation was still there for them to come to his home and share a meal and give "Thanks".

These hard working young men also all carry a full load of adademics. And beleive it or not they have homework and will study for finals soon! And although I did not attend SLU, I know for a fact that SLU classes are Kick A**, because I have two SLU students, who do not have near the commitment to their teams or activities that these basketball players do.

Upon arrival home from Nebraska, the boys went immediately to watch 5 hours of tape review from the game play by play. Each player has a notebook which they take notes, so maybe they didn't "physically practice" per say that day but they still were there, giving their time to the team and learning from their past mistakes and trying to make the team better!

So please, don't say that I don't know what I am talking about and call me a liar or accuse me of making false statements. These boys work very hard and give alot of their time to the team in many ways. When coach says they need more practice, I beleive he is referring to the fact that they are traveling quite a bit right now and they review the games and havn''t been able to hold their regularly scheduled/routine practices because of their tough travel schedule this last week and continueing this week. Maybe I'll call/text him and ask....lol

[slu72 fan]

I take offense that you accuse me of making a false statement. The boys do have a set practice schedule with their academics being scheduled around their weekly practices. They have M-W-F practices that are routinely set for 4 hours a day they also have a T/Th schedule, also with a base 4 hour practice. All these practices have time built into them to extend the practice as necessary and they are extended beyond the 4 hours routinely and the boys don't mind at all. They are done when coach says they are done. In addition they have weekend practices that last anywhere from 3-6 hours. The boys also have weight training, mandatory "studyhall" time and attend turoring as needed. Sometimes they have individual and small group practices and /or training as well. RM also has "team bonding" activities and it's not uncommon at all for him to take a player or the team out to dinner. He also opened up his home to any player that had no where to go for Thanksgiving dinner. And even though he did hold a 10 a.m. practice that day, the invitation was still there for them to come to his home and share a meal and give "Thanks".

These hard working young men also all carry a full load of adademics. And beleive it or not they have homework and will study for finals soon! And although I did not attend SLU, I know for a fact that SLU classes are Kick A**, because I have two SLU students, who do not have near the commitment to their teams or activities that these basketball players do.

Upon arrival home from Nebraska, the boys went immediately to watch 5 hours of tape review from the game play by play. Each player has a notebook which they take notes, so maybe they didn't "physically practice" per say that day but they still were there, giving their time to the team and learning from their past mistakes and trying to make the team better!

So please, don't say that I don't know what I am talking about and call me a liar or accuse me of making false statements. These boys work very hard and give alot of their time to the team in many ways. When coach says they need more practice, I beleive he is referring to the fact that they are traveling quite a bit right now and they review the games and havn''t been able to hold their regularly scheduled/routine practices because of their tough travel schedule this last week and continueing this week. Maybe I'll call/text him and ask....lol

I'm not trying to get into the middle of this, but I hope you are not correct about the length of the practices, because what you report is a potential NCAA violation.

[redbirdfan]

I'm not trying to get into the middle of this, but I hope you are not correct about the length of the practices, because what you report is a potential NCAA violation.

I am sure coach is aware of all the rules and regulations and flexes up or down in the amount of time to stay within these NCAA rules.

[booyaa87]

I am glad to see the doom and gloom is the minority. This was a good recruiting class and the players will only get better with time.

[Box and Won]

This thread is really out there.

[Billikan]

I am sure coach is aware of all the rules and regulations and flexes up or down in the amount of time to stay within these NCAA rules.

The coach and the staff are very aware of the NCAA rules. Your descriptions of practicing 7 days a week for 4 to 6 hours a day is just plain wrong and it would be a violation of NCAA rules. It is for that reason that I am stating that you are posting falsehoods.

[drkelsey55]

If that many hours is a violation, thenI would bet that the reason for that many hours is volunteer time put in by the players and not official practices.

JMHO

[slu72]

I don't get the need for this thread at this point in the season. Five games in and we want to know if RM is the right guy for the job? I wonder if Louisville fans are wondering if Slick Rick is the right man for the UL job? Heck, he's not won an NCAA since he's been there and they lost to WKY last night. What was expected of RM to this point? There was no way he was going to win big his first year with what UB left him or this year if he kept those guys around. So, he's building from scratch for all practical purposes. And he's started with a promising, yet unproven, core group of Freshman, none rated higher than 3 stars. Maybe the expectation was he would recruit a bunch of 4-5 stars to SLU and we'd be a shoo in for the dance his second year. That was never going to happen. Anyone who thought it would was dreaming. As for KL and TL maybe just maybe they're not the high level performers we've come to believe they are. I'm not knocking TL and KL in any way and am glad they chose to come and play at SLU. But they're not "franchise" players by any stretch of the imgingation. They are good solid reliable players who need, and have needed the past four years, to be surrounded by players of a similar ilk. Unfortunately for them, UB never delivered the rest of the supporting cast. That said, when they have bad games, as I assume they did against UD, the Bills are not going to win. And I'm a little sick of hearing how RM treats/abuses players in practice. C'mon, what good coach doesn't do that. I've heard through the grapevine Coach K can spew profanity with the best of them. These coaches are trying to instill discipline along with technique. They know what it takes to win at this level. It's got to be frustrating when the mistakes in fundamentals are repeated over and over. But when you've got young players thinking instead of reacting mistakes are going to happen. This all takes time. I'm sure RM would love to have these kids for 40 hours a week. He's got a lot to teach them in order to be competitive at the D1 level. Look, bottom line is, the die's been cast for SLU. Give the man some time. Look for development this year. Look for maturity. Look for a reduction in stupid mistakes. It's the only way to measure whether he's the right man for the job.

[slu72 fan]

I don't get the need for this thread at this point in the season. Five games in and we want to know if RM is the right guy for the job? I wonder if Louisville fans are wondering if Slick Rick is the right man for the UL job? Heck, he's not won an NCAA since he's been there and they lost to WKY last night. What was expected of RM to this point? There was no way he was going to win big his first year with what UB left him or this year if he kept those guys around. So, he's building from scratch for all practical purposes. And he's started with a promising, yet unproven, core group of Freshman, none rated higher than 3 stars. Maybe the expectation was he would recruit a bunch of 4-5 stars to SLU and we'd be a shoo in for the dance his second year. That was never going to happen. Anyone who thought it would was dreaming. As for KL and TL maybe just maybe they're not the high level performers we've come to believe they are. I'm not knocking TL and KL in any way and am glad they chose to come and play at SLU. But they're not "franchise" players by any stretch of the imgingation. They are good solid reliable players who need, and have needed the past four years, to be surrounded by players of a similar ilk. Unfortunately for them, UB never delivered the rest of the supporting cast. That said, when they have bad games, as I assume they did against UD, the Bills are not going to win. And I'm a little sick of hearing how RM treats/abuses players in practice. C'mon, what good coach doesn't do that. I've heard through the grapevine Coach K can spew profanity with the best of them. These coaches are trying to instill discipline along with technique. They know what it takes to win at this level. It's got to be frustrating when the mistakes in fundamentals are repeated over and over. But when you've got young players thinking instead of reacting mistakes are going to happen. This all takes time. I'm sure RM would love to have these kids for 40 hours a week. He's got a lot to teach them in order to be competitive at the D1 level. Look, bottom line is, the die's been cast for SLU. Give the man some time. Look for development this year. Look for maturity. Look for a reduction in stupid mistakes. It's the only way to measure whether he's the right man for the job.

As I've said previously, I'm not the biggest RM fan, but I agree, it's way too early to make any assessments. He's entitled to at least 3 years, so we can revisit it at the end of the 2009-2010 season.

It appears his recruiting has been terrific (by SLU standards), and he deserves the credit and time for it to develop. By the way, RM closes the deal, but Porter has done a terrific job opening the doors.

I've heard another Aussie is visiting in December to make sure he likes the place. If so, he's supposed to sign in April. By all accounts a 4 or 5 type, and the best player for his age in Australia.

[redbirdfan]

The coach and the staff are very aware of the NCAA rules. Your descriptions of practicing 7 days a week for 4 to 6 hours a day is just plain wrong and it would be a violation of NCAA rules. It is for that reason that I am stating that you are posting falsehoods.

I did NOT say they practiced 7 days a week. I said they have Sat. and Sunday practices (weekend practices) They vary in times. Never did I say they practice 7 days a week. That just isn't true!

[Billikan]

I did NOT say they practiced 7 days a week. I said they have Sat. and Sunday practices (weekend practices) They vary in times. Never did I say they practice 7 days a week. That just isn't true!

I do not want to prolong this argument because it is not productive but what you said was "they practice 4-6 hours nearly every day (including Thanksgiving)" That suggests to me an occasional day off each month or so. I just want to make sure that no one is suggesting that we are breaking any rules.

[Cowboy]

I do not want to prolong this argument because it is not productive but what you said was "they practice 4-6 hours nearly every day (including Thanksgiving)" That suggests to me an occasional day off each month or so. I just want to make sure that no one is suggesting that we are breaking any rules.

-Billikan or anyone, do you have a way to confirm the following or tell us what the practice rules according to the ncaa are???

-if school is out of session during the season i don't believe there is practice rule, so they could in theory go 12 hours per day for 14 days over christmas break

-if school is in session during the season the team can have 22 hours of practice per week which includes lifting, film and court time and one day of nothing, so the 22 hours is spread between 6 possible days

-this is what i believe they are, but am not certain