The Big "L"east and other observations

[dneuner]

So you aren't blaming the commish for presumably acting like a child? Her job is to do what is best for the league, not to get even with her nemesis.

With your statements, you are basically condoning the commish picking teams based on her personal feelings rather than be objective.

Hey, I said I don't completely blame her. Should personal feelings get in the way? No, but you'd be a fool to think that the whole game is objective. Majerus had a talk with us Tuesday about NCAA basketball and he summed it up perfectly: it's a business. Who pats your back? SLU, via Majerus, did not pat the A10's back this year (and even on the court did nothing to help the league, really) and so I can see why the Commish didn't support SLU getting an NIT invite. Again, I'm not saying she's right, just saying I get the politics of it all.

[Majerus Magic]

No, not exactly. But he is condoning the commish essentially acting like Fr. Biondi -- do what I say and keep your mouth shut or I'm not going to give you what you want.

I don't think that attitude is right either.

I don't think Larry understands how important Rick is to this program.

[Majerus Magic]

Hey, I said I don't completely blame her. Should personal feelings get in the way? No, but you'd be a fool to think that the whole game is objective. Majerus had a talk with us Tuesday about NCAA basketball and he summed it up perfectly: it's a business. Who pats your back? SLU, via Majerus, did not pat the A10's back this year (and even on the court did nothing to help the league, really) and so I can see why the Commish didn't support SLU getting an NIT invite. Again, I'm not saying she's right, just saying I get the politics of it all.

I get it as well, but "getting it" doesn't mean you can't blame someone.

Should Rick has shut his mouth? Absolutely

Should the commish have gone to bat for SLU? Absolutely.

[dneuner]

I get it as well, but "getting it" doesn't mean you can't blame someone.

Should Rick has shut his mouth? Absolutely

Should the commish have gone to bat for SLU? Absolutely.

And I agree with you wholeheartedly on this. Both are to blame in some way, because it was obvious the Commish was punishing SLU because of Majerus, which makes you wonder the objectivity of it all. You could also blame the players for not winning games.

Regardless, bygones are bygones and I hope Bernie doesn't let the MVC-A10 debate dominate the conversation in the coming weeks, months, etc. I really enjoy listening to Bernie's show and, as mentioned, he pulls his weight (HA!) around the sports circles of the nation. Having Bernie Mikalsz talk about you (glowingly, as of late) is not a bad thing at all.

But, good thing we won't have to worry about this thing called the NIT next year.

[dneuner]

I don't think Larry understands how important Rick is to this program.

Bingo, and I wonder who can make him change his mind..

[kshoe]

Is it just me or is everyone complaining about the A-10 based purely on SPECULATION that the A-10 didn't "go to bat" for SLU. Is there a hard fact out there that says they didn't go to bat for us?

The only 3 teams with worse RPIs that got into the NIT were UNC, NC State and Northwestern. Its hard for me to know if that's the A-10's fault or the usual BCS bias that finds its way into NCAA or NIT selections.

[MB73]

Because if I was the Commish, I would be unhappy with Rick for what he has said about being in my league. The highest paid and most prolific, recognizable coach in my league went on a month-long lecture series about how he wants to be out of my league, and I'm going to reward him with an NIT invitation? I don't see how that makes sense. She got her two A10 teams, so the league is making money either way.

Do I agree with what she did? Not necessarily, but I don't completely blame her for not pushing for SLU. I can clearly see why, if she was asked Dayton, URI, or SLU, she would take Dayton/URI over Saint Louis. And personally, besides the prestige of being in the NIT, I think we ended up in a better place anyway with the CBI.

NIT is 1000% more desirable than the CBI. Maybe more. If we beat Green Bay, we play winner of Morehead St / Boston U. WTF?

Please explain how you can "clearly" see why Dayton would be taken over SLU.

We beat them twice, at home and on the road, finished ahead of them in the league by a clear margin, eliminated same round of

A-10 tourney.

We did not get one of our best players until January because of NCAA nonsense but finished with 20 wins, same as Dayton.

RPI has some validity but has HUGE gaps, is a tool but not credible, so tell me why you can "clearly" see why Dayton was taken.

[dneuner]

NIT is 1000% more desirable than the CBI. Maybe more. If we beat Green Bay, we play winner of Morehead St / Boston U. WTF?

Please explain how you can "clearly" see why Dayton would be taken over SLU.

We beat them twice, at home and on the road, finished ahead of them in the league by a clear margin, eliminated same round of

A-10 tourney.

We did not get one of our best players until January because of NCAA nonsense but finished with 20 wins, same as Dayton.

RPI has some validity but has HUGE gaps, is a tool but not credible, so tell me why you can "clearly" see why Dayton was taken.

I'm not saying that if I was given the chose I would take Dayton, but I can see why the league would want Dayton over SLU. They've been the darling of the league for a long time, probably would have been a NCAA team if not for us, and I just think that the A10 would want to do whatever they can to help teams like Dayton, Xavier, Temple over Charlotte, SLU, Duquesne. Just my opinion, you don't have to agree. Dayton's more of a basketball town (though their attendance was quite low) and Dayton has always been on the NCAA map. Would I have taken Dayton over SLU? Hell no. But that doesn't mean that I don't see reasons why the A10 would want Dayton in a better post-season position.

[slu72]

I'm not saying that if I was given the chose I would take Dayton, but I can see why the league would want Dayton over SLU. They've been the darling of the league for a long time, probably would have been a NCAA team if not for us, and I just think that the A10 would want to do whatever they can to help teams like Dayton, Xavier, Temple over Charlotte, SLU, Duquesne. Just my opinion, you don't have to agree. Dayton's more of a basketball town (though their attendance was quite low) and Dayton has always been on the NCAA map. Would I have taken Dayton over SLU? Hell no. But that doesn't mean that I don't see reasons why the A10 would want Dayton in a better post-season position.

Without facts, ie the Commish didn't push SLU into the NIT, this thread is entirely moot. Now that NI upset Kansas and two A-10 teams go down in the first round to real mid majors, the MVC fires will surely heat up again.

[drkelsey55]

Without facts, ie the Commish didn't push SLU into the NIT, this thread is entirely moot. Now that NI upset Kansas and two A-10 teams go down in the first round to real mid majors, the MVC fires will surely heat up again.

Well it took longer than I thought it would for this to come up!

[cheeseman]

3 L's out of 4... GU loses by 13 to Ohio (not Ohio State). Sadly, Richmond did not look like Richmond against St. Mary's. Why they didn't shoot more 3's was got me. They kept trying to go inside off the dribble, but St. M's bigs were having none of it. Watching that game I kept praying we'll get Loe to commit. A 7'1" guy takes up a lot of space in the paint and grabs a lot of boards. Richmond was outrebounded by about a 3-1 margin. St. M's had like 22 second chance points to Richmond's 2. Ballgame. Please deliver unto us Rob Loe. Temple may have the same problems with Cornell as they have a really big athletic Center. Skilled big guys are rarities in the A-10, we need one. If anything the first day showed there's a lot of good basketball being played around the country and it ain't all being played by the BCS'ers. Also, for the games I watched from the beginning it seemed a lot of the teams in the dance are not, repeat NOT, senior dominated teams. A lot of Jr's and Sophs in their starting lineups. We're gonna have to improve over the summer to get in next season. In addition to Loe, I wouldn't mind seeing us land a good slashing 3 as well. Bynum anyone? To give you an example, the kid Loyd from BYU was unreal. We could use a player like that. Thoughts on the kids that got away, Tyus and Suggs. Watched most of the FL vs BYU game and Tyus did a solid job, was easy to spot with his rasta do, but don't know if he'd have been a program changer. Suggs looked skinnier than Jon Smif. Again, didn't watch too much of that game, so don't really know how he played. He was in for awhile then pulled.

This loss to St. Marys does not look so bad for Richmond given that St. Marys beat Nova by even more.

[slu72]

Well it took longer than I thought it would for this to come up!

A 9 beating an 8 in the first round's no big deal. It was UNLV for cripes sake. But when they go out and beat THE #1 in the whole field that was probably picked by +70% of bracket players to win the whole thing, you'd better get ready 'cause the s**t storm's about where SLU belongs is about to begin all over again. I'll wager one of the PD wags will mention it one way or the other. Something like, "Why do SLU fans think the A-10's better than the MVC? UNI's win proves it's not." It's never gonna die.

[billiken_roy]

So you aren't blaming the commish for presumably acting like a child? Her job is to do what is best for the league, not to get even with her nemesis.

With your statements, you are basically condoning the commish picking teams based on her personal feelings rather than be objective.

if you read the a-10 message board you would know that he has alienated himself and more importantly saint louis university from the entire a-10. the a-10 is not going to lift one finger to help slu with anything as long as the only public spokesman is preaching hate towards the a-10.

until rickma changes his tune(imo shutting up isnt enough of a fix at this point) or until saint louis university publically comes out to state how wrong majerus is and how much saint louis university wants to call the a-10 home, the aa-10 treatment towards saint louis university wont change.

imo (no one has told me this) slu is likely waiting to see what happens with the potential conference shuffle that is being rumored more and more with the talk that the big ten and the pac 10 want to add teams. until that is complete or pronounced dead, slu wants to be quite so as not to box in any opportunity to actually create the long awaited new conference.

[billiken_roy]

I don't think that attitude is right either.

I don't think Larry understands how important Rick is to this program.

i dont think biondi cares. majerus is likely safe as the couple of big boosters rumored to be ponying up the rickma expense continue to do so. if that stops considering biondi history in the past with all things slu control concerned, i wouldnt bet the farm on anything past that.

[moytoy12]

So you aren't blaming the commish for presumably acting like a child? Her job is to do what is best for the league, not to get even with her nemesis.

With your statements, you are basically condoning the commish picking teams based on her personal feelings rather than be objective.

One could argue that the commish thinks she is doing what's best for the league by punishing SLU. Twisted logic that i don't necessarily agree with, but i can see the argument.

[MB73]

A-10 did not support SLU for NIT. There's a shocker.

A-10 never gave a sh*t about SLU.

Majerus knows that, can only say "so much" without going too far into big A-10 political issues.

He focused on the horrific geography/travel/ missed classroom point since it is least abrasive and he thought most commoners could understand that issue.

He did not want to get down into the real political stuff.

Earlier in yr he also said MVC is "playing ball at the same level as the A-10". He was right about that, too, witness No Iowa and A-10 failures.

SO do not blame Majerus that we did not get A-10 support for saying the truth of the matter.

We never had A-10's support... we are at the bottom of the totem pole.

RM actually was, pretty much, holding back.

[cheeseman]

Doesn't ever say that SLU should leave the A10, just that it's doing itself no favors by being in the A10 if the league isn't going to go to bat for them (which I don't completely blame Bernadette for not pushing for SLU). And really, even though the academic situation isn't favorable, obviously our student-athletes are still doing pretty well, looking at the All-Conference Academic list.

It is strange, though, that both Richmond and Temple didn't make it out of the first round. I got Xavier in the Elite Eight though, so Go Musketeers!

I was told that the combined GPA for the men's basketball team is 3.25 - hard to make the case that all this travel is hurting the kids. I still think we need to do the charter flights but you can not say at least so far that their grades are suffering.

[cheeseman]

If true, how could you not blame Bernadette? That statement makes no sense.

It would be nothing but beneficial for the entire league if SLU had made the NIT.

Here is my thought on this - the NCAA told the A10 that 3 were going to the dance and 2 were going to the NIT. You pick who goes to the NIT - Dayton, URI or SLU. The A10 looks at the bad loss we had to URI at the end along with their better RPI and says URI goes now it is between SLU and Dayton. Dayton's RPI was a lot better and they have carried the standard for league for a longer time so they go with Dayton who won more games than us. Now, I was told from a very reliable source that the CBI wanted SLU very badly. They agreed to give us all home games except for the finals where you play 1 away and two at home - we get the two at home so we would not be traveling - assuming we keep winning - along with a spot in one of their regular season tourney, our pick. The problem was it could not be before 2012 since they already had contracts in place. Now the thinking is if we win the CBI rather than get knocked off somewhere in the NIT that we actually would be better off for next year if we really do play as we are expected to do having gotten the extra practice and game experienc.

[Billiken Rich]

Here is my thought on this - the NCAA told the A10 that 3 were going to the dance and 2 were going to the NIT. You pick who goes to the NIT - Dayton, URI or SLU.

I've got to go with K-Shoe here. BCS big school bias got the bills screwed over on the NIT not the A10 Commish. The NCAA giving the conference any choice in this is a pipe dream. The NIT looked at the

RPI and if anything else how well Dayton travels and draws. The notion that head to head record somehow trumps RPI and SOS is something only a SLU fan could care about in this circumstance. If Depaul beat anyone Marquette twice should they be in the NCAA tourney? We screwed ourself by not beating bowling green.....

Is it just our own inferiority complex or is there ANY CREDIBLE EVIDENSE that the A10 had any say in this?

[showthebill]

I like being in the CBI.

After all the tourny games I've been watching I have gotten the feeling that our team isn't quite at the NCAA tournament level yet. Every team that is winning has for the most part had a player who has taken over these games in some way and not that our players aren't good, but I don't see kwa, cody, or willie taking over most of these teams.

With that being said I would rather have all this added game experience (assuming we keep winning) to keep up a fast track for this team to mature for next season. If we want to make the tournament next year we can't start the season slow like we have this year. We have to start the season with a bang with our OOC schedule. If we don't win most of them and knock off some big teams then we'll be in the same hole as we put ourselves in this year.

[cheeseman]

I've got to go with K-Shoe here. BCS big school bias got the bills screwed over on the NIT not the A10 Commish. The NCAA giving the conference any choice in this is a pipe dream. The NIT looked at the

RPI and if anything else how well Dayton travels and draws. The notion that head to head record somehow trumps RPI and SOS is something only a SLU fan could care about in this circumstance. If Depaul beat anyone Marquette twice should they be in the NCAA tourney? We screwed ourself by not beating bowling green.....

Is it just our own inferiority complex or is there ANY CREDIBLE EVIDENSE that the A10 had any say in this?

My point was that because the BCS teams got in that should not have gotten in then it limited who the A10 could lobby for - if they lobbied for all 3 schools then then might have gotten only one in but this way they threw their weight for 2 and got them in.

[Billiken Rich]

My point was that because the BCS teams got in that should not have gotten in then it limited who the A10 could lobby for - if they lobbied for all 3 schools then then might have gotten only one in but this way they threw their weight for 2 and got them in.

Your argument is possible. It's also possible that the NCAA completely ignored and\or didn't ask about the subject at all. This appears to me to be complete speculation.

[cheeseman]

Your argument is possible. It's also possible that the NCAA completely ignored and\or didn't ask about the subject at all. This appears to me to be complete speculation.

Of course it is speculation - I said that at the beginning of my post "my read on ...".

[Cowboy]

if you read the a-10 message board you would know that he has alienated himself and more importantly saint louis university from the entire a-10. the a-10 is not going to lift one finger to help slu with anything as long as the only public spokesman is preaching hate towards the a-10.

until rickma changes his tune(imo shutting up isnt enough of a fix at this point) or until saint louis university publically comes out to state how wrong majerus is and how much saint louis university wants to call the a-10 home, the aa-10 treatment towards saint louis university wont change.

imo (no one has told me this) slu is likely waiting to see what happens with the potential conference shuffle that is being rumored more and more with the talk that the big ten and the pac 10 want to add teams. until that is complete or pronounced dead, slu wants to be quite so as not to box in any opportunity to actually create the long awaited new conference.

-this is a serious question with no tone or anything else....why should i care what posters on the a10 message board think of SLU, as at this point i do not care?

-how can the a10 administration hurt the men's bball team? pod us with X, temple and dayton? helps our rpi and our ticket sales and when we win and sit on top we are a big deal --- pod us with fordham and whoerver else is projected to be at the bottom? our rpi suffers but our win total should increase and getting a bye is that much easier ---assign crappier refs?? how on God's green earth could that happen!!!

-rick has never said anything i can remember as "hate" about the a10 other than maybe the game officials, he has said many times that it is great league but not the right fit for slu in his opinion

-i agree that slu is at the very least waiting to see how the conference dominoes fall and probably praying a novena that they fall our way and hopefully doing more than that, but your language about not boxing an opportunity to create a conference is unclear to me, do you mean your opinion is slu is not leading a charge to create a new conference? if so, what should be being done and by who?

[Cowboy]

i dont think biondi cares. majerus is likely safe as the couple of big boosters rumored to be ponying up the rickma expense continue to do so. if that stops considering biondi history in the past with all things slu control concerned, i wouldnt bet the farm on anything past that.

-is this a "roymur" or a rumor?

-so let's say these benefactors do exist, are you saying these folks have been silent on rick's criticism of our choice of conference (different than criticism of the conf itself)? they hve not offered more money to fund the charters? they are sitting by watching their investment potentially blow up?