Coach Majerus to be on the Bernie Miklasz show today

[slufanskip]

I didn't hear it either but I believe the context was the teams in the Anaheim tournament that we will play in the fall of 2011. In Westy's posts he said the following:

"we are in a tournament in Anahiem that will include SLU, Oklahoma, Villanova, USC, and Vanderbilt."

Obviously, the fact that RM did not mention any top non-conference opponents this year should be an indication that we likely aren't going to have any sexy series starting up. I suspect we'll settle for another Bowling Green type series.

he said Georgia is ranked preseason top 25 by espn. We get them at home so it might be a good chance for an early big BCS conference win.

[slufanskip]

Did anyone catch Rick saying, "We had a great recruiting class this year and I promise another next year ... and I'm still looking at a few players for this class." I'm wondering how that happens when we have only one open scholarship. SLU has never recruited like this, not even close. The Larry the Legend class was an aberration not seen again. Majerus has pulled this off without taking one team to the NCAA or NIT. Even Brad took two teams to the NIT. It sounds like Rick expects several players to leave next season. I'll live with it.

Players will want to leave. In the last 2 years we've had 4 players leave and 3 out of the 4 we know left of their own accord even though we wanted them to stay. Cotto, THompson, and Smith.

[jjray]

Players will want to leave. In the last 2 years we've had 4 players leave and 3 out of the 4 we know left of their own accord even though we wanted them to stay. Cotto, THompson, and Smith.

The Cottos, Thompsons, and Smiths are no longer on the team. There's no fat left to cut, only the bone. The players at the end of the bench in 2010-11 may be Conk, CS, and a freshman. Perhaps Willie puts his name in the draft. That would be 2. We'll see how it shakes out.

[Runnin'Billiken]

4 of our games against X and UD is good news.

Nice. I may have to spend one or two of my grad school tour days at schools in southwest ohio next winter, if you know what I mean

[SirCreate]

The best player from Australia in next years class is either Hugh Greenwood or Mitchell Creek.

If you do a quick search on youtube you can find a few video's of Hugh Greenwood in action, mostly from the SEABL season last year including some games featuring Cody and Christian as

well as the kids who went to St Mary's, Colorado and Washington State(AIS classes generally graduated every 2 years tho Hugh is the exception and will be a 3-4 year AIS player). He's

also the Emu's captain and will lead the kids into next years u19 FIBA World Championships.

Im guessing tho the kid Majerus is going after is Mitchell Creek tho, an extremely explosive athletic player who can play 2,3,4. The Aussie kids recently won the Albert Schweitzer tournament

in germany by beating the USA in the semi's and then germany in the final's and Mitchell Creek was the tournament MVP(Hugh was on the first team)

http://coachbox.info/2010/04/13/albert-schweitzer-finale/

Mitchell Creek is no.11 for the Aussies(and does a mean reverse dunk at the 23second mark) and Hugh Greenwood is no.9

[bills07]

The ESPN Cancun Tournament this upcoming season was supposed to have a stellar field, but several of the teams initially in the field got spooked over some stuff going on in Mexico and backed out. Majerus was given the opportunity to opt out by ESPN, but decided to stay in the tournament because ESPN has been good to us with regards to future scheduling. He thinks the tournament will have teams like New Mexico and either Mississippi or Mississippi State.

Mississippi will be in Cancun, but Mississippi State is already in the Diamond Head Classic, New Mexico is in the Las Vegas Classic, and New Mexico State is in the Philly Hoop Group Classic, so not sure what RM meant about New Mexico being in the field.

The field tentatively looks to have the following five teams (last year's postseason tourney in parentheses): Mississippi (NIT), SLU (CBI), Colorado State (CBI), Houston (NCAA), and East Tennessee State (NCAA).

RM mentioned the possibility of Saint Mary's (NCAA) being in the field, and there is a very strong possibility that San Diego State (NCAA) will be involved, so hopefully those two teams are a part of the tournament to give it some firepower at the top.

[NashvilleBilliken]

The comment i'm curious about is the "ESPN has been really good to us". What does that mean? Obviously they haven't been good to us in the past 2 years. Does it mean we will have a number of games on ESPN this year? Or is he only talking about getting an invite to the tourney. I really hope we get to see these guys on high definition. Maybe we'll start getting to split some of the A-10 ESPN games with Xavier...those guys were on at least half a dozen times.

[Westy03]

The comment i'm curious about is the "ESPN has been really good to us". What does that mean? Obviously they haven't been good to us in the past 2 years. Does it mean we will have a number of games on ESPN this year? Or is he only talking about getting an invite to the tourney. I really hope we get to see these guys on high definition. Maybe we'll start getting to split some of the A-10 ESPN games with Xavier...those guys were on at least half a dozen times.

Yeah I know the Cancun tournament and the Anaheim tournament are both put on by ESPN. I think he meant that since a lot of the better teams backed out of Cancun, ESPN rewarded them for staying in it by giving them the invite to Anaheim which they didnt have to do. I wouldnt be surprised to see a couple games on ESPN or ESPN2 this coming season and the following season.

[slu72]

The comment i'm curious about is the "ESPN has been really good to us". What does that mean? Obviously they haven't been good to us in the past 2 years. Does it mean we will have a number of games on ESPN this year? Or is he only talking about getting an invite to the tourney. I really hope we get to see these guys on high definition. Maybe we'll start getting to split some of the A-10 ESPN games with Xavier...those guys were on at least half a dozen times.

I would expect with some of the preseason buzz we're getting, and that we have RM as coach, we'll get a little more air time this season.

[slufanskip]

The Cottos, Thompsons, and Smiths are no longer on the team. There's no fat left to cut, only the bone. The players at the end of the bench in 2010-11 may be Conk, CS, and a freshman. Perhaps Willie puts his name in the draft. That would be 2. We'll see how it shakes out.

What I'm saying is you never know. Maybe it's a player who signs this year but doesn't get the playing time he wants or doesn't play up to expectations ... who knows.

[billiken_roy]

maybe that was code for paul biancardi unofficially recruiting for him or something.

i agree, cant really see where they "have been good to us" otherwise.

[BIG BILL FAN]

maybe that was code for paul biancardi unofficially recruiting for him or something.

i agree, cant really see where they "have been good to us" otherwise.

That's what I was thinking.

[Westy03]

maybe that was code for paul biancardi unofficially recruiting for him or something.

i agree, cant really see where they "have been good to us" otherwise.

They put us in the tournament in Anaheim next year with some great schools and gets us some great exposure. For someone who complains about the schedule so much I would think you would really like what ESPN did for us here.

[billiken_roy]

They put us in the tournament in Anaheim next year with some great schools and gets us some great exposure. For someone who complains about the schedule so much I would think you would really like what ESPN did for us here.

"did for us" as opposed to "what they will do for us" are two different things. i take "did for us" as something that has already happened.

i am glad we are apparently in a real tourney next year. that is good. now get rid of most of those buy games and extra exhibition games.

[b.hayes]

Starting to get into semantics, Roy. There isn't race day registration for these tournaments; if we are scheduled to be in the tournament didn't they already do something for us by inviting us?

That said, I'd lean towards his appreciation being a 50/50 split for Biancardi & the tourneys. Or maybe a 45/45/10 because we did make several appearances (albeit small blurbs) in various ESPN columns and TV bracketology segments towards the end of the season. We deserved it, but as we all should know by now, that doesn't mean we will get it.

[billiken_roy]

and to be honest isnt the fact that rickma is the slu coach supposed to have gotten those kind of doors opened? i expected a lot more opportunities to come to us just because rick majerus is our coach than what has happened thus far.

[JohnnyJumpUp]

and to be honest isnt the fact that rickma is the slu coach supposed to have gotten those kind of doors opened? i expected a lot more opportunities to come to us just because rick majerus is our coach than what has happened thus far.

What are the opportunities you had expected that have not happened thus far?

[billiken_roy]

What are the opportunities you had expected that have not happened thus far?

i expected all of majerus's coaching buddies to willingly play us home and away games. not a fricking one has stepped up. the best he got is calipari practiced against us.

[bauman]

Next season we are in a tournament in Anahiem that will include SLU, Oklahoma, Villanova, USC, and Vanderbilt. Then the following year we are in a tournament in KC which includes SLU, Kansas, Syracuse, and either Michigan State or Duke.

Very short and concise interview from Big Rick. It seems Bernie is the only reporter in St. Louis that knows how to keep him somewhat in check.

Sorry that I didn't hear the interview-it sounds like the best RM has ever had with local media.

After reading and re-reading all the "tournament schedules" posts I am still not sure when these tournaments will take place. Is "next season" the upcoming season and if so does that mean we will be in two tournaments (Cancun and Anahiem) or does "next season" really mean the year after the upcoming year (2011-12)? If thats what is meant by next season does that mean the KC tournament will be in the 2012-13 season?

If anyone is sure of the answers can you please clarify.

[JohnnyJumpUp]

Sorry that I didn't hear the interview-it sounds like the best RM has ever had with local media.

After reading and re-reading all the "tournament schedules" posts I am still not sure when these tournaments will take place. Is "next season" the upcoming season and if so does that mean we will be in two tournaments (Cancun and Anahiem) or does "next season" really mean the year after the upcoming year (2011-12)? If thats what is meant by next season does that mean the KC tournament will be in the 2012-13 season?

If anyone is sure of the answers can you please clarify.

KC is 12-13

[Westy03]

Sorry that I didn't hear the interview-it sounds like the best RM has ever had with local media.

After reading and re-reading all the "tournament schedules" posts I am still not sure when these tournaments will take place. Is "next season" the upcoming season and if so does that mean we will be in two tournaments (Cancun and Anahiem) or does "next season" really mean the year after the upcoming year (2011-12)? If thats what is meant by next season does that mean the KC tournament will be in the 2012-13 season?

If anyone is sure of the answers can you please clarify.

Canun is this year (2010-11)

Anaheim next year (2011-12). Kwamain and Willies senior year.

KC is in two years (2012-13). Cody Ellis' senior year.

[Billikan]

i expected all of majerus's coaching buddies to willingly play us home and away games. not a fricking one has stepped up. the best he got is calipari practiced against us.

This is a subject that I have discussed at great length with Chris May, others at the University and various college coaches including Calapari when he was in town. The bottom line is that most coaches will not play a team like SLU, particularly one that is coached by RM, because they do not want the risk of a loss, possibly an embarrassing one. Several coaches who are very good friends of RM have told me that they will do a lot to help him and they really respect him as a coach but they do not want to play his teams because the defense can make their offense look bad and if we are shooting the ball well our offense can make their defense look bad with a lot of screens producing wide open shots. I told them that seems crazy to me but they say that a coach wants to win games and never wants to look like he is being outcoached by his opposition. I keep hoping that if we can really increase our RPI that those things won't matter.

[drkelsey55]

This is a subject that I have discussed at great length with Chris May, others at the University and various college coaches including Calapari when he was in town. The bottom line is that most coaches will not play a team like SLU, particularly one that is coached by RM, because they do not want the risk of a loss, possibly an embarrassing one. Several coaches who are very good friends of RM have told me that they will do a lot to help him and they really respect him as a coach but they do not want to play his teams because the defense can make their offense look bad and if we are shooting the ball well our offense can make their defense look bad with a lot of screens producing wide open shots. I told them that seems crazy to me but they say that a coach wants to win games and never wants to look like he is being outcoached by his opposition. I keep hoping that if we can really increase our RPI that those things won't matter.

I guess you have to decide if you want a coach that everyone will play because they know they can win or a coach that can win no matter who he palys, but no one wants to come out and play!!

[DeSmetBilliken]

I took the "ESPN has been good to us" quote to mean that ESPN has agreed to put us in a few of their tournaments in future years, such as the Cancun tournament and the Anaheim tournament. Maybe Rick has been able to get ESPN to broadcast a few of our games next season, such as the Georgia game. Who knows though, we know that Majerus has loyalty to ESPN due to working there, so maybe he meant to say "ESPN has been good to me" and accidentally replaced the "me" with "us." We did get some press from the ESPN guys during our conference run, so maybe Rick liked that.

We know that we haven't been on ESPN much the last few years, so I'd think it has to be one of the above reasons.

[moytoy12]

I took the "ESPN has been good to us" quote to mean that ESPN has agreed to put us in a few of their tournaments in future years, such as the Cancun tournament and the Anaheim tournament. Maybe Rick has been able to get ESPN to broadcast a few of our games next season, such as the Georgia game. Who knows though, we know that Majerus has loyalty to ESPN due to working there, so maybe he meant to say "ESPN has been good to me" and accidentally replaced the "me" with "us." We did get some press from the ESPN guys during our conference run, so maybe Rick liked that.

We know that we haven't been on ESPN much the last few years, so I'd think it has to be one of the above reasons.

Sounds like one could say that RM's connections are actually paying off for us.