Speculation: Now what??

[Cowboy]

-there was a blurb in either the durham or raleigh paper yesterday wondering why the game was on cbs

-of course they attributed it to the drawing power of duke, which is correct

-when and where would ratings for this be available?? i am curious while i bet cbs is not pleased

[bk18]

Majerus won't get any big extension... at least at a million a year... unless he can turn things around this year or next.

It's not all his fault. Mostly, the inability of recruits to stay in the program for a variety of reasons, almost all have nothing to do with RM.

Moser will take the reigns unless someone big gets fired elsewhere and can come coach here.

The second best option: Bob Knight. He's said this past february: “I never said I wouldn’t coach again,” “I’ve simply said in the past, if the right situation came along, I would be interested.”

With Coach K. approaching his 902 win mark, he might want to get back in business. He'd need an associate head coach like Moser to do the recruiting because an old guy like Knight is going to be too lazy to travel all over and deal with all that.

He'd probably cost about the same as RM:

Here is his contract at TT (a fraction of the RM salary) http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/knight/knighttxtech52001k.pdf

[MKE_Billiken]

The easiest way to ensure that we never get another nationally televised game or to become a laughingstock or to never get a BCS home and home would be to try and cancel the game (and piss off CBS, Duke, etc.) because the players we thought we would have were not available.

Cancelling the game a week before practices start was not an option. In fact I've never heard of any team doing that.

Thank you kshoe and Pelican! I wrote a long post in response to the various people asking why we just didnt cancel this game or give the money back and not show up but I ended up just discarding it all because I thought, being new to this board, that there is no way they could be serious about that. Cancelling this game would have put SLU's program in much worse shape than it would be if Majerus left. This would have frayed the relationship with Duke (ok, most could live with this) but the biggest bridge burned would have been with CBS because of their, albeit small, regular season marketshare of College Basketball broadcasting presence. If we would have cancelled that game the program says good bye to $75,000, missed the opportunity for a high level of competition, SOS ratings, a national audience (and its recruiting exposure- yes, even a blow out like this can be helpful to the recruiting efforts) not mention that it would draw far more negative attention to the program. Cancelling this game is a much bigger admission to the floundering state of your program than just showing up, cashing a check and taking your lumps like a big boy program. Hundreds of other schools do this regularly with their full bench and some of you want to go and hide under the bleachers because we aren't at full power? Ridiculous.

[kevinfootes]

Thank you kshoe and Pelican! I wrote a long post in response to the various people asking why we just didnt cancel this game or give the money back and not show up but I ended up just discarding it all because I thought, being new to this board, that there is no way they could be serious about that. Cancelling this game would have put SLU's program in much worse shape than it would be if Majerus left. This would have frayed the relationship with Duke (ok, most could live with this) but the biggest bridge burned would have been with CBS because of their, albeit small, regular season marketshare of College Basketball broadcasting presence. If we would have cancelled that game the program says good bye to $75,000, missed the opportunity for a high level of competition, SOS ratings, a national audience (and its recruiting exposure- yes, even a blow out like this can be helpful to the recruiting efforts) not mention that it would draw far more negative attention to the program. Cancelling this game is a much bigger admission to the flandering state of your program than just showing up, cashing a check and taking your lumps like a big boy program. Hundreds of other schools do this regularly with their full bench and you all want to go and hide under the bleachers because we aren't at full power? Ridiculous.

IMO we have enough trouble scheduling the BCS types as it is. If you cancel a December game in late October you can look forward to playing teams like SIUE next season.

[kevinfootes]

Majerus won't get any big extension... at least at a million a year... unless he can turn things around this year or next.

It's not all his fault. Mostly, the inability of recruits to stay in the program for a variety of reasons, almost all have nothing to do with RM.

Moser will take the reigns unless someone big gets fired elsewhere and can come coach here.

The second best option: Bob Knight. He's said this past february: “I never said I wouldn’t coach again,” “I’ve simply said in the past, if the right situation came along, I would be interested.”

With Coach K. approaching his 902 win mark, he might want to get back in business. He'd need an associate head coach like Moser to do the recruiting because an old guy like Knight is going to be too lazy to travel all over and deal with all that.

He'd probably cost about the same as RM:

Here is his contract at TT (a fraction of the RM salary) http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/knight/knighttxtech52001k.pdf

As shaky as things look right now, we might need an extension for RM. He only has 2 years left on the contract, and that will start to make recruiting a lot harder. If possible, I'd like to give him 2 more years that would include some kind of reasonable buyout if things go south. As I've posted many times, I thought that next season should have been the drop dead year for getting to the dance. Based on everything that has happened, I'm willing to extend that by a season.

[Box and Won]

IMO we have enough trouble scheduling the BCS types as it is. If you cancel a December game in late October you can look forward to playing teams like SIUE next season.

I wouldn't mind playing them anyway.

[kevinfootes]

I wouldn't mind playing them anyway.

I should clarify and say that SIUE would be the only type of team who would agree to play us. I don't have a problem playing SIUE either, save for the 300-level rpi.

[Band Legend]

My opinion is that SLU should have canceled or deferred the game, if there was any way to do so. Being completely noncompetitive throughout and losing by 37 points was not the type of publicity that was needed. Fortunately, very little was said about The Situation.

Is this post some kind of joke? Defer or cancel the game? "Hey Mike, you know we have this little problem, so even though it's already on the schedule and you've already sold tickets, do you think we can cancel this game until next year?" Bay Area, I've always thought your posts were insightful and well thought out , but this is the stupidest post of a phenomenally stupid thread.

Why is everyone's panties all in a bunch because we got hammered by Duke? I guarantee you they are probably going to beat some of their conference opponents by thirty at Cameron this year. Even without Irving those guys are good enough to win the National championship. Oh wait, they already did and the only guy they lost was Zoubek. On second thought, they need to cancel the rest of their season as a courtesy to their future opponents. Everyone in the country has forgotten about this game except for the dorks on Billikens.com, and the trolls who love to torture us. It was a good experience for all the guys who played in the game, even if we are embarrassed by the outcome. We certainly know how much better we have to get to beat really good teams, and that is always motivation for competitive people.

[Bay Area Billiken]

Band Legend, I tried to clarify, even to modify to an extent, my position in subsequent posts. I realize that as of Oct., even Sept., nothing could be done- by then I agree that the game could not be canceled or deferred. My opinion remains that the issue re playing this game concerned the decisions made (or not made) before that, the right arm knowing or not knowing what the left arm was doing, etc.

It's water over the dam now. I'm as guilty of looking back as anyone, and I'm probably as frustrated as any Billiken fan, but I think it is best to try to move forward, and get our players reinstated.

[Band Legend]

Band Legend, I tried to clarify, even to modify to an extent, my position in subsequent posts. I realize that as of Oct., even Sept., nothing could be done- by then I agree that the game could not be canceled or deferred. My opinion remains that the issue re playing this game concerned the decisions made (or not made) before that, the right arm knowing or not knowing what the left arm was doing, etc.

It's water over the dam now. I'm as guilty of looking back as anyone, and I'm probably as frustrated as any Billiken fan, but I think it is best to try to move forward, and get our players reinstated.

Hey, we all know it's hard work being a Billikens fan! I can think of many disappointments over the years; this game was just a blip on the screen and my point is just to let it go. Sure, we've been screwed, but it is nothing that has not happened to us before. It's just going to make it that much sweeter when the next great thing happens. It sure beats wearing around Duke or UNC crap when you never went there or even traveled to North Carolina because you're a d-bag who only roots for winners. We come by our passion honestly and some day we will be rewarded. At least I hope so.

[Quality Is Job 1]

the one thing that is bothering me is why our staff didnt try to do something game prepwise to try to alter the game? those of you thinking it was better to play our regular game, please explain why taking the air out of the ball wouldnt have been better? maybe trying the old rickma triangle and two or at least some sort of alternating defenses/offenses? granted i dont think we win regardless, but keeping it close® would have brought a little something to the team.

Perhaps this young team (four freshmen are the basis of the team, with Cassity injured) isn't ready to apply gimmick defenses. They probably haven't mastered Coach Majerus's man-to-man defense yet.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Moy, next time you post a picture of my wife, you and I are going to have words.

Robbing the cradle now, my man?

[majerus mojo]

Is this post some kind of joke? Defer or cancel the game? "Hey Mike, you know we have this little problem, so even though it's already on the schedule and you've already sold tickets, do you think we can cancel this game until next year?" Bay Area, I've always thought your posts were insightful and well thought out , but this is the stupidest post of a phenomenally stupid thread.

Why is everyone's panties all in a bunch because we got hammered by Duke? I guarantee you they are probably going to beat some of their conference opponents by thirty at Cameron this year. Even without Irving those guys are good enough to win the National championship. Oh wait, they already did and the only guy they lost was Zoubek. On second thought, they need to cancel the rest of their season as a courtesy to their future opponents. Everyone in the country has forgotten about this game except for the dorks on Billikens.com, and the trolls who love to torture us. It was a good experience for all the guys who played in the game, even if we are embarrassed by the outcome. We certainly know how much better we have to get to beat really good teams, and that is always motivation for competitive people.

+1.

The 6th youngest team in the country going into Cameron Indoor to play the unquestioned #1 team in the land (and defending champs)... I was fearing a single-digit point total for the first half, and was quite fine with 40+ points and a 30-40 point loss. Our guys have now seen the best D1 college hoops has to offer in arguably the most hostile environment it has to offer as well. With KM & WR, sure, I'd have been dreaming of an upset before-hand, but without those 2 we never stood a chance.

[Bizziken]

Two things.

First- our SOS skyrocketed (as did our RPI)

Second- I guarantee we aren't going to be intimidated playing any other road games this season after seeing Cameron...

[bk18]

Two things.

First- our SOS skyrocketed (as did our RPI)

Second- I guarantee we aren't going to be intimidated playing any other road games this season after seeing Cameron...

So true.

Sidenote: Why is this forum so distracting during finals week? If I weren't a Billikens.com blogger, I'd probably have a much better GPA. But then again, life would be so much worse.

[Taj79]

WOW! Four pages of responses and short of, I think Kshoe and bk18 and maybe one other, no one addressed the question. Rather, this was turned into a skyjacked "Cancel the Duke game" thread. That was not the intent but do-do happens. So we get the usual vote for Porter and an out-of-left-field suggestion about Booby Kninght. Graveyard of coaches, folks --- Booby Knight ain't coming here that's for sure. Biondi and the Booby. I don't think so. Someone acknowledged my point about the eccentricity of our boy Rick. Point taken and that's what I was trying to suggest. Roy made a good point about the Duke game being a teaching tool. Another good point. But this was not meant to be a "we-just-lost-to-Duke-the-sky-is-falling" post. All I'm saying once again or asking is "are we prepared?" The program wasn't prepared for the shocker that was the Kangeroo Court, as some describe it.

Rick has endured multiple issues some inside the program, some not: the charter plane issue, the radio show issue, the abortion and the Bishop in the media issue, the girlfriend issue, the Kangeroo issue, the transfer issue, and so on. All I'm saying is when does he say "enough" and what happens then? The Duke fiasco, and it was to the casual observer as the rest of us will rationalize it away, was just another possibility altho I missed the teaching tool opp pointed out earlier.

Sure, there are easy transitions as some pointed out. Other coaches-in-waiting have included the Maryland football situation, Jimbo Fisher at Florida State, Booby's boy Pat, Jay Spoonhour, and Tom Bradley for JoPa at Penn State. Not everything goes as expected. Not everyone announce at the beginning of the season "this is it and so-so is in." That would suggest our Athletic Department has a clue. OUR ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT, the one some of you question w/o end as to their operational abilities. Maybe Richard Chaifetz would be prepared but Biondi and the AD? I don't know.

And while Bay Area defended me (thanks) the truth is I don't know basketball. But this thread wasn't talking basketball, it was talking about human reactions, emotions, stress and strategic planning.

I am less stressed about being 2 and 4 right now (I am not counting Rockhurst). I know that it is going to be incredibly difficult to win, given that the college game runs through the point guard and our all-conference point is not enrolled at this time. I know it is going to be difficult to win given the lack of depth on our front line and the fact that our best front line player is not enrolled at this time. Saying that, I am a lot more distressed that our third year players have shown little in the way of productive developmentat this point, talking Conklin and Remuken at this point. In my dream world, even with a bad game, we crush Peay at home and beat Georgia. We win at Portland and are competitive against Duke, likely losing in the 4th quarter of the game. Score is immaterial in that one.

I think I'm looking past the tree here and there and seeing the forest. Folks can disagree and thats fine.

[slu72]

I don't remember quoting you when I made my statement in regards to canceling the Duke game. But I will quote your first statement and address it since you brought it up.

Actually you are not saying cancel the game in its entirety but just play it with a different team in lieu of SLU. I think that is canceling the game on our part but not on the part of CBS or Duke. We made a commitment with a binding contract to play Duke at Duke on CBS on said date and time. Barring unusual circumstances like a blizzard, collapse of the Cameron Indoor Stadium facility, or other so-called acts of God, the game is required to go on. You are saying don't cancel the game in the first above post but move it to a different time or don't air it. That would be like Harris-Stowe coming to us and saying, "hey, can you tell Rich Gould and Scott Highmark not to show up because our two best players got into some trouble and we won't be able to make this competitive." CW11 and SLU say, "Tough ###### and you are not ever welcome back. Oh and by the way, we will make sure you don't get a game with all the schools we affiliate with and have relationships with. Oh and by the way, now we have to tell all the donors coming in for this game to not show up or change their plans because of two student's inability to behave - I don't think so. Be there or payup and suffer much more dire consequences!"

Your above underlined statements I am in agreement with you.

I didn't mean a substitute for SLU. I meant CBS find a substitute game, eg Pitt vs Texas or whoever. Once again, I never meant to drop the Duke game just don't put it on national TV.

[MusicCityBilliken]

I didn't mean a substitute for SLU. I meant CBS find a substitute game, eg Pitt vs Texas or whoever. Once again, I never meant to drop the Duke game just don't put it on national TV.

WHOA!

I don't care you have the talent of Our Lady of Perpetual Help CYO team you go into every game (even if your playing LA Lakers) that you going to win it. If you give the least hint that the game is lost before it started how is that going to effect the morale of your players or the feelings of your fan base. If you do, you should just mail in the rest of the season.

[kevinfootes]

The program wasn't prepared for the shocker that was the Kangeroo Court, as some describe it.

As I've posted on here before, I'm shocked that people are surprised by how this played out. When I went to SLU they were very clear about what was allowed and not allowed on campus. The biggest surprise to me is that KM has a chance to get back into school. I know a couple of people who were kicked out of SLU for doing far less than what happened here.

That said, from what I've learned in a previous thread, the university has apparently dialed down the rhetoric somewhat over the past 20 years.

[Cowboy]

WOW! Four pages of responses and short of, I think Kshoe and bk18 and maybe one other, no one addressed the question. Rather, this was turned into a skyjacked "Cancel the Duke game" thread. That was not the intent but do-do happens. So we get the usual vote for Porter and an out-of-left-field suggestion about Booby Kninght. Graveyard of coaches, folks --- Booby Knight ain't coming here that's for sure. Biondi and the Booby. I don't think so. Someone acknowledged my point about the eccentricity of our boy Rick. Point taken and that's what I was trying to suggest. Roy made a good point about the Duke game being a teaching tool. Another good point. But this was not meant to be a "we-just-lost-to-Duke-the-sky-is-falling" post. All I'm saying once again or asking is "are we prepared?" The program wasn't prepared for the shocker that was the Kangeroo Court, as some describe it.

Rick has endured multiple issues some inside the program, some not: the charter plane issue, the radio show issue, the abortion and the Bishop in the media issue, the girlfriend issue, the Kangeroo issue, the transfer issue, and so on. All I'm saying is when does he say "enough" and what happens then? The Duke fiasco, and it was to the casual observer as the rest of us will rationalize it away, was just another possibility altho I missed the teaching tool opp pointed out earlier.

Sure, there are easy transitions as some pointed out. Other coaches-in-waiting have included the Maryland football situation, Jimbo Fisher at Florida State, Booby's boy Pat, Jay Spoonhour, and Tom Bradley for JoPa at Penn State. Not everything goes as expected. Not everyone announce at the beginning of the season "this is it and so-so is in." That would suggest our Athletic Department has a clue. OUR ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT, the one some of you question w/o end as to their operational abilities. Maybe Richard Chaifetz would be prepared but Biondi and the AD? I don't know.

And while Bay Area defended me (thanks) the truth is I don't know basketball. But this thread wasn't talking basketball, it was talking about human reactions, emotions, stress and strategic planning.

I am less stressed about being 2 and 4 right now (I am not counting Rockhurst). I know that it is going to be incredibly difficult to win, given that the college game runs through the point guard and our all-conference point is not enrolled at this time. I know it is going to be difficult to win given the lack of depth on our front line and the fact that our best front line player is not enrolled at this time. Saying that, I am a lot more distressed that our third year players have shown little in the way of productive developmentat this point, talking Conklin and Remuken at this point. In my dream world, even with a bad game, we crush Peay at home and beat Georgia. We win at Portland and are competitive against Duke, likely losing in the 4th quarter of the game. Score is immaterial in that one.

I think I'm looking past the tree here and there and seeing the forest. Folks can disagree and thats fine.

-what makes now an appropriate time to debate when rick will say "enough"?

-can we interview for a new coach now? no one that is currently coaching

-are you saying we should be interviewing now?

-what is the point of having this debate now?

-do you think RM believes his reputation was so tarnished with the game on saturday that he is going to call it quits?

-hell no we are not prepared if RM quits today or at the end of the season, but can we address that at the end of the season or when he quits?