An Entertaining 2 Minutes and 25 Seconds

[jbizzle09]

Have to agree with this.

Its a shame too. I really like his intensity and fire.

If he could just come in and knock down a few threes, play hard nosed D, and be a spark plug he could become a fan favorite.

It was looking like that may happen last year not sure what happened during the offseason

I was actually thinking CS would have a nice game against LaSalle when I was watching warmups. Pretty sure I saw him hit over 10 3's in a row and at least 80% total before the game. He looked like he was ready to make an impact and had a confident vibe about him. Of course, he did very little in the game (he did have a nice little minute stretch where he had a steal leading to Jett's dunk and then hit a layup on the next posession.) I know it is just warmups, but when you see someone hit trey after trey, you then want to see them at least attempt some in the game.

[dlarry]

I was actually thinking CS would have a nice game against LaSalle when I was watching warmups. Pretty sure I saw him hit over 10 3's in a row and at least 80% total before the game. He looked like he was ready to make an impact and had a confident vibe about him. Of course, he did very little in the game (he did have a nice little minute stretch where he had a steal leading to Jett's dunk and then hit a layup on the next posession.) I know it is just warmups, but when you see someone hit trey after trey, you then want to see them at least attempt some in the game.

agree.

He hasnt played bad the last few game but been a complete non-factor.

I guess he has just completely lost his confidence shooting hopefully he gets it back over the offseason.

When he is on the court Im pretty confident he wont make a mistake but Im also pretty confident he wont have an impact.

Im not sure but I bet there have been a few games this year when he has gotten 8-12 minutes and not shown up in the boxscore at all.

No shots, not points, no TO's, no nothing.

[Cowboy]

It's also a shame that we rarely, if ever, hear of a media member calling out RM's mistakes. Or at least questioning why RM did this or that.

-AMEN TO THIS MOYTOY

-i think all bernie wants to do is go eat with him, TT is probably afraid of his limited access being cut off and i can't blame him for that, to me bernie is the one to ask the hard question but that would be such a stretch it is unthinkable to me it would ever happen

-i have not yet listened to that clip

[dlarry]

It's also a shame that we rarely, if ever, hear of a media member calling out RM's mistakes. Or at least questioning why RM did this or that.

That could be true of all St Louis Sports though.

All of the STL media is intimidated by LaRussa.

Spags and the Rams have gotten a pass.

Ive never heard a bad word about Payne and the Blues.

Its not just Majerus that doesnt get the tough questions its any person involved with sports in st Louis.

[jbizzle09]

-AMEN TO THIS MOYTOY

-i think all bernie wants to do is go eat with him, TT is probably afraid of his limited access being cut off and i can't blame him for that, to me bernie is the one to ask the hard question but that would be such a stretch it is unthinkable to me it would ever happen

-i have not yet listened to that clip

I also have to agree with this. While I have tons of respect for RM and don't think he should take too much blame for the way this season has turned out, he seems to me to be the kind of guy who likes to dish it but not take it. A couple months ago he was on the Fastlane and tore into Rammer for asking a legit question about Cody (this was after Cody did not play against Portland.) He was extremely dismissive of cdertain questions on the majerus Show and then just quit. He barely does a post-game show and if he does, only speaks with EAJ and never Rammer.

It is extremely apparent that he likes Bernie due to the fact that Bernie will never ask him a critical question. Thus, Bernie is the guy he will speak with on radio the most. Same goes for TT, who basically just wants to keep his access to the team. Majerus loves to be critical of others (players, media, admin, etc.) but rarely ever points the critical voice at himself. This, IMO, is the reason why many on this board, and among the fanbase, dislike Majerus. He is coarse, unfriendly, quick to blame others and slovenly. Throw in that the team is 8-15 during a lost season and the Majerus becomes even less palatable to those fans.

Having said all that, Majerus is not going to change. He is similar to LaRussa in this regard. He will always have his detractors and there are elements of his personality that will rub many the wrong way. The best medicine for this is obviously winning. If next season, with the perceived talent available to us, we are winning and a tourney team, then there will be less complaining about Majerus and his personality issues. However, if we are mired in a losing or disappointing season, then it will only get worse. Here is hoping for the former!

Edited February 11, 2011 by jbizzle09

[Billiken Rich]

However, if we are mired in a losing or disappointing season, then it will only get worse. Here is hoping for the latter!

I assume you meant former not latter.......

[jbizzle09]

I assume you meant former not latter.......

Yep, thanks! Change made.

[JMM28]

Sounds like a coach who is at the end of his rope. I will be really surprised if Rick is back next year.

[White Pelican]

Sounds like a coach who is at the end of his rope. I will be really surprised if Rick is back next year.

I will be really surprised if he is NOT. Too much potential for next year even without Reed. Unless his health completely fails I expect him back.

[lloyddobbler]

Sounds like a coach who is at the end of his rope. I will be really surprised if Rick is back next year.

Just angry over another frustratingly-close loss. He sounded much better after he cooled down and gave his Thursday interview. Ended it by praising his boys with the highest GPA in the conference, a med student, 2 students graduating after 3 years and scheduled to earn masters next year, and a freshman that could choose between pre-med and pre-law.

[BACKHANDtheRICAN]

Sounds like a coach who is at the end of his rope. I will be really surprised if Rick is back next year.

Agreed. Rickma is gone.

[TheA_Bomb]

I've defended him for profanity etc in practice. I have no problem with that, but this I don't appreciate. He needs to take responsibility but he won't.

[Tonka]

I don't really have a problem with a Coach who is frustrated. He's human. He's allowed to be frustrated. Should he call out his players - sure! Why shouldn't he? I don't like the manner in which he does it and I would do it differently, but that is his style. Also, the players can take it. If they can't they will struggle in other areas.

I also agree that RM has taken little to no responsibility for anything this year. In fact, I can't recall a time where he ever claimed to be at fault. You can't tell me he's been perfect all season and had he made some better decisions at times, we wouldn't have had some different outcomes. What are those? Who knows. The point is that he's not mistake free and shouldn't get a pass.

Also, I claim BS on the youngest team thing. That excuse is invalid for me. They are young, so what? He does the recruiting and he's the one that will chase players off if need be. So, if they are young, that is on him. There are plenty of teams who's top 8 players are young and they manage.

As far as losing the top 2 players, get over it. It happened. Willie would have missed the first semsester and who knows how much longer. Yes, the kangaroo court made a bad decision. Had the players flew under the radar, no decision would have had to be made. Maybe we should blame RM for not having a tighter leash and teaching them how to act off the court.

We could also get on Rick for not being healthier. Certainly he knows the demands of coaching and being healthier would make it easier. Had he been healthy and not on his medication, would the leg laceration have been as bad and got infected? Would he have missed those games and practices? What damage did that do?

Listen, I love that RM is our Coach but his getting a blind pass from so many just because he is RM is crap. The guy's not perfect and we've yet to go NIT or better in 4 years. There has to be some fingers pointed at RM and if you don't believe that you are so damned biased and blind it's ridiculous.

[jimbofive]

i hope majerus talks to the guys like this in the locker room:

first thing i think of. i FINALLY found this movie on torrents. thank Christ.

[MB73]

I don't really have a problem with a Coach who is frustrated. He's human. He's allowed to be frustrated. Should he call out his players - sure! Why shouldn't he? I don't like the manner in which he does it and I would do it differently, but that is his style. Also, the players can take it. If they can't they will struggle in other areas.

I also agree that RM has taken little to no responsibility for anything this year. In fact, I can't recall a time where he ever claimed to be at fault. You can't tell me he's been perfect all season and had he made some better decisions at times, we wouldn't have had some different outcomes. What are those? Who knows. The point is that he's not mistake free and shouldn't get a pass.

Also, I claim BS on the youngest team thing. That excuse is invalid for me. They are young, so what? He does the recruiting and he's the one that will chase players off if need be. So, if they are young, that is on him. There are plenty of teams who's top 8 players are young and they manage.

As far as losing the top 2 players, get over it. It happened. Willie would have missed the first semsester and who knows how much longer. Yes, the kangaroo court made a bad decision. Had the players flew under the radar, no decision would have had to be made. Maybe we should blame RM for not having a tighter leash and teaching them how to act off the court.

We could also get on Rick for not being healthier. Certainly he knows the demands of coaching and being healthier would make it easier. Had he been healthy and not on his medication, would the leg laceration have been as bad and got infected? Would he have missed those games and practices? What damage did that do?Listen, I love that RM is our Coach but his getting a blind pass from so many just because he is RM is crap. The guy's not perfect and we've yet to go NIT or better in 4 years. There has to be some fingers pointed at RM and if you don't believe that you are so damned biased and blind it's ridiculous.

One of the most outrageous posts I have ever seen here, by far.

We played LaSalle without our 3 best players from last yr, WR, KM, & CE.

6th youngest team in NCAA D-1 300+ teams.

You are just an RM hater, not a good SLU fan.

Pathetic.

Stop it.

[Tonka]

One of the most outrageous posts I have ever seen here, by far.

You are an RM hater.

Stop it.

Maybe you should read again. You're missing the point. We continue to hear over and over again that we're young, too much travel, no chartered flights, etc. It's all about excuses and never any accountability from the Coach. I was simply stating that the excuses are piling up and becoming asinine. If we want to make asinine excuses we could reach and say that about Coach's health. You totally missed the point.

In regards to me being an RM hater, then go back and reread all my posts from this season and every season RM is here and you will see an I am no RM hater. Heck, read my footer on all my posts.

However, you fall into the category of the biased blind fan with zero credibility because you never argue anything objectively.

[MB73]

Maybe you should read again. You're missing the point. We continue to hear over and over again that we're young, too much travel, no chartered flights, etc. It's all about excuses and never any accountability from the Coach. I was simply stating that the excuses are piling up and becoming asinine. If we want to make asinine excuses we could reach and say that about Coach's health. You totally missed the point.

In regards to me being an RM hater, then go back and reread all my posts from this season and every season RM is here and you will see an I am no RM hater. Heck, read my footer on all my posts.

However, you fall into the category of the biased blind fan with zero credibility because you never argue anything objectively.

Nice try.

The "we're younger" would have ended this yr if it was not for the "incident"; what a disaster.

If you cannot understand losing 2 STAR junior players on a mid-major team that has no seniors, and dismiss it as insignificant, and not an excuse, you do not know the game, you are just pimping Majerus.

This season was over the day the ruling came from the Jesuit kangaroo court. WR and KM were by far our two best players, bar none. Then losing CE for LaSalle, forgetaboutit.

[Tonka]

Not that simple. The "we're younger" would have ended this yr if it was not for the "incident".

If you cannot understand losing 2 STAR players on a mid-major team, and dismiss it as insignificant, and not an excuse, you do not know the game, you are just pimping Majerus.

This season was over the day the ruling came from the Jesuit kangaroo court. WR and KM were by far the two best players, bar none. Then losing CE for LaSalle, forgetaboutit.

Nobody is saying it's insignificant. The incident had nothing to do with WR's status going into the season.

Nobody said we expected to be an NCAA team this year, since we lost our top 2 guys. But, should we have 8 wins at this point? Should we lose to LaSalle at home? Should we lose at George Washington? Should we lose to Bowling Green at home? Lose vs Austin Peay at home? Oh wait, I know your answer to this. Of course, 8 wins at this point is expected. We're the 6th youngest in the nation. The incident caused this. Blame the SLU admin. Majerus is a god and he makes no mistakes.

RM has NEVER had a losing season and you mean to tell me in all those years of NEVER having a losing season that he's never had adveristy or big obstacles to get over? You're fooling yourself if you believe that. He had adveristy and he still overcame. Can you even think for a moment that maybe he is not perfect and he's entitled to making mistakes?

RM WILL turn this around if he sticks around and we will be ranked next year if our top 2 are back but quit making excuses for RM like he's never wrong and does everything correctly.

Starting to think MB is "the" willing towel boy.

[Billiken4life5]

As far as Rick taking the blame...off the top of my head I can think of him saying he's an idiot for not playing Paul more against Georgia, that it was dumb to schedule the Duke game right before finals, and that he worked the kids too hard over one stretch (I believe Christmas break). I think Rick has made his share of mistakes this year but there is still very few coaches I'd rather have at the helm than him. With losing WR and KM though I'm not sure anyone could have coached this team to a winning season.

[BBall Fan]

There is one glaring hole in all the RM criticism in this situation. I have read every article I could find on this year that RM was quoted. I did not find one that ripped any player for anything. I found some that pointed out some weaknesses, but none that I consider ripping anyone. That being said, I don't think he buys the young team excuse anymore either. The loss was a weak minded loss. Not a loss due to physical limitations. We need to look more to the administration for answers to many of these building frustrations. The players are obviously not responding to whatever he has been using this year. Why not try something new. If these kids are not strong minded enough to take some heat then they will not be strong minded enough to finish a game like that in the future.

I agree that RM doesn't seem to take much responsibility but to a certain degree he has earned that right. I guarantee that he would also go Mike Bray on anyone else calling out his players. I also guarantee you that he probably held back considering what he said in the locker room. If he feels it necessary to call them out in the media, then so be it. They obviously are not responding to it behind closed doors. If young men are willing to accept a free $150,000 education, then they can accept being called out by the individual responsible for providing them that opportunity. I am so tired of all the RM rhetoric. If it is that bad, then start a petition and go get his job. Do you want a sustainable long term program or do you want an occasional trip to the NIT. RM is building a long term blueprint for success despite administration efforts to derail the progress. Be careful what you wish for because in this situation, the grass is probably not greener on the other side. Very sad to me that SLU gets a coach that gives credibility to the program and some of you rip him at every opportunity. I am not an RM worshiper but for goodness sake it is going to be the mans first losing season in his career and it is too late in the season for mentally weak losses. Couple that with a sensless blow that kind of ended the season before it started and you have a blowout that has been coming for a looooooong time. I would have had many more of these moments and it would have started about 15 games ago. Don't pretend you wouldn't have.

[For-DaLove]

+1 BBfan! Great post.

[jbizzle09]

BBall Fan said what MB73 wish he could have said. Very good post, BBall Fan.

[billiken_roy]

There is one glaring hole in all the RM criticism in this situation. I have read every article I could find on this year that RM was quoted. I did not find one that ripped any player for anything. I found some that pointed out some weaknesses, but none that I consider ripping anyone. That being said, I don't think he buys the young team excuse anymore either. The loss was a weak minded loss. Not a loss due to physical limitations. We need to look more to the administration for answers to many of these building frustrations. The players are obviously not responding to whatever he has been using this year. Why not try something new. If these kids are not strong minded enough to take some heat then they will not be strong minded enough to finish a game like that in the future.

I agree that RM doesn't seem to take much responsibility but to a certain degree he has earned that right. I guarantee that he would also go Mike Bray on anyone else calling out his players. I also guarantee you that he probably held back considering what he said in the locker room. If he feels it necessary to call them out in the media, then so be it. They obviously are not responding to it behind closed doors. If young men are willing to accept a free $150,000 education, then they can accept being called out by the individual responsible for providing them that opportunity. I am so tired of all the RM rhetoric. If it is that bad, then start a petition and go get his job. Do you want a sustainable long term program or do you want an occasional trip to the NIT. RM is building a long term blueprint for success despite administration efforts to derail the progress. Be careful what you wish for because in this situation, the grass is probably not greener on the other side. Very sad to me that SLU gets a coach that gives credibility to the program and some of you rip him at every opportunity. I am not an RM worshiper but for goodness sake it is going to be the mans first losing season in his career and it is too late in the season for mentally weak losses. Couple that with a sensless blow that kind of ended the season before it started and you have a blowout that has been coming for a looooooong time. I would have had many more of these moments and it would have started about 15 games ago. Don't pretend you wouldn't have.

if you could, please detail exactly what rickma is doing to build this long term program.

does he represent completely saint louis university in the community as an ambassador of the school? not very often. in fact he has publically come out against the school on a number of occasions.

has he enhanced saint louis university's relationship with the local and national media? other than an occaisional visit with bernie m and frank c he pretty much shuns the media. he even went as far as rip our own bob ramsey and now refuses to do the post game interviews if it involves ramsey.

long term program would involve winning big. and i know that is what your rickma disciples blindly believe is coming. he does know basketball. anyone can see that. however this year in particular i have been very upset with the effort to win the game that the billikens would be playing that particular day. too often it is just doing the sazme old thing and nothing seems to be tweaked to try to win the game for the moment. the north carolina's and kansas and dukes are the programs that can say, "this is our game, we play it every time and you have to adjust to us." the likes of spoon, soderberg and romar won some big games in their time here and they did it with schemes and game plans specifically for that day's game. rarely do we see those adjustments in an effort to enhance our chance to win games for the moment.

i dont even want to get into all the player chasing that i believe is flat out wrong for so many reasons. forget about the promises to the players involved. forget about the negativity this shines on the university, if nothing else, it sets the billiken program up for negative recruiting opportunities against us.

building a program would also involve bridging communication within the athletic department to get all departments working together for a common cause. it's my understanding majerus doesnt even go to the departmental meetings and ignores athletic department communications. had he been more involved with the athletic department a good chance ellis academic fiasco never happens. maybe the incident reprecussions dont even happen. but as far as being a part and a leader of the athletic department all too often he is nothing more than a sulking pouting lone wolf as opposed to a leader of the department and school.

last, a long term program would be grooming coaches with the staff. setting the school up with a succession of head coaches to follow. while there is no doubt porter moser is a recruiter. porter moser is a good guy. and porter moser would do more to be an ambassador for the school and media than majerus even thinks about, but what about moser the basketball coach? are you ready to proclaim after his dress rehearsal this season this is the true heir apparent? surely you dont think jensen or harriman are the answer? who's our next coach? the likes of butler, gonzaqa and xavier have head coaches in training. not real sure that has been the case here the last four years.

but please, tell us about rickma building a program long term. i think you really mean to say rickma is going to have a real good season soon. i would tend to agree with that statement. but to say he is building anything is a farce.

i pray you are right and we are indeed building something. but i dont see it. so again, enlighten us.

[moytoy12]

We played LaSalle without our 3 best players from last yr, WR, KM, & CE.

Still doesn't take away from the fact that we should have won the game. Same with Rhode Island, same with Bowling Green, same with GW, same with Austin Peay. We should have won those games with the kids on the court. In each of these games, we had mistakes from the players and the coaches, but we rarely, if ever, hear RM own up to his mistakes. Don't know why I'm replying to you, I wouldn't expect you to acknowledge any flaw with RM.

I know the admin should get a healthy amount of blame for the incident, but what did RM or May do prior to letting it get to the student court? And to be fair, I don't know if they could have done anything.

At the end of the day, RM provides a lot of excuses. Would he tolerate so many excuses from his players? He is not perfect and has made mistakes.

I'm glad RM is our coach and I think he is on the verge of leading this team to something special next year. If RM leaves after the end of this season for anything other than health or family reasons, then he is a quitter. I don't see him quitting on this team.

[MB73]

Yes we should have won the game against LaSalle, we had them. Another heartbreaker, we lost. Does it matter that much? RM probably lost it by benching JJ when we needed his "D" late in the game. He probably benched him for making multiple bonehead mistakes. I think we have lost a few games this year because RM sat some kids that went outside of acceptable parameters for RM's overall design. This is a teaching year.

I support him because he is our only chance to get to a higher level. The incident changed all that, or we would be top 25 - top 40 or so this yr. The long term plan was working, despite some what some of the RM haters say.

So wait until next yr, we must hope they all come back. KM looks very likely, RM looks likely and WR looks probable. If RM leaves, so do a lot of our current freshmen and Manning will renege. Total collapse. Back to the drawing board. And if WR does not come back, we cannot make it to the top 25 or 40 or whatever.

FYI I do not like everything about RM (he is a flaming liberal Democrat!) and he does not have the energy to socialize and be accomodating to all of the media, and he should not have made the rant that started this thread. Not optimal. BUT I'll take the tradeoffs, he is getting 3* bigs and turning them into players... best crop of bigs ever, by far, at SLU. This should have been our breakout year.

And Tonka, you have eased away from your obnoxious first post, thank you. Read it, your first entree on this thread, it was embarrasing. (RE: the towel comment... you wanna go there? OK, then I say you are what landed in the towel)