And it's...Illinois-Springfield?!?!

[Scoop]

At least it's an afternoon game.

[TheA_Bomb]

Yet another lackluster non-con home schedule that is par for the course.

Good thing we've avoided that pesky March Madness the last 10 years or it could've interfered with mid-terms.

When do the benefits of having Majerus as our coach kick in? I'm really ready to have something to cheer about.

[thetorch]

I've harped on this before. To me playing Illinois Springfield or any D-2 during the season is unacceptable.

This is what Majerus does though.

02-03 Jan 14 Utah vs Ripon RedHawks (WI)

01-02 Jan 2 Utah vs Whitworth University (WA)

00-01 Nov 26 Utah vs Cardinal Strich (WI)

00-01 Dec 26 Utah vs Concordia College (CA)

[Randy]

ESPN.com has the UIS game switched to Murray State...they must be getting their info from this site

[cheeseman]

The home non conf schedule is all part of the full non conf schedule. In other words, if you are playing tough road non conf schedule then you will have to balance it out some with a softer home non conf schedule - that makes sense and is even reasonable to expect. Since we have had trouble getting decent home and home non conf schedule games the staff has done the next best thing - get in tourneys with a good field and raise the level of difficulty of the schedule that way. I understand that does not help those who want to see good teams at home but until we reach a point in our development that others see an advantage to play us home and home then we are stuck with what we got. Also, a win over a good opponent at a neutral site - as I think I understand it - is better than a win over a good opponent at your home site.

[RF1]

Most A-10 teams, save Xavier and Temple, are having a tough time scheduling, particularly home games. St. Bonaventure is actually still looking for two games at this date. That is why I think it makes sense for the A-10 to increase the league schedule from 16 to 18 games. Play an equal number of home and away versus eight A-10 members and play the other five A-10 teams home and home.

[jjray]

Most A-10 teams, save Xavier and Temple, are having a tough time scheduling, particularly home games. St. Bonaventure is actually still looking for two games at this date. That is why I think it makes sense for the A-10 to increase the league schedule from 16 to 18 games. Play an equal number of home and away versus eight A-10 members and play the other five A-10 teams home and home.

+1 Certainly would help SLU with scheduling. The vast majority of the teams in the conference are in the same boat as SLU in regards to scheduling.

[billiken_roy]

Most A-10 teams, save Xavier and Temple, are having a tough time scheduling, particularly home games. St. Bonaventure is actually still looking for two games at this date. That is why I think it makes sense for the A-10 to increase the league schedule from 16 to 18 games. Play an equal number of home and away versus eight A-10 members and play the other five A-10 teams home and home.

This seems like A great idea. You should email the conference

[SluSignGuy]

ESPN.com has the UIS game switched to Murray State...they must be getting their info from this site

I finally fixed the front page. Lets see if there is an ESPN lag.

[MB73]

Not yet, no. The non-renewal of the Billiken Club membership was the first step. I've been thinking about what to say in an email. I just can't justify this expense anymore. Now that I'm married and can't justify it to myself, there's definitely no way I can justify it to my wife.

Incidentally, she's a Xavier fan; their season ticket holders - including her family - will see Miami (Ohio), Georgia, Cincinnati, Purdue, and Gonzaga come to town - all for the same price or less than our season tickets*. Not to mention, they play road games at Vanderbilt, Butler, and Memphis, in addition to the Hawaiian Airlines tournament in Honolulu.

I'll put it this way: I won't buy SLU season tickets next year without first seeing the schedule. I can't put my faith in them assembling a strong enough non-conference home schedule to do so. And this is coming from a guy who bought season tickets for the first two years at Chaifetz despite not even living in St. Louis.

*$450/seat + premium seat contribution for lower bowl tickets; $300-$380/seat with no additional fee for upper bowl tickets.

Wow.

Pistol is right. I had high hopes when RM came aboard, I though we could get out of the BIG RUT.

Pistol and I are going in the same direction, though I already am OUT. I did not renew my season tickets, Sec 115 on the aisle. Loved them. Things were looking up!

Reasons for the cancellation? Mostly:

1) REAL committment to the program; Biondi. SLU is the only program in the NCAA that would have handled the "incident" the way they did. SLU let Cook get revenge for his friend. Atrocious. KM should have been suspended for two games, thats it. WR should have sat out until break because of his grades (I know, he had other issues, but his other situation(s), by coincidence, was/were suspiciously held back until Oct, when the "incident" was made public though it occured in May). Season tickets? And THEY let a paid lawyer into the Student Court hearing. WTF? The whole thing, no tutor for Willie in the spring, etc. Why? And so on. There are Billiken HOF members that did worse than these two. But she was connected.

The John Cook School of Business called my home just the other night for a donation, I laughed, told the nice young lady that I would donate again when SLU changed the name of the School of Buinsess.

2) The Schedule. Who wants to see these pitiful non-conference games? I thought years ago, when he became our coach, Majerus would get us some better games, win or lose, lets get some good teams in here to get interest up and get some better recruits. And, again, some of the A-10 games are not so hot, either. Where the hell are some of these teams from? Who give a sh*t about them? St. Bonnie, etc.

3) Stupid conference. The A-10 is a disaster for many reasons, ridiculous travel (for a mid major like us, don't tell me about Arizona State and Oregon), the east coast bias refs, miserable TV package, lack of identifiable rivalries, too many teams, etc.

4) I thought by now RM would get us a legit, powerful 4 or 5 star BIG (C, PF) or two. It would make all the difference in the world, but has not happened.

SO, Pistol, et all, I will go to some games, I wish them luck, but the window has passed for us to move up a few tiers, get into the NCAA's and win a game or two, that was last yr, our only chance. We will have a nice 20-21 win season, maybe the NIT, but have been set back 2 yrs. I will be damned if I am supporting them any more with donations for the full season ticket package. They can ask John Cook to make up the $$$$$ difference from last yr in lost ticket revenue and sponsors and advertisers.

(RE: the comment about the new SLU uniforms that resemble Duke, that was funny, but again I am not really a Duke fan, just have a pet peeve for people that arbitrarily HATE Duke because of petty jealousy of their successful, realtively clean program, Final Fours and NCAA Championships galore for 20+ yrs, excellent academics, legendary coach. Some on this board even make things up. Petty. Pathetic. What program has done better all around, and without scandals? U. Conn this yr? Sickening. So yes, sometimes I get in their face. And yes, my son went to Duke, but again, I recommended he go to another school, he had a better offer)

[The Pelican]

Wow.

Pistol is right. I had high hopes when RM came aboard, I though we could get out of the BIG RUT.

Pistol and I are going in the same direction, though I already am OUT. I did not renew my season tickets, Sec 115 on the aisle. Loved them. Things were looking up!

Reasons for the cancellation? Mostly:

1) REAL committment to the program; Biondi. SLU is the only program in the NCAA that would have handled the "incident" the way they did. SLU let Cook get revenge for his friend. Atrocious. KM should have been suspended for two games, thats it. WR should have sat out until break because of his grades (I know, he had other issues, but his other situation(s), by coincidence, was/were suspiciously held back until Oct, when the "incident" was made public though it occured in May). Season tickets? And THEY let a paid lawyer into the Student Court hearing. WTF? The whole thing, no tutor for Willie in the spring, etc. Why? And so on. There are Billiken HOF members that did worse than these two. But she was connected.

The John Cook School of Business called my home just the other night for a donation, I laughed, told the nice young lady that I would donate again when SLU changed the name of the School of Buinsess.

2) The Schedule. Who wants to see these pitiful non-conference games? I thought years ago, when he became our coach, Majerus would get us some better games, win or lose, lets get some good teams in here to get interest up and get some better recruits. And, again, some of the A-10 games are not so hot, either. Where the hell are some of these teams from? Who give a sh*t about them? St. Bonnie, etc.

3) Stupid conference. The A-10 is a disaster for many reasons, ridiculous travel (for a mid major like us, don't tell me about Arizona State and Oregon), the east coast bias refs, miserable TV package, lack of identifiable rivalries, too many teams, etc.

4) I thought by now RM would get us a legit, powerful 4 or 5 star BIG (C, PF) or two. It would make all the difference in the world, but has not happened.

SO, Pistol, et all, I will go to some games, I wish them luck, but the window has passed for us to move up a few tiers, get into the NCAA's and win a game or two, that was last yr, our only chance. We will have a nice 20-21 win season, maybe the NIT, but have been set back 2 yrs. I will be damned if I am supporting them any more with donations for the full season ticket package. They can ask John Cook to make up the $$$$$ difference from last yr in lost ticket revenue and sponsors and advertisers.

(RE: the comment about the new SLU uniforms that resemble Duke, that was funny, but again I am not really a Duke fan, just have a pet peeve for people that arbitrarily HATE Duke because of petty jealousy of their successful, realtively clean program, Final Fours and NCAA Championships galore for 20+ yrs, excellent academics, legendary coach. Some on this board even make things up. Petty. Pathetic. What program has done better all around, and without scandals? U. Conn this yr? Sickening. So yes, sometimes I get in their face. And yes, my son went to Duke, but again, I recommended he go to another school, he had a better offer)

I agree with about half of what you say. Some things are on and some things you are misinformed (i.e.- WR had 9 tutors in the spring). I am curious to know what you will do if things get turned around and we become an NCAA/NIT annual team? What would make you come back? Just curious.

[MB73]

I agree with about half of what you say. Some things are on and some things you are misinformed (i.e.- WR had 9 tutors in the spring). I am curious to know what you will do if things get turned around and we become an NCAA/NIT annual team? What would make you come back? Just curious.

It was reported several times that WR had no tutors; several times.

If he really did have help, well, OK, but that is still a minor factor compared to the other facts of the whole "incident" clusterschtook, I was just using the tutor-renege to cite the pettiness and vindictiveness of the powers that slammed shut our program.

SLU a NIT / NCAA annual team? I will think about that when that happens, and / or when Biondi leaves.

(What, do you think we will make the NCAA's this yr?)

[Cowboy]

It was reported several times that WR had no tutors; several times.

If he really did have help, well, OK, but that is still a minor factor compared to the other facts of the whole "incident" clusterschtook, I was just using the tutor-renege to cite the pettiness and vindictiveness of the powers that slammed shut our program.

SLU a NIT / NCAA annual team? I will think about that when that happens, and / or when Biondi leaves.

(What, do you think we will make the NCAA's this yr?)

-why keep posting here?

[MB73]

-why keep posting here?

I am still an alumni, a long time fan & season ticket holder on and off for decades, a donor and I am entitled to voice my fact based opinion on the SLU administration's overall long standing inept management of the athletic department.

Who asked you?

Who TF are you? "Cowboy"?

[For-DaLove]

MB, thanks for saying what most others won't. I don't agree with everything you said but most of it is point on. One thing I'll say is that John Cook wanted to make the basketball program suffer. People who stop giving to the program/ don't renew season tickets are giving him exactly what he wants. I, too, wont give a cent to the business school as long as it still has the same name on it.

[Billikan]

I am still an alumni, a long time fan & season ticket holder on and off for decades, a donor and I am entitled to voice my fact based opinion on the SLU administration's overall long standing inept management of the athletic department.

Who asked you?

Who TF are you? "Cowboy"?

A lot of your "facts" are dead wrong but of course, like every other non Billiken fan who posts on this supposed Billiken board, you have the right to your "opinion". But you have quit on the team so why keep posting here and bothering the people who are still fans and still want the team to succeed.

[MB73]

A lot of your "facts" are dead wrong but of course, like every other non Billiken fan who posts on this supposed Billiken board, you have the right to your "opinion". But you have quit on the team so why keep posting here and bothering the people who are still fans and still want the team to succeed.

You do not get it. You are a solid poster but I am not a non Billiken fan, you are sorely mistaken.

I will go to some games and hope the lads exceed expectations, but no more season tickets with dontations.

Biondi and the rest down there are apathetic and do not give the proper emphasis to sports and have no real committment to building a successful basketball program. Tons of examples, issues, incidents, not just John Cook's Revenge, much, much more than that. We have all been over most of it, lets not start.

Many well connected inside alumni that are involved agree with me. Maybe you are an insider, too, and think otherwise, good for you, that is your prerogative.

I still hope Manning exceeds expectations, is an intimidating force inside, Barnett is the next "Jimmer", KM comes back to previous form, CE hits his shots, Loe becomes a monster in the paint... we go to NCAA's... all of that... maybe it will happen.

[Cowboy]

I am still an alumni, a long time fan & season ticket holder on and off for decades, a donor and I am entitled to voice my fact based opinion on the SLU administration's overall long standing inept management of the athletic department.

Who asked you?

Who TF are you? "Cowboy"?

-as i understand this site none of us are entitled to anything as steve lets us play in his sandbox and he can make the rules so until steve revokes my permissions i can ask a question, i think

-always dangerous to read tone into email or posts, but to me you seem angry in many of your posts, just an observation

-you can chose to financially support the U or not and i hope you coming here to state your reasons makes you feel better

-i am just another Billiken fan who hopes for success

[slu72 fan]

You do not get it. You are a solid poster but I am not a non Billiken fan, you are sorely mistaken.

I will go to some games and hope the lads exceed expectations, but no more season tickets with dontations.

Biondi and the rest down there are apathetic and do not give the proper emphasis to sports and have no real committment to building a successful basketball program. Tons of examples, issues, incidents, not just John Cook's Revenge, much, much more than that. We have all been over most of it, lets not start.

Many well connected inside alumni that are involved agree with me. Maybe you are an insider, too, and think otherwise, good for you, that is your prerogative.

I still hope Manning exceeds expectations, is an intimidating force inside, Barnett is the next "Jimmer", KM comes back to previous form, CE hits his shots, Loe becomes a monster in the paint... we go to NCAA's... all of that... maybe it will happen.

By not supporting the athletic Dept, beyond an occasional ticket purchase, aren't you only hurting the student athletes? The good father certainly doesn't care, and your beef appears to be with him.

[waldo027]

I still hope Manning exceeds expectations, is an intimidating force inside, Barnett is the next "Jimmer", KM comes back to previous form, CE hits his shots, Loe becomes a monster in the paint.

If all of these things happen we'll win the conference and will only lose 2-3 games all year.