DeSmetBilliken Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Luol Deng has an interesting story. With his amazing basketball ability, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he left college early to go to the NBA. However, in a very good article I read on Deng in ESPN Magazine last week, his father expects him to go to Duke to get a degree so one day he can help give aid to the people of his native country, Sudan. The article mentioned that the Duke coaching staff made a much different recruiting pitch than they would with most players, which was that going to Duke would be a great networking opportunity for Luol later in his life when he is trying to get wealthy people to donate money to build up his homeland. I actually wouldn't be shocked if he stayed at Duke for all four years, or at least until he got his degree like some Dukies have gotten in 3 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 I am sorry, Roy and other's contention that we can win the game is not realistic. That being said, could we win the game - anything is possible but it is not probable. We can do better to improve our SOS by playing more higher rated teams then last year rather than playing one powerhouse and other weak teams. We do not know what our non-conf. schedule is yet so who knows how this all fits in the big picture. All I know is that being a "buy" game for any team is not a good signal to send - something like this will weaken our chance of demanding home and home series. Someone asked how we would be a buy game and the truth is if we do not get a big pay day to do this then we are really being silly. Being on ESPN is not worth anything unless we win - what recruits want to know is how many times are you on ESPN? not how many times did you get on in a one shot deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Thicks you are have nailed the point perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Roy, we can build a winning program without playing Duke in a one shot deal. If we build a winning program, then we can get home and home games with the likes of Duke in time. Nobody is running from anybody - all we are saying is lets play Duke but lets play them here and there. After all, those of us with season tickets deserve a chance to see Duke in person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUDrew Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 I am not scared of going up their and playing, and I am sure no team coached by Soderberg will ever fear playing anyone, but I am just wondering if it is a step forward for the program or a step backward. (By a step backward I mean allowing oursleves to be buy games for more prominent programs without demanding a return game here in St. Louis) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 If there is an opportunity to play home-home with Kansas, Michigan State or Georgia Tech again, then take that over Duke. BUT, if it's a choice of a home-home with Butler or SMS vs. a road game at Duke, I say play Duke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 This is not about guts - this about giving our fans a chance to have a good non-conference home schedule. If you don't get home and home deals with good teams then all we will see are MVC teams and other small conference teams. Quite making this into a we are not afraid of anybody arguement and one that is based on being a positive for both teams regardless of the outcome. Some of you are begining to sound like this is the "Mother of All Upsets" and the truth is you go to Cameron and take your chances but full well knowing you will get a chance to upset them also on your home court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 My guts and easily get away with it, if that was a face to face question. However, in regards to the question of playing Duke in a buy game then my opinion is that it sucks if that is what we are really doing. Didn't we do a home and home with UCLA right around the time the were NCAA Champs? I mean that program only has 11 NCAA championship hanging from Pauley and they did a home and home??? If this is not a home and home deal then I'd tell Duke...no thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Law Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 >drew said, "Let's say we play well and lose by 15, do you >think people will say, "Wow SLU is a real up and coming >program", or will they not even notice because we would be >just another OOC victory for Duke at Cameron?" > >well it depends on the way the game is played. what if the >game is close only to have duke pull away at the end. >dickie v would be forced to prime the billikens for most of >the game. what if our younger players have a great game and >it causes dickie v to make mention of "all the billikens >need is......" again, the chance to be on espn is an >opportunity to make things happen. University of Detroit hung with Duke until the 10 minute mark or so down at Cameron. Did that do anything positive for UDM? All I heard it used for was to say "Duke is overrated, and the proof is they struggled with Detroit." The media spin would be "these lesser teams get up like never before to play Duke." If we're really selling out for 1 game at Duke and no return then it shows desperation for attention on the part of the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Billiken Law - I agree with all your points. The only thing I would add is that the athletic department has the responsibility to try to bring in good non-conf. opponents for the fans to see and when you give up one of your non-conf. games and don't get anything in return for the fans then we are stuck with watching low rung teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewey33 Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Why we getting compared to Detroit-Mercy?????? The national media gives us more credit than that... we beat 5 NCAA tournament teams last year. We were the only team that played all 5 teams that tied for the C-USA on the road. You can bet that Coach Crean will be in no hurry to play us when he leaves for the Big East. By making a decision to play at Duke for a national TV game in the last year of our current conference affiliation is not the end of the world! Is it any different than the ACC/Big Ten challenge? Not really. I bet you Duke picks who they play on the road in that affair and that is a league with a bit more clout than C-USA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 And your point is? I never compared us to Detroit Mercy - in fact I keep saying we much higher profile then a team like that, ergo we should settle for a one way deal like they have to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Like I said, other than TV exposure, this game has no redeeming value whatsoever. I understand that some posters would prefer to lose at Duke than lose at West Virginia or SMS. So would I. But if the only choice is to play at SMS or to play at Duke, then this program is in trouble. There are twenty-four other teams in the top 25 besides Duke. I can't believe all of them rejected our offer to play home and home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewey33 Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Thats the example that was presented to make a point....the spin on a SLU-Duke game would be much different than that of a Detroit-Mercy. But we have a reputation of being a well-coached "dangerous" team to play on the road. We have had little success getting home and home's national power....the Arizona deal was probably put together with Woolard and Romar's west coast ties. We probably couldn't get the G-Tech thing done now that they have gotten good again. The point I am making if we plan to make a splash on the big stage we need to jump into the deep end and see what happens. Otherwise we will be playing home and homes with the likes of West Virginia, Kansas State, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewey33 Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 The goal of the non-conference schedule isn't to merely get on TV, get wins or pump up the RPI. It is to get our guys ready to play championship basketball in the conference, to win a championship you have to be prepared to win games against tough teams on the road. This an an opportunity to do this, and to do it against a team we hope to be facing in the NCAA tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 As I said already, if we don't get a return game then it sucks, and has nothing at all to do with being afraid of playing Duke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 I happen to believe this sentiment is pure bullspit, and go along with the notion that there are surely Top 25 programs that would agree to play us in a home and home series...tell Duke to shove it, if it isn't home and home!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Are you're telling me playing at Cameron is the only way to accomplish those goals? How about playing one of the other twenty-four teams in the top 25 who occasionally lose a non-conference game at home and and is willing to play a return game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 ...Duke should still be coming to St. Louis to finish a series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheltiedave Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 Factors that will get SLU off the bubble and in the tournament include wins, quality wins, strength of schedule, and road wins. We have witnessed the cusp of the bubble for the next two years, and I for one am hungry. Putting Duke on the schedule can accomplish all four in one fell swoop. Looking at the relationships Woolard, Brad, and our two previous coaches have developed, we can reasonably expect game(s) fron the following pool - Arizona, Missouri, K State, Washington, W Virginia, G Tech, Wisconson, Illinois, Xavier, Dayton, Louisville, Cinn, Marquette, Memphis, UCLA, UNLV. These games should always help our RPI, while in CUSA(for the obvious) and shortly thereafter in the A10. The AD needs to work on improving our SOS each year as our recruiting base improves. Brad has opened the St. Louis pipeline, so we have the opportunity to get at least one local blue chipper each year. Next year has us holding a sophomore center, a sophomore power forward, and a freshman center. Our critical need is for Brad to glean a strong power forward that is quick with the remaining ship, and he has to be a juco for 5/8 considerations. Scheduling Duke for a solitare will work well IF we leverage this to gain a cycle with another prominent ACC or SEC team. Duke and Maryland are the true shredders from the ACC - most other teams struggle early in their OOC schedules with strong opponents. Until last year, the Big 10 was death on OOC opponents from weaker sister conferences, because of their physical play. We need to step up and pick our poison earlier and more often in the next four years, because schedule cycles often run four to six years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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