Bills by 40 over Ill-Sprfld

[The Wiz]

Wiz, I suppose the POW is something like 99.9%?

LOL....probably more like 99.99%. Usually when you get out past the 4th standard deviation you are talking about lightning strikes and lottery wins not college basketball. The only way we could have pushed this spread higher was to play a high school team.

[billslasttermdropout]

Do NOT...and I repeat, do NOT underestimate the Lanphier Lions. Errr I mean the University of Illinois at Springfield. These are the 3 time NAIA national soccer champion Prairie Stars you are talking about here.

[Quality Is Job 1]

Do NOT...and I repeat, do NOT underestimate the Lanphier Lions. Errr I mean the University of Illinois at Springfield. These are the 3 time NAIA national soccer champion Prairie Stars you are talking about here.

Sounds like their soccer team might be able to play a closer basketball game against the Billikens than their basketball team can

[joe_davola]

Needless to say the OQ is F

Believe it or not the 40 number is on the conservative side. While we could easily win by more than 40 the reality is we will win by less. RM isn't into humilating the other team especially on his 500th win.

More proof that no one wants to play at the FETZ!

[billikenbill]

If we can't win by 40, I'll settle for a nice comfortable 35 pt. win where we score a lot. How does a 35 pt. margin sound, with the final 92-57? Or will we complain about how poorly the D played by giving up 57 to a team like this?

[cheeseman]

Missouri State may be my most hated opponent (other than X) over the past 10 years. They are 6-1 against us since 2001-02, but somehow we've played them at Missouri State 4 times. WTF is that BS!!!???...They are so ###### lucky against us too...last year we didn't have Kwamain or Willie, the year before that Cody wasn't here yet and Kwamain had to sit with an eye injury...

At least I was a student when we beat them with Ian's tip in...that was an awesome game to be at...especially since that game arguably ended up keeping them out of the NCAA Tourney...

The imbalance occurred when they asked us to play two years in a row at their place - the contracts we signed were for 2 years home and away and when we signed the next one they asked to change the rotation but they simply did not keep the contract going so we got screwed out of a home game.

[cheeseman]

With all of this Jesuit buddy-buddy stuff, how COME we can't get a series started with Creighton? I've always admired them, but they ain't exactly Duke or Kansas. Seems like it shouldn't be that hard. They know how to get to St. Louis.

RM has said that there is no such a thing as Catholic schools supporting other Catholic schools - it is all about MONEY and what is in it for them. He also said that because of this "screw you, I am looking out only for me" attitude that there probably will never be a papal conf. The schools simply will not ever give an inch unless they can get 2 inches. His point, forget this idea that schools of religious connections ever owe each other anything.

[MusicCityBilliken]

RM has said that there is no such a thing as Catholic schools supporting other Catholic schools - it is all about MONEY and what is in it for them. He also said that because of this "screw you, I am looking out only for me" attitude that there probably will never be a papal conf. The schools simply will not ever give an inch unless they can get 2 inches. His point, forget this idea that schools of religious connections ever owe each other anything.

One thing I love about Rick is he says at it is. No diplomacy and no sugar glossing with him.

Any word on a weekly radio show once we get into conference play? I think him and Bernie would be great together.

[bonwich]

RM has said that there is no such a thing as Catholic schools supporting other Catholic schools - it is all about MONEY and what is in it for them. He also said that because of this "screw you, I am looking out only for me" attitude that there probably will never be a papal conf. The schools simply will not ever give an inch unless they can get 2 inches. His point, forget this idea that schools of religious connections ever owe each other anything.

I think the Rockhurst game, a blatant Jesuit favor, disproves this. Sure, Larry can't simply call up his counterpart at Creighton and beg a series simply as a favor. However, I think that if our season continues as it's been going, the Creightons of the world will be more amenable to home-and-homes, and the Georgetowns and especially the Marquettes might start to thaw a bit. (Of course, we need to stay the hell away from Loyola, given that we all know that Porter can run x's and o's around RickMa as a coach, and by then he'll have a roster full of four- and five-star recruits.)

[cheeseman]

I think the Rockhurst game, a blatant Jesuit favor, disproves this. Sure, Larry can't simply call up his counterpart at Creighton and beg a series simply as a favor. However, I think that if our season continues as it's been going, the Creightons of the world will be more amenable to home-and-homes, and the Georgetowns and especially the Marquettes might start to thaw a bit. (Of course, we need to stay the hell away from Loyola, given that we all know that Porter can run x's and o's around RickMa as a coach, and by then he'll have a roster full of four- and five-star recruits.)

Bonwich, your comparison of us playing Rockhurst as a counter to what RM said is not even close - by the way he did not say that he is someone who wants to not do favors for others and your example supports what he is saying that he is open but others are not. Playing a D2 team as what is basically an exhibition game is not the same as trying to get ND to play us home and away, or Marq doing the same for us unless they think that they will get something out of it - could be increased RPI rankings, TV exposure, or whatever but RM's point was you will not get them to say OK we can do you a favor here. Georgetown or DePaul have nothing to gain by playing us so you can forget about that - in fact DePaul has much to lose because we recruit Chicago against them. In the Big East the best we can hope for is a Seton Hall or Providence. Given what has happened since RM has come here and all the deaf ears we have gotten from these catholic schools trying to schedule them I think RM's conclusion is spot on. By the way, you may think that Creighton would be doing us a favor to play us - I believe you are wrong - Creighton and SLU are on the same level so you would think it would be something of a benefit to both to play each other - certainly more enticing to me than SIU or SMS or Bradley or ISU - but apparently from what RM has said they have no interest in playing us either even though you would think that FSM would see it as an attractive TV match up.

[kappy96]

i have never understood the "we could rest the players that game" thinking. the 20 - 30 minutes is nothing compared to the 3 hours they practice every night. if the players really need rest, take a night off practice or tell them to go to bed early.

Agreed. The main benefit to playing an inferior opponent is that it provides an opportunity to give non-regulars real game experience. In the case of IL-Springfield it also guards against a mental letdown since Finals are right around the corner.

[bonwich]

Bonwich, your comparison of us playing Rockhurst as a counter to what RM said is not even close - by the way he did not say that he is someone who wants to not do favors for others and your example supports what he is saying that he is open but others are not. Playing a D2 team as what is basically an exhibition game is not the same as trying to get ND to play us home and away, or Marq doing the same for us unless they think that they will get something out of it - could be increased RPI rankings, TV exposure, or whatever but RM's point was you will not get them to say OK we can do you a favor here. Georgetown or DePaul have nothing to gain by playing us so you can forget about that - in fact DePaul has much to lose because we recruit Chicago against them. In the Big East the best we can hope for is a Seton Hall or Providence. Given what has happened since RM has come here and all the deaf ears we have gotten from these catholic schools trying to schedule them I think RM's conclusion is spot on. By the way, you may think that Creighton would be doing us a favor to play us - I believe you are wrong - Creighton and SLU are on the same level so you would think it would be something of a benefit to both to play each other - certainly more enticing to me than SIU or SMS or Bradley or ISU - but apparently from what RM has said they have no interest in playing us either even though you would think that FSM would see it as an attractive TV match up.

"RM has said that there is no such a thing as Catholic schools supporting other Catholic schools - it is all about MONEY and what is in it for them."

Rockhurst is a Catholic school. And we played them regular season in place of a real game -- if you believe what's on the board, as a favor from Larry to the Rockhurst prez. If that's not "Catholic schools supporting other Catholic schools," well...

And you spent a whole lot of words jumping about ten steps ahead of the argument I was making. We aren't yet "sexy." There's not a great deal for Creighton to gain playing us based on last year's record and our past, oh, 40 years of the program. But if we look like a potentially consistent 100- RPI team, it makes more sense for Creighton to play us. And if Creighton has 5-6 teams to pick from for, say, 2 noncon games, then the Jesuit influence is a possible tie-breaker, especially if someone on Grand makes a phone call.

Where you really jumped too far was saying I was comparing our accomodation of Rockhurst to us trying to land ND or Marquette. First of all, ND ain't Jesuit, so it shouldn't even be in this discussion. And in any event, those two schools are going to be basketball royalty even during the years where they relatively suck.

I do believe, however, that we should be able to land at least one a year from the Marquette/Georgetown/Gonzaga Jesuit elite after we make the tournament a year or two (or five) in the next several seasons. Ignatian altar wine is thicker than water.

[White Pelican]

"RM has said that there is no such a thing as Catholic schools supporting other Catholic schools - it is all about MONEY and what is in it for them."

Rockhurst is a Catholic school. And we played them regular season in place of a real game -- if you believe what's on the board, as a favor from Larry to the Rockhurst prez. If that's not "Catholic schools supporting other Catholic schools," well...

And you spent a whole lot of words jumping about ten steps ahead of the argument I was making. We aren't yet "sexy." There's not a great deal for Creighton to gain playing us based on last year's record and our past, oh, 40 years of the program. But if we look like a potentially consistent 100- RPI team, it makes more sense for Creighton to play us. And if Creighton has 5-6 teams to pick from for, say, 2 noncon games, then the Jesuit influence is a possible tie-breaker, especially if someone on Grand makes a phone call.

Where you really jumped too far was saying I was comparing our accomodation of Rockhurst to us trying to land ND or Marquette. First of all, ND ain't Jesuit, so it shouldn't even be in this discussion. And in any event, those two schools are going to be basketball royalty even during the years where they relatively suck.

I do believe, however, that we should be able to land at least one a year from the Marquette/Georgetown/Gonzaga Jesuit elite after we make the tournament a year or two (or five) in the next several seasons. Ignatian altar wine is thicker than water.

This is pretty much what I was referring to earlier. The Rockhurst thing, two years in a row, was supposedly a favor to another Jebbie and part of the "Jesuit Something or Other" that kept getting referred to. Particularly the way our team is playing now, and hopefully for several years to come, I don't see what Creighton has to lose by starting a home and home.

[Iggy]

I want to score 100 tomorrow!