Billiken Club

[davidnark]

I can't make it tonight, so I would appreciate any summaries. Information and updates about the arena project would be particularly appreciated.

[gister]

Not much information. Jill, Brad, and Earl talked. Nothing was asked about the stadium. I don't think Brad could have added anything.

One interesting comment was about the Duke game. That was disucssed among a fairly small circle of people and Brad seemed pretty upset that any info had gotten out. There is no game scheduled at this time, but they have talked to Duke. Nothing is settled. The schedule will be announced when it is complete.

Earl felt that SLU really had to get Lisch. The way he worded it, I wasn't sure if he felt that they really had an inside track or that SLU really needed to sign him. He mentioned Illinois and Kansas as some of the competition.

Brad said he knew TL's situation but could not comment. Nothing was said be Brad or Earl to indicate how his most recent testing had gone.

It's late, if I think of anything else, I'll post later.

[davidnark]

Thanks for the information. That doesn't sound like good news about TL. Had he qualified, I speculate that Brad would have been more than happy to share the good news. The next four or five weeks may be very telling about the near future of the program.

[thetorch]

Brad was upset about people having knowledge of the Duke game? It was in the newspaper.

[SluSignGuy]

I think it was on this Message Board first. I also asked John Garrison about it at the Tournament, and he seemed a little puzzled of how I found out. I don't think they like that it was leaked, but I am okay with it. If someone in know wants to tell, fine by me.

Steve

[SLURadioBoy]

Well as far as Earl not acting like SLU has an inside track with Lisch, I'm still not that worried about it. Kevin talks about SLU more than any other school when he's interviewed. Plus he's always at our home games. Granted, he's probably a big college basketball fan, but that's still gotta be a good sign.

And as far as Tommie's eligibility is considered, I'm not surprised that they were playing everything close to the vest. I heard Brad interviewed on KMOX a few months ago and he said he wasn't allowed to comment on any player's eligibility until they actually graduate. He couldn't even tell if Luke or Dwayne were eligible and it's quite obvious they are since they're National Honor Society members. Of course I don't have any inside information, but I don't think we should read between the lines either.

"Praises we sing, to you our alma mater,

Praise to the white and blue.

Our hymn shall ring, in tribute strong to you,

We hail Saint Louis U."

Official Billikens.com sponsor of Andrew Latimer

[billiken_roy]

i will never understand the cia-like atmosphere that slu wants to play ALL the time. i got the same response when i called the athletic dept a couple of months ago about sms not being on our schedule. they were floored i had heard that and went into denial about it. i told them that 1380 was talking about it. they have to realize that this scheduling thing requires two programs to talk. so maybe the leak isnt necessarily from within.

[Basketbill]

IF in fact nothing is signed and sealed I can think of a number of reasons to keep it secret.

1) perhaps Duke is considering a home and home, but has yet to agree, yet in the newspaper Duke is coming all hail duke......what sort of leverage does SLU have at that point.

2) Local unnamed coach might not want SLU to be playing the school he coach at and might lobby for his pal MK to not play SLU.....

those are just to plausible reasons I am sure we could come up with more

[Basketbill]

ask about when they might fill the last scholarship??

[kshoe]

sounds like he will be offered a scholarship and if he accepts then it will be filled on Sunday. If not its on to plan B.

[kshoe]

Tuesday was the first published date that the ACT score could have been available. I don't know how the ACT works these days (when I took it you just waited at the mailbox) but if they say results will first be available April 13-15 online does that mean for sure that they will be there on the 13th? In my opinion it is unlikely that Brad had any knowledge of TL's test by the time of the meeting.

[kshoe]

he wouldn't comment on any games at this point because the schedule is not final and he didn't want to say somethig that changed later. The example he gave was lets say we are set to play Team A on Date X. If a desirable game (Illinois for example) became available on Date X we would make reasonable efforts to change the date with Team A or move that game to next year if possible. Thus, if he had told us at a Billiken Club meeting that we are playing Team A next season and we didn't he would look like a fool.

In my opinion it would have nothing to do with Q not wanting SLU to play Duke. I don't think Q cares that much about us one way or another.

[davidnark]

I'm with you Roy. We are talkng about college athletics, not military or political secrets. Despite all of Mizzou's faults, I appreciate how they are much more open with their fans than SLU.

[willie]

Somebody asked Brad about partial qualifiers ,his answer was that it no longer exists period. TL either qualifies or he doesn't. For what it's worth{probably not much} I read Brad's body language to be very hopefull about Tommie. My prediction is that TL will wear the Billiken Blue next year.

[Basketbill]

I am not saying quin does not want SLU to play Duke, I am just proposing possibilities as to why it is best not to leak things until the ink is dry on the contracts....

[davidnark]

Now I am completely confused. What does Brad mean when he says that there are no longer partial qualifiers? I thought that if a player met the test or grade point requirement, but not both, then he partially qualified. Did the rules change again?

[sluer]

Just a couple other points that Brad made. He expects the 5/8 rule to be abolished by a vote on April 30, but he does not know when it will be effective. If effective immediately, we would have one more scholarship available. He gave no inclination about whether he would use it now, although he did say that he liked having one available over the summer.

He also said that Ian would be going home for the summer to play on the Greek Junior National Team. He wants Ian to lose 15 lbs or so and they had already been in contact with the national team's trainers.

[p diddy]

earl did say that he would be disappointed if we did not get lisch because the slu staff has done the best job of recruting him the past three years. we were there and laid down a solid foundation with kevin and his family when kevin was off the radar and now everyone else is getting in. he also said that if we are going to go to the next level, we have to hold off these high-profile teams to keep a top hometown kid and kevin represents the best opportunity. i took that to mean he ours to lose.

bad boyz for life

[willie]

I think they changed the rules. He did not hesitate. He said there was no such thing anymore. I had read somewhere that the Dwayne Wade senerio did not exist today. I don't know of any partial qualifiers anywhere.

[tseugnekillib]

While we are talking about college athletics and not military secrets, we are still talking about business contracts and until everything is in place, all i's dotted and t's crossed ...... you still have to be carefully in prematurely releasing scheduling information for the reason KHOE indicated above.

SLU still has three games to finalize on next years schedule. Coach Soderberg commented that scheduling is far more difficult than most people think, especially when do not have an on-campus arena.

Soderberg wants to play a strong enough schedule that the NCAA Selection Committee will want SLU in the Big Dance even if the Billikens don't win the conference tournament. However, he cautioned, that you better have the talent to handle the really strong schedule.

The NIT win over Iowa was personally big for Coach Brad, as it was his first win over a Big 10 team since leaving Wisconsin.

The future A-10 is discussing a 16 game bball schedule similar to what the C-USA is now using. Play every team once and then having a three-team pod that plays home and away games. Logically, Dayton and Xavier would be two of the three pod teams. Perhaps one of the three Philly schools(LaSalle, Temple, St. Joes) could be the third pod team.

Coach Soderberg thinks the 7-1 Georgia Tech center, Luke Schenscher, made major improvements in his game during the season. Soderberg thinks that Bryce Husak is (today) a better shooter than Schenscher.

Every non-pod conference team that beat SLU this year, except Louisville, will be home games next season (Cincy, Memphis, UAB).

Coach Brad stated he really likes his perimeter group next year of RB, AD, DC, DP, LM and TL !!!

[BillsWin]

Do folks feel that Newbourne would be the PF stud we need?

[billiken_roy]

i can see specifics to not talk about until "the ink is dry", but there are far too many plans and goals and hopes that imo it would only help the cause to bring the boosters (and not just the high rollers) into the circle of trust and faith. you want to create excitement but you dont want to tell anyone anything to be excited about?

[billiken_roy]

what impressed me about Schenscher was his hands. that guy could catch anything. and then he would never bring the ball down. i dream of an inside guy that has those kind of hands. frericks is close, but he likes to put it on the ground a litte too much for me.

[billiken_roy]

you have to pay extra online to get the results online instantaneously. otherwise it is weeks before it shows up in the mailbox. i think if i remember correctly it cost me $10 to see theo had the same score as last time online immediately.

[billiken_roy]

i would love to be a mouse in the corner and listen to brad "prepare" the lisch family this week for what they are going to see and hear over the next 3-4 months. the more credible he is at this meeting and convincing the better chance we have of staving off the wolves.

i know most of you hate romar, but i remember lorenzo saying he either wanted to be last on a recruits visit list or first. if first he could lay the groundwork that all other visits would make the recruit think, "yeah, lorenzo told me this guy would say or do this". if last, he could try to put on the show to make him forget everyone else the recruit had seen or heard. i would think first would be the most advantageous.