To the classes of 2015-7 -- non-players

[bonwich]

With no disrespect to the player seniors of 2014 who set the stage: Classes of 2015-7, student section, the future is in your hands.

Next year, never in the history of SLU basketball will there have been a senior class who have sat through three consecutive NCAA appearances (all of which resulted in advance to the round of 32).

We old farts, especially those of us who believe in cheering on our team regardless of performance, have long bemoaned the lack of "tradition" at our AMDG alma mater. Well, you kids are the foundation for finally achieving one. You've lived through one of the best records in all of NCAA basketball for the past three years.

So, next year: Sitting in the student section should be a privilege. By the time the class of 2018 graduates, it should be based on seniority points.

Y'all should be rowdy and obnoxious and crazy and loud by two hours before every gametime from here on out. You should expect that our team makes the Dance every year. But even when they don't, a student ticket should be a badge of honor, not a perq for paying your tuition.

Some of us old farts have been coming to all the games, good but mostly bad, for decades. We always believed that you supporting your team was an integral part of the college experience.

But you young'uns -- you've had a team that isn't as much worthy of your support as you should be honored to show up to support them.

Even if it's freakin' Fontbonne next year, student sell-outs should be the norm. If the cosmos is in balance, then you'll go on to graduate and beg to be one of the other 9,000 people lucky enough to have a season ticket.

I own a t-shirt from about six or seven years ago that says "Billiken Basketball - A Winning Tradition." Then, it was just a BS marketing slogan. Now, it's, as one of the board posters is fond of saying: reality. Make something out of it, folks.

That is all.

[seispulgadas]

With no disrespect to the player seniors of 2014 who set the stage: Classes of 2015-7, student section, the future is in your hands.

Next year, never in the history of SLU basketball will there have been a senior class who have sat through three consecutive NCAA appearances (all of which resulted in advance to the round of 32).

We old farts, especially those of us who believe in cheering on our team regardless of performance, have long bemoaned the lack of "tradition" at our AMDG alma mater. Well, you kids are the foundation for finally achieving one. You've lived through one of the best records in all of NCAA basketball for the past three years.

So, next year: Sitting in the student section should be a privilege. By the time the class of 2018 graduates, it should be based on seniority points.

Y'all should be rowdy and obnoxious and crazy and loud by two hours before every gametime from here on out. You should expect that our team makes the Dance every year. But even when they don't, a student ticket should be a badge of honor, not a perq for paying your tuition.

Some of us old farts have been coming to all the games, good but mostly bad, for decades. We always believed that you supporting your team was an integral part of the college experience.

But you young'uns -- you've had a team that isn't as much worthy of your support as you should be honored to show up to support them.

Even if it's freakin' Fontbonne next year, student sell-outs should be the norm. If the cosmos is in balance, then you'll go on to graduate and beg to be one of the other 9,000 people lucky enough to have a season ticket.

I own a t-shirt from about six or seven years ago that says "Billiken Basketball - A Winning Tradition." Then, it was just a BS marketing slogan. Now, it's, as one of the board posters is fond of saying: reality. Make something out of it, folks.

That is all.

+10000000 If we're to keep moving in the right the direction the students need to keep it up. having a consistent and large student presence, involvement and passion not only helps our current players and recruiting, but also puts pressure on the administration to put the right pieces together, keeping this basketball program a winner!

[Old guy]

Yes! +1

[slu72]

A large part of ensuring this enthusiasm carries forward is the responsibility of the Ath Dept. Keep the Rise of the Billikens program going and growing. At FR orientation pass out Rise Ts along w/a schedule. Bring back midnight madness and make it a real party, a can't miss event. Build up the Slunatic brand. If we struggle next year, we've got to replace Ws with marketing. This is not the time to be passively/ the students. They create the atmosphere.

[Dwayne's_World]

A large part of ensuring this enthusiasm carries forward is the responsibility of the Ath Dept. Keep the Rise of the Billikens program going and growing. At FR orientation pass out Rise Ts along w/a schedule. Bring back midnight madness and make it a real party, a can't miss event. Build up the Slunatic brand. If we struggle next year, we've got to replace Ws with marketing. This is not the time to be passively/ the students. They create the atmosphere.

+1 They need to make the midnight madness party a huge event next fall

[sludevil]

Going to be even more significant now with the Big East watching.

[MusicCityBilliken]

A large part of ensuring this enthusiasm carries forward is the responsibility of the Ath Dept. Keep the Rise of the Billikens program going and growing. At FR orientation pass out Rise Ts along w/a schedule. Bring back midnight madness and make it a real party, a can't miss event. Build up the Slunatic brand. If we struggle next year, we've got to replace Ws with marketing. This is not the time to be passively/ the students. They create the atmosphere.

These new freshmen and AY have the look like they can really sky. This maybe the most athletic group ever to put on the Saint Louis uniform. Add a dunk competition as part midnight madness festivities.

[Bills By 40]

Wish with all my heart that I could be attending the university next year, but it's just not a fit financially or for me personally. Hopefully I make it there for grad school, but to be a part of that student section would've been amazing! Would love to have my shot at showing '05 how to REALLY lead a student section.

[billikenfan05]

Wish with all my heart that I could be attending the university next year, but it's just not a fit financially or for me personally. Hopefully I make it there for grad school, but to be a part of that student section would've been amazing! Would love to have my shot at showing '05 how to REALLY lead a student section.

HA HA

[hsmith19]

Grad students can sit in the student section. There was even a dual degree law school student who ran the Saintsations for several years.

[cgeldmacher]

This thread finally allows me to get a few things off my chest. The following is directed at the students at the university next year and in future years:

1. You should show up regardless of whether the athletic department provides you with pizza or any other bribe. My friends and i used to walk down Grand to the sketchy Metrolink station and taken the train to games at Scottrade Center. You can walk across campus without the promise of pizza.

2. The balloons they give you at halftime are for use in distracting the other team when shooting, typically free throws. They are not for making into hats, balloon animals or big blobs of nothing in particular. When the most fun you have at the game is when you get to make balloon animals, you are not a true fan.

3. If we are losing, especially to a team we are not supposed to be losing to, please don't dance around like an idiot when it is dance cam time looking as if you are the happiest person on the planet. Not to be sexist, but this is typically the female students. Have a sense of timing. When the teams is losing, the dance cam is restricted to children and drunk older season ticket holding alumni. You may not realize this, but you really stand out when most of the students in the student section are stressed about the game and your doing the "lawn sprinkler" trying to get on the big screen.

4. When the officials make a terrible call against us, make a big deal about it. Too many times, I see 90 year old men standing up and booing at the top of their limited lungs and, at the same time, half of the student section is checking their phones. You may not understand, but reacting loudly to bad calls does help sway the officials into sending a few calls our way.

I probably have more, but I can't think of them right now. I was happier with the students turnout this year than in past years, but the performance by the students this year was lacking.

[billikenfan05]

This thread finally allows me to get a few things off my chest. The following is directed at the students at the university next year and in future years:

1. You should show up regardless of whether the athletic department provides you with pizza or any other bribe. My friends and i used to walk down Grand to the sketchy Metrolink station and taken the train to games at Scottrade Center. You can walk across campus without the promise of pizza.

2. The balloons they give you at halftime are for use in distracting the other team when shooting, typically free throws. They are not for making into hats, balloon animals or big blobs of nothing in particular. When the most fun you have at the game is when you get to make balloon animals, you are not a true fan.

3. If we are losing, especially to a team we are not supposed to be losing to, please don't dance around like an idiot when it is dance cam time looking as if you are the happiest person on the planet. Not to be sexist, but this is typically the female students. Have a sense of timing. When the teams is losing, the dance cam is restricted to children and drunk older season ticket holding alumni. You may not realize this, but you really stand out when most of the students in the student section are stressed about the game and your doing the "lawn sprinkler" trying to get on the big screen.

4. When the officials make a terrible call against us, make a big deal about it. Too many times, I see 90 year old men standing up and booing at the top of their limited lungs and, at the same time, half of the student section is checking their phones. You may not understand, but reacting loudly to bad calls does help sway the officials into sending a few calls our way.

I probably have more, but I can't think of them right now. I was happier with the students turnout this year than in past years, but the performance by the students this year was lacking.

You are preaching to the wrong people. Only a handful of students here.

[Deutschkind]

You are preaching to the wrong people. Only a handful of students here.

And the ones that are mostly follow these.

As for balloons, the best thing if they're out probably actually is to tie them. Make them into a hat, you look silly like yo want to, and your hands are free again to clap or hold a beer