Now that non-conference season is over

[Dwayne's_World]

Why in God's name would Yarborough transfer to a school where he might not get a whole lot of playing time just so he can win in the short term? He's going to get all the playing time he could ever want here at SLU, and he is already establishing himself as the leader of a great program. Enough with the BS talk about MY transferring, just stop.

[moytoy12]

Stop it. Show some class.

I expected this, and sure enough, the trolls are going after JC. He didn't shoot 16% from "3" land today.

I remember a lot of people attacking Majerus viciously, saying he was incompetent, mocking his weight and even his medical condition (on blood thinner when he got cut during a game), everything.

We are better than this. We are Billiken fans and most of us graduated from SLU.

JC has 6 talented freshmen, freshmen who he recruited. Our sophs are not very experienced, and are disappointing so far and JM is our only BIG who is an upperclassman. It is a complete rebuilding year. There was a gap in Majerus's recruiting as his health failed.

Majerus showed us that we need experienced BIGS to win, deep (BC, CE, RL, CR, GG, DE), diverse, and Majerus was fortunate that they got a lot of playing time as underclassmen and therefore they improved more quickly, though it was painful for awhile. We have nothing close to that at this point.

Jim Crews is an excellent coach and a quality individual, a good man, a class act.

So stop it.

JC appears to be a great man. I'm disappointed with the job he's done as coach this year: I've given reasons why. Those reasons haven't been personal insults hurled at JC.

You're a moron on so many levels.

[Clock_Tower]

Stop it. Show some class.

I expected this, and sure enough, the trolls are going after JC. He didn't shoot 16% from "3" land today.

I remember a lot of people attacking Majerus viciously, saying he was incompetent, mocking his weight and even his medical condition (on blood thinner when he got cut during a game), everything.

We are better than this. We are Billiken fans and most of us graduated from SLU.

JC has 6 talented freshmen, freshmen who he recruited. Our sophs are not very experienced, and are disappointing so far and JM is our only BIG who is an upperclassman. It is a complete rebuilding year. There was a gap in Majerus's recruiting as his health failed.

Majerus showed us that we need experienced BIGS to win, deep (BC, CE, RL, CR, GG, DE), diverse, and Majerus was fortunate that they got a lot of playing time as underclassmen and therefore they improved more quickly, though it was painful for awhile. We have nothing close to that at this point.

Jim Crews is an excellent coach and a quality individual, a good man, a class act.

So stop it.

Another Billikens.com myth being spread by MB. Majerus' health is somehow responsible for his recruiting. Seriously MB, prove it. State anything in support of your assertion. I say BS to this, your latest excuse.

Fact: Majerus was a great recruiting and had an eye for talent but he sure recruited alot of terrible guys as well. Early on, he completely missed with Christian Salisich, with the Reid kid from KS, with Jon Smith, with the Greek kid (ET or whoever he was) so your premise that he recruited well early on (when healthy) is flat our wrong. In later years, he recruited GG and JM and both have been disappointments and not once did anyone ever suggest that his health somehow hampered his recruiting. GG is from Canada and I believe JM is from Virginia, so again, RM was not restricted to only recruiting local/regional kids. Instead, IMO, one or both would probably not still be here if RM was still here so both should be thankful that JC is/has been head coach these past 3 years.

After this class, RM recruited Jared Drew (Indianapolis) and the head case kid from Chicago who is now a role player at Valpo. No thanks and good ridens to him in that both Jake Barnett and Austin McBroom (2 kids with much better stats in the MAC) have shown that success here is much tougher. And again, I don't recall a single mention of RM's poor health being a factor at all with respect to the recruiting of these 2 kids. Instead, I recall this Board being excited about both.

Reality check: all of the comparisons of this year's team (with our 6 Frosh) to the 2010-2011 year (the Freshman year of last year's Seniors) is a little misplaced. We have 6 Frosh this year compared to 4 Frosh then. Also, and most importantly, there was a then emerging Sophomore class of CE, CR and CS (KM and WR were of course out) to go along with BC, KC and PE. Our Sophomore class is simply not getting it done and each was recruited exclusively by JC -- not RM. If our Sophs were playing even decent right now, we would be winning games. The fact is, they aren't. And our leading scorer (AM) and our only big who can protect the interior (JM) were recruited by RM.

Yes, JC is a quality individual, a good man and a class act. An excellent coach?? I am not seeing it yet.

[JMM28]

Majerus was good about fixing his recruiting mistakes early. No way a guy who hasn't progressed, like Manning, makes it 4 years under Majerus.

I must have missed anyone saying Majerus was incompetent. Also mb, Majerus had more success in one decade of his career than Crews had in his entire career. It's a lot easier to give Rick the benefit of the doubt.

[Billboy1]

Agree- believe at this point should be more improvement. Other teams with a lot of frosh have shown more improvement.Maybe if the sophs could have had more PT last year-who knows if they would be better this year. We'll have to see how the season progresses but at this point should have been more progress.

[slufan13]

Tired of hearing the "2 time A10 coach of the year" thing about Crews. Don't see how that makes him a surefire great coach, program leader, and immune to criticism. Majerus didn't win A10 COY so I guess he sucked.

[MB73]

Majerus was good about fixing his recruiting mistakes early. No way a guy who hasn't progressed, like Manning, makes it 4 years under Majerus.

I must have missed anyone saying Majerus was incompetent. Also mb, Majerus had more success in one decade of his career than Crews had in his entire career. It's a lot easier to give Rick the benefit of the doubt.

Many top posters were sliming him back then, and some even made it personal with his weight and mocked his medical condition.

[MB73]

Clock it was widespread that Majerus's health was slipping, hell he bled profusely during a D-1 game, we all know that top recruits would then be reluctant to come here to play for a legend when in fact it appeared he may not make it 4 years... and you know damn well competitors for those recruits would make sure that thought was in the recruits minds.

We are not a power conference team that can get all 3*-4*-5* players, no one really knows if 2* and 3* recruits will develop, so sure Majerus brought in some players who did not improve. But Conklin, Ellis, Mitchell, Loe, Remekun, Jett, McCaul, Evans, and a few others sure did and took us to the NCAA's.

And we are in almost the same situation, starting over with Crew's 6 freshmen recruits and the returnees having very little playing time other than McBroom.

Of course I hoped for better results at this point, but no need to slime Coach Crews like some have directly done, some more indirectly.

BIGS are the key and we have 3 high potential freshmen, 2 sophs with very little playing time before this year, and one senior who is a role player.

With experience, hopefully some will emerge, we may have to wait until next year.

[slu72]

Looking at our last 4 head coaches none of them has really been a really good recruiter. RM probably the best because he could see things in kids that others couldn't. He also complained that he would ID a kid early and then that kid would get poached. Almost happened with KM, but his mom saved the day there. He also made mistakes, as many coaches do. I do think his health may have played a role in what we see as a weak SO class. He must have had a tough spring and summer since he was put on medical leave before the season started. JC was in a tough position there and scrambled as best he could. Still, he did get AY to commit. And at the time we all thought RA and TL were good gets. Plus he was landing these guys as an interim coach. As for the FR too early to judge but we're seeing some good things from a few of them. Time will tell.

[MB73]

Looking at our last 4 head coaches none of them has really been a really good recruiter. RM probably the best because he could see things in kids that others couldn't. He also complained that he would ID a kid early and then that kid would get poached. Almost happened with KM, but his mom saved the day there. He also made mistakes, as many coaches do. I do think his health may have played a role in what we see as a weak SO class. He must have had a tough spring and summer since he was put on medical leave before the season started. JC was in a tough position there and scrambled as best he could. Still, he did get AY to commit. And at the time we all thought RA and TL were good gets. Plus he was landing these guys as an interim coach. As for the FR too early to judge but we're seeing some good things from a few of them. Time will tell.

Solid post.

[slufan13]

If anyone wants to compare Crews to Majerus, you're going to be greatly disappointed. Crews has made 6 NCAA's in 27 years. 6 in 20 if you take out his years at Army. Maybe I want too much but making the tournament 1 in 3 years isn't good enough for me.

Not saying Crews is a bad coach but expecting him to develop players and build up the program like RM isn't practical. He needed to build off the momentum and keep us above water.

As someone said yesterday, this is the bottoming out year, next year is the rebuilding year. And lots of opportunities for this program could have passed by then.

To be fair, RM didn't leave Crews in a great position. Part of it was his health, but he was never totally healthy.

[Dwayne's_World]

As someone said yesterday, this is the bottoming out year, next year is the rebuilding year. And lots of opportunities for this program could have passed by then.

Painful, but true. That's what happens when 2, even 3 years of recruiting are put on the back burner...

[Billikenboy]

Team will be fine. I am confident that by the end of the conference play the learned group of men will emerge as a cohesive unit. I could care less about the mistakes on the court now. Now is the time to make them. For the guys getting the bulk of the minutes their roles are more defined now but for the others that we need to step up I see the emergence of better players that will solidify the team in the games ahead. We know what AY, MY, JM, and AM bring to the table right now. We need TL, MC, MB, DR, RA, BJ, MR, and AG to grow up fast as well. This is a talented group that is nowhere near where they should be as a team defensively or offensively.

This is not an easy road to be on but it was bound to happen nevertheless. Just keep getting better. Maybe next one we can cut those turnovers to less than 10. We will certainly need to have control over those before we meet VCU!

[Clock_Tower]

Painful, but true. That's what happens when 2, even 3 years of recruiting are put on the back burner...

How quick we are to go back to making excuse after excuse. And again, if the same thing is said enough on this Board, then the statement automatically become true.Good grief!!

Reality check: If we could receive even moderate production from the Sophomore class (all 3 were JC recruits), then this year would not be the complete rebuilding year. I am very disappointed with our Soph class. Either JC has done a poor job recruiting or he has done a poor job developing them. Either way, blame lies with JC. And again, I am not expecting any of the 3 to be our leading scoring/best player (though that would not be unreasonable) but instead expecting at least 2 of the 3 produce with 8 to 12 ppg.

Billiken Basketball Myths/Excuses:

1. SLU has been a realistic choice for 4 star and 5 star players. Fact: other than Larry Hughes, we had been winning with 3 star guys who played unselfishly in a system whereby the sum was greater than the individual parts.

2. Balanced classes (equal number of Frosh, Sophs, JRs and SRs) are important. Spoon proved that he could reload with JUCOs and transfers. RM sent guys packing and other (WR, BT, etc) went on their own and things worked out just fine. Maybe our problem is that JC is too nice of a guy and should have sent GG and/or JM packing by now, should have sent 1 of the Sophs packing, etc.

3. RM left the program is poor shape to JC. Quite the contrary, JC deserves credit for keep the guys together and focused following the illness and death of RM but all the recruiting, development and coaching has been done for JC to win with RM's JR and SR laden teams -- which JC did.

4. JC was somewhat disadvantaged recruiting the Soph class. While JC was somewhat surprisingly able to land MC during the season with JC only recently having been named Interim Coach, JC did win (and won big) with RM's team, did win National Coach of the Year Award, did make the NCAA Tourney for the second year in a row, was rewarded with the permanent head coaching job and THEN recruited both RA and TL. Both were recruited by other better known "name" schools, both have size and impressive raw abilities but both have failed to live up to expectations.

5. This year was supposed to be a rebuilding year and anyone who thinks otherwise is drunk on the blue kool-aid. Instead, with the JR leadership of AY and AM and with serviceable minutes from Senior JM, all we really need is for 2 Sophs and 2 Frosh to step up and contribute. To date, the Sophs have not and only MY has consistently contributed for the Frosh. We made the NCAA 3 years in a row and got commitments from guys who would otherwise not consider SLU. IMO, MR should have been our PG the entire season. Play him.

[Clock_Tower]

Looking at our last 4 head coaches none of them has really been a really good recruiter. RM probably the best because he could see things in kids that others couldn't. He also complained that he would ID a kid early and then that kid would get poached. Almost happened with KM, but his mom saved the day there. He also made mistakes, as many coaches do. I do think his health may have played a role in what we see as a weak SO class. He must have had a tough spring and summer since he was put on medical leave before the season started. JC was in a tough position there and scrambled as best he could. Still, he did get AY to commit. And at the time we all thought RA and TL were good gets. Plus he was landing these guys as an interim coach. As for the FR too early to judge but we're seeing some good things from a few of them. Time will tell.

'72 and MB

Sorry but JC was appointed head coach on April 13th and THEN landed RA a few days later http://www.slubillikens.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=207263514 and TL 3 weeks later http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsbyusports/56266473-65/byu-lancona-sean-slu.html.csp In short, JC already was the head coach when he landed RA and TL. Also, JC had just finished receiving Head Coach of the Year Award, had just taken SLU to its second straight NCAA Tourney and was the recipient of very favorable national press stories so let's not make excuses for JC and this year's Soph class.

As to RM, he landed both GG and JM (our Senior class) 2 years he stepped down for health reasons and he had signed Drew months before becoming ill (and had spent a long time recruiting him prior while healthy) and Carter http://www.slubillikens.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27200&ATCLID=205334032a year before stepping down. Yes, I know that RM was on serious blood thinner medicines, that he was high risk, etc. but he finished the year coaching the team to the NCAA, conducted normal Spring activities, signed Drew and THEN became ill and never recovered. Is anyone really suggesting that RM settled for Drew that Spring due to his poor health? If so, support your argument.

At this point, I am much more concerned about JC's ability to teach and develop young players than I am about his ability to recruit. I still wonder why RA and TL have not produced yet despite being here 2 years and being sought by other of the better D1 programs. I still wonder why our Sophs did not play more last year - especially with the way JB played. I still wonder why MR is not playing. I still wonder why neither MR nor MB are playing PG this year. I still wonder why JM has not been coached up to score 8 ppg his Senior year -- and if he cannot do that, why no back up plan was obtained (to date, we have missed with JM, GG, RA and TL).

[Billikenboy]

'72 and MB

Sorry but JC was appointed head coach on April 13th and THEN landed RA a few days later http://www.slubillikens.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=207263514 and TL 3 weeks later http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsbyusports/56266473-65/byu-lancona-sean-slu.html.csp In short, JC already was the head coach when he landed RA and TL. Also, JC had just finished receiving Head Coach of the Year Award, had just taken SLU to its second straight NCAA Tourney and was the recipient of very favorable national press stories so let's not make excuses for JC and this year's Soph class.

As to RM, he landed both GG and JM (our Senior class) 2 years he stepped down for health reasons and he had signed Drew months before becoming ill (and had spent a long time recruiting him prior while healthy) and Carter http://www.slubillikens.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27200&ATCLID=205334032a year before stepping down. Yes, I know that RM was on serious blood thinner medicines, that he was high risk, etc. but he finished the year coaching the team to the NCAA, conducted normal Spring activities, signed Drew and THEN became ill and never recovered. Is anyone really suggesting that RM settled for Drew that Spring due to his poor health? If so, support your argument.

At this point, I am much more concerned about JC's ability to teach and develop young players than I am about his ability to recruit. I still wonder why RA and TL have not produced yet despite being here 2 years and being sought by other of the better D1 programs. I still wonder why our Sophs did not play more last year - especially with the way JB played. I still wonder why MR is not playing. I still wonder why neither MR nor MB are playing PG this year. I still wonder why JM has not been coached up to score 8 ppg his Senior year -- and if he cannot do that, why no back up plan was obtained (to date, we have missed with JM, GG, RA and TL).

Good questions. Only time will tell from what I can see.

[MB73]

Clock, you are a credible poster but for some reason you are a bubble and a half off in the Crews matter.

Not being officially the head coach until April 13th, it is not really valid at all to hold JC responsible for the sophomore class. So many recruits were uncertain (as we were) if he was going to coach the next year. Would you commit to a 4 year schollie and not know who the coach was going to be? The great majority of recruits were signed well before April 13.

And re: Majerus, the issue is that recruits were aware that Majerus's health was worsening, therefore it is logical to conclude that some quality recruits dropped out of the picture for SLU because of their concern. Same thing, a 4 year commitment.

Finally, it is premature to judge his ability to teach and develop young players, even our sophs didn't have any real playing time except McBroom.

I respect your point of view, as opposed to those who just keep taking cheap shots relentlessly. As a previous poster cited, there are a few here who were against the Crews hire long ago and had to eat crow after his success, but now in this rebuilding year they are taking pot shots.

[Billikenboy]

Clock, you are a credible poster but for some reason you are a bubble and a half off in the Crews matter.

Not being officially the head coach until April 13th, it is not really valid at all to hold JC responsible for the sophomore class. So many recruits were uncertain (as we were) if he was going to coach the next year. Would you commit to a 4 year schollie and not know who the coach was going to be? The great majority of recruits were signed well before April 13.

And re: Majerus, the issue is that recruits were aware that Majerus's health was worsening, therefore it is logical to conclude that some quality recruits dropped out of the picture for SLU because of their concern. Same thing, a 4 year commitment.

Finally, it is premature to judge his ability to teach and develop young players, even our sophs didn't have any real playing time except McBroom.

I respect your point of view, as opposed to those who just keep taking cheap shots relentlessly. As a previous poster cited, there are a few here who were against the Crews hire long ago and had to eat crow after his success, but now in this rebuilding year they are taking pot shots.

Refreshing to hear sensible voice with all these pots and pans banging on here.

[Clock_Tower]

Clock, you are a credible poster but for some reason you are a bubble and a half off in the Crews matter.

Not being officially the head coach until April 13th, it is not really valid at all to hold JC responsible for the sophomore class. So many recruits were uncertain (as we were) if he was going to coach the next year. Would you commit to a 4 year schollie and not know who the coach was going to be? The great majority of recruits were signed well before April 13.

And re: Majerus, the issue is that recruits were aware that Majerus's health was worsening, therefore it is logical to conclude that some quality recruits dropped out of the picture for SLU because of their concern. Same thing, a 4 year commitment.

Finally, it is premature to judge his ability to teach and develop young players, even our sophs didn't have any real playing time except McBroom.

I respect your point of view, as opposed to those who just keep taking cheap shots relentlessly. As a previous poster cited, there are a few here who were against the Crews hire long ago and had to eat crow after his success, but now in this rebuilding year they are taking pot shots.

MB Your opinions are also appreciated and considered by me. I honestly cannot say this for all who post on this Board. As to your points, let me respond.

First, I do agree that most good programs rely upon their Fall recruits instead of their Spring recruits. And you're right, JC was only the Interim Coach in November of that year and only MC signed. Frankly, I was surprised that MC would sign without knowing if JC would be retained or not. I fully admit that I did not believe that JC would be our next head coach in November. With that said, Spring recruits have become much more common, more quality recruits are now available in the Spring and many more transfers are taking place each year. In essence, RA was a "late developing" prospect who needed coaching/experience but who had big upside. As to TL, believe he was committed to a PAC 10 school (Oregon?) which signed too many kids and then had to take back their scholarship offer. Had JC not signed kids that Spring, I would have sure been disappointed, I would have found it surprising in that most programs who change coaches do so at the same time time that we hired JC as the permanent head coach and most of these new coaches are able to sign quality kids in the Spring. RM, of course, was hired way too late as Fr. Biondi waited so long to let Brad go and then played games...) but most new coaches can get hired, put their staff together and still land kids. Here, JC was actually the Interim Coach the whole year, already had his staff together and did land what appeared to be 2 quality recruits. The signings of RA and TL did not seem like acts of desperation or examples of over-reaching. Either way, JC signed RA and TL and, IMO, is responsible (good or bad) for these signings. Actually, I give JC more of a pass on MC (b/c he signed in the Fall when JC was still Interim HC) but ironically, MC has been the best of the 3 !!

Second, please remind me of the events documenting what you claim to be RM's worsening health. Now, I do recall RM being on significant blood thinners (but understand he had been on them for a long time). I do recall him being injured in the freak/odd sideline incident whereby he was kicked and hurt his leg. But other than these events, wasn't it another heart attack/stent blockage which came upon suddenly (though not completely unexpected for a man his size and diet, with his stresses and with his past medical history. I sure don't think RM was being turned down by quality recruits his last 2 years by leaving him to settle for the likes of GG, JM, Carter and Drew. Instead, I believe he signed Carter as a backup to AM (and would not have kept both) and that he did the same with JM and GG (to give competition to RL and DE, etc. (and would not necessarily have kept both. Think about it. If you are correct, then either you are saying that Drew and Carter did not know about RM's health issues, they were too dumb to fully understand RM' health issues or that they are a big drop offense of talent for RM -- and if that is the case, then how do you explain all of the other bad recruits who weren't here for us all that long.

[moytoy12]

Finally, it is premature to judge his ability to teach and develop young players, even our sophs didn't have any real playing time except McBroom.

It's premature to come to a conclusion about JC's ability to teach and develop players, but I think we have enough evidence to make some preliminary judgments.

[MB73]

Clock, even before RM bled during a game his health was declining I had heard, and I expect many recruits were wary and our competitors pointed it out. I recall citing the dangers of flying while taking Coumadin and some posters mocked me. He was risking his life, literally, every time he flew. A 48 yr old female executive at a company I worked for on it flew to the west coast, went to her room, dropped dead.

Moytoy I have some concern, but not ready to throw JC under the bus like Brian and others around here. Apparently RA (who reportedly was looked at by Duke) had shown considerable success as a post up scorer in prep school against primo players who have been successful in D-1, and TL, who was signed then released (or something like that) by Wash St was supposed to be a 3 point sharp shooter with an inside game, too. Neither has shown much. But they really didn't get many minutes last year and now they are in the 12 man rotation, so it is still too early to give up on them.

[moytoy12]

Clock, even before RM bled during a game his health was declining I had heard, and I expect many recruits were wary and our competitors pointed it out. I recall citing the dangers of flying while taking Coumadin and some posters mocked me. He was risking his life, literally, every time he flew. A 48 yr old female executive at a company I worked for on it flew to the west coast, went to her room, dropped dead.

Moytoy I have some concern, but not ready to throw JC under the bus like Brian and others around here. Apparently RA (who reportedly was looked at by Duke) had shown considerable success as a post up scorer in prep school against primo players who have been successful in D-1, and TL, who was signed then released (or something like that) by Wash St was supposed to be a 3 point sharp shooter with an inside game, too. Neither has shown much. But they really didn't get many minutes last year and now they are in the 12 man rotation, so it is still too early to give up on them.

I'm not giving up on anyone, JC included. I do think it's fair to question (without insults) the players and the coaching staff.

[Clock_Tower]

Clock, even before RM bled during a game his health was declining I had heard, and I expect many recruits were wary and our competitors pointed it out. I recall citing the dangers of flying while taking Coumadin and some posters mocked me. He was risking his life, literally, every time he flew. A 48 yr old female executive at a company I worked for on it flew to the west coast, went to her room, dropped dead.

Moytoy I have some concern, but not ready to throw JC under the bus like Brian and others around here. Apparently RA (who reportedly was looked at by Duke) had shown considerable success as a post up scorer in prep school against primo players who have been successful in D-1, and TL, who was signed then released (or something like that) by Wash St was supposed to be a 3 point sharp shooter with an inside game, too. Neither has shown much. But they really didn't get many minutes last year and now they are in the 12 man rotation, so it is still too early to give up on them.

RM had been in poor health these past 10 years and opposing programs had been using that against RM/SLU for years. And yes, the health of all of us gets worse each day. At the same time, RM signed some lousy recruits early on for us. Are we going to blame RM's declining health also on Jon Smith? Jeff Reid? Justin Jordan? Christian Salisich? the Greek kid (ET?). I'd also suggest that Jake Barnett and Corey Remeken did not turn out as great as we had hoped. RM missed alot. And while it angered some more than others, RM then made up for these mistakes by sending these guys packing. JC has not sent anyone packing -- except possibly Keith Carter -- who some think was a quality RM recruit -- one of his last.

No. RM sure did not look like an aging, sick for dying coach when we nearly beat Michigan State -- the end of the season long after guys like Keith Carter had committed to us in the Fall signing period the year prior. Just not buying this excuse. Actually, some of RM's later recruits (AM and some say KC) were better than his earlier ones. I would suggest that a different explanation may exist: RM was no longer able to offer the immediate playing time he was able to offer to BC, KM, CE, etc. which can also explain the drop in the quality of RM's recruiting. When RM recruited JM (and only him in that he only had 1 scholarship), JM knew that BC, CR, RL, DE would be ahead of him for 2 and 3 years!!

[kmbilliken]

I don't buy the immediate playing time excuse. Immediate playing time is available to every recruit if they are good enough. Any recruit that is going to pass on SLU because they don't think they will be able to merit PT, isn't much of a recruit. They should all come in thinking they get to play if they are good enough and if they are good enough they will.

[hsmith19]

A 48 yr old female executive at a company I worked for on it flew to the west coast, went to her room, dropped dead.

Her true cause of death was not blood thinners but rather shock from learning that her niece had recently been forced to watch a vulgar hip-hop dance routine.