Maybe one day we can get where Loyola has gotten

[MusicCityBilliken]

50 minutes ago, brianstl said:

Loyola was a crap program for two decades before Porter took over.  This is the fourth year in a row they will finish well ahead of us in the Pomeroy rankings.  The high schoolers we are recruiting were in grade school the last time we were a better team than Loyola.

I don't know.

If Porter gave us the early records he had at Loyola he would have been gone. Thankfully we only tolerated 2 years of Crewsplatt and dumped him.

I like our chances with recruiting and future possible NCAAs.

 

57 minutes ago, Spoon-Balls said:

I just want longterm consistency. I'm tired of SLU fans having to view their program's 3 years of success as nothing but a short lived piece of history. I'm tired of the local media seeing SLU's success as "cute" but nothing more than a fluke or anomaly. I want us to just have some damn longterm commitment and sustained winning. So that we don't have to keep living in this program's mediocre past and long for "the good old days." I just want our team to be exciting to watch, gritty, powerful, intimidating to the opponents... Year in and year out. We need to make sure Ford stays for a long time, or at least have a contingency plan for if he moves on. Good programs (and athletic directors for that matter) are always thinking ahead so that they don't have situations like Crewsplatt that set a program back to the dark ages. 

 

I agree we need to keep TF but that might not be possible. We need to have succession plan like Creighton, XU & Butler has in getting top-shelf replacement coaches.

[NextYearBill]

hypotheically if TF took the UConn job today... we'd be F'ed for 20 years.... thats our contingency plan 

[JettFlight5]

1 hour ago, Spoon-Balls said:

I just want longterm consistency. I'm tired of SLU fans having to view their program's 3 years of success as nothing but a short lived piece of history. I'm tired of the local media seeing SLU's success as "cute" but nothing more than a fluke or anomaly. I want us to just have some damn longterm commitment and sustained winning. So that we don't have to keep living in this program's mediocre past and long for "the good old days." I just want our team to be exciting to watch, gritty, powerful, intimidating to the opponents... Year in and year out. We need to make sure Ford stays for a long time, or at least have a contingency plan for if he moves on. Good programs (and athletic directors for that matter) are always thinking ahead so that they don't have situations like Crewsplatt that set a program back to the dark ages. 

This program has never had any commitment to winning. Why would that change? The evidence of this schools complete aversion to winning goes back to the disaster of S1 after the CBI team and the Title IX catastrophe with a very talented team.

When this school and athletic department gives a damn about winning it will be the first time.

[Billy Ken]

SLU should and has potential to be whatever it wants to be. I totally would want to be Loyola this week for sure. My point is we have  b of t memebers that actually say SLU will never be a Xavier, Creighton, etc, we don't want to be and that's fine! I'll find the posts saying pretty much same thing supposedly from the chairman! The lack the vision to see the benefits of being an elite program for school and region is sad, it's gonna be tough getting to Loyola status with that mindset. We lucked out on Coach Ford because Chaifetz hired him and went over AD Fisher's head, just like WWT guys told AD Fisher hire new soccer coach after he bumbled the whole process from day one, granted after watching the whole men's program go down the crapper for years and doing nothing. He's a light weight and SLU can do better. He would probably be a really good D3 AD where academics are priority, he loves talking about GPA. Funny thing after watching basketball nonstop all week I couldn't tell you one team in NCAA tournaments GPA! That is the student athletes jobs to get good grades, its standard work in school. I want a real, serious athletic department and director, not an over paid suit who touts standard work. SLU can do better. We the fans deserve better. This week is a great example that change is needed, also former Loyola AD is at Penn, they made Tournament too. Guess it was just luck. Thanks

[The Wiz]

16 hours ago, Taj79 said:

Loyola is hardly "ahead" of us.  They are riding high and deservedly so.  If UMBC beats K State tomorrow, are they "ahead" of us too?  Rogue teams make the Sweet Sixteen every year.  As Bay said, its the matchup.  Loyola is one shot away from either game of going home.  Mason made a Final Four.  So did Indiana State.  Utah.  VCU.  Seton Hall.  Western Kentucky.  None really sustained that peak with maybe the exception of VCU.  Porter Moser and company get kudos for now.  Let's wait and see where this goes.  

My take is that this year Loyola is "ahead" of us.. They are B+ ...we are C+. Nothing Cinderella about them......As a B+ team they are similar to St. B. Now  if we are talking about  some sort of long range strategic plan making them " ahead" of us...I can't speak to that.  All I know is that things change year to year ....sometimes dramatically. . Last year we finished at D....with high hopes and a new team this year we were hoping for a major improvement. ....And then S2....5 players gone (S2 + Welmer)...what would the outlook have been last April for this year if you knew we would lose those 5 players....maybe worse than D....and yet....major improvement anyway to C+.  Is Loyola +ahead" of us.  Today yes ...tomorrow  no.... I would rather be the Bills next year and future years than Loyola going forward. 

And to your point of UMBC...I agree... even with a win over K St ,  UMBC  (C- ) is still not ahead of us....by any measure.   How do you spell Cinderella in 4 letters?.....UMBC

[JettFlight5]

28 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

My take is that this year Loyola is "ahead" of us.. They are B+ ...we are C+. Nothing Cinderella about them......As a B+ team they are similar to St. B. Now  if we are talking about  some sort of long range strategic plan making them " ahead" of us...I can't speak to that.  All I know is that things change year to year ....sometimes dramatically. . Last year we finished at D....with high hopes and a new team this year we were hoping for a major improvement. ....And then S2....5 players gone (S2 + Welmer)...what would the outlook have been last April for this year if you knew we would lose those 5 players....maybe worse than D....and yet....major improvement anyway to C+.  Is Loyola +ahead" of us.  Today yes ...tomorrow  no.... I would rather be the Bills next year and future years than Loyola going forward. 

And to your point of UMBC...I agree... even with a win over K St ,  UMBC  (C- ) is still not ahead of us....by any measure.   How do you spell Cinderella in 4 letters?.....UMBC

They are still playing. That is something the numbers don’t take into account.

[brianstl]

We should be better than Loyola next season, but that isn’t guaranteed.  The Ramblers bring back the MVC POY, the best freshman in the conference and 3 of their top 5 scorers overall.  They, also, are bringing in a really nice freshman big and Negron should be back to 100% from his knee surgery.

[JohnnyJumpUp]

2 hours ago, tarheelbilliken said:

If Porter gave us the early records he had at Loyola he would have been gone. Thankfully we only tolerated 2 years of Crewsplatt and dumped him.

As much as I agree with Crews having to go, he did give us one of the best comebacks I've ever seen as a Billikens fan, with the fouling early on NC State in the NCAA Tournament.

 

[Quality Is Job 1]

The way I look at it, I don't think SLU should emulate Loyola in any way, but SLU should advance beyond the first weekend of the Tournament.  It will happen, but it's a question of "when."

Maybe one day SLU will surpass Butler — win the National Championship.  Let's talk after the 2020 or 2021 Tournament.

[Old guy]

1 hour ago, The Wiz said:

My take is that this year Loyola is "ahead" of us.. They are B+ ...we are C+. Nothing Cinderella about them......As a B+ team they are similar to St. B. Now  if we are talking about  some sort of long range strategic plan making them " ahead" of us...I can't speak to that.  All I know is that things change year to year ....sometimes dramatically. . Last year we finished at D....with high hopes and a new team this year we were hoping for a major improvement. ....And then S2....5 players gone (S2 + Welmer)...what would the outlook have been last April for this year if you knew we would lose those 5 players....maybe worse than D....and yet....major improvement anyway to C+.  Is Loyola +ahead" of us.  Today yes ...tomorrow  no.... I would rather be the Bills next year and future years than Loyola going forward. 

And to your point of UMBC...I agree... even with a win over K St ,  UMBC  (C- ) is still not ahead of us....by any measure.   How do you spell Cinderella in 4 letters?.....UMBC

I am going to disagree in one fine point with what you say. Goodwin did play a significant portion of the season. It may be that we did get to C+ because of his playing the number of games he played.

[almaman]

Can't remember where the ? about our AD ex Rams coach:) wtf though who is AD Jeff Fisher? I'm an idiot but thought we had a guy named Chris May who a watched part of his wooing by RM while out dining is our the Athletic Director. Is Coach Fisher matched name referred to above and somewhere else prior athletic director?

[JohnnyJumpUp]

33 minutes ago, almaman said:

Can't remember where the ? about our AD ex Rams coach:) wtf though who is AD Jeff Fisher? I'm an idiot but thought we had a guy named Chris May who a watched part of his wooing by RM while out dining is our the Athletic Director. Is Coach Fisher matched name referred to above and somewhere else prior athletic director?

[Quality Is Job 1]

55 minutes ago, almaman said:

Can't remember where the ? about our AD ex Rams coach:) wtf though who is AD Jeff Fisher? I'm an idiot but thought we had a guy named Chris May who a watched part of his wooing by RM while out dining is our the Athletic Director. Is Coach Fisher matched name referred to above and somewhere else prior athletic director?

It's fairly simple.  Billy Ken is metaphorically comparing Chris May to former Rams coach Jeff Fisher.

[TFord and TRavs]

Luck is a huge factor in March madness. Slu was a far better team than Loyola. They will get crusted in the sweet sixteen 

[billikenfan05]

25 minutes ago, TFord and TRavs said:

Luck is a huge factor in March madness. Slu was a far better team than Loyola. They will get crusted in the sweet sixteen 

I’ll save this for later 

[Box and Won]

3 hours ago, Quality Is Job 1 said:

The way I look at it, I don't think SLU should emulate Loyola in any way, but SLU should advance beyond the first weekend of the Tournament.  It will happen, but it's a question of "when."

Maybe one day SLU will surpass Butler — win the National Championship.  Let's talk after the 2020 or 2021 Tournament.

Butler is gonna have to stagnate for a while in order for us to surpass them, unless we can just go out there and somehow win the whole shebang. We have a lot of catching up to do.

It’s interesting that when SLU made the tourney in 1994, it was our third bid overall and our first since 1957. At that time, Butler had earned one (1) bid in its entire history. They made it back to the tournament in 1997 and proceeded to earn 15 bids in addition to making three NIT appearances (and one CBI). We’ve come nowhere near that level of sustained success.

[RiseAndGrind]

1 minute ago, Box and Won said:

Butler is gonna have to stagnate for a while in order for us to surpass them, unless we can just go out there and somehow win the whole shebang. We have a lot of catching up to do.

It’s interesting that when SLU made the tourney in 1994, it was our third bid overall and our first since 1957. At that time, Butler had earned one (1) bid in its entire history. They made it back to the tournament in 1997 and proceeded to earn 15 bids in addition to making three NIT appearances (and one CBI). We’ve come nowhere near that level of sustained success.

Yeah but we got 1948. #neverforget

[TFord and TRavs]

Slu will be in the tournament next year no doubt.  We just hope a high seed

[Spoon-Balls]

Maybe one day we can have Nevada esque cheerleaders...

[MusicCityBilliken]

5 minutes ago, Spoon-Balls said:

Maybe one day we can have Nevada esque cheerleaders...

Watch the Clemson cheerleaders. Outstanding!

[JohnnyJumpUp]

2 hours ago, TFord and TRavs said:

Luck is a huge factor in March madness. Slu was a far better team than Loyola. They will get crusted in the sweet sixteen 

A 7 or 11 will be in the Elite 8. What a finish by Nevada.

[brianstl]

3 hours ago, TFord and TRavs said:

Luck is a huge factor in March madness. Slu was a far better team than Loyola. They will get crusted in the sweet sixteen 

Loyola will be a two to three point underdog.  Loyola has been a good team all year. They have a legitimate shot at reaching the Elite Eight.

[billikenbill]

3 hours ago, TFord and TRavs said:

Luck is a huge factor in March madness. Slu was a far better team than Loyola. They will get crusted in the sweet sixteen 

Not buying that at all.

[almaman]

1 hour ago, Spoon-Balls said:

Maybe one day we can have Nevada esque cheerleaders...

been so long since I had to see theOregon cheerleaders that  forgot who kept doing that. but will keep an eye out in the S16.

[ACE]

I would be on board if the title read - Maybe one day we can be Gonzaga or Xavier.

I'm rooting for Porter and have over the years stopped and watched a bit of his teams when I run across them on the tv. It's great what he has done this year, but until he strings a few NCAA appearances together, it will just be viewed as another cute "Cinderella" story. They were a number #11 seed and may not have even gotten in without winning their conference tournament. Fortunately, they have been able to pull out a couple of buzzer beaters in the Dance this year. But if this is where the ride ends for Loyola and they are out of the Tourney the next couple of years, I'd prefer our three-year run - three at-large bids (#9 seed, #4 seed and #5 seed) plus breaking the Top 25 rankings in some of those years and winning a Tourney game each of those years. It's more legit than a Cinderella story.

What I want is sustained success, which is elusive for most programs. I'm much more interested in the two plus decades of continuous success of Xavier and Gonzaga than I am in what may just be "one shining moment."