Cowboy Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 Went to the Mizzou I guess that was a football game yesterday. Prior to the game went into the new arena. In one word - awesome, spectacular,marvelous,wonderful. Now granted there were not many roaming around or watching the Lady Tigers practice so don't have a clear sense of how heavy traffic will work or what game ambience will be but there is a lot of space in the concourse, the sight lines are incredible and it just really presents itself very, very well. Reaction from others that went to the offices and training rooms were more of the same. This leads us to our proposed building. We are in competition with the folks in Columbia and throughout D1. We cannot build a faciltiy that we cannot say is on par with MU's. Unfortuately they have set the bar, fortunately we have a chance to respond in kind. Think about the recruiting competition, the shots that will be taken in our direction if we short change this project. If we have to wait a bit longer to get more money to get on this level, I say do it. Don't come up short. The talk about taking away aspects from the original design are troubling at least to me (offices and practice gym in particular). I am not saying it needs to be 15,000 seats, but it must be an impressive facility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 "We cannot build a faciltiy that we cannot say is on par with MU's." Why? Are the Tigers moving to the A-10? Xavier's Cintas Center is the bar that has been set for the Billikens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted November 7, 2004 Author Share Posted November 7, 2004 If you only compete against A-10 schools for recruits I would agree with you, 3Star. But I do not think that is the situation where I hope our program is headed. Maybe it just hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikenbooster Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 I am closer to cowboy on this one. While we don't want to be less than the best facility in our conference, if UB is talking about being a national name, we must be able to recruit our home base best, and that means not losing any recruits because the state D1 facility is glitzier (sp?). There is no way we can outspend SPUMAC. They have the deep pockets of WalMart and OUR tax money behind them. That having been said, we must not allow their facility to be hands down better than ours. I want our new facility yesterday, but the reality is let's make sure we do it right. The change in the towers was an architectural snafu. The underground stream was to much to overcome to get it done. Fine. Let's use the funds that would have been the towers for something else that will enhance the 'ambience'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 If SLU is truly going to become a national program the majority of our battles will be against Big 10 and Big 12 teams. Although the A-10 will certainly help in recruiting out East I suspect that as long as Brad is the coach we will focus on the Midwest for recruits. We will be going up against the two Big conferences plus teams like Marquette and Depaul. It is important that our facilites be similar to the schools in this region. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 Xavier's facility isn't as glitzy as Ohio State's but yet they pull in very good recruits from in-state year after year. If Alberici builds a Cintas-quality arena, I'm confident that SLU will do the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 our new on-campus arena will compliment both SLU's mid-town campus and our university in general. It will not be the Paige, the Dean Dome or Rupp Arena. Future recruits will sign with SLU because of the head coach, the players, the university, the new arena and the city. Gonzaga has built a model private school D1 bball program with an ordinary gym. Now Gonzaga will play in a new building, but their success came before their new arena. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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