Schedule - 2025-2026

[juniorbill76]

52 minutes ago, billikenbill said:

Bring on the Kramer Soderberg-led Millikin Big Blue squad. Coming off their last place showing (9th) in the CCIW, we might be able to take them.

There is a certain poetry to a Billiken-Milliken matchup, reminiscent of Avila vs. Avila. Maybe we can get a game against Oxford in a venue by the River Thames.

[Pistol]

7 hours ago, thetorch said:

This field looks bad.  Not quite as bad as what our home non con schedule is shaping up as but still bad.

 

7 hours ago, thetorch said:

No I certainly get it.

As good as we can get can still be bad. 

Can't decide whether I should set up a trip and go to this off brand MTE or buy a couple more season tickets to watch Canisius, USC Upstate & Mercyhurst headline our home schedule.

Rumor has it Schertz is finalizing a deal to get a home non exempt game with Milliken this season.  Not done yet, but close.  

Maybe wait until we get our matchups to be this upset about it.

[wgstl]

3 minutes ago, Pistol said:

 

Maybe wait until we get our matchups to be this upset about it.

Or teams to be done with the portal 

[WUH]

2 hours ago, billikenbill said:

Bring on the Kramer Soderberg-led Millikin Big Blue squad. Coming off their last place showing (9th) in the CCIW, we might be able to take them.

Millikin is going to be even worse next season, so the rumor is not good if true.

I know that most people do not care, but for exhibition season, I really rather have SLU play St. Louis area small schools or schools with something to connect to such as Rockhurst.

 

[gobillsgo]

7 hours ago, thetorch said:

No I certainly get it.

As good as we can get can still be bad. 

Can't decide whether I should set up a trip and go to this off brand MTE or buy a couple more season tickets to watch Canisius, USC Upstate & Mercyhurst headline our home schedule.

Rumor has it Schertz is finalizing a deal to get a home non exempt game with Milliken this season.  Not done yet, but close.  

The regular season D2/NAIA games are bulls***.  Not one fan wants to see that. I know our schedule isn’t going to be packed with quality teams but regular season games should be against D1 opposition, or fans should be given the opportunity to opt out of Non-D1 games for their season tickets. 

[Lord Elrond]

What alternative MTE had room for us and wanted us other than Acrisure?  I was hearing a lot of how all the MTE’s next year were filled. It’s one thing to say we want to be in another MTE, but we have to be asked first.  Maybe SLU can work on the year after next for another MTE now, but in the meantime we might be in the best MTE that actually wanted us next year.

[TheA_Bomb]

If you're good you get invited to good MTEs. If you're not good you need to sell the hope that you'll be good when the MTE comes around.

If only there were a person responsible for handling external relationships for the betterment of SLU athletic programs.....

[HoosierPal]

1 hour ago, Lord Elrond said:

What alternative MTE had room for us and wanted us other than Acrisure?  I was hearing a lot of how all the MTE’s next year were filled. It’s one thing to say we want to be in another MTE, but we have to be asked first.  Maybe SLU can work on the year after next for another MTE now, but in the meantime we might be in the best MTE that actually wanted us next year.

MTE's moving forward will be finessed so that P5 schools minimize exposure to Mid games.  Look for brackets MTE's to have two brackets, one for those with a P5 label and one without.  I have no idea how Acrisure will pod up this MTE, but for sure they won't expose their "primer customers" with possible double Mid losses.

[billiken_roy]

the way i look at this, we either accept the invites like this or we no longer look for a preseason tourney,   the big boys are going to continue to keep us out of their big events they are going to screw us on the tourney, etc.   it is what it is and there isnt much we can do about it.  

 

[willie]

Do we know who will be in our pod? Seems like everyone is overly negative without seeing that. 

[Lord Elrond]

2 minutes ago, willie said:

Do we know who will be in our pod? Seems like everyone is overly negative without seeing that. 

From what I can tell no game scheduling yet

[billikenfan05]

9 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

the way i look at this, we either accept the invites like this or we no longer look for a preseason tourney,   the big boys are going to continue to keep us out of their big events they are going to screw us on the tourney, etc.   it is what it is and there isnt much we can do about it.  

 

Bonaventure just got in the Ft. Myers tournament. 

[HoosierPal]

18 minutes ago, willie said:

Do we know who will be in our pod? Seems like everyone is overly negative without seeing that. 

That's the nature of some MBM's.  Assume the worst and then hope for something better......the glass is 3/4 empty.

 

15 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

From what I can tell no game scheduling yet

From Acrisure  "The schedule for the tournament is still being finalized, the pods and matchups will be announced at a later date.

All games will be televised on TNT Sports, truTV or MAX."

[brianstl]

We don't even know officially if we are in on of the tournaments they have or if we are getting a single game at this point.

[brianstl]

1 hour ago, billikenfan05 said:

Bonaventure just got in the Ft. Myers tournament. 

I understand VCU and Dayton consistently getting better MTE appearances than SLU. I don't understand how programs like St. Joe's, Davidson, UMass and even Fordham have managed to do it.  St Joe's managed to pull the Legend's Classic and the Players Era back to back.  So this can be done by programs like SLU even right now.  It is just not happening here.

[HoosierPal]

Last year the Acrisure Series has three MTE's all played in the same area in the same time window.  They combined the Acrisure Holiday Invitational, the Acrisure Invitational and the Acrisure Classic into a 'Series'.  Last year's lineup for the three is shown in the link below.

https://acrisurearena.com/series/

[3star_recruit]

23 minutes ago, brianstl said:

I understand VCU and Dayton consistently getting better MTE appearances than SLU. I don't understand how programs like St. Joe's, Davidson, UMass and even Fordham have managed to do it.  St Joe's managed to pull the Legend's Classic and the Players Era back to back.  So this can be done by programs like SLU even right now.  It is just not happening here.

Sounds like there's an East Coast club and we ain't in it.

[billikenfan05]

8 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Sounds like there's an East Coast club and we ain't in it.

Apparently the officials who come in to ref A10 games are in it too...

[HoosierPal]

58 minutes ago, brianstl said:

We don't even know officially if we are in on of the tournaments they have or if we are getting a single game at this point.

Assume we have a single game against Cal Baptist.  Then when we see the pods, maybe you will be okay with it.

[billikenfan05]

1 minute ago, HoosierPal said:

That doesn't answer the question. 

[wgstl]

hoping we get Washington.  They will be very good next year. 

[brianstl]

26 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Assume we have a single game against Cal Baptist.  Then when we see the pods, maybe you will be okay with it.

I’m not against it or okay with it currently.  We don’t have enough information one way or the other right now.  I think we will all probably be satisfied with how this shakes out, but that isn’t based on anything firm.

[Billikenbooster]

12 minutes ago, brianstl said:

I’m not against it or okay with it currently.  We don’t have enough information one way or the other right now.  I think we will all probably be satisfied with how this shakes out, but that isn’t based on anything firm.

Is this an AD or coaching staff issue, or both?

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

Fire Chris May

[brianstl]

1 hour ago, Billikenbooster said:

Is this an AD or coaching staff issue, or both?

I think there are multiple issues involved.  Not winning enough and not traveling well are most definitely the reasons why we don't get constant top tier events like Dayton and VCU have been getting.  The reason we don't get to top events as often as some of our more similar A 10 peers on those two fronts is harder to nail down.  It is kind of hard to blame the coaching staff when it has been an issue over decades now.  It is, also, kind of hard to put the blame all on the current AD for the same reasons.  Some blame probably lies with the current and multiple former athletic directors, but if it is a real meaningful amount is hard to say.  I think it has probably been a university culture issue where these events weren't viewed as carrying much importance.  That kind of culture leads to a lack of time and resources being put into building the relationships with the people that put together the MTE's.  The further you fall behind over the years as a university in building those relationships, the harder it becomes to catch up with out winning big consistently or always showing up in big numbers as a fan base at these things.