what's the biggest

[bills16]

disappointment this year with the bills besides the win/loss total?

[Billiken Rich]

Being almost good enough for almost all of our games. Seeing Tom and Reggie ending their senior years without any post season. Justin Johnson and Darren Clarke not getting it.

[Iggy]

1. Seeing Tom and Reggie have to practically miss out on their entire senior seasons due to injuries and other circumstances beyond their control.

2. Not seeing ground broken yet for the new arena that we've been promising our recruits they would get to play in.

3. Seeing no improvement in the areas of marketing and game day atmosphere as a result of a new athletic director.

[bonwich]

Yo, Ig -- didn't you think Saturday's game was at least an incremental improvement in game-day atmosphere?

[Iggy]

Yeah, you're right. However, I think that had more to do with the fact that it was a Saturday night and a good opponent than anything else. There was more time for my pre-game warm-up at Kellie O'Tooles. I did enjoy the new P.A. announcer, but he probably won't be back anytime soon as I'm sure Guy just had a prior commitment. I didn't even know about the bobbleheads until it was too late. (Although I managed to snare one anyway).

[billiken_roy]

i truly expected a noticeable difference in the non-basketball perception of the slu athletic dept with the new athletic director. if anything, i think the department off the court is worse than before. marketing hasnt changed. our treatment by the media both electronic and print has gotten worse, the arena is all but killed imo (at best rumors are we will get a much watered down version than the one we originally beleived would be built), everything about the athletic dept is still treated like a cia operation.

[billiken_roy]

plus you got to see me fall down twice and ram into the billiken huddle like a drunken sailor.

[Iggy]

You're right! That was pretty good.

I just walked out of there so upset over the outcome of the game. I probably blame the officials too much, but they really hacked me off again. How many close losses have we had endure this season?

[billiken_roy]

i think a lot of it has to do with the conference disbanding that we aer getting the bum refs. and even when we get the better ones, it is likely vs the big dogs and those refs are auditioning for the big east thus no want to please us. but it is the worse year we have ever had for consistency from the zebras. the one that gets me is the a$$ that is the county deputy from here. that guy is the worst excuse for a ref i have ever seen. he seems to truly believe it is all about him. i would hate to get pulled over by a jerk like that.

[Billiken Rich]

It just cracks me up how the optimists have become the pessimists here. Granted I have no contact with anyone at SLU but this negative rumor mill you're talking about with a scaled back arena that's never going to happen anyway is killing me!

I'm not worried about the arena. Other than the negativity on the board here, everything points to the arena being delayed not diminished.....

[billiken_roy]

rich, the orginal plan was for an arena with practice facilities as well as game facilities and it was to house the athletic dept offices. the last i heard (and granted it is rumor as no one from slu tells us anything) is that there will be no practice facilities and the offices will likely remain in west pine. that sounds scaled back to me. i believe if you take the two cincy schools, at one time we thought we were getting the cintas and now we are getting the shoemaker center. and those of you that have been to cincy knows what a scaled back difference that would be. you are going from a palace to a glorified high school gym.

[willie]

Roy I'm pretty sure your right on a practice facility. I don't know about offices. On the good side they have signed off on a weight room and sport medecine facility being part of the new arena. I still expect a first rate building but I think it's a mistake not to have a practice floor.

[Box and Won]

Why wouldn't we just practice on the same court that we'll be playing on?

Having a modern weight room in the new arena is huge, so I'm glad that it is part of the plans.

[billiken_roy]

i agree. think of it this way. to make this arena work, they are going to have to have events on going as much as possible. if there is no separate practice floor(s), then that means that if there is a concert, or a boxing match or whatever playing there that night, there will be no practice there. i.e. the team still ends up practicing a lot if not all the time at west pine.

if it cant be done right, shelve it. of course we dont know because the whole thing is secret yet they wonder why they cant get any pledges. it would seem to go out and garner blind faith pledges is a tough sell. i just dont get the stealth stuff.

[Billiken Rich]

I still dont't get the need for a practise floor in the new building. If we aren't practising on the game floor, who the hell cares wheather you are at west pine or in my back yard. The rims and backgrounds will be different. God knows the boys wouldn't be hurt by sprinting between West Pine and the "Mueller Pavillion."

[tseugnekillib]

1) that Reggie and Tom could not repeat the production/success they had in the 2003-2004 season,

2) that Billiken basketball was unable to capitalize on the NHL strike with a 20+ win season,

3) not seeing the 2003-2004 SLU dance team members in this year's outfit!

[thetorch]

Definetely the biggest dissapointments have been the play or lack there of from Frericks and Bryant. Injuries and other factors have come into play with them, but even without those right from the start they proved not up to the task of being on court leaders and difference makers.

A close second is the coaching and game management by Soderberg. Granted this is his first losing season he hs ever experienced but at times this year has totally lost control of the team. Playing time, substitutions, team morale have all been issues this year and Brad hasn't had the answers. Hopefully this is a learning experience for him.

Next the arena, will that sign on 40 still be up in 2010? This is SLU so you never know.

[SLUMS81]

The biggest disappointment to me (other than the fact that we are finding ways to lose games rather than win them) is the lack of student body support.

With the exception of our dependable Blue Crew, there is sparse attendance by SLU students. The Band plays their heart out every game. Where are the fraternities and sororities?

[MrJ2333]

> The biggest disappointment to me (other than the fact that

>we are finding ways to lose games rather than win them) is

>the lack of student body support.

> With the exception of our dependable Blue Crew, there is

>sparse attendance by SLU students. The Band plays their

>heart out every game. Where are the fraternities and

>sororities?

The problem with lack of student support starts with the smallest things. A student wants to buy a St Louis Univeristy Basketball plain jane tshirt? $25 at the bookstore. I would guess the majority of on campus residents do not own a single SLU basketball item (except maybe the cup they yanked from humphreys last Wednesday night). I am not sure if it is the athletic department or what, but there is no decent looking tshirt, hat, anything for under $25. Why would a student want to pay that kind of money for a cheap t-shirt printed on a generic press with a generic t-shirt? It may seem like a small thing, but when you go to a campus and see every other person wearing something supporting the basketball team, it changes your attitude. The fact is that very few students own anything to do with the basketball team and it has a contagious effect.

[gister]

Cheryl was on the radio just prior to the game on Saturday and said she expects some major commitments in the near future. She said that fund raising continues and she is spending a great deal of time on it. It is her number one priority.

I'm not at all worried about the arena.

[billiken_roy]

as hard as this team is still playing considering the overall record, you are questioning control of the team and team morale? i dont see that.

[thetorch]

Hey its great that he has the team up when we have 18 losses. If we weren't so fractured in the early going maybe we could still be playing for something at this point besides next year. This is a team that lost to Austin Peay, Troy, Oral Roberts, UW Milwaukee then gets beaten at home by 16 to SEMO. I don't believe we are as bad as those teams. We underachieved definetely. I have seen flashes of cohesion since the start of conference play but by that time we were done for. Not all of the blame goes to the coach but regardless this team was not mentally ready to compete at the start of the season.

[Box and Won]

You are dead on with that post. Pricey apparel is fine for those of us who are out of school, but students, the people who are MOST likely to wear SLU t-shirts, hats, etc. get priced out.

College students go ape sh!t over the crappy t-shirts that credit card companies give out at their little booths on campus - why not give away SLU Basketball t-shirts at the start of the season to help get people excited.

Also, the SLU gear that the bookstore sells really isn't all that good, but has been getting better. There still is too much navy blue and not enough ROYAL blue. I visited Xavier's bookstore last year, and just about everything there was stylish and was consistent in color, branding, etc. I notice on Soderberg's show on Charter that he wears great SLU gear, which I'm sure was provided by Nike (or whoever our shoe deal is with) - why can't we buy the same stuff that he wears??

[billiken_roy]

just watch an illini game or an oklahoma state game and see the sea of orange. the effect is amazing. why our athletic dept cant see that is amazing to me. but it is like a hunt to find billiken blue wear. at least once a year they should be having t-shirt night and my gosh, for $25 grand a year, one would think they could give students billiken blue wear daily.

[guest]

1) Our shooting ability has been pretty poor for several years now and this year is no exception. We have had a lack of perimeter shooters and players that can get their shot off. Everybody we play has players that shoot the ball better, quicker releases, and/or more athletic ability allowing them to get their shots off easier.

2) Turnovers seem worse this year. We miss you Fisher and Sloan. That being said, turnovers come with a younger team with guys like Ian, Danny, Dwayne, and now Luke getter a lot of minutes.