Throwback Night ....

[Taj79]

Throw that crap all the way back ... I cannot recall a worse announced game then that thing last night. I don't know what ESPN Classic and Budweiser are up to but short of finally seeing the Bills on TV, I actually shut the sound off at one point.

It might have seemed like a good idea to put Spoon and Bartow on together but if they told the same dumb story one more time, I was going to freak. Who can name the only Bartow NOT to beat Charlie during his coaching career? And Jim Simpson needs to stay retired. Mistakes were almost comical. UAB has ball, Taylor driving, whistle, and Simpson is worried that the foul is on Taylor. Then he says its Taylor's fourth foul. That was at the 11 minute mark and then down around the six minute mark he announces that Taylor picked up his third foul. Just plain pitiful. It actually hurt me what witht he game in St. Louis and all. It seemed we were associated with the ineptness by default.

Then Bartow says he doesn't get the Bills .... down by three with 36 seconds to go and not fouling. C'mon Gene ... has the game passed you by? There were 10 seconds on the shot clock and if the Bills hold them, they get a chance at a tying trey. Which is what happened but they took the 2 by Ivan and then fouled and with a miss had a chance.

Thoughts from afar: Ivan played well. But in the guard oriented A-10, he might be a real oddity out theer. Don't forget ... Sean Finn was almost a great center int he A-10. Newbourne played well. I think there is hope there for a servicable player next year. Drejaj did all he could to make Donnel Taylor the next Jordan. IO is six-f-six and no where to be found at the end. Meyer's shot will hold him back. If I thought Deiner was slow, Meyer appears worse. Could be a decent role player, however. Brown has hope, Polk had his moments. Can't really shoot all that well. And in an athletic matchup, no JJ nor Clark .. why is that?

Nice crowd, that masoleum was really a bad backdrop no matter the camera angle. And what did we have there, the same two kids as fans dancing with the blue Afro wig and the other guy. On the way to that 20-loss season .... with better seniro leadership, I think we win more of these close ones like in years past. That is what seems to be missing and its because of our youth. Freshmen point guards become sophomores.

[Billikenbooster]

On the Taylor foul thing, the scoreboard actually had him with three fouls earlier and I thought it was his fourth as well.

I was at the game and didn't hear it at all. You are probably correct on all your comments, but the foul thing was probably not his fault.

mhg

[slu72]

It was good to finally see these guys after five months of just reading about them. I agree with TajMahal 79 on his evaluations. Is Meyer's shot really that funky looking? It looks like he shoots it from his hip. The pregame shots of the crowd made it look like there were 150 people at the game and they were all sitting in little clusters ....pitiful. I'd rather us play in a 7000 seat place than at Saavis when it's 80% empty...absolutely 0 atmosphere. Winning however can correct a lot of problems.

[Box and Won]

I'm glad that the out-of-towners FINALLY got to see a game on tv. I know that not seeing any games would drive me nuts.

The crowd seemed to arrive late - maybe because the game started a few minutes early for tv. The fans actually really got into the game at a few points - when the one ref blew two calls that resulted in UAB scoring four points in about three seconds, and after we had taken the lead in the second half. Of course, UAB was able to take the crowd out of the game by nailing a three. By the way, I've never seen any basketball crowd that gets so discouraged when the other team hits a three - with every one, there is a collective groan, and everyone grows quiet.

I don't understand why it's so hard for everyone to stand up and cheer at the end of these close games. Judging from most of the crowd's reaction, you'd think we were down by 20 points with :30 left in the game. I noticed a couple of fans behind the SLU bench doing everything they could to get people out of their seats, which is great. I wish more people had that enthusiasm.

[billiken_roy]

slu72, as is the case on most weekday games, the crowd shows up at the last minute. so maybe the camera shots you saw were pregame stuff. i would guess the real attendance to be somewhere around 6,000.

[Box and Won]

7,394 total. I guess no matter how badly we perform, we're guaranteed to get 7k plus for every game.

I was hoping more students would be there since it was a nationally televised game.

[Lobo]

If we are getting around 7K per game this year it isn't unreasonable to believe we can get 4-6K more when we win which is the projected seating in our arena - a creek runs thru it.

[slubbfan]

Could not agree more. Horrible announcing. How many times was there just dead air as the game played on?

Also did Spoon have 1 positive thing to say about us??? The old UAB coach was just going on and on about UAB's players and coaches. You could tell he had a passion for the school in his heart. Spoon just stood there and took each punch to the gut. I'm not saying he should act like we have a great team on the floor, we clearly don't. All I'm saying is that when we are on national tv try to say something positive. I was only in STL for Spoon's last year and quite frankly have never been a enamored with him so maybe I am biased here.

On a side note when was the last time we won a game on national tv? I've seen to many and been to several and they were all loses. Maybe the KU game in 1999?

Overall it was great to see the Bills play. The only other game we've got here in KC was the Iowa game on New Years Eve. Both were close exciting games when our guys played with a lot of heart.

Getting a chance to see the team play again here are my thoughts. I really liked what I saw from Polk. A lot of pg's have a hard time handling that kind of pressure and Polk did a good job. Seeming he is a freshman I think he will be very good next year. Also, a lot of people seem to complain about him not shooting enough - I liked his shot selection and am hoping he will look to average around 10 points a game ihe future.

Ian and VN played good games down low. Ian seems a bit slow but they both played hard and I was impressed. If we can get that kind of performance next year from those two I will be happy.

Izik played great but the team should have looked to him a lot more in the second half. The team doesn't quite seem to understand that you keep the ball in a hot players hand. We will miss him next year.

Brown has a lot of potential. I liked the shots he took, and he hit some big 3's. He should definitely start over LM next year.

Reggie had a good game all things considered. Hopefully he will play a nice roll with the team for the rest of year.

LM looked slow and "out of it" at the end of the game. I'm guessing we had no TO's but he should have looked to pass. Heck Polk should have gone and gotten the ball from him. He has potential to develop into a solid roll player.

AD played really hard and I have to respect his several dives trying to keep the ball alive. He has a lot of heart which is great to see. However, his shot looked bad, he picked up bad fouls and he is turnover prone. I really thought we played better basketball with him out of the game. I hope he finds a much smaller role with the team going forward.

DC and JJ didn't get to play in a very athletic game. It is apparent to me that coach is trying to run them off.

All in all I loved the chance to see SLU play. I am standing by Coach and his decisions. Polk, Brown, Lisch, and Tommy will bring a lot to the table next year. With Ian and VN down low I think this team will be able to compete a lot more next year.

SLUBBFAN

[3star_recruit]

Polk was trying to get the ball but there was a guy jumping between him and Meyer preventing him from doing that.

[TheBand]

"On a side note when was the last time we won a game on national tv? I've seen to many and been to several and they were all loses. Maybe the KU game in 1999?"

When we won the Conference USA Tournament in Memphis in 2000. CBS.

[SLUBandTBone]

I would have loved to see more students too but as seems to be a theme with the Athletic Department there was no promotion for the game. If you don't already know about a game around here you're not going to find anything out. I know it's beating a dead horse on this board but I wish the AD would do something to let students know about games. It would have been nice to have a halfway respectable student section for a national game.

[billiken_roy]

let's see, i got a pocket schedule in my wallet. i got a printout schedule on my wall. steve has the schedule on the home page. the schedule can also be found at slubillikens.com and on espn. sorry, but that is weak. no one from the athletic department reminds me when there is a game.

[bonwich]

Well, yeah, Roy, but you already care about the team, thick or thin. Even during this Savannah Statelike season, however, the U. should be doing everything reasonable to push students to the game. (I bet most of the students who came last night had a pretty good time, despite the outcome.) How hard would it be to put up about a dozen sandwich boards around campus promoting "ESPN CLASSIC SIGN CONTEST" or something like that?

They do, of course, have one final chance to promote "Good Riddance C-USA 'Officials' " night next Wednesday. The kids could have some fun with that one, huh?

[slu72]

seems like a million years ago, doesn't it? I too was impressed with DP. Spoon did say DP is a good shooter but they haven't been falling. This will come with confidence am sure. VN was a surprise for me. You look at the stats, which is what we out of towners have to go by, and you say "what's he doing when he's out there?" Last night he showed quickness, ability to leap, and a decent shot. The one play that really turned my stomach was when IV had a wide open slam available and tried to lay it up soft. The UAB guy batted it out of his hand. What is it with SLU bigs not taking it strong to the hoop. I'd rather see the ball bounce to half court off a missed forceful jam than a pattycake effort to put it off the glass get batted down. DB is athletic. If the staff can develop this guy, I think he will be a force for us in the next 3 years. LM, guess I was expecting a better looking shooter. Hey, but he can look like big bird out there as long as it goes in. AD's like the tasmanian devil, but he ain't the answer. If DB and LM come around over the summer, I don't expect we'll see a lot of him next year. His shot is awful ...Clang...clang....clang.....

[SShoe]

I guess people didn't notice DC was hurt

[Quality Is Job 1]

He just plays an eight-man rotation, barring injury or foul trouble. Clarke has been out as a result of back spasms, and Johnson is on the outside looking in because he doesn't practice hard consistently.

[Alonzo P Hawk]

students are busy and have changing schedules, and there is nothing on the day of, or before a game that lets the kids know. you have to be a caring fan to know anything on this campus.

------------------------------------------------------------

*Official Billikens.com sponsor of Mike Beczkala

[guest]

"I don't understand why it's so hard for everyone to stand up and cheer at the end of these close games." -boxandwon

i dont think its that hard to stand up the whole game!!! Is the time someone will stand up is at the end of the game?, come on it was on espn you think people would be excited. also if he SIMPSON would have repeated himself one more time on the broadcast i would have screamed.(TIVOed it watched it today) I have never seen a ref clearly try to even up the fouls like that!!! Does this happen regularly and i just noticed it because i sat in the front row wednesday or was this just a one time thing.