Billsboys Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I know most of you soccer guys on this board did not like Bob Warming but I did want to point out he made the quarters this year in the college cup. Congrats to Bob!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUBALLS Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Creighton has put up a great record over the last few years but has not garnered the proper respect in my opinion. I hope that if SLU doesn't make it to the Final Four next year here in St. Louis, Creighton at least makes it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I don't think anyone on here dislikes Warming...at least I have yet to see any posts from anyone to the liking. Creighton had a great run in the NCAA tourney after getting a very fortunate first round draw, Lafayette at home. They won two quality games vs Duke and Penn St before falling to Clemson. This, after really a nothing to write home about regular season. The difference between Creighton and SLU this year were two things: 1) Creighton won their conference tourney, and 2) After a fortunate first round draw, they won two more quality games once they got in. After losing to SLU and Stanford in exhibition season, Creighton turned in a solid year against a mediocre schedule....losing to the likes of Tulsa, UIC, W Kentucky, Drake, and tying SMU. Their "big" wins on the season...well against an NCAA opponent it would I believe be only Bradley...who lost in NCAA first round to UW Milwaukee. They did also have wins over Memphis and MO St. Creighton also benefited from being pre-season ranked rather high. As I said to their credit, they made the most of their NCAA appearance once getting in. Teams such as James Madison, Providence and a few others very questionable to get at large bids didn't fare as well. ..................As for the NCAA itself, any of the final four can move on, but New Mexico and Maryland are the favorites. SMU, whom SLU handled 4-2 this year has landed in the Final Four after a slow start this season. There was a nice piece in the NY Times on New Mexico's program, referencing some of the things I referenced a while back...that STL doesn't have the stangehold on youth soccer...a small community of Alberquerque produced 9 players on their team, and two more on the ACC Final Four teams are from there...to give just one example. Banditos has had a top youth club team there. ...a top STL area recruit is going there next year, as they are increasing national recruiting as well. As has been exhausted before...STL still produces good players, as do many other areas, some years STL area produces more elite level recruits than others. In women's soccer, about 8 teams were good enough to win it, and Portland, one of them did. SLU women seem to still be in the building a program mode, and finally took care of the conference tourney...(playing in a weaker conference helps) and got an NCAA win. They still have a ways to go to be a consistent top 25 team...need more speed and fitness, and skill at that pace. Something to build on for next year, but as with the men, the A-10 conference is NOT a help for soccer, and can be said after year one, a mistake in soccer. But, SLU is there for men's hoops reasons. I will say on a seperate note that the NCAA is rewarding too many little conferences in soccer with undeserving automatic bids. At least make it 64 teams in the tourney. That would fix it more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gister Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 It is strange that the women's tournament is 64 teams and the men's is not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 imo, before SLU and its fans complain about how weak A-10 soccer is, perhaps SLU ought to win the league outright, or win the post-season tournament. Better yet, perhaps SLU ought to go undefeated in the A-10 for a year or two....and then complain about the league's weak soccer programs. No doubt many of the A-10 teams are below par....but for the first year, at least, SLU could not talk its way through the league. (any late recruiting news) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUBALLS Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Besides: Jimmy Holmes,Tim Reams, and the Aranda kid out of Desmet, two other names out there: "from StudentSportsSoccer.com, SLU has picked up a couple more verbal committments from some kids out in California, Simeon Stewart and Rob Viviano. They play for one of the top club teams in the nation, Pateadores. " Kevin Quigley and Tanner Rupp played for this club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 What part of finishing first in conference(tied, but defeated the 1st place tied teams and technically first) and tying the conference title game did you miss this season tseugnekillib? It's all the more reason to discuss the weakness of the conference. Why don't you point out to me all the teams that did go unbeaten untied in their conference this year? I don't think anybody is questioning SLU's need to improve, but by the same token I personally believe SLU would be better off in a much tougher conference finishing 5th or 6th in the league, than playing each year to just win a conference tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 SLU has the capability to win any conference ... the fact that we won the regular season and lost in PK's in the conference championship in a year filled with injuries that was probably our worst team in years tells you something about the league. Either way though the league won't keep us out of the tourney or keep us from a good seed. If we had run the table or close and had won a few of our tough non com games and of course not gotten upset at home by N. Ill. we would have been in and probably a fairly decent seed. We need to continue to schedule very tough out of conference win a few of them and dominate the A10 and we will be competing in the tourney every year. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted December 8, 2005 Share Posted December 8, 2005 I saw all the home games except Duke and St. Joes, so I didn't miss much. Yes, SLU finished tied for first and got the #1 seed based on head-to-head results. I also believe two teams finished ahead of SLU in total A-10 wins. Still a good year for SLU....considering the two players that went pro in the Spring....but not walk-in-the-park some were predicting. Like it or not, SLU soccer is in the A-10 until the mega BCS schools split the NCAA into the very big/very rich and all others. You hear different people saying that will happen in about five years. Until then, SLU soccer stays in the A-10. The AD's plan is for all SLU sports to be in the upper tier of their A-10 leagues so that when the next conference is put together SLU will be in demand. Hopefully, men's soccer will dominate and increase the value of SLU's overall sports program. btw, I think Penn State may have run the table in the Big Ten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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