TheGoat Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/co...7D?OpenDocument And the Atlantic 10 remains a mystery that St. Louis University must unravel during the weeks ahead. The Billikens need to pick it up to move into NIT consideration. ................................ In the Atlantic 10, the Billikens are about to discover how good George Washington (10-1, 2-0) is. This is the high end of the conference, along with Xavier, LaSalle and Charlotte. After that, the A-10 is a blob of mostly .500 teams. The conference is mediocre this season. At 7-6 overall, SLU fits right in. We would expect the Billikens to win most of their remaining home games, steal a few road games and do enough in the conference tourney to merit NIT consideration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 gordon said, "* The Big 12 appears to be down, despite what Kansas just did to Kentucky. Not as many of these teams will make the Big Dance. Missouri has a good shot at the NIT. * And the Atlantic 10 remains a mystery that St. Louis University must unravel during the weeks ahead. The Billikens need to pick it up to move into NIT consideration." so i wonder why mi$$ouri has a "good shot" at the nit and we need to pick it up to even be considered even though our rpi is 25 points better? i would tend to believe that both need to "pick it up" to be considered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 throughout the article. The Big 10 is very impressive. The Big 12 is down. The MVC is having a great year. And the A-10 is filled with a bunch of mediocre teams, including our own Billikens. He is speaking the truth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 has a better chance to make the nit than the billikens? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 and you nit-pick one? I agree with you that we both need to pick it up. Given the way we've played our last three and they've palyed their last four the arrows are pointing in different direction right now. However,neither of us should be bragging at this point. Arguing whether your RPI team of 105 is better than their RPI team of 120 just seems silly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 Based on the criteria of the NIT, pretty much record and attendance. Yes. The Tigers are 8-4 We are 7-6. Granted they haven't played anyone but does the NIT really care about RPI? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 All the Mizzou fans could come out for one last chance to dump popcorn on him after the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesycow Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 Keep harping on semantics and technicalities! they win friends! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huzzah Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 As I recall the NIT was taken over by the NCAA this year. If that is the case we don't have a clue on the selection process. RPI may come into play at the expense of other subjective attributes. However, Mizzou's RPI should increase once they get into conference play and out of the bought patsies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 but the jury is still out on Charlotte and I think its too early to say La Salle is a "top team" in the A-10. If it is, then this league is really weak this year once again. Charlotte struggled early but just won at Dayton. Normally, I would think that's a pretty impressive win but according to the Doc in Dayton, YouDee is really screwed up right now. The loss of the Meachem kid to Illinois apparently has really screwed the Flyers over. The patronage in Dayton is in the dumps the way the Doc describes them ... basically its the key you hear all the pundits talking about ... no point guard in college ball really screws things up because that's the engine that drives the team. Right now, Gregory is trying to make a scorer (Roberts) the point and has to play the team's best player (Williams) at point which apparently tires him out and makes him less effective. Rumor has it that dissension is high on the team in the front line ... two upperclassmen have been benched in favor of a freshman and that might be contributing as well. Bottom line: Dayton right now is not a good team so I'm not sure just what Charlotte's win there means as far as Charlotte is concerned. As for La Salle ... short of playing in-town rival Nova, who gave them their first loss after a 7-0 start, who has La Salle played? Sure, they have All-American candidate and preseason first team A10er Steve Smith but look at who they've played .... Maryland-Baltimore County, American, Mount St. Mary's, Drexel (in-town/Big Five), James Madison, Central Connecticut, Florida International, Hofstra, and the two lowest teams in the A10 in Duquesne and Richmond. And Hofstra beat them at home. While I think there is a lot to be said for momentum and believing in yourself, La Salle sees itself on the brink of the precipice .. can they maintain this pace or do they slip back to the usual. I am betting on the usual. But if Dayton has no point then I'd have to say neither do we. DP is not performing. TL got mixed reviews from the last game. And KL looks like the shooter/defender. Granted, in all three we can probably get by but some (hopefully DP) can assume the prototypical PG position for us over the rest of this year and parlay that into two really good years from here on out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 >Based on the criteria of the NIT, pretty much record and >attendance. Yes. > >The Tigers are 8-4 > >We are 7-6. > > > >Granted they haven't played anyone but does the NIT really >care about RPI? Attendance? Have you seen some of Mizzou's attendance figures this year? I'm pretty sure it's worse than ours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 POTENTIAL attendance and a bigger named program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huzzah Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Their biggest draw so far has been OK State @ just over 10,000, so we would be ahead. However, conference schedule will have a moe positive effect on Mizzou than us. We are in a new conference, so Mizzou can pull ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gister Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 They beat Oklahoma tonight. Go figure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 .. to this gister is the very same answer to the question "How can we (SLU) play UNC and Gonzaga oh-so-this-close and then have problems against Chicago State and Bonaventure?" Emotion. Who can't get up for a ranked opponent? Mizzou saw Oklahoma coming and was motivated enough to pull it off. Hats off to them .... that's more than we did in our battles with "name" teams. I think the fact that that was a Big 12 battle is also something that puts teams like Mizzou in a better position than others for post-seasonplay. The Big 12 has name teams in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Frankly, the A10 does not. Not at the same level as those three. So teams like Mizzou and Iowa State and Colorado and Nebraska can shoot a wad against these teams and make a win over those teams mean so much more. While there are some programs in the A10 that rise and fall (St. Joes, Temple, Dayton, X) they do not maintain the notoriety or respect that teams like the three mentioned in the Big 12 do, which seems to be at almost a carte blanche manner. If its a stand-alone win, it won't mean much come March, but if they do that again and again ... with the other two Big 12 "Name" teams ... the weight for selection in March will be much heavier. Overall, its a good win for the Tigers. I think that is the situation most mid-majors find themselves in. While they might get lucky and be able to schedule one of those names teams to come into town and play, they might not be able to do it ad infinitum. They might get a one-and-done and if they win, which they must to get noticed, then no one else will come play them because the visiting team has all to lose and nothing to gain. Then there is no recovery possible in conference play, especially if you're a mid- to lower-echelon conference. That's just a reality .... the rich get richer and I don't know of too many "rich" that are enamored with sharing that pot. A mid major that sustains their status over time is quite remarkable ... a program like Gonzaga, Creighton, Southern Illinois, Pepperdine ... those stories are amazing when you really look at them. Being where they are and sustaining it ..... that's what I hope we can become. I know the goal is to always shoot for the top, to win a national championship, but I think for any school outside the major conference big boys to come even close, all the pieces have to fall into place, all the planets have to align, and a little bit of luck and mojo have to come your way. I think Marquette had that with Dwayne Wade. I shudder to think we might ahve done that had Hughes hung around for a few more years. But how can you fight a program toe-to-toe when they replenish they're high school All-Americans with more high school AA's (Duke, UNC, Kentucky, etc.)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gister Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Speaking of scheduling, at the Billiken club the other night, Cheryl commented that discussions are on-going with Gonzaga to renew the series. It can't be done during the next two years becuse their schedule is set for next year, but they are hopeful that it can resume the third year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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