Tourney paring nightmare

[BradFan]

To avoid closing the season out with three losses in a row, the boys will have to beat either Dayton or St. Joe's - the two teams that beat SLU at home this year - on Thursday. Of course, the reward for doing so will probably be GW (though clearly, they are beatable).

Let's hope they get it together.

[WVBilliken]

I am hoping Dayton takes this game. I don't think they can beat us three times in one year. Also, don't want to play Xavier on their home court.

[BradFan]

I also didn't want to face Temple in the tourney...and we probably won't. Their defense was very tough on our young guys.

[Schasz]

I would prefer Dayton over St. Joe's as the St. Joe's loss was our worst effort at home and we played Dayton close in both games.

[The Heckler]

Lets think about this. Dayton or St. Joe. Yes St. Joe beat us bad on our home court, but you have to remember they started the game 7-7, from that point the Bills played them evenly. We had a horrible shooting day, played well defensively in the second half.

Yes Dayton has beaten us 2 times and it would be hard to believe they could do it a 3rd. But hey, the Rams did it to Seattle 2 years ago (yes football). What concerns me about Dayton, is that it will be like a home game for them. I would assume with the proximity of Dayton, that they will have a good crowd.

So, as long as the Bills can play tuff D and have some offense, I will take my chances against St. Joe. But from this point on, any team will be tuff, it's tournament time, even the Bills will be a team that teams won't want to play.

After watching the Charlotte/GW game, just thinking we would probably need to beat both of those teams to win the tourny, WOW! I can't wait for the tourny to start. Did you see De'Angelo Alexander for Charlotte score 35, I guess my Heckling (THE HECKLER) at the Charlotte game worked, he only scored 18 against us.

GO BILLS!

[Quality Is Job 1]

Please don't give me that junk that it will be "hard" for Dayton to beat SLU a third time! Of course it will be hard. It's hard to beat a team -- a decent one, anyway -- just once, let alone twice or three times.

But it's most certainly possible. Over 10 years ago Cincinnati beat Memphis four times in that one season, sweeping them home and away during the conference season, beating them in the Great Midwest Tournament, and beating them in the NCAA Tournament to reach the Final Four. In fact, I think it got easier for Cincinnati the more times they beat Memphis -- and Memphis was a very good team that year.

Saint Louis is better than Dayton this year, if you measure the teams by how they performed against their schedules, but for some reason the Flyers present a matchup problem for the Bills -- just as the Bills present a matchup problem for Xavier, which might be a better team than SLU.

I hope the Bills do get another shot at Dayton Thursday, but it won't be easy for them to beat Dayton.

[Bay Area Billiken]

I would be very surprised if Dayton beats St. Joe's. Phil Martelli is an excellent coach.

I would rather play Dayton, even in Ohio and even with the perceived matchup problems Dayton gives SLU.

We cannot cry over spilt milk, but that home loss to Dayton really hurt. SLU now must run a probable 3 game gauntlet of St. Joe's, George Washington, and Charlotte to win the A-10 Tournament and go to the Big Dance. It is not impossible, and anything can happen.