thetorch Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 We have all noticed and been outraged by what seems to be a concerted effort by the local media advocating a move to the "mid major" MVC for SLU. I have wondered where exactly they got these ideas, that the MVC and SLU are interested in each other and also that it would be good for SLU to go to the MVC, when all evidence points out that there is no reported interest between the two parties and that seemingly a move to the MVC would be a deathknell for the SLU basketball program and any aspirations of national prominence. We have also wondered where the SLU brass is in all of this? Why are the SLU radio and TV announcers pushing for SLU to make possibly the worst basketball related move since the hiring of Ron Ekker, and why is there no statement or reprisal from SLU on this issue since we know that it puts the school and the program in a bad light. Then it hit me. Could this be an inside job? Has Father Biondi thrown in the towel and is looking for a way to put SLU in the Valley? He has seen that SLU has been passed over somewhat by the big conferences, the catholic schools do not want a papal conference, and our present CUSA is disintegrating. We know how difficult it has been in buying the land for the arena and that fundraising so far is below expectations. Is Father Biondi now testing the waters to see if the MVC would be accepted by SLU fans, and is he influencing local media to advocate the move in an attempt to sway local opinion? I don't know how else to explain the sudden change in the media's view toward SLU, and SLU's ambiguous reaction to it. Father Biondi has always been criticized for not going the extra mile to advance the program, but the past few years he has changed his tune. Is he now thinking he may be in over his head, that the investment in the team may not be worth the cost of an arena? We all know Father Biondi is a powerful individual, there is no question he could be capable of carrying this out, but would he? I don't know, I do know I will be sitting on pins and needles for the next couple months until all this conference shuffling is finished. I know what the right move would be, going to the A-10, but is that the move the SLU administration will make? I now have serious doubts about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 i had thought of that as well, but did not want to say it. that is why it is important for everyone to e-mail slu to let them know their feelings. personally though, i tend to believe more so that it is our head in the sand media at work by themselves. if not, i dont think we would have hired dempsey. you or i could have brokered a deal with the mvc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetorch Posted September 28, 2003 Author Share Posted September 28, 2003 Agreed, I have already e-mailed and sent letters to all the SLU brass saying they will be losing a season ticket holder if they go to the MVC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gister Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 While possible, I don't think it is likely. I really feel that most of the media is just looking at geography and has not attempted to look any further. If you call it the Atlantic 10, that seems awlfully far away. If you call it the A-10, that sounds better, and not so far away, but the stigma is still there. Let's face it, most of these schools are in the east, relative to St. Louis. I think the local media has not done any research at all. They just don't care enough to take the time to think it through. It's one thing to say the media are all in on this together, but it is quite a stretch to say that SLU is twisting their arms to encourage this. If I had to choose between Fr. Biondi influencing the media in this way and the other option of lazy, inept, or shoot from the hip, media, I'll pick the latter. (I'm sure I've offended someone here...sorry about that) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 Quotes from Burwell's column: "The Billikens are left on the outside, with a consolation prize that is apparently the Atlantic 10 Conference...That is what people over at SLU will be debating, whether it's best to stay in C-USA or leap to the Atlantic 10." It sure doesn't sound like Burwell thinks SLU is really considering a move to the MVC. In addition, Cusumano and Earl Austin both indicated on the radio that SLU is not considering a move to the MVC. Based on Woolard's comments two weeks ago, fundraising is not behind schedule. The property acquisition will not stop the arena project because SLU has a viable alternative that doesn't require any further property acquisitions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 Shesh...I'm not going to get all riled up about any the sky is falling conspiracy theories about what may or may not happen with our basketball future...what St. Louis has is basically a lazy and p!ss poor media. I have every confidence that we will land on our feet when all this conference shuffling is final, and there has been nothing concrete to indicate that the arena won't be a reality in due time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheA_Bomb Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 There is no SLUspirocy to move to the MVC. I email Doug McIlhagga Sports Info. Dep. at SLU and he actually wrote me back. I was concerned over the media perception and that the school was doing nothing about it. He assured me that they are working but can not change opinions and that radio hosts opinions have no bearing on the future of the program. I feel better about it now and feel that if CUSA implodes and the Big Least expands we will go to the A10 which will move up a notch in the rpi rankings into the void left by CUSA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 schasz has probably called it better than i did. you wouldnt believe the amount of people i have talked to about this issue the last 3 days that have come up to me spewing mvc and within five minutes of reasoning i all but got them on the caravan to dayton for the a-10 conference tourney. the shame in all this is that our media even after us doing their homework for them, are probably too egotistical to come out in public admit their error and endorse the obvious. that is why frank and ramsey NOT saying the right thing hurts so badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 actually, if the a-10 takes slu and charlotte at least (dont forget that it is rumored that depaul and marquette have been offered as well) AND drops fordham and duquesne, it is my belief that the a-10 would rise more than one slot in the conference rankings. by dropping two teams with rpi's in the 250+ range and adding 4 in the top 75, that would give a roster of teams that would be knocking on the pac 10 and the mountain west's conference rpi ranking probably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StLouBlue Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 Right now there are no formal invites to anyone from the Big East or the A-10, so making any kind of statement that SLU is not going to MVC is premature. I think this would include behind the scene statements also, if the MVC ends up being our best option, we don't want to burn that bridge. We saw how the ACC expansion changed what 3-4 times before it was all said and done, the same thing could happen here. The MVC is probably still a fallback option if the A-10 invite or something better doesn't come through. As far as the media mentioning SLU and the MVC, I think this just shows what a great event the MVC tournament is in St Louis. Most of the media have probably been to the tournament and experienced the excitement there and probably think having SLU be part of this would be a good thing. I doubt any of them have really looked into to A-10 or MVC much at all. As far as the new arena, they have basically said until they get the land situation figured out and the plans done up, SLU will not have a big fundraising push. The arena is moving forward, maybe a little slower than we would like, but it will get done. Lastly, I would think there are some doctors on this message board who could probably give you a prescription to help you get through these next couple of months. These paranoid conspiracy theories can probably be controled with the right kind of medication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 stloublue said, "Right now there are no formal invites to anyone from the Big East or the A-10, so making any kind of statement that SLU is not going to MVC is premature. I think this would include behind the scene statements also, if the MVC ends up being our best option, we don't want to burn that bridge. We saw how the ACC expansion changed what 3-4 times before it was all said and done, the same thing could happen here. The MVC is probably still a fallback option if the A-10 invite or something better doesn't come through." i would rank our hopeful options as such: 1. a new league made up with primarily private schools with like demographics and philosophies i.e. "the papal conference". 2. the a-10 3. a merger/reshuffle betweeen conference usa/the big east 4. stay in conference usa regardless of what is left after a big east raid. 5. go to the horizon league 6. join up with area private high schools to form a new league 7. join the mvc stloublue said, "As far as the media mentioning SLU and the MVC, I think this just shows what a great event the MVC tournament is in St Louis. Most of the media have probably been to the tournament and experienced the excitement there and probably think having SLU be part of this would be a good thing." ummmmm, while i pretty much agee with that statement, i can tell you that as a rabid college basketball fan, that i go i go to both the mvc and the conference usa tourney each year. if the media thinks the mvc tourney is good, maybe they need to get out more because while it is good competition for the teams there, it is way below the basketball scale of our own tourney. like i said, maybe more than stu durando need to attend the conference usa tourney this year. to be honest, other than ramsey and stu, none of these media guys ever show. stloublue said, "I doubt any of them have really looked into to A-10 or MVC much at all." judging by the facts we have presented this week, it is pretty obvious that they havent done any homework. if they had, they wouldnt be making the dumb statements. stloublue said, "As far as the new arena, they have basically said until they get the land situation figured out and the plans done up, SLU will not have a big fundraising push. The arena is moving forward, maybe a little slower than we would like, but it will get done." both the plans and the land situation are pretty much done. there is little left to do on both ends. my opinion is they are waiting to see how the conference thing shakes out. if the horror of worst case happens, where all of the above 6 choices dont happen and slu is faced with becoming a less than naia school in the mvc, my guess is that not only would we junk the arena plan but also move all future games to west pine. stloublue said, "Lastly, I would think there are some doctors on this message board who could probably give you a prescription to help you get through these next couple of months. These paranoid conspiracy theories can probably be controled with the right kind of medication." either drugs or maybe a local media that could credibly do their jobs might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xu95 Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 Correct and that is one of the things that excites me the most. With the addition of Saint Louis and Charlotte and the deletion of Fordham and Duquesne, I see some years where the A-10 is 6 or even 5 in the RPI ratings. We have been 6 before, I don't see why we can't be there again. xu95 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 A post at just after midnight and then one at 8 a.m.? I'm not a doctor (although I'm happy to play one on the 'Net), but I'd suggest Quaaludes, a fine Anheuser-Busch product and whatever the generic equivalent is these days for Billiken OCD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 wont deny that the first thing i do in the morning and the last thing i do before heading to bed is check e-mails and the billiken board. not like that is a big effort to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 I agree with Roy on the Dempsey theory. Why hire the guy if you were going to accept the fate of the Valley? Also, having hired the guy, it must have been clear that his mission was to get SLU into the Big East or, failing that, the A10. It must be no accident that SLU and Charlotte, two of Dempsey's clients, are being reported in the east coast media to be receiving bids to the A10. This has to be part of a plan and the SLU administration has to be on board. I chalk the whole episode up to the inferiority complex that prevails in this city and the Tiger faithful who would like nothing better than to banish SLU sports to D3 with Wash U. We as a city are very quick to accept that any and all aspects of our city are second rate and belong with other small cities of the midwest. Also, those two hands behind our back pushing us toward the Valley, they have Tiger claws in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUNATE Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 I have to say, that I'm almost a believer at this point of the A-10, and will probably eat my crow on the pressbox, as I'm the one who stirred all this up by calling into KFNS last week. If and are out of the picture, I'm much happier with the A-10. That said Cusamano, Rammer and Burwell have all talked positive about the A-10 during the past week. All they have said is that there are two ways of looking at it. A lot of people like the MVC and it has a lot of supporters in the area, myself included. After reading a lot of the info that has been brought up in the past week, I see the positives of the A-10 outnumber those offered by the MVC, but I do NOT concede that the MVC is a crap conference and would set SLU back 25 years. I can also say with an insiders confidence that there will be a lot more information available about the arena in the two weeks including designs, primary and secondary locations. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUNATE Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 mods... sorry for making you work...i'll behave! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mobile-iken Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 If Father Biondi wanted us in the MVC we would be there with or without the media. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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