Perusing the Board ....

[Taj79]

.. today is about what I'd expect after last night's result. I didn't hear the game, I didn't see the game, I haven't read anything but what's on this board so I have no impressions on the game itself. All I know is the final score and the fact that we lost to one of the most low-lying teams currently palying on the Division 1 circuit.

Fire Brad: I'd have to ask what for? Some on here have already begun the great coaching search in the sky. Stallings. Amaker. Lowery. Kruger. Stop and ask yourselves, who, in their right mind would see this as nothing more than a graveyard for one's coaching career? Albrecht -- dead and gone. Coleman -- dead and gone. Ekker -- dead and gone (some lame assistant job somewhere in the wasteland of the NBA does not count in my book). Grawer -- back to high school. Spoon -- dead and gone. Romar -- his move to Washington had nothing to do with his accomplishments here; Alma Mater U came calling. This is not a steppingstone position. This is nothing more than a career killer for most. I'm not for the "fire Brad" camp nor for the "keep Brad" camp, but you guys are dreaming if you think some up-and-coming coach is going to slit his own throat and come here. If not some unknown assitant, the best we can hope for is some donw-on-his-luck slug looking to make a comback ... and last I saw Larry Eustachey was taken. Of course, Quin is floating around out there!

No Bench: Like, duh. The top three came back and Luke has shown marked improvement. Other than that, we were depending on two guys (Dwayne and Danny) getting better because, well they just had to because they're juniors now. Unfortunately, this is Billiken College Basketball and it seems to differ from the norm that is College Basketball. Someone has already done the stats on what we get from our bench so I won't go into that but what we have is what we have. And JJ, hmmmm, let's see ... a fifth year senior who's done nothing for four years. Oh, yeah, that fifth year will make him better just like osmosis. He can increase his production 100% but you know what, 100% times ZERO is still ZERO.

Not Coming Out Ready to Play: pure and simple, I'd blame this on the coach not having the guys prepared. But you know I've been hearing this from the pre-streak run of Perry's senior year, to the injury riddle Bryant/Frericks senior year to last year and now this year. If you're a lunch pail team as many of us have said Billiken teams are, you have to believe that as well and not think walking out on the floor is enough. So this trait seems to be an enduring one. If a Saint Louis University team does not understand this from the get go, either they are learning impaired or the message isn't being stressed enough. But I also understand you can't berate your team into submission because that won't work either. Seems to me the current staff is not motivational enough right now.

Winning the A10: We just went on the road and lost to the 330th ranked team in Division 1. It amazes me that some think this same team can waltz into Atlantic City, before thousands of empty seats, with the same five fans in the house supporting them, and win three or four straight games with a four man roster and no bench. What are you guys sniffing? Sure, stranger things have happened (see Memphis 2000) but that's a once-in-a-millenium kind of thing and we've cashed out that supply in the year noted above. Not impossible, but highly improbable.

Wait Til Next Year: I can't even say that with a straight face because next year, in my book, depends on this year and its like Steve says in that the hopes and dreams of the future are being built now. I so desperately want this team to succeed, which means making the dance, because if it doesn't, the minimal cachet that even making the dance gives will not be available to impress the recruits and we again rely on 17- and 18-year-old kids to take a leap of faith, stay home, and take the little school that thinks it could to the big dance. We actually had that in Grawers' first and last years and didn't realize much from it at all. Next year to next year to next year is treading water ... which is what we do. Tiring, isn't it?

The Rest of the Year: Are we out of it? No. We could still lose the rest of our games and, by winning four in AC in March, still go to the dance (not true as we would not be invited to AC with nary a win in the regular season but ignore that fact for now). If we don't win the A10 tourney this loss will surely hurt but given this loss at this time to this team, I suspect that other losses of this nature exist further down the 2007 road.

I am disheartened, for sure. But changes are coming. Either this team learns that it has to be prepared to play from five minutes before the opening tip to five minutes after the final whistle, or the staff will change at the end of the year. I firmly believe that. Of course, a change in the staff, to me, is equally harmful as it is beneficial. But the progress I expected is just not happening for me right now.

This is one of those losses that you don't expect from a good team. As I said in the Ole Miss game, I thought this team was better than this. The comeback and win against Ole Miss made me proud. This one just confuses the hell out of me. The time for change is rapidly approaching ..... either changing the thinking and mindset of the current roster and staff, or, I suspect, changing the staff. A team with three all-conference returnees does NOT lose to the Bonnies anywhere in my book.

[billiken_roy]

taj said,

"Fire Brad: I'd have to ask what for? Some on here have already begun the great coaching search in the sky. Stallings. Amaker. Lowery. Kruger. Stop and ask yourselves, who, in their right mind would see this as nothing more than a graveyard for one's coaching career? Albrecht -- dead and gone. Coleman -- dead and gone. Ekker -- dead and gone (some lame assistant job somewhere in the wasteland of the NBA does not count in my book). Grawer -- back to high school. Spoon -- dead and gone. Romar -- his move to Washington had nothing to do with his accomplishments here; Alma Mater U came calling. This is not a steppingstone position. This is nothing more than a career killer for most. I'm not for the "fire Brad" camp nor for the "keep Brad" camp, but you guys are dreaming if you think some up-and-coming coach is going to slit his own throat and come here. If not some unknown assitant, the best we can hope for is some donw-on-his-luck slug looking to make a comback ... and last I saw Larry Eustachey was taken. Of course, Quin is floating around out there!"

sure levick hit the jackpot with shimmy going the find the asst to be route, but that is like finding a needle in the haystack. any move will amount to starting over.

[slu72]

Right now the only way we get in is to win the A-10 tourney. Of course, we could win out in the A-10, but let's get real. With our sorry a** bench, our kids will be dragging their tails in AC. Do you know we got beat by a seldom used player last night, the kid that scored the put back on his first rebound of the year? How pitiful is that? Sorry, I don't see SLU as a dead end job for a coach. And am not sure if Taj is saying UB's the best we can get...if so then every year we will be a very disappointed bunch with records of 18-12, 16-14, and an occassional trip to the NIT. This is what the man has done in five years. There is no arguing with the record. Yes we have one of the best starting 5's in the A-10, but it's not good enough. You need support players. How evident was that last night? The lack of any development on JJ and DB's part is really telling. 5 and 3 years of D1 hoops and they are at the same level when they came here. DB may have regressed! Sadly, so is the program. What's different from past coaching hires now....the arena. Anyone with half a brain has to see the Admin has made a major commitment to hoops. And there are coaches out there doing a whole lot more with a whole lot less than SLU has to offer athletes. We have no choice but to let this season play out and then see where the chips fall. I think what every one on here is concerned about is the great area class of '08. That somehow UB has the inside track on a lot of these kids. Yet, I've not read where SLU is too high on their lists. Instead, you get the biggies that are after them and have offered. The thinking here should be, if UB doesn't take us dancing this year, he will have, unless he demonstrates by some early verbals, little or no chance at landing any of these guys. Then it's time to fish or cut bait.

[cheeseman]

First of all - when Spoon left he was not "done". He technically retired and got the next year got the job at UNLV who now has Kruger. Hardly a bad place to be. Second, I have said over and over that I would wait until the season and the recruiting season was over before passing judgment and I will hold to that. In fact I was even willing to wait until the upcoming fall recruiting class. Now that Horace has flunked out and Obi might be gone, Brad's last year recruiting class consists of 2 players - Dustin and Adam. This summer I had given Brad a C+ - certainly not a stellar recruiting performance but worthy enough to build on - now that class is downgraded to a D+ not because Dustin and Adam are not potentially any good but because of the lack of numbers. We can not continue loosing more players to graduation then we recruit - the math doesn't work. Third, to those who say what is the point of starting over? One could argue that either we start over now or one year from now - what is the difference. If he does not get some players this spring who can actually play next year and he does not get any fall committments, well then I guess we actually find ourselves in a worse situation - KL and Tommie will be seniors, DP and Luke gone and we have an empty cupboard. If you replace at the end of the year and spring recruiting season then you loose out in the fall anyway so we are forced to cast our lot with Brad for now but you have to admit the boat is starting to list. As I said above, I am not going to change my benchmark's for evaluating Brad but it does make you wonder - I hope he can pull it off for all our sakes.

[Billikenexpress]

The bottom line is that we are just not that good. We are not a top 50 team. We are not in a power conference. As a matter of fact, we are in one of the weakest conferences in the nation. The only chance we have is to win the A10 tournament. Whoever wins it will have a low seed and be viewed as a nice 'warm-up' game for someone. Period.

[Billiken Rich]

eom

[davidnark]

Isn't that the goal? If Brad has five years and no NCAA tournament appearances, coupled with a history of mostly boring basketball, shouldn't we want to start over? I want a coach with a more aggressive philosophy. I want a coach who is proactive with his strategy, not reactive. I want a coach who gives young kids a real shot to play even if they haven't perfectly mastered his system.

I recognize that there is some concern that we would be throwing away recruiting relationships. Let's be honest, the local kids who are considering SLU are primarily attracted by its vicinity to their homes and families, not by Brad's program. If Brad were coaching in Wichita or Indianapolis, these kids wouldn't give him the time of day. There is no reason a solid replacement couldn't leverage the hometown angle to quickly establish the recruiting relationship.

[Taj79]

.. or asked if I thought Brad was the best we could get. I don't really know. What I do feel confident in saying is that none of these so-called name guys are going to come calling at a place that is nothing more than a deathbed to a career. So what we are going to get is probably someone either on rehab (Quin/Eustachey/Bozeman types) or some unknown who's the lead recruiter for some big BCS program (ala Gregory). So we're back to a stranger startingover. Who's to say he will have any different success than Brad. The locale hasn't changed. You can put up all the palm trees, sand, and beach balls you want but Duluth won't become Cozumel because of it.

The arena has to be a plus, I just can't see it being anything else. But other programs have failed with equally pretty facilities and then other programs have succeeded with mildew caked pits (Cameron, Allen, Butler). A new arena still doesn't make success a given. A new coach with a huge salary and a new arena does not magically transform a perennial doormat from outhouse to penthouse. Many have said it ... only winning does.

And again, with three all-conference performers coming back, this was the year if any to make some noise, create some buzz, develop some cachet ... go to the dance and let the growing begin. What happens if Brad does get fired, Ian graduates, and Tommie and Kevin say "I came for the coach, he is gone, so am I."? You want to talk about starting over. Wow! It'll be my sixth time to start over so its getting to be old hat for me.

That's not good enough but I'm getting resigned once again to the fact that that may be all there is. When I expect good, I get dashed. Whne I expect nothing (see Memhis, Miracle 2000) do-do happens. Or at least so it seems. But Saint Bonaventure?!?!?!?! If ever there was a gimme, this had to be it. If we can't expect the gimmes .....

[Billiken Rich]

I and many cut Brad a load of slack over the problems with Romar's recruits and the timing of his leaving. I couldn't hold him responsible for Reggie's troubles and Frerick's injuries. I was willing to overlook the lack of a power forward and the lack of biggernamed recruits while we were tourney bound. This stumble and a bad A10 have brought up all of the ugly negatives which winning kept at bay......