Saint Louis U. gets its basketball season underway toight against the Governors of Austin Peay at 7:30 PM at Chaifetz Arena. This was supposed to be the year that the Billikens became a legitimate "at-large" team for the NCAA tournament. They were returning all players from a team that won 23 games a year ago. They had just inked a 6'11" power forward from New Zealand to compliment the front court players already on the roster. They had signed two talented guards out of Chicago to give them depth in the back court. Billiken fans had not been this juiced for a season since Larry Hughes patrolled the court at Kiel Center his freshman (and only) year.
All of those positive thoughts turned sour in mid-Ocotober when it was learned that two of SLU's cornerstone players, Willie Reed and Kwamain Mitchell, were suspended for a semester after allegations of sexual assault. I have my own opinions on that whole debacle, but I am going to put those aside for this post. Willie has transferred to Kansas State, and it appears that Kwamain will be sticking around. Although the rumblings are that head coah Rick Majerus may want to red-shirt Mitchell to get two more full seasons out of his star guard.
Obviously a team cannot lose its two best players and get better. That being said, there is no reason they cannot do just as well as they did last year. The guard play should not drop off dramatically, based upon what I saw in the two exhibition games. Jordair Jett and Mike McCall are athletic, and Kyle Cassity should be a calming veteran influence.
The front court is where the Billilkens will struggle. They appear to not have any true post player who will be able to get on the block and score consistently. Rob Loe, the 6'11" prized recruit I mentioned earlier, is what I have been calling "our Dirk". He may be 6'11", but he is more comfortable playing a mid-range game away from the basket. This leaves the inside bumping and banging to Brian Conklin and Cory Remekun. Conklin is a battler, but his history of getting in foul trouble (mainly because he plays like a bull in a china shop) does not bode well given the increased minutes he will be playing in Willie's absence. Remekun does not always give max effort, which means he will eventually end up in Majerus's dog house .
All of this means that we will be much more of a perimeter team this year. What that means is that we will be very streaky, as it is hard to shoot well every game when all you are doing is jacking threes and mid range jumpers. We will probably look great one week, and then lose three in a row the next.
All that being said, the schedule is not full of world beaters. They travel to Duke for a likely massacre in December, but other than that there are no non-conference road games on the schedule that appear unwinnable. They are tough to beat at The Chaif, and they may catch a break when Georgia comes to town in that the Bulldogs best player may be suspended. Also, keep in mind that Rick Majerus has never had a losing season his entire coaching career, and there is enough talent on the roster to avoid that again this year.
Maybe this is wishful thinking from a season ticket holder, but I see the Billikens grabbing 18 wins this season. Nowhere near the 20+ that we were expecting with Kwamain and Willie, but better than the Soderberg years.
You can follow tonight's game with my commentary on my twitter feed @fischbowlsports, hope to see you there, and GO BILLS!!!
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