Slu Vs Butler

[joeD]

Whatta win for SLU! Against my fourth favorite team, no less (my favorite team is my two girls' high school field hockey/basketball/soccer teams). I am so very happy for the SLU program. Their suffocating defense and smart offensive playing was a joy to watch. Bully for them, they both deserved, and earned it. I'm quite sure that this loss is a mere speed bump on Butler's way to playing deep into "March Madness," but that should not take away this significant home win for SLU.

Say what you will, but the best Division 1 men's college basketball currently being played in Missouri is by SLU. Not Mizzou. Not Missouri State.

And yes, I realize that a Jesuit city school that belongs to a conference that most sports fans shrug off (the A-10), is a hard sell (no football team).

But, aren't you guys tired of Mizzou's chronic underachievement?

[ozark trout fisher]

But, aren't you guys tired of Mizzou's chronic underachievement?

Well, yes. Great win for SLU. The Atlantic Ten is a beast of a conference. SLU had not lived up to expectations for a lot of the year (for completely understandable reasons, given Rick Majerus' passing) but beating a good Butler team is a good start for them...puts them a lot closer to the NCAA tournament discussion. Not 100% ready to say that they're the best team in the state just yet, but they're certainly in that conversation.

Of course it should really just be settled on the court anyway...still don't know why we don't play SLU. They'd be a heck of a lot better for our RPI than a lot of the teams we played this year out of conference.

[exiledguide]

The bigger conferences don't very often play in state . I know in Iowa and Kentucky it took the state legislature to force KY to play Louisville and to force Iowa and Iowa State to play Northern Iowa. Why can't Missouri Arkamsas and Illinois play in state schools either. I remember when SLU was in the valley and yearly was a top 20 team and they played non league games against schools like Iowa, Kentucky and Ohio State but refused to play Missouri because they didn't want to loose any recruits to the Tigers who were not very good and the Big 7 was not a very good basketball conference except for Kansas until they talked Oklahoma A & M to join and make it the Big 8.

[ozark trout fisher]

I know that Missouri won't play them because they think SLU (and Missouri State, for that matter) are "little brother" programs. As a die-hard Mizzou fan, that's just silly. Those are legit programs that usually put quality teams on the floor. The Missouri Valley and A-10 schools are basically major conferences in basketball. Honestly they are close if not equal to the SEC in quality of play. Fans want to see quality games against teams they know/care about. I don't know what the drawback is. It's not like if we did lose to a quality team like SLU it would be damaging.

I mean, we play Southeast Missouri State almost annually (and came a bit close to actually losing to them this year) as well as occasional games against UMKC. So we're not averse to playing all of the instate programs, just SLU and MSU seemingly.

[Al Agnew]

It's a no-win situation for Mizzou. It's not an easy victory (maybe not a victory, period), but Mizzou has just enough better reputation that if they win, it's ho-hum, and if they lose, it's supposedly a big upset. I'd guess if Mizzou wanted to play a team out of conference that could beat them, they'd want to play a team that has a big enough reputation that losing to them wouldn't be a big surprise, and winning against them would really be a feather in their cap.

The reality, however, is that's changing. The A-10 is probably a better conference, top to bottom, than the SEC this year, and is one of the top 6 or 7 conferences in the nation. And SLU is making some noise. There were basketball people picking them as a dark horse final four team pre-season. And they didn't have a let-down against Dayton yesterday. Their defense the last few games has been scary.

[moguy1973]

I'm wondering when SLU is going to crack the top 25. They have a real good season going.

[joeD]

Don't want to get all Gene Hackman on you, but, "we're coming together as a team!"

[ozark trout fisher]

I'm wondering when SLU is going to crack the top 25. They have a real good season going.

They need to quit taking bad losses. They've shown their potential in some very impressive wins-Butler especially, but they're way to inconsistent. Right now they're an NCAA tournament bubble team, and would probably be in the NIT if the season ended now. The home loss to Rhode Island is incredibly damaging. But all that said, I think they'd be very dangerous if they can string together enough wins to make the big dance. I like their chances of eventually doing that, and the A-10 gives them plenty of opportunities for more big wins that could get them in. They've shown they're capable of taking down elite teams on any given night.

[stlfisher]

I am not sure which loss was worse SLU to Rhode Island or Mizzou to LSU. At least Mizzou was on the road, but those are two just awful losses. I feel better about SLU and the win over Butler was huge. MU better be figure out how to play on the road or they just might end up on the bubble.

[ozark trout fisher]

I do think both teams are roughly equal in quality. The problem is that SLU's computer ratings are pretty close to the "straight to the NIT" range, while Missouri's RPI would for the moment keep it pretty safe. The LSU loss is bad subjectively, but according to the RPI LSU is just outside the top 100, and it the loss barely even touched our own RPI. But Rhode Island is closer to 200, and it's killing St. Louis' resume right now. But obviously it doesn't matter too much where your are right now. We all know that LSU probably isn't all that much better than Rhode Island, and neither loss is really any more excusable, but that's how the RPI works. Each team has plenty of time to move, either up or down. I do think both make the tournament before it is said and done, though neither with much margin for error. We'll see.