Anybody remember the last time Saint Louis and Charlotte went down to the wire in Halton Arena? Saint Louis hit a game-winning alley-oop with only a few tics left on the clock to send the Niners home demoralized and ashamed.

But tonight, the tables [...]]]>

DiJuan celebrates after making the game winner. courtesy HP

Anybody remember the last time Saint Louis and Charlotte went down to the wire in Halton Arena? Saint Louis hit a game-winning alley-oop with only a few tics left on the clock to send the Niners home demoralized and ashamed.

But tonight, the tables were turned by Niner warrior DiJuan Harris and his game winner with 3 seconds left in overtime. Forget the missed free throws and the inability to keep a lead, that shot made the entire night worth it. Usually on the losing end of game winners, it was a breath of fresh air to see that ball hit the net and go through. Everyone in Halton Arena (all 35 of us, it seemed) erupted and celebrated going 2-1 in conference play. Here’s the crazy part. DiJuan Harris only made 2 FGs tonight, and they were both buzzer beaters, one at the end of the first half to take a 1-pt lead, and the other to win the game.

That said, I really hate Saint Louis. Not because of any conference affiliation or rivalry reasons, I just hate games we play against them. The ground-it-out and slow basketball is extremely tiring to watch and it is easy to find yourself bored. That’s probably part of the game plan, when you think about it. Bore the other team to lose. Make them not care anymore.

We got off to such a great start, mostly thanks to the great play of Derrio Green, but quickly found a way to squander the lead and make it a game. Got to give people their money’s worth, right? How Saint Louis, with their painfully slow offense, managed to erase a ten point margin in a few minutes is beyond this author. We have got to step on our opponents’ proverbial throats and never let up.

But who are we kidding, we know why the offense sputtered to a stall and Saint Louis came back so quickly. As much as we hate to call him out, Ian Andersen is killing our flow on offense AND defense. Got to love his heart and hustle, but the 5 minutes he was in the game in the first half felt like 50. Those minutes need to go to developing Sirin and Barnett at this point. Ian just doesn’t mesh with this group of guys. It’s time to move Ian to “spark off the bench when down or up by 15″. NLP said it best when he sent this text: When Bobby said Ian calms the team I think he actually meant sedates. Ian “Tranquilizer” Andersen, everybody.

Braswell and Spears impressed once again. Spears had eight turnovers, but his presence on the court demands respect and opens everything up for the rest of the squad. It was nice to see him grab rebounds tonight and get a double double (16 pts, 13 rbds). Braswell played like a seasoned member of the squad tonight, playing with 4 fouls through overtime but still playing aggressively and taking it to the Australian Cody Ellis. He’s already very good, and he’s going to be extremely good in the next few years.

Time for bullets, because the game is being rebroadcast and I want to pay attention.

The Good

• Derrio Green is awesome, going to be fun watching him through the next few seasons
• An’Juan Wilderness is becoming part of offense now and has started to assert himself
• We missed all seven of our threes, and still won
• K.J. Sherrill got 9 minutes and is developing nicely
• The Green, Black, and Gold Man suits in the student section

Put on your Green Tinted Glasses

• Ian Andersen is killing the flow of our offense
• Shamari needs to work on passing out of those double teams and not forcing it
• Phil Jones has seemingly regressed, but still has moments
• We let Saint Louis dictate the tempo after the first five minutes
• We didn’t make a three for the first time since 1989, wow!
• Gave away too many dunks

To all our loyal readers (do we have any?) I apologize for the lack of constant content on the site these days. The realization that running a blog about basketball while basketball season is in full swing is kind [...]]]>

The Saintsations, not what were you expecting for a team named the "Billikens", eh?

To all our loyal readers (do we have any?) I apologize for the lack of constant content on the site these days. The realization that running a blog about basketball while basketball season is in full swing is kind of hard, especially if you have to drive to these games 1.5 hours away. Here’s the truth though, our schedule is a lot harder than it was in the first half of the season.

We’ve lost three of the last four, all to tough teams. As bad as our wins are beginning to look, our losses are starting to look “better” if there is a way they can. Is it wrong to actually be glad we fought at Xavier? We usually curl up and die in the Cintas Center, so some of us Niner faithful weren’t completely demoralized by the loss.

Shamarr Bowden’s gone so now we’re going to see more Sirin, Barnett, and to the chagrin of half of Halton Arena, Ian Andersen. It’s amazing how quickly that poor guy has gone from “crowd favorite” to “#1 sign we aren’t that good” in four seasons. For one, I think Derrio should be playing 30 minutes a game until someone else proves he can hit a shot from the perimeter. Why does it seem like our 2Gs have such a hard time hitting the shot they were recruited to make?

Either way, we’re going to return the SWAGGER this game. It’s been missing for far too long and this is the game we’ll get it back. And for one reason, An’Juan Wilderness will dominate the first five minutes of this game and set the tone, he has started to look like the Wilderness of old and look for him to start demanding more attention on offense.

On a completely unrelated note, what is our athletic department’s complete lack of respect for the Golddusters? Where is our Golddusters website? We’re talking bios, pictures, and instructions on how to book them for events! Take a look at the Saintsations page, and then take a look at ours. This is more important than football! Bust needs to know the name of that particularly cute blonde!

Predictions are below, and since this author was forgetful and didn’t ask for them, we only have a few. Leave yours in the comments. Stonecoldken has made a guest appearance in this edition, but we all want you to leave yours in the comments! If you guess it correctly, GreenTintedGlasses.net will book the Golddusters for your next birthday celebration…

J Felt – Charlotte 70, Saint Louis 59. Niners win, I go to Ikea and lose, and Phil Jones gets 3 blocks.

Bust – Niners squeak by Saint Louis at home. Verdict still out on what the heck a billiken is supposed to be. Charlotte 72, Saint Louis 65.

D-Fo – It’s time to Charlotte to show what they’re all about and give the rest of us an idea what the team is gonna look like now that conference play is in full swing.  The Niners will have to shut down freshman wonderboy Cody Ellis, but that’s not gonna be a problem today.  Charlotte gets back on track at home and gives us a reason to be excited again.   Niners 81, Billikens 74.

NLP – Saint Louis is on the verge of being nasty, but not nasty enough to deal with Braswell and HIS NAME IS GOKHAN SIRIN!  Niners 63 – Billikens 58.

Guest Appearance: StoneColdKen – The Niners will have to perform a real life exorcism to beat Rick “tub of lard” Majerus. SLU always has tough defense. We had a game there one time where both were in the 30’s with 3 minutes to go.
Pick: Niners 13, Scary A** Window 12.

Sunday afternoon the St. Louis (just kidding run49er), I mean Saint Louis Billikens take to the Halton Arena floor to square off against our beloved Charlotte 49ers (11-5).  The Billikens enter the game sporting the same 11-5 record on the Niners but [...]]]>

Raise your hand if you're the stupidest mascot in the nation.

Sunday afternoon the St. Louis (just kidding run49er), I mean Saint Louis Billikens take to the Halton Arena floor to square off against our beloved Charlotte 49ers (11-5).  The Billikens enter the game sporting the same 11-5 record on the Niners but enter the contest with a 2-0 conference record.  Saint Louis has defeated Richmond at home and most recently posted an impressive double-overtime win at Duquesne.

A welcome addition to svelte Head Coach Rick Majerus’ squad is freshman import Cody Ellis.  Ellis, a 6’8″ power forward finally received clearance to play by the NCAA (we know how that goes) and has posted a 12 point average in two games coming off the bench.  Despite being unproven in live game action, Ellis has logged an average of 27 minutes in this two games, and has pulled down 8 rpg.  His addition brings a very welcome addition for Saint Louis and changes the complexion of the team as well as how teams will have to prepare for them.

As young as the Xavier squad was that the Niners fell to on Wednesday, Saint Louis is even younger.   With Paul Eckerle out with a pre-season knee injury, the Billikens are comprised of entirely Freshmen and Sophomores.  According to Ken Pomeroy, that makes the Billikens 2nd least experienced team in the nation.  Leading the Billikens in scoring is So. PG Kwamain Mitchell, who puts up 16.2 ppg. on 46.6% shooting from the field and 36.1% from behind the arc. Giving the Billikens good inside balance to go with Mitchell is post man Willie Reed.  Reed is also a So., and averages 12.8 ppg. and 8.6 rpg. giving Saint Louis along with Ellis a pair of very good, young post players.

Rounding out the main starting unit for Saint Louis are wing players Brian Conklin (7.8 ppg.) and Christian Salecich (7.6 ppg.).  Coming off the bench to give the Billikens a boost from the perimeter is diminutive Fr. G Justin Jordan.  Jordan hits on 40% of his 3-point attempts and contributes 6.6 ppg. in just over 20 minutes a game.

As a team, Saint Louis provides a stark contrast to the Niners’ style of play, preferring a slower tempo and grinding out victories.  Saint Louis “only” averages 64.3 ppg. and limits the opposition to 58.5 ppg.  More impressive is their ability to force defenses into poor shooting, limiting them to just 38.0% from the field and 26.3% from the 3-point line.  The Billikens do have some weaknesses though that the Niners can hope to exploit.  Though a respectable team at blocking shots, Saint Louis does not excel at rebounding, allowing the opposition to out-rebound them by about 1.3 rpg.  Chris Braswell and KJ Sherrill could have big games on the glass, as the Niners will likely need plenty of second-chance scoring to overcome the Billikens’ excellent floor defense.

Additionally, Saint Louis is a bit suspect from the line, particularly at the F positions, where they convert just 63% of their attempts from the charity stripe.  If players like Phil Jones and Shamari Spears get beat on defense, strong fouls might be a better alternative to giving up the easy basket.  Of course, that’s not a good strategy if it leads to following out or extended stretches on the bench, of course.

For the Niners, some consistency in scoring is absolutely needed.  Though DiJuan Harris appears to be breaking out of his funk, Derrio Green needs to utilize better shot selection lest he fall in a slump of his own.  The Niners can ill-afford another 0-9 performance behind the arc from Green, particularly with the defection of Shamarr Bowden. As for Shamari Spears, I’m going to be a broken record.  When he gets the ball early in the possession he’s deadly.  If he’s not double or triple teamed, that is.  If he does receive pressure after the catch, he absolutely must do a better job of getting the ball back out, whether it’s to a backdoor player, a slasher like An’Juan Wilderness, or back out to the guards.  Too often has he forced the ball up in a crowd either missing the shot or getting stripped.  That’s not to say he’s a poor player; Shamari has been terrific.  But he can’t be his best until he can also use the attention he draws in the post to make his teammates get better scoring opportunities.

Two other players to keep an eye on are Fr. F Gokhan Sirin and So. F Javarris Barnett.  Both received more action in the Xavier game and this trend may continue as the Niners look to replace the perimeter offense of Bowden.  Sirin in

Rick is bringing sexy back.

particular, despite missing all his attempts against the Musketeers, continues to look more comfortable in the offensive flow.  One can only hope more opportunities leads to more improvement.  As for Barnett, it’s hard not to notice that he tends to do good things in the few minutes he receives.  Against Xavier he drilled a 3 in the corner that was waived off due to an offensive foul, and hit a little flip shot in the paint while collecting 2 rebounds in just 6 minutes.  Though he’s neither a true guard or true forward, his blend of skill and size can potentially lead to matchup problems in the time when he’s on the court.

Another player to keep a watch on is Wilderness, who is shooting a sizzling 63.9% from the field since his return from an early season calf injury.  Though Wilderness continues to struggle at the line, he is a terror around the rim and is probably the Niners best finisher close to the basket.

This game is going to be tougher than some anticipate.  A very young Saint Louis squad continues to improve and the addition of Cody Ellis will only help.  If the contest was at Chaifetz, I’d put this down as a loss, but I think the Niners go to 2-1 in A10 play by grinding out a victory tomorrow afternoon.  The rebounding of Braswell and the rest of the squad will be the determining factor, as the Niners will prevail in a game that will probably be ugly in terms of scoring and field goal percentage.

Oh, and kennethhouck gave a little tid bit in the comments to the X game that I’m going to pass along to anyone who hasn’t seen it.

Tough loss to X.

For St. Louis, do you know what a Billiken is? It’s a Blue Demon. Do you know why SLU has a Blue Demon? Did you see the Exorcist? The movie is based on a real story. The real exorcsim was in a building on the SLU campus. No one goes in the room where the exorcism takes place. It’s sealed up. A window cleaner was on the fire escape cleaning windows, & went down to the floor to clean the outside of the window of the sealed room. He was scared s**tless when he saw a blue demon in the room.
The Niners will have to perform a real life exorcism to beat Rick “tub of lard” Majerus. SLU always has tough defense. We had a game there one time where both were in the 30′s with 3 minutes to go.
Pick: Niners 13, Scary A** Window 12.

We’ll move this to the predictions tomorrow when J Felt gets off his butt and writes it.  Or gets on his butt.  I really don’t want to know in what state of being he writes his articles now that I think about it.  I’m going to go bleach my eyes now.