(St. Louis, MO) – The Billikens are primed for the meat of their schedule. Saint Louis University has been running through their early season without much opposition. Their schedule has been a nice mix of teams they knew they should beat and could cultivate some confidence, and now their real season begins.
In Jim Crews’ first full season as the Billiken Head Coach they have a played a nice schedule of regional schools from the Missouri Valley Conference and Ohio Valley Conference. They’ve saved money and energy by playing only two ‘road’ games and both were within three hours of St. Louis.
Now the season really begins.
Readers here know we’re big Valley advocates, but the Billikens played an undermanned OVC team when Southeast Missouri visited Chaifetz Arena with two of their best players suspended. SLU blasted a re-building SIUE team 30 minutes from the SLU campus and beat a rebuilding SIUC team in Carbondale.
The Bills have looked a little sluggish in those games. They seem to miss Kwamain Mitchel and Cody Ellis more than I thought they would. Their loss to Wisconsin validated the fear of many that interior defense could be their Achilles Heal.
After a nice bounce back win over Old Dominion ‘Crews’ Crew’ now begins the drive for a post-season NCAA bid.
Sunday they play nationally ranked MVC standard bearer Wichita State. After a loss to a Big Ten team, the Billikens need a signature win and hosting the Shockers gives them a golden chance to grab that prize.
WSU is undefeated but has struggled in the first halves of games, which is exactly when a home court can give you and edge. Make no mistake. This is a key game for SLU.
After a date with the Shockers, the Billikens go back into a stretch of games against ‘little sisters of the poor’ and ‘white castle’ interrupted by games with Indiana State and Vanderbilt before beginning their conference season.
Even if they lose at Vandy, if the Billikens could beat those two tough MVC schools at Chaiftetz, they could easily be 13-2, with a healthy RPI heading into the conference season. THAT would have them sitting pretty for a tournament bid.
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