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Scouting SLU!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
3/6/2013
The St Louis University Billikens may be the best "TEAM" Xavier has played all season. They're legitimately 9 players deep. They know their roles. They are experienced and they play together on both ends of the floor. SLU has weathered a bunch of adversity. Coach Rick Majerus died December 1st. He recruited the players and masterminded the system. Assistant Jim Crews has executed the plan adroitly-using his vast experience at Indiana (player and assistant coach under Bob Knight and head coach at Evansville and Army).
Crews is in the conversation for National Coach of the Year along with Mark Few (Gonzaga), John Beilein (Michigan), Tom Crean (IU) and a bunch of the usual suspects like Rick Pitino. Crews is still interim head coach by the way.
The Bills sit 23-5 overall (They'd be a couple games better, but SR.PG Kwamain Mitchell missed the first 11 games with a broken foot). SLU is first in the A-10 at 12-2 with an active 11 game win streak dating back to Jan 19th. Their conference losses are at Temple and home in OT 82-80 to Rhode Island.
St Louis clinches their first conference title of any kind since 1971 with either a win at XU Wednesday nite (9PM-CBS Sports Network) or a home victory Saturday vs La Salle. The Bills are rated 15th in the Coaches' Poll and 17th in AP.
These are salad days in St Louis. Crowds at the Chaifetz Center are huge (5 over 10,000 including La Salle). SLU is an NCAA lock this year after being a 9 seed last season-posting an NCAA win over Memphis then losing a tight one (65-61) to 3 seed Michigan State.
Some experts forecast an Elite 8 or Final 4 run for the Billikens.(OK,that's a slight exaggeration. Dan Dakich is the expert and he's Jimmy Crews's buddy from IU). But if Butler can make the Final 4 twice,why not SLU?
They're built on defense a la the Bulldogs. They totally buy into their system and are the masters of late game situations. St Louis has beaten Butler twice this season also.
SLU's foundation is their 3 interchangeable guards. All have point guard skills plus scoring ability and on-the-ball defensive talents. Kwamain Mitchell's been around 5 years. He does everything well. He's been exposed to every situation and is known for second half-late game heroics. Jr. Mike McCall is super fast and solid in every facet of guard play(10PPG-82%FTS-2:1 assists to turnovers). Jr. Jordair Jett is a little bigger but incredibly fast. He comes off the bench but still nets 27 minutes/game. Defense was his speciality. Now he's added offense(10PPG). Jett's had big scoring games vs Butler,Charlotte and VCU. Crews plays the 3 guards together a lot.
SLU has the best small forward in the A-10 Jr Dwayne Evans (6-5, 230) and a bull of a post-up player. He just won A-10 Player of the Week with 43 points-24 rebounds-7 steals and 4 blocks total in wins over St Joe's and GW.
6-11 New Zealander Rob Loe starts up front. He's a stretch 5 man with strong 3 point shooting ability. Newcomer Grady Glaze(Toronto,Canada) starts(6-3,235). 6-8 245 SR Cody Ellis comes off the bench. He's from Australia and has been slumping lately (10 points total-last 3 games). 6-8 SR Cory Remekun is an amazing leaper who's found his scoring tough lately. Toledo transfer Jake Barnett(6-5,195) was the forgotten man last season,but he's had his moments and provides another 3 point threat.
SLU's hall mark is stingy man defense (allowing just 58PPG), but they take good shots and score 69PPG. They are a big plus in 3 pointers-free throws-turnovers created and steals. SLU is not a dominating rebounding team, but they don't need to be.
So why is Xavier even showing up?? First,it's Senior Night and Travis Taylor, Brad Redford and Jeff Robinson should be inspired. X hasn't lost a Senior Night game since 2006 (St Joe's). That launched the record 43 game A-10 Cintas win streak which St. Louis snapped last January (73-68).
The Muskies did not play well losing Saturday to UMass so Coach Mack has had ammunition aplenty to council the troops aggressively. SLU wants to play halfcourt and they're content with a game in the 60's. That's a game XU can play and win at Cintas. The Bills have won 6 in a row on the road,but they are not blowing people away.
XU has to cut down on turnovers-pound the ball into Taylor and Isaiah Philmore and make free throws. Justin Martin has to fight Dwayne Evans to a draw in their small forward match-up. This could be close at the end. Xavier has to out-execute SLU in late game situations. That's a BIG ORDER, but the Muskies are capable.
SLU can win the league by taking La Salle Saturday at home. Long winning streaks can sap some energy and focus. The Muskies must play with desperation because these are desperate times for a program used to 20 plus win seasons and NCAA bids.
I'm picking Xavier 65-63. To heck with Las Vegas and Ken Pomeroy!! Taylor and Redford and Robinson deserve to go out on a "W" and their efforts will go a long way toward determining the outcome.
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