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Scouting St Louis!!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
1/24/2012
Things have gone much more smoothly for SLU so far in 2010-2011 versus last season. The Billikens are 15-4 overall and 3-2 in the Atlantic 10-tied for 4th with La Salle, St Bonnies and GW. Dayton leads the conference at 4-1 followed by XU and UMass at 4-2. St Louis posted a 12-19 record last year (first losing mark for coach Rick Majerus after stops at Marquette, Ball State, Utah and now SLU-6th year). Majerus himself had health problems. Starters Kwamain Mitchel(PG) and Willie Reed(PF) were suspended for the season. Reed left school. Starting SF Cody Ellis hurt a shoulder and hardly played. The young guys were force fed. Majerus stuck with his patient offense (many passes,reliance on lay-ups and three pointers-few mid-range shots) and stingy hard-working defense.
X beat SLU twice last year 76-68 at Cintas and 66-55 in the regular season finale at Chaefitz Center. The Bills were a stubborn "out" both games. The Muskies pounded them on the boards-started quickly each game-limited SLU to 5 total offensive rebounds in 80 minutes and got 49 points from Tu Holloway. Xavier's won 7 straight in the series and the Muskies are 7-1 against Majerus.
SLU 2011 is much improved though. The Bills started 6-0 and won a tournament in Anaheim. They beat PAC 12 Washington early. SLU is 2-3 on the road with tough losses at the New Mexico Pit and UD Arena in overtime. They own an A-10 road victory at Charlotte.
Ball control is Majerus's mantra. SLU scores 70PPG very efficiently (39% outside the arc-twice as many made 3's as the opposition with low turnovers). They allow just 55.6 PPG and have held 7 opponents under 50 plus they force 15 turnovers/game and grab a bunch of steals.
PG Mitchell does everything well and he has a history of second half heroics. Senior PF Brian Conklin is having a great season(14PPG-5.4 RPG-dead-eye FT shooter and inside scorer). Dwayne Evans has blossomed at SF. He's a solid 6-5 and his match-up with Dez Wells should be interesting. 6-11 Rob Loe starts at center but he drifts out to shoot threes. The off guard is Kyle Cassity who's a steady glue guy.
The bench features ex-starting PG Mike McCall who's fast and can shoot it plus defensive specialist Jordair Jett who's a shutdown guard. Cody Ellis has made 41 threes. Cory Remekun is a very athletic forward sub.
Jimmy Crews is sitting on the bench now with Majerus. He coached Chris Mack and XU assistant Kareem Richardson at Evansville. Beware the blind screens when Crews is around!!
SLU's just 3-3 in their last 6 games but the losses were at New Mexico,at Dayton and home to Temple. St Louis runs the disciplined game that usually keeps them hanging around in difficult road venues. Cintas certainly qualifies with XU's 43 game A-10 win streak.
Xavier needs to hold serve at home against a solid opponent. Matching 3 pointers won't work!! The Muskies have to pound it low and rip SLU on the dribble-drive and start making FTs at a decent clip. Defensively, XU must be ready to guard for 25 to 30 seconds because SLU will make a million passes until they find the perfect high percentage shot. X has to finish any fastbreak chances they create by making those speed lay-ups.
Home games can't be wasted. It's at Charlotte, at GW and at Memphis with only four Cintas dates left after the St Louis game.
Around the A-10 Wednesday night - League leader Dayton is at St Joe's. The Flyers won at Temple earlier. The 2-3 Hawks have lost 3 in a row (UMass, XU, Penn). PG Carl Jones is back for SJU. I think UD goes down in Philly. 1-4 Fordham is at 2-3 Richmond. 3-2 GW is at 3-2 LaSalle. 3-2 St Bonnies is at 0-5 Rhode Island. 2-2 Temple is at 2-3 Charlotte. UMass(4-2) and Duquesne(3-3) have byes.
Xavier jumps back into solo first place with a win and a Dayton loss.
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