Saint Louis University’s campus has really changed in the past 20 years. TheRev. Lawrence Biondi has done an excellent job revitalizing the main campus and opening other campus sites throughout the Metro East.
The new Chaifetz Arena and the main campus both look beautiful. The campus is lit-up and very clean, and the Chaifetz Arena will be a treat for all Billiken fans.
If you listen to Billiken men’s coach Slick Rick Majerus, he made all the right changes to make the basketball arena the best in the Atlantic 10, certainly among local venues. I thought this thing was in the works during Brad “Lost In Space” Soderberg’s tenure?
Rumor has it that Slick Rick is approving all in/out privileges in the arena. I hope he just gives Billiken women’s head coach Shimmy Gray-Miller some keys. By the way, maybe Slick Rick will invite more media members to his practice whose names don’t end with a vowel
One thing about Slick Rick, you can’t he hasn’t been busy since the Final Four ended. I predicted a couple of months ago that he would be running off a few players and maybe a coach or two. Gone are a number of players, and Assistant Coach Angres Thorpe found employment elsewhere, taking a job with the Fighting Phoenix of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Why would Angres leave Saint Louis University with all the success here locally with the recruitment of both Kevin Lisch and TL3 (Tommie Liddell III) among others? Maybe because Majerus ran off a few players Thorpe had recruited? But with both TL3 and Lisch returning for their senior seasons, it seems a bit strange that Thorpe would be leaving based on the relationship he had with those players and the local community.
Coach Thorpe often contributed to the off-court public relations that had been lacking from this program for decades, often bringing team members to the inner city to speak with youth, the elderly and parents. He was able too establish some trust in the men’s basketball program with the local community.
Since Slick Rick got here, it seems he doesn’t give a hoot about the local community and the people who support the kids from here that play in the program. With Tommie Liddell III and Kevin Lisch both only having one year of eligibility remaining, Slick Rick probably won’t be recruiting from the local community anymore.
And don’t give me that Pinckneyville stuff or Alton’s Rueben Cotto. Besides, I’m not convinced that’s going to work out either, now that Coach Thorpe is gone. I just hope Slick Rick hires somebody black on the staff (for a number of reasons I won’t mention in print).
But believe me, it may look like Billiken Blue Heaven around Lindell and Grand and points east. The party is just beginning, it seems, for Billiken basketball and its fans.
I got it! Here’s the new slogan: Get on the Bus with Slick Rick!
Or, maybe, Get Under the Bus!