UMass87

Cornell's not a strong team but they are well coached and the Bonnies stepped up when they needed to.

xudash

Me.

No, I can't back that up.

Frankly, I was stunned when I heard SLU handed over the reigns to JC. Bad move.

bprichard

I'm sure he'll be asking one of his players to bean a Santa Clara player in the head with an inbounds pass anytime now. Putting him in charge is looking highly dubious right now. It's just one game, but Santa Clara? Really?

Bona Wolf for Pope

Man, the guys over on the game thread at the bandwagon are terrible. Every play they were calling for some one to be benched or crying that we gave the game away. Let the Bonnies play. We won, we hung tough, we played through the poor shooting and pressure. If you only want to watch 50 point blowouts, pick another team. The Bonnies are grinding this year.

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UMass87

Seriously. Not surprising. Kwamain Mitchell is one of the best players in the conference. Majerus is one of the best coaches in the conference. Why would the team look good after losing both? The players know what they lost.

Bona84

Wolf, that's why I stay over here on the A-10 board on game nights.

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owlfan2272

You shouldn't lose by 20 at home to Santa Clara even if half the team and half the coaching staff is gone.

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Temple Owls have won a lot.

WH

Blue Ribbon suggested Santa Clara this year could be better than the Broncos team that won 24 games two years ago. Evidently last year's disaster at Santa Clara stemmed in large part from an injury and suspension that ended the season for the team's best bigman and star guard. Both 5th-year seniors have returned and they are supposed to be among the top players in the WCC this year.

Losing RM was going to cost some games, but Mitchell going down really compounded the problem. He is the undisputed team leader, best clutch player and a coach on the floor who knows how RM wants the game played. He would have made Crews look a lot better.

Still, it's early. Fans should refrain from the usual meltdowns we have on the board every year when teams lose games we expect to win. Happens every year ...

bprichard

Ding ding ding. Dead on. Mitchell is great and all, but Saint Louis has plenty of other pieces that should be able to pick up the slack against such mediocre competition. On the other hand, it's possible that Jim Crews is the anti-christ, sent to the world to ruin the Billiken season.

owlfan2272

That's true WH, just frustrating seeing this especially after how SLU looked in their first game which wasn't very impressive.

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MudFlap

Many uncontested shots, SLU apparently has forgotten how to play their defense. I will rank them with the dregs of the A-10 - X, Fordham, etc. for now.

UMass87

I really don't think this about Crews as much as it is about Majerus. He was one of the best coaches in the conference and probably one of the top 25 coaches in the country. That actually means something. What's more, Majerus builds very Majerus-like teams. They play his defense and they play his offense - which is to say they don't score much but their opponents score less. Take away their floor captain and Majerus and all you have is a shitty offensive team.

WH

Agreed, Owlfan. SLU definitely has lost some of that RM crispness. That was evident in their first game, as you saw.

bprichard

It ends with mercy at 74-62. Not a great outing for SLU. Toledo and Northern Iowa are in overtime if anyone has access to that, as today's A10 action comes to a close.

JHG722

Kevin Foster is a boss.

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