SLU picked 7th in preseason A-10 poll; women picked 10th
The SLU men’s basketball team was picked to finish seventh by Atlantic 10 coaches and media. The Billikens finished ninth last season and have four regulars back from that team and eight, count ‘em eight, freshmen. For that reason, I think it’s hard to have any kind of a feel for how this year’s team will do. Not only will there be at least two freshmen starting, but there most likely will be two freshmen on the court — at a minimum — at all times. If Lisch or Liddell have to go to the bench, which probably won’t happen too often, a freshman will come on.
Kevin Lisch was named to the first team all-conference team and Tommie Liddell was named to the second team. Lisch was also named to the conference defensive team.
Interestingly, none of SLU’s freshman class was named to the preseason all-rookie team. Xavier put three freshmen on the team, Kenny Frease, Terrell Holloway and Mark Lyons, and Dayton (Paul Williams) and Duquesne (Melquan Bolding) had one.
The preseason A-10 picks:
1. Xavier
2. Temple
3. Dayton
4. St. Joe’s
5. Charlotte
6. Massachusetts
7. SLU
8. Richmond
9. Rhode Island
10. La Salle
11. George Washington
12. Duquesne
13. Fordham
14. St. Bonaventure
(If the season ended today, SLU would be playing La Salle in the first round of the conference tournament.)
SLU’s women’s team was picked 10th (they finished 12th last season) and Theresa Lisch was named to the preseason second team.
Today is A-10 media day. It’s being done entirely on the phone. I think with the economy, it would be tough to get many people to have traveled to Philadelphia or Atlantic City this year.
Are Xavier’s freshman that good, or are SLU’s freshman falling victim to the lack of respect SLU gets nationally in general.
I thought Majerus’ freshmen are supposed to be something special. At least I hope they live up to the hype, cus this season is as sunk as last years was if they aren’t.
Brian, I think one has to keep in mind that the modus operandi of Rick Majerus is to identify sleeper or under-recruited prospects then coach them up over their time in his program. If you look at Majerus’ Utah teams, he had very few highly touted recruits. Sean Miller is a recruiting machine. He has the Xavier program humming. If he were a better game coach … . I don’t even want to think about that NCAA game against Ohio State in 2007.
Duquesne’s Bolding is a prep school kid who was ranked 27th in the nation by Hoop Scoop. Xavier’s Kenny Frease played on the U.S. under-19 team this summer. Xavier’s Terrell Holloway was 100th overall and No. 16 point guard by scout.com. Xavier’s Mark Lyons is another prep school kid who was No. 103 by rivals.com. Dayton’s Paul Williams finished third in voting for Michigan’s Mr. Basketball award.
Kwamain Mitchell and Brian Conklin may well have more impact as freshmen, because with so many youngsters at SLU, they’re going to play, and play a lot.
Bonus freshman note: Majerus said today that Daniel Lisch would redshirt this year. Of all the freshmen, he probably was going to play the least.
Regarding Daniel Lisch: Tom, I thought the plan all along was for him to redshirt this year, so he can be a practice player (a glorified preferred walk-on) and share in the experience of being on the same team with his brother, and then allow him to transfer to a school more suited to his talent level (presumably not Div. I), where he would have four years of eligibility.
I think it’s always been the assumption that D. Lisch would play little, if at all, this year, considering how his high school resume compares to those of the other freshmen. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to give him minutes and take them away from someone else.