CANCUN, MEXICO • The St. Louis University basketball team has been getting around. They've played their past four games in four different buildings in three time zones, while dealing with the fun of final exams. They've lost three of those four games. They could use a vacation.
So they've gone to Cancun.
Whether or not a Mexican getaway is what this team needs is uncertain, because after playing, and losing, in Portland, Ore.; Durham, N.C.; and Springfield, Mo., a change in scenery may be the last thing they need. What they may need even more than a trip to the tropics is some time where they're in one place for a while and don't have a game staring right at them.
As it is, they'll have to make do at a resort city on the Yucatan Peninsula (today's forecast: high 79, low 57), lots of practice, film review and three games in what could be about 48 hours if things don't work out right. SLU (4-5) kicks off the Cancun Governor's Cup with a game against Northeastern (2-5) at 11 a.m. today, and then would play either East Tennessee State or Southern Mississippi on Thursday before playing a third game on Christmas Eve. If SLU beats Northeastern, the final two days would be televised by an ESPN outlet.
With finals over and study sessions in the past, the Billikens have had some time to hit the beach after practice sessions. Once the Northeastern game comes, it will be basketball, basketball, basketball.
"It's good to get out and play some games," guard Kyle Cassity said. "To just play. And that's what these games are about. After the first game, there's not a scouting report. It's who wants it more. You just gut them out."
SLU has been gutting out the past two weeks. After playing Duke on Dec. 11, in the middle of finals week, SLU played Jacksonville the day that finals, for most but not all players, ended. SLU then played at Missouri State on Saturday night, taking a bus home after the game and then heading to the airport early Sunday morning to fly to Cancun. They didn't practice Sunday, only watching film, and had practice sessions Monday and Tuesday to get ready to play Northeastern. Those are some of the first full-squad practices the team has had in the past two weeks.
In the past 10 days, coach Rick Majerus has repeatedly taken himself to task for scheduling the Duke game, saying he got "intoxicated by the challenge" and that it was a mistake to schedule a difficult game in the midst of finals. (The year before, SLU played Division II Rockhurst in the middle of finals week.) It hasn't helped that SLU's schedule was put together with a different team in mind, one that included Kwamain Mitchell and Willie Reed. The team as currently constructed, with four freshmen getting serious minutes, is ill-equipped to play the opponents SLU is facing.
But the fact that SLU is starting four freshmen speaks to other problems. Cody Ellis, who burst onto the scene last season after his belated arrival from Australia with his dangerous outside shot, has struggled offensively as Majerus has focused on his defense. Fellow Aussie Christian Salecich has struggled even more, playing just four minutes against Missouri State. In nine games this season, Salecich has made just three field goals. Even with his surgically improved ankle, Brian Conklin's contributions have been slight, and Cory Remekun, thrust into a more prominent role after Reed's departure, has faded from how he finished last season. Maybe a spa trip is just what SLU needs at a time like this.
It's also possible this team will look different in two weeks. Both Mitchell and Reed are eligible to apply for reinstatement to the school on Jan. 1 — the exact timetable of the process is unclear — but even if they're accepted, it's uncertain whether the two would play this season. Majerus has said he would encourage Mitchell to sit out the season to focus on academics after missing a semester.
