Hello Marquette fans!

[bradley center bat]

Help me out St. Louis fan.

When St. Louis & MU were in the Great Midwest and Conf. USA, the Billkins played in the hockey arena and they had crowds of 17,000+.  Now, I see it's a fight to sell-out there new on-campus arena that seats over 10,000. Why is that? What happened to the fan support of the mid 1990's?

[mr.MUskie]

How come everyone was afraid Larry was gonna turn us into SLU, but now everyone thinks they're great and wants them to join us in the C7?

[Chips]

-10- SLU- great program in a nice market.  

Great program? Since when?  Since 2000 they have 2 NIT appearances and 1 (soon to be 2) NCAA appearances, and EIGHT years of zero postseason.  Once Majerus' players leave, they'll be back to average at best.  Dayton has had far more success than them the past 12-13 years.

[Coleman]

Help me out St. Louis fan.

When St. Louis & MU were in the Great Midwest and Conf. USA, the Billkins played in the hockey arena and they had crowds of 17,000+. 

Did that ever really happen? I know they played at the Kiel but did they really sell it out?

They had a couple decent years in the 90s, but I think you are overplaying the good old days.

[🏀]

Great program? Since when?  Since 2000 they have 2 NIT appearances and 1 (soon to be 2) NCAA appearances, and EIGHT years of zero postseason.  Once Majerus' players leave, they'll be back to average at best.  Dayton has had far more success than them the past 12-13 years.

Define far more success...don't give me any ole' NIT bullcrap... Dayton and SLU are on equal footing when it comes to postseason success.

Here's where they are not on equal footing. St. Louis is a great small growing city, while Dayton is a turd baking in the hot summer sun.

[Coleman]

Define far more success...don't give me any ole' NIT bullcrap... Dayton and SLU are on equal footing when it comes to postseason success.

Here's where they are not on equal footing. St. Louis is a great small growing city, while Dayton is a turd baking in the hot summer sun.

+1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

NO DAYTON

[🏀]

Did you know Dayton's wikipedia was like this for over two months?

[LON]

That is fantastic.

[Benny B]

Did you know Dayton's wikipedia was like this for over two months?

That's crazy... everyone knows that the plural of Cavalier is Cavaliers.

[🏀]

That's crazy... everyone knows that the plural of Cavalier is Cavaliers.

#merriamwebster'd

[BustedDreams49]

Help me out St. Louis fan.

When St. Louis & MU were in the Great Midwest and Conf. USA, the Billkins played in the hockey arena and they had crowds of 17,000+.  Now, I see it's a fight to sell-out there new on-campus arena that seats over 10,000. Why is that? What happened to the fan support of the mid 1990's?

Brad Soderberg tried like hell to kill the program. Also, the Cardinals sucked pre-LaRussa (1987 was last WS), the Blues were playing well in damn near obscurity; and college fandom in general was bigger in the St. Louis Metro Area. Spoonball re-energized the fanbase, and that filled arenas.

Also, the level of competition helped. The Metro/GM/CUSA days, there was a much higher class of opponent coming into town on a nightly basis. MU, Depaul, UAB, Louisville, Cincy...all schools the casual fan knew something about and wanted to see. Some fans were turned off by the decision to join the Atlantic 10 after CUSA.

Hope that helps. I just hope that in a year, this quote will come from a Big East team. The alternative is...

[keefe]

That's crazy... everyone knows that the plural of Cavalier is Cavaliers.

Maybe all the Red Scares crammed into one Cavalier?

[Avenue Commons]

Totally biased as how AC sees it:

1. Xavier
2. Butler
3. SLU
4. Creighton
5. Dayton
6. Richmond
7. VCU

(Notre Dame totally welcome for a "rent a year."

[chapman]

Great program? Since when?  Since 2000 they have 2 NIT appearances and 1 (soon to be 2) NCAA appearances, and EIGHT years of zero postseason.  Once Majerus' players leave, they'll be back to average at best.  Dayton has had far more success than them the past 12-13 years.

One more tournament appearance in that timeframe after this year?  Unless the Not In Tournament counts, as they seem to think in Dayton.  SLU has three NCAA wins since 1994 and will be favored for at least one game this year...Dayton has one NCAA win since 1990.  How is that far more success?  If anything SLU has had a little more. 

Just win the A-10 this year or get to the Sweet 16, and we'll call it even.

Unless that Sweet 16 requires beating us.  A bunch of brackets at the moment putting both around the potential 4/5 matchup.

[Dawson Rental]

Help me out St. Louis fan.

When St. Louis & MU were in the Great Midwest and Conf. USA, the Billkins played in the hockey arena and they had crowds of 17,000+.  Now, I see it's a fight to sell-out there new on-campus arena that seats over 10,000. Why is that? What happened to the fan support of the mid 1990's?

Did that ever really happen? I know they played at the Kiel but did they really sell it out?

They had a couple decent years in the 90s, but I think you are overplaying the good old days.

Actually, he's not overplaying the good old days.  The last five years of the Charlie Spoonhour coaching era had three years where the average game attendance at SLU exceeded the highest average game attendance ever achieved at Marquette, and SLU was in the NCAA's top ten for average game attendance for those years.

Year        Ave Game Attend      NCAA rank
1994-95                 17,714                  7
1995-96                 16,986                  7          
1996-97                 13,732                 18      
1997-98                 17,708                  6
1998-99                 15,142                 12

The highest average game attendance for Marquette was 16,239 in 2007-08, Crean's last year.

This, of course, raises the question of how SLU was stupid enough to let Spoonhour get away.  He retired in 1999, but after a year off, he went to UNLV, so he must have had something left in the tank.

[jaybilaswho?]

Absolutely.  Love the new on campus arena.  An 'all good' roadtrip.

Despite its proximity, the Chaif' is actually classified as an "off campus" complex and, thus, sells beer. Someone did a great job of lobbying on this one. I am sure the SLU fans dont want anyone to be reminded that it should be classified as an 'on campus' building and risk losing their beer sales.

I want SLU to be a part of this conference- but its mostly for personal reasons. My parents (mom is a SLU grad) have been SLU season ticket holders since i can remember, and still are. I grew up on Spoonball, went to their basketball camps. I love going to SLU games when I am in town. My freshmen year was the last year we played SLU in C-USA. I would love for the family rivalary to be reinstated. Plus it would allow for a road trip to Saint Louis each year for some home cooked meals.

Does SLU have a lacrosse team? Adding SLU would definitely help the league as far as soccer competition goes.

[keefe]

Totally biased as how AC sees it:

1. Xavier
2. Butler
3. SLU
4. Creighton
5. Dayton
6. Richmond
7. VCU

(Notre Dame totally welcome for a "rent a year."

Would you really want SLU before Creighton? Man, Creighton is all in for hoops, especially compared with SLU.

[Goose]

Depends what kind of conference folks want. Feel good conference includes SLU and basketball conference does not.

[Avenue Commons]

Would you really want SLU before Creighton? Man, Creighton is all in for hoops, especially compared with SLU.

Yes. But not by much. STL is closer to me than Omaha and I sincerely believe they are a program on the rise.

[Goose]

Keene
Seriously, why would you want either one? You know about about building a brand and both schools bring little value.

[keefe]

Keene
Seriously, why would you want either one? You know about about building a brand and both schools bring little value.

At the end of the day, League composition isn't being driven by Larry Williams and the other C7 AD's brain storming on a white board. This is being driven by Fox because they cut the checks. When we go to 12, then 14 or more it is because Fox is dictating that for competitive media purposes. Chicos could actually shed more light on this. What is exciting is that Fox is all over this in a big way and that bodes well for the Big East going forward. What I am hoping is that Fox dictates the Zags are part of the equation.

[Goose]

Keefe

Might be right, but big gamble how I see it.  Why water down too quickly? I realize decisions have to be made and accept that. I just hope they are long term decisions and quick fix that cannot be reversed.

[keefe]

Keefe

Might be right, but big gamble how I see it.  Why water down too quickly? I realize decisions have to be made and accept that. I just hope they are long term decisions and quick fix that cannot be reversed.

I am not wild about any of the schools mentioned beyond Xavier and Butler, save for the potential of the Zags. But to be competitive we will need to get to at least 12 in the near term. My biggest tangible concern is the quality of Seton Hall, St John's, PC, and DePaul. 44% of our founding members are substandard performers. That is a far greater practical concern than who might be joining over the next few years but it makes it imperative new joiners are committed to excellence.

[DoggyDaddy]

St. Louis has a great zoo, great baseball, a big media market, a big brewery, the Jesuit-Majerus link and of course, the strangest team name and mascot this side of a Hoya.
What's not to love?
I say the Billikins are in come the second round.       

[keefe]

St. Louis has a big brewery   

Not sure this is such a positive