Justin Love lay motionless on the south end of The Pyramid floor. His sweat-soaked jersey stuck to the hardwood as beads of perspiration dropped from his head to the floor. His teammates fled the bench in a joyous romp to gather in a circle at mid-court. Love remained immobile under the basket, but Billiken fans did not need to worry. Love was just taking his first rest in a rigorous four-game stretch that saw the Saint Louis University men’s basketball team sweep through the Conference USA tournament to win four contests in four days, thereby securing a bid to the NCAA Tournament. In what was arguably the program’s biggest four-game win streak in history, the Billikens played outstanding basketball, and probably their best ball of the season. For the first time this season, every player was on the same page; every player performed at the same level and fulfilled his role. And coach Lorenzo Romar and his staff formulated great game plans to guide the Bills to their second NCAA berth in three years.”Everyone was clicking right from the start,” said C-USA tournament most valuable player Justin Love. ”We all just came together this week and put our minds to it,” said super-sub Troy Robertson. The Billikens accomplished a feat that only five teams have done: win four games in four days in the conference tournament. Auburn, Nevada-Las Vegas, Marquette and UNC Charlotte did it before SLU, and Arkansas performed the task one day after the Bills did. Pulling off such an accomplishment takes determination, endurance and a will. And the Bills had that last weekend.”Coach talked to us all year about being blue-collar workers,” said Dave Fergerson. “We came in and got it done.”The Bills got spectacular play from the entire team. Love, the team’s leading scorer, did his part. Against Southern Miss, Cincinnati and Tulane, Love poured in 25, 25 and 26 points respectively. He garnered All-Tournament team honors for his work.Wiry forward Maurice Jeffers shut down the opposing team’s top offensive threat while averaging seven points per game on the offensive end. His defense helped the Bills hold opponents to 51 ppg and 35percent field goal shooting. He did a tremendous job on DePaul’s Quentin Richardson in the title game. He held “Q” to six points on two of 13 shooting.”I came out and tried to hold him down a little bit,” said Jeffers. “It was a great team effort today, and we got the job done.”John Redden provided an unexpected offensive spark off the bench, and was the unsung hero of the tournament. For the first time this season, Redden was given freedom to penetrate the lane and create. His play was particularly evident in the Cincinnati game. He took full advantage of the absence of center Kenyon Martin and exploited the Bearcats interior defense. His penetration got him shots in the paint, got him to the free throw line and created opportunities for his teammates down low. He did the same thing in the DePaul contest, where he scored a career high 19 points. As a result of his efforts, he was named to the All-Tournament team. Dave Fergerson split time at the point with Redden. He averaged 7.5 ppg while averaging 26 minutes per game. He ran the offense well while keeping the other teams honest because he’s a three-point threat.Chris Heinrich, Matt Baniak, Justin Tatum and Chris Braun solidified the middle on both ends of the floor for SLU. All four had significant roles in different games. Baniak led the charge in the first game. His line doesn’t look impressive: no points, zero for one shooting, five rebounds, two turnovers and one block. But he played the entire second half against Southern Miss, providing good post defense.Tatum was the man against the Bearcats. He banged down low with the bigger Bearcats, taking advantage of Martin’s absence. He scored seven points, grabbed six rebounds and collected four steals in 23 minutes.Braun was equally important. In only 11 minutes of action, he scored four points and snagged seven rebounds, with three of those being offensive boards. For the week, he averaged 5.5 rebounds per game.Heinrich capped the big men’s week with a good performance in the championship game. He scored 11 points and three steals. A lot of the Bills’ success depended on confidence in all facets of the game, something they’ve been lacking all year. And the team is looking for that to carry them through the postseason.”Everyone gets confidence on offense and defense, and it just carries us through the game,” said Larry Simmons.”I told the team earlier this week, `We’re in a zone,'” said Romar. Billiken fans have waited five months for SLU to be in a “zone.” And the way the Billikens are playing right now, it might be hard to stop them in Cleveland.