The arrival of Men’s Basketball Coach Rick Majerus brought a lot of preseason interest to the Saint Louis University team. All that interest, however, may not have been a good thing. The Billiken fans’ expectations for the basketball team this year were way too high.
A high-profile coach coming to a below-average basketball program will help it in the long run, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. This team is headed in the right direction, and people need to chill out.
It was stupid if you thought this team would be contenders in such a short time in the Atlantic 10 Conference-a conference that continues to improve each year. This team was never destined for the NCAA Tournament this year, and it probably won’t make it there for a few years. Majerus knew this coming in, which makes me wonder why he came here in the first place.
I mean, the man is a legend at Utah and even retired from coaching at one point. He was living the life at ESPN, and then, out of nowhere, he decided to accept the task of turning around a failing program.
A good coach will build a program up over several years by recruiting players to his liking. He obviously did not pick these guys, a fact that he has reminded us of several times. His most recent reminder was when SLU scored 20 points against George Washington-a record low since the beginning of the shot-clock era (see “It was the best of times …”).
One thing you will never be able to say about Majerus is that he hesitates to speak whatever is on his mind. And one of the first times that we saw this was during his interview after the George Washington game.
“I tried to keep coaching the game,” Majerus said. “Sometimes you miss. We are a team that has some issues. That is why we are practicing [on Friday]. Anyone can look at us and see we don’t have height, we don’t have depth. We have challenges and issues with the makeup of the team. I thought we played hard. We didn’t always play smart.”
Then, Majerus recently said that he was pro-choice and that he supported embryonic-cell research (see “Majerus v. Burke”). Roman Catholic Archbishop Raymond Burke responded by saying SLU should punish Majerus for his comments, and that he would deny the coach Communion. Burke felt this way because the coach’s positions go against those of the Catholic Church.
Burke better not try and push Majerus out, because Majerus can do things for this school and basketball program that few can. Perhaps his biggest asset is recruiting. Next year, we will see his first recruiting class here at SLU, which is comprised of five solid recruits. Kwamain Mitchell, the No. 18 point guard in the nation according to scout.com, will probably see playing time next year.
Another mark of a good coach besides being able to recruit is handling adversity. After the Bills lost to George Washington, they took No. 20 Dayton into overtime, eventually losing but showing a valiant effort.
The next game, SLU beat then No. 23 Rhode Island. No, the talent level on this team didn’t magically change between weeks, but a good coach can take a disappointed group of players and inspire them to achieve more than they realized they might.
So when you’re wondering what happened to the Billikens this year, don’t worry. The expectations were just too high. This school has a great coach and players that play hard for him.
Once Majerus’ recruits come in and play here, we could have a team that contends for a berth in the NCAA Tournament-but that can only happen two or three years from now.
Max Vosburgh is a freshman in the John Cook School of Business.
