Let’s clear the air about this year’s basketball season: the Saint Louis University Billikens are probably going to have a rough season—probably. After watching the team scrimmage against the Arkansas-Fort Smith Lions, I’ve deduced that this team is talented and that the future of the program is as bright as the lights on the Gateway Arch. This team will be good, very good, in fact … just maybe not this year.
There is one phrase that sums it all up: Rome wasn’t built in a day. And Rick Majerus is going to need more than three years to right this program. As he likes to say, they couldn’t turn Titanic around, but he’s working hard to move SLU away from the iceberg. It’s just a slow process, made slower by the fact that Majerus’ star recruit Cody Ellis is stuck in Australia. But Majerus and the Bills will get on without him; it just makes the first half of the season a more difficult.
But with all the foregone conclusions about this team, a team not expected to make much noise in the Atlantic 10 Conference, hope still exists. Sophomore Willie Reed scored 19 points against the Lions, while freshman Jon Smith added 10. And, hey, Kyle Cassity shot the ball and gave the Bills nine points. There’s promise all around on this team. They can have a great season. They just need to follow some simple rules.
Keep it simple. Basketball, perhaps more than any other major sport played in the United States, is about fundamentals. LeBron and Kobe may show off occasionally, but what makes them good is their understanding of the game. Note to Reed: It is okay to slam the ball. By all means, do. But lay-ups count for points, too. Things like ball control will keep SLU from shooting itself in the foot, a common occurrence last season. The freshmen especially will have to adjust to the timing of the game – college ball is a lot faster than prep ball. You have to be able to slow down as well. Christian Salecich got the ball in a hurry and turned it over. You can’t do that and expect to win.
Shot selection is crucial, too. You can’t lob the ball in the air and hope for the best. The team also needs to box out. Sounds easy, sounds fundamental, but they struggled against the Lions. The Bills only collected 36 rebounds, just two more than the Division II team they were facing. Against Georgia or Dayton, that will simply not be enough. Keep the game simple and the Bills will have a good shot at a decent year.
Patience: it’s a virtue of the Holy Spirit, and the SLU community might have to pray for some. Trust me, we’re going to need a lot of it. Mistakes are going to be commonplace; how the team responds to these mistakes is what matters. Majerus is one of the best teachers that college basketball has seen in 25 years. Each mistake is a teachable moment. The freshmen, and fans, for that matter, have to realize that this experiment is going to take time. On the court, SLU cannot afford to let frustration dictate how the game is played. That will only lead to more turnovers, more missed shots and more frustration. It’s a dead-end road. In practice, the team needs to accept each other’s misgivings and nurture a community of knowledge and understanding. There is no room on this team for individual aspirations: truly, there is no “I” in this team. As for the fans, just relax and enjoy. Watch your team grow. Be careful not to push too hard. Again, this team is capable of great things. Let’s nurture a positive environment in which they can play.
Finally, to steal a line from the president, the team must believe that “yes, we can!” Every game, whether against a Division II team like the Lions or SEC Bulldogs or Big-12 Cornhuskers, SLU must walk on the court believing they can win. I know this is an old adage in sports, but it’s the absolute truth this year. Pessimism could be and will be the crux of having a successful 2009 season. There are going to be games this year that the team will win that it shouldn’t have; there will be games that it will lose that it shouldn’t have, and that’s okay. It’s part of developing a program. But to walk on the court thinking that there’s no chance this side of the Mississippi will spell immediate failure. Coach Majerus understands this. Hopefully junior Paul Eckerle and sophomore Kwamain Mitchell, the co-captains of this year’s squad, do, too. They will be upmost responsible for keeping a positive attitude on the court and in the locker room. President Obama wasn’t supposed to win. The Billikens are not supposed to be good. Get my point?
It’s too early to tell how this season will unfold. Will the freshmen play to their expectations? Can the sophomores successfully steward the program through the learning curve? Will the Bills get beat at the net, push the ball, make free throws, rebound the ball, control the tempo? Most importantly: Will the Billikens grow into the players Rick Majerus expects them to be? There are no excuses. This is Majerus’ team, these are his recruits and now it’s time for us to watch the Majerus experiment unfold. One thing is for certain: This is going to be a fun ride for all of us.