(WARNING: This article probably gets way overdramatic at times)
Woof. Well, this really stinks, doesn’t it? After riding a wave of preseason hype, the Saint Louis Billikens have thoroughly crashed. Once thought of as a virtual at-large lock, the Billikens now sit at 9-6, with no hope of an at-large bid. A team once thought to be replete with offensive weapons is shooting around 30% from behind the arc (I don’t have the energy to look up the actual number post-UMass, my apologies).
The numbers are bad, but the eye test has been even worse. Despite having two of the A10’s best wins, against Providence and Memphis, the Billikens haven’t looked good all year. They don’t make shots, they don’t get stops, they don’t force turnovers. The offense often looks stagnant, as everyone stands around and waits for Yuri Collins to create some magic. In short, SLU is not a good basketball team right now.
That stinks!
This was supposed to be the year that washed away all the bad luck of the prior Travis Ford years. The injuries, the long COVID breaks, the bad timing would all be redeemed with a triumphant season this year. Instead, this has been the least enjoyable team of the Travis Ford era. They seem unable to adjust or address the problems that have plagued them all season. At times, they don’t really look like they care if they do or not. For whatever reason, the Billikens seem to be lacking pride and fire and toughness this year as their season falls apart.
A common theme is “Will the Billikens bounce back from (insert devastating collapse here)?”. So far, every time the answer has been a resounding “no”. Not even blowing a 17 point lead and losing to SIUE (SIUE!!) at home has been enough to wake this team up. It’s hard to imagine they ever will at this point. It’s really draining for fans to go from feeling like a NCAAT lock to losing all hope in the season before the New Year but that’s what happened this year. Every game is a white-knuckler and every loss is occasion for a mini-meltdown.
How could everyone have been so wrong about this team? Even if Travis Ford has a “ceiling”, this team is far below that “close-but-no-cigar” level his teams so often top out at. This is a different kind of season. This is the kind of season that makes Billiken fans feel like rooting for SLU is a doomed enterprise that will only result in pain and disappointment. This is the kind of season that sucks the optimism and hope for future years…
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