SLU Picked 9th in Preseason A-10 Poll

There won’t be too many matchups in conference play that the Billikens will be favored in, at least to begin the season. Following the A-10 media day, the preseason rankings were released by CBS Sports, with the Billikens at number 9. Pretty far fall for the two-time reigning regular season A-10 champions.

VCU brought in all 28 first place votes to rank atop, while George Washington, Dayton, UMASS, and Richmond round out the rest of the top 5. Along with the low ranking, no SLU players were selected to the preseason all-conference first, second, or third team.

“We embrace change, it’s part of college basketball. We still have the same values and philosophies, those will never change.”-Coach Jim Crews

The Billikens’ placement isn’t surprising, nor is the lack of presence on the all-conference team. Out of 17 players on the roster from last season, only 3 started a game (Agbeko, Glaze, Barnett). Out of those 3, only one (Jake Barnett) started more than 6. Add that to a roster of 9 freshmen, a transfer (Yacoubou) who has yet to play for the Bills, and 3 more who played less than 10 minutes/game a year ago (not including Agbeko). To say the least, the odds are not exactly in their favor.

To add to the problems of a young team, one of their two seniors, Grandy Glaze, suffered a separated shoulder that will sideline him for, at least, 2 weeks, but more likely 4 weeks. Best case scenario, Glaze will be ready for limited action by the Billikens’ first exhibition against Harris Stowe on Election Day, November 4^th.

For Coach Jim Crews, the plan stays the same. There’s no replacement for experience, undoubtedly. “We like to keep it simple”, said Coach Crews. Simple will have to be the way things are done at the start with the lack of in-game minutes on the roster. To use the old cliche, or the Lupe Fiasco lyric, the show must go on. Unfortunately for the Bills, it will go on as underdogs for more than half of their conference opponents.