2011 Saint Louis Basketball Preview

2010-11 Results

Overall: 12-19 (Home 9-7 Road 2-10 Neutral 1-2 Postseason 0-1)
Atlantic 10: 6-10
Conference Tournament: Lost in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
Postseason: None

Rick Majerus guided Saint Louis to a 12-19 record while his young squad gained plenty of experience. The Billikens are primed to turn their 6-10 Atlantic 10 record into one of the top records in the conference in 2011-2012.

The Billikens return a strong defensive team after allowing only 62.4 points per game, good for second in the conference. Their weakness is on offense having only scored 63 points a contest. SLU was 13th in scoring efficiency in the Atlantic 10. Not to mention that they only shot 32.6% from beyond the arch finishing last in the conference. Turnovers could be a problem for the team after ranking in the bottom third of the conference. One area of strength for Saint Louis a year ago was their strong inside play. The team ranked 4th in the A-10 in two-point field goal percentage.

Roster

Returning Starters
Kyle Cassity
Kwamain Mitchell
Mike McCall
Brian Conklin
Dwayne Evans.

Other Returning Players
Cody Ellis
Jake Barnett

Newcomers
Grandy Glaze
Emmanuel Tselentakis
John Manning
Jimmy Remke
Grant Gehlen

Head Coach
Rick Majerus

Key Losses
The only loss for the Billikens was sophomore guard Chrisitan Salecich who transferred to a Division II school after seeing limited playing time last year and averaged over two points per game.

Schedule

Date	Opponent
Tue, Oct 18	Billiken FanFest
Wed, Nov 02	Cardinal Stritch (Exh.)
Sat, Nov 05	St. Ambrose (Exh.)
Fri, Nov 11	Tennessee State
Tue, Nov 15	@Southern Illinois
Sun, Nov 20	Washington
76 Classic
Thu, Nov 24	Boston College
Fri, Nov 25	Villanova or UC Riverside
Sun, Nov 27	TBA
Regular Season
Tue, Nov 29	@Loyola Marymount
Sat, Dec 03	Portland
Wed, Dec 07	Vermont
Sat, Dec 10	Illinois-Springfield
Sat, Dec 17	Alabama State
Thu, Dec 22	Arkansas State
Tue, Dec 27	Texas Southern
Sat, Dec 31	@New Mexico
Wed, Jan 04	@Dayton *
Sat, Jan 07	George Washington *
Wed, Jan 11	Temple *
Sat, Jan 14	@Charlotte *
Sat, Jan 21	Duquesne *
Wed, Jan 25	@Xavier *
Sat, Jan 28	@Massachusetts *
Wed, Feb 01	St. Bonaventure *
Sat, Feb 04	Dayton *
Wed, Feb 08	@Saint Joseph’s *
Sat, Feb 11	@La Salle *
Wed, Feb 15	Richmond *
Sat, Feb 18	Fordham *
Sat, Feb 25	@Rhode Island *
Tue, Feb 28	Xavier *
Sat, Mar 03	@Duquesne *
A-10 Tournament
Tue, Mar 06	First Round
Fri, Mar 09	Quarterfinal
Sat, Mar 10	Semifinal
Sun, Mar 11	Final
*Conference Game

2011-12 Preview

Last year Saint Louis struggled throughout the season without 2009-2010 second team All-Conference selection Kwamain Mitchell. With five returning starters Majerus’s team is primed to challenge Xavier and Temple for the Atlantic 10 championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Due to the suspensions of starters Willis Reed and Mitchell last season many young players were able to gain a lot of experience and the Billikens will enter the season with the lowest roster turnover in the conference. The team’s strength is the balance they have and it is foreseeable that all five starters average in double figures in scoring this year. Saint Louis is also a talented defensive team.

Backcourt

Kyle Cassity, Kwamain Mitchell, and Mike McCall will lead this year’s Billikens backcourt. McCall showed promise as a freshman averaging 10 points and 3 assist per game while shooting 37 percent from 3-point range. He also had the team’s highest usage rate last season. Primarily a jump shooter McCall is good but not excellent.

Cassity led the team with 3.4 assists per game a year ago while also chipping in with 8.4 points per contest. He provides the Billikens with an above average jump shooter who has the ability to attack the rim. Cassity is one of the nation’s best spot-up and pick-and-roll scorers. From behind the arch he only hit 32.8 percent of his shoots which is an area he needs to work on.

Mitchell returns after sitting out a year and getting kicked off the team as a result of some off the court issues. During his sophomore season he was named Atlantic 10 second team while averaging almost 16 points per game. Mitchell is extremely talented but he is a question mark since it is unclear how he will respond after one year away from the game.

Jake Barnett will provide depth at guard after having transferred from Toledo. At Toledo he average 12 points per game and it on 37% of his shots from beyond the arc.

Frontcourt

Brian Conklin and Dwayne Evans will start but Cody Ellis will push them for playing time. Conklin average 8.7 points per game last year and 4.3 rebounds. He will team up with Ellis to form a dynamic backcourt duo that can score. Look for Conklin and Ellis to both chip in 10 plus points a game this year.

Conklin is 6-foot-6 and has a strong underneath game. Last season he shot 51% from the post and has an excellent knack for establishing position. Conklin seems to struggle against taller and more athletic forwards.

Evans and Ellis should see about equal playing time from the other forward position. Last year he proved to be a versatile scorer and can score from inside and out. One area that he can improve is by working on his release. He was the team’s leading rebounder a year ago and is a capable scorer inside ranking in the top third in scoring efficiency on the block.

Ellis is from Perth Australia and has the ability to score. He should be a main contributor this year after averaging 6.5 points a game last year in 20 minutes a game.

Big man Rob Loe will provide depth underneath. He provides a big body but his shooting needs work. With a shooting percentage of only 38.9 percent mainly from inside his shot leaves a lot to be desired. He shot only 24% on the block last year which is troublesome for a big man.

Saint Louis will also look to get freshman forward Grandy Glaze some minutes after he was released from his commitment with UNLV. He is a 6-6 forward who has a knack for scoring.

More Atlantic 10 Basketball Predictions

Temple Owls	Saint Louis Billikens	Xavier Musketeers	St. Bonaventure Bonnies
UMass Minutemen	La Salle Explorers	Dayton Flyers	St. Josephs Hawks
Duquesne Dukes	Richmond Spiders	Charlotte 49ers	George Washington Colonials
Rhode Island Rams	Fordham Rams

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