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Bye Bye Billikens

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Tom Timmermann nicely sums up the state of the Bills after their final game of the season: Billikens take familiar path to defeat

The final game of the St. Louis University basketball season turned out to look a whole lot like other games and, when you get down to it, SLU’s season as a whole: A slow start, followed by signs of progress, followed by another drought followed by a late rally that was too little and too late.

Along the way, the problems SLU faced were the ones it has faced all season. The Billikens made their first shot of the second half, then missed 11 straight, many right at the rim.

“It was a microcosm of the season,” SLU coach Rick Majerus said.

The Billikens fell to Rhode Island 70-61 in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament to bring a close to a season that was ill-fated from the start.

Just before the season began, the team lost its two best players — Kwamain Mitchell and Willie Reed — to suspension and the squad was thrown into difficult situations the rest of the season that it never could fully sort out.

While Rhode Island, the A-10’s No. 6 seed, moves on to Atlantic City, N.J., to face Richmond, SLU heads home with a 12-19 record, its fewest wins since the 2004-05 team went 9-21.

The future, though, is bright. Everyone is back, and with Mitchell definitely returning and Reed potentially back — the school still has to rule on his reinstatement to the team — the Billikens figure to be one of the best-stocked teams in the league next season.

All in all its been a very weird season. The Mitchell and Reed suspensions; a bunch of new frosh playing important minutes; a never-ending series of injuries both small and substantial; all of it added up to a season to forget. I only saw them on television once and that was to get ripped apart by Duke, so it wasn't as if I was living and dying with every result...the way I was expecting to when last season ended. Ever since the Majerus years began I've been waiting for momentum to build in this program, but it hasn't happened yet.

Maybe next year the stars will align. Or, maybe it will be as weird a season as this one and success will be once again delayed. Sadly, the latter seems more likely given SLU's track record.
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