Rebounding from Sorrow, the St. Louis Billikens are Solidifying Their Resume

Dwayne Evans and Mike McCall, Jr., are SLU's leading scorers this season. (Nick Krug/KUSports.com)

The line between top-tier college basketball programs and mid-majors is blurring. The probability it ever vanishes completely is low, but the ascension of schools like Butler and Gonzaga to the plane of annual NCAA tournament competitors — not just attendants — has the college hoops community putting an ever-more scrupulous eye on smaller schools. Whether it is the blue bloods that schedule mid-majors hoping they can bully less recruited players for an easy victory, the teams that draw such schools in non-conference tournaments and are uncertain about how to handle that below-the-radar opponent, or the teams that meet these mid-majors multiple times each year in conference play — begrudgingly or not, the little brothers of college basketball have earned respect. For the first time in more than a decade, the St. Louis Billikens have played like a team deserving this reverence.

The Billikens' biggest moment of national exposure came when they were on the wrong end of a 73-59 rout by Kansas in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic, but even a loss like that — to one of NCAA Division I's most history-rich programs on a neutral court just 45 minutes from the favored team's home court — will be considered good in the eyes of the NCAA tournament selection committee.

A home loss to the Santa Clara Broncos, who have put together their own respectable record thus far, and a five-point stumble to the Washington Huskies on the trip to the Pacific Northwest are the only other blotches on the Billikens' agenda. The rest of St. Louis' schedule is sterling, including a win over Texas A&M, just a few seasons removed from being a threat to the Jayhawks' own streak of Big 12 titles. The crown jewel in St. Louis' collection of wins is a 60-46 smashing of No. 20 New Mexico on Monday. Davidson, George Mason, Cincinnati, UCONN are all teams that the Lobos have bested, and the Billikens beat them soundly, irritating UNM head coach Steve Alford so much that the 22-year veteran picked up back-to-back technical fouls and was ejected from a game for the first time in his career.

The Billikens pounded the paint, outscoring the Lobos 32-16 on the inside as the SLU back court contributed just 21 points. From a team who entered the season touted on the shoulders of senior guard Kwamain Mitchell, that's not a shabby showing.

In fact, the Billikens have succeeded largely without Mitchell, who underwent surgery to repair a fracture in his left foot in mid-October and returned on Dec. 28, just in time for play in a tune-up game against SIU-Edwardsville before facing New Mexico.

As we noted in our Atlantic 10 conference preview, the Billikens are dangerous because of the continuity of their line-up from last season to this season. With the exception forward Brian Conklin — SLU's leading scorer in 2011-12, closely followed by Mitchell — every player from last year's team returned for the Billikens for another go-around.

That roster continuity is what many mid-major schools thrive on, relying on less recruited players to develop chemistry with the same teammates by playing together year after year. This is one of the rudimentary elements that can lead to upsets in postseason tournaments, but the Billikens were not exactly a quiet story coming into the season. They were expected to contend for the A-10 title, even with new additions to the conference Butler and VCU making immediate impacts, and gained attention after beating Memphis during the first round of NCAA tournament play in March before narrowly losing to Michigan State, all while carrying a No. 13 seed.

In Mitchell's absence, the Billikens proceeded with a balanced attack, led in scoring by two guards and two forwards, each averaging over 8.5 points per game. SLU is now 77th overall in field goal percentage, shooting at a .458 rate, and primed to enter conference play at an all-out sprint, already carrying an RPI of 50. But one unquantifiable trait of the Billikens' group personality is how much they are fueled by the loss of head coach Rick Majerus, who had not sat on the St. Louis bench this season before losing his life to health issues.

Mid-major success is often said to be based off intangibles, like chemistry, heart, grit... The list can, and will, go as far as an imaginative mind can take it. In the case of the Billikens, those tags all happen to be applicable, but there is also ball movement and shooting accuracy to take into account when facing a team — this team — that could make a serious racket come tournament time.


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Atlantic 10: Surging for a Season with 16 Teams

The long wait will soon be over when the first official NCAA basketball game of the 2012-13 season will tip-off on Nov. 15. Some of our favorite players have moved on the ranks of professional athletes, new recruits have been polishing their games in gyms with recognizable logos on the court, and schools have switched conference allegiances. Through a series of conference previews, the BDD crew will do its best to prepare you for the next 4.5 months of collegiate hoops.

Kwamain Mitchell could find A-10 gold with St. Louis. (Matt Brown/SLUBillikens.com)

Conference Champion: St. Louis

The Atlantic 10 is deep.With 16 teams, it has the biggest roster of teams in Division-I competition that will disappear when Charlotte and Temple leave next summer. But this year, size and talent-wise, the A-10 is the mid-major equivalent of the Big East. Traditional conference powers Xavier and Temple will be in the title hunt despite with their diminished power. Saint Louis can't be counted out of the mix after an NCAA tournament loss to Michigan State in which the Billikens were a popular upset pick. Butler and VCU — new additions from the Horizon and CAA, respectively — are automatically top-tier teams, too, after the memorable postseason runs both teams have made since 2010.

All of these teams are legitimate contenders to win the A-10 and there's no sure-fire formula to calculate a champion in October, but it's hard to bet against the Billikens, a team ranked 10th nationally in defensive efficiency in 2011-12. The loss of forward Brian Conklin marks a rare case in which little drop-off should be seen after the departure of a team's leading scorer. He averaged 13.9 points per game, just 1.5 more than Kwamain Mitchell.

Aside from Conklin, SLU returns every player important to last season's squad. The only potential detriment to the Billikens' success is the absence of head coach Rick Majerus as he sits out the season to focus on his ongoing cancer treatment. Interim head coach Jim Crews is familiar with the system in place after being an assistant in 2011-12, though, and his 24 years of head coaching experience could motivate the team if Majerus' health concerns somehow do not.

Dark horse Team to Watch: Saint Joseph's

Rarely can you call a team that posted a top-five conference finish in the season prior a dark horse, but Saint Joseph's is just that in a pool so deep. Every single player from last year's roster has returned.

Let that sink in: Every. Single. Player.

Even the conference's standing Defensive Player of the Year (C.J. Aiken — an NBA prospect) is back for his junior season. That kind of continuity can push a team past a more talented squad. The thing is, the Hawks went 20-14 and were a bubble team for most of the spring. Barring unforeseen circumstances, it should be safe to pencil Saint Joseph's into an NCAA tournament bracket right now and wonder if an A-10 championship precedes that bid.

Player of the Year: Chaz Williams, Massachusetts

The Minutemen's guard made an immediate impact upon taking the court last year, having sat out the 2011-12 season after making a post-freshman year transfer from Hofstra. Williams proceeded to average 16.9 points, 6.2 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game. He's the centerpiece of a team that could make a push toward the top of the conference and, if he can get his turnovers under control and continue on the trajectory he began last season, he'll be an easy pick for A-10 POY.

Newcomer of the Year: Jordan Burgess, VCU

Burgess is a wing who will make noise on glass and outwork bigger opponents in order to do it. His offense comes from the corners and along the baseline. VCU head coach Shaka Smart should work his brand of magic with the 6'5" forward. The things that will hamper his first-year peers — availability of playing time, offensive systems and so on — should not hamper Burgess, as VCU's top prospect is projected to find big minutes at the 4-spot.

Coach of the Year: Shaka Smart, VCU

Another crowded category, another bundle of candidates that should be worthy by the end of conference play. The roster stability at Saint Louis and Saint Joseph's potentially excludes Crews and Hawks head coach Phil Martelli from the running. If Butler has a bad year with its least heralded team in the 2010's, Brad Stevens is out, too. With his team on the upswing during its inaugural campaign, though, and projecting as a title favorite in a conference more difficult than the CAA, Shaka Smart winning COY is as close to a sure thing as there is in the A-10 this season.


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