Opening Night

It was nice to be behind the mic at the Chaifetz to call another SLU Billikens game last night.
We had the unveiling of the new "Billikids" last night in the preseason opener against Arkansas Fort-Smith. The Billiken faithful got their first look at the youngest team in Division I basketball last night.
The Billikens came away with an impressive 79-51 victory in a game that you would expect with a team with five freshmen, one redshirt freshmen and four sophomores.
We saw flashes of excellence, mixed in with a lot of mistakes and a lot of teaching by coach Rick Majerus and his staff. This will be the theme throughout the year as this young team tries to navigate through its nonconferene season and what should be a tough Atlantic 10 slate in 2009-10.
Our most impressive player on offense was Willie Reed, who scored 19 points on 9 of 9 shooting from the field. On his first touch in the low post, Willie showed us a little drop step and dunk move. It was very assertive and pleasing to see Willie work on his low post moves. Of course, he gave us four or five dunks that got the crowd going.
With Reed leading the way, the Bills really dominated the points in the paint. freshman Jon Smith had an impressive debut with 10 points and seven rebounds. Jon is only 6'5" but he plays much bigger with his athleticism and long wingspan. On the broadcast last night, I called him, "Willie Reed Light."
Top player Kwamain Mitchell really struggled from the field with two for 15 shooting, but I don't worry too much about Kwamain. It was just one of the those nights when nothing would fall for him.
Swingmen Christian Salecich and Femi John were impressive as well. Salecich, a 6'4" Australian import, is a freshman, but only in name. His is not your typical freshman because of his international experience. He has deep shooting range, good handles and a nice feel for the game. He hook up with Willie for three alley-oops, two of which went for dunks.
With Christian around, I can revive one of my favorite calls that I had used specificall for graduated star Kevin Lisch. "The KID'S GOT MOXIE!!" Christian has got plenty of it.
As for Femi, it was good to see him healthy and on the court again. The redshirt year did him a lot of good because he is bigger and stronger at a robust 205 pounds. He is still rounding into form after his knee injury last year. His floor game was nice with 8 points, six rebounds, five assists and tough John Redden-like defense.
That is the role that Rick has envisioned for Femi. He wants him to be that T.R. Dunn type of player, (reference: Dunn was a 6'5" defensive stopper who played for some great Alabama teams in the 70's and with the Denver Nuggets).
All 10 players got a chance to play, with nine getting between 19 and 26 minutes. The only player not to get at least 10 minutes was freshman guard Jeff Reid, who played eight minutes, mostly in the second half.
There is still much work to be done, especially on defense, defensive rebounding and free throw shooting. (8-20 last night). But last night was a good starting point. I was really impressed with the student turnout. The student section was rocking, which is the way I like it.
They kids made a big difference last year in the Bills' 14-3 home record. As I said, the new building belongs to the kids, so they should enjoy it and provide their fellow students with a great homecourt advantage. You can really see how Willie feeds off the home crowd.
The guys have a full week to get better, learn more from Majerus U. and get ready for the next preseason game against St. Ambrose on Saturday afternoon.
See ya then.

Early Commits

Several members of the Class of 2010 have already given commitments to attend college. The latest commit came from CBC center Ryan Pierson, who is headed to Northeastern University in Boston. The 6'10" center is a four-year varsity player at CBC and a member of Teamrameybasketball.com's summer basketball team. Pierson enjoyed an excellent summer as he is becoming more assertive in his play in the post. I look forward to watching him perform with the Cadets this season.
Other area players who have already given verbal commitments are 6'5" swingman Nathan Scheer of Class 4 state champion St. Francis Borgia, who is headed to Missouri State University.
William Triggs, a 6'6" forward from Edwardsville and Joe Harms, a 6'8" forward from Belleville Althoff, both committed to Austin Peay. The Governors are led by St. Louians Dave Loos, who was recruited the St. Louis area well in recent years.
One of the Govs' top players last season was 6'7" swingman Anthony Campbell, a 2008 graduate at Edwardsville. He also recruited 2005 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Player of the Year Landon Shipley of Lafayette High, who played one season at APSU before transferring to Illinois State.
On the girls' side, Belleville Althoff teammates Jazmin Hill and Jordyne Crunk are also headed to Division I schools. The 5'6" Hill committed to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville while the 5'10" Crunk will sign with Eastern Illinois University. The Hill and Crunk combination has been one of the top backcourt pairs in the St. Louis metro area for the past three years.

NBA Opening Day

The National Basketball Association is back in action with a rousing opening night. The Boston Celtics looked very good in winning its opening road game at Cleveland in what could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Both teams got a chance to showcase their new toys last night. The Celtics got good bench production from newly-acquired frontcourt players Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Danels, plus Sheldon Williams gives the Celts another big body.
Shaquille O'Neal gives the Cavs a legitimate low-post presence for the first time in forever while Anthony Parker is a nice shooting guard with size. Janerio Moon is a big athlete who should be able to defend.
Out West, the Lakers are built for a number of championship runs. Kobe has at least five good years left at peak production, in my opinion. Keeping Lamar Odom and getting Ron Artest is an upgrade from last year's world champs. Artest gives the Lakers the toughness that will be needed should they face Boston of Cleveland in the Finals. The key to the whole deal is the continued development of Andrew Bynum in the middle.
Bynum got things started the right way with his 26-point performance on opening night against the L.A. Clippers.
Also, do not sleep on the San Antonio Spurs and Orlando Magic. Both are very good teams that will make things interesting.
On a final note, it was nice to see my Washington Wizards get off on the right foot to start the season with a road victory at Dallas. Gilbert Arenas made a triumphant return to the lineup with 29 points, including several big buckets down the stretch. If everyone is healthy (in which forward Antawn Jamison is not right now), the Wizards should have the most improved record in the league.