March 24, 2008
AT SEASON'S END: The Saint Louis men's basketball team ended the 2007-08 season with a record of 16-15 overall, 7-9 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Billikens were the No. 9 seed for the A-10 Tournament and fell to No. 8 seed Dayton 63-62 in overtime at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.
ATLANTIC 10 ACTION: The Billikens finished in a three-way tie for ninth place in the A-10 regular season standings.
HONOR ROLL: Kevin Lisch was named to the All-Atlantic 10 Conference third team and was selected to the All-Defensive team. Lisch and Luke Meyer earned Academic All-Conference plaudits from the A-10 as SLU was the only school with two selections to the academic team.
HEAD COACH Rick Majerus: Rick Majerus finished his first season as head coach of the Billiken men's basketball program. He has a 21-year career mark of 438-162 and has never had a losing season. Majerus has taken 11 teams to the NCAA Tournament and four to the NIT.
600: The A-10 Tournament game against Dayton was Rick Majerus' 600th game as a head coach.
SPEED LIMIT 60: The Billikens lead the Atlantic 10 Conference in scoring defense and in the most recent NCAA report ranked 29th nationally. SLU gave up only 61.6 ppg in 31 games. In 12 of their 16 wins, the Billikens held their opponents to fewer than 60 points. In addition, SLU held five opponents to fewer than 50 points this season - North Carolina A&T, Long Beach State, Loyola (Chicago) and George Washington (twice).
RUGGED COMPETITION: The Billikens faced five teams that reached the NCAA Tournament (Kent State, Pittsburgh, Saint Joseph's, Temple and Xavier), five schools that reached the NIT Tournament (Charlotte, Dayton, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Southern Illinois) and one CBI Tournament team (Richmond). SLU played 14 games against teams that qualified for post-season play.
CHAIFETZ ARENA: The new Chaifetz (SHAY-fetz) Arena will have a dedication ceremony on April 10, 2008, and will be the home court for the Billikens in 2008-09. The arena will have a seating capacity of 10,600 and is located on the SLU campus along Laclede Avenue west of Compton Avenue. It will function as a true multi-purpose campus events center, hosting a myriad of SLU events, including men's and women's basketball, volleyball, commencement, cultural events, conferences and conventions. The arena will house the department of athletics offices as well as a practice facility for the basketball and volleyball teams.
BROWNIES: Senior guard Danny Brown (Houston, Texas / Alief Elsik) closed out his SLU playing days with a career-high 24 points against Dayton in the A-10 Tournament ... averaged 7.0 ppg and 2.9 rpg to go along with 30 assists in 24 games ... shot 49.0 percent from 3-point range (25-of-51) ... scored 608 points in his career and added 239 rebounds, 161 assists and 50 steals.
SHOCK THE MONKEY: Senior center Bryce Husak (Mt. Vernon, Iowa / Mt. Vernon) averaged 5.5 ppg and 4.3 rpg ... led the team with 32 blocked shots ... hit half of his shots from the field (68-of-136) ... for his career, finished with 250 points, 208 rebounds and 59 blocked shots.
JUMPING JACKS: Junior guard Peyton Jacks (Dallas, Texas / Jesuit Prep) appeared in seven games and contributed one free throw, four rebounds, one assist and one steal ... will graduate this spring from the University
THE TACKLE: Sophomore guard Mike Jones (St. Louis, Mo. / Trinity Catholic) played in five games with one point, one assist and one steal.
GRASSY KNOLL: Sophomore forward Adam Knollmeyer (Linn, Mo. / Linn) played in 22 games and made four starts ... scored 31 points and had 26 rebounds on the season.
THREE STICKS: Junior guard III (East St. Louis, Ill. / Hargrave Military Acad.) was second on the team in scoring at 12.3 ppg and tied for second in rebounding at 4.3 rpg ... was second on the team with 21 steals and third in assists with 64.
SWISH LISCH: Junior guard Kevin Lisch (Belleville, Ill. / Althoff) led the team in scoring at 14.6 ppg, assists with 97 and steals with 38 ... 453 points are eighth on the all-time scoring list for juniors, 63 3-pointers rank fourth on the list for juniors, 97 assists rank eighth and 38 steals are tied for ninth all-time for juniors.
COOL HAND LUKE: Senior forward Luke Meyer (Washington, Mo. / St. Francis Borgia) was the only player to start all 31 games ... averaged 8.4 ppg and a team-high 5.4 rpg ... finished his career with 754 points, 448 rebounds, 145 assists, 74 steals and 27 blocked shots ... career free-throw percentage of .832 (163-of-196) ranks third all-time at SLU.
NO SLOW POKE: Senior guard Dwayne Polk (St. Louis, Mo. / Vashon) ranks seventh all-time at SLU with 105 starts ... closed out his career with 520 points, 245 rebounds, 273 assists and 91 steals ... assist total is 11th on the career list.
EBB AND FLOW: Junior forward Barry Eberhardt (Inkster, Mich. / Coffeyville C.C.) played in 30 games and made 11 starts ... averaged 6.0 ppg and 3.8 rpg while shooting 48.4 percent from the field.
WHAT THE ECK?: Freshman guard Paul Eckerle (Washington, Mo. / St. Francis Borgia) played in all 31 games with one start ... scored 119 points to go along with 40 assists ... hit 22 3-pointers and shot 33.8 percent from beyond the arc.
GOOD A.M.: Freshman forward Anthony Mitchell (East St. Louis, Ill. / East St. Louis) appeared in eight games ... scored three points and grabbed seven rebounds.
BUILT FORD TOUGH: Freshman forward Marcus Relphorde (Homewood, Ill. / American Christian [Pa.]) played in 21 games ... tallied 22 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists.
