The Billikens' March to the Tournament Continues

For the first time in quite a while, the St. Louis University basketball season hit a snag.

They dropped a game at Rhode Island, the last place team in the Atlantic-10 Conference. The itself would be bad enough on its own, but how it happened made it even worse. SLU had a 10-point lead with 10 minutes remaining against a team that had won just five basketball games all season coming into the tilt against SLU. The Billikens even lead by two with under two minutes left. But the team settled for three-pointers and jump shots the rest of the way, rather than going to their senior and leading scorer, Brian Conklin, inside. Threes are great when they're falling. A team can live off of them, like Duke did against North Carolina a few weeks ago, when they attempted 38 shots from beyond the arc. However, when they're not going in, a team has to look for other options, especially inside. The Billikens didn't go that route and it cost them.

The Rhode Island loss transformed the Billikens' home finale, senior night against Xavier, from a win that would be nice to have into a game that they probably needed in order to still make the NCAA tournament. The Bills came out sluggish in the first half. Maybe it was jitters. Perhaps it was just a fired up Xavier team that needed the win even more than SLU just working the home team. But whatever it was, the Billikens found themselves 10 points behind the Musketeers at halftime. SLU went from a six-game winning streak and a practical lock to make the tournament to a bubble team in big trouble in just three short halves.

Xavier came out and scored the first point of the second half, getting a free throw to expand their lead over the Billikens to 40-29. The senior, Conklin, then took over for SLU on senior night. The Billikens went on a ridiculous 24-2 run and like magic, an 11-point SLU deficit became an 11-point lead. During that run, Conklin scored 11 of the Bills' 24 points. He would finish with 23 points for the game, picking up 15 of them after the break. Seniors are supposed to carry a team and Conklin certainly did that Tuesday night. Winning at Duquesne would be a nice boost for SLU heading into the conference tournament in Atlantic City and could certainly help their seed. However, earning a sweep of Xavier, one of the league's top tier teams, the Billikens will probably get an at-large bid for the first time in over a decade if they fail to win the conference tournament.

When the Bills make their long awaited return to the big dance, the 12-year old kid in me that ran  circles around my house after SLU knocked of UMass in their last tourney win will probably be in the mood to do the Homer Simpson chicken spin dance. And with my apartment being pretty much completely hardwood floors, I wouldn't put it past me.

Thanks to Rushthecourt.net for the photo.