1971. That was the last time the Saint Louis University men's basketball team won a regular season conference title. It goes without saying that none of the members of this year's team had been born yet. It's entirely possible that some of their parents had not been born.
This squad might have seemed like an unlikely bunch to end that title drought. As everyone knows, they had to deal with the death of iconic coach Rick Majerus, who had turned the program around, culminating in an NCAA tournament appearance in 2012. In January, the Billikens lost back-to-back conference games, at Temple and then at home against lowly Rhode Island.
But interim coach Jim Crews has done a wonderful job stepping in for Majerus, managing a challenging situation that few other coaches have ever had to confront. He kept most of Majerus' system and philosophy intact, while still putting his own stamp on the program. He emphasized the importance of honoring Majerus' legacy not by winning games, but by playing, and living, the right way. It might sound like a cliche message, but it's one that resonated strongly with his players.
Following those two losses, SLU rattled off an 11-game winning streak. That run came to an end with an overtime loss at Xavier on March 6, but coming into Saturday's regular season finale at home against La Salle, SLU was still in position to clinch at least a share of the conference title with a win.
The Bills led by just two at halftime, but they dominated the final 20 minutes. It was easily SLU's best performance of the season, a fitting sendoff to the senior class. Point guard and team leader Kwamain Mitchell broke down the defense at will, finishing with 19 points and six assists. Big man Rob Loe, often criticized for favoring outside shots to post moves, played the best game of his career. He had a perfect game shooting the basketball, connecting on all seven of his shots from the floor, including three triples, plus all three of his free throw attempts. He led the team with 20 points. Dwayne Evans was the team's best player all season. As an undersized power forward who routinely outworks bigger players, he is a fitting symbol of the entire team. On Saturday, he finished with 16 points and 17 rebounds. SLU poured in 47 points in their dominant second half to win by a final score of 78-54.
With the win, SLU clinched that elusive conference title. (And they didn't even have to share it, once VCU lost to Temple on Sunday.) Seniors Mitchell, Cory Remekun, and Cody Ellis (he of the blue hair) climbed the ladder to cut down the nets. All Crews had to do was sit back and marvel at his (and Majerus') masterpiece. For my money, he is the national coach of the year.
And that was just the beginning of a wild weekend of college hoops. It was the final weekend of regular season play for the power conferences, meaning regular season titles were on the line, while a few of the minor conferences wrapped up their tournaments, meaning teams started punching their tickets to the big dance. In other words, while the brackets aren't quite ready, it was the unofficial beginning of March madness.
Later on Saturday afternoon, Missouri continued what has been an increasingly maddening season, losing yet another close game on the road, 64-62 at Tennessee. Following the familiar script, point guard Phil Pressey made a key mistake in the closing minutes, air-balling a three-point attempt with 19 second remaining that would have tied the game. Then on Sunday, Arch Madness, the Missouri Valley Conference tournament held at St. Louis' own Scottrade Center, concluded with a tense game between Creighton and Wichita State, which the Jays won 68-65 despite a subpar performance from their player-of-the-year candidate, Doug McDermott. Creighton led by 13 with five minutes to go, but then went into clock-killing mode. Sort of like the old adage about the prevent defense preventing you from winning, the stall strategy backfired, and the Shockers pulled to within one in the closing minute, but misfired on a three at the buzzer that could have tied it.
Add in a stunning one-point win for Indiana over Michigan to clinch the Big 10 title yesterday (Michigan helped out by missing several key free throws down the stretch), and a thrilling 70-68 overtime win for Belmont over Murray State to win the Ohio Valley Conference tournament and secure an automatic bid to the big dance, and it was a magical weekend of college hoops. Stay tuned.
