Two years ago following their tourney loss to Michigan State, Rick Majerus declared the St. Louis Billikens would be ranked in the top-10 within 2 years. Here we are today, and here are the Billikens, ranked in the top 10.
The Billikens are currently 24-2 and undefeated in the A-10 after surviving in overtime against George Mason who has given them fits in both matchups this year. Both games have gone to overtime. They're currently sitting 19th in KenPom and that's a good spot for them. Their only two losses are on a neutral court to Wisconsin and at home to Wichita State. Not bad losses at all. As for wins, outside of conference, they don't have any to brag about. They have two KP top-100 wins. One at Vandy and one at home against Indiana State. Both those teams reside at 100 and 87. The A-10 is strong, don't get me wrong, but St. Louis doesn't have much heft to their resume.
They are a defense first team. They have the 2nd best defense according to adjusted d. On offense, they come in at 144th. They have the 11th best scoring defense in the nation and teams shoot only 43.5% against them (effective defensive fg%), which is good for 5th. They'll turn you over as well. They rank 23rd in defensive turnover %. They manage the boards well. Teams get 28.5% of their misses against SLU. That ranks SLU 44th in the nation in defensive rebounding %. They do a decent job keeping teams off the line. Opponents also find it hard to shoot against them from deep, making only 27.6%. That's 4th best in America.
They're not as good offensively. You'd peg them as low tempo but they actually average more possessions than the national average. They just don't do anything great on offense. They have an effective fg% of 50% which is middle of the pack. They have a turnover % of 17.7%, 115th. One thing they don't do well is clean the glass offensively. The Billikens offensive rebounding % is 29.3%. That puts them at 247th.
They are lead by four seniors. The backcourt is lead by Jordair Jett and Mike McCall. Jett is a do all-everything guard. He scores 13.7ppg and adds 4 boards and 5 assists per game as well. He is only a 63% FT shooter and he gets to the line as much as anyone on the team. The leading scorer is Dwayne Evans. Evans gets 14.7ppg and adds 6.4 boards per game. Joining him in the frontcourt is Rob Loe. Loe gives them 10 & 5. These 4 will are part of a legacy that helped make St. Louis a premier program in the A-10.
For some reason, I was unsure about St. Louis heading into the season. They've been brilliant this year. Though the resume is light to me, they had chances against Bucky and the Shockers and could be undefeated. I'm just leery of them in the tournament. They should win a game but who the opponent is in the second game will deserve a close look as you fill out your bracket. They'll be a trendy pick, some pundits might have them in the Final 4. I say, tread lightly. Regardless, this group, has done exactly what Majerus said they would. Now it's time to see if they can go beyond that.
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