By DAN KELLY
Special to ZAGSBLOG
NEW YORK – The Saint Louis Billikens lack sex appeal.
They don’t have a high flying, alley-oop, tip-jam specialist hunting around the rim. They don’t run like crazy and launch a billion threes on offense. They don’t apply 40 minutes of chaos-inducing full-court pressure on defense.
But the 4th-seeded Billikens are dangerous and they begin what could be a deep tourney run against New Mexico State today at 2:10 p.m. in San Jose.
Last week the Billikens followed up their regular season Atlantic 10 Championship with a run to the A-10 tourney championship, which included a win over Butler in the semifinal and a win over VCU in the final.
Every virtue of VCU basketball was on display in that A-10 championship game. Their speed, their energy and their swagger reached a fever pitch while they erased a 13-point deficit in less than three minutes of basketball.
But Saint Louis never lost composure. They never do.
“They took a punch from us,” said VCU coach Shaka Smart, “and they responded. And that’s why they’re the champions.”
Last weekend in Brooklyn, after watching his team lose to Saint Louis for the third time this season, Butler coach Brad Stevens pleaded with the media, “I’ve said all year to anyone who would listen to me, and even some people who wouldn’t, how good Saint Louis is. They’re a legitimate contender to win the whole thing. I believe that whole heartedly.”
After watching his Rams’ comeback fall short , coach Smart had a similar tune.
“When you’re talking about being one of the last four teams playing in the NCAA Tournament that’s a very tall order,” he said. “But it’s definitely not out of the realm for those guys.”
Saint Louis head coach Jim Crews stays humble when he talks about his team.
“We’re not a big stat team,” he said. “These guys have a whole lot of wisdom, and that doesn’t show up in the stats. We like that.”
He’s right about the lack of eye-popping stats. The Billikens are in the top 25 in only three categories: Wins, winning percentage and experience.
The Billikens are the 23rd most experienced team in the country when the minutes are broken down by class year per minute played. Miami is the only ranked team with more experience than the Billikens.
That experience was essential during the A-10 championship game against VCU’s renowned “Havoc” defense. It will be essential again in the Midwest region of the where the Billikens can expect to see pressure from either Oregon or overall No 1 seed Louisville if they all advance.
The Billikens will enter the tournament with a lot of confidence having won four straight games and 15 of their last 16.
“With a team like this,” junior forward Dwayne Evans sayid, “I really don’t think there’s a limit to how far we can go.”
Smart agred.
“They have all the ingredients of a team that can make a run in the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “They’re very well-coached, they’ve got older guys who don’t get rattled, they’re good inside, they’re good outside, they defend, so, like I said, they’re going to be a very tough team for someone to deal with in the NCAA tournament. Now that this (A10) tournament is over I’ll be pulling for them…Who knows maybe we’ll get a chance to play each other again if we advance.”
For VCU and Saint Louis to meet again each team would have to advance to the Final Four.
VCU has proven that they can get there and Saint Louis has proven that they certainly have a chance.
