Home Basketball The Hoops Gods Smile Upon St. Louis

The Hoops Gods Smile Upon St. Louis

by W.E. Sauls

This is the hoop lovers dream week in the STL. 5 straight days of nothing but basketball. Upsets, underdogs, buzzer beaters, NCAA tournament births, we got it all. You wanna see Larry Bird’s alma mater go head to head with the school that for some reason still hasn’t retired Ben Kandlbinder’s number…You can… if the ball bounces right.

If you wanna see the NBA bound Javon Bess play his last regular season game at home…it all starts tonight.

Here are the highlights

Billiken Senior Night: 7pm tonight at Chaifetz Arena

Why is this gonna be awesome? According the logic of Carter Chapley the Bills still have a chance at a top 4 A-10 finish, and a chance at a double bye to make their NCAA Tourney Hopes twinkle a bit brighter. Also, it’s possibly your last chance (barring a NIT home game) to see Javon Bess play in the STL before he hits the hardwood in the NBA. A win tonight would put SLU within one W of their first 20 win season since the 2013-14 campaign. If they want it…post season basketball is in their future.

Photo Credit: Mick Lite

Arch Madness: Thurs-Sun at Enterprise Center

We have four days of tourney here in the STL to look forward to. If you didn’t, I guarantee you have a buddy that went to one of these schools. I personally am pulling for a Hotz/Kandlbinder vs. Josh Warren final with Missouri State (aka SMSU) taking down Southern Illinois in the championship game. Why? Because Birk went to school with these dudes at Borgia…. and he’s my best friend. Is there a better reason for rooting interest. Check out Ben bring home the title below…

Those personal interests aside, this tourney is wide open. Three squads have a legitimate chance at winning it all and dancing come two weeks from now. Drake looks to be the class of the conference at 23-8, 12-6, but Loyola is 12-6 in conference as well and Southern Illinois is a serious threat and they have Scottie Pippen’s nephew Kavion patrolling the paint before his shot at the G-League next year.

But it does not end there. The intrigue is deep. Yes the leaders in the conference went 12-6, but two teams won 10 games in league, and another two won 9. So 1-7 in this league are only separated by 3 games. Anyone can beat anyone on any given night.

It’s gonna be crazy downtown so get your tickets here for Arch Madness and check here for any Billiken Senior Night Tickets.

Follow Sauls on Twitter @Will_ArchCity

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