Saint Louis Basketball: Billikens poised to be best in Atlantic 10 next year

Saint Louis Basketball should win the Atlantic Ten Conference race this coming season. Javonte Perkins rejoins a team filled with regional talent.

Saint Louis Basketball will be the team to beat in the Atlantic Ten Conference. Write it down and quote me later. The Billikens should be the top team in this emerging high major conference and they are doing it with regional talent.

Even the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame agrees. Today they announced the field for next season’s ‘Tip-Off Tournament’, and SLU will join Providence, Miami, and Maryland in that college basketball kick-off event.

The A-Ten will be very good this season and with the addition of Loyola Chicago, SLU, the league’s westernmost member will have one opponent within its rabid fans’ easy driving range.

Saint Louis is coming off a 23-win, National Invitation Tournament season. The Billikens went 12-6 during league play with a dominating 8-1 home conference mark and a respectable 4-5 road record.

Travis Ford’s team accomplished all of that without receiving one minute of playing time from A-Ten Preseason Player of the Year Javonte Perkins. During Perkins’ junior season he averaged 17.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game while making .376 from deep. A preseason torn ACL ended his season before it started.

If healthy, the St. Louis native is one of the A-Ten’s top scorers and a game-changer.

Yuri Collins is the league’s best point guard. The fourth-year junior from a local Catholic high school was a first-teamer in the A-Ten last season and led the nation in assists (267) and assists per game (7.9) all while scoring 11.1 points per game and rarely missing a free throw. Collins terrorizes opposing defenses with his high-light reel passing and explosive first step past defenders.

Ford returns three other starters. 6’9 center Francis Okoro (10.8 ppg & 8.1 rpg) cracked double digits just three times during the team’s first ten games and then did so 16 times during their final 25 contests. The Nigerian native was the A-Ten’s second-leading rebounder.

Gibson Jimmerson is a 6’5 wing that finished third in the conference scoring race (16.3 ppg) and expanded his offensive game to include driving in the lane and a solid mid-range jumper. His long-distance numbers are ridiculous. The Richmond, Virginia native made .420 from distance and his 87 triples were the A-Ten’s third most.

Fred Thatch is that proverbial ‘glue-guy’ for Saint Louis. After not starting early last season, he was inserted into a starting role for all but two conference games. The 6’3 Sikeston, Missouri guard finished the season fourth in scoring (9.3) and second in both rebounds (5.5) and assists (56). Thatch is a tenacious defender.

Saint Louis specializes in recruiting close to home, grabbing a lot of regional talent. Grad-transfer Javon Pickett was an offseason steal. The 6’5 Belleville, Illinois native averaged 11.1 points while starting all but two games for Missouri. Returner Terrance Hargrove (East St. Louis, IL) averaged 6.7 points and 4.2 rebounds last season and is an energy-producing, crowd favorite. Most of his dunks are of the spectacular variety. Hargrove started 16 games last season.

Incoming freshmen Kellen Thames and Nick Kramer are both local products and ranked amongst Missouri’s top nine rated high school seniors. Thames’ father, Kelly was a Missouri Tiger star and his son’s coach at Pattonville High School.

Junior college transfer Sincere Parker is one of jucorecruting.com’s top 10 junior college transfers.

Saint Louis has seven quality starters and other talented players in the wings. If Perkins is healthy, the Billiken offense, which was the league’s highest-scoring unit last season, will be elite. Okoro is a good and physical threat in the middle and Collins rarely makes a mistake with the ball in his hands.

Travis Ford’s team is poised to be the team to beat in the Atlantic Ten Conference and they will be winning games with a lot of regional talent.