Through nine games the Saint Louis University Billikens have barely been challenged. That is both the good news and the bad news. Josh Schertz’s team has built impressive kenpom.com and national evaluation tool numbers. They are one of the nation’s top offensive teams.
But how good is Saint Louis University? They have played just three games against teams in the top 125 of kenpom.com’s rankings. SLU has played six home games, two, neutral site contests and just one true road encounter.
The Billikens split their two games in Palm Springs against top 100 teams Santa Clara and Standford. Each game was decided by one point. Their 71 points during the Santa Clara victory was their season low and the 78 they tallied against Stanford tied for their second worst performance.
During the other six games Saint Louis has averaged 99.7 points per game.
Saint Louis is highest of eight Atlantic Ten teams ranked in the NET’s top-100. How will the Billikens fare against more difficult competition and in true road games?
Based on Josh Schertz’s career winning percentage and past history, we believe Saint Louis will be just fine. The fifty-year-old Schertz has a .622 Division 1 winning percentage and including his Division 2 experience, his winning percentage is .774. Schertz took Lincoln Memorial to nine NCAA Division 2 Tournaments and Indiana State to the 2024 NIT Finals.