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After several seasons of success, the Saint Louis Billikens finished dead last in the Atlantic 10 Conference, only winning 11 total games on the season in 2014-15. Coming into the 2015-16 season, however, Saint Louis will be looking for any kind of improvement that shows that this team can get back to where the program feels like it belongs – at the top of the A-10.
The good news for Saint Louis is that most players who played heavy minutes from last season will return, including leading scorers Milik Yarbrough, Ash Yacoubou and Mike Crawford. These three players seemed to be the only Billikens who could score at times, as Saint Louis finished No. 328 in points per game. There are nine players on this roster who are freshmen or sophomores, making over 64 percent of this team underclassmen. One of these young players needs to step it up on offense, soon.
Saint Louis won’t get much help from their non-conference schedule, as they face the North Florida Ospreys, Louisville Cardinals, Indiana State Sycamores and Wichita State Shockers, who are all potential 2016 NCAA tournament teams. It would not surprise me if Saint Louis lost all four of these games and won the rest before heading into their difficult conference slate.
In conference play, Saint Louis is nowhere near ready to compete with the top A-10 teams. They are, however, much better than the expected bottom feeders in the conference. There is no doubt in my mind that the Billikens take a step forward and finish toward the middle of the final Atlantic 10 standings.
It might not be this season, but the Billikens are slowly rebuilding. Expect Saint Louis to rapidly transition from an A-10 basement-dweller to a conference contender within the next two or so years.
Taylor Sturm is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TSturmRS, like him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
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