It certainly helps that there will be a new on-campus arena next year and that Majerus will begin to coach kids that asked to play for him. Still, it'll take a very long time to get a decent squad together. Until then, the current crop of basketball invalids and the mercurial coach are stuck with each other. That's a long time to put up with a miserable situation. Why bother?
There's something more inside those post-game quotes. Apparently, he likes coaching. Not only that, but he has some antiquated notion that he's the coach of these young men as much as they are his players. Majerus said to the Chicago Tribune in December, "...but those kids don't want to hear about next year; this is their senior season. I owe it to them to win this year. They deserve that."
You can see that again in Majerus' awkward defense of the Lost Boys of Saint Louis after the game. Majerus knows these kids aren't good enough. The kids know they aren't good enough. There's no point in belaboring the matter. He's there to help those gentlemen get through the year with a few life lessons and a few basketball tips ("through the hoop, Kevin, not around it").
So even as the usually outspoken Majerus describes his team's effort and results as discrete events, he creates a teachable moment for those young men that they can take forth into the real world while still building the foundation for the future of St. Louis Billikens basketball. You know, like he really cares about being a teacher and a coach.
It's no wonder college basketball on the whole finds Rick Majerus to be a highly amusing clown as much as a coach. He sure has some funny notions about how this is all supposed to work.
Article comments
1 - Charlie
Hey Tuffy, thanks for writing about this. I haven't been paying attention to college basketball much this year, but this is a pathetic performance. I just can't get over the fact that St. Louis only scored 7 points in the 1st half!
And worse is Majerus saying after the game (via the yahoo sports link you supplied here) saying about the coaching the team that it's like being a "stepparent" and that "I didn't pick them. They didn't pick me." You just don't makes excuse or say stuff like that. If he can get away with that, so can every new coach who runs a lousy team.
2 - Douglas Mays
20 points... I love it. It has to happen sometimes... How many shots did they take? Were they shooting 100% or 3%?
anyway, what a stinker. gotta love it. they still have a winning record. we'll see how it all plays out at the end of the season.