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Saint Louis Billikens (2001: 17-14)

The following team preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the nation's most comprehensive look at this and all Division I teams, be sure to order the 2001-02 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518.

Program overview

This year is all about next year.

Not to discount the chance Saint Louis has at success in 2001-02, but it's hard not to look at the roster and wonder what kind of team Lorenzo Romar has built for the following year, when he will have been at Saint Louis for four seasons.

There is not one senior on the roster. There are five juniors, meaning there will be five seniors the following season. Each Romar recruiting class has worked to add more athletic talent to the roster. With seven freshmen and sophomores on the squad, this year's mistakes will serve as lessons for the following year.

But who's to say Saint Louis can't arrive one year ahead of schedule? If these guys are going to be good a year from now, won't they be pretty decent this year?

There is no more motley a collection of players in Conference USA. There is homegrown talent, there are West Coast transfers, there is a guy coming back from a Mormon mission in Latvia, there is one of those point guards Chicago is so famous for producing.

Backcourt

It is that point guard, junior Marque Perry (10.1 ppg, 3.5 apg, 2.4 rpg), who is charged with leading this young squad. A starter since his freshman season, the 6-1, 175-pound Perry broke his foot midway through his freshman season and, said Romar, had not fully recovered until after last season.

Perry's strength is his ability to break down defenders with his dribble and disrupt a defense. He hit 44.8 percent of the shots he took inside three-point range, and was one of the better free-throw shooters in C-USA, hitting .756 overall for the season and .811 in C-USA play. League opponents, however, learned that Perry wasn't going to beat you from long range. He hit just .306 from three-point range for the season and was 9-of-33 in C-USA play, where he was also only .396 from inside the arc.

Perry will not have NBA draft pick Maurice Jeffers helping him carve up defenses with slashes into traffic; he must become a more accurate outside shooter.

Randy Pulley, a strapping 6-2, 205-pound point guard from Raleigh, N.C., will be expected to serve as Perry's backup as a freshman. Pulley's high school averages were eye-popping: 26.5 points, 5.8 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game and .626 shooting from the field, including .592 from three-point range.

In one game last season, Pulley was 25-of-27 from the field for 52 points; Pulley also played football at Word of God High School.

Josh Fisher, a 6-2 junior, is the most likely companion for Perry in the backcourt. A transfer from Pepperdine, where Romar worked before coming to Saint Louis, Fisher played a reserve role last season behind Jeffers, averaging 5.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists.

He received SLU's sixth-man-of-the-year award, and could play that role again. However, if he can stay consistent from long range- as he was last year in shooting .390 for the season and .455 in C-USA-Fisher should have a fulltime gig out front with Perry.

Drew Diener (4.5 ppg, 1.2 rpg), a 6-5 junior, should serve as SLU's best three-point shooter. He led the team from long range last season, connecting on 22-of-56 (.393), and was one of many solid free-throw shooters, hitting .805 from the line last season.

Diener is technically a redshirt junior, and he has made great progress each year. C-USA will see plenty of the Diener family this season. His cousin, Travis, is a freshman at Marquette, and his brother, Drake, is a freshman at DePaul.

Romar believes 6-4 sophomore swingman Floyd McClain (2.0 ppg, 1.2 rpg) will show great progress with his knees finally healed. The sophomore played in only 21 games last season, but made appearances in the final 14.

McClain certainly needs to improve his shooting, which was weak a year ago -- .295 from the field, .182 from three and .560 from the free-throw line.

Jason Edwin and Chris Sloan, both sophomores, are similar to McClain in that they can play the two or the three position.

Edwin (4.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg), 6-5 and 205 pounds, saw more playing time as a freshman, getting 13.5 minutes per game. He hit 44.4 percent of his shots from three-point range after missing his senior season in high school in Warsaw, Ill.

Sloan (1.4 ppg, 1.5 rpg), at 6-7 and 205 pounds, had shoulder surgery in the off-season and will not begin full workouts until practice begins. He played last season despite the tendency of the left shoulder to pop in and out during games. He started 16 games for the Billikens, though he only averaged 10.1 minutes per game; Romar liked the defense Sloan provided from the tip.

Frontcourt

Saint Louis's frontcourt was decimated. The Billikens lost 23.1 points per game, 13.4 rebounds and, maybe most important, 54 blocked shots with the departures of Justin Tatum, Matt Baniak and Chris Heinrich.

Rapidly-improving Chris Braun (6.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg), a mobile 6-10, 235-pound junior, should emerge as a very solid Conference USA big man. The very definition of an inside-outside big man, Braun hit 50.0 percent from the field and 39.3 percent from three-point range last season, and showed some athleticism with 22 blocks and 46 offensive rebounds.

Braun, a fourth-year junior, played only 17.1 minutes per game, and was very productive with his time. If he doubles his time and output, Romar would be very happy, indeed.

The rest of the frontcourt is inexperienced, which will likely mean a lot of three-guard alignments for the Billikens. Which is not to say the three newcomers down front can't play.

Kenny Brown (11.9 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.9 bpg at Western Iowa Junior College), a 6-9, 260-pound junior originally from Hazelwood West High School in St. Louis, must be the inside enforcer.

John Seyfert (16.0 ppg, 12.0 rpg, 7.0 bpg at Stevensville High), a 6-9, 235-pound forward from Montana, could also bring some intimidation inside, and, with the lack of front line depth, he will have opportunity to prove his worth.

A good all-around athlete, Seyfert lettered in golf, track and baseball in high school. He will have to adjust to a much higher caliber of play, however.

Saint Louis's most intriguing newcomer is 6-7, 220-pound forward Ross Varner (2.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg at Pepperdine in 1998-99), another Pepperdine transfer who came to Saint Louis after completing a Mormon mission in Latvia.

A sophomore, Varner is origingally from Holladay, Utah. He is a versatile player and has nice athleticism.

Bottom line

Only Southern Miss lost more key players than Saint Louis in Conference USA, and, as positive as Romar is, this team will struggle.

Though two starters are listed as returning, Perry is really the only true starter back. Sloan started 16 games, but played a very limited role. Braun is the only frontcourt player with any Division I experience, and much of his production will come more than 15 feet away from the basket.

Romar needs someone to emerge a la Jeffers, who turned himself into an NBA draft pick with a superb senior season. Perry has the ability to be one of the best point guards in Conference USA, but he will find things more difficult without Jeffers creating opportunities. Perry's production should increase, but can he provide as much as the young Billikens will need?

One of the best additions to this team is assistant coach Brad Soderberg, the interim coach at Wisconsin last season. He will provide another head coaching voice from the bench, which is already considered one of the best in the league at making adjustments.

Romar said he would like to take advantage of a more athletic roster to get out and run, and maybe press more than in the past. C-USA, as a league, may force the Billikens to involve themselves in a faster pace, which may be the best thing to happen to the program. With the limited frontcourt, this team is not as prepared to grind out games as it had been in the past.

This year really is about next year, no matter how strong a Norman Vincent Peale impression coming from Romar. Breaking even in C-USA would be a huge accomplishment, but postseason hopes would be a little too high for this young team.