Eastern Illinois at Saint Louis (-12.5) - 5:00pm Pacific - Game #771-772
The Billikens are coming off a bad season and have lost their top two scorers to graduation, but fourth year coach Brad Soderberg is convinced that he has a more talented group this year.  They are loaded in the backcourt with two highly touted freshman and three above average returning players.  Freshman guard Tommie Liddell is considered the school's best recruit since NBA star Larry Hughes.  He will start from day one.  Ultra quick guard Dwayne Polk and Danny Brown got their feet wet as freshman and are ready to step up.  Senior guard Anthony Drejaj is another dependable asset on the perimeter.  Starting center Ian Vouyoukas is 6-10, 270 and gained a lot of seasoning playing in Europe over the summer.  It is said that he can not be defended one-on-one anymore.  Saint Louis has been one of the better defensive teams in the country during Soderberg's tenure. 

Eastern Illinois first year head coach Mike Miller did not have his team ready to compete in season opening loss at Xavier.  He is said to have spent almost 70% of the team's preseason practice time working exclusively on defense.  Their lack of work on offense showed in the opener as they only had 26 points with 4:30 left in the game and finished with just 35 in a 45 point blowout loss.  The team just seemed to have very few offensive sets and no offensive direction.  Even when they did get open they usually did not convert.  That game was on Saturday and this is their second straight road game so it is unlikely much improvement will be made.  EIU has a solid guard in senior Josh Gomes and two other decent returnees in sophomores Bobby Catchings and George Tandy, but not much else.  Their strength is at guard and on the wings which plays right in to the strength of the quick SLU defense.   

Due to a circus at the Savvis Center, this game will be played at the St Charles Family Arena which Soderberg calls a much more intimate environment.  After a 1-6 start last season, SLU players and coaches are putting an emphasis on a fast start this year.  St. Louis played very well in both exhibition games and has a lot of confidence coming into this game.  I look for them to win this comfortably. 

RAS Official Play:  St Louis -12.5  1 UNIT