To see the previous teams ranked in the 82 in 72 series, please see below:
65. Syracuse Orange
68. Iowa Hawkeyes
70. Butler Bulldogs
71. Princeton Tigers
74. Oklahoma Sooners
75. West Virginia Mountaineers
76. Georgia Bulldogs
77. UAB Blazers
80. Missouri Tigers
Additionally, here is where each of our college basketball analysts had Saint Louis ranked:
| Steven | Maxwell | Kam | Cody |
| 45 | Unranked | 73 | 49 |
I’m going to start this article off by stating that Saint Louis is, by far, way better than the 64th-best team in the nation going into this season. And the A10 clearly agrees with me. In my 82 in 72 St. Joseph’s article, I briefly discussed the A10 approaching multi-bid relevance once again. St. Louis, St. Joe’s, Dayton, and VCU are all NCAA tournament-caliber teams this year. In order to beef up these team’s schedules, the A10 pairings for this year’s schedule include St. Louis playing Dayton, VCU, St. Joseph’s, and Loyola Chicago twice each. Those are likely the four most formidable opponents in the conference.
It’s tough to look at this SLU roster this year and not expect the success of Indiana State last year. Not only did the new head coach, Josh Schertz, bring Cream Abdul-Jabbar (Robbie Avila) with him to the Billikens, but he also brought the starting guard, Isaiah Swope, to this Billikens roster. Schertz, Avila, and Swopes were all at Indiana State last season. Swipe averaged nearly 16 PPG last season and shot 36.2% on 8.4 3PA/gm. As for Avila, he averaged 17.4/6.6/4.1 on 53.6/39.4/80.8 splits. Despite Schertz only bringing two rotation players from last year’s NIT runner-up (and quite frankly, the Sycamores should’ve made the NCAA tournament), after entering the portal, Gibson Jimerson returned to the Billikens to play for Schertz. Jimerson, an All-A10 Third Teamer last season, averaged 15.8 PPG last season and is a career 39.5% 3-point shooter. In addition to this “Big 3” that Schertz has assembled, the starting five should round out with West Virginia transfer Kobe Johnson and Brown transfer Kalu Anya.
Aside from Jimerson, both Larry Hughes II and Kellen Thames return from last year’s SLU roster. All of Hughes, Thames, and Jimerson will fit seamlessly in Schertz’s offensive scheme. According to KenPom, Indiana State had the 13th-best adjusted offensive efficiency last season. The Sycamores had the #1 effective FG%, ranked #1 in 2P%, #2 in FT%, and 11th in 3P%. They also had the 5th most 3s per field goal attempt ratio, in addition to 14th in assist per field goal made ratio. Flat out, Schertz is an offensive mastermind. When teams get as easy shots as Indiana State got last season, it makes sense why they had the best effective field goal percentage in the league.
Besides the players, as mentioned earlier, SLU added former four-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American AJ Casey from Miami U, as well as former Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year Josiah Dotzler from Creighton. With that said, this SLU rotation goes legitimately nine players deep. If there’s anything that’s been figured out about a Josh Schertz-coached team, it’s that they’re going to shoot efficient shots, assist on their baskets, and shoot a lot of threes. Schertz obviously knew his team’s style of play for this upcoming season and assembled a perfect roster for what he desired. At the very least, this SLU team should be one of the most fun watches in college basketball next season, and it’s likely the year Schertz and Avila get over the hump and go dancing in March.
The Center Hub 
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