2000-01 record: 25-10; 11-5 in C-USA (1st in American) Final Ranking: No. 22 ESPN/USA Today Postseason: Lost to Stanford 78-65 in third round of NCAA Tournament. RETURNING LEADERS Points: Perry 10.1 ppg | Rebounds: Braun 3.6 rpg | Assists: Perry 3.5 apg | FG %: Braun 50.0% | 3pt %: Edwin 44.4% | FT %: Diener 80.5% 00-01 Stats: Saint Louis | C-USA

		Saturday, Nov. 3 Head coach Lorenzo Romar loves defense. Players hate defense, coaches love defense -- that's always a problem. The Billikens had a decent season last year but I don't know that this team is going anywhere. They still need to work on some things. They are a little bit better athletically. Expect them to go up and down the floor a little more and have a quicker tempo. They need monster years out of 6-10 Chris Braun and 6-1 Marque Perry at guard. These two guys need to go over-and-above for St. Louis to have a really good season.

Outlook
Four of the Billikens' top five scorers and their top three rebounders are gone from a team that did some strange things last year: swept by DePaul, lost to Houston, but swept Charlotte and split with Cincinnati. Maybe this senior-less team will display a little more consistency.

If so, it will come from a lively backcourt and a quartet of inside players who have never started a Division I game.

Marque Perry has started 53 out of 56 career college games and will be the leader of this team at point guard. He's the top returning scorer (10.1 ppg) and assist man (3.5 apg), and averaged 31 minutes a game. If Perry makes the improvement from sophomore to junior that he did from freshman to sophomore, he'll be all-conference.

The other guard will be Josh Fisher, a junior who followed coach Lorenzo Romar from Pepperdine. The muscly Fisher led the team in steals last year, but will be asked for more offense this time around after averaging 5.0 points per game. First crack at small forward goes to sophomore Chris Sloan, a defense-first guy who averaged just 1.3 points and 9.8 minutes while starting more than half the season.

The power forward and center positions will be manned by some combination of Chris Braun (58 games at Saint Louis, zero starts), junior-college transfer Kenny Brown (zero games, zero starts), Pepperdine transfer Ross Varner (32 games, one Mormon mission, zero starts) and freshman John Seyfert (zero games, zero starts). A whole lot of experienced bulk needs to be replaced.

What we like: Saint Louis led C-USA in 3-point percentage at 38.6 percent and only allowed opponents to make 31.9 percent.

What we don't like: Saint Louis was easily last in the league in 3-pointers made (115) and attempted (298). Given the callow inside game this year, the Billikens are going to have to jack it up more from the perimeter.

The bottom line: It would seem like too much for this team to contend in a tough division this season -- but there's always next year, when at least Romar will have a senior class to help him out.

Key Players Returning
Player	Yr.	Pos.	Ht./Wt.	Comment
Marque Perry	Jr.	G	6-1/175	PTS: 10.1 | REB: 2.4 | AST: 3.5
Chris Braun	Jr.	F	6-10/235	PTS: 6.1 | REB: 3.6 | AST: 0.2
Josh Fisher	Jr.	G	6-2/185	PTS: 5.0 | REB: 1.8 | AST: 2.9

Key Losses
Player	Pos.	Ht./Wt.	Comment
Maurice Jeffers	G	6-4/195	PTS: 16.0 | REB: 6.1 | AST: 2.5
Justin Tatum	F	6-7/235	PTS: 8.9 | REB: 5.1 | AST: 0.6

Saint Louis Signings
Player	Pos.	Ht.	High School/College
Kenny Brown	C	6-10	St. Louis, Mo./Hazelwood West
Randy Pulley	G	6-2	Raleigh, N.C./Word of God Christian Academy
John Seyfert	F	6-8	Stevensville, Mon./Stevensville H.S.
Ross Varner	F	6-7	Holladay, Utah/Skyline H.S.