Dwayne Evans

1:19 P.M. February 26, 2013

Beating a pair of Top 25 schools last week put Saint Louis back on the national map. Rather than lobby to have his interim label removed, coach Jim Crews is reveling in the moment.

There’s been no drop in production from the team assembled by the late Rick Majerus that ended the school’s 12-year NCAA tournament drought last spring and is poised for a repeat bid. Atop the Atlantic 10 after knocking off VCU and Butler last week, the No. 18 Billikens are ranked for the first time this season and have won nine in a row heading into Wednesday night’s game against Saint Joseph’s.

“I don’t know if there’s a better feeling right now,” junior forward Dwayne Evans said. “It’s a real exciting time. You can tell spirits are so much higher in practice.”

The 58-year-old Crews, whose last taste of Division I head coaching was getting fired at Army three weeks before fall practices began in 2009, has kept the program humming. No matter how successful this season ends, he’s under no illusion he’ll be on the bench next season.

“Coaching has been very, very good to me,” Crews said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I’ve been out of coaching the last couple years and you know what, I’ve loved that, too. My job and my commitment is to the players to help out under a difficult situation. The future is never as clear as we all seem to think its’ going to be.”

The school is in no hurry to clarify matters, either. It has nothing to do with Crews’ middling 375-353 record over 25 seasons.

“We’ve all totally committed to do whatever we can to help this group right now,” athletic director Chris May said. “We’ve all agreed as soon as the season’s over, we’ll sit down and talk about the future.”

Saint Louis (21-5, 10-2) is 4-1 against Top 25 teams this season, the most ever for the school. The biggest was a rout of No. 9 Butler last month that finished with fans mobbing the court. The Billikens beat the Bulldogs again at Indianapolis last week, this time knocking off No. 15.

“The kids have certainly had a lot of things thrown at them, including real life stuff,” Crews said. “They’ve done a tremendous job of sticking together and it’s certainly has been enjoyable. I had no idea which direction it was going to go, we try to keep it pretty simple around here.”

Evans leads the team in scoring and rebounding, and is averaging 17 points during the winning streak. Junior guard Jordair Jett is averaging 12 points during the run, and is among six players averaging seven or more points.

Just like under Majerus, who died in December after being hospitalized for several months, the Billikens have one of the stingiest defenses in the country, with opponents averaging 57 points. VCU didn’t reach double figures until 4:08 to go in the first half, Richmond totaled 10 baskets and 46 points, and Butler had 23 turnovers in the first meeting, that school’s highest total in nine seasons.

from: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/feb/26/no-18-saint-louis-has-9-game-winning-streak/

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Dwayne Evans was born on January 24th, 1992 according to http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/51287/dwayne-evans

January 24th, 1992

1 + 24 +1+9+9+2 = 46 = his life lesson = Height. 6’5″. Age 21. Making history.

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January 24th, 1992

24 +1+9+9+2 = 45 = his “secret” number = Intense. Focused. Hardworking.

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January 24th, 1992

January 24th

1 + 24 +2+0+1+3 = 31 = his personal year (from January 24th, 2013 to January 23rd, 2014) = Competition. Rising to the challenge.

31 year + 3 (March) = 34 = his personal month (from March 24th, 2013 to April 23rd, 2013) = Generating a buzz. On fire.

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using the number/letter grid:

1      2    3       4       5       6     7    8     9
A      B   C      D      E       F      G     H      I
J   K    L      M      N     O   P    Q R
S     T      U      V     W     X      Y    Z

Where:

A = 1 J = 1 S = 1

B = 2 K = 2 T = 2

C = 3 L = 3 U = 3

D = 4 M = 4 V = 4

E = 5 N = 5 W = 5

F = 6 O = 6 X = 6

G = 7 P = 7 Y = 7

H = 8 Q = 8 Z = 8

I = 9 R = 9

Dwayne Evans

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