The 2013 NCAA Tournament first round kicks off Thursday, with a Midwest matchup that will feature New Mexico St. (13) taking on Saint Louis (4) at 2:10 p.m. ET.
Watch New Mexico St. vs. Saint Louis live stream, click here.
Saint Louis (27-6) will be looking to carry on the memory of the affable and animated coach in the way he so often made his mark in March: with a deep run in the NCAA tournament.
"The way we play, we play 40 minutes, from the tip to the end with hard work and competitiveness of our team. That kind of spread from Coach Majerus," said guard Kwamain Mitchell, the first player Majerus recruited to the school. "He's so competitive. He hated losing. And that's one of the things he preached and he coached. And he got everybody on the same page to coach and play the way that he does."
Rick Majerus left the team before the season because of health concerns. He died of heart failure in December at age 64. There's been no drop in production from the team assembled by Majerus, who ended the school's 12-year NCAA tournament drought last spring.
Players said they still think about Majerus daily, and all they need to do is look at the patch on their jerseys for a reminder -- a ribbon with the word "Coach." A banner with the same emblem hangs in the rafters at the team's home in Chaifetz Arena.
Jim Crews has taken over and led the Billikens to the Atlantic 10 regular season and conference crowns. Saint Louis also has tied the 1988-89 team with 27 victories, including a school-record five wins against Top 25 programs this season.
Crews, who knew Majerus for more than 30 years, sees his late friend every time his players take the court: from the way they guard screens to their scrappy attitude, which helped lead the A-10 in scoring defense at just 58.1 points per game.
"A kid does something very intelligent or he does something very tough or someone does something very unselfish, Rick would always have a smile on his face," Crews said. "I think he promoted power of team as well as anybody."
