To be honest Hope, I'll be more interested to hear where you get to sit than to hear how the games go, although just slightly.  Seriously though I hope you have a great time up there.  Safe travels.



What an interesting week.  This is even more entertaining than the SLIAC regular season...

Quote from: fcnews on March 02, 2009, 03:11:44 PM

I saw the player do the crowd hush and the three fingers. Not unwarranted after the game was over. Didn't do it till the buzzer.  Didn't see the ball thrown. Sorry just didn't see it. Could of happen though.

FC I see a commonality here.  You didn't see the starters stay in until the end of the game last week (when WC cleared its bench, FU didnt) and you didn't see the unclassy behavior from one of Fontbonne's starters in the championship game.  I am not blaming you, because when someone is enamored by a team they love, sometimes they fail to see that teams' flaws. 

I am glad, however, that you said it could have happened, because from many I've talked to it has been happening too often this season from a couple of the FU guys and not only to fans.  When is it enough to just let your game do the talking?  I hope that FU can have a more positive showing up in Chicago, win or lose. 

Quote from: fcnews on March 01, 2009, 02:29:38 AM
Quickest way to silence this board is a Fontbonne win.  8)

ya.  something like that.

Great SLIAC tournament.  Looks like an awesome game between WC and WU, followed by a great championship game.  If Westmo makes their free throws we might have a different outcome (4-12, all in the second half).  And if a couple Fontbonne guys don't have one of the best shooting nights of their lives, again we might have a different story.  But FU won and hopefully they can make some noise in the big dance against a tough Wheaton team on the road. 
 
After the game Coach McKinney told the Westminster team it was the classiest group of guys he has ever coached against.  Which is a great gesture on his part and a great honor to Coach Mitchell as he preaches "win with class, lose with class; day in and day out."

Quote from: hs_pg_qb on March 02, 2009, 07:46:40 AM
Great games this weekend.  I think fc summed it all up pretty well.  The one thing I wanted to point out was the student fans on Saturday.

That being said, I will say that I was a little disappointed in the WC student section during the award ceremony. 

While one particular FC player was receiving an award, A loud boo was heard from the WC section.  I can almost understand as this player was jawing a little towards the Student section at the end of the game.  A little unsportsman like from both sides but I think the FC player, as a player, should be held to a little bit higher standard and should know better than to let the crowd get under their skin whether winning or losing.  Just walk off the court and let the scoreboard to do the talking.

Beyond that incident, I was also a little surprised with the WC students when the two teams were being recognized.  As WC was called out for being the runner up in the tourney, I noted that every single person in the FC section was applauding the great effort and game that the WC team played.  I would have expected the same courtesy from the WC section when FB was called as the winners.  I saw exactly ONE person applaud the FB game.  Everyone else just stood there with their arms at their sides or crossed.

Now I must admit I am a real newb to these games and this is my first post tourney award ceremony.  Is this unusual.  Does the disappointment of defeat usually carry over like this?  Was I even the only one to notice and am making a mountain out of a molehill?

Anyway, to BOTH the Griffs and Jays, thank you for a great and hard fought battle!

From a very credible source I heard that two FU players were not only "jawing" at the WC crowd....here is the report I received with names taken out although almost everyone there knows who it was. 

"At the end of the game an FU player took the basketball, put it in front of his crotch, humped the ball 3-4 times then threw it at a Westminster student.   Another FU player walked over to the Westminster student section with 3 fingers held up and waved it at the Westminster students.  Everyone knows they have one 3 tournaments in a row, act like you've been there."

I don't know what the Westminster crowd said to these guys.  They may have made inappropriate comments.  They should have applauded the efforts of the WC and FU players as well as all other awards.  On the other hand, a player actually threw the ball into the student section?  If what was described would have happened at a D-1 game the players would have been suspended.  Im not condoning the crowd actions or the reactions of the FU players...but to think the WC students would applaud an FU team who had two of its starters make gestures and throw the ball at them is actually quite comical to me.  Too bad any of this had to happen. 
 
Change of subject to all conference...how does Stan Crawford not make first team?  He lead the Blue Jays in points and rebounds and lead the conference in steals on a team that tied for the league championship.  Crawford and Ellis had the same scoring, same rebounding and Crawford led the league in steals.  Winning has to count for something, Zasada and Ellis' teams crumbled down the stretch and didn't make the tournament.  I'm not taking away from what those two guys did all year, but to reward them as one of the best five players in the league on teams that weren't even in the top 4 isn't fair.  Crawford deserved to be on the first team.

And Ky Millard probably should not have been left off.  The kid doesn't score a ton of points, but might be the most valuable member to the Blue Jay team (who won the conference) and he put on a show in the conference tournament.  No one could guard him all weekend. Watch out for him next year.
 
As for next years Westminster team.  The blue jays return 70 of the 82 points scored in the championship game.  With Millard, S. Crawford, Kovach, and Vislay.  You won't find a better four than that coming back.  They will just need to fill a couple gaps. 

Quote from: fcnews on February 26, 2009, 11:24:16 AM
This would of been a great year for a six team tourney. #1 and #2 get byes, #3 vs. #6 and #4 vs. #5. Four remaining teams at #1 seed.

Im sure the 5 and 6 would definitely go for that. 

What would the schedule look like if that were the case?  Thursday play in games?  Saturday and Sunday semis and championship?

Does Greenville compete in the NCCAA tourney?

Looks like a good weekend of hoops in STL.  Mens and Womens SLIAC tourneys, Wash U at home, lots of good district matchups in 4A 5A, end of regular season for lower classes.  

Quote from: hopefan on February 25, 2009, 04:02:16 PM
Mint, being the sane sensible person you are, you can't possibly be serious about Vislay vs Forest for NOY.....  can you?        Me thinks you are bleeding sky blue blood with that one!!!!

I think I said I did those really fast.  Wasn't 100% focused when posting those picks.  I didn't take the time to look at all the newcomers, which I should have done, and I should have definitely remembered Stan is a newcomer. 

So ya, Stan C, Forrest, or Vislay...

Quote from: hotshot_8617 on February 26, 2009, 12:32:44 AM
I will say that I think Coach  McKinney should be coach of the year.

I agree Coach McKinney had a great year but I would have to agree with Eureka_sid that WC lost so many people, weren't expected to do well and probably overachieved, in terms of the coaches projections.  If I had to guess I'd say they'll be co-COY's but you never know. 

Quote from: y_jack_lok on February 25, 2009, 07:41:35 PM
Seems to me that one player who is being overlooked in the all-conference discussion is Todd Zimmerman of Principia. I was very favorably impressed with him last night. He scored, I think, 21 and was guarding Turk most of the time. Turk was 2 for 12 on the night. Zimmerman is 8th in scoring in the conference -- conference only stats -- with 16.4 per game.

Zimmerman did have a great year and did have great stats.  I wouldnt object if he was on the all conference team.  I think people have reservations because some people had comparable stats on contending teams while he had great stats on a less talented team and played as many minutes as anyone in the conference. 

My all conference on a quick glance would be:

1st team:
FU  Fogerty (POY)
FU  Forrest
WC S Crawford
WU Turk
WC Warncke

2nd team:
FU  McCoy
BC  Sykes
MU Simmons
EC  Zasada
MC Sichting


Hon Mention:
GC  Ellis
FU  Storandt
WC Vislay
EC  Bell
WC Millard

Vislay or Forrest (newcomer)
Mitchell - WC (coach)

Quote from: fcnews on February 25, 2009, 01:37:44 PM
Easy Mint. I don't have a play by play boxscore in front of me, but I do believe that FU held the ball for the full shot clock on their last 5-6 possesions. There was no running the score up. It's a tradition at FU, that seniors end their career on the floor. When Storandt fouled out, subs then came in.

I never mentioned running the score up.  I mentioned that its classy to put subs in when the losing team does this.  

I'm confused, I was sure FU had at least one, possibly two home games left.  I don't think the seniors on the floor is a tradition, maybe you meant "the starters on the floor."  If you meant seniors on the floor, the starters who aren't seniors (Branch and Forrest) could have been subbed out when Westminster subbed in its bench.  They weren't.    

I'm always taking it easy, I'm just calling it like I see it.

Nevermind, I saw the post. 

Do Maryvilles students ever dress like hot dogs and other crazy suits anymore?

Concerning the students on the baseline, are you talking about at Maryville or Blackburn?

Quote from: fcnews on February 25, 2009, 01:59:27 AM

It was a 20 point game when coaches started subbing with about 3:30 to go.

It wasn't "coaches" but a single coach that subbed with three minutes and change.  Westminster subbed 3 guys in who had yet to play while FU kept its starters in.  At about one minute left, Storandt fouled out, wherein FU's coach had a chance to sub, and put in his 6th man.  Those 4 starters and 6th man played until about 20 seconds left. 

WC's coach could have left in its starters but I'd say he wanted to get some young guys the experience of playing in that type of conference game on the road.  One could argue that WC only subbed because the game was out of reach, but if that's the case then FU should have subbed too.

It's up to each individual coach how he runs his team, but I just don't see the benefit in leaving the starters in that late in the game when the other team has guys in who haven't even played.  Has FU's coach subbed with a few minutes left in a game he thought he had won and gotten beat?  Or does he just not realize he has 6 other guys over there sitting? 

In my opinion, and I know this is a view shared by many, when one team empties its bench, the classy thing to do with a lead is to empty your bench as well. 

Also would like to congratulate Westminster and Fontbonne on a co-conference title. 

Fontbonne's first league title since 1995 and Westminster's first ever league title. 

Got the 3 STL schools and WC.  Should be a fun night of basketball Friday.  Fontbonne got it done to host, congrats to them. 

There are 4 really good teams in the tournament, it was the 4 I thought were the best the whole way, although Eureka and Greenville were right there. 

Coming into the tournament Westminster is the only team that didn't lose to someone outside the tournament. 

Fontbonne -  Eureka and Greenville

Maryville - Eureka

Webster - Eureka (2) Mac

That could be good for Westminster because their only losses came against tournament opponents but the downside is the only teams they lost to are the only teams left.  I'm sure Webster is glad Eureka is not in, they couldn't seem to figure them out.  WC beat Webster once but could probably take some tips from the two EC WU games.  One glaring fact from both EC WU games is that Turk didn't go off from 3.  I think as he goes, Webster goes.  The rest of the guys make plays around him but he's their guy. 

Fontbonne swept Maryville.  I think it will be a really good game but I don't see the Saints knocking off the Griffins at their place with their senior class.  It would be a heck of a way for the Saints to go out if they did get it done in the tournament.  I wonder if they'll try to run and gun with FU or slow it down?  If they shoot it well they have a chance. 

I would like to extend a congratulations to all of the SLIAC seniors on a great season. 

The Westminster Blue Jay seniors are:  Ty Cochran #23, Mike Crawford #42, Kurt Kuschel #50, Buddy Sodemann #14, and Jason Warncke #4. 

These seniors have a compiled record of 64-35 (44-19 SLIAC) and have never lost their final regular season home game.  Their record at THE NEST over 4 years: 33-8.

A win tonight would be huge for the Jays to host the tournament in THE NEST.  These seniors know how to win, unfortunately for the Jays, so do their opponents. 

Freshmen want to make the team, Sophomores want to get playing time, Juniors want to start, Seniors want to WIN!  The seniors have a chance to do something special by bringing the SLIAC to THE NEST.  It's their team to lead.