Ok? Well you told me....

Good reasons.  Way to back up your statements.  I read all your posts.  Thanks for giving me their names.  They deserve their props. 

And hey glad I could help ya brother. 

Geez. A lot of angst coming from the self proclaimed "one and only"

Who did you think was going to be better this year?

Westminster lost pruductive seniors and still stand at the top with some impressive victories.

Fontbonne has their core back with the addition of Forrest.  Sure they hit a bump in the road but they have responded. A sign of a good, tough and competitive team.

Maryville has had stretches of the season so far where they were playing well.  They just lost to rivals in conference and had one of their best players make a bone head decision from what I hear. The consequence of that decision finds himself at home hurtin his team.

Mac has played better but got bit by the semester bug along with suffering a injury that might be tough for them to overcome. BUt if they had the team they started the season with you would never know. Not to mention that are still playing hard. And will be a tough team to beat.

Greenville has already beat one of the top teams in the conference and to me it wasnt a surprise that they could do that. They play tough.

Eureka has proved they have a lot of fight in them still.  

Webster lost arguably the two best post players in the league to graduation but still find themselves in the hunt for a final four spot.

Blackburn has greatly improved. Ask any coach in the pack at 3-3 if they want to go play in the Beaver Dome.  

Prin is never a given.

Not to mention Westminster  beat SIUe in a scrimmage.  FU played highly ranked Wash U and Elmhurst to the end. Webster didn't lay down for Wheaton or Wash U.  I know I'm forgetting others but what else were you expecting??? You said you played in the SLIAC and support it.  Then again what are you expecting? Please elaborate...

Lack of talent??? Really??

Turk
Neubrigge
Hrdlicka
Jones
Whitcomb
McCoy
Fogarty
Forrest
Storandt
Branch
Ellis
Cochran
Vislay
Crawford
Warneke
Winters
Simmons
Dulle
Zimmerman
Zasada
Blackburn's players (sorry, cant remember their names)
Coleman

And that is just naming a few from each team (obviously more from the teams I'm familiar with). These players all have talent and more often than not play the best they can.

You can say what you want but back it up with some reasons so we can see where you are coming from or why you feel the way you do.

y jak, I was aware of the Spalding game but I was mainly focusing on the remaining conference games. They could play the JV against Spalding and it wouldn't have any effect on their conference standing.  But I should have specified.

I thought twice about mentioning the milestone.  But then I thought, nothing on this board will ever directly effect an outcome on the court.  That's up to the players competing to decide.

As for the talk about the Newcomer of the year....gotta be Forrest.  Not saying that others wouldn't be deserving or shouldn't be mentioned in the discussion but I'm pretty sure that just by the numbers he will get the nod after the season.  Although he does have  a lot of help around him. 

By the way...if Webster is fortunate to beat Principia Tuesday that will be Coach Bunch's 100th career victory.

Entering the season is W/L is 93-62, including a conference record of 69-21. Webster is 6-8 overall and 3-3 as many of you know.

The big guy has caught some grief over the years from disgruntled players and their parents while at Webster for his style, but he has been the best thing to ever happen to Webster basketball and Webster Athletics.  

So good luck coach and Congrats (lets' hope it comes sooner than later!!!)

Wasn't pretty at Webster Saturday.  I really didn't feel that the defensive effort was given from the guys.  Reports given to me, Webster's defense was much more aggressive the past couple conference games against Fontbonne, Maryville.  You can't coach effort.  Eureka who never lacks effort wanted that game more.

Webster needed that one.  I don't know if anyone has noticed, and I'm not sure about the other teams (Mac, Eureka, Greenville) schedules, but Webster hits the road. They play 7 of last 10 on the road.  Ouch!

I'm still not completely sold on reservations being made in Fulton even if they knock off FU Wednesday night.  To many minutes to be played. 


Picks:

WU over Prin...see ya at Fast Eddie's
FU takes down the Jays
Saints over Beavers
Devils beat Mac

moving on......

I just wanted to see some numbers.  Out of all the points I posted in my 10am post that is the minor joke is getting the most play. 

I got the recap from a close friend of mine that sits rather close to the action but I wanted numbers. I didn't say anthing personal about the SID so I think his (your) good name is intact. 

Sorry for being an idiot.  Been one all my life.

So junior, are you implying that i'm an idiot? 

Dude....relax.

For starters, I went looking for one last night.  No recap was posted at that time.

Secondly, the boxscore wasn't posted on SLIAC.org until this afternoon.

Lastly, relax.  

WOW!!!! What a huge win that is for the Gorloks.  Congrats boys.  I didn't get to go and I'm still kicking myself for not making it so I'm hoping for a breakdown from any in attendance since the new SID over at Webster isn't as quick to get the boxscore up on the website. What's up with that???

Razor, in regards to your questions about Fontbonne...I believe the main guns are healthy but who knows they could be playing banged up.  They are all tough kids.  But I attribute this slump to one of the toughest stretch of games and travel that has ever been experienced by any SLIAC team.  

Fontbonne's "Hell week" and prolonged to present time.....

1) Was right there with former #1 team and defending national champs  up until the end. Played there guts out and came up short like so many have before against the Bears. As proof of how well they played they received  top 25 consideration.

2) Played tough against Elmhurst who was #10 at tip off.  Again coming up short.  Taking another emotional blow to the jaw.  

3) Probably came out flat and lost to Rose Hulman a couple days later.

4) Travelled to Hawaii and for players and people not used to travelling that in itself can knock some bounce out of your legs. Not good leading up to a few days before a tough Greenville team who has a knack for playing Fontbonne tough.

5) Then played in a game against Grinnell on Monday that must have been the most physically drainning game that those boys have experienced.

6) had to turn around from that game and play their biggest rival at Webster on Wednesday who needed this game to stay in the hunt.

7) let's not forget that they are the favorite to win the conference and conference tourney.  Night in night out they take everybody's best shot.

This team has to be mentally and physically drained.  But I'm more than confident that they will get their second wind and start playing like they did to begin the season.  

Looks like Westminster has emerged as the early leader. But they started out like this last year and faded at the end. Will history repeat itself???

I'm intrigued by this Greenville team. Looking forward to seeing them play.  

Sorry to hear about Mac's misfortunes.  I think they would have been a team to reckon with if they would have kept the pieces together.  

I'm not counting Eureka out just yet....

From what I heard about Blackburn they are way better that last year.  GOOD!!! I like when the conference gets a team deeper.

Maryville is playing well right now.  Look out.  

Word, I agree that there isn't a problem with trips. It's always fun to change up scenery.  I was just stating that since FU just came off a rough week against two national powers that more time spent in the gym practicing and getting ready for conference would be better time spent than in airports and beaches. After reading posts by FC about the Wash U and Elmurst game, I was lead to believe that if one or two plays would have gone in favor of FU that they might have won both or at least a split against highly ranked teams.  I don't think teams can fix those things that may have cost them the game by flying to Hawaii and playing a meaningless  scrimmage game and hanging out on a beach.

I personally have never been a fan of trips. The focus wasn't there in regards to the teams that I played with.  Plus we played better teams than us and as a result came home with three losses in a week.  Wasn't good for team morale. I can't imagine the lack of focus on basketball in Hawaii for some of my teammates and myself with all the distractions. Plus how much can you expect them to focus on basketball when families are shelling out that kinda cash for their son to go.  But that is just my opinion.

But again I wouldn't pass up the Hawaii trip if I could afford to go.  It would be a great experience.

Well the REAL season will be in full swing after this weekend. Here's hoping that the Gorloks can get in a groove here.  Will not be easy. It all starts with Blackburn. Leave it all out there boys! 

Glad to hear that Fontbonne is have a nice vacation.  Jealous. 

Well... I haven't posted in a while but everyone who has seen the Gorloks play will have to say that they look less than impressive. They are jumper happy that's for sure.  I would like to see guys like Restoff, Turk, Jones, Hrdlicka, and Neubrigge attack the hole more often and get somrthing going to the hole be it a easy bucket or free throws.  I invite you to look at the free throw desparity in the past few games for the Gorloks. It's shocking.  But I guess that what happens when you shoot jumpers all day and foul every time the other team has the ball. 

I hope for a different result against Blackburn. If not, Gorloks will be hurting.

The only thing I left to say is that was it really the best way to recharge the battery by flying to hawaii to play a scrimmage game? Three halves? How much focus was actually on basketball on this trip? I just wonder how the Griffins will respond and bounce back after travelling with a tough game against Greenville. They always seem to play up and down with the Griffins. 

Upset in the making???

Not many teams in this league can give up 85 points and still win consistently.  In fact, only one comes to mind and it isn't Webster.  Although it can't be blamed entirely on the defense because obviously Westminster came out and smacked Webster in the mouth having them down almost 20 at some point in the first half.

Although Bunch has always used a deep bench I think last night he was searching for someone to do anything positive. Plus this was only their third game and with  a ton of new faces I'm not surprised that they haven't settled on their line up. Usually by the first conference game teams have at least 7 games to figure out their rotation.

But those are excuses.  I don't like them.  If one guy on Webster would have been able to say "you're not scoring or beating us tonight" in regards to Warnecke or Stanley Crawford then they could have won the game.  But BOTH of their best players went off for 20 each.   Those guys on Webster that are lucky enough to get minutes on a college team should check themselves.  There is no way that these two players for Westminster were left off the scouting reports or left out of any pre game talks.  A lot of these guys counted on to play major roles need to realize that it isn't enough to show up and take the floor to win road games or any game. There are no excuses for not getting yourself ready to go. NONE!!! Early or not, this was a conference game.  A higher level of focus is needed.  Disappointed in the report i heard about some of the older guys.

I look (hope) for a better effort against Mac.  Like BunchTme said earlier, 0-2 is tough to climb. 

FC, my comments regarding issues being shot down was more directed towards other posters.  I understand that defending the same things can get tiresome. Especially since you feel that there is nothing to defend. You and I will disagree the majority of the time but I do respect the philosophy that you share with Fontbonne. 

By the way.....there is no question that FU's conference tourney record is more than impressive.  There is no arguing their success. I feel that if I didn't have such strong connections to the Gorloks then I would have to say that FU has the best shot to to win a NCAA tourney game with the group they have.  If I was strictly a SLIAC guy with no bias to any program, I'd have to say FU is who you would like to see represent the conference this year (just so everyone knows, i barely could keep my lunch down while typing that).

I'm really looking forward to the conference to start. The Gorloks have a tough opener on the road and sadly I'm not one to travel, although it would be interesting to see Warnacke and Crawford. That's going to be a tough combo to stop this season.