Congrats to Westminster on a fine showing in the tourney.  Represented the SLIAC well.

In regards to Leppard and Kindred they are both Sophs.  Lessen is a freshman.  And it was LEppard who had a dunk in the Semi's vs Mac.  Although Kindred also had a dunk this year at home.  Pretty impressive athleticism for guys who both go about 6'1 and 6'


Eureka brings back Leppard Kindred and Lessen as thier core group of guys.  Lessen really started to play tough at the end of the season and if he has a good off season then look out.  Black and Wagner also return as players who saw minutes.

Eureka needs to bring in a couple of solid recruits but I think they should still be a top 4 team next year with the guys they bring back.  I know it will be hard to replace 40+ pts a night and 18+ reb but other guys will step up and fill the void.  I see no reason why Leppard and Kindred both cant score 15+ a night.

Congrats to all the all conference and all tournament players.  I am a little unhappy that Bell doesnt make 1st team with the numbers he put up but then again its up to the coaches not me.

Dont worry hope i'll take care of it 


12/2  EC at Mac

Eureka wins the game by 15.  Bell Zasada and Kindred all have solid games for the Red Devils.  Lee was still on Mac at the time and had a solid game but got hurt.  No one else really stood out for Mac. Both teams shot about the same percentage but Eureka dominated from the foul line.

1/27  Mac at EC

This game I was at.  Eureka dominated the first half by opening up a 20 point lead going into halftime.  2nd half Mac came out strong but Eureka didnt value the ball as hopefan says they need to do.  Mac hit a last second shot to tie it to send it to OT and then hit a shot late to win it in OT.   Slagle really came alive for Mac in this game.  Eureka's big 4 all had good games.  Sichting Robertson and McClellan all played well for Mac.

Potential Matchups

Mac- McClellan  EC- Kindred    Edge- Even
Mac- Slagle       EC- Leppard   Edge- Even
Mac- Robertson EC- Bell         Edge- Eureka
Mac- Sichting     EC- Zasada   Edge- Eureka
Mac-Randle       EC- Lessen    Edge- Mac

Should be one heck of a semi final game.

I'd forgot to talk about Leppards T.  As ecfan2233 said he got it for slapping the floor.  There was a loose ball and a couple guys diving for the ball (leppard was one of them)  the ball bounced around and went out of bounds.  The ref blew his whistle and everyone thought it was just a dead ball out of bounds.  Then he shocks everyone and calls a foul on Leppard.  I don't know how he could have came to this conclusion b/c there were 3 or 4 players that dove after it but thats what he called.  Leppard was laying on the round and as he stood up he slapped the floor.  He didn't say a word to the ref or complain about the call.  I guess the ref just didn't like what he did but it seemed a little over the top to give him the T..  Leppard is one of the kids in conf that never complains about anything and plays with a lot of class. 

Maybe the ref was hearing stuff from the bench i'm not sure....

Westminster at Eureka

Eureka had a real nice turn out for senior night on Saturday.  The win secured them a spot in the tournament which is huge not having to worry about it coming down to tomorrw nights game.

1st half:  Westminster comes out and hits a 3 to take the lead.  Eureka answers back and this is how the game would go for the 1st 5 or 6 minutes of the game.  Then Eureka really turned up the defensive intensity.  Vislay and Kovach struggled to get open looks and Eureka dominated the boards holding Westminster to usually 1 shot and that was it.  Kindred made one play where he knocked the ball away, saved it from going out of bounds by throwing it the length of the court.  Bell went and chased it down and layed it in.  Could be one of the smartest basketball plays i've ever seen.  Eureka gets a 3 at the horn by Austin Nicholas to give them a commanding lead.

I'd like to note that in the 1st half Westminster played all of its regular guys.  Eureka did such a good job on defensive hat Coach Mitchell was getting frustrated with his players especially in the 2nd half.

2nd Half:   Starts much of the same way that the 1st half did.  Teams trading baskets for the first 4 minutes or so.  Then Eureka goes on another run.  With about 13min left in the game it seems as if Coach gives up on his guys.  But when they are getting it handed to them what can you do.  When he took his starters out they were down by 27. The rest of the game was played by Westminster 2nd squad who really did do much besides jack some 3's.  Briton Rudd had a nice dunk, someone has already talked about him being a player to watch the next few years and I must say I agree.

Zasada and Bell both had monster games 26pts and 24pts and each with 12rebs.  Couldn't have gone out in a better way.

If I were WC I would be taking a long look in the mirror to see whats going on right now and what your teams made of.  They have really sstruggled in the last 5 games and as someone mentioned they will play either Webster or Greenville both who have given them fits in the past.

As far as Eureka resting players I dont think they will.  Maybe Bell Zasada Kindred and Leppard dont play 37+ min but I think Coach Wilde is not gonna lay down at all.  I still these guys getting 30+ minutes.  You really want to keep it rolling heading into the tournament and I'm sure thats what Eureka will do at Greenville

You're right Blue all the kids in the league play hard.  I respect your thoughts on all conf teams and its fun to get another fans input.

I'm sure both Bell and Zasada want to beat Westminster.  Thats the way every senior wants to go out on their home court. A winner.

I am hoping for an EC win (or worst case a Greenville loss) this weekend that way they ensure themselves a spot in the Tourney.  I would hate for it to come down to Greenville at Greenville.  Tough place to play especially in a big game.


Webster has a tall order against Spalding.  McAfee is probably the best guard in conf and they will need to shut him down in order win this game.

Greenville keeps their playoff hopes alive iwth a win last night.  Fontbonne is officially out i think...

EC wins a convincing game vs Lincoln Christian last night.  Eureka looked good except for the fact they had 20 to's.  That being said they had 24 assists and were really moving the ball well.  Bell had a nice game with 21pts 7reb 8ast.  Zasada had 13pts 16reb and 6ast.  Freshman Mark Lessen had a career game with 19pts on 9-11 shooting.  This will be one kid to watch over the next few years. 6-7 very long, pretty good strength.  If he can work on a couple more post moves look out.

Eureka takes on Westminster for Senior night on Saturday.  Should be a real slugfest.  Eureka needs a win to guarantee them a spot in the tourney.  Zasada and Bell are the lone seniors on the roster.  Eureka is 0-7 vs Westminster since joining the SLIAC and I'm sure Zasada would like to beat them at least once.

Other games to watch this weekend are Spalding at Webster and Greenville at Mac.  Greenville desperately needs a win.  Webster also needs a win to remain in the driver seat.  This season is turning out to be an exciting one with the games at the end of the year meaning the most.

Any predictions on this weekends games?

Quote from: Into_the_Blue on February 17, 2010, 02:42:07 PM

Sorry Hope but we'll not find a way to agree on this one.  I cannot overlook winning, consistency (team) and attitude (good) for the sake of stats alone. 

No way in my mind can Mcafee, Forrest and Ellis be first teamers over Vislay (or Millard or Crawford) or one of the Highlanders (Slagle, Robertson, Sichting, Randle, McClellan). 


Just saying I cant justify scoring output over team success (or attitude), especially on the first team. 

That said Id go with (assuming the season ended today)

First team:
Vislay (POY)
Randle
Zasada
Moore (NOY)
McAfee

Second:
Millard
Bell
McClellan
Forrest
Ellis

HM:
Zimmerman
West
Sichting
Sykes
Crawford

Defense (based on steals, blocks, def rebs and mins played):
Moore
Sykes
Ellis
Zasada
Zimmerman

Blue-  I am baffled that you would put Moore or Randle over Forrest or Bell.  1st team all conf in my mind goes to the top 5 players in the conf.  Forrest and Bell in the games i've seen are flat out better players than both of them.  I'd even put Crawford and Ellis on there before Moore.   

As for Vislay for POY I dont see how you can give it to him:

Vislay      17.4ppg 4rpg    53% fg 41% 3fg  74% ft
Zasada   23.6ppg 9.6rpg 53% fg  39%3fg  78% ft also ranked in stl and blk

I dont see how Zasada would not get it over Vislay.  You can say that Vislay plays on a balanced team but Eureka has 4 players in double figures and Bell is the 4th leading scorer in Conf with 20+ppg. 

Bell is also ranked top 5 in ppg and rpg which deserves 1st team i think not to mention being ranked in almost every other statistical category.

is Slagle a newcomer? if so NOY is a toss up between him and Moore.   

I agree I dont think Webster will beat Westminster in the 1st round if they end up playing each other. 

EC vs Mac is very interesting.  Eureka beat Mac by double figures at Mac and surrendered a 20+ point halftime lead at home.  If Eureka plays their style of game I think they can beat Mac handily.  However Mac is very scrappy and if they can slow down Bell and Zasada they give themselves a very good chance of winning the game.

this is all being said assuming that Greenville loses and doesnt beat out EC or Webster for the 3rd or 4th spot.  Still plenty of ball to be played so we'll have to see how the cards fall the rest of the season.  We should get a better look at things after Saturdays games. 

thanks hope 

board seems awful quite for it being last 2 weeks of regular season....

surely there must be something to spark interest....

if the final 4 stay the way they are right now. who wins the first round games?

1st round matchups MCvsEC WCvsWU

Tough loss for Eureka last week vs Spalding.  I heard the whole trip it self was hectic.  not blaming that for the reason EC lost but could have contributed.

Mac is definitely playing some good basketball right now.  I wouldnt want to play them any time soon.  Westminster has struggled in its last 4 games showing that they aren't as invincible as they seemed through the 1st half of conf play.

Eureka goes up against Lincoln Christian tomorrow.  Should be a good game for Eureka to get prepared for the big one on Saturday vs Westminster.  Greenville and Webster should win to keep themselves alive for the playoff race.  I like where Eureka sits, if they win 1 or GC WU lose one I'm pretty sure they secure a playoff birth.

Quote from: hopefan on February 16, 2010, 04:35:27 AM
Missed seeing Todd West playing for Blackburn on Saturday...  he had been putting up glowing stats, I was looking forward to it....   He wasn't dressed out on Saturday........Found out yesterday why he was gone....  something was more important

Thats terrible to hear about West.  He was a nice player and would have gave Blackburn a chance vs Greenville.

1st team  - McAfee Bell Zasada Forrest Vislay (because his team wins conf)
2nd team - Sykes Ellis Slagle or McClellan (one not both) Moore Crawford
HM- Zimmerman Slagle or McClellan (one not on 2nd) Kindred Millard Sichting

Saturdays EC vs Webster game was very entertaining. Eureka got a big win to almost secure them a tournament spot, now the only question is where will it be held.  Best guess looks like it will be in Fulton with Westminster only having 1 loss with 4 left to play.

1st half Eureka came out with intensity.  They definitely threw the 1st punch taking a quick 14-3 lead on the gorlocks.  Nick Jones hurt his hand and from what i heard it is probably broken.  There was a play when Zasada stole the ball and went on a fast break vs Jones.  Jones contested the shot and kind of pulled his hand down awkwardly.  He didnt play the rest of the game.  The first 5 min of the game were played at Eureka's pace.  After that Webster slowed it down and got back in the game going up 1 into half time

2nd half Eureka came out and jumped on Webster again just like they did to start the game.  I dont think the Red Devils trailed the whole second half once they got the lead.  Drew Moore from Webster had a chance to step up and prove his was 1st team all conf. material and really disappeared the whole game.  With Jones out I thought he would have done more than he did ( 2-8 fg 8pts 5reb).  I would definitely move him off my 1st team list.

Westminster gets a scare vs Greenville but hangs on.  Mac loses to Spalding and moves into a tie with EC for 2nd, not sure who would have the tie break 

Looks like its gonna be 1st-WC 2nd/3rd-EC MC 4th-WU unless Greenville can win out and hope Webster loses 2 games....without Jones it could happen they play Westminster Spalding and Fontbonne still

Good game at Eureka yesterday.  Blackburn started out the game on fire.  Sykes and West made a number of tough shots helping Blackburn build an early lead.  Eureka stayed with it though behind Zasada and Leppard to go into the half with down 4 because Roberts hit a 3 at the horn of the first half.

2nd half was very evenly matched.  Both teams traded baskets for awhile.  Eureka took the lead after a 3 by Nicholas with about 10 min left.  Lead was traded back and forth until the final 3 min of the game when Black hit a 3.  

Kindred had a rough game.  Leppard was phenomenal with 17pts 7reb 5ast. Sykes and West are both really nice players to watch.  Zasada and Bell both had big games with 25 n 13 and 21 n 16.   Eureka only had 5 to's for the game which is another plus.  One thing i'd like to mention is the emergence of Josh Wagner this year.  Seems to always give the Red Devils a spark of the bench.  Last year saw no minutes and this year plays about 10 and seems to always be in the right spot at the right time.

Quote from: hopefan on February 04, 2010, 09:25:22 AM

Eureka sneaks by BC.... Bell gets 21 points, 16 boards,    and ANOTHER T  .....   It's got to be driving the coach nuts.... maybe time to take action?

In regards to Bell's T, there was about 10 sec left and Bell was dribbling the ball up court to run the clock out.  Obie Farmer shoves Bell to the ground and gets called for an intentional foul.  Bell got up and gave Farmer a shove and thats what earned him the T.  Farmer was way out of line but Bell should try to keep his emotions down at that point of the game.

Big win for the griffs.  Makes me feel a little bit better about the heartbreaker in Eureka last week  

yes Blue the team to foul is in the bonus...

Quote from: furbug on February 02, 2010, 07:19:16 PM
Principia was the 15th largest decline in the nation. Principia's endowment decreased from $735 million for the academic year ending June 30, 2008 to $529 this past year.

I'm sure any SLIAC school would still love $529 million 

Quote from: I_HAD_GAME on February 01, 2010, 07:15:58 PM
But, with 3minutes to go. Best case Fontbonne makes 2 ft's. Did they make them? Possesion stays the same. Don't believe it effected the game. It seemed that the last team with the ball was going to win. 4-5 seconds is a long time.

Yes FU did make the free throws which put them up 1 after being down one and they already were getting the ball after Bell scored.  Those were 2 big points with less than 3 min to play especially with a game that was decided on a buzzer beater so i must disagree that the ft's didnt effect the outcome of the game.  I think Eureka got a stop on its next possession too.

My question was if you're up 3 with less than 30 sec left do you foul so you dont let them have the chance to tie?  or do you let them jack up a desperation 3 like what happened to EC vs Mac and Fontbonne and tie the game?

Fontbonne at Eureka

1st half Fontbonne comes out strong.  Chris Forrest was lighting it up.  I think he had 25 in the 1st half.  Im not sure if he missed a shot.  And its not like these shots were wide open.  Leppard was guarding him and had a hand right in his face almost every time, but even that didnt matter.  He helped Fontbonne go into the Break with a 12 point lead.

2nd half starts and all of a sudden Jahmall Thomas turns into Hakeem the Dream.  He scores 6 or 8 consecutive points on post moves after being virtually unnoticed in the first half.  FU gets up by 18 or so and then Zasada puts the team on his back.  He hits 4 3's on straight possessions.   Then Leppard and Kindred start knocking down shots as Eureka claws its way back into the game.  With about 3 min left a Kameron Bell layup puts Eureka up by 1.  However as someone already said Bell gets a T (not sure what he said but I think it was to the guy guarding him on FU and the ref must have over heard). 

Forrest goes to the line knocks down both and FU goes up 1.  The game gets tied up with 30 sec left and EC takes a timeout.  Kindred drives the lane with 4 sec left and scores a layup.  The ball is inbounded to Rapp who throws the ball up the court to Zoellner.  Zoellner throws up a high arching 3 at the buzzer and EC loses by 1.  The 2nd HEARTBREAKER in the last week.

My thoughts on a situation that happened to Eureka twice in the last to games.  EC up by 3 with less than 40 sec to play and they let someone hit a 3 on the them to tie the game.  Why not foul?  Worst case scenario is you get the ball back up by 1 and half to make free throws.... Just my opinion

Greenville is right back in the mix now only 1 game behind Webster and Eureka.  Eureka has Blackburn at home wednesday, which took them to OT the last time they played.  Every game from here on in is huge...