The Gorloks FT shooting was less than outstanding last night.  There were several times that they went to the line to shoot 2 and missed both.  As you said yjack this could have been a very lopsided game had it not been for the the FT's.  Both teams played with great intensity making it fun to watch.

Quote from: BunchTime on February 24, 2015, 10:46:56 PM
Final here, Webster wins 78-67.  Game times on Fri. at 6 and 8. Webster vs Fontbonne at 8. Championship game at 1 on Sat.

Actually the championship game will be Saturday at 7.  As I said a few days ago this was Hopefan's dream scenario.  Everything came down to the last few minutes of the season.  Complete chaos.

The next tiebreaker is record vs. teams in descending order from first place. 

Fontbonne is 0-2 vs Webster, 1-1 vs Spalding, and 1-1 vs Mac.

Greenville is 0-1 vs Webster, 1-1 vs Spalding, and 1-1 vs Mac.

This gets real interesting now.  If both teams win then Greenville wins the tiebreaker.  If both teams lose then it heads down to 6th place which will be interesting because it could very well end up being Iowa Wesleyan, who didn't play yesterday, or to Eureka.  In that scenario Fontbonne is 0-2 vs IWC and 2-0 vs Eureka.  Greenville is 2-0 vs IWC and 1-1 vs Eureka.

While the level of play seems to be down in the SLIAC this year I can't remember ever having this much up in the air headed into the final game(s).  It's exciting to watch.....and poor Hopefan stuck watching it from the cheap seats!  This is his dream scenario!

Well I can't believe that my scenario came true....but it did!  Big game for both Webster and Greenville on Tuesday.  Should be a lot of fun!

You're looking at this a different way than I am.  I'd prefer not to leave the 270 loop next weekend!

Iowa Wesleyan vs. Prin games cancelled for today but it appears all the others are a go.  That one is fairly meaningless anyway so it will be interesting if they try and make it up.

It has to do with the fact that all the top 3 teams would have split sending it to the record against the 4th place team.  In that scenario Webster would have swept all the teams that have a chance to be in 4th place whereas Spalding and Mac would have both split with them.  There's still a lot of basketball to be played and many things would have to fall into place for any of this to matter.  Right now Mac controls it all.  I think both Mac and Webster are in for 2 tough games to end the year.  Will also be interesting to see how Spalding does against Westminster.  They've lost 4 of their last 5.  It's been such a crazy year that nothing would really surprise me at this point.

Hopefan glad to hear you're alive and kicking!

Lots of interesting scenarios headed into the final days of the SLIAC regular season.  If my math is correct Mac, Spalding, and Webster are in.  It appears Greenville, Fontbonne, and Eureka all still have a chance but I'm not 100% sure on the tiebreaker scenarios for those teams.  As for the top 3 seeds and who will host that's still completely up in the air.  Mac wins out and everyone will be headed to Jacksonville.  Spalding needs to beat Westmin on Saturday and then see what happens.  It appears after taking a quick look that they lose just about every tiebreaker but I could be wrong.  As for Webster they need Mac to drop a game and then win out themselves.  I think in a 2 or 3 way tie the Gorloks win all the tie breakers.  Top 3 teams have all split sending it to the 4th place team and down it goes.  Should Webster win out they would have swept the 4th, 5th, and 6th place teams.

No prepaying for hotel rooms to save some money this year.  Should be a fun finish!

Last night's WU vs SU game further convinced me there isn't a single good team in the SLIAC.  Webster is very streaky, MacMurray who had been looking good after the break is 2-2 in February with both losses coming to bubble teams at home, Spalding was tenacious but very sloppy and have lost 4 of their last 5, Greenville was extremely unimpressive earlier this year when I saw them in person, just nothing from anyone.  This last week + is going to be fun from a fans perspective because nearly anyone can still come out on top or at least make the SLIAC Tournament.  Just don't hold your breath for the long awaited win once the champ makes it to the NCAA game.

Just in case anyone was wondering tonight's big SLIAC matchup between Webster and Spalding WILL be played despite the nasty weather and schools closure.  If you can't make it out you can also follow the games via live stats, the Galaxy Radio station, or the Gorloks All-Access broadcast.

Quote from: hopefan on February 12, 2015, 11:21:46 AM
Student removed positioned himself directly behind the Webster coaches and was loudly rooting for Fontbonne and against Webster... AD moved him back to the rest of the guys behind the scorer's table at least once, but when he went again behind the coaches (within touching distance) the AD removed him... I really didn't hear or see anything offensive or totally over the line, but he did go against what the AD wanted.... I really didn't ever see the coaches formally complain, but I may have missed it....

Bad news regarding Griff... they must have some inside game to face the rest of the schedule, and Henry, Zehner are hardly inside guys... the thought of facing the rest of the schedule with Walton and Smith manning the middle is a little overwhelming... let's hope Griffin can tough it out....

You're being very generous calling it rooting.  There were large amounts of cursing at the players and refs going on in both games.  As I said before I like good energy in the gym but there were clearly people that went over the line last night.  I did hear the comment made that in Fontbonne fan's minds last night is their Super Bowl.  That probably is true when you really think about it.

This seems like an odd week in SLIAC play.  Only 3 games last night and tonight.  Interesting score from Mac vs. Westmin with Mac getting the win by 8.  Wouldn't that have set up some fun scenarios down the stretch.  We're still at the point in the year where a slip by Mac and things get really fun which is what many of you like to see.

A couple comments on tonight's WU vs. FU game.  Hunter Ward seems like he's FINALLY starting to play like he did at the end of last year.  Slashing to the hoop occasionally which frees up his outside shooting.  Also Ahmad Smith comes back from somewhere in the range of 3 weeks off and has a stellar performance with 20 points in 31 minutes.  I really like seeing some of the young guys getting involved for the Gorloks.  Keep your eyes on Joseph Henry in the coming years.  Very nice player that may very well step in and be a leader for Webster in the coming years.  You heard it here first.

Final thoughts on the night are about Fontbonne's crowd.  I like the fact that there was a nice level of support.  Way more than you see at most SLIAC games.  The energy is fun for everyone involved.  That being said there was an edge to the crowd that I rarely see at other schools and am not a fan of.  It got to the point that Fontbonne's AD had to do some escorting out.  Not good.  Showing support for your school and the teams is great but having so much "enthusiasm" that you embarrass yourself and your school is something entirely different.  It will be interesting in the coming years to see which way this goes with their fans.  I hope for everyone involved they go the way of fun loving support and not down the path of ruining the experience for others around them.

Quote from: hopefan on February 09, 2015, 11:12:35 PM
Given that I haven't generated much conversation with my prior two posts... I'll throw this one out.... Massey ratings, which are always fun to study, predict Fontbonne 68 Webster 65.....

Also.. Massey ratings out of 416 D3 schools

Spalding  215         Final last year : 156
MacMurray   223     Final last year : 178     
Webster    249         Final last year : 135
Greenville 264            Final last year : 275
Fontbonne  267       Final last year : 347
Eureka   281              Final last year : 395   
Iowa Wesleyan  322      Final last year : 410
Westminster   392       Final last year : 267
Principia    399            Final last year : 394 
Blackburn    402          Final last year : 411

The SLIAC is rated 40 out of 47 D3 conferences;       final last year   44 out of 47

improved big :  Fontbonne, Eureka, Iowa Wesleyan
Stayed level  :  Greenville, Principia, Blackburn
Gone downhill  :  Spalding, MacMurray, Webster, Eureka

Hopefan you forgot to mention Westminster in here.  Instead of downhill I think fallen off the planet would be more precise.  Feel very bad for Coach Mitchell.

As for Smith it sounds like he'll be a go but you never know.  Evidently it's the first time he's ever had a sprained ankle and it's caused him some trouble getting over it.

Overall this has been a miserable year for SLIAC basketball.  I've now seen nearly every team play in person and am not impressed with anyone.  There are a few nice players out there but there are zero good teams.  Heck I'm not sure you could make an All-Star team from the SLIAC that could compete for a title in any of the reputable conferences.

Remember Hopefan team #3 is only a game behind 1 and 2 now.  The last week is going to be very entertaining!

Was watching the live stream.  Crazy finish Hopefan!  You saw a great one.

As for the EC vs MC game......welcome to the SLIAC!!!!

To comment on Ward's sitting there were good reasons why it waited until last night.  Simply wasn't Coach Bunch waiting until an opponent he wasn't worried about.  If you want more info than that you need to ask him yourself.

As for Prin I'm very impressed by their new young players.  They've got 2 guys who were the best players on the court last night.  Ball is a man amongst children.  Would've been fun to see him try and match up against a healthy Kevin Miller.  If Prin can get a couple more simply average players, they don't even have to be good just average, they'll be competitive at the top of the conference.  Unfortunately there simply aren't enough guys to spread the minutes around to right now and they get worn out plus having foul trouble by the end of the game.

Finally the fouls may have looked lopsided on paper but it was a fairly called game and I don't think anyone wanted to argue that was in attendance.  The Gorloks simply did a better job of getting inside and drawing fouls while the Panthers had no success is drawing them.  I think some of it simply comes down to discipline of the players.  That's part of the issue with playing so many young and inexperienced players like Prin is at the moment.