BB: SLIAC: St Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

theoneandonly · April 13, 2011, 03:08:13 PM

Bigtoughguy, lets smash the differences here, and talk some baseball.. Whats your mid season wrap up on the conference (even though its a bit past mid season)?

I had a chance to get out and watch Principia vs. Blackburn yesterday. Let me just tell you, it wasnt pretty for Blackburn. Im starting to regret making them a dark horse in the conference this year. Principia's Ball brothers destroyed blackburn yesterday. Greg Ball had a no hitter into the 7th in the first game. Prin is now eligible for the playoffs as a 3 seed (since spaulding is not currently eligible for the tournament). They played error free yesterday.

Webster seems to have a lock on the conference this season and barring an implosion in the tourney they should be back in the Regional tournament again this year. It should be interesting to see how they play against spalding the weekend of the 30th and a great preview on the top contenders in the conference, once Spalding is eligible.

As for westminster their route to the SLIAC conference tourney doesnt seem to tough other than their game against webster. In the remaining games left with conference teams, those teams have compiled a 34-63 record NOT including webster. If they play well for the rest of their season and if they take at least two out of three from prin and greenville, they will jump up to the number two seed, which i think could easily be a valid scenario...

Anybody have input?

Hound Dog · April 14, 2011, 03:36:47 PM

I'm a newbie, but looking back at previous posts this BigToughGuy seems awfully hostile.

theoneandonly · April 14, 2011, 04:26:31 PM

Hound Dog, Welcome to the boards! Whose your team of choice, or are you just a sliac guy in general?

Hound Dog · April 15, 2011, 09:13:08 AM

I ain't nothing but a Hound Dog.

Hound Dog · April 18, 2011, 11:19:56 AM

I follow the SLIAC, being a St. Louisan. Can someone tell me why I have "-1 Karma" after 2 posts (neither of which is offensive)?

BigPoppa · April 18, 2011, 11:24:15 AM

Quote from: Hound Dog on April 18, 2011, 11:19:56 AM
I follow the SLIAC, being a St. Louisan. Can someone tell me why I have "-1 Karma" after 2 posts (neither of which is offensive)?

Looking over your four posts, one could be construed as slightly aggressive towards bigtoughguy, and another could be seen that way towards myself (though I did not ding your karma, I would not be surprised if "one of my followers" did... they are pretty loyal to their BigPoppa). I will give you a +K to get you back to square one:)

Hound Dog · April 18, 2011, 12:24:36 PM

Thank you, Mr. Poppa. I will tone down my sarcasm in future posts.

Hound Dog · April 20, 2011, 01:40:37 PM

How does the SLIAC ever address the problem of being a "joke" conference (aside from Webster performing well individually in the NCAA tournament)? Below is the strength of schedule rankings out of 370 teams along with in-region records. Is SLIAC baseball that terrible? Are teams making their schedules too easy? Unfortunately, it appears that the worst records are not a product of a tough schedule, but rather the opposite. The teams with the weakest schedules also somehow have the worst records. What gives here and will the SLIAC ever get off this merry-go-round as a conference, collectively.

Regional Record Regional Win % OWP(Rank) OOWP NCAA
140 Greenville 8-16 .333 0.534 (128) 0.504 0.524
206 Westminster (Mo.) 11-12 .478 0.516 (181) 0.483 0.505
212 Webster 17-7 .708 0.502 (209) 0.504 0.503
297 Fontbonne 11-12 .478 0.470 (274) 0.474 0.471
329 Principia 9-8 .529 0.443 (312) 0.441 0.442
336 Spalding 18-5 .783 0.408 (339) 0.492 0.436
344 Blackburn 5-15 .250 0.407 (340) 0.454 0.423
362 MacMurray 2-16 .111 0.372 (357) 0.442 0.395
364 Eureka 3-14 .176 0.354 (362) 0.458 0.389

BigPoppa · April 20, 2011, 01:48:55 PM

I wonder if there is a way (without crunching all the numbers yourself) to find out the average SoS for each conference?

I'd bet the conferences that have the best SoS are the same ones getting multiple bids at selection time.

Hound Dog · April 20, 2011, 01:56:30 PM

I think the secret lies in having the majority of teams in your conference with a record of .500 or better outside of conference play. That way when conference play begins and you beat up on each other, everyone stays fairly close to that .500 mark. Unfortunately, the SLIAC usually only has 2 or 3 respectable teams that pound on all of the other teams with winning percentages between .100 and .400.

Not sure that the budgets or prestige amongst SLIAC schools will every allow them to get national recognition in any sport as a whole.

Gregory Sager · April 20, 2011, 01:59:00 PM

Quote from: Hound Dog on April 20, 2011, 01:40:37 PM
How does the SLIAC ever address the problem of being a "joke" conference (aside from Webster performing well individually in the NCAA tournament)? Below is the strength of schedule rankings out of 370 teams along with in-region records. Is SLIAC baseball that terrible? Are teams making their schedules too easy? Unfortunately, it appears that the worst records are not a product of a tough schedule, but rather the opposite. The teams with the weakest schedules also somehow have the worst records. What gives here and will the SLIAC ever get off this merry-go-round as a conference, collectively.

Regional Record Regional Win % OWP(Rank) OOWP NCAA
140 Greenville 8-16 .333 0.534 (128) 0.504 0.524
206 Westminster (Mo.) 11-12 .478 0.516 (181) 0.483 0.505
212 Webster 17-7 .708 0.502 (209) 0.504 0.503
297 Fontbonne 11-12 .478 0.470 (274) 0.474 0.471
329 Principia 9-8 .529 0.443 (312) 0.441 0.442
336 Spalding 18-5 .783 0.408 (339) 0.492 0.436
344 Blackburn 5-15 .250 0.407 (340) 0.454 0.423
362 MacMurray 2-16 .111 0.372 (357) 0.442 0.395
364 Eureka 3-14 .176 0.354 (362) 0.458 0.389

Unfortunately for the SLIAC, it's a problem that goes far beyond baseball. The league has trouble getting traction in just about every sport in both non-conference and tournament play. To some degree it's a matter of the league not being a long-established and familiar presence when compared to its neighbors the CCIW, the MWC, and the IIAC, but the bigger problem is one of resources. SLIAC schools tend to be less well off than other midwestern D3 schools in terms of both finances and facilities, and that, in large part, is reflected in the outcomes of ballgames in most sports.

The improvement of the SLIAC on the D3 sports scene isn't going to happen overnight. It'll take years, and most likely decades, for the SLIAC to be competitive on the national scene.

BigPoppa · April 20, 2011, 02:07:19 PM

With that being said, Webster's run in baseball on the national level in the past few seasons has been remarkable.

Hound Dog · April 20, 2011, 05:02:20 PM

Agreed on Webster. Boy, it's awfully touchy around here. I got dinged another -1 for Karma. I guess my language was a little too "forward" regarding the strength of the SLIAC, but I think most would consider it being a realist.

Hound Dog · April 20, 2011, 05:12:40 PM

I wonder if Webster has ever expolored the idea of a different conference. I can't really identify another conference that makes sense geographically, but the SLIAC seems to have them handcuffed. Webster has captured 10 of the last 11 all-sports trophies and it looks like this year will make 11 of 12. Granted they may be middle to bottom of the pack for most sports in a conference like the CCIW, but surely wouldn't be as overmatched as some of their opponents in the SLIAC are today.

theoneandonly · April 20, 2011, 05:30:59 PM

Hound Dog. I do agree that the sliac has slipped significantly since th early 2000's. Since this is a baseball board, I'll stick to baseball. Blackburn, Wesminster and Greenville used to have good baseball programs as well, as did Maryville who is now D2. Now Spalding is coming into the conference and seems like they will have a great chance of competing (once eligible) in every sport. Hopefully these coaches can start getting better recruits and making dents in the records of the CCIW and IIAC, and even some out of region teams. I guess only time will tell. This year seems to be set in stone.