MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Webster-Greenville was pretty disappointing to me... I have these two teams billed as 2 and 3 in the conference, but that quality wasn't there last night... and in reality, that's what Webster needs.. win ugly, use the zone to force perimeter shots, push the ball inside on offense.... it works again.....

random comments..

Fouls weren't as lopsided as they appear in boxscore... Greenville pressed and fouled continuously the final four minutes, and Etter, Smith and Edwards made 17 of 18 down the stretch....
One of the Gorlocks needs to wipe away the smirking 'I'm cool' attitude, find better shots, and start contributing at the level he's capable of... or Frosh will get more time..
Speaking of frosh, lots of minutes last night for Etter,Odjo and Moore, not quite the numbers they experienced in prior games.... the intensity can pick up in Conference games.... still, only 2 turnovers in a combined 57 minutes shows they're ready to play..
The Miller-Huskey combo continues to work well inside... Defense has to work that much harder against Miller, leaving a touch more room for Huskey to rebound and get the ball low..
Always thought Hollis Edwards was quickest guard in conference, UNTIL you see Alex Mumphard change direction and drive....
Totally smooth player who will be All Conference for 3 years... Greenville's Tim Daniel.. Good Perimeter shooter, bangs the boards hard...a quiet leader...
Ron Harris may be the most athletic kid in the conference, but despite garnering 15 rebounds, he had a rough night as the Webster zone gave him fits... lots of missed shots, lots of turnovers....if he had the kind of game I saw him have at Westminster, Greenville wins last night... he just tried to do too much...

other games..
Mac pulls away from Eureka...  has the SLIAC Lobdell era ended already?  neither played...  Mac not getting the kind of numbers I expected from Clayton Whitlock, but Brady Slagle making up for it....

Iowa Wesleyan shows they're far from being ready to challenge in the conference... an easy night for Westmin.. but goodness, what's happened to Joe James' numbers... after that brilliant game vs Elmhurst, it's been tough...

Fontbonne crushes Blackburn... margin of victory a pleasant surprise for Fontbonne as many people get to contribute.. and BC drops farther off the radar...still don't take them for granted when they play at home....

[hopefan]

AND   ... Spalding at Prin tonight... will the magic continue, or will there be victory hangover for Prin.. I'm thinking of seeing it, but fear it would be an evening wasted if the result is a Spalding romp... still though, my curiosity is piqued...

and then Saturday, Fontbonne at Webster.. and unless Coach Shaffer can come up with something special, I already foresee lots of 3 point clangers for the Griffs....and a dominant inside game from the Gorlocks...

[WUPHF]

and then Saturday, Fontbonne at Webster.. and unless Coach Shaffer can come up with something special, I already foresee lots of 3 point clangers for the Griffs....and a dominant inside game from the Gorlocks...

LOL!

[ecreddevils]

Mac pulls away from Eureka...  has the SLIAC Lobdell era ended already?  neither played...  Mac not getting the kind of numbers I expected from Clayton Whitlock, but Brady Slagle making up for it....

Some thoughts:  No Lobdells, obviously.  You can disregard the 0-6 record, the game was closer than final.  Whitlock sits the last 12:00 minutes of first half and EC plays Mac even.  The 2-3 zone gave Slagle fits; despite his numbers on easy buckets in the second half, he did not look great offensively.   EC came out sluggish in the second half, some defensive lapses and good aggression from Mac provided a 10-0 run to get up by 13, EC pulled back to 6 down with 5:00 left but couldn't string anything together down the stretch. 

Mac has the firepower you'd expect, but really Whitlock and Slagle were not dominating in the post, only a 40-37 rebounding edge.  Pratt really was the difference.  His ability to knock down shots over the zone in the first half kept Mac even when they were struggling against the zone.

EC will be fine, they are athletic and physical, right now they just need some chemistry and the confidence (a W would be nice) to maintain effort consistently.  I have no doubt they'll be in the game most nights.  Mac is what you'd expect.  They'll be right there at the top all year, but I honestly don't think they will dominate the SLIAC.

[Denny McKinney]

EC.............As my favorite line from my favorite movie goes

Allow me to retort

Millikin 88 Prin 51  the streak continues...and continues...   unfortunately real
WC 67 IW 65     that close?  WC by 10
BC 72 FU 68  upset special...    courageous, but I hope not...
EC 86 Mac 84 heart vs. head...    no way in the world
GC 78 WU 73       surprising to some, I agree... GC close

Spalding 75 IW 60   good
GC 85 BC 72  is the beaver hype for real?? not so fast.     good
WU 68 FU 63        I think by more than that
Mac 90 Prin 64            good
Simpson 73 WC 59        unfortunately, good, even though simpson is winless

Central Mo. 93 Mac 70 total guess...
MO S & T  90 WU 68  total guess II...
EC 88  LC 78

EC... now they can make fun of both of us.....     Good luck this week.....  Anything come out about the Lobdells?

Good Job, Men. I'll play along.
Millikin finishes it's 4 game tour of the SLIAC. They win by 25.
WC over IW by 20
FU by 10 over BC. FU has to make a statement and Win at Home. Or, the season becomes very very long.
EC and Mac Pick em
WU by 5 @ Home

I agree SC by 15
GC over BC by 10
WU by 10 over a smaller FU
Mac by 25 over PC
WC by 2 over Simpson.

The last 3 games I'll just agree with the posted outcomes.

Yjak - I was a little closer. EC v Mac I had pick em because of what we didn't know.

[hopefan]

WOW... Spalding 100  Prin  53   

[hopefan]

Based on Wednesday's SLIAC results, it's not too difficult to forecast 4 lopsided results for Saturday's games..

Mac +30 over Prin
Greenville +30 over Blackburn
Spalding +40 over Iowa Wesleyan
Webster +?  over Fontbonne.....   

BUT  I'm still not 100% sure about the Webster Fontbonne deal..
Fontbonne has to:
Figure out how to keep the Miller/Huskey duo from going for a 30/20 night...
Have the right shooters shooting from the perimeter... Fontbonne hit 14-23 3's vs BC...No one would expect that kind of shooting again, but they can't afford a 5 for 25 night either
Keep the turnovers down, get shots on most possessions
Limit Webster to one shot per possession... block out
and.... Coach Shaffer needs to play his best players ... this particular game is a game played to win, not to teach or make everyone feel good about themselves... Now I don't know who the best players are... that's up to coach....
I'd like to see Blake Welch have a big shooting night... and if Darius Rucker could get the ball in the paint, he could draw some critical fouls on Miller/Huskey with his moves to the basket....

This game could end up in a romp for Webster, or I could see a close game... and in a close game, I like Fontbonne's chances because Webster just doesn't as of yet have that go to scorer who can get a good shot when Webster has to have it.... Miller maybe, but keep the ball out of his hands, force Webster to take the perimeter shot, and there's a chance..

  all conjecture, but fun to think about

Will be watching with Y jak, a pure Webster fan, but in this one, if it's close, I gotta be rooting for the underdog team, and the young coach to get the biggest win of his career.....

Hey, should be a good women's game too......

[y_jack_lok]

hopefan, the former coach in you often comes out in some of your posts, but I don't remember ever seeing you devote so much of that side of you to one game as you have to tomorrow's WU/FU game.

[WUPHF]

If I remember correctly, Webster-Fontbonne was especially fun to watch last season even if Webster was able to hold on to a 5-10 point lead for most of the game.  I hope you get that again this year.

[Denny McKinney]

Hopefan, very well thought out and written. I have read your post and looked at this game a half dozen times. FU has NO CHANCE of winning this game. It will take a gift from WU. I want to see FU win every game. But, FU will not with this roster. Seeing the fact that Kevin Miller is playing 30+ minutes a game is HUGE.

History tells us 5-25 is more likely then hitting 14 3's. I watched the BC game and FU was getting wide open and uncontested looks from behind the Arc. I expect to see Miller / Huskey having no problem getting that 30/20. Defensively the two big boys will take away Greenlee's good looks. Trying to defend them will have Degeere, Bakis and Greenlee looking at foul trouble. Basically if WU plays the game to be I the 60's it's over. WU packs it in on D and makes sure the Bigs get every opportunity. It's a 12-15 point WU win and WU could be shooting a bucket full of Free Throws. DeGeere is just to thin to match up with the Big Man.

I like Welch and Rucker. You add Greenlee, DeGeere and (fill in PG name here). That team just can't match up. FU can't change tempo because they can't rebound. It will take a major collapse of WU's guard play. I don't see that.

WU by 12+. And, I'll go on record, I'm picking WU in the SLIAC Race.

[Denny McKinney]

EC.............As my favorite line from my favorite movie goes

Allow me to retort

Millikin 88 Prin 51  the streak continues...and continues...   unfortunately real
WC 67 IW 65     that close?  WC by 10
BC 72 FU 68  upset special...    courageous, but I hope not...
EC 86 Mac 84 heart vs. head...    no way in the world
GC 78 WU 73       surprising to some, I agree... GC close

Spalding 75 IW 60   good
GC 85 BC 72  is the beaver hype for real?? not so fast.     good
WU 68 FU 63        I think by more than that
Mac 90 Prin 64            good
Simpson 73 WC 59        unfortunately, good, even though simpson is winless

Central Mo. 93 Mac 70 total guess...
MO S & T  90 WU 68  total guess II...
EC 88  LC 78

EC... now they can make fun of both of us.....     Good luck this week.....  Anything come out about the Lobdells?

Good Job, Men. I'll play along.
Millikin finishes it's 4 game tour of the SLIAC. They win by 25.
WC over IW by 20
FU by 10 over BC. FU has to make a statement and Win at Home. Or, the season becomes very very long.
EC and Mac Pick em
WU by 5 @ Home

I agree SC by 15
GC over BC by 10
WU by 10 over a smaller FU
Mac by 25 over PC
WC by 2 over Simpson.

The last 3 games I'll just agree with the posted outcomes.

I did pretty good.

[y_jack_lok]

Denny, nice job going 5 for 5 with today's picks. The match ups were a little easier to predictt outcomes than Wednesday's games.

WU/FU wasn't as competitive as I thought it might be. Your pre-game analysis was pretty accurate except for the prediction of foul trouble for FU's post players. They did a good job of avoiding fouls -- or got a pass on some that might have been called. DeGaere is a legitimately good player, but as you observed, too thin to go up against Miller. The big difference was guard play. All Websters guards -- four of them, three of whom are freshmen -- are better than all FUs guards in my estimation. If you consider Ahmad Smith a guard then it's five guards who are better.

[Joevegas]

Fontbonne seems to be going backwards.   Greenlee didn't score till late in second half.  Koty had not one bucket.  What is going on.   The starting line up couldnt score except for Brian.  Again relying on the three with mostly guards again isn't the answer.  Coaches need to go back to the drawing board  on what they are doing. Season is quickly getting away from this team   

[Denny McKinney]

Yjak - DeGeare won't see a Miller again til they play WU, again. He will be a good one. 6'8 and long. Shoots it well. Plays a little eurostyle at times. But, He has started to rebound the last couple of games. Still has time to get in the NewComer race.

I was surprised that Miller and Huskey didn't get more FGA's. Not seeing the game, may be FU sagged well one them. Read a Great Article on Kevin Miller in websterjournal.com. Could not be more happy for the Big Man. Looks like he may of helped shut down Greenlee. FU will match up a lot better with future SLIAC opponents.

JoeVegas- FU has a few non-conf games coming up. They have some pieces and just need to find what's their identity. DeGeare is starting to play like what was expected. I still think Bakis can be apart of going forward. Since you posted Guinn is getting healthy with that knee. What can we expect to see out of him. I know he started on a great HS team. But, what type of player is he? Will he be the Vegas kid that can help change this around.

FU Griff's need to keep playing hard. They will find a combination to get back on the upside.

[y_jack_lok]

Denny, I should have mentioned that Dorhauer came off the bench and got some points. Other than him and DeGaere no one from FU made a real impression. I liked Rucker last year and he worked hard yesterday, but didn't have great results. FU had trouble with WU's zone. They did manage to penetrate it a few times and make some nice passes for good looks at the hoop but couldn't always finish. The surprising part of the box score is that FU got 44 rebounds to WU's 34 and 20 of FU's were offensive, which of course reflects how many shots they missed.

I think they'll find a way to pull it together.