MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Talking about tonight...

Greenville at Eureka...  Eureka in a downward spiral.. Greenville is too good to even think that there could be an upset..

Prin at Webster...  anybody thinking about attending this game NOTE.. older schedule sources will show this game at Prin, but the postponements moved the Webster-Prin games around... only unknown about this game is how big the winning margin will be....

Mac at Westminster... the game of the night, and a real head-scratcher...  I cannot find out anything about Clayton Whitlock's absense, but even if he returns, he won't have played a game in quite a while and wouldn't be 100%... Still Brady Slagle/Dylan Burton/Cole Busch  hold a decided advantage over any combination of Big men that Westmin uses... On the other hand, Westmins zone just killed Fontbonne, and I'm wondering if Mac will also find it difficult to find good shots up at the tight Fulton Gym... I think this is going to be a tough defensive dual, score in the 50's or 60's... Westmin has to have good games from all three of Lee, James, Moore... I have more confidence in that happening than I do in Mac's Big men dominating... I think the home court and tough D win this one for Westmin..
UNLESS Whitlock reappears and gets into the scoring mode he showed last year...

[hopefan]

Fantastic job by MacMurray....they really play a similar style to Westmin and outplayed them.. will write up a little later when time permits..

Of major interest... Clayton Whitlock out with knee soreness, getting better, may be able to dress for Greenville game on Saturday... but let me tell you, Cole Bush, a 'career backup' in the program, was very solid replacing Whitlock vs Westmin.. again, the physical difference of a senior with 4 years of experience vs Westmins 3 young inexperienced big kids... those kids dominated Fontbonne, but were totally outplayed by Bush and Slagle....

[ecreddevils]

Fantastic job by MacMurray....they really play a similar style to Westmin and outplayed them.. will write up a little later when time permits..

Of major interest... Clayton Whitlock out with knee soreness, getting better, may be able to dress for Greenville game on Saturday... but let me tell you, Cole Bush, a 'career backup' in the program, was very solid replacing Whitlock vs Westmin.. again, the physical difference of a senior with 4 years of experience vs Westmins 3 young inexperienced big kids... those kids dominated Fontbonne, but were totally outplayed by Bush and Slagle....

Nice win for Mac.  No stats on DIII hoops, look forward to your write up.  The conference tournament picture is looking pretty clear at the moment, the top 4 best teams are solidifying themselves as superior with Westmin not completely out but reeling with 4 losses in last 5.

[hopefan]

MacMurray shot lights out all night... not only did Bush and Slagle dominate around the basket, but MacMurray guards dominated the Westminster guards as far as quickness/scrapiness...turning point of game was Mac reserve guard James Williams hitting 3 3's in a row in mid first half... Coach Creal really rotates the guards in and out... 5 get good playing time and all 5 play pretty tough Defense... down the stretch when Westmin still had a chance, it wasn' Moore and James getting the shots... rather it was Cleveland, Jones, Ebet..Mac played Westmin's scorers really tough

Mac shoots 54% from Field, 45% from 3's, outrebounds Westmin 25-17... Bush has what might be a career game with 10 pts 4 rbs, slagle goes for 18 (7 of 8 from the field) and 6 bounds.. Koeltner and Pratt both get double figures and the bench getting 21 points... Except for too many turnovers (14), it just doesn't get much better...

Westmin... ouch.. the big guys just aren't 'ready' to face the better competition, but certainly will be with time... Mac man to man gave James, Moore, Lee fits and Jordan Jones had a rough night too...

I still haven't seen Spalding yet, but it appears that the forth spot may come down to a battle between Webster and Westmin....

In the other games last night :
Greenville beats Eureka 97-66 at Eureka... had to be ugly on Eureka's court, But you could see it coming.. Greenville shoots 55%, reserve guard Michael Hohm leads Greenville in scoring with 23..
Brandon Gosset (I'm not familiar with him) gets 19 off the bench for Eureka.. I'll bet that earns him some more court time!!

Prin comes close to Webster... Webster wins 73-66.. a look at the play by play shows Prin down 6 and missing a 3 pointer with just under a minute that would have cut it to 3... Webster sews it up going 6 for 6 from the line after that... Webster outrebounded by Prin, goes 1-8 from 3's while Prin was throwing them up from everywhere at 11-31, but it kept them in the game... Difference in the game was turnovers (Prin had 20) and the foul line.. Prin goes 5-6, Webster goes 18-30.

[hopefan]

hopefan standings after last night

Mac  +1  won at top 5 Westmin
Spalding 0
Greenville  0
Westmin -1  lost at home to top 5 Mac
Webster  -1  lost to bottom 5 Eureka

[hopefan]

Brief what's on tap for tomorrow

Blackburn at Westmin... Westminster smarting from a home loss to Mac, should recover nicely against winless Blackburn

Webster at Iowa Wesleyan... IWC probably feeling darned good after getting a road win at Eureka... and Webster takes the long trip... still Coach Bunch won't let them slack.... Webster will get the W

Eureka at Prin... Two shorthanded squads, both hungry for wins.. seemingly a very even matchup... I gotta go with the home team...

Spalding at Fontbonne... who knows... history shows a horrendous giveaway by Fontbonne down at Spalding... thinking that may make a bigger impression than the first 35 minutes of that game where Fontbonne seemingly dominated... plus I was tremendously unimpressed by Fontbonne's performance at Westmin on tuesday... Spalding

Mac at Greenville... great SLIAC matchup... I see no individual on either side that can dominate this matchup.. it's 8 or 9 vs 8 or 9... I'll be there, and I can't wait to watch.. note I see Greenville guard Brian Ehresman did not play vs Eureka.. tough nosed, unselfish kid who gets the ball to others... they'll miss him in a tight game...He tweeked something in the Westmin game last Saturday, but still played 18 minutes tuesday at Spalding....And for Mac, who knows regarding Clayton Whitlock, we'll find out Saturday

[y_jack_lok]

Prin comes close to Webster... Webster wins 73-66.. a look at the play by play shows Prin down 6 and missing a 3 pointer with just under a minute that would have cut it to 3... Webster sews it up going 6 for 6 from the line after that... Webster outrebounded by Prin, goes 1-8 from 3's while Prin was throwing them up from everywhere at 11-31, but it kept them in the game... Difference in the game was turnovers (Prin had 20) and the foul line.. Prin goes 5-6, Webster goes 18-30.

That pretty much sums it up. I don't see why you put all those miles on your car to watch games when you can summarize them so well by looking at the box score. 

Prin hit 9 of 17 3s in the second half after going 2 of 14 in the first half. Webster hit 14 of 15 free throws in the 2nd half after going 4-15 in the first half. If Webster shoots free throws in the 2nd half they way they did in the first half, Prin wins. If Prin shoots 3s in the 2nd half the way they did in the first half, Webster wins by 20.

[ecreddevils]

note I see Greenville guard Brian Ehresman did not play vs Eureka.. tough nosed, unselfish kid who gets the ball to others... they'll miss him in a tight game...He tweeked something in the Westmin game last Saturday, but still played 18 minutes tuesday at Spalding....

This kid played 12 miles down the road from the EC campus at El Paso-Gridley HS and would have a been a nice get.  His sister, incidentally, is a standout player for the EP-G girls team:  http://www.pjstar.com/article/20131210/SPORTS/131219875/11130/SPORTS

[hopefan]

note I see Greenville guard Brian Ehresman did not play vs Eureka.. tough nosed, unselfish kid who gets the ball to others... they'll miss him in a tight game...He tweeked something in the Westmin game last Saturday, but still played 18 minutes tuesday at Spalding....

This kid played 12 miles down the road from the EC campus at El Paso-Gridley HS and would have a been a nice get.  His sister, incidentally, is a standout player for the EP-G girls team:  http://www.pjstar.com/article/20131210/SPORTS/131219875/11130/SPORTS

What a shame he didn't get to play in his back yard... hope he's ok for Mac game....

[Denny McKinney]

Good Luck Griffins. I hope it's a good Feed.
Free Grant Tucker!

[Denny McKinney]

SU beats Griffins 80-72. Not really that close. William Barber went OFF 34 pts hit his first five 3's. Grant Tucker was Freed! Did some nice things down low. Good Size. But, come on Big Man. 1 rebound in 20 mins. Rebounding is nothing but Desire and Effort! FU needs a lot more of Both. Dorhour played a good game for FU.

Spalding HC starts holding the ball against FU's zone, from 9:42 down. Up 14. Just stood at mid court and held it down til :15 on shot clock. Then ran their offense. It got closer then Coach wanted to at times. Haha Mr Barber your the MAN today!

Congrats Principia another win. Enjoy Boys........

[Joevegas]

Rebounding is desire and wanting it.  Dorhauer did play well.  Fontbonne season is a disappointment.  The school needs to look at the program to see if any changes should be made. 

[Denny McKinney]

Rebounding is desire and wanting it.  Dorhauer did play well.  Fontbonne season is a disappointment. The school needs to look at the program to see if any changes should be made.

Are we talking the quality of player personnel, style of Play, in game coaching adjustments............
You painted a wide swath there???

Joe - I thought Tucker's minutes were all good minutes. I figure if this Kids going to play here, play him now and let him learn. He appears to be a Kid at 6'8 that isn't quite sure, when he catches the ball. Needs to work on posting up with a purpose and guards need to give him first look and then the last look. That body does not come into the SLIAC often. Could very well be "Storandt-Like". Props to Justin Storandt. BUT, does the young man have the Desire. I saw the work it takes. Does he want it that Bad. Big Props to Grant to day. And Rio played some good minutes. Those Boys were positives for me to see.

[Joevegas]

Tucker getting his chance is great.  But why not till this far in the season.   He did play for a national power .   Rio has always been a great player in Vegas.  I have watched all but three games for Fontbonne.  It's obvious it is a poorly coached team.  Talent is there just not going in right direction.  As I have stated before a lot of kids aren't happy  based on what I have heard, I would guess that a number of kids will leave the program.  But remember this guess is based on kids venting that are talking to others.  I do know for a fact that four kids are talking to other schools to go play basketball.  There just isn't any good explanation for this team to do a nosedive like this with the talent that returned and the new recruiting class that came in. Has to be coaching   Just my opinion

[Denny McKinney]

Joe I enjoy having you on here. Your passionate about the subject. You have a vested interest. And, Losing is not an Option. You get a +1K for that.

But, There are some comments that should not appear on here unless you've put a lot of thought into what your saying. You are talking about a young coach's livelihood on a public forum.

Stated athletes are talking with other schools. With 12 games to go? Then why would I want to play you if your leaving? Just a thought.

That a side. Coach Schaefer is a young first time Head Coach. He works hard at recruiting the kind of kids FU WANTS. Everyone wants large HS competition kids from STL. Well other the Ettinger, These are the type of Kids he has got. And, from all areas. Besides Vianney, Lindbergh, UCity, Windsor,....... Add the Two Kids from Vegas he got to come to StL. Which brought the Bishop Gorman Boys and Rio. Bakis is from a good Prep School in AZ. Plus Chicago. It's not lack of effort.

Now he has given the four starting soph's a lot of Clock. 40 games. Large sample size. What do you have? Can this class lead you? Add a Big and talked about class this year. Hopefan wrote a whole piece on getting Guinn. It may have included Bowling. . And, I'm not sure what this Fr. class will add down the line. Size and Upside.

How can you make a change on the bench, till you reach that point. Hopefan is a Big believer in the coach. I've only met him once.

Joe Hang in there. It's 12 more games. Hope change is coming.