MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[ecreddevils]

Fontbonne leads 36-23 @ half. EC just doesn't have anyone who can shoot. But, FU usually fouls as opposed to moving their feet and playing "D". That's all I can watch. I looked at the back of Hopefan's head for a half. He had his pen and paper going, so I'm sure he'll have more.

EC- It wasn't Greelee and Degreare. They went into Greenlee about twice and for 6'8 Degreare never gets inside of 10'. 

2014-15 can't get here soon enough.

[y_jack_lok]

I just noticed that today's Webster game with MacMurray is scheduled for 2 p.m. instead of the usual 3 p.m. I don't know if that's a change or not. The Webster website doesn't say anything about a change. Women's game is at noon. I think today is the day they are doing WU Athletics Hall of Fame inductions, so maybe that's a factor.

[y_jack_lok]

I just noticed that today's Webster game with MacMurray is scheduled for 2 p.m. instead of the usual 3 p.m. I don't know if that's a change or not. The Webster website doesn't say anything about a change. Women's game is at noon. I think today is the day they are doing WU Athletics Hall of Fame inductions, so maybe that's a factor.

Just checked the WU website and the HoF inductions are at halftime of the men's game. That will be a longer than normal halftime.

[Denny McKinney]

Upset Watch: @Half FU 39 WU 34

[Denny McKinney]

Westminster wins 78-75. FU lead to the final minute, couldn't convert free throws.

[Joevegas]

Wow. Fontbonne FG% was 56%.  Outrebounded westmin 38 to 20 but had 19 turnovers to westmin 4. That was the big difference   Fontbonne has this on.  It got away

[Denny McKinney]

Well it's done to 5. FU has 6 games remaining and can only get to 11 wins. That's not enough. GC is hanging on. I just don't think their best 5 can get enough minutes, with GC's 15 man rotation. I will say GC's Harris is one very talented player. May be a first teamer.

Joe V. - One thing a coach can't do is shoot free throws for the kids. He doesn't record any turnovers on the stat line, either. FU's bigs are just not physical enough. WC played 5 guards most of the game and FU could not use the size to their advantage. I think we have seen about all of FU's big men on the roster. Not one of them shows me the ability to post up, catch and take it up strong. I hope there is improvement in that area, going into next year.

[y_jack_lok]

A very spirited and competitive game between Webster and MacMurray today. Nice to see the Gorloks find a starting rotation that has lots of ways to get the job done, plus some good play off the bench by the three freshmen guards and a couple of vets. In spite of four technical fouls being called, 3 on Mac, one on WU, it was not an acrimonious atmosphere on the court. Plenty of examples of good sportsmanship. Some great 3 point shooting by Mac, some great moves to the hoop and an all-around good shooting day and overall performance by Ahmad Smith of WU, good fast breaks off steals by Webster, and some dandy passes by Webster's Hunter Ward.

[hopefan]

Good writeup of Webster game by Yjack... Ahmad Smith great game... Hunter Ward makes a bigger difference every game... with him, this team may be able to compete come tourney time... wonderful rotation of 3 big guys in 2 slots is really upgrading Miller's, Griffiths' Huskey's games..

BUT   BUT   BUT

Want to hear the amazing tourney playoff tiebreaker alignment, and what it could lead to?

ah heck, I won't keep my readers in suspense..  Mac may have lost the host spot yesterday, and not only by losing the game...  WHAT???

Spalding and MacMurray.. They'll split with each other, they'll split with Webster too, (Webster's loss to Eureka, as expected, will condemn them to 3rd place....
Spalding and Mac will be tied and will have done the same thing throughout the conference.. Here is the next tiebreaker...
5) Fewest Conduct Fouls in Conference Contests.... non Administrative Technical Fouls, Flagrant 2 Fouls, Ejections...

Mac had 3 T's yesterday... gotta think that will hurt them big time ... If they beat Spalding at home and all else goes as expected, it will come to that..

In addition, the 4-5 spot between Greenville and Westmin could come down to the same tie breaker...

Interesting thing is, for the playoff nurde like me, this will be a complete surprise decision.. Flagrant 2's aren't in the box score...

Now then, if that tiebreaker finished even, the next step is strength of schedule, which off the top of my head, would favor Spalding over Mac, but Westmin and Greenville are very tight....

[y_jack_lok]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the following scenario plays out, Webster could host the tournament:

1) Webster wins all remaining games, including at Spalding next Saturday;
2) Spalding wins all remaining games, except the loss to Webster next Saturday;
3) Mac wins all remaining games except losing at home to Spalding.

If that happens Webster and Spalding both finish 16-2 in conference and Mac finishes 15-3. Webster would have the tiebreaker over Spalding by virtue of beating them twice.

What am I missing?

[hopefan]

That seems to play out correctly Yjack... and in fact, the situation would be better than you paint it...

If Webster beats Spalding and Spalding beats Mac (and all other games are won), as Yjack says, Webster would finish tied with Spalding and hold the tiebreaker over Spalding having beaten them twice.. Mac would finish 3rd with 3 losses

If Webster beats Spalding and Mac beats Spalding  and all else is won, Mac and Webster would finish tied with 2 losses, and they split with each other... but Webster would hold the tiebreaker having beaten Spalding twice while Mac split with Spalding

So if Webster can win at Spalding... they hold both key tiebreakers!!!!

My assumptions have been that home teams continue to win, meaning Mac and Spalding would finish tied...

Think I will have the time to get over to Spalding for that huge matchup with Webster.....

[hopefan]

I just looked at the Mac- Webster Box score for the first time..I knew (from keeping score at the game) that Ahmad Smith had a great game, but just now recognized incredible NINE assists from Hunter Ward!!!

On the flip side, how bizarre was Mac Senior Dylan Burton's performance... 2 minutes (in 2 appearances), 4 fouls... in a huge game... I will never understand this kid, who has athleticism second to no one in the conference...

And Clayton Whitlock looked slow, out of sync... he simply doesn't seem to fit in with the aggressive, quick style of basketball Mac is playing this year....

And bizarre play of the year Webster steals the ball, rushing ahead of the pack, and Mac player APPEARs to attempt a hookslide from behind to prevent the score.. he makes minimal or no contact, but the flagrant is called prior to the release of the ball and the layup taken away... BAD CALL or BAD RULE.. the 2 points should have been allowed along with whatever penalty for the foul...

Now then don't get me wrong.. I love the way Mac is playing and having success, and I'm a huge fan of the excitement Todd Creal brings to the game, but 3 T's and a Flagrant can paint a picture of the program that needs to be corrected. 

Incidentally... none of those T's were a result of anything Coach Creal said.. rather they were for the actions of his players...

[BunchTime]

Some good observations from those at the Webster game yesterday. I too was there and will throw in my unsolicited 2 cents about my Gorloks. Disclaimer: only 2nd game I've attended but also follow box scores pretty closely.

As hopefan mentioned, Hunter Ward looked terrific yesterday. Can do so many things for Webster...very versatile, can shoot it a little, good handles, good vision, great on the glass and a good athlete. Hollis Edwards is solid at PG but as a senior needs to make better decisions (at least yesterday he needed to).  Smith is a scorer and a good athlete...sometime hunts his shot a little too much for my liking but can hardly fault a 13-18 shooting night from the field. 

Love Webster's frontcourt of Griffith, Miller and Huskey. Excellent three man rotation. The key for them is simply staying out of foul trouble. Yesterday, Coach Bunch had to deal with this issue and I think he handled it great.

The freshman guards off the bench are very solid.  Gorloks don't really need much scoring from them. They seem to understand their role of coming in and providing energy, knock down the open shot if necessary and take care of the ball.

The key to Webster's success in my opinion is their intensity and activeness on the defensive end and in their zone. In the first half yesterday, I thought WU was standing around too much defensively. They really picked it up in 2nd half and it sparked a lot of run outs and transition buckets, which bodes well for Webster. They need to get out and run...I think that's wheree they can be really good.

If Webster continues to buy in defensively and sells out on that end of the floor, they can win the conference.  Hopefully the Gorloks can carry the Mac win momentum into this tough stretch of games!

Sorry for the long rant!

[y_jack_lok]

^^ Grateful for the observations. It was not a rant. Nothing to disagree with. Your comments don't need to be solicited. No one wants to know what I have to say, but I say it anyway.

[Denny McKinney]

Mr. Bunchtime, your 2 cents are worth about $2.25. Good to hear your back out supporting the Boys.