MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

55 54 mac 6 secs

[hopefan]

56 54 final mac win...... SU shot to win off back of rim at buzzer

[hopefan]

Heroes all over for Mac in the win last night over Spalding... But the two biggest have been role players all season, who came through big last night... Clayton Whitlock came through with 9 points in the second half, most of them after Mac had fallen behind by 7 with 8 and a half minutes left... but his biggest play was when he swatted away a shovel shot down the court that led to a fast break layup for dylan Guthrie to bring back Mac to a tie in the 2nd half at 7 minutes left... Mac was never behind after that...Paul Crowder, Mac's backup senior point guard had the biggest game of his life, handling Spaldings pressure, playing super defense on Spalding's 3 point threat Brandon Going, and making a crucial driving layup to increase Macs lead to 5 with 2 minutes left in the game.....  and the last seconds were thrilling...Mac up 3 with 39 seconds, can't get the ball in bounds after a time out and gets called for 5 seconds.. Brandon Gabriel misses a tying 3 and Spencer Pratt fouled with 13 seconds.. he misses one makes one for a 4 point lead, but Spalding's Dom Sangester hits a 3 from the deep corner to cut it to one with 5.9 seconds... Mac has a horrible time getting it inbounds  amongst time outs and finally goes long to Dylan Burton, who had hardly played... he's fouled with 3.7, makes the first to take lead to 2, but misses second.. Sangester rebounds, everyone stays away not wanting to foul, he rushes down the court and gets off a legit 3 at the top of the key... just off the back of the iron...

Brady Slagle his usual calm quiet self... finishes with 15 and plays a man's game around the basket just like Kevin Miller did  against Spalding on Saturday... in my mind, one of those two deserve player of the year honors..

And wow.. nothing away from Spalding.. well coached, mature, tough defense.. and so many good players... I come away impressed every time I see them play....

Spalding now needs to win at Greenville and at home vs Westmin to finish in a tie with Mac for the conference championship and gain the host's role for the conference tourney (yes, the tiebreaker will come down to the T. Foul tiebreaker and Spalding will gain homecourt advantage because of it).. We can hope for an upset, a little more possibility of it happening at Greenville... but realistically... Louisville, here we come.....


2 other sidelights...
GREAT ladies game... Derek James has really taken the ladies team at Mac from an embarrassment level to being competitive with the best team in the conference.. in just one year with a team made of mostly frosh... they lose in OT to Spalding in the BEST ladies game I've seen all year.. and Coach James is definitely out of the Todd Creal School of Emotional coaching.. what a show!!!!

And  GREAT CROWD.. the Mac students really do it up....

[ecreddevils]

EC men and women getting things done against Prin. Trevor Teal with a huge career 21pt 7 reb day--nice to see a Senior player who committed four years to the school and program getting some quality time this year, despite the overall team record.

Big women's game tonight at IWU for EC-- a win would mean a season sweep and an outside chance of hosting the tournament.

Prin highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG8gxEwT3eg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAdhSl8wiTw

[hopefan]

EC men and women getting things done against Prin. Trevor Teal with a huge career 21pt 7 reb day--nice to see a Senior player who committed four years to the school and program getting some quality time this year, despite the overall team record.

Big women's game tonight at IWU for EC-- a win would mean a season sweep and an outside chance of hosting the tournament.

Prin highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG8gxEwT3eg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAdhSl8wiTw

The women's race is an interesting one... Eureka and Spalding with 3 losses, Webster with 4...Eureka certainly has the toughest road.. as they play both IWC and Webster.. two tough games..AND, they lose the first tiebreaker as Spalding beat them twice....

[BunchTime]

So, I looked at the SLIAC website and noticed the men's tourney is slated for Feb. 27th (Thurs) and March 1st (Sat.).  Is that correct?  They used to play in back-to-back days if I am not mistaken.  Any idea as to times of the games?  I assume Thursday would be 6 and 8, but what about Saturday's Championship game?

1 final Q -- now that we're getting close to tourney time, any ideas where the SLIAC rep will get sent?

Should be an exciting conference tourney! 

[y_jack_lok]

1 final Q -- now that we're getting close to tourney time, any ideas where the SLIAC rep will get sent?

Wash U and Illinois Wesleyan are ranked #3 and #4 on d3hoops.com so I'd bet one of them will be hosting and odds favor the SLIAC rep going to that site. But you never know what the NCAA will do.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

There are a ton of factors as to where a team gets sent (or who hosts) based on who gets into the tournament and the geography of the teams involved. Certainly, Wash U. and IWU would be obvious choices, but if the mileage is right, they could get shipped into the the Great Lakes or West regions.

MacMurry can get to Centre and UW-Stevens Point. Spalding certainly has a ton of options.

The one thing the national committee I know tries to do is create as regionally-diverse a pod of teams as possible. Ideally, they would love to have four different regions represented, but usually settle for three. Thus, the SLIAC teams could be the perfect pawn to move around the board to find the best place for them and the tournament. (Don't read into the word pawn too much. I am referring to the flexibility of moving them around - not their status as a conference or as a team.)

[hopefan]

Good answers all...

Bunchtime... the SLIAC tourney days rotate between the men and women... one year (say last year), the men get Friday, Saturday and the women get Thursday, Saturday... the next year (this year) the women get Friday, Saturday, and the men get Thursday, Saturday... unfortunately, the Thursday Saturday alignment is an 'unfriendly' scenario for the fan who has to travel... too far for two trips, and costly in $ and time if one stays the whole weekend for both days... I personally am in a quandry as to what I'll do, as I generally enjoy seeing both days of the tourney... one offsetting plus this year is that Spalding may end up (actually will likely end up) hosting both tourneys... meaning games Thursday, Friday, and Saturday....
Men last year played Championship game in the evening... assuming the same this year... also remember that if Spalding hosts, there is a time difference.. the 6 and 8 games would be 5 and 7 central... meaning the Webster men would likely be playing at 5 Stl time.

As to the SLIAC winners NCAA destination..
put it this way... in the last several years, Sliac champs have been assigned to the South, to the Great Lakes, and to the Midwest....Wash U, right in the middle of the Sliac geographically, has been sent to the Midwest the South and the West... Virtually anywhere is therefore an accurate answer.   What would be nice would be if somehow, just once, we could be in a 2-3 game instead of facing the host on their home court...  or if, like Div 1, there could be some play in games so that our champion could  be in a competitive game....

[y_jack_lok]

What would be nice would be if somehow, just once, we could be in a 2-3 game instead of facing the host on their home court...  or if, like Div 1, there could be some play in games so that our champion could  be in a competitive game....

This is a great idea. And with lots more schools in D3 than in D1 it makes sense. But, it's all about the money and D3 doesn't generate the revenue D1 does. In fact, I suspect D3 benefits from all the money D1 generates. This last statement could be wrong, and if it is I'm sure more knowledgeable folks will let me know.

[Mr. Ypsi]

What would be nice would be if somehow, just once, we could be in a 2-3 game instead of facing the host on their home court...  or if, like Div 1, there could be some play in games so that our champion could  be in a competitive game....

This is a great idea. And with lots more schools in D3 than in D1 it makes sense. But, it's all about the money and D3 doesn't generate the revenue D1 does. In fact, I suspect D3 benefits from all the money D1 generates. This last statement could be wrong, and if it is I'm sure more knowledgeable folks will let me know.

D3 championship tourneys (all sports, so far as I know) are indeed funded by D1 'March Madness' revenues.

[sac]

Crazy idea:

Instead of 41 AQ's, lets take the AQ winners subject them to same criteria we use for Pool C selection.  The top 32 gain entry in to the tournament proper.  (In my world they would get home games, no byes or pods)

AQ's that don't make the cut are thrown in the Pool C pile.  Repeat the process,  Next 16 gain entry into the NCAA Tournament.

Select the next 32 teams using Pool C process.  Those 32 teams are paired against each other in 16 'play in' games on Tuesday or Wednesday of the first week, winners head to first round.


Drawback is it requires an 80 team field.

[Pat Coleman]

Thanks for saving me the math.

[hopefan]

Crazy idea:

Instead of 41 AQ's, lets take the AQ winners subject them to same criteria we use for Pool C selection.  The top 32 gain entry in to the tournament proper.  (In my world they would get home games, no byes or pods)

AQ's that don't make the cut are thrown in the Pool C pile.  Repeat the process,  Next 16 gain entry into the NCAA Tournament.

Select the next 32 teams using Pool C process.  Those 32 teams are paired against each other in 16 'play in' games on Tuesday or Wednesday of the first week, winners head to first round.


Drawback is it requires an 80 team field.

let's maneuver it a little....
to a top 16
a 2nd 16
and a bottom 32

the bottom 32 have a play in game on Tuesday, cutting the field to 48
then have 16 sites of 3 teams... each site has a play in team, a second 16 team, and a top 16 team... first round Friday is a play in winner vs a 2nd 16 team... top 16 teams are hosts and get a bye..
second round the next night, the top 16 team team plays the winner of the first round game it hosted.

bad news is the bottom 32 have to play 7 games to win a national championship while the top 16 play only 5... the good news is that every team out there has a game that they can plan to compete in....

[BunchTime]

Great info and answers, everyone.  You're right, hope...a Thursday and Sat. at Spalding isn't very conducive to us St. Louisans.  I'd like to get over there on Saturday if the Gorloks are playing.  Is that about a 4 hour drive, hope?