MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

You know - this room is not an NCAA room, it's an NFAA room - No Fun At All-  Why there isn't anyone related to the conference that has enthusiasm to get involved in D3Hoops .com and talk about SLIAC hoops is beyond me - screw it, I'll just post to myself.

[Mac Attack]

MacMurray lost at Grinnell, 132-103. Highlanders played hard, like they always do, but  this tells you all you need to know: 3 for 20 three-point shooting in the first half, 3 for 12 in the second half - 6 for 32 on the night. Mix in 38 turnovers and 30 fouls, and you get the picture. Eberhart had 18 points and 15 rebounds, and Robertson had 14 rebounds, but that was about it. Compton, one of Macs better inside players and scorers, was shut-out, and Kowa had three points after a big night at Millikin. The ball was flying around like a pin-ball game, and Mac's better half-court players never really got into the game. Not sure playing 18 players allows anyone to get into the flow of the game, but the flow was more like a tidal wave. Grinnell had a nice crowd and their facility provided a gret atmosphere. Bottom line is when you score 103 points, you need to win. Highlanders have some solid players who can defend, rebound, and score (inside & outside) - and their press is very good. Hopefully this was just a one-time bump in the road, considering the opponent was Grinnell - and Mac can revert to the way they played against Millikin. If they do, 15 wins and a conference tournament berth is still a real possibility.

In the "oh, by the way" category, the game last night saw a new NCAA record set for most rebounds in one game - 137.

We have a good Dominican team to play on Saturday. Need to win that one and get things turned around. Go Highlanders!

Note - other SLIAC finals:

Eureka 64  Westminster 62
McKendree 108  Greenville 69
Wash U 83  Webster 63
Millikin 81  Blackburn 72

Not a great night...

[Mac Attack]

Maryville 74   Lincoln Christian 47

[Mac Attack]

Correction - Robertson had 14 points (not rebounds) for Mac last night. Pretty good job for the Danville product. The younger players for mac are coming along, but it will take a few more games for them to make the transitioo from high school basketball to college basketball. Another freshman, 6'3" Jereau Sanders, didn't make the trips to Millikin or Grinnell, but he could potentially be terrific.
Better days ahead for the Highlanders!

[yjacklok]

hopefan - I went to the Wash U vs Webster game. The score tells the story. There's nothing worth adding. Same was true for the women's game. (Am I allowed to say that here, or do I have to go the Women's Basketball site to post that?)

[hopefan]

yjaklok - I sent you an email regarding possible attendance of a weekend game - check it out.

[Mac Attack]

Happy Thanksgiving to all SLIAC posters, players, coaches, parents, and fans. Please travel safely and pace yourself on the turkey, dressing, and pie.

Need to get active posters from all SLIAC schools. Maybe the SIDs at each school can recruit one or two students???

Message to MacMurray SID - time to update the athletics page. Picture of last year's football team on the athletic's home page is getting old. Need to update basketball pictures, as well as update stats after each game, pictures for all players, and update schedule/scores. Not sure how hard this is to do, but just about every other school handles this stuff with ease. MacMurray has some hard-working players and coaches, and their program deserves up-to-date work. Wonder what the athletic director thinks about this???

Big games this week-end for the Highlanders. If they play like they did at Millikin, they can get it turned around real quickly. Go Mac!!

[hopefan]

Hey Mac  -  way to keep the push on for SLIAC interest.  Hope Mac fares well this weekend.  A couple of us may go over to see Maryville play DePauw on Sunday if they both win their games Saturday!!   The SLIAC sure hasn't started out very well  .   Seems like each of the teams has scheduled at a very competitve level for their respective programs and dropped a number of close games.  Well, it should prepare everyone for a competitive conference schedule, and that's when it really counts!!  Have a good weekend!

[J-Kidd]

Eh, this is my first time postin on this board, but ima try to post for Greenville since I'm a student up there who goes to all the games.  G-ville did pretty well in the North-South tournament, but lost both games by 10 or 15 points.  Scott Foster won SLIAC player of the week for that week though because he dropped a combined 49 points in those two games.  G-ville played McKendree a few nights ago and had some trouble dealing with the post players of McKendree.  G-ville is having some trouble getting consistent scoring and defense from their post players.  Bryson Taylor has just rejoined the team after he completed football season, so that will be a boost to the squad.  He is a player that can drive to the hoop and score or he can find the open man with a pass.  Him and Foster are good rebounders for guards.

[hopefan]

Welcome J-Kidd - good to have you!!!   don't worry about the Greenville performance vs McKendree  -  tough for a SLIAC school to be competitive vs a scholarship NAIA school.   The biggest difference in the SLIAC schools vs 5 years ago is that there is a willingness of most of the SLIAcs to schedule tougher games  -  it only can help in the long run.

[Mac Attack]

Great to have you on the SLIAC board, J-Kidd!!! I know that Greenville has some tough kids, and they'll be ready for a good run once conference play begins. Mac will have its hands full this week-end with Domincan, and either IC or Concordia. I have a feeling that once the Highlanders can break through with some success, they'll be fine. Still working on blending in some of the younger players with some of the upperclassmen. Just need to cut down on the turnovers, take better shots, shoot a higher free throw percentage, and wait for the freshmen and sophomores to get their legs. Go Mac!!!

[fcnews]

Short snip - FC stands at 1-2 (should be 2-1). Both losses were to teams with superior players. MSOE has a possible D3 all-american at guard. RMC-Springfeild has quality three man and senior guard who returned after missing S. Ind. game.

FC is starting 2 Soph. and 3 freshmen, first two of the bench are freshmen. A sliac star in the making with Patrick McCoy who is avg. 23 and fr. Justin Storandt is avg. 12 rebounds while playing from the three spot at 6'8. I still say watch for the name Ryan Kirkpatrick. The match up between this freshmen and all sliac Steven Bash will truly be fun.

FC has Rockford and William Penn coming this week.

[Daryl L Lloyd]

Hello J-Kidd, welcome to the SLIAC board.

FC: How do you rate FU's schedule strength against some of the other SLIAC favorites?  How good of teams are MSOE and RMC-Springfield. . . whod FU get the win against?  For me, its hard to tell where each team stands, with Webster and MU playing competitively with Hanover, but Webster getting banged around in the last two games (Transy and WashU), ive had difficulty getting to a few of the games this year so I dont know whats going wrong for them.  Theyve been playing some tough competition and tomorrow doesnt look to get any easier against D1 UT-Martin, hopefully itll be a good learning experience and they can get a win on Wed. against Eureka. 

[hopefan]

Maryville has a tossup game today vs Manchester - at DePauw tourney in Greencastle.  DePauw plays D'Youville (Buffalo, NY) in second game and should win.  Coaches were disappointed in performance vs Lincoln - playing blanly in the first half likely won't cut it today.  Looking forward to going to Sunday's game - If MU wins today.  I agree with Darryl - certainly no SLIAc team has distinguished themselves above the field yet - Maryville would jump into that catagory with 2 wins this weekend.

[Mac Attack]

SLIAC score from last night - Rhodes 101  Principia 50

Ouch...

We'll see which MacMurray team shows up tonight at the IC Tournament. Dominican is 3-0, including a win over then-22nd ranked Aurora. If we see the Highlander team that played Millikin a week ago, I think Mac can win. If we see the Mac team that played at Grinnell last Tuesday, they'll lose by double-digits. Before long, Mac will need to start getting some consistant performances out of their veteran players, especially Kowa, Boyer, and Hipshir. Through the first two games, it's been a yo-yo. The freshmen and sophomores will be up and down for a while, but the upperclassmen need steady play at both ends. This is still a very solid Mac team that plays extremely hard and is playing much better defense - full court and half court. Just need to work on the "little things" - free throws, ballhandling, better shot selection, and cut down on some unnecessary fouls. I have a feeling that when some freshmen hit their stride, and the veterans start putting up solid numbers night in and night out, this could be a pretty good ballclub. Still a little small, but Mac can "play big." The coach is doing a terrific job bringing everyone along. Should be fun.

Good luck to all SLIAC teams tonight - and GO HIGHLANDERS!