MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Denny, I'll go into my thoughts on Fontbonne in a day or two... don't have the time and names in front of me to do it now... I must admit though, that I'm very discouraged by some of the results.....

[Denny McKinney]

That's fair, Sir. I wouldn't mind your take on where BC is headed.

[Joevegas]

Fontbonne will have to do it with a different coach

[Denny McKinney]

Oh Really? Just your opinion!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Denny, I think it is unanimous that we would ALL like to see better officiating.

I think it is also unanimous that that the call at :03 was questionable at best; flat-out wrong at worst.

But to essentially everyone but you, it is also obvious that Webster should not have had the ball, due to the blatant (to everyone but you) in-bounds violation by Webster at :08.  (How the last 8 seconds would have unspooled in a parallel universe with perfect officiating, we will never know.)

[y_jack_lok]

Fontbonne will have to do it with a different coach

I was watching the Arizona-Oregon game Saturday and, lo and behold, Oregon has two players from Bishop Gorman. One is a sophomore (not sure if he's a true sophomore or a red shirt) so he must have overlapped with the Bishop Gorman kids at FU. What's your take on the skill level of the Gorman kid at Oregon versus the Gorman kids at Fontbonne? The other Oregon player from Gorman (a nifty 5' 8' guard) is a senior, so not as much to compare with him. 

[Gregory Sager]

What I think knowledgeable writers in this room should discuss is what the SLIAC should be doing to somehow extricate itself out of this 1-4 rut....  if we could just graduate to a 2-3 matchup, at least we would not have to deal with the stigma of being assigned the task of playing a highly rated team on its homecourt the first night of the tourney EVERY year  (oh we didn't have to play Milsaps at Milsaps and look what happened... we lose extremely close..  We have to do things better, top to bottom, than the conferences we are 'competing with'... the MWC , the NACC, the IIAC, the HCAC, the SCAC, the SAA... it will be forever before we'd catch up with the CCIW top to bottom, or the UAA, but those other conferences are not out of reach...

I think that BunchTime's last two posts really nailed it with regard to getting the SLIAC rep a better seed. Webster returns a very good team next year, so if Chris Bunch can just find another player or two to replace his seniors, the Gorloks could be poised to finally break through and win a D3 tourney game -- and getting a better seed could be crucial to that. But the rest of his points really relate to the rest of the league as a whole. Fight attrition as best as possible by staying on top of your current players (or, as BunchTime put it, "re-recruit everyone"), and schedule well. I spent a lot of years slamming SLIAC teams in this room for wasting games on the likes of St. Louis Pharmacy, Lincoln Christian, Concordia Seminary, and Logan Chiropractic, and took a lot of grief for it. Worthless games of that type are becoming more and more of a rarity on SLIAC skeds, so that's progress.

Now coaches need to schedule strategically within the confines of the D3 membership pool. Teams up at the top of the totem pole such as Webster and Spaulding need to find CCIW, UAA, or top-level HCAC, NCAC, or OAC outfits, and take 'em on. Never mind the losses; it'll not only toughen up the team for the SLIAC games in January and February, it'll make playing the Wheatons and the Augustanas and the UW-Whitewaters and the Illinois Wesleyans in March less of a shock. Plus, the dip in winning percentage that comes from playing teams like this will be made up for by improving the team's strength of schedule, as far as tournament criteria are concerned.

For teams further down the SLIAC ladder, find games against mid-level outfits from those better leagues -- or games against good teams from the other lower leagues (i.e., Aurora, Benedictine, Central, etc.). Don't settle for games against Simpson, Cornell, Knox, and the like. Play them if there's nothing else available, but strive to play the better teams from the MWC, IIAC, or NACC -- or the also-rans from the CCIW and the WIAC.

Take heart, SLIACers: Cabrini and Albertus Magnus are proving that it's not impossible for a national power to arise out of a lower-level conference under the current D3 men's basketball conditions.

[Joevegas]

All those Gorman kids played on the same aau club team.  With the exception of shabazz.  Fu will have to do a reboot now that Schafer has resigned.  I doubt Gorman kids will return. I heard that west coast schools in div 2 are calling them. 

[hopefan]

Fu will have to do a reboot now that Schafer has resigned. 

uhhhh  WHAT?

[Gregory Sager]

Fu will have to do a reboot now that Schafer has resigned. 

uhhhh  WHAT?

He's still listed on the FU website as the coach. And there's no indication anywhere on the Internet that he's resigned.

[BunchTime]

Denny, I think it is unanimous that we would ALL like to see better officiating.

I think it is also unanimous that that the call at :03 was questionable at best; flat-out wrong at worst.

But to essentially everyone but you, it is also obvious that Webster should not have had the ball, due to the blatant (to everyone but you) in-bounds violation by Webster at :08.  (How the last 8 seconds would have unspooled in a parallel universe with perfect officiating, we will never know.)

Let's not forget even if the inbounds play were called this would still be a better scenario for Webster and one Coach Bunch would have gladly traded for the Huskey call for.  At worst, Webster would have the ball with about 7 seconds left down 3 with an opportunity at a game tying 3 and at best down 1 with the chance for the win. In any scenario, Webster still has the ball and is afforded the opportunity at a shot.  So, to call this a "evening out" situation or "swapping" calls situation is a ridiculous assertion.

[Joevegas]

Yep, he resigned today

[Denny McKinney]

Vegas sorry. But I'll need something I can read on any coaxhin changes. Are you kiddin' D2. Hahaha Further online research shows Tucker's minutes were almost NIL. I truly think he may be to soft for zLIAC match ups with Miller, Huskey, Slagel..... And Austin Quinn did start some. He can say that. But for a starter, his minutes look odd. But, I will give the kid this year to injury.

Talent level was greatly exaggerated on the recruiting news. IF they were talking out their. Try Chapman, I got a spot for Whitier or Occidental. Put the kids in a situation to succeed. They couldn't make an impact on a building program and in the bottom conference in basketball. Their better off working real hard this summer. Grant Tucker 6'8 couldn't sniff a rebound. But he has a DIII body and could work on technique. Good D3 prospect. All I saw of Guinn was a nice size athlete that just wanted to jack it up. If he came with the right mind set, Quinn could of found a spot. Rucker is to small. All Austin had to was say coach I can play down there for you.

Hunter Ward, D2 somewhere. The Gorman two not happening. Best decision would be to return next year to FU. And, go out and win a spot. They are playing in the right opportunity.

[BunchTime]

Sagar, I agree 100% with your post and have long been an advocate of scheduling tougher, particularly the top 3-4 teams in the SLIAC. To hell with wins and losses. No one in the SLIAC has come close to an at-large bid.  It'll do nothing but prepare the SLIAC rep for those type of first round games you see in the tourney. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Denny, I think it is unanimous that we would ALL like to see better officiating.

I think it is also unanimous that that the call at :03 was questionable at best; flat-out wrong at worst.

But to essentially everyone but you, it is also obvious that Webster should not have had the ball, due to the blatant (to everyone but you) in-bounds violation by Webster at :08.  (How the last 8 seconds would have unspooled in a parallel universe with perfect officiating, we will never know.)

Let's not forget even if the inbounds play were called this would still be a better scenario for Webster and one Coach Bunch would have gladly traded for the Huskey call for.  At worst, Webster would have the ball with about 7 seconds left down 3 with an opportunity at a game tying 3 and at best down 1 with the chance for the win. In any scenario, Webster still has the ball and is afforded the opportunity at a shot.  So, to call this a "evening out" situation or "swapping" calls situation is a ridiculous assertion.

Note that I didn't call it either of those, I said 'we will never know'.

And, yes, that would have been better for Webster, but since IWU would have certainly tried to inbound to Nelson, that is certainly 2 FTs made, or even an and-one or a 3-and-one.  I can't recall the last time Nelson missed a FT at the end of a game.