MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Let's update after yesterday

1) Mac   11-3    remaining : Greenville; IWC; at Fontbonne; at Prin
            Hopefan comment.... tough to see them losing again if they take one game at a time, stay ready for each opponent... biggest threat could be at Fontbonne game, but Mac is so much bigger...  Greenville game could be good matchup too, but Greenville hasn't been able to win close vs good teams...

2) Spalding  11-4    remaining  :  Prin; at Webster; Westmin
            Hopefan comment.... also tough to see them losing again, but of course Webster is big game... if they win out and Mac loses a game, tiebreaker may not be decided until last night of the season...

3) Webster   9-5    remaining  :  Blackburn; Spalding; Eureka; at Greenville ...
            Hopefan comment... clearly the toughest remaining schedule, can't imagine they'll catch Mac or Spalding..
They really need to take care of business, go 3-1 to guarantee themselves a spot....2-2 probably finishes in a tie for 4th and tiebreaker analysis... With Ahmad Smith back, if they play as well as they did last night when they beat Fontbonne, they should be in.... Defense and Board work really shut down Fontbonne.. AND, what about Griffin injury?

T4) Fontbonne  8-6   remaining  : at IWC; at Westmin; Mac; at Blackburn
            Hopefan comment...  Still could earn 4th, even with loss to Mac... 7 losses will likely get 4th, maybe even 3rd... just depends on tiebreaker analysis...

T4) Greenville   8-6   remaining  :  at Mac; at Prin;  Blackburn; Webster
            Hopefan comment.... need to go 3-1 to stay in it... means they have to win at Mac or beat Webster, as well as taking care of business vs BC and PC... Can they get things turned around?

T4)  Eureka   8-6   remaining  :   Westmin; at Blackburn; at Webster; IWC
            Hopefan comment....  No longer a longshot, no longer sneaking in... take care of business vs 3 of the bottom 4, and beat Webster a second time, and they are virtually guaranteed into the tourney.. lose to Webster and we're  talking some kind of tiebreaker...Don't slip now!!!

[WU FAN]

Student removed positioned himself directly behind the Webster coaches and was loudly rooting for Fontbonne and against Webster... AD moved him back to the rest of the guys behind the scorer's table at least once, but when he went again behind the coaches (within touching distance) the AD removed him... I really didn't hear or see anything offensive or totally over the line, but he did go against what the AD wanted.... I really didn't ever see the coaches formally complain, but I may have missed it....

Bad news regarding Griff... they must have some inside game to face the rest of the schedule, and Henry, Zehner are hardly inside guys... the thought of facing the rest of the schedule with Walton and Smith manning the middle is a little overwhelming... let's hope Griffin can tough it out....

You're being very generous calling it rooting.  There were large amounts of cursing at the players and refs going on in both games.  As I said before I like good energy in the gym but there were clearly people that went over the line last night.  I did hear the comment made that in Fontbonne fan's minds last night is their Super Bowl.  That probably is true when you really think about it.

[hopefan]

Was reading SLIAC tiebreaker procedure and came up with a question:

Here is the first step to the procedure:

1.) Head-to-head
The tie-breaker process for multi-team ties will always return to head-to-head competition once a
team has been eliminated (from the tournament or placed in a lower seed). Only games counted
as Conference competition shall be used in the tie-breaker process steps 1-5.

So... let's say that Eureka, Greenville, and Fontbonne are tied for 4th place with 7 losses
Fontbonne swept Eureka, and split with Greenville..... Greenville split with Eureka....
So Fontbonne is 3-1, Greenville is 2-2, Eureka is 1-3 within the 3 teams..

Is Fontbonne the 'winner' because they won the head to head when discussing 3 teams..

OR

Is Eureka eliminated for losing twice to Fontbonne, then Greenville and Fontbonne are tied because they split... the 2nd tiebreaker step would be used, which could go to Greenville for their win over Spalding

Different interpretations could lead to different result....

[hopefan]

Student removed positioned himself directly behind the Webster coaches and was loudly rooting for Fontbonne and against Webster... AD moved him back to the rest of the guys behind the scorer's table at least once, but when he went again behind the coaches (within touching distance) the AD removed him... I really didn't hear or see anything offensive or totally over the line, but he did go against what the AD wanted.... I really didn't ever see the coaches formally complain, but I may have missed it....

Bad news regarding Griff... they must have some inside game to face the rest of the schedule, and Henry, Zehner are hardly inside guys... the thought of facing the rest of the schedule with Walton and Smith manning the middle is a little overwhelming... let's hope Griffin can tough it out....

You're being very generous calling it rooting.  There were large amounts of cursing at the players and refs going on in both games.  As I said before I like good energy in the gym but there were clearly people that went over the line last night.  I did hear the comment made that in Fontbonne fan's minds last night is their Super Bowl.  That probably is true when you really think about it.

Because I was behind the student group, I could see what went on, but couldn't hear... If that's what you heard, then I'm in agreement with you....

[Denny McKinney]

Student removed positioned himself directly behind the Webster coaches and was loudly rooting for Fontbonne and against Webster... AD moved him back to the rest of the guys behind the scorer's table at least once, but when he went again behind the coaches (within touching distance) the AD removed him... I really didn't hear or see anything offensive or totally over the line, but he did go against what the AD wanted.... I really didn't ever see the coaches formally complain, but I may have missed it....

Bad news regarding Griff... they must have some inside game to face the rest of the schedule, and Henry, Zehner are hardly inside guys... the thought of facing the rest of the schedule with Walton and Smith manning the middle is a little overwhelming... let's hope Griffin can tough it out....

You're being very generous calling it rooting.  There were large amounts of cursing at the players and refs going on in both games.  As I said before I like good energy in the gym but there were clearly people that went over the line last night.  I did hear the comment made that in Fontbonne fan's minds last night is their Super Bowl.  That probably is true when you really think about it.

Because I was behind the student group, I could see what went on, but couldn't hear... If that's what you heard, then I'm in agreement with you....

If there was foul language used, the individual should of been removed. Otherwise, what you saw happens at lot of venues in college basketball. There are a lot of places that have student section behind visiting bench. And, those kids have two things in mind. Holler at opposing teams and referees. I saw nothing wrong from the camera's angle. I said if the kid used foul language, simple decision. But, if they crossed a line with the refs or refs heard the foul language, the perfect ref was on the game to clear house. If this was something that bothered Coach Bunch, you would of seen action taken.

I thought it was great! First time I've seen the place rowdy since '09 Sliac tourney. Enjoy the spirit.

[hopefan]

None of the bottom 3 play each other tomorrow (note, I won't refer to the bottom 4 any more, as Iowa Wesleyan clearly merits inclusion in a 'top 7'), so Spalding, Webster, and Eureka have expected wins over Prin, Blackburn, and Westmin.... EXPECTED, but not guaranteed!!!

So two big games to be played tomorrow... Greenville at Mac,  and Fontbonne at IWC

Greenville at Mac... HUGE game for both teams... Mac needs to win to maintain their one game lead over Spalding for the conference lead... of course, winning conference means hosting the tourney, which would be a tremendous boost for the Mac program and the school... If Mac finishes tied with Spalding, because they split their two games, a tiebreaker would come down to performance against 3rd place, 4th place etc... and because that won't be determined likely until season end, a tie would generate an unknown host until late Tuesday night of Tourney week...
       The game is just as big for Greenville... I really believe Greenville's athleticism can offset Mac's size, that Greenville really has the team best equipped in conference to beat Mac, but for whatever reason, GC has lost it's way the last couple of weeks... If Coach Barber can get them back on track, this could be a great game.... a win for GC would be huge and put them back in decent shape for a tourney spot... a loss puts them in desperation mode, and would virtually necessitate winning out the rest of the way to have any chance of being in the tourney...

Fontbonne HAS TO WIN at IWC, given the fact that Mac remains on their schedule... IWC had a second half rally to win at Fontbonne, a game the Griffs wish they had back... travelling up north and winning has been tough for everyone in the league... IWC has beaten Spalding and Westmin at home and had close losses to Eureka, Mac, and Greenville.... A Fontbonne win keeps them in the race for a tourney spot, but a loss means they'd need to beat Mac next week, a tough order for the undersized Griffs....

[BunchTime]

I concur, Denny!  It's nice seeing a group of student fans in the SLIAC a little rowdy and spirited.   

[Denny McKinney]

You got it Bunchtime. It's a rivalry about the Fun. I'm sure the Gorloks students will have something for FU, when they return to WU. Or, we can go back to playing in front of 40 people?

[hopefan]

i'll be at Mac today, so will put out some scores....  hoping IWC doesn't keep us in suspense too long regarding the IWC-Font results...

[SliacChamp]

32-21 Webster at Half. Hunter Ward again looks more comfortable shooting the ball as he knocked a few shots early. Taylor Walton starting in place of Aaron Griffin, who is playing limited minutes probably due to his shoulder issues. Walton was productive scoring a few baskets and keeping some offensive possessions alive by attacking the offensive glass. Should be smooth sailing for the Gorloks.

[hopefan]

Surprise so far in Jville.    GC 42 Mac 32 at half.  GC shooting 60 percent

In ladies ball, Mac upsets GC, font loses at IWC, Webster and GC now tied for 4th playoff spot

[hopefan]

68 68 5 mins. GC mac

[SliacChamp]

Webster wins big. Griffin starts second half. Ward plays very well. Ahmad Smith now 2nd all time Webster scoring. Danny Zehner great game off of the bench.

Big game Monday.

[hopefan]

Final GC 83 Mac 79

[ecreddevils]

WC comes out playing loose with nothing to lose, EC tight and can never really generate anything at all on the offensive end.  Bad loss, although IWC over FU should give some hope.