MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[ecreddevils]

EC men take trip to Canada over the weekend.  Defeated George Brown College 60-59, played York Univ. on Saturday (no result yet).  No box scores or other info, but great sign getting a road win this early in the process. 

[hopefan]

Yes, would be interesting to see which players contributed for Eureka up north, new names or old....Glad the first game was competitive... makes the trip worthwhile...

ouch, second game of trip was a 95-59 loss to York University (per the York University site)... again, no box score available

[ecreddevils]

Yes, would be interesting to see which players contributed for Eureka up north, new names or old....Glad the first game was competitive... makes the trip worthwhile...

ouch, second game of trip was a 95-59 loss to York University (per the York University site)... again, no box score available

The York loss might not be as bad as it looks--they lost relatively close (99-80) to D1 IUPUI the night before the EC game. 

[hopefan]

HUGE good news for Blackburn and SLIAC fans... I mentioned earlier, and had correct information, that Chris J Davis would not be returning to Blackburn after his Soph season... and indeed, he had enrolled at SE Missouri with no intention of continuing to play hoops... well, minds can change, and Davis has re-enrolled at Blackburn... that is from an impeccable source.. My assumption is he will play basketball again at BC.

With all the graduates lost by top teams in the conference last year, Davis' return could put BC in the top 4 mix. I saw him play 3 times last year, and he could do more things with the ball than any other guard in the league, with size and quickness.  Davis averaged 15 ppg both his frosh and soph years, yet failed to receive ANY All Conference mention... BC's poor W-L record was a likely factor, but this could be viewed as a big oversight by the voting coaches....Hopefully Davis can prove them wrong this year....

[hopefan]

YES.... Blackburn's schedule is now up, meaning I can do some comparisons in the near future of scheduling for each of the SLIAC schools. 

I also note that a Blackburn 2015-16 roster is up... no new names included... wonder if new coach Steve Kollar just arrived to late to make any additions, or if the info is simply being withheld to see who makes the team?

[hopefan]

Here is my rating of SLIAC non conference schedules... by 'watchability' ... worst to first

10  Iowa Wesleyan  :  Carthage tourney, Central, Knox, Cornell, Emmaus, Lincoln Christian....  Carthage Tourney field is not strong (Robert Morris-Peoria, Adrian), Central is always decent, but the rest are usually very weak... a real who cares schedule.   I will note that IWC has an exhibition game at Maryville (StL) in late November, an opportunity to see them.

9  Principia  :  Illinois College, Loras, Lincoln Christian, Millikin, Missouri S&T (Rolla).
I like any CCIW team on our schedule, and Rolla is D2, but the other 3 are weak... also penalized for only playing 5 games... the kids and fans deserve a full slate...

8  Eureka  :  Rockford, Monmouth, Emmaus, Northern Illinois, Robert Morris-Peoria, Loras, Knox....   Monmouth had best record in a long time and returns most of lineup, Division 1 No Illinois, but the rest of the opponents are pretty bad.

7  Webster  :  Central, Loras, Luther, Rust, Wash U, Florida Tourney vs Ave Maria, Trinity Baptist.... Webster used to schedule tough, but this year is a downer.. Cavallo opponents Rust and Luther have been down, Wash U will be down this year, and the trip to Florida is a waste (unattractive NON D3 opponents) except hoped for good weather.


note... there is a distinct jump up from the bottom 4 just mentioned and the top 6

6  Blackburn  :  Wash U, McKendree, Sewanee and Capital at Sewanee Tourney, Knox, Rose Hulman...   Rose Hulman, McKendree, Sewanee all very solid, Wash U down this year, Capital down but interesting inter-regional.... only Knox is weak..

5  MacMurray  :  Dubuque, llinois Tech, Cavallo classic Rust and Luther, Augustana, Rhodes Tourney vs Rhodes and Aurora/Maryville (Tn).  4 very good opponents in Augie, Dubuque, and 2 good games at Rhodes.... Cavallo opponents are not great, Illinois Tech is bad....

4  Westminster  :  Millikin, Elmhurst in CCIW-SLIAC challenge, Central, Oglethorpe, Austin Peay, Nebraska Wesleyan, Central Baptist... Westminster needs to be much better than last year if they are going to beat anybody beyond Central Baptist.. good schedule

3  Fontbonne  :  Morthland, UMSL, Rose Hulman and IWU/Wilmington at IWU tourney, Augustana, Concordia-Chicago, Wash u.... Concordia and Morthland are not 'attractions', but the rest of the schedule is solid.

2  Spalding  :  Berea, Transylvania, Hanover, Wash U, Centre, Oglethorpe... No A listers here (Well maybe Centre), but every opponent is solid... Great schedule, and Spalding does it every year

1  Greenville  :  Illinois Wesleyan, Millikin, Elmhurst in CCIW-SLIAC challenge, Lincoln Christian, Central, Dubuque, Wabash.... YIKES... in past years, Greenville has been at the bottom or near it for opponent quality as they continually loaded up with very weak non NCAA opponents (STL christian, Logan, STL Pharma etc).. BUT this year, 3 CCIW opponents and 3 other very good teams.. they needed Lincoln for a breather... Congrats to Coach Barber for stepping up the schedule.

[y_jack_lok]

Just a quick observation (or opinion) ...a "down" Wash U is likely to be as good as (and possibly better than) almost all the D3 teams everyone is playing except maybe Augie, IWU, and Centre. And we really don't know anything yet about new players at Wash U. What if they come up with a player or two comparable to Sean Wallis or Tyler Nading or Aaron Thompson or Troy Ruths?

[hopefan]

Just a quick observation (or opinion) ...a "down" Wash U is likely to be as good as (and possibly better than) almost all the D3 teams everyone is playing except maybe Augie, IWU, and Centre. And we really don't know anything yet about new players at Wash U. What if they come up with a player or two comparable to Sean Wallis or Tyler Nading or Aaron Thompson or Troy Ruths?

Agreed, but none of those players had to come into a cupboard that was pretty darned empty... It is an interesting question as to what each of them did come into when they were freshman... I'll look around and see if it is available.  Honestly, to further agreement, there are probably a couple of players back from last year who played little, but would be big time in the SLIAC.  Still, based simply on who is back, it's a down year for the Bears...In my 'watchability' scale, I put them at the Millikin, Elmhurst, (low CCIW), Central (high mid level conference) level... I had them below teams that I project to be 'good', ie IWU, Augie, Wabash, D1's, D2's etc... But that is strictly from a 'what numbers should be back from last year' forecast.  Here is the question..is Wash U going to be as good, with one player and a couple of little used subs back, as a Rose-Hulman, Oglethorpe, Monmouth, Sewanee.. who have large portions of winning teams back... or, as I put it, will they be as 'watchable' as those teams

[Denny McKinney]

My question is, what does your "watchable rating" say about a teams possibility for overall success ?

[hopefan]

ok Y-jack... a trip down memory lane..  (I love doing this stuff)

Ruths came in 2004-2005... he joined 4 returning starters from the prior year.. Stone, Hollins, Keller and Grunst

Wallis and Nading  came in 2005-2006... joining returners Stone, Grunst and Ruths

Thompson and Cam Smith came in 2006-2007... joining returners Ruths, Nading, O'Boyle and Wallis ... O'boyle played only 4 games and was lost for the season with injury...

Each of the guys you mentioned came into a program that had 3 or 4 solid solid returners... Wash U is nowhere near that position this year...  There will have to be startling performances from last years bench or frosh for Wash U to hit the 18 or above win mark that we've come to expect... Styczynski looked good late last year, anyone else?

[hopefan]

My question is, what does your "watchable rating" say about a teams possibility for overall success ?

Not a thing...

my 'watchable ratings' are done from a fan's perspective..do I want to see this team play a SLIAC team..will I go to see this team? (so I'm saying I would want to see an Oglethorpe, Rose Hulman etc before I'd want to see Wash U - this year- unless Wash U's performance with new faces shows me different -I'd rather see a team that did well last year with crucial players returning, than a Wash U who has little returning)...

I think teams, if possible should schedule to their potential... it makes no sense for a weak team to schedule good teams (see Blackburn in the past) and get crushed.. nor does it make sense for a good team to schedule more than one or two weak teams and not get the experience of playing close.  But you never know what that other team will bring to the table when you schedule them.. history does not always repeat itself.

[hopefan]

Incidentally.. good to hear from you Denny... hope you're winning the battle....

[Denny McKinney]

Thank you, Buddy. I'm still battling. It was a year last Friday! How are you doing? Hope all is good.

[Gregory Sager]

Just a quick observation (or opinion) ...a "down" Wash U is likely to be as good as (and possibly better than) almost all the D3 teams everyone is playing except maybe Augie, IWU, and Centre.

Disagree. Elmhurst brings back the entire rotation from a team that made it to the second round last March. I think that there's a strong possibility that the Bluejays will be a top ten preseason pick in the d3hoops.com poll. And although Rose-Hulman had a down year (15-11) after three straight 20-win seasons, the Engineers will return five of their top six players from last season -- including their top two scorers.

Still, based simply on who is back, it's a down year for the Bears...In my 'watchability' scale, I put them at the Millikin, Elmhurst, (low CCIW)

Huh? You're gauging Elmhurst as "low CCIW"?

For that matter, Millikin's going to be much improved this year, too. If the Big Blue can get past Rose-Hulman on opening night at the Griz in Decatur, I would not be shocked if they run the table in non-conference play. I don't think that Greenville, Principia, and Westminster are going to be able to hang with the Big Blue this coming season, and I most certainly would not have said that at any point over the last decade.

[y_jack_lok]

I am not the student of these teams and their returning players, their schedules, etc. that hopefan and Sager are. I bow to your superior knowledge.