MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Amazes me that a fan -- albeit a super fan -- of this conference can figure it out before the actual conference can.  It's been almost 6 hours since the games ended and the conference cant't figure it out and officially announce the tournament teams.  How is that difficult.  I guess they were never expecting this scenario. 

I just hope I got it right

You know, in retirement, I'd be very willing to use my minimal skills and great interest to help that office out.. it's very close to where I live... but I probably slit my own throat with my overt enthusiasm and failure to bite my tongue at times... of course, I've never been approached..... 

[hopefan]

Some would call it a cop out... but the final hopefan player of the week was an easy pick for me..

It goes to The Principia Men's Team.... Any other team would have shut it down after losing 18 in a row, but Prin first defeated Fontbonne on Senior night to get their first conference win with Justin Ball, Parker Davidson, and Jeff Ross each having big nights to drive that win.  Then, rather then resting on their laurels, they did the unimagineable, winning at Westminster, pushing Westmin into a sweat-it-out tiebreak situation... driven by Adaku Anumu's 6 for 9 from 3's and Parker Davidson's clutch free throws to win it in the final seconds... And I won't forget to mention Prin's 3 Musketeers, Seniors Savoye, Sanders, and Hammond, who did just enough to help get the wins, rather than too much to hurt their chances... a great way to go out, a week for them to never forget...

[hopefan]

The tournament page is up in SLIAC.org, and yes, hopefan got it right....

First thought... may be the best tourney atmosphere in years, hosted by Mac, who brings large, LOUD student attendance... Unfortunately we'll get no one but family from Spalding and Westminster.. maybe a handful from Greenville...

Hint.. Westmin and Greenville... with promotion, and maybe if the Athletic Dept would cover the cost, I'd bet you could get a busload of students to take the trip... I would think most had put away the books for the weekend by 2 or 3:00 Thursday anyway.....

[hopefan]

Where have all the posters gone?

Yjack... Lengthy vacation to the ODAC room

WUH...  up the creek without a paddle in the UAA room

Bunchtime.... Grumbling at home over the Gorlocks performance while performing babysitting duty

Denny.... Down highway 44 watching HS basketball

AllAmerican Red....  wandering the Fontbonne campus endlessly searching for Denny

ECRed..... Waiting for next year, thinking oh so close

haterithehouse... in hiding with Blackburn's resurgence to contention, with nothing to complain about

The CCIW guys... they have their own fun in the CCIW room

the 500 views per day this room gets shows there is interest...why we don't get new posters, I'll never know...the stuff I put out should be discussion worthy... I give up...

[y_jack_lok]

Where have all the posters gone?

Yjack... Lengthy vacation to the ODAC room

The ODAC room needs more help. They don't have a hopefan to carry the load, plus they care much more about football.

[y_jack_lok]

Some interesting stats, hopefan.  Also, I think at stake today is Coach Bunch finishing outside the top 4 for the first time in his tenure at Webster.

And Buncher, not sure if you'll agree with me or not, but Coach Bunch is likely putting some of the burden of this season's poor finish on his own shoulders... Webster, to me, clearly had top 4 talent.. this was not a team coming in inexperienced, decimated by graduation or injury... somehow this team could not play to a reasonable level of expectation on a consistent basis.. the critiques you wrote in the last several weeks were right on... Virtually the same team is back next year, and that's a long way away, but certainly new goals need to be set to get the best out of this group....

I would agree that Webster had the talent to make the tournament. I would also agree that Webster was not "inexperienced or decimated", but there was no height to replace Aaron Griffin. Also, the 2nd leading sorer in program history, Ahmad Smith graduated. Kudos to Westminster and Spalding for doing just enough to sneak into the tournament ahead of Webster.

[hopefan]

Interesting tidbit... Jamal Daniels, listed as a junior on Greenville's roster, has enough credits to graduate next December, and will not play next year... he took part in the Senior Day awards ceremony at Greenville on Saturday.  Daniels blossomed in Greenville's introduction of the system... he went from a little used role player last year to a consistent scorer and rebounder on Greenville's second unit this season.. he was very good free-wheelin it in the system, usually from the foul line area, shooting short jumpers or taking it to the basket... he was perfect for Coach Barber's system... very disappointing Greenville won't have him back next year.... 

[allamericanredhead]

Where have all the posters gone?

Yjack... Lengthy vacation to the ODAC room

WUH...  up the creek without a paddle in the UAA room

Bunchtime.... Grumbling at home over the Gorlocks performance while performing babysitting duty

Denny.... Down highway 44 watching HS basketball

AllAmerican Red....  wandering the Fontbonne campus endlessly searching for Denny

ECRed..... Waiting for next year, thinking oh so close

haterithehouse... in hiding with Blackburn's resurgence to contention, with nothing to complain about

The CCIW guys... they have their own fun in the CCIW room

the 500 views per day this room gets shows there is interest...why we don't get new posters, I'll never know...the stuff I put out should be discussion worthy... I give up...

OH OH Hope, you do a great job. You should be commish or at least get some kind of award named after Lee McKinney. There are enough of them around the FC campus, but please BRING BACK DENNIS. This board is just not the same without him. Kind of like that squeaky screen door (back in the pre-AC days) that you get use to until somebody oils it and then you miss it's annoying regularity? Same with Dennis.

[allamericanredhead]

Wasn't it the Kingston Trio; Where Have all the Flowers Gone? How about Where have all the posters gone, gone grave yards everyone. Hope, who you like in the Women's Trn and can the men finally get a TRn win?

[hopefan]

Wasn't it the Kingston Trio; Where Have all the Flowers Gone? How about Where have all the posters gone, gone grave yards everyone. Hope, who you like in the Women's Trn and can the men finally get a TRn win?

Easy answers Red... Westminster Women should dominate (hope that's not the kiss of death), AND, sad to say, one and done with the men... 

once again, soapbox... it's such a shame D3 doesn't have a play-in type game like D1 has, where the bottom 4 or 6 or 8 are matched up... I would love to see an NCAA game where the SLIAC champs could go to a neutral court and have a shot at a team more on their level.. the champ of the UMAC, or the Presidents conf or the AMCC or the SCAC....but nope, we're always the bottom seed, we always play a top seed, we always get praised for how hard we play, and we always get beat....The players and coaches and families and me( ) deserve better.

[hopefan]

Another tidbit that deserves bold print

Tim Daniel is going to graduate from Greenville with a 3.99 grade point in Pre-Engineering... he'll finish up the combo graduate degree at Wash U or U of Illinois..

Tim certainly should be a leading candidate for the prestigious Jostens Award to be presented in March... D3's Student Athlete Player of the Year... The SLIAC would have the honor of having candidates two years in a row, as Spencer Whitlock from Mac was a finalist last year....

[y_jack_lok]

Another tidbit that deserves bold print

Tim Daniel is going to graduate from Greenville with a 3.99 grade point in Pre-Engineering... he'll finish up the combo graduate degree at Wash U or U of Illinois..

Tim certainly should be a leading candidate for the prestigious Jostens Award to be presented in March... D3's Student Athlete Player of the Year... The SLIAC would have the honor of having candidates two years in a row, as Spencer Whitlock from Mac was a finalist last year....

So much blank space above. I will not say what I'm thinking.

[hopefan]

Another tidbit that deserves bold print

Tim Daniel is going to graduate from Greenville with a 3.99 grade point in Pre-Engineering... he'll finish up the combo graduate degree at Wash U or U of Illinois..

Tim certainly should be a leading candidate for the prestigious Jostens Award to be presented in March... D3's Student Athlete Player of the Year... The SLIAC would have the honor of having candidates two years in a row, as Spencer Whitlock from Mac was a finalist last year....

So much blank space above. I will not say what I'm thinking.

Where did that come from... must have fallen asleep ... I got rid of it...

[WUPHF]

I wish I could contribute more.  I think about heading over to Webster or Fontbonne almost every Wednesday, and then one thing leads to another and I do not make it.  This has definitely been a season to follow SLIAC basketball.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Wasn't it the Kingston Trio; Where Have all the Flowers Gone? How about Where have all the posters gone, gone grave yards everyone. Hope, who you like in the Women's Trn and can the men finally get a TRn win?

Easy answers Red... Westminster Women should dominate (hope that's not the kiss of death), AND, sad to say, one and done with the men... 

once again, soapbox... it's such a shame D3 doesn't have a play-in type game like D1 has, where the bottom 4 or 6 or 8 are matched up... I would love to see an NCAA game where the SLIAC champs could go to a neutral court and have a shot at a team more on their level.. the champ of the UMAC, or the Presidents conf or the AMCC or the SCAC....but nope, we're always the bottom seed, we always play a top seed, we always get praised for how hard we play, and we always get beat....The players and coaches and families and me( ) deserve better.

If we had all the millions of dollars that D1 has to pull those games off... we would have it. But we don't have that TV contract. Furthermore, D1 basketball breaks a lot of the "rules" that the rest of the NCAA (all divisions and all sports) play under because they do bring in the millions, really billions, or dollars. I hate the play-in game because it is a gimmick... it isn't rewarding anyone but allowing the big conferences to get in a few extra teams to boost the money. It isn't about getting in more good teams... it is about getting in more average teams who should be in the NIT in all honesty.