MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Final Prin 65 Spalding 54. Spalding misses James turner who had no miss class. Nick trisko gets 33 points for spalding. Prin has anumu Davidson Paulson and goodman all in double figures

[WUPHF]

Final Prin 65 Spalding 54. Spalding misses James turner who had no miss class. Nick trisko gets 33 points for spalding. Prin has anumu Davidson Paulson and goodman all in double figures

That is awesome...

By the way, I think I might have missed any discussion of the hiring of Zimmerman as the full-time coach. 

He is tied for the youngest coach in the conference, but has been around Principia for a while.  I imagine that having an insider may be more important at an institution such as Principia than most colleges.

I know it is early in the season, but any thoughts...

[hopefan]

Principia, as I understand it, can ONLY have a member of the Church of Christian Science on the coaching staff.. so while they might not be an insider to Principia College, their beliefs will definitely be in line with the school.. yes the current coach played at Prin (a good player, but with a bad reputation around the league), then helped with the ladies team and or the men's teams in recent years.  In the two games I've seen, he has been tremendously quiet...but he has the players to make substitutions wit, and he does so - quite reasonably in my mind.   He has the guys going to the basket rather than shooting the 3.. something that might turn Parker Davidson into a 1st team all conference player... and there is less offensive reliance on Justin Ball, which may contribute the big bodied center the energy to play 5 or 10 more minutes per game.  Prin's two new faces are manning the point guard spot, and both right now may be trying to do too much,, if they can tone things down just a little, Prin will win enough to make the conference tourney.

Spalding was missing James Turner, which was huge... BUT, I'm not sure they havee the talent this year to be top 4....

[hopefan]

Tonight

Mac at Iowa Wesleyan.... IWC shouldn't take this game lightly, because Mac plays hard... but IWC should win this one by double digits.

Fontbonne at Westmin.... Westmin had a tough trip to Nebraska, but Fontbonne is far too undermanned until the injured return, if they return..Westmin by a lot

Eureka at Blackburn.... if I wasn't tired of Driving, I'd go back up north to see this one.... I expected Blackburn to be sneaky good, but look who is 5-0.. Eureka!!! Feehan is doing everything averaging 31 ppg, new face Kendall Davis is putting in 25 PPG.. returners Weigand, Thomas, and Gibson are all playing steady, and the bench is making positive contributions... Surprisingly, both of these teams appear ready to challenge for a conference tourney spot....

Greenville at Webster... who knows... Webster has the talent to beat the system, but do they have the discipline...the Gorlocks did beat Greenville twice last year.....Excited to see this one.....

[hopefan]

Webster has relatively little trouble beating the System, as they handle Greenville 133-120... superb games by Hunter Ward and Xavier Dortsch with countless passes for open layups... that was Webster's winning strategy.. pass up the open 15 - 20 footer when another pass or two gets a layup... the recipient of many of those passes was Evan Milligan, who came incredibly close to a quadruple double, with 30 points, 18 rebounds, 9 blocks, and 7 assists.  There were many highlight reel plays, but the play of the night was a 2 on 1 break with Ward lobbing a pass at full speed perfectly to the hoop and a flying Milligan slamming it through...  Credit also to Greenville.. they never stopped playing and several times cut Webster's lead to 9 or 10 points... once again, just not the shooters needed to carry it onward.. One who did shoot well, EXTREMELY well, was Kenny Greene, who went 8 for 11 from 3's, 32 points.  Unfortunately, the rest of the team went 7 for 35 from 3 point land, a palty 20%.. and the Webster zone kept Greenville from finding the easy drives to the basket that they found against Transylvania on Monday.  Webster now 3-0 vs Greenville's system over this year and last.

Elsewhere, Blackburn nips Eureka, 92-90... exactly the barnburner I expected... Blackburn comes back from a double digit deficit in the 2nd half, and have all 5 starters as well as a man off the bench hit double figure scoring... Play by play indicates Blackburn's DeAndre Manual makes 2 free throws with 19 seconds left to put BC up 92-90, and Eureka misses a go-ahead 3 point shot in the last seconds...Shea Feehan and Kendall Davis continue their scoring spree for Eureka with Feehan going for 36, Davis 25...

STAT OF THE YEAR SO FAR    Shea Feehan 58 for 59 from the free throw line in 6 games

Also, as expected

Westmin over Fontbonne 94-69    Romo Tabb 26 points

Iowa Wesleyan over MacMurray  106-77  Brock Butler 25 points


So what does the first night tell us?   It looks like an 8 team horse race, with Mac and Fontbonne looking forward to playing each other for 9 and 10.  And lo and behold, Font and Mac play on Saturday, meaning contender vs contender in the other 4 games - tough to decide which one to see, but I'm thinking I already have it figured out....

[WUPHF]

As long as you pass on Eureka vs. Spalding, you would have more than enough time to (hopefully) watch a ranked WIAC team play Washington University in the Lopata Classic!

I know you have seen these two teams a bunch (pun intended), but I am going to take a guess and say that Webster vs. Principia is calling your name.

[hopefan]

As long as you pass on Eureka vs. Spalding, you would have more than enough time to (hopefully) watch a ranked WIAC team play Washington University in the Lopata Classic!

I know you have seen these two teams a bunch (pun intended), but I am going to take a guess and say that Webster vs. Principia is calling your name.

WUH.. I owe you.. hitting Wash U (assuming 2nd game) is a great idea

As to which game, Prin-Webster is a good call, unless Blackburn - Iowa Wesleyan were to be considered.... 

[y_jack_lok]

Webster has relatively little trouble beating the System, as they handle Greenville 133-120...

Shout out to the Webster coaching staff for having the players properly prepared and ready to play. Playing against "The System" would seem to be as hard mentally as it is physically and Webster's players did an admirable job of keeping their heads most of the time.

[hopefan]

Webster has relatively little trouble beating the System, as they handle Greenville 133-120...

Shout out to the Webster coaching staff for having the players properly prepared and ready to play. Playing against "The System" would seem to be as hard mentally as it is physically and Webster's players did an admirable job of keeping their heads most of the time.

+1 Yjack... agreed 100%

[hopefan]

Speaking of the system... how about the Webster ladies... a toned down version, but pressing the whole game, platooning 2 groups (every 5 minutes rather than every 1 or 2 minutes)... creating 47 turnovers from a veteran Greenville team, and pulling away in a couple of minute stretch in the 3rd period... kudos to Webster coach Jordan Olufson for this new look... it's renewed my interest in SLIAC women's hoops...

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Webster has relatively little trouble beating the System, as they handle Greenville 133-120...

Shout out to the Webster coaching staff for having the players properly prepared and ready to play. Playing against "The System" would seem to be as hard mentally as it is physically and Webster's players did an admirable job of keeping their heads most of the time.

A lot of opponent's coaches will tell you that preparing for a System game is one thing... but it takes two or three games to get back to normal. It really does cause the opponent problems well after the fact. Though, SNC seems to have solved it most years. LOL

[hopefan]

Big day tomorrow in the SLIAC as the 8 expected contenders play each other, while Mac and Fontbonne grapple for their first win of the season.

Greenville at Westmin.... Westmin dominated the Greenville system last year in the conference tourney, winning by 18... they have a combination of smart guards plus big men who can attack the basket... they should beat the system...

Webster at Prin.... Too much quickness by Webster for Prin to handle... Webster's zone will keep prin away from the basket... Webster

Iowa Wesleyan at Blackburn...  I haven't seen either team yet this year... excited to go to Carlinville to see this one... Expecting a close, high-scoring game, likely in Blackburn's favor.

Eureka at Spalding.... We'll find out how Spalding plays with James Turner.. they were pretty bad without him... Big Nick Trisko should have a field day against smaller Eureka team... tough long trip for Eureka... Spalding recovers from loss to Prin to nip Eureka...

Mac at Fontbonne... Fontbonne missing more critical pieces than Mac... Mac gets the win....

[hopefan]

Tough board...  Hater-in -the -house.... any chance you'll be at BC game today?  Look for hopefan...

Loyal Webster fans... if you've never been to Principia, you should go over today... Webster-Prin will be a good game... and the ride along the river is beautiful... only an hour trip....

and WUH, YJack... will see you at Wash U tonight....

[WUPHF]

#gameday

[hopefan]

What a day for SLIAC hoops  5 conference games, 3 of them down to the wire including what has to be the comeback of the year (or collapse of the year depending on your perspective), an unexpected (by me) blowout, and a loss driven by the benching of a team's best player...   now kiddies, let me tell you all about it....

I traveled to Blackburn expecting to see a tight game between visiting Iowa Wesleyan and BC.. but I knew I was in trouble when I saw that Blackburn's DeAndre Manuel was not dressed for the game... the team's leading scorer, the team's leading rebounder... what injury had put him on the shelf for this big conference matchup after he had just led BC to a thrilling win over Eureka with 20 points on Wednesday night... NONE.. rather some transgression that necessitated a 2 game suspension from BC Coach Steve Kollar (this I learned from a BC parent sitting on my left.. I delved no further, and apologize if it is not fact)... but hooray for Coach for making that tough decision... With Manuel out, Blackburn started a smaller lineup which still outrebounded Iowa Wes, but couldn't generate the scoring punch they showed vs Eureka, and Iowa Wesleyan wins 76-65.  Iowa Wesleyan looked really good... the Soukup brothers were tremendous... identical twins, very smooth players, basketball smart beyond the D3 level... just very good movement without the ball, maneuvering for good shots, making good passes.. I almost got the feeling they were toying with the game, doing only as much as they had to in order to win the game, and that their play could escalate to another level whenever necessary...time may prove me wrong, but I was impressed.  And we knew the returning players - Butler, Jones, Drey, Singletary were good... They quickly jumped in my mind to being a top 4 team in the conference... unfortunately, they are still not eligible for conference tourney play.

The game of the day was the Eureka at Spalding game... you need to look at the play by play to see why...After missing a game winner in the last second vs Blackburn on Wednesday night, Eureka comes back from 9 down with 1 minute 10 seconds left to win by 3!!!  The miracle comeback was generated by Spalding missing 6 of 8 frre throws in that time span, and the one man show put on by EC's Kendall Davis, scoring 12 points in a row in that time span...Here's how it went down..
Spalding up 9
EC's Davis makes a 3 pointer at 1:08
Spalding up 6, misses two free throws at 0:53
EC's Davis makes another 3 pointer at 0:45
Spalding up 3, Spalding makes one of 2 free throws at 0:37
Spalding up 4
EC's Davis is fouled, makes both free throws at 0:29
Spalding up 2, Spalding makes one of two free throws at 0:28
Spalding up 3
EC's Davis makes a 2 pointer at 0:17
Spalding up 1
Spalding misses 2 free throws at 0:16
EC's Davis makes a 2 pointer at 0:10
EC up 1
Spalding turns the ball over at 0:02
EC's Hank Thomas makes 2 free throws for the 3 point win

It's a LONG bus ride from Spalding to Eureka... I can't begin to imagine how much fun it ws on that bus!!!
And poor Spalding Coach Kevin Gray may never sleep peacefully again....

EC's Shea Feehan finishes with 27, (alas, I jinxed his free throw efforts by putting them out on a post... he was only 10-13 in this game).. Davis adds 26.. 12 in the last 1:08.

Elsewhere...

Greenville absolutely crushes Westmin... I sure didn't see this result coming, and would have to ask Westmin coach Matt Mitchell what went wrong... Westmin committed a boatload of fouls (30) and attempted 17 3 point shots (you're not supposed to beat the system shooting 3's), but both of those stats may have been caused by Westmin being so far behind for most of the game... Kudos to Greenville for bouncing back after a discouraging loss to Webster..7 in double figures led by Shane Smith with 21, and a marked decrease in personal fouls and turnovers from prior games... those kinds of stats are going to win games.

Webster gets a huge game from Hunter Ward and nips Prin 63-60... Ward gets 20 shots, only 3 of the 3 pointers (missing each of the 3) but is 10 for 17 from 2 point range, finishing with 23... this is the kind of game I expect from Ward.. using his athleticism to get him good shots from closer range, being the active, dominant force in Webster's offense.  I commented that I thought Webster's speed might hurt Prin... it may have, as guards Jon Odjo and X-man Dortsch each get 9 points coming off the bench.  Prin's numbers were disappointing...Paulson with 6 turnovers, Davidson and Ball generating next to no offense... I don't understand why that is happening.. well, I do understand why it's happening, I hope to see it corrected... Prin has too much talent to settle for being a .500 team in this conference.   
In checking the play by play, the final was 3 points, but Prin never was close enough to have a tying or go ahead possession...

And in the battle of the winless, Fontbonne and MacMurray both stay winless through regulation time, but Fontbonne prevails in OT 76-67.  Mac misses the bunny shot at the end of regulation that would have won the game.... Jack Lake gets 6 in OT to lead the way for the Griffs.  Good to see Kody Ettinger back in the lineup for Fontbonne, but Ben Kissing still missing... one notable from the box score, Fontbonne goes 6 for 32 from 3 point range.. that's a lot of misses...layups and 15  foot jump shots might be a little more efficient....