MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

Hoops in Hawaii? Awesome!

[hopefan]

HEY HEY  Tanks to buddy Y-Jack for letting me know Webster's schedule is now posted.

Webster's non conference schedule:

2 games in Wash U's Lopata Tourney, opening up with Tufts  (22-7).  The other pairing is Wash U (21-6) hosting Wabash (11-15)

vs Millikin (3-22) at home

2 home games in the Webster Classic... opening with Coe College (10-15).  The other pairing is Centre (14-11) vs Carthage (18-8)

at home vs Robert Morris - Peoria (5-13)

At the Nashville Classic vs Berry (10-16)

[hopefan]

July 12
           "The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) today announced the fifth annual Team Academic Excellence Awards, created by the NABC Committee on Academics. These awards recognize outstanding academic achievement by teams with cumulative grade point averages (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the 2016-17 season."

In the SLIAC, only Greenville made this List.... Congrats to the Panthers, tremendous job.... that's what it's all about..

I guess the rest of the SLIAC schools have loaded up with professors who are tough graders!!   

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ I'm surprised none of the SLIAC women's teams made the list. Or is the NABC just a men's organization?

[hopefan]

^^^ I'm surprised none of the SLIAC women's teams made the list. Or is the NABC just a men's organization?

The offset organization for women is the WBCA.  They have a top 25 honor roll for each division, which should be coming out very soon for 2016-17 if it hasn't already.... it is not yet listed on the WBCA site. 
In the 2015-16 season, one SLIAC team made that list.... Westminster (Mo.) came in 2nd in the nation in Div 3, with a 3.662 GA.   First was the University of Dubuque at 3.685.

[hopefan]

Westminster Mo at Wash U, New Year's eve (time not yet announced)

Keep your eye on this one...

Thought I would be on the road south by then, might have to wait a day or two and stick around to see this one....

[WUPHF]

Westminster Mo at Wash U, New Year's eve (time not yet announced)

Keep your eye on this one...

Thought I would be on the road south by then, might have to wait a day or two and stick around to see this one....

It would be interesting to know how ready and willing the coaches are to post the rosters...

Incidentally, the Washington University basketball schedule was published especially early: http://bearsports.wustl.edu/sports/mbkb/2017-18/schedule

In my time, I have never seen the team play Principia or Westminster (in the regular season).  Also noteworthy is the fact that the team is opposite the schedule from Webster in the Lopata Classic.  The teams have played 25 times going back to 1985-1986 but that may not happen this season.

The Washington University-Westminster game is old news...

Washington University plays Principia and Fontbonne on the road as well.

The Bears would play four SLIAC institutions this season if everything worked out.  That would be the most games against in a regular season in my time following the team, but it seems highly unlikely to happen.

[hopefan]

Westminster Mo at Wash U, New Year's eve (time not yet announced)

Keep your eye on this one...

Thought I would be on the road south by then, might have to wait a day or two and stick around to see this one....

It would be interesting to know how ready and willing the coaches are to post the rosters...

Incidentally, the Washington University basketball schedule was published especially early: http://bearsports.wustl.edu/sports/mbkb/2017-18/schedule

In my time, I have never seen the team play Principia or Westminster (in the regular season).  Also noteworthy is the fact that the team is opposite the schedule from Webster in the Lopata Classic.  The teams have played 25 times going back to 1985-1986 but that may not happen this season.

The Washington University-Westminster game is old news...

Washington University plays Principia and Fontbonne on the road as well.

The Bears would play four SLIAC institutions this season if everything worked out.  That would be the most games against in a regular season in my time following the team, but it seems highly unlikely to happen.

My point in making the comment was not that there is a game between them, BUT that it could be a very meaningful game, especially for fans who want to see the best of the SLIAC have an opportunity to gain national exposure.  "Strong" SLIAC teams have had opportunities to play Wash U over the last 10-15 years, and USUALLY have come up on the losing side.  If Westmin returns all their underclassmen and plays to the level they reached last year, a win over Wash U at the end of the nonconference  sked could be just what is needed to get recognition for a SLIAC team in the polls. 

[WUPHF]

I was higher on Westminster than you last season...

This is certainly the year for Westminster to make some noise, but I am not yet ready to add this one to the list of potential upsets with the roster from last season.  This is going to be one of the best Washington University teams to play since the last time the two teams played.

[hopefan]

Greenville is next on the list that has posted their complete schedule....

Non conference games are:
at Transylvania    (17-10)

2 games at Case Western Reserve   (Tourney)   haven't yet seen who else is in..

Knox (2-21) at home

at Buena Vista  (14-12)

2 games at Defiance  (Tourney)  (Greenville opens vs Waynesburg  (6-19),  opposite Defiance (6-19) vs Wright State-Lake County)

I love tourneys, but wonder if Greenville's use of the system is making it a little difficult to find teams to come to Greenville.  Still, the thought of bringing home "weekend Gold" is very motivating....
With their tremendous graduation losses (what a great senior class last year!), Greenville is the most serious mystery among several mystery teams next year in the SLIAC.

So we now have schedules from Blackburn, Greenville, Principia, and Webster...

Looking for Eureka, Fontbonne, Iowa Wesleyan, MacMurray, Spalding, and Westminster.

[CoachM]

www.mchighlanders.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbba

[hopefan]

Yep.... MacMurray schedule is up.  They have:

Monmouth (6-17) at home

Central Christian College of the Bible (12-16) at home......   this team beat Westminster 2 years ago

at Augustana  (24-9)

at U of Dallas  (9-16)

At U of Texas - Dallas  (12-15)

Sewanee at home  (15-13)

Robert Morris Springfield   (0-18)

[hopefan]

In the top 25 room, D3hoops has researched and generated a D3hoops.com top 25 ratings thru the years that D3hoops.com has functioned.  Every weekly top 25 rating through the years is on a spreadsheet... it is intriguing to review.

Unfortunately, I had to respond to their research this way:

"Nary a single ranking for my SLIAC men        

Who else is in that "unmentioned" club?   Oh my gosh... NO ONE...

Every other conference had at least that one bright moment when a member made the rankings....  the President's Conf had its Bethany, the CCC had its Endicott, the Liberty had its Hobart, the NAC had its Husson, the UMAC had its Northwestern...

But the SLIAC, well......   Never.....  Which goes along with our winless record in the NCAA tourney, though a couple of "close but no cigar" experiences."

[Greek Tragedy]

Wow, that is a lonely place to be. Has the SLIAC been that bad as an overall conference? Does that show there hasn't even been a dominant team, ever?

[gordonmann]

I think this is byproduct of two things:

1) Lack of conference strength: The SLIAC has one of the weakest non-conference resumes in Division III, whether we're looking at post-season or regular season. That's not really a surprise.

2) Geographic location: Other conferences with comparable strength, like the NEAC or NECC, are located far enough away from the Central that they don't have to face a CCIW, UAA or WIAC team in the first round of the tournament. So Morrisville State was able to win a couple games in the NCAA tournament and break into the final Top 25 poll. Once they played a NESCAC team -- the power conference in the Northeast -- their ride ended. Elms/Husson put up a good enough overall record to crack into the lower part of the Top 25.

SLIAC teams spend the regular season playing the CCIW and Wash U, and then have to play them or the WIAC again in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The UMAC is in a similar position (swap MIAC for CCIW) but Northwestern (Minn.) had a Cinderella run through the first weekend of the tournament, keeping them off the list. I think that's the only UMAC team to make the rankings since Superior did it while in the WIAC.