MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Westminster is the 9th team to have their schedule up....

at Simpson   (16-10)

Coe  (10-15) at home

at Knox  (2-21)

at Monmouth   (6-17)

Millikin (3-22) at home

Sewanee  (15-13) at home

at Wash U  (21-6)

[hopefan]

Word on the street (or the internet) Monster absences of expected returners have shown at Westminster and Webster...reducing Webster to nearly all Freshmen, and Westminster to nearly all guards...with Westmin falling back, who can be considered favorite in this league? 

Also Prin brings in only 1 player , currently presenting a roster of 8.  Coach Z may have to recruit the phys ed classes  (and would likely improve the bench)!!!! A pretty decent starting 5 is projected, but what else?

Honestly, I know the D3 world looks down their nose at the SLIAC, but this year, wow, who can we beat?

[hopefan]

Received backup confirmation so can announce....Evan Milligan, First Team All Conference as a sophomore last year, has left Webster for Kentucky Wesleyan...  This is such a copy of Steffon Whittingham leaving Webster after he was conference MVP as a soph at Webster several years ago, only to languish on the bench at D2 Lincoln... I have no knowledge of why Milligan left, I won't condemn the move, but let's hope he finds a situation where he can be successful at KWU... on the other hand, such a shame for Coach Bunch and Webster to have to go through this again...

[Greek Tragedy]

Maybe he got a scholarship? Closet to home?

[y_jack_lok]

Maybe he got a scholarship? Closet to home?

Definitely closer to home. Milligan is from Evansville, IN only about 40 miles from KWC in Owensboro, KY.

[hopefan]

Iowa Wesleyan schedule is posted, but showing 20 games, 2 exhibitions.... clearly in error... hoping they get it corrected quickly....I sent a gentle request note, but haven't heard back....

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I need to check exhibition rules - thought they were changed for in-season. Will research and get back to all of you.

[WUPHF]

Monster absences of expected returners have shown at Westminster and Webster...reducing Webster to nearly all Freshmen, and Westminster to nearly all guards...with Westmin falling back, who can be considered favorite in this league?

OK, I decided to take a look for myself...

What the ____!

Romalus, Tanner Cochran and Sean O'Brien are no longer listed on the roster.  Maybe more...I closed my browser after realizing all three were missing.  This after losing Nick Carlos last summer.  This could have been a special season for the Blue Jays, but alas...

[hopefan]

Monster absences of expected returners have shown at Westminster and Webster...reducing Webster to nearly all Freshmen, and Westminster to nearly all guards...with Westmin falling back, who can be considered favorite in this league?

OK, I decided to take a look for myself...

What the ____!

Romalus, Tanner Cochran and Sean O'Brien are no longer listed on the roster.  Maybe more...I closed my browser after realizing all three were missing.  This after losing Nick Carlos last summer.  This could have been a special season for the Blue Jays, but alas...

Good grief... I didn't even notice Tanner Cochrane was missing too... I was too busy swooning over the fact that Tabb and O'Brien were gone...  That could just about be described as 3 of the best returning players in the conference, gone!!!  (Four when you include Milligan of Webster).  It is so difficult for me to conceive of this happening at Westmin... Just seems like a perfect small college setting, great coach, good group of kids who really had a shot at making a lot of noise this year...

[Greek Tragedy]

It will be interesting if they show up on someone else's roster...maybe even outside the SLIAC.

[WUPHF]

It will be interesting if they show up on someone else's roster...maybe even outside the SLIAC.

I hope they show up somewhere even if they never play basketball ever again.

They all had one year of eligibility left and probably 1-3 semesters away from graduation. 

[hopefan]

Iowa Wesleyan Schedule now complete... 10th and final SLIAC team posted

At Coe  (10-15)

2 games at the Wartburg tournament... pairings not yet announced, but other teams are Aurora  (17-9), Crown (8-17) and Wartburg  (21-10)

At Dubuque  (10-14)

2 games at the Nebraska Wesleyan tourney.... vs Nebraska Wesleyan (18-8) and vs Carroll  (13-12)

At St. Cloud State   (19-14)

YIKES  all 7 games on the road!!!  Though at least 2 will be Neutral court situations....

[WUPHF]

There was an article in one of the higher ed journals recently about Iowa Wesleyan that I cannot seem to find.

After the talk they may close a few years ago, they have had two record setting recruitment years.

Webster also set a record in terms of recruitment.

Fontbonne is down even more this year.

[hopefan]

 
With all 10 schedules in, hopefan will turn the computers lose to help him come up with the always controversial "hopefan's sliac schedules watchability ratings".  Actually, the ratings are complete, just don't have the time to post and comment on them... watch for them this weekend!!!   Note, from top to bottom this year's scheduling falls well below last year's...

[hopefan]

OK.. here it is.. hopefan's controversial watchability ratings of SLIAC non conference schedules.... have fun!!!

From worst to best

10.   Eureka... keeping their no. 10 rating from last year...  Robert Morris Springfield, Central Michigan, Robert Morris Peoria, Monmouth, Knox, Dominican, Maryville (Mo.)....   Wow, this schedule is virtually unwatchable...Exciting to play D1 Central Michigan where they'll be badly overmatched, but the rest, ugh... I wouldn't go over to see Maryville, and the rest are pretty awful.  Shea Feehan and the great Eureka fans deserve better....

9.   Greenville....   keeping last year's no. 9 rating!!!     Transylvania, Knox, Case Western Reserve tourney 2 games, Buena Vista, Waynesburg, Defiance....  Two tourneys are fun, but the competition level is low... Transy and Buena are decent mid-level opponents...

8.    MacMurray.... Down all the way from No. 1 last year....  Monmouth, Central Christian Bible, Augustana, Dallas, UT Dallas, Sewanee, Robert Morris Springfield... Coach Creal had no fun playing a super schedule last year and kicked things back significantly.  Augie is obviously top rate, Sewanee pretty decent, and the Dallas schools exciting to visit but both coming off mediocre seasons... the rest are blah...

7     Webster....   Down from 4 last year.... Tufts, Wabash (likely), Millikin, Coe, Centre, Robert Morris Peoria, Berea....    Coach Bunch lost just about everyone, and the schedule, while less than last year, will be a challenge for all the new faces.  The tourney at Wash U vs Tufts and probably Wabash is very tough... Centre and Coe are nice mid-level competition and I'm curious to see Berea... Milikin has a long way to go CCIW or not...

6     Westminster... up from 8 last year.... Simpson, Coe, Knox, Monmouth, Millikin, Sewanee, Wash U...  Had everyone come back that was supposed to come back, Westmin may have been undefeated going into the New Year's Eve game with Wash U, but now, who knows?   Simson, Coe, Sewanee are all decent games, but the Monmouth, Knox, Millikin triple is really popular vs SLIAC for a reason... I see the Wash U game as a gross mismatch now....

5     Fontbonne....  up from 7 last year....   Illinois Wesleyan, Oakland City, Dallas, Robert Morris Springfield, Stl Pharma, Wash U, Illinois Tech... very nice 5 games dragged down by intramural teams Pharma and Springfield.... trouble is, those two might be Fontbonne's only wins....

4     Principia..... down from 3 last year.... Illinois College Tourney (Illinois College, Ozarks, Dominican), Wash U, Santa Cruz and Pacific in Hawaii, Millikin...  Lets hope the ironman 5 of Prin can stay healthy and enjoy this sched... Ic tourney is fair and face it, two west coast teams in Hawaii is Fantastic... Wash U coming to Prin is also a highlight... oops, there is Millikin again

3     Blackburn    up from 5 last year...   North Park, Gustavus Adolphus, Elmhurst, Loras, Illinois College, St. Norbert and someone else in St. Norb tourney.... I love a solid midlevel D3 sched, headed by St. Norb.... unfortunately, Blackburn likely cannot hope to be very competitive against it....

2     Iowa Wesleyan.... a big jump up from No 6 last year.....Nebraska Wesleyan, Carroll, Coe, Aurora/Wartburg, Crown, St. Cloud, Dubuque... again, a very reasonable D3 sched bolstered with a top level D2 opponent.  I really like this schedule....

1     Spalding.... was 2 last year... Berea, Hanover, Adrian, Centre, North Carolina Wesleyan, Roanoke/Bluffton....  Year in year out Spalding plays a diverse sched, meeting schools that have never been exposed to the SLIAC... Yes, they take their lumps, but it usually has them totally prepared to win the SLIAC (ok, last year was an exception to that formula)