MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

(5) Greenville ... Yes, this is likely a surprise to many, but this should be a real challenge for Coach Barber... 8 seniors will be gone next season, 9 if you include big man Adam Warren who disappeared in the 2nd semester... only 44% of points, 27% of assists return from last season.  Do all Johari Dix is the biggest name lost.. he really keyed both the system defense and the offense. Returning are Main liners Eric Williams (who somehow did not make the SLIAC 1st team All Conference last year when SLIAC coaches overlooked both Dix and Williams) (23.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg) and Marvin Bateman (15.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg), but beyond those two, well, it's not conference championship level... Barry Nixon (6.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg) had a string of good games, but overall was inconsistent, and disappered at the end of the season;  Kodi Bodger(5.3 ppg,5.1 rpg) stepped in when Warren left and did little, Austin Contreras (8.8) moved up from JV and played in the second half of the season and was a 3 point threat, Jordan Yates, Darrell Williams, Justin Cross all saw limited time.  All of these guys behind Eric Williams and Bateman are going to have to step their game way up for GC to approach last year's effectiveness.

[hopefan]

(4)  Eureka ...  Tourney champs lose high scoring guard Hank Thomas, workaholic Alec Weigand, sub Don Hardaway....62% points, 71% rebounds return... Dakota Bennington (23.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg), maybe the best returning player in the league.. It's Greenville's Williams  or Bennington... Also back are Austin Juergens (12.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg) and Jordan Dehm (12 ppg, 9.6 rpg).. both took a back seat to the high scoring Bennington and Thomas, but both are All Conference quality, athletic, good size... Koby White and Jalen Hosea both showed good quickness as reserves, and are more than adequate candidates for the point guard position.  Drew Yonker is the potential big man in the middle, showed great promise when he got time, likely could have played much more on any other team in the conference.. he should be a great fit this season... Drew Barth and Kyle Hendricks add quality depth... a well rounded group...

[GU1999]

I'll take the over on GU. 

[hopefan]

I'll take the over on GU.

GC will be a wait and see which of the new faces make the team and how quickly they adapt... remember, my ratings are just of the returning players... nothing to do with new faces...

[hopefan]

3) Spalding .. Late season collapse pushed them out of Tourney slot, they lose only sub forward Keith Wallace.... All others back!!!  96% points and assists, 93% rebounds.  This team beat everyone in the conference at least once except for Webster and Greenville.  This could be the year they come back into SLIAC prominence.  Coming back are the 5 main starters... Dominique Ellis (12.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg), Marcus Montgomery (16.7 ppg),   super quick Robert Bendingfeld (10.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.8 apg), Troy Amamor (9.6 ppg, 6 rpg), and Brendon Holt (6 ppg, 4.4 rpg)... also part timers Brian Tribble, Joby Howard (5.3 ppg), and Jerry Coleman.  Also wondering if Cornelius Watts is back, another quick guard.. he was a regular 2 years ago, list on last year's roster as a red shirt... Spalding doesn't have much size, but lots of quickness that they could win with....

[WUPHF]

So, going all-in on a team that went 10-15 and had almost no good in-conference wins a season ago.  I think I agree, though what do I know.  Fontbonne had a few first-year players that showed serious potential last year.  And, we know they have talent coming in.

It still seems like Webster and everyone else, but I think Fontbonne fans have a reason to be optimistic.

[hopefan]

Fontbonne... ok, call me crazy, and yes Coach Thornhill, I'm continuing to put the monkey squarely on your back... but no SLIAC team (except you-know-who) has more talent returning than Fontbonne.. The only senior leaving is sub Kris McCann.... That means 92% of scoring, 90% of rebounding is back... add to that Noah Coddington, athletic 6'7" who sat out last year with injury, but averaged 7 pts and 6 rebs per game as a frosh 2 seasons ago...Who is back?  Goodness, ELEVEN guys talented enough to play in real time...led by Luke DeLine (19 ppg, 4.8 rPG) a first team all conference talent if he can stay away from injuries.. then run through the list... Jalen Wadlington (8.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg), Caden Clark (5.7 ppg, 2.3 apg), Carter Otwell (in my mind a top 5 SLIAC frosh last year) (8.3 ppg, 4 rpg, 3.3 apg), Jared Woodcock (15.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg), Alex Moliva (5.7 ppg), Gus Kliekamp (9.5 ppg, 6 rpg, 3.7apg), Ian Cochrane (5.7 ppg, 4.5rpg.. another potential real player after a strong frosh showing), Shawn Leonard (3 ppg), Anthony Jones (4.7 ppg), and Carter Collins (3.4 ppg).  Coach and players should be able to play with the big boys this year....

[WUPHF]

Just moving this ahead for anyone is curious about Fontbonne.

Here are at least three Fontbonne recruits...

Cody McKinney, Forward, Sullivan High School
Elijah Rice, Guard, East St. Louis High
Malachy Simpson, Forward, Webster Groves High School

I know less about Rice, but I think McKinney and Simpson will compete for minutes this season.

[hopefan]

1) Webster ... Holy cow... EVERYONE BACK.... 4 all conference players, and a point guard that could have been, along with 4 reliable role players off the bench... this is the team with the best record in the league during the regular season, the conference champs, BUT, the team that couldn't win the BIG game in the conference tourney... this year REALLY ought to be the year the Gorlocks get back to the big dance...Returning is the fantastically balanced starting 5... Point guard tough nosed Aron Hopp (6.9 ppg), 2 guard Josh Johnson (18 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.4 apg), 3 man Enrique Tankins (14.1 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 3.5 apg), strong forward Rod Etienne (13.3 ppg, 5 rpg) and middle man Nigel Wilcox (13.2 ppg, 10 rpg).  Backing them up is a strong bench, all capable of contributing in crunch time...Jordan Clay, Elijah Macias, Blake Ferrell, and Ethan Hughes.

[WUPHF]

Webster could have won the BIG game in the conference tournament.

If anyone from Webster Athletics is reading, $175 gets you an aluminum telescoping handle, highly absorbent pad, a lifetime warranty and it can even be customized with the Gorlock logo: https://www.courtfloors.com/promop-customs.html

I'll probably become a bandwagon Webster University fan sometime after Tuesday, November 26th.

[GU1999]

Thank you Hopefan.  Great info compilations as usual.   Fontbonne has a lot back, but what is coming back was not particularly good last year.  So even with those guys returning, I would not be too excited about them as they were getting worked over pretty badly by the end of the season.  I guess that it is possible that because they were young so maybe they will make a big jump.

As for GU, I am hopeful that next year looks like the 2017/8 season. 

Some may recall that the 2016/7 GU squad went 21-6 (14-4) and won the regular season crown but lost in the tourney championship game to Westmin.  That team was lead by four players Shane Smith, Kenny Greene, Micheal Holm and Elmo Smith.  All graduated following that year and the team lost 73% of their scoring and more than 50% of their rebounding.  As I recall 11 players from that team did not suit up for GU in 17/18.  The main players that returned were a rising Jrs Dix and Saeli and rising Sr. Leib.  In the 2017/18 season those three players accounted for 30.5 ppg for a team that averaged 126.  That 2017/18 team managed to win the league and league tourney and give Augie a legitimate challenge in the first round.  GU was leading after the first 30 minutes. 

I would argue that GU has more returning this year than it did in 2017/18.  Bateman has a legitimate chance to be the SLIAC all-time 3pt shooting record holder and shoots a very high volume at 39+%.  Eric Williams should be a MOP candidate.  He was sensational last year at one of the most important positions in the System.  Both players play the point on the press.  Additionally, they will not have brand new bigs to train to play the back line with both Kodi Badger and Justin Cross back.  Nixon is almost a double digit ppg guy who rebounds well and is a ball hawk.  That is 5 meaningful guys back which is clearly more than they brought back leading into the 17/18 year. 

It is always a bit of a crap shoot to try to compare teams and seasons.  However with Dr. Barber and his very adept staff developing a track record and with a team that is so scheme based, I do think that season comparisons like the one above may be a bit more predictive (or not), but eitherway I do think that the 19/20 team will be hovering around the top of the table again. 

[ecreddevils]

(4)  Eureka ...  Tourney champs lose high scoring guard Hank Thomas, workaholic Alec Weigand, sub Don Hardaway....62% points, 71% rebounds return... Dakota Bennington (23.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg), maybe the best returning player in the league.. It's Greenville's Williams  or Bennington... Also back are Austin Juergens (12.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg) and Jordan Dehm (12 ppg, 9.6 rpg).. both took a back seat to the high scoring Bennington and Thomas, but both are All Conference quality, athletic, good size... Koby White and Jalen Hosea both showed good quickness as reserves, and are more than adequate candidates for the point guard position.  Drew Yonker is the potential big man in the middle, showed great promise when he got time, likely could have played much more on any other team in the conference.. he should be a great fit this season... Drew Barth and Kyle Hendricks add quality depth... a well rounded group...

Defending tourney champs will be in a great position again this year.  A healthy, unfettered Bennington could dominate this league.  All of the other mentioned pieces are back; I personally would look for Jalen Hosea to make strides at point.  EC also adds an important piece in Ian Millsteadt, a very athletic and skilled guard who was First Team all-MWAC at highly regarded Illinois Central College last season:

https://icc.edu/athletics/2019/03/08/gibson-and-milsteadt-named-to-first-team-all-mwac-mens-basketball-team/

[y_jack_lok]

I think hopefan has it right with Fontbonne. They have young talent like Webster did two seasons ago. For Webster that young talent came through last season, though a number of their wins were scary close and could easily have been losses -- both games vs Fontbonne, at Mac, at Westminster, home vs Blackburn. If Fontbonne plays to the potential of that young talent they will be in the conference tourney.

[hopefan]

I love doing things like this, and love reading the responses!!!  Hoping ECred and GU1999 are heard from even more often than last year!!!  Yjack is dependable unless he gets overtaken by ODAC activity... and WUPIFFFFF should keep us aware of going ons at Westmin and Fontbonne... wish we had a central Illinois writer to keep us updated on BC and MAC... anything we hear from Iowa Wez or Spalding would be an unprecedented surprise!!!  Remember guys, I will only be watching on the computer from down here in Fla... need lots of help on evaluating the teams!!!

I am disappointed in our SIDs... only 3 teams have schedules posted so far... compare that to the MWC (all but one school have schedules available), the CCIW (all but one school have schedules available) or the NACC (all but one school have schedules posted)... Ranking those schedules is another little task I thoroughly enjoy....

Also, I'm hoping there will be a newsworthy article regarding the SLIAC coming out in Dhoops.com in the near future... I was made privy, and rather than post here, I passed it on to Pat and staff... keep your eyes open....

[WUPHF]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Fontbonne was very young and inexperienced if you remember that the two transfers were newcomers.

It was basically Luke DeLine, Jared Woodcock and Kris McCann and a bunch of first-year guys...

Luke DeLine, Junior
Jalen Wadlington, Junior (transfer, first-year)
Caden Clark, Freshman
Carter Otwell, Freshman
Jared Woodcock, Sophomore
Alex Moliva, Sophomore (transfer, first-year, played injured before sitting out)
Gus Kleekamp, Freshman
Ian Cochrane, Freshman
Shawn Leonard, Freshman
Anthony Jones, Freshman
Carter Collins, Freshman

As for that newsworthy story, let me guess, Iowa Wesleyan is adopting the system?