MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[jaybird44]

Webster was able to get some slashes to the basket, and had some good ball movement early while WashU might have still been basking in the Lopata Classic Championship afterglow.  At one point about midway through the first half, Webster was 10 for 16 from the floor, a .625 clip.

From there, WashU took away many of the slashes and forced the Gorloks into being a primarily jump-shooting team.  Webster shot 11 of 40 the rest of the way to finish 21 for 56.  Jack Nolan deserves credit for taking turns to help prevent Josh Johnson from approaching his 20.2 ppg average, as he ended up with 10 points--2 in the second half.

Before the game, as I started to look a little deeper into the Webster stats, I was wondering how it could be 1-5 despite being the pre-season conference favorite and having four starters coming back?  Offensive numbers for the team were down significantly, but some of the defensive numbers are starting out better than last season.  And, the 15 turnovers/game weren't an indicator or a cause for the rough start.  The effort appears to be there.

Then I realized that Nigel Wilcox has departed with his double-double average of 13 ppg/10 rpg, 53% FG, and 2.7 blocks/game.  That is a large void of production to fill.  His ripple effect was profound and very much missed to start this season.

[y_jack_lok]

A bit of a delayed post re Webster v Wash U -- due to Thanksgiving prep and out of town company arriving this morning.

Thanks to jaybird44 for his observations, which nicely summarize the game and the challenge facing Webster given the absence of Nigel Wilcox. I did not anticipate the Gorloks would have as much difficulty without Wilcox as they are. Moving into conference play will hopefully bring some more wins.

It was fun sitting in the endzone with WUPHF and talking about assorted things D3. I'd not watched a game from there before. I could notice things you can't catch from center court in the upper deck, but also missed some things observable from above.  Also seated in the endzone were Fontbonne coaches Thornhill, Fogerty and Gentry -- no doubt scouting both teams, but most immediately Wash U whom they face on Tuesday.

[WUPHF]

Likewise! I'll be there every game for the rest of the season.  Join me anytime!

[GU1999]

With the first games of the SLIAC conference season starting this week it seems to be an appropriate time to take a shot at a reorganization of the leagues hierarchy (and to summarize their season to date in 5 or less words:

1) Eureka
they beat the weak; meh

2) Greenville
competitive losses against quality opponents

3) Webster
sans Wilcox, not the same

4) Blackburn
enigmatic whilst crushed by elites

5) Spaulding
zero win SLIAC playoff contender

6) Iowa Wesleyan
second best SLIAC season eminent

7) MacMurray
well, ...they beat Lincoln Christian?

8)Fontbonne
despite STLCOP loss - upside's there

9)Principia
One Goodman, but team notGoodman

10)Westminster (Mo.)
Worst team in Mitchell's tenure?

[WUPHF]

Hard to imagine that Westminster is behind Principia even if the latter has the best individual player.

[hopefan]

I'll tell you what GU... it is so difficult to figure out...almost 3 tiered as I see it..

Tier 1... Greenville and Eureka

Tier 2.... Webster

Tier 3.....  Everyone else

Can anyone in Tier 3 beat a tier one team....I've seen NO evidence
Can anyone in Tier 3 beat the tier two team... maybe, but I'd put my money on Webster in any matchup

when tier 3 teams play each other, would there be a clear favorite in any matchup... I don't think so....

And Greenville Eureka... wow, with Dehm not playing yet and Daniels time significantly reduced, Eureka's depth is questionable....

Don't push Prin out... if Brennan Paulson is fit to play, their starting 5 is at the level of any of the tier 3 teams.. just depends on how many minutes these guys can give each night....

I've got no confidence in Blackburn.... I'd call Karson Hayes "enigmatic".. or "inconsistent"... if he doesn't come to play, who is capable of playing winning basketball for BC?

Fontbonne... they were building to this year, and players jumped ship... I really like Caden Clark, but the rest, hot one night, cold the next...

Westmin may surprise... it took Mitch a while to figure out who to go with, but the new faces look good..if they can beat Manchester, they can play with any Tier 3 team...

Iowa Wesleyan.... everyone is beating Culver Stockton...  better depth than some of the tier 3's could get them wins

Spalding... they do this each year, play a very good nonconference schedule and get beat up, but are ready for the league... they could challeng any tier 3 team

MacMurray.... good against the weak nonconference...I have little confidence that the midstate small high school kids that MacMurray gets can compete night in and night out with the rest of the conference... no matter how much fire and brimstone coach puts forth, it doesn't translate to talent level

[Greek Tragedy]

Hard to imagine that Westminster is behind Principia even if the latter has the best individual player.

I'd take Bennington over Goodman.

[hopefan]

Just remembered... though there were few games last week...

Hopefan's SLIAC Player of the Week is:
Blackburn's Karson Hayes, Gets a hoop to send BC game vs Pharma into OT, finishes 29 points, 7 rebounds...

Newcomer of the Week.... Spalding Frosh Xavier Gary...14 points, 6 rebounds against a very good Centre Team


And yep... disagreed with SLIAC.org POW, Dakota Bennington, 26 points, 7 bounds, 3 assists, 4 steals in easy win over Dominican

[hopefan]

SLIAC Conference games begin...

One game Tuesday night... Principia at Iowa Wesleyan.... how to pick a winner... gotta sleep on it...

[hopefan]

SLIAC Conference games begin...

One game Tuesday night... Principia at Iowa Wesleyan.... how to pick a winner... gotta sleep on it...

In a game between 2 evenly matched teams, I find 2 reasons to go with Iowa Wesleyan in this one...
     Iowa Wesleyan has better depth players
      Home court advantage... Prin has a long bus ride, plus having to sit and watch the women's game first... makes it tough to come out 100%

Incidentally   interesting women's game.... winless Iowa Wez vs winless Prin.... Congrats to the Prin ladies who have gotten Women's Basketball back to varsity status...

[WUPHF]

Hard to imagine that Westminster is behind Principia even if the latter has the best individual player.

I'd take Bennington over Goodman.

Then I would as well.

I have only paid attention to Westminster and Webster, so my poorly worded reference was between the two teams.

[Greek Tragedy]

Yeah, between the two teams referenced, Goodman is the best individual player. It probably wasn't as poorly worded as it was poorly read.

[GU1999]

Prin at Iowa Wesleyan - IWU - 12.5

The combination of a long mid-week trip and being a one-man show (albeit a very good man), will be insurmountable for the SLIAC's lesser basketball panthers.  IWU will likely play fast in order to increase possessions and really expose the lack of depth of Prin (both starters and bench).  Expect MOP candidate Goodman to go for 30+ in a Jordan like volume shooting night, maybe 12 for 28 from the floor or something similar.  It should be noted that IWU hasn't shot it very well this year slashing 41/33.7/65.8 so there is the off chance that they just can't make baskets and the game remains close.  Although that is possible, its not likely as Prin shoots it even worse.  Ultimatly, IWU will be at the top of the conference table at least until the weekend.

[Greek Tragedy]

I'll take the 12.5 and the over on 32 points for Goodman for 200 Alex.

[hopefan]

37-36 Prin at half... but lots of luck with Trevaughn  points... he sat out at least half of 1st half with foul trouble....Little brother AJ Byrd has had several beautiful penetrate and dish moves for assists