MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[GU1999]

Very cool to see Greenville going undefeated in SLIAC volleyball.

I do find it pretty wild that the league coaches would not give GUs coach the coach of the year.  GU lost 3 games in 14 matches (including playoffs).  That is on overall game record of 42 - 3.  Pretty stinking dominant.  Especially for a team which was picked to finish tied with Westminster preseason for second.  GU not only exceeded expectation, it FAR exceeded expectation.

In relation to the first perfect volleyball season since 2009, it just feels off.  But this is not the first time the league has done this type of thing to GU coaches.  '95/6 and GU mens basketball Coach Faulkner comes to mind. 

[WUPHF]

Correction: Blackburn plays Dubuque tonight.  The Beavers are making the most of the road trip.  I did watch parts of the game last night.  Platteville is very, very good.

[y_jack_lok]

Correction: Blackburn plays Dubuque tonight.  The Beavers are making the most of the road trip.  I did watch parts of the game last night.  Platteville is very, very good.

Yep, Platteville looked like it merits its #5 pre-season ranking. Blackburn's closer loss last night to pre-season #16 Dubuque, which I did not watch, the day after the Platteville loss and travel from Platteville to Dubuque, makes me wonder if Dubuque is as good as pollsters think. In fairness to Dubuque, it was their first game and the third for Blackburn.

Webster lost in OT last night at Illinois College. The camera location was so high and far from the court that it was hard to get a good view of the action. IC had a height advantage reflected in the eight blocks they recorded.

[Greek Tragedy]

Tell me Blackburn didn't actually play Platteville, drive home and then drive to Dubuque the next day...

[y_jack_lok]

Tell me Blackburn didn't actually play Platteville, drive home and then drive to Dubuque the next day...

Is that the way it would work? Or could they have gone directly from Platteville to Dubuque and stayed overnight somewhere?

[WUPHF]

Platteville is far too close to Dubuque for them to drive home and back.

They would have lost by far more yesterday if they had driven home overnight and back again to Iowa.

[y_jack_lok]

Forgot to mention about the IC/Webster game, that freshman Karl Moore (not to be confused with sophomore Mark Moore who is still playing soccer and did not play last night) played 29 minutes off the bench with15 points and 12 rebounds.

[GU1999]

SLIAC is off to an 0 and 10 start. 

Between now and November 25 there will be 39 additional games played.  If I were handicapping these 39 based on what I currently know, I would have the SLIAC favored in 4 of the games and all four are home games for the SLIAC.

Spalding v. Boyce on the 15th
Eureka v Knox on the 17th
Greenville v. Northpark on the 20th
Fontbonne v. Lincoln Christian on Nov 23rd

Of course any of these games could be won.   Massey has the SLIAC going 2 and 37 during this stretch with only the wins coming against Boyce and Lincoln Christian.  If correct, the SLIAC would be off to a 2 and 47 start. 

Lets hope I am wrong. 

[y_jack_lok]

I haven't seen ECReddevils post in awhile, so I'll take,the liberty of sharing this article on 2020 EC hoops grad Kyler Stork: http://eurekareddevils.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/releases/20211111g4qjsp

Credit to TitanQ who put it on Twitter.

[GU1999]

At Greenville:
2016/7 - 0 games, 0 points
2017/8 - 4 games, 4 points

At Eureka:
2018/9 - 14 games, 28 points
2019/20 - 21 games, 10 points

Dude is a grinder.  As the articles says, he was always on the outside.  Good for him.

[y_jack_lok]

SLIAC gets its first two wins of the season tonight. Both games played at Fontbonne -- Westminster over Buena Vista 70-67 and Fontbonne over Simpson 68-61. Blackburn loses a close one vs Central 63-59 in a tourney at Illinois College.

[WUPHF]

A great win in theory for Westminster as Buena Vista was picked to finish second in the American Rivers.  A good win without a doubt.

I did go to the second half of the Simpson (picked 6th) vs. Fontbonne and I have to say, that was an incredibly fun game.  Fontbonne looked good and played incredibly hard.

[y_jack_lok]

SLIAC teams go 3-5 yesterday with EC, Westminster and Blackburn getting the wins.

[hopefan]

Something to follow over the season:

Westminster Coach Matt Mitchell has 293 career wins as the head coach of the Jays.... only 7 more needed to hit 300!!!!!
Greenville Coach George Barber has 288 career wins as the head coach of the Panthers.... only 12 more needed to hit 300!!!!!
Webster Coach Chris Bunch has 287 career wins as the head coach of the Gorlocks.... only 13 more needed to hit 300!!!!!

Not inconceivable that all 3 could hit the milestone this season, but it will be very tough...


And as long as we are at it, here are current W/L for SLIAC coaches  (including this season to date)

Westminster    Matt Mitchell    293     287     .505
Blackburn        Austin Kirby      23       18     .561
Eureka             Chip Wilde      172      176    .494
Fontbonne     Lance Thornhill    47       94     .333
Greenville       George Barber  288      269    .517
Principia     Todd Zimmerman    33       66     .333
Spalding         Kevin Gray         81      109     .426****
Webster         Chris Bunch        287    196     .594

and for old times sake, let's add in MacMurray, Todd Creal, current Associate Head Coach at Westminster
MacMurray    Todd Creal          142      190     .428

****    Spalding applied for NCAA D3 status in 2009-2010, and became a member of the SLIAC that year.  They were not a formal D3 member until 2013-2014 (per NCAA records)   Coach Grey hit his 300th win in 2018-19... the records above reflect Spalding years as an NCAA full member

[hopefan]

Interesting stat

Greenville Coach Barber Coaching Record is 288   269   .517

Coach Barber's record prior to using "the system"    200    206    .493

Coach Barber's record using the system..      88   63     .583     (started in season 2015-16)