MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Greenville gets its win beating Covenant in OT.... Everyone has one now... I look forward to a wide open conference race... I have to think everyone is at just about the same level!!!!   Continuing to follow from afar!!!!

[itsnotmeitsyou]

I'll bet Wed. 1/4/23 will feel like Christmas for all the SLIAC teams!!! They'll finally get to play each other instead of the mind-numbing sensation of hitting themselves in the head with a ball-peen hammer of a non-conference schedule.

Are they in danger of setting a new low when it comes to a non-conference win/loss record?

[hopefan]

I'll bet Wed. 1/4/23 will feel like Christmas for all the SLIAC teams!!! They'll finally get to play each other instead of the mind-numbing sensation of hitting themselves in the head with a ball-peen hammer of a non-conference schedule.

Are they in danger of setting a new low when it comes to a non-conference win/loss record?

SLIAC VS D3 thru 12/10 is 13-44
SLIAC VS ALL thru 12/10 is 18-52

Pretty sad, but I'd think there has been worse.  Thank goodness for Prin 5 D3 wins (6 overall) and BC 4 wins vs D3... if not for them, I'd say they would be pushing the record books...

[hopefan]

Nice come from behind win last night for Fontbonne over Webber International... that's two in  row close wins over non D3 opponents, could the Grifs be finding the right combinations?
They play at D2 St. Leo's on Monday, I would be surprised if the wins for Fontbonne continue... it's a much higher level of competition.... but still an uptick in preparing for conference season starting right after New Year's day...

[hopefan]

Fontbonne played very well against D2 St Leo... were within 3 with 10 minutes left... unfortunately went ice cold from the field and St Leo ran away to a 20 point win.   Fontbonne is definitely ready for SLIAC competition....

[y_jack_lok]

Merry Christmas to all.

[y_jack_lok]

SLIAC play starts tonight. Gonna be a fascinating conference race. According to the Massey ratings, Blackburn is #1 in the conference, followed closely by Principia, even though BC's record is 4-8 vs Prin's 8-5. https://masseyratings.com/cb2023/14193

Blackburn's strength of schedule is an impressive 48 out of 417 teams. whereas Prin's is 295. https://masseyratings.com/cb/ncaa-d3/ratings

There are separate links because SoS does not appear in the conference only portion of the ratings.

[TheOsprey]

I don't believe I have ever seen Greenville play so much defense. 
Scratch that!

[hopefan]

And then of course Blackburn goes and loses at Westminster

[y_jack_lok]

And then of course Blackburn goes and loses at Westminster

Massey gave Blackburn a 65% chance of winning that game. I paid a bit of attention to some of the D3 football "pick-ems" this fall. Several of them include how various computer models predict games. The computers generally do not do as well as many of the humans at getting outcomes correct.

[y_jack_lok]

Congrats to Webster's coach Bunch on career win #300 last night -- 79-72 over Spalding.

[y_jack_lok]

I caught about the last 10 minutes of Prin at Fontbonne. The Griffins were up 60-40 when I first tuned in. In the next 3+ minutes or so Prin went on an 11-0 run, but couldn't maintain the momentum, losing 80-65. Massey Ratings had Fontbonne with a 67% chance of winning. Fontbonne has now jumped slightly ahead of Blackburn and Prin in Massey's rankings. https://masseyratings.com/cb2023/14193

Games played against Mississippi University for Women do not count in conference standings, but in its column of record vs conference opponents Massey includes them.

[y_jack_lok]

Former Blackburn coach. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/news/concordia-basketball-players-sick-after-workout/

[y_jack_lok]

Webster, down 53-39 with about eight minutes remaining, goes on a 16-0 run to take a 55-53 lead and hang on to win 64-62. well done!

[y_jack_lok]

Four really close games in the SLIAC yesterday. Largest margin of victory was four points: Eureka 96-92 over Westminster and Blackburn 71-67 over Spalding. Prin won over Greenville by three 94-91 and there was the aforementioned two point win for Webster over Fontbonne 64-62. If every set of conference games is like this it's going to be a really exciting conference race.