MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[fcnews]

Daryl now is not the time to get politically correct. You must be mellowing in your advanced years.

[hopefan]

I see Milikin is coming to Webster tomorrow - another great opportunity for a SLIAC team to show they can compete against the next level.  I'd LOVE to see the Gorlocks get a win.   And for gosh sakes push the ball into Hoggitt and the Hawaiian every time down the court!!!!!!!!!

[Daryl L Lloyd]

FC: You are correct, I must be losing my mind in my old age.  Its hard to be anything but mellow right now about a 0-5 record (only because I  have yet to see them play).  I still have high hopes for the guys though, and if they can put it all together, I think we will start to see a turn around this weekend at home. 

[Mac Attack]

I know it's pretty early to tag a game as  "make or break," but I think this afternoon's game between Mac and Cornell (0-3) in Jacksonville could fall into that category. At 0-5, Mac desperately needs a win. They have a common opponent - Grinnell, who beat the Highlanders 132-103 and defeated the Rams 136-112. In four of the five games, Mac lost by ten points or less, so they've been "close." And they were in a position to win those four games with less then three minutes to play. Just didn't get it done. Today, that trend needs to change. If Mac continues to shoot 50% or more of its field goal attempts behind the 3-point line, the margin for error is next to zero. From what I've seen, fewer shots - but higher percentage shots - would make a huge difference. But Mac just doesn't have the consistant three-point shooters to live on the edge.  It does have a number of athletes who can create and score inside. Prediction - a win today will propel Mac toward a plus .500 season and a spot in the play-offs. A loss today, especially if it's an ugly loss littered with missed three-point shots and breakdowns in the press and half-court defense, could push Mac deeper into a hole they will have a hard time digging out of. Let's hope for the best. They can do it.

Go Highlanders!!!

[Mac Attack]

Highlanders got it done, defeating Cornell 65-53. Mac led pretty much start to finish. Mac played much smarter, took better shots, cut down on their turnovers, and seemed to be in the flow of the game from the opening tip. Eberhart had a very, very good game at both ends of the floor. So did Robertson. Downham and Whalen did a nice job of moving the ball up the floor. Hipshir and Compton were steady and played well. Still gave up too many baseline lay-ups, and a couple of times Cornell players drove right through the zone unguarded for easy baskets. Not good. The press was next to ineffective, although it did cause a handful of turnovers. Not sure the press is worth the energy spent. Still took three or four mindless 3-pt shots with no one around and no rebounders in site. Looks like the "five in, five out" days are over. Mac went with about 12 guys, and they came in and out in twos and threes. Seemed to work pretty well, although our best long range shooter hardly played. Would have liked to have seen a little more of the other pretty good freshman, but right now it looks like the coach is seeing what he can or can't get out of some upperclassmen, which is fair.  Bottom line is Mac cracked into the win column, with a tough game Monday night at Bobby Morris Springfield. Looks to me like Mac will be pretty good against teams its own size or a little bigger - mainly because they spread the floor better and take it to the basket and can use its athletes to defend in the half court . Against bigger teams, it looks like they'll settle for the 3-pt shot and live on that ledge. Hope this is the first of many wins in 2005-2006. Congrats to Coach DeNeve and the Highlanders!!!

[hopefan]

Blackburn's win over Eureka is nice, especially considering Webster's recent loss to Eureka, and nice to see Mac get a win (if for no other reason than I don't think Mac Attack could have handled another loss).
         Not much positive elsewhere tho... I went to see Webster  .. wow, they did not resemble the team that played Hanover to  OT two weeks ago.  They need to get it turned around quickly - and I hope they can beat Lincoln Christian next weekend or they could be oh fer going into conference. 
      Fontbonne loses at Franklin, but I see that FCnews favorite frosh Kirkpatrick had a good game, so that helps. 
       Westminster loses to Central (Iowa)- I don't get it with them... they had a lot coming back from last year and finished strong last season... what's happened??
    And Prin.... well they have conference to look forward to in their search for a win
     

[yjacklok]

One thing to realize about Webster is that after Basilio, Spinner, and Roberts, the highest average minutes logged last year by a player in uniform this year is Hoggatt, with 10.7 -- and he's a sophomore. In a sport where experience can be as valuable as talent, that's not a lot of experience. Other SLIAC teams may be in the same boat, but I'm not sure, as I'm as familiar with them. Maryville seems to be the most experienced team this year.

[Mac Attack]

MacMurray returns 10 players who averaged 11 minutes or more from last year's team. Of course that number is skewed by the fact the Highlanders ran the five, five out system and a lot of kids played every game - so not sure how realistic that number is. That being said, Mac does return quite a few players who "contributed" in 2004-2005.

[fcnews]

Back from a long weekend. Yes Ryan Kirkpatrick had a break out game 18 pts and 8 boards. This is what Griffin nation has been waiting for. Due to cold shooting FC was down big early. The young Griffins got under 8 pts twice in the late going, but Frnaklin (3-1) did what good teams do, found the answer down the stretch.

[fcnews]

FC 89 Concordia - Stl 69

First off Kudos to the Concordia coaching staff! Most athletic and fundementally sound Seminary team I've seen in some years.

That being said this was a game the Young Griffin's needed. FC was led by McCoy 23 (5-8 3pt). FC had 5 in double figures and eveyone scored. Ryan Kirkpatrick had 12 pts (6-8 fg) and 8 boards and 4 blocks in only 22 minutes, Brian Fogerty was 6-9 from the feild for 14 pts and 6 boards in 23 minutes. FC shot 11-23 from beyond the arc. The Preachers opened the game pressing. Mac Fans -" if you try to press this years Griffin squad it will be the same results as last year". FC is 6'8, 6'7, 6'5 and all will finish strong.

One down note FC got a little lacks defensively late in this one. The Preachers were 7-16 from 3's.

Saw the future of Fontbonne BBall and it is bright.

[Mac Attack]

Bobby Morris-Springfield 96   MacMurray 81

Pretty tough to take. This Mac team needs to win when it scores 81 points. Highlanders led by seven early, but Morris' height and strength advantage took its toll as the game wore on. Eberhart and Downham played their hearts out and kept us in the game. Everybody else was pretty much in and out. Hipshir knocked down some 3s that brought us back, but collectively, it was too little, too late. Looked good for 2-3 minutes, then a rash of forced shots, turnovers, and poor defense erased any progress we had made. Mac was down by about 15 late in the first half, then closed with a rush to trail by five at the break. Morris opened it back up to about 12-14, then Mac closed it to four again with about ten minutes to play. That's when our half-court defense fell completely apart, and we were murdered on the boards at both ends. Then the press broke down and Morris got some breakaway slams and that's all she wrote. Highlanders played very hard, but the bottom line is if this team doesn't improve its half-court defense, it won't win many more games. We continually give up the baseline, don't fight through screens, don't rotate to the weakside for help, and rarely block out. With Mac's lack of size, the defense must work like a finely tuned piano. Right now, in my opinion, our defense is horribly out of tune. And what's really interesting is there doesn't seem to be any penalty for not playing tough, hard-nosed defense every time down the floor. We break down, give up a lay-up or uncontested 10 footer, and hardly a word is spoken. Some of our shooters are very casual  defenders and seem to operate that way without a worry, and our slashers and best rebounders and defenders don't play much. Why some these kids aren't playing more is a growing mystery. If the Highlanders were 6-1, it would be different. But 1-6 against a fairly weak non-conference schedule is pretty hard to defend. Not really sure where all of this is going to lead, but my sense is the time will soon come when something will have to change. This can't continue.

[iwumichigander]

I would like to suggest Jacksonville area fans put December 17th on your calendar when Illinois College hosts D3hoops #1 Illinois Wesleyan University.  A good opportunity for area fans to see a top ranked team from an outstanding college basketball program.

The IWU Titans travel with a large and loyal fan base (998 average per away game 1975 average per home game this season) which will most likely exceed the average 333 fans attending IC games this season to date (source IC website).

[hopefan]

To FCnews  -  the question arose on the multiregional page if Fontbonne's game vs Concordia actually counts in Fontbonne's record, or is it an exhibition game?  The writer states Concordia is a Seminary - ie graduate school only, and therefore would not count as an official game....  Do you know?

[fcnews]

Hope fan  -  good question! Not that it makes a whole lot of diff now. Concordia used to have an NAIA (or maybe NLSAA) affiliate years back. The statement they are just a Grad school is incorrect. Do to proximity I know of several kids that are there to get their four year degree. I do know that next year FC's schedule includes 2 exhibition games St. Louis Christian and Concordia. This is do to the reduced non- conf. schedules.

[hopefan]

FCnews  -  the below quote from Warren Thompson--


Not to pick a nit, but a quick search of the Concordia Web-site shows only graduate degree programs, from M.Div to D.Min to MA to PhD. Also, they have a graduate deaconess program for women; the LCMS does not ordain the ladies.

He is questioning that you say there are undergrads??