MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Mac Attack]

Central (IA) 97   MacMurray 91

Again, more of the same. Poor half court defense, too many breakdowns with the press, too many low percentage shots, and too many turnovers. Still scored 91 - and lost. If MacMurray would execute in the half court a little better, make the extra pass, work an hour a day on weak-side help defense, and shot 50% fewer 3-pt. shots, they would be .500 or better. Before the season started, I would have just about anyone Mac would be above .500 right now. Instead, they're 2-7. Hopefully they can turn it around in SLIAC play. So many opportunities lost...

[yjacklok]

hopefan -- must agree with fcnews on this one. Stone may not be as fast as a lot of guards in a foot race, but you have to admit he has a quick jump and release. As for the difference between his performance against IWU and the performance against Fontbonne -- you saw both games, so just ask yourself which one of those two opponents you'd vote for as the #1 team in D3.

[Titan Q]

"It would have been interesting to see those two teams play without Scott Stone on the floor."


Keep in mind, Wash U played without their best player - 6-6/225 post player Troy Ruths (18.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg).

[yjacklok]

Good point Titanq. Had Ruths been playing Stone might not have gone on such a shooting spree. And if he had been playing without Stone on the floor, it would indeed have been an easier victory than Wash U playing without both Stone and Ruths. But all that is hypothetical -- which is the kind of world we often live in when discussing these things. Reality is what happens on the court.

[fcnews]

I personally would have rather seen WashU with Ruths. FC would have been a lot better off matching up with another big man using their young big men, then trying to stop a "slow' but very elusive Stone yesterday. Either way the out come would have been similar. Still enjoyed the Kid's performance.

There is a big difference in the size of IWU's guards compared to FC's. That's probably why their ranked #1.

[hopefan]

oh, so bigger equals better???  Lots of implications there.

I think, from a defensive standpoint regarding Scott Stone's performance vs the two teams I'll go with the fact that IWU was SO much more aggressive and denied Scott the ball in many instances.  Scott is a good shooter if he can receive the ball, face, and shoot - and if he's "on".  He was totally "on" yesterday, from WAY out, but he was rarely pressured on those shots.  To me , a big difference in the defensive efforts in those games.   The point of Ruth's impact is a valid one - Wash U was very much going to him vs IWU.

Incidently, I asked the CCIW room what the D3 record for 3's in a game was - answer was one of the Grinnell guys in 1998 made 19 - with (ugh) 52 attempts.
Grinnell's game at its height.

[hopefan]

No one has mentioned the great job Blackburn did yesterday at UMSL.  The game was still even with 10 minutes left and UMSL finally pulled away to a double digit win.  Blackburn seems to be adjusting to life without Barnet and Essington just in time for conference in January.  I really feel they'll be a major factor in the race.

And congrats to the silent ones at Westminster.... we haven't lured a writer from there to these pages, but they got one in the left hand column by beating North Park in overtime, sending HOF'r Greg Sager into a state of depression.    Greg, I feel your pain all the way down here - get better quickly

[Titan Q]

Another advantage IWU has defensively in guarding the perimeter is that the Titan big men can guard good low post players one-on-one.  6-6/215 Cory Jones, 6-7/210 Zach Freeman, 6-5/210 Chris Jones, and 6-6/220 Steve Schweer can all go straight up with guys like 7-0 Mike Grunst or 6-6 Troy Ruths, so you don't necessarily always have perimeter guys doubling down (which obviously leads to good looks from 3 if the team passes well).  Generally, IWU's perimeter players are bigger, stronger, and more athletic than their counterparts, so the Titans usually end up doing well defensively outside in a straight-up matchup.  IWU will double the post on occasion and gamble on the opponent not shooting a great percentage from 3 (Chicago burned IWU a couple weeks ago), but they tend to do better playing straight up.

Anyone know how long Ruths is out for Wash U?  That could make or break them in the UAA race.

[fcnews]

Titan - Ruths probably could of played if needed. As far as post play, FC's 6'7 240 Ryan Kirkpatrick did just fine on Wash U's 7-0 footer, 6'8 Justin Storandt did a great job on the boards and probably could of held Ruths to under 46?. Props to the Bears for getting the ball to the hot hand, they set a ton of screens for Scott. The only clear stop and pop he shop that I remember was the one he hit from out by the "Bear" (27').

[hopefan]

I heard all together different for Ruths - i won't discuss the nature of his problem, but the word I heard was that there may be a procautionary procedure necessary, and it is hoped he would be back Jan 7 for first UAA game.  But the problem was potentially not one to be taken lightly.

[yjacklok]

hopefan - thanks for bringing up Blackburn. That performance deserves recognition, especially given UMSL's record.  Even though I am primarily a Webster fan, I have a soft spot for Blackburn both because they have Webster's former men's coach and because my father-in-law (deceased for over 15 years) taught at Blackburn for 21 years, retiring in 1976 or '77.

Also good to see Westminster get in the win column. A couple of their losses have been close and, while I don't know much about their opponents I don't think any of them can be considered patsies.

[thebeav]

I went and saw BC take on the Rivermen and it was a very good game for the first 30 mins.  Blackburn played very hard and as usuall the Beavers out-hustled the larger UMSL team.  The Beavers were leading at halftime and had as much as an 8 point lead.  Down the stretch, the athletecism of the scholarship athletes and depth wore the Beavers down.  However, this was a very strong showing w/ UMSL coming off an upset victory over the #4 ranked D2 school Southern Indiana. The offense is starting to click and the Beavers are hitting their stride right in time. Can't wait to see the exciting games this season will offer. Some have said the SLIAC is down, due to records, but the conference will be closely played among the top 5 or 6!

[hopefan]

Good win for Maryville in the Bahamas over Mt St Joe's, who came into the game with a 6-1 record, their only loss being by 1 point to nationally ranked John Carroll.  From the writeup I received, it was a come from behind effort in the last 10 minutes.   The outside shooting combo of Mike Turpen and Ben Hebl led the scoring, and Steve Bash and Ryan Klein did a good job inside against bigger foes.

Maryville plays Div 2 North Georgia tonite  -  No Ga is 4-2 against d2 competition that I'm not familiar with.  They beat d3 Lagrange in an exhibition by 20.  Looks like MU will have its hands full. 

[hopefan]

Maryville loses to D2 North Georgia  103-93.  Coach's report indicates game was lost at the line where N Ga had 47 attempts to MU's 21.  Report was VERY upbeat ... MU evidently outrebounded a much bigger team, got great guard play from Regan, Hebl, and Elwell  -  Bash had another great game.   uh oh what happened to Turpen???    As St. Louis's other shooter Mr Stone, you have your on nights, you have your off nights.   Interesting, no whiny statement about the foul disparity, just plain "we made a few too many fouls and mistakes to give ourselves a chance in the end".    I am continuing to be more and more impressed with young Mr Rogers.

Next up  Wash U   Jan 4   If you are a SLIAC fan, this game should mean something to you  -  the opportunity for the best team in the SLIAC to beat the perenially best D3 team in the area.   Let's hope it "Graduation Time" for Maryville and the SLIAC.  And in the same breath, I commend Coach Edwards for giving so many SLIAC teams a spot on Wash U's schedule.  Wins over teams with losing records do little for his team's ratings, or for their national recruiting image (Believe me, no kid outside of the local area has heard of any of the SLIAC schools).  By playing 4 or 5 of the SLIAC schools, he has helped make the SLIAC better.

Really looking forward to the Jan 4 matchup.

[fcnews]

Wash U - Plays a heavy dose of sliac schools for possibly another logical reason. In region D3 games with little travel or expenses. And in most cases a chance to add a W to their total. Although, I'd rather beleive it's giving us sliac folks a chance to play a quality team.
Have always wonder why Wash U hasn't added the likes of UMSL, SLUH, SIU or even a SEMO to their schedule.