MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[FU_Pride]

FC....where is the first game of the national tournament for the Griffins going to take place.  Sorry I couldn't make the game, however, i was getting minute-to-minute texts from someone who was in attendence.  and i must say, i was about to have a heart attack... Congrats to the Griffins.  This was a team who lost their starting point guard at semester, but pulled it together.  I would also like to congratulate Patrick McCoy.  He was scrutinized by many throughout the conference season because of his turnovers.  But he pulled it together when it counted the most!!!! Let's keep this thing rolling.  Griffin Nation is officially back on the map!!!!

[pantherpride06]

fcnews was super excited last night.  I could tell as I spoke with him on the phone.  Congrats to the Griffin Nation for making it to the NCAA's this season.

What a great showing my Eureka in their freshman year in the SLIAC.  Make it all the way to the title game and lose in OT.  Wow!  Good for the Red Devils.  They will add to the competitiveness of the SLIAC for years to come.  Thanks for a great season EC_SID.

As for winning the pick-em.  I would like to thank all of those who taught me so much about basketball... my elementary coach Rusty Parsons, Herald Land, coach I worked for in high school, Jerry Hanger, Rob Haworth, Gary Holland....  I give this award to all of those guys......

ONLY KIDDING!!!   I snuck by.  If fcnews would not have dropped out, he would have won.  He had a big lead on us early! 

Great season boys.  Only can hope for better for the 'Orange Crush' of Greenville.  We lose three but keep our core group of kids.  All are already excited and talking about the season to come. 

I love D3 Basketball!

Pride... out!

[hopefan]

FU Pride - Font's opponent will be announced tomorrow  -  the field gets announced tonight, brackets tomorrow.   Just like with D1, it's a total mystery until then.  

Panther Pride - I only hope we see YOU next year !!!???

[fcnews]

MS. College only up 1 on Hardin - Simmons at the half. I don't think anyone in the south wants to win.

[hopefan]

Mississippi College wins  -  news, once again, I really hope you don't have to go all the way down there....

[hopefan]

Interesting  -  Pat's projections have the Fontbonne men in the South, traveling way down to Mississippi -   the women's projections have Maryville, also an 8 seed, in a great Lakes type of Region, traveling north to Lake Forest  ( a group that also includes an old favorite of mine - Hope!!!)

I guess that's what happens to a conference that is in the geograpic middle of the country and could legitimately travel to the west, the south , the midwest, or the Great Lakes to be served up as fodder for a number 1.   Wish one of these years we could shock the world, but until we work our way up the ladder to a 5/6 seed, it's going to be very difficult to get a tourney win.

[fcnews]

Just watched the second half of MS. College game. Big and athletic. I don't think they could beat Univ. of Tampa. Are they better then Wash U. ? FU played both resprctively.

Ok Pat. Let me start the yearly questions. FU went to MS. College in the NCAA's in baseball in 2003. There was a lot of regional baseball discussion afterwords about the mileage. I do beleive that FU is the lowest seeded school in either the Midwest or the South. But, from the southern most point to the northen most point. Clayton, Mo. to Jackson, Ms. is 511 miles. Our University is not in the city limits of St' Louis. You can't use southern most point of St'Louis can you. Also, what map services are the NCAA using this year.

[pantherpride06]

hopefan:  I hope I am still at Greenville or around the area.  I love being apart of this stuff.  If I'm not around, Ill still post on here.  I can't leave all my buddies on here!

[crazeputter2]

Who does Fontbonne play next? Where? Thanks.

[fcnews]

crazzieputter - Check broadcast of Hoopsville starting shortly on d3hoops for some ideas. Otherwise it will be late this evening before coach hears from NCAA. Nice to be a long time member. Friends will know something tonite.

[Drummer1]

Could the Griffins get Chicago. They are in

[Mac Attack]

I agree 110% with hopefan concerning his thoughts on the All Conference selections. This isn't an all conference "team" at all. It would be like the NFL having eight fullbacks and one offensive linemen on its All Pro Team or Major League baseball have ten outfielders on no catchers on its all star team. With all due respect to the SLIAC, this isn't right. An all conference team should have a point guard, a shooting guard, two forwards, and a center. The 2006-2007 SLIAC All Conference team has five players who played either the #4 or #5. Tarpley and Hammond would roam on their individual team's offense and sometimes appear to play the #3 - but that's not their position. In one of my previous all conference team selections, I had Tarpley at the #3 because that's where I thought he played. I was wrong. I understand an outstanding player may be placed on the second or honorable mention team because he's behind another outstanding player at the same position - but it happens all the time in every other sport. Maybe this is the way the SLIAC has always done it - but it needs to be changed to truely reflect a "team."

I also agree with hopefan that this is a process that needs to be conducted in the light of day and not secret ballot. Too easy to harpoon a player - i.e. leave a deserving player completely off the 15 player ballot, while at the same time knowing your player is going to be getting votes from just about everyone else. Not saying this happens - but it could. Not good. Bring all of the coaches or their representatives in one room at one time and ask everyone to announce their votes.

Trevor White was a first team player, period. Just another flaw in the system, but I don't know how you fix that.

Finally, and I won't hit this one too hard, but more than one player on the honorable mention team - according to the SLIAC stats - were one diminsional players at best. I may be the lone wolf on this, but there were a half dozen kids who did more things well (rebounding, shooting percentage, steals, assists, blocked shots, etc.) than some of the players who were chosen. I guess it just goes to show you what at least some of the coaches were thinking, and I, for one, don't understand it. To select players based on last year's reputation or his ability to do only one thing well is a head-scratcher to me.

All that being said, congratulations to Fontbonne for winning the SLIAC tournament and representing the SLIAC in the NCAA D3 tournament. I hope they play well and pull the upset in the first round. They can do it.

And congratulations to Coach Steve Hettinga for being named "Co-Coach of the Year." No one accomplished more, in my view, than he did in 2006-2007. Took over a program last June that hadn't had a winning season in five years, had time to recruit only one player (Farrid Coleman), saw his tallest and one of his best players quit the team three games into the season, and picked by the coaches in the pre-season to finish seventh. All Hettinga did was bring the very best out of every kid and mold this young, undersized group of young men into conference co-champions and their best record in 15 years. And he did it the right way. He never embarressed himself, his players, or MacMurray College. Even after the Highlander's best player went down in the second half against Fontbonne, MacMurray dug deep and pulled out wins at Blackburn and then clinched the co-championship at home in OT against Maryville. I wonder how Webster would have done without Hoggatt, Fontbonne without Foggerty, or Eureka without Tarpley in the same situation? We'll never know. But we do know MacMurray won two tough games without Robertson to get it done. What a tribute to Coach Hettinga and the Highlander players. And with Robertson at about 50%, they led Eureka in the second half in the post-season tournament, only to finally run out of gas and fall to a very talented Red Devil team that came within a shot at the buzzer in regulation to win it all.

The sun is also shining bright in Morgan County, Illinois. After losing its first three games of the season (all at home) and then escaping with a one point win at LCC, no one knew what was ahead. We do now, and what a magical year it was. Four starters return, including two all conference selectionsand two others that could have been. Key players off the bench also return. Two new players who are extremely athletic are already on campus, enrolled, and getting ready to go. More will follow, including much-needed size. I would anticipate the SLIAC race next season will be every bit as competitve as this season. Won't that be something.

Time to take some time off, focus on other issues, and let the engine cool off. But what a year.

[hopefan]

ok brackets are out, and I know some are disappointed, but not me.... this is a very real chance for Fontbonne and the SLIAC to be competitive...  to concenttate on the game and not the travel.   They can win this game if they play very well....  the matchups vs Wash U are not that far off....

[hopefan]

thought there would be some reaction to the local matchup by now....  FCnews, what are your thoughts -

[FU_Pride]

I think that this is a good draw for the Griffins.  Has a SLIAC team ever won their first round game in the NCAA tournament???  Expect a big crowd over at Wash U. this Friday night!!!