MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[fcnews]

Is anyone else shocked that Sean Wallis of Wash U. was omitted from the A.A. list?

[Pat Coleman]

I'm not. It was a tough year for guards.

[fcnews]

Pat - That was more of a local question, I guess? The STL fan's got to see a lot of him. With the help of your live feeds. When I think of point guards he has most of what I'm looking for. But, that being said, there were a lot of guards that put up big numbers this year.

Troy Ruths - selection is about what I expected. He is one of the top 5 post players in the country. Freeman is an excellent player and  deserves it.

[fcnews]

Anybody watching SIU's Fallker pounding the boards yesterday should know. His H.S. running mate Quentin Gordon (Gateway Tech) will be a Griffin next year. About 6'3 with great athletic ability. Also, FU had another 6'7 recruit on campus Saturday. He's narrowed it down to Wash U. or FU. We'll keep our fingers crossed. No Hope. This is not the kid you are trying to recruit for EC. He has narrowed it down to UMR or FU.

[hopefan]

can the redhead really help Fontbonne - not right away - but he could probably play immediately at Maryville or Eureka...   thinking for the kid, and I don't know him and wouldn't get involved, Fontbonne is not the place for him in his situation...

[y_jack_lok]

Isn't Falker at SIUC a junior? Is Quentin Gordon transferring in or is he a senior at Gateway Tech? If the latter, then he and Falker would only have overlapped for one season. Does that make them running mates?

[fcnews]

y-jak - Gordon will be a junior next year. Hope you got to think about the future. Not every freshmen can help right away. He would be a great project. Give him two years. He would be a sophmore when FU's kids are jr.'s and sr.'s.

[fcnews]

"Fontbonne is not the place for him in his situation...." Hopefan what situation are you speaking about ? Just curious.

[fcnews]

Did anybody see the attendance figures for the FF's ? Having watched both on the Live Feed, it was really tough to see the crowd at Salem.

[hopefan]

Was referring to playing sooner rather than later   -  plus, I question whether he's at the same level, or has the potential to be at the same level, as Storandt, White, and Fogerty and the old guy -  I question his aggressiveness.  Given MU's and EC's lack of big men, he would likely find significant time right away - particularly the way Coach Rogers subs at MU (for better or worse, but that's another topic for another day)  -  Fontbonne on the other hand, tends not to go to the bench as much...

[fcnews]

It's hard to go to a bench, till you build a bench. If your referring to MU's 12-15 man rotations, 1.) Coach Rogers shorten that bench late in the season. 2.) If he lacks the necessary mental game at this time, do you want to throw him in and let him sink or swim. Or, do you want him to go someplace and get brought along a little slower. The slow treatment probably made Lovett a much better future player. He learned to play the total game and his role. As, opposed to just throwing him in and letting him "get his game on". Lovett probably would of started for most small schools from day one. But, In my opinion he will be a better player in this system.

[hopefan]

10 questions meant to stimulate conversation...  and one additional silly one at the end....

1)  Who are leading candidates for the SLIAC commish job - what challenges face the commish -  if there were a 5year plan for the SLIAC, what would be key elements?

2)  Will the outstanding recruiting class that Fontbonne had with local kids this past year (Branch, White, and Parker) stimulate other St Louis kids to consider the SLIAC -  What can the SLIAC do to get the kids who are currently going NAIA or sitting at D2?

3)  When is it time to kick back?  Should Coach McKinney consider his health and advancing age and move to an AD only position?

4)  Will Lincoln Christian be back next year in the SLIAC, or as rumor has it, will they drop out, unable to meet NCAA team requirements?  Who would you like to see SLIAC teams schedule in replacing the two lost games?

5)  Who are next year's favorites - (yes, I know it's pretty obvious) who will finish 2nd to Fontbonne?   

6)  Is everyone satisfied with the four team conference playoff at the league Champion's court?  Should more schools be in?  Should a neutral court be considered? 

7)  Will the coach from Blackburn stay?

8)  Eureka - a good young coach, but loses so much from this year's team  -  can he recruit some quality size, or will they fall dramaticly in the standings?

9) Maryville  -  a bizarre season, rumors of unhappiness abound.  Can Coach Rogers turn it around?  Are the youngsters that he has in the backcourt good enough to compete at the level necessary to play with Westmin, Font, Webster, Mac?  Can he recruit some mobile, strong big men - does anyone think his current big people can cut it?

10) Can Webster adequately replace Spinner?  Can Roberts or Regan do the job?  Anyone new beating down the doors?

11)  Will any fans snub the SLIAC for potential national powerhouse Wash U?    Can Fontbonne or Webster pull the upset of the year when they play Wash U next year - would that generate some instant recognition or what??!!


Remember - these are just to try to give us something to think about for the next 8 months....

[y_jack_lok]

Great questions. Maybe we can keep some conversation going to ease the pain of withdrawal.

In response to #11 above, no SLIAC team will beat Wash U next year. However, for the record, Webster beat Wash U 80-70 on Nov 25th 2003.

[fcnews]

Just a quick response for now. Will touch on more later.
1.) The Commish job is down to four candidates. None are names that are recognizable for this area.

4.) LCC will be on the SLIAC schedule next year. As of this moment.

10.) No.  Roberts and Reagan will never be a Scott Spinner type player. Question : Does Webster have to have a dominant point guard to win the SLIAC. Or are their bigs that good.

11.) What fans? The SLIAC has fans!!! Wash U.'s scheduled dates and SLIAC dates will allow us to enjoy all of STL D3.


#4.) It amazes me that this question keeps coming up. Before it was has the game passed him by, can he still recruit ....yada yada yada.
A.) There are know health issues. He'll be swinging the golf sticks by the end of summer.
B.) You'll never see a Griffin team coached by anyone else as long as Coach is AD. He's always been a Coach first and administrator second.
C.) If he wanted to kick back he probably would of thrown his hat in the ring for the Commish job. AD is not kicking back. Not when you've just added Lacrosse and Football is next.
D.) We live in a wonderful country. It is every persons right to persue the profession we choose no matter race, sex, age, ........

What is an "advancing age" ? It's sometimes hard to think about it, but aren't all of our ages advancing?

I beleive age only plays a part when an individual can no longer successfully do their job. I don't think anybody will question Coach's abilities. We don't ask accountants to just kick back and file papers at any certain age, so why coaches?

Fontbonne has had not one , but two, of the best recruiting classes this conference has seen in a while. Four of the five starters on this years team have been selected All - SLIAC and they haven't entered their junior year yet. Four of this years Griffins squad turned down D2 offers to play at Fontbonne. Fontbonne is a great school. But, I think part of their chosing might of been who they were going to play for.

He's not recruiting like a Coach who is planning on going anywhere.

Hopefan - You know who reads this board. Advancing Age? I think there might be one FU wife who won't be in the welcome line next time you come for pizza. LOL

[Pat Coleman]

Damn -- guess it's too late for me to apply.