MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Pat - this belongs in the SLIAC room  -   Oldschool32 - welcome, but come into the SLIAC room that already exists  - you're likely to get some answers to your questions.

[hopefan]

FC  -  I was going to say that Maryville or Webster would play them, but thought it would just be too mean!!!!

[oldschool32]

Who do everyone think will win the conference this year?  Will Eureka pull it off, or will MacMurray stay on top?   I think that it's kind of up for grabs, the teams tied for fifth last year (Westminster, Greenville) were only three games behind.  Who are the teams to watch for?  The players to watch for, starters and bench role players?

[fcnews]

Hopefan - I didn't want to have to play the "Cupcake Card", but you forced my hand. Let's take a look at your namesakes schedule.

Hope College plays:
Cornerstone Christian
Grace Bible
Marygrove (USCAA)

That's two NCCAA teams and an USCAA affiliate. So I guess our best chance of seeing Hope in St. Louis is if they can arrange a home and home with StL. Christian.

[fcnews]

Old School - I would say that Webster will be the team to beat followed closely by my Griffin's. It will be a scramble for spots in the post season tourney. Westminister, Greenville and Maryville should also contend. I'm not very familar with what Eureka and Blackburn will have this year.

A few players to watch:
Webster - Two all - conference players in Hoggatt and Kuhn

Fontbonne - Fogerty and McCoy. And special interest story, Terrance Lovette

Westminster - Buxton and Kurz

Greenville - Simmons and Ellis

Maryville - Holland

Eureka - McComb

I know I have forgot some quality players but I hope this helps

[hopefan]

FC  -  You'll get no arguement from me regarding Hope's schedule  -

many have argued with Coach Van Wieran, But Hope insists on scheduling several Local and or Christian Schools each year, despite the fact that under the newer ratings formulas, they hurt themselves by not playing in region D3 schools - 

However, I will say, Cornerstone has been consistently good, and competitive to both Hope and Calvin.  Grace Christian of Grand Rapids on the other hand has been pitiful - and Marygrove is first round fodder in one of Hope's tourneys.

[oldschool32]

FC- It helps.  Also, from GC another player I believe to keep an eye on is Hensold.  Hensold and Simmons are in their final year so they will come to play.  I believe that Ellis was a very key role player off the bench last season.  But, we should see him in the starting lineup more this season.  GC also have a couple of new faces that will be used in the mix, if the coach makes the right rotation that is.  One of those faces is Cosby, solid all around player that can post up and bring the ball up the floor.  That's a newcomer to look out for.

[oldschool32]

A few players to watch:
Webster - Two all - conference players in Hoggatt and Kuhn

I highly agree with you about these two players.

[Gregory Sager]

Hopefan - I didn't want to have to play the "Cupcake Card", but you forced my hand. Let's take a look at your namesakes schedule.

Hope College plays:
Cornerstone Christian
Grace Bible
Marygrove (USCAA)

That's two NCCAA teams and an USCAA affiliate. So I guess our best chance of seeing Hope in St. Louis is if they can arrange a home and home with StL. Christian.

You're way off on Cornerstone, FCNews. First of all, it's Cornerstone University, not "Cornerstone Christian". Second, the Golden Eagles may be an NCCAA affiliate, but they're also an NAIA affiliate -- and, more importantly, they participate in the NAIA (Division II) on both a league basis and a postseason basis. Third, Cornerstone is a serious national powerhouse on the NAIA-2 level (and NAIA-2 is more or less comparable to D3 in terms of competitive level on a national basis, as can be seen in the head-to-head records of the two divisions as tracked by Rhodes Scholar on this website). The Golden Eagles have a streak of 20-win seasons that goes back quite a ways. They won the NAIA-2 national championship in 1999, reached the Final Four in 2003, and the Elite Eight in 2005 and last season.

As Hopefan said, the Golden Eagles annually play both Hope and Calvin. Cornerstone has beaten the two MIAA powers several times over the years. If the Golden Eagles were to visit St. Louis in a typical season, I'd certainly pick them to beat Fontbonne or Webster.

[pantherpride06]

FC- It helps.  Also, from GC another player I believe to keep an eye on is Hensold.  Hensold and Simmons are in their final year so they will come to play.  I believe that Ellis was a very key role player off the bench last season.  But, we should see him in the starting lineup more this season.  GC also have a couple of new faces that will be used in the mix, if the coach makes the right rotation that is.  One of those faces is Cosby, solid all around player that can post up and bring the ball up the floor.  That's a newcomer to look out for.

I would agree with you 100% oldschool.  The Panthers, with the loss of Conquest and Taylor, have a great core and great newcoming cast of ballers to fillout the Panther lineup.  Schedule shows they are off tonight and begin action tomrrow with Dubuque and Tuesday with the annual McKendree Game.  Should be interesting to see how the pack fairs this year.

[hopefan]

Well just about ready to start   -  let's hope the SLIAC can pull out some wins against some tough comp tonite - I'm going to take my new laptop to the Webster game tonite on the offchance I can get a connection  - in which case I'll periodically post some results-  but if that doesn't work, I'll stay in touch with Eureka SID, FCnews, and Yjack    -  no one else?   Panther, any one want to get in on this from Greenville?

[hopefan]

WELL WELL WELL  Webster beats Transy, 70-54  -   Really led the whole game  -  Up 13 at half, Transy cut is to 9 a couple of times, but never got closer.  Poor Transy really shot poorly - perimeter shots were there, but nothing went in, and Webster's inside defense really made it tough for Transy to get good shots around the basket.  Newly appointed point guard Ryan Turk had a great shooting night - couldn't miss in the second half - finished with 21.  Brad Robinson played more minutes that at any time last year, and was dominant on the boards.  Darin Hoggit only had one  hoop, but got to the line numerous times, ending up in double figures.

Most impressive was the significant depth Webster showed - 4 new faces all blended in nicely (Paradoski, Niebugge, Jungk, and Tiemann)  And Josue Whitcombe had 10 points off the bench  -  11 guys saw significant time.

In the first game, Hanover beat Denison - neither team could be pleased with the way they played   -  Webster has a very decent shot at a win tomorrow.

From Chicago and FCnews, William Penn Beats Fontbonne by double digits, though Fontbonne cut it to 5 in the second half.  Wm Penn evidently deluged the griffs with 3 pointers.

And on the scoreboard, Maryville stuns Edgewood, 78-74,    MacMurray beat by Adrian, Eureka clobbered by whitewater, Westminster nips Rhodes

[BunchTime]

To expand on what Hopefan has said, Webster is as deep as they have been in recent time.  They can play 11 guys and not lose a whole lot.  I was also in attendance, and very impressed with this Webster team.  Robinson and Hoggatt are going to give teams fits from the inside.  Turk displayed his shooting ability tonight.  Paradoski is a solid guard off the bench who provides the Gorloks with a true point guard.  Kuhn didn't play that well tonight, and the Gorloks still won convicingly, which is very encouraging. 

As for some of the newcomers on the team, I am very impressed with Niebrugge and Tiemann.  I believe this team is going to be very good this year!

[fcnews]

A correction to the score on the sliac website. Wm. Penn beat FU 90-71. And yes, 16-23 from the 3's is pretty darn impressive.

[Gregory Sager]

That's a very solid win for Maryville. Congrats to the Saints.

I don't know how good Transylvania is, but the Vampires were the HCAC's tourney reps last season and they were picked third in that league's preseason poll this year. That appears to be a very strong win for Webster, so congrats to the Gorloks as well.