MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Didn't get to Fontbonne game - looking at the box  score shows all the positives that FC mentioned in his analysis, but shows a cause for concern too - all 5 starters played in the 35 minute range, only one sub had more than 4 minutes - can the team play this way all season?  Fournie, Fogarty, Storandt all play so hard, I'd think it would be very tough to play that much every game.  Parker needs to get his problems straightened out and be a major contributor, and hopefully Lovette can find his magic from last year and help. Frosh Sheetz looked good vs Wash U and may earn more minutes..

[fcnews]

Freshmen Ben Rapp played a solid 15 minutes hitting both three point attempts. He and McCoy handled the Eagles press well. RMC-S is one player away from being pretty tough. And, kept the game just close enough to test FU. The Eagles have played well since Lee's return. They loss to UMR by 9, won two in a tourney somewher and beat Principia 103-80 before taking on the Griffins last nite.

Terrance Lovette nade his return from a two week layoff. T. got a chance to break a sweat, score a bucket and grab 3 rebounds.

Two tough Back-to-Back contests really tested FU's conditioning. Now the boys get some much needed time off. Fournie is sporting one heck of a black eye from Tuesday nite. Storandt looks like he's been in a fight with a mountain lion. Someone needs to trim some nails.

Hopefan has already started the bench issues. It was just a little later last year when this started. As we get into conference play the time will get spread a little more. You can only play five and Fogerty, Storandt and Fournie are upset if they don't get 35 minutes.

[hopefan]

Enjoy California   -  take it easy on the poor kids from Caltech

[fcnews]

Top of my Christmas List:
Santa bring Hope the job at Blackburn. To much knowledge to sit behind a desk. "A mind is a terrible thing to waste".

[buncheriffic]

lets give a congrats to Fontbonne on there good start of the season

Big win against Moody Bible (3-7)
Win against Robert Morris (6-9)
Win against Rose Holman (2-6)
Win against Mac (1-6)
Will beat Cal Tech (0-4)
Will beat Hope International Christian College (1-5)

Looks like they will be 6-3 Nice scheduling for Coach McKinney

[fcnews]

Correct Buncherific- And 3 loses

Wm. Penn 12-2 (#11 NAIA 2)
Wash U. 7-2 (#12 D III)
Webster 4-3 (2007 SLIAC Co-Champ)

[pantherpride06]

Why does it always come down to people bashing schools because of their schedule.  I will concede to the fact that you must schedule semi-difficult be successful. However, if Coach McKinney wants to schedule those schools, let them do so.  If Coach Bunch wants so schedule hard, then schedule hard.  Fact of the matter is, Webster has had a tough schedule, but has it really helped?

1994 - Webster is the #3 seed in the SLIAC Tourney. Beat by Blackburn in the first round
1998 - Webster is the #3 seed in the SLIAC Tourney. Beat by Fontbonne in semi-Final
2005 - Webster is the #1 seed in the SLIAC Tourney. Beat by Blackburn in the title game
2006 - Webster is the #3 seed in the SLIAC Tourney. Beat by Maryville in the semi-final game
2007 - Webster is the #1 seed in the SLIAC Tourney. Beat by Fontbonne in the title game

Yes, Webster can schedule tough, but they've dropped the ball in the last three years.  Don't come down on Fontbonne's scheduling.  It may come down to the lack of winning the big games.  In 11 years of the SLIAC Tournament, Webster is 4-11 with two league championships and no tournament championships.  So, whats the deal?  Why pound on their schedule?

Source: www.sliac.org

[y_jack_lok]

pantherpride is correct about everything except that Webster's 2007 loss to Fontbonne was in the semi-finals.

[BunchTime]

Panther, though you are correct in your statements, I think they are a bit deceptive.  Webster's schedule has seen an upgrade since Coach Bunch's arrival, and since his arrival here at the conference records of each school.

Webster 53-21
Blackburn 45-29
Maryville 41-33
Fontbonne 40-34
Greenville 37-37
MacMurray 35-39
Westminster 32-42
Principia 17-57
Eureka 12-6
Lincoln Chr 2-16

Although they may have lost in the SLIAC Tourney, these numbers are more indicitive of how strength of schedule has helped the Gorloks.  That is a .700 winning percentage, while the second best school is at a .600 winning percentage.  Anytime you look at 1 game, the numbers can be skewed, and therefore, the better sample is to determine how strength of schedule has affected the teams are over the course of several seasons.

Additionally, since Bunch's arrival no other school has more league titles then Webster (Blackburn is tied with Webster at 2).  And finally, since his arrival, no other school has finished in the top 4 of the conference every year other then Webster.  This, my friend, is what playing top competition does for a team.  This is no coincidence.

[hopefan]

Yeah Buncher, but I'll bet fontbonne and Greenville have better non conference records!!!!

Ouch - couldn't resist.....

[pantherpride06]

That's fine if you just want to win conference games or pre-season/conference games.  When it comes down to it (ask Tubby Smith), it matters on whether you can bring home the title.  Obviously, Webster hasn't been able to do so.  Tough schedule or not.

Pardon my mistake in the before listed stats.

[pantherpride06]

Yeah Buncher, but I'll bet fontbonne and Greenville have better non conference records!!!!

Ouch - couldn't resist.....

I haven't done a whole lot of research, but I know on Greenville's case, I doubt that is the case.  I'll crunch the numbers.

[y_jack_lok]

In case pantherpride doesn't remember (I'm not saying you don't, it's just not clear from your post) Tubby Smith coached Kentucky to the national championship in 1998, his first season there. Admittedly, those were Pitino's recruits and Smith couldn't bring home another national championship. I lived in Lexington for nine years during which time there were three head coaches at UK -- Joe B. Hall, Eddie Sutton, and Rick Pitino. It's a brutal environment in which to coach. Anything less than a national championship season borders on failure to many in that town. Tubby Smith did the smart thing and moved on to a place with less pressure and less chance of a heart attack.

[pantherpride06]

Alright.  Following some head scratching, here is the numbers I have come up with

Seasons 2000-01 through 2007-08:

Fontbonne: 34-41 (.453)
Greenville: 34-44 (.436)
Webster: 26-52 (.333)

Obviously, I was wrong.  Still, Webster has one Championship Title within that timespan.  Tough record or not...

[y_jack_lok]

And how many does Greenville have?