MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[y_jack_lok]

Good grief, fcnews and hopefan, you guys are like the Odd Couple. It might be fun for the two of you, but I wouldn't mind a bit if you quit the bickering. I still want to be on good terms with both of you, but I can't help but say that some things get carried a little too far.

[pantherpride06]

Gotta love a little SLIAC Board competitive banter.  Mercy Sakes.  All this complaining about the officials and if you look at it, Maryville had 24 turnovers.... they had all the chances in the world if they wouldn't have turned the ball over.  They also had tons of other opportunities with Fontbonne's 31 turnovers.  Maryville also shot 33% from the field.

I'd like the take the complaining off the "Homer" refs and onto Maryville and not taking advantage of given opportunities.  Don't complain about the refs if you have 24 TO's and shoot 33% from the field.  It's just like Indiana v. Minnesota the other night.  Should my Hoosiers have lost that game last night, Kelvin Sampson could not have turned on the officials because they had 26 turnovers while the Gophers shot 17% from the field.

As much as I complain too, it's the teams that need to take care of it on the floor, no matter what the officials are doing.   Win or lose, if you hit your FT's, take care of the ball, and hit your shots, you can guarantee the fate is in your hands... Crappy officials or not!


NOTE:  I am not a Fontbonne fan.  I'm not sure it's allowed being a Greenville grad.  However, I am looking at the situation with an open mind.

[fcnews]

Well put Pride. I am a Logger fan. And another good win last night. Could you move the games up a couple of hours for us midwest fans.

[pantherpride06]

Haha.  Games times tonight are Women at 6pm EST and 8pm EST.  Sorry I can't keep them there all the time.  The 8pm EST and 10pm EST game times have been set for a while.  I'm not sure I have the power to move the games up quite yet for those on the Midwest.   However, I'm working on webcasting for our games.  Look for that next year!

[y_jack_lok]

Webster escapes with a 66-63 win at Eureka.

[pantherpride06]

Holy Cow.  Look at those SLIAC Scores today.  1 pt here, 3 pts there...  Fontbonne was in a battle, ended up winning by 15.  Only up 2 with 7 minutes to go.  No updates from my Greenville folk.  I'll let you know when I do!

[pantherpride06]

Latest text from Elsah is Greenville wins by 3.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Holy Cow.  Look at those SLIAC Scores today.  1 pt here, 3 pts there...  Fontbonne was in a battle, ended up winning by 15.  Only up 2 with 7 minutes to go.  No updates from my Greenville folk.  I'll let you know when I do!

Latest text from Elsah is Greenville wins by 3.

Exciting day in the SLIAC! 

I asked on CCIW Chat last Saturday if the CCIW had ever had a day like that one, but I'm now wondering if ANY conference has ever had such a day: 4 games decided by a total of SIX points (and one of the 2-pointers went to OT, so at the end of regulation, 8 teams, FOUR points differential!  National Enquirer reports that coaches aged by an average of 3 years, 17 fans died of heart attacks, but oh! was it fun!

[y_jack_lok]

If the final of the Greenville-Principia game was a 3 point differential as pantherpride indicates, then that will be 3 games decided by a total of 7 points (Webster 66-Eureka 63; Westminster 58-Blackburn 57; and G'ville by 3). Sadly, Maryville spoiled the party beating MacMurray 83-68. The Fontbonne 15 point win over Lincoln Christian doesn't count since it isn't a conference game.

So it looks like the CCIW still has the tightest weekend results.

[Mr. Ypsi]

That was LAST weekend for the CCIW.  What I'm trolling for is whether anyone can recall ANY conference EVER having a day of games like that?

[fcnews]

Word out of Lincoln, IL. - FU came out sluggish and LCC played a great game.

Just a few stats that I did receive:
Fogerty - 38 pts. 15-24 from the field 8-10 ft. and 11 boards.
McCoy - 13 pts.
Branch - 12 pts.
Storandt - 11 rebounds

FU runs record to 11-3 going into a big match up wednesday nite. Hosting Westminster.

[Elwells2short]

Maryville came out and played a pretty good first half leading 56-29 after 20 minutes.  It's was nice to see, as I worried they might still be suffering from a hangover after Wednesday night's draining loss.  MacMurray tried to make a game of it in the second half, but Maryville cruised to the double digit win.  No one in particular stood out for the Saints, a lot of guys with 8-12 points.  I'll follow fc's lead in giving Curtis Goodwin some recognition.  He knocked down another 4 or 5 threes today.  I didn't know who he was either until the conference season started, and now he seems to get a bit better every game.

I think some credit needs to go the MacMurray players and coaches of both the men's and women's teams.  In a year where there's not much winning and probably little support from the school, I thought they played extremely hard.  They weren't there feeling sorry for themselves.  Coach Creal and the women's coach Jenson both urged their players on for the full 40 minutes and kept their teams in the ballgame.  The MacMurray women gave the Lady Saints their toughest conference game of the year.

I think I speak for the entire Maryville community (all 11 or 12 of us) in saying that the Saints definitely did NOT get screwed on Wednesday night.  They lost for the exact reasons pantherpride pointed out, and because Fontbonne scored 3 more points than the Saints did.

[FU Fan]

Sounds like some close ones today.
FU was sluggish on the start today. Not much went down the drain early on. LCC played a pretty good game especially in the 1st half. Out a little bit, back a little bit. It looked dicey for awhile. At game's end I'm asking myself where did the 78pts. come from. I don't keep everyone' s points in my head and it really didn't look like anyone stuck in high numbers. Then I hear Fogerty had 38 ? I sure didn't think so. The MU game tired them out and I'm sure MU was feeling it today too. Get some rest for WED. I think you might need it. Oh yea the officiating was almost outstanding. I think both teams would agree.

[fcnews]

Wow!!! Checking WU's boxscore. Look at those minutes played:
Turk (36), Hoggatt (33), Niebrugge (32) and Hrdlicka (29)

Those are the same kind of minutes FU's coaching staff catches flak for. Maybe someone else has figured out you put your best five on the floor. If they are in good shape. Rebounding WU 41 EC 16 domination on the boards. Great shooting by EC's guards.

Good win for Webster. Tough loss for EC_SID.

[sully309]

Webster holds off Eureka 66-63.

I'm not sure how to feel after this game. It's really a half full or half empty situation. On the one hand, EC went toe-to-toe with the best team in the conference (yes, I've seen everyone except for Greenville so far and I have no problem saying Webster is the best team. They're not a lot better than Westminster or Fontbonne, but I have to give them the nod) and had a shot at the end to force OT despite getting shellacked on the boards (42-16).  On the other hand, I'm getting a little tired of moral victories. They're not helping in the standings any.

This game not only would have given us a leg up in the HPI (Hopefan Percentage Index as described several days ago , but it would likely have given EC the tie-breaker should they end tied with Greenville or Maryville and split the season series.

It's remarkable how long Webster had gone without having a close game. You have to go back to their 2nd game of the season. Not everyone has had a shot at them and even fewer have had them at their home gym, but EC definitely has given WU their toughest game in conference so far. But, that is yet another moral victory.

I was impressed with Robinson and with the strength of the Webster team as a whole. Most of them look like they could be playing linebacker on Sundays. They're going to need to take better care of the ball if they want to keep up their winning ways though. Shooting a tad better from the outside would help too.

After EC shot 7-14 on three-pointers in the 1st half, I thought another half like that was needed to stay in the game. I was wrong. EC shot just 3-11. I also looked up and with about 5 minutes left in the 2nd half, EC had 4 rebounds in the half. Part of that is the size advantage Webster had, part was WU getting better position, but part was also the ball just not bouncing EC's way...and that's frustrating.

Some thoughts on the final few plays...EC was in a tough spot down by 3 when Webster had the ball. There was about a 25 second differential and EC still had 3 fouls to give. It looked like the plan was to play super aggressive D and if a foul was called so be it. There was a foul called with about 43 seconds left. After a few touch fouls were not called, the plan changed to just try to get a stop. That worked out and Zasada got a rebound. Timeout was called with 5.9 seconds left.

EC ran a nice play to get McComb a decent look from just behind the line. Personally, I thought he was hit on the arm...and I wasn't the only one. There wasn't a huge uproar from the EC bench, which was about 3 feet from the play, so I must wrong. Someone definitely got a piece of something because the shot never really had a chance to go in. It's very tough to call a foul in that situation, especially when it's tough to tell even if you're right there where the contact occurred. I'm not blaming the officials by any means. I thought the game was fairly called throughout. Just because a biased person sitting courtside thinks there may have been a foul doesn't mean there actually was.

Speaking of moral victories, Rough day shooting for Westminster vs. Blackburn. Bryan Waters missed a potential game-winning shot at the end for the Beavers according to the Westmin web site. That's a tough way to lose. I think Blackburn and Mac have proven this week that you shouldn't count them as an easy victory this year.