MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[fcnews]

You know your having a fun BBall season, when.  You drive to Sullivan, Mo. for bowling and it's cancelled because of bad weather, so you let your little brother talk you into going out on the last night of "Gigging Season". And I don't even drink!!! And I've never been!!!!!  Anything like Snipe Hunting?

If I don't return, GO GRIFFIN'S !!!!!!!!!!

[SLIAC Man]

Games for Saturday:

Down the stretch they come.

Big game between Maryville and Eureka. Maryville could gain a 2 win lead over Eureka. Not a must win for Eureka, but damn near close.

Greenville needs a Eureka win too.

Prin at Webster. Webster wins by 25.

BC at FC. FC by 35.

GC at Mac. Mac by a few

[hopefan]

Well, I look at things a little differently than SLIAC Man

Yes, the big game is Maryville at Eureka   but
It is a must win for Eureka.  And Greenville wants a Maryville win, though in the long run, if Greenville takes care of business, fourth is theirs.
IF Maryville beats Eureka, they'll be +2 ahead of Eureka in the hopefan methodolgy (see prior writeup for explanation), AND they would hold the tiebreaker with Eureka.  Eureka would need to start upsetting the top group in order to get back in play... HUGE game for Eureka

So, who will win the Maryville Eureka game?   Eureka has surprised me several times recently - they beat Greenville, they lose to Lincoln, they need a miracle comeback to beat Mac..  I can't figure out the real Eureka team.  Maryville played just awful against Eureka in the first meeting, throwing up 38 3 point shots, but that likely had something to do with Eureka's defense   -- but Maryville still won.  Maryville has played much better since that game...Casey Holland has finally become consistent enough for coach Rogers to give 25 minutes a game to, and he's a horse on the boards.  Aaron Steincke has improved, and the guard play of McCoy Goodwin and Baechle has been strong.     IF Maryville has regained their health, I think they'll win this game.  If they're still missing Hentis and Goodwin, Maybe not

While I agree that there is potential for a Mac upset of GC, GC should be flying high over great performances vs Westmin and Fontbonne   this is an expected win in the scheme of things for Greenville - they'll get it.

Font and Webster will both win at home...

[pantherpride06]

Greenville suffered a heart breaker v. Fontbonne and needs a bounce back win.  They will travel to Mac where it was a tough go of it last season.  I remember the game quite well.  I think they team is getting it and will beat MacMurray comfortably. 

Webster & Fontbonne wins hands down.

Eureka/Maryville could be the barn burner of the weekend.  Eureka has been inconsistent in their efforts to make the championship tournament.  That inconsistency may be enough for a Eureka win.  It may have Coach Rogers and the Saints group confused as to what is to come from the Red Devil's squad.

[fcnews]

I offer for your consideration, one other quality candidate for NOY.
Greenville's Ben Cochran:
12.1 ppg (15th), fg% 50 (9th), 2.89 apg (6th), 2.00 steals (3rd), 3pt % 57.6 (1st), 3pt FGM 2.11 (6th)

A pretty scrappy little point guard that does have the stats. Just another name to consider,

[y_jack_lok]

When I mentioned Niebrugge for NoY I was looking at his stats for all games. I see that fc is using conference only stats. Based on that standard Cochran has better numbers than Niebrugge in most categories other than assists to turnovers. I'm sure either would be a good choice, and there may be still others that no one has mentioned. Eight more conference games to go for Webster, seven for everyone else. Stats could change in that time.

Still looking for other suggestions.

[fcnews]

Yjak - SLIAC Conference uses only conference stats when All-Conference selections are voted on. Yes, there may be others. I think these two are pretty good candidates for the top of the pack. No one player has really seperated themselves from the pack. As opposed to last year.

Fontbonne has only one road game left on the IL. side (@ Prin.). Still two tough road games left to Webster and Westminster. I'm still trying to figure how many wins it will take to make the conference tourney. After this weekend, things may be a little more clear.

Chances are real good that the St. Louis I.A.C. post season tourney will be held in the STL again.

[BunchTime]

Just wanted to announce the launching of Webster Athletic Departments new website.  It looks great.  Everyone should take a moment to take a look:

www.websterathletics.com

[sully309]

I disagree with Hopefan that Sautrday's game is a must win for Eureka. To say something like that, you would have to assume (among lots of other things) Westminster is going to beat Maryville on the road next week. Otherwise, EC will get a 2nd chance when they host Westminster later this month (remember, Westminster is only 6-3 right now). Eureka could beat Greenville on the road, and make the tourney even with 2 losses to Maryville and still wouldn't have to win at Fontbonne or Webster either. As far as EC is concerned, Westminster and Maryville are in the same spot, and only one of them needs to be passed.

The last 2 weeks have been much more difficult to predict. I would be surprised if we go the rest of the season without the Hopefan Percentage Index being toppled again.

[hopefan]

EC  -  I will say that my assumption all along has been based on the assumption that Westmin, Fontbonne and Webster are in a group above the group of Maryville, Eureka, and Greenville - if Westminster gets squeezed down to the middle group, my + - needs to be reformulated.

Thus far, Westmin is 2 and 1 against the middle group - yes, if they lose again to that group, things will be tight.  If they win at home vs Fontbonne, again they virtually lock 3rd place...but if they lose....

But for now, I still pencil them in as a best bet for third, and feel that EC or MU is going to have to win at Greenville.  Eureka does not want to have a 2 loss situation vs Maryville....

The what ifs are especially fun this time of the year with all the possibilities....

[hopefan]

A couple people have asked me about the Massey ratings in the last week - kind of in conjunction with the discussion about the possibility of a SLIAC team hosting a tourney game

The massey ratings rate every team in D3 - as well as all other divisions

For the SLIAC, it is not very pretty:

Of 41 full member D3 conferences, the SLIAC, season to date is rated
No 36,  ahead of the CUNY (New york City area schools), the Skyline  (NY City suburban schools), the North Atlantic (small upper New England geography, the UMAC (small Minnesota school, most still in provisional NCAA status) and the NEAC (a mishmash of small upstate NY and NE schools).  Our immediate neigbors are faring much better - The UAA - Wash U included, is No 1, the CCIW No 2, the HCAC  (Indiana) No 17, the NATHC (upstate Illinois) No 35, the IAC (Iowa) no 13

Individually there are 405 schools rated by Massey

72   Fontbonne
81   Webster
188  Westminster
241  Maryville
323  Greenville
326  Eureka
363  Blackburn
396  MacMurray
398  Principia
and Lincoln CC is listed, incorrectly  399

They also have a strength of schedule rating
Fontbonne  318   (FC -what have I been preaching!!!!)

Webster  206
Westminster  189
Maryville  199
Greenville  357
Eureka  298
Blackburn  326
Mac  340
Prin 392
Lincoln  404

The SLIAC is in a no win schedule because league games are against teams rated very poorly  -  Webster, Westmin, and Maryville probably were much higher strength of sched earlier in the season, then got pulled down with the league games.....

[pantherpride06]

Just a shout out to Tom Hart and the crew there for the work on the new website.  Looks sharp.

[fcnews]

FONTBONNE BASKETBALL PROGRAM REPORTS FIRST RECRUIT OF THE '08-'09 CLASS

Daniel Lisch - 6'2 PG out of Bellville, IL. ( Belleville West H.S. )

Daniel is the younger brother of SLU standouts Kevin (Atlantic-10 All-Conference Team) and Thersea ('07 A-10 All Rookie Team). Daniel and his family made it official today and you can look for the release to follow in the Post - Dispatch. He is looking forward to having fun playing ball and enjoying the DIII experience, while only 10 minutes from his siblings. He will be majoring in Special Education and is looking towards a career in coaching.

Lisch will give the Griffin's some depth at the guard spot with his ability to handle the point and shoots the ball well. His brother Kevin is 6th on SLU's all time 3 point list. FU will have a nice mix of experience, with guards that will be senior, junior, sophmores and freshmen. Will allow them to go to a three guard look at times and improve match up concerns.

Remember you heard it here on D3Hoops first.

[fcnews]

Hopefan - Does strength of schedule guarantee or deny FU's chances in the sliac post season tourney? WC has the best SOS and now sits with 3 conference losses one against GC (357). Did it hurt GC in that game?

Until the SLIAC wins a NCAA tourney game, how important is any schedule?

[WU_SID]

Thanks for the shout out pantherpride. We like the new site and it's more reliable than the old one.