MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[last_word]

does anyone know who Fontbonne plays is Hawaii? Their schedule says Chaminade, but Chaminade's web site says they do not play again until January.

[y_jack_lok]

Congatulations to all SLIAC posters on reaching our 400th page. Keep up the chatter.

Happy Holidays to all.

[hopefan]

Last Word  -  I put an email out to Chaminade - will be curious to see if I get an answer....

Jan 3 is a ways off, but it's the first full league day of the new year and it presents 4 intriguing matchups

Webster at Blackburn  -  BC has played both Font and Westmin close -  better than expected  -  Webster on the other hand, has underachieved thus far -  the loser has put themselves at a significant disadvantage to begin the conf season.  

Greenville At Fontbonne  -  Greenville's chance to prove they are for real - I just don't think the two man combo of Ben Cochrane and Laphonso Ellis can overcome Fontbonne's starting five - The Griffs could be coming in with a four game losing streak - They will be HUNGRY

Eureka at Maryville - Eureka comes in 0-2 with losses to Gville and Fontbonne  -  this is a crucial game for them  -  Maryville, who knows - no one writes about them, so I don't know if there has been a mass exodus or injuries that have led to the varying lineups - but I see niether Jarred McCoy nor Eric Gruenwald played at So Indiana....   Maryville should have the upper hand in this game, but.........  show me!!!!

Westminster at Mac   -  Unless you've taken a 5 hour bus ride, gotten off and had to play, you don't know how tough it is - Westminster has established themselves as one of the favorites to get a conference playoff spot, but they need to be wary of this game - it's an upset possibility.

[HCACBBALL]

When are posters on here going to give MacMurray credit.  A upset if Mac beats Westminster?  If we are looking at purely conference games Mac has beaten Wesbster soundly at Webster and Westminster beat Webster by 3 at Westminster.  In looking at Westminster's schedule I do not see any teams they have beaten that jumps off the page at me.  MacMurray has had a tough schedule playing 3 tough CCIW schools and two upper division teams.  I think we might be surprised on how Mac does in conference.  I also think Mac has one of the most underrated coaches in the conference. 

[y_jack_lok]

I have to agree with HCAC here -- at least in relation to the relative strength of schedule of Mac vs WC.

I also want to remind HCAC that he accused me of not giving Mac credit and later retracted it. So, HCAC, I ask that you exempt me from those you accuse of not giving Mac credit.

[hopefan]

HCAC  Merry Christmas - sorry to offend you with the thought that Mac could beat Westminster - if you are in attendance at that game, I'm hoping you'll be able to give us a writeup here - as I'm thinking Yjak may travel to see the Gorlocks, I'll probably check out Maryville, and FC will let us know about the Fontbonne game if he is able to return from his travels.

In the mean time HCAC, it's Christmas time - how about a little brighter outlook, eh  -  I'm just trying to keep the interest in the room up......

[hopefan]

ok - I received an email back from Chaminade - and was dumbfounded by it......

from the Chaminade coach/Asst AD

"We scrimmage Fontbonne at 2pm on Dec 30th. Thanks!"


???scrimmage??

Unless costs are being picked up by donations from wealthy alum, this one makes no sense to me - And no, I don't think the players went out and sold pizzas to pay for their own trip  (I like pizza and no one tried to sell me one)

To travel to play meaningful games against D3 teams usually in tournament format is typical - to go to Hawaii for a scrimmage, in this time of tight $$$ for everyone...........................................

Maybe there is a sensible explanation to this;  maybe I'm overreacting... But I would like to hear the reasoning behind this trip, and how it fits into the Division 3 philosophy....   

I am NOT looking for an incendiary personal attack type of rebuttal - but rather meaningful discussion.....

[y_jack_lok]

HCAC  Merry Christmas - sorry to offend you with the thought that Mac could beat Westminster - if you are in attendance at that game, I'm hoping you'll be able to give us a writeup here - as I'm thinking Yjak may travel to see the Gorlocks, I'll probably check out Maryville, and FC will let us know about the Fontbonne game if he is able to return from his travels.

In the mean time HCAC, it's Christmas time - how about a little brighter outlook, eh  -  I'm just trying to keep the interest in the room up......

I think HCAC may be objecting to the fact that you would consider Mac an underdog vs WC in that you said Westminster should be wary of this game because it's an upset possibility. Mac is playing at home in this one, as you know. I think I'll pick MAc to win it.

And yes, I will be traveling to Carlinville for the WU-BC games on Saturday 1/3/09, then on to Springfield for dinner with our friends there.

[hopefan]

well yjak, you did see Mac play, so you have one up on me there.  I don't know - I think alot of Westmins performance thus far winning several on the road already, and the new transfer Crawford seems to have picked up much of what was lost with the graduated guards from last year.  I'm not swayed by Mac's tough schedule when all the games that HCAC mentioned were lost by +25, and there were other losses that HCAC didn't mention.  Mac's win over RM-S hardly counts for much, and the win over Webster, well, remains to be seen.

I'd bet our next bottle of sparkling grape on Westmin.....

[last_word]

Hope fan, thanks for the explanation. That is kind of wierd. I' d say something got screwed up along the way. I bet originally it was suppose to be a game and something got screwed up somewhere. maybe we will get the details.

[Titan Q]

Maybe there is a sensible explanation to this;  maybe I'm overreacting... But I would like to hear the reasoning behind this trip, and how it fits into the Division 3 philosophy....   

This thing sounds very, very odd...interested to hear more details. 

I just wanted to add, regarding the statement above, that this really has nothing to do with "Division 3 philosophy."  This is more about Fontbonne philosophy.  The school makes the call on how and where to spend school dollars.  College of Wooster, one of the best programs in Division III, just went to Hawaii to play one game, vs an NCAA Division II team (Hawaii-Hilo)...

http://athletics.wooster.edu/mb/schedule.php


Division III schools are not tied to the overall NCAA Division III philosophy of regional competition.  Each plots its own course in that regard really.  If Fontbonne wants to go to Hawaii to play one game vs an NCAA D2 team, that is their call.

But yes, to travel to Hawaii for a scrimmage?  Something isn't adding up here.

[Pat Coleman]

Maybe Chaminade screwed up its scheduling and was forced to drop a game to exhibition status.

[y_jack_lok]

I just wanted to add, regarding the statement above, that this really has nothing to do with "Division 3 philosophy."  This is more about Fontbonne philosophy.  The school makes the call on how and where to spend school dollars.  College of Wooster, one of the best programs in Division III, just went to Hawaii to play one game, vs an NCAA Division II team (Hawaii-Hilo)...

BTW, Wooster lost to Hawaii-Hilo 90-77 on 12/19 and Illinois College lost to them two days later 98-72. http://vulcans.uhh.hawaii.edu/schedule.php?sport=2

Also, Hawaii-Hilo is where former Blackburn and Webster coach Dave Kaneshiro went when he left Blackburn. http://vulcans.uhh.hawaii.edu/coach.php?id=27

However, he is no longer listed as a member of the Hawaii-Hilo athletic department staff http://vulcans.uhh.hawaii.edu/directory.php so I wonder where he is now. Couldn't find anything else through a Google search.

[fcnews]

Well this is going to be as quick as possible. I got a hellva lot of better things to be doing.

1. Fontbonne has never taken a trip in the 20 yr history of the basketball program that cost the University one red cent. Let me repeat so it sinks in. This was discussed last year. Not one dollar of these trips are paid for by FU.

Fontbonne has had a charity golf tourney since basketball was started and all the funds are raised through this process. No wealthy donors, No "Selling Pizza's" (I'm sure that's a youth league reference) and no university funds.

FU Athletics just does a Great Job of fundraising. Plain and Simple.

2. Pat nailed it on the head. FU has a signed contract for the date. Chaminade scheduled too many games and just brought it to FU's attention very recently. Chaminade has tried to arrange another opponent for FU to play at their facility. They were unable to. Hilo, Pacific and BYU, all the teams on the island had full schedules and no replacement could be found.

Chaminade is honoring all guarantees and arrangements per the contract.

3. Exhibition games for DIII have to be played prior to competition date. Each team is allowed two scrimmages anytime during season. Both teams had one scrimmage left.

4. If we have any travel agents out there, please explain the financial loss in trying to cancel a trip for 70 to Hawaii at this late of a date. Airline tickets were bought over a year ago.

5. FU will scrimmage Chaminade 3 halves. This will benefit the JV players who are traveling and would not otherwise have seen playing time in a regular contest.

6. FU has one open date that could be scheduled if cancellations or what have you may arise with area teams.

I hope this clears up this matter. Hope to talk to you all in January.

[hopefan]

ok that makes sense, but I've got to think that to raise that amount of cash, the contributors to the charity tourney (charity? sending Fontbonne to Hawaii) must have been some of the wealthy alums I mentioned.  From the description that FC provided, I assume individual players probably are not expected to come up with much of the cost - something I wondered about as it would be tougher for some than others.  I was hoping it didn't come down to a family saying no, we can't afford to send you....

FC  hope all is going ok......