MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[FrostBite]

Hope - Looks like you are going to see the Blue Jays without Millard (in my opinion there most valuable player).  Ky decided to play soccer his senior year at WC.  He was an all-state soccer player while at Rockbridge HS and came out of retirement this season.  The WC soccer season ended today and Mitchell is going to give him a couple days off before he starts hoopin.  But it wouldnt suprise me if he played against the Bears as he is a competitor.

In my opinion Millard is the most underrated player in the Sliac.  He is one of the top 7-8 players in the league IMO.

[fcnews]

Frostbite- Underrated? Depends on who you talk to. If WC wins a conf. title and he plays the way he did the last 10 games, he's got to be a POY canidate.

Interesting scrimmage Sunday. Easily the SLIAC's best vs. Wash U. Should be a good barometer on where the SLIAC stacks up.

WC has the type of schedule that they could string some wins. Are they Rankable?

Not much said about Yjak's bunch. Loks like the may have went the Juco route to fill the big shoes of Ryan Turk. Strickland (Flo) and Drew (I believe) from Meremac both averaged about 10 pts. Saw Miller at a soccer game. Nice to see no limp. Tough first year ( which he'll get back ). I still think with the young man carrying that much weight, conditioning will have to be an issue. The Ram's could use him on the "O" line.

Oakland City beat Fontbonne 94-74. No details. Just heard FU couldn't get a shot to fall. And. Oak City, I hear has upgraded their club. They have Austin Peay and Evansville coming up. We'll see.

[FrostBite]

Underrated in the fact that he didn't make all-conference last year and I felt he should of.  He didn't score a ton of points, but might of been WCs most valuable player.  He defiantly showed what he can do in the conference tournament.  I agree fc, if he plays that like all year he is a POY candidate.

Not sure if you have really looked at their schedule fc, but it doesn't look like one where they could reel off some wins.  They don't play a home game until 2010!!!!!!!! That's right the first 10 are on the road (or nuetral site).  That is brutal.  If they are 500 going into conference they should be happy.  Illinois College, Hendrix, and Rhodes always play WC tough, especially Hendrix (beaten WC by 20+ the past two years).  You know Elmhurst is going to be good, Concordia has beaten quality Sliac teams before, and they have DI UT-Martin, and DII power Central Missouri.  This is no where near the type of schedule you would want to string wins together with.

[hopefan]

Frosty..  I guess my opinion is that if Westmin is the cream of the crop of the SLIAC, they should beat the likes of Rhodes, Hendrix, Illinois College, and Concordia.... none of these schools make a dent on their own conferences - and those conferences are the conferences that the SLIAC aspires to match in the level of play.   I agree though, good solid schedule, but wondered when it came out why no home games? 
Well unless I'm incapacitated by raking more leaves this morning, I am going down to Wash U... will let you all know how it went....

[Titan Q]

Very glad the SLIAC favorite is just 25 minutes from my house!  I should be able to get to several Westminster games this season...caught 3 last year.

The freshman from Columbia Rock Bridge (Tolson) can play.

[fcnews]

My bad guys. Was looking at a '09 schedule. Road warriors. Will help come conference time.

[FrostBite]

Was not able to make it to Wash U to catch the scrimmage vs. WC. Will have to rely on Hope for a write up. 

WC should be one of the top teams in conf. but dont know if I would call them cream of the crop. Last I checked FU holds the crown and until someone can knock them off when it counts they are still the powerhouse of the mighty SLIAC conference.

The Webster supporters have been quiet but I suspect they will be in the mix come conference tourney time.

[hopefan]

Well guys, sorry to say, it was pretty ugly

Interesting, they conducted two scrimmages at the same time - a varsity in the main gym, a frosh/jv in the secondary...  Wash U had 12 in the varsity - all 12 were on the national championship team of last year.  Westminster on the other hand, kept 4 frosh on the varsity, though one, Trevor White, played very little. The othe three frosh saw significant time... Britton Rudd and Skylar Tolson from Rock Bridge, and Mookie Valandra from Vianney.   Ky Millard did not dress as Frostbite had suggested.

Westminster started 3 from last year, Kurt Kovach, Stanley Crawford, and Jake Vislay, along with newcomer Justin Gilmore and Corey Lane in the middle.   Adam Mallette did not start, but saw a lot of time and stuck two three pointers while I was there.

Wash U conducted a clinic in the first session. winning 41-19...  They dominated all facets of the game... getting the shots they wanted off their offense, dominating the boards, running the floor, and completely taking Westmin out of their offense.  Westmin took a number of bad shots... coach Mitchell could not have been happy with any of Vislay, Crawford, and Kivach, all forced the action, had turnovers and poor shots.  The two RockBridge frosh looked good, but it was welcome to the big time as particularly Rudd was rejected several times after strong moves to the basket.  Lane doesn't look like a player, but he worked hard to get position and had several layups.  
The 2nd session was much different with Wash U winning 35-34...  Wash U got a little overconfident and became very sloppy with the ball (could be because Coach Edwards went over to the Frosh game and by the time he got back, Wash U was down 7) .  Gilmore looked steady, a couple of nice hoops, and several of the bench kids hadhoops.  By the time the session was over, I had seen enough, and took off.   They were clearly going to have another session.

play of the game...Wash U's Dylan Richter gets the ball on the wing, gives Jake Vislay a head fake towards the foul line, absolutely freezing Vislay, and takes it baseline for a thunderous jam.. truly a beautiful move.  

Wash U's first 3 off the bench, Ross Kelley, Dylan Richter, and Alex Toth, could likely start for any other team in the country   ok, maybe not Kelly  --  Toth is just an animal on the boards... STRONG.

Westmin, despite this showing, has good talent for the SLIAC....  someone needs to control the team on the floor and run the offense...  way too much frustration and adverse reaction by veterans.  Lane and Mallette should be enough in the middle, and the two from RockBridge will be very good in the SLIAC.

After the two sessions Crawford led Westmin with 9 pointss, Vislay had 7.  For Wash U Cam Smith had 12, Aaron Thompson 11, Zach kelly 10, Caleb Knepper 11, and Sean Wallis 5 with a bunch of assists and a bunch of turnovers.  Richter had 8 and Toth 6 off the bench.

[Love_for_the_Game]

Ouch, the Wash U and WM game did not sound good but it was no better than the FU game. I did not make the FU game and it was MAN VS. BOY. BOY being FU. The score was a blow out but it could have been worst since the starters did not play for the last 15 min. into the game. Freshman R. Rust had a really good showing coming off the bench which I think he was third leading scorer. J Branch (my pick for player of the year) had 18 but could have had more points but did not hit some open ones. C. Forrest played terrible with 15 but prob. took the most shots he has ever taken in a basketball game (in his whole life). I was told that FU just does not have any big guys to play against that type of team. The two point gaurds that played did a very poor job ( B. Rapp and D. Lisch) Not sure if Lisch even scored a point looking like he was scared to shoot. B. Rapp looked like he did not belong out there and very scared. Even though they got blown out, it should have been a closer game if they could hit some shots. F. Sheetz started but ended up not playing much scored prob. 6 points. N. Zoelner looked just as lost as he did last year with not doing anything. Missing a lot of shots and just looking  very lost. Even though it was a bad game they do have plenty of time to get better so we will see.

[fcnews]

Fair assumption. Fleming and Melloway were couple of lone bright spots.

Hurry Up December 12th.

[FrostBite]

Thanks for the write up Hope. How would you compare the caliber of athletes from Wash U to Westminster? Im sure the Blue Jays arent used to a team that executes with such precision as Wash U does.

It sounds like WC may need someone to step up as a leader. I expect Millard to do just that when he returns. He seems to be the calming influence when on the court.

[hopefan]

Pure athleticism (ie run faster, jump higher, bench press more), not a tremendous amount of difference....  Vislay and Richter are similar, Thompson and Crawford are similar, Kelly and Toth in the middle have a big advantage over Lane and whoever else for Westmin.   The huge advantage is the experience of playing that Wash U has, four starters and all bench back, and yes, simply a step ahead in basketball savvy, basketball abilities.   That's NOT a statement condemning Westminster, rather a statement praising Wash U.  Westminster will not see that level of play again this year with the exception of their D2 opponents, and maybe not even then....

[hopefan]

I'm really wondering about Love of the Game  -  he's not at the exhibition, but makes remarks critisizing the play of most of the guys on the team - who is feeding him this stuff, or is he taking anything he hears and putting a negative spin on it.  If he has a buddy on the team that is talking that kind of trash about his own teammates, then that guy is way out of line and should be OFF the team.   Fontbonne doesn't need that kind of teammate.....

[Love_for_the_Game]

wow OUCH  that was below the belt. No my guy is not on the team but a fan and I do get some good information. I am sorry but sometimes the truth hurts and i thought you guys wanted to know what is going on. Maybe I will hold back but HOPEFAN you dont so then why should I. I am just telling you how the game went just like I think you did with the WU and WM game. You know what I am sorry. I will stop giving my opinion out unless it is something good. The bright thing about that game was J. Melloway and F. Flaming, they played well and I was surprised since that was the first game Flamming played in the last 2 years. DId not play at all last year so that is a good sign.

[Wydown Blvd.]

hopefan - i thought the same thing.