MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[watchdog]

I have never promoted the merits of the pre-season polls, and so I will repeat what I wrote on the women's board. And, it applies here:

"The conference race appears wide open with no definitive favorite, regardless of the pre-season poll."

[fcnews]

Fontbonne starts conference play with a gutsy 75-68 win on the road against a very very very athletic GC team. Pre game point of interest, don't let Ellis beat us. Zeollner and Lisch did a great job on him. Ellis had 10 pts on 4-13 0-5 shooting ( I believe the first time he hasn't hit a 3 vs. FU). Zeollner also sparked FU in the first half scoring all 10 of his pts in the first 20. FU was led by Forrest with 21, Branch 16, Scheetz 15 and Rapp 13. Ben did a great job handling GC's pressure.

Forrest broke out tonite. Hitting the first shot of the game, for 3. Went 8-14 2-4 and 9 boards. After being smothered in the first half, Branch scored 14 of his 16 in the second half and had 4 steals.

FU handled GC's pressure with less turnovers (12 to 14) and more steals (10 to 4).
FU wins with defense. Yes, I said "D". Holding GC to 39% from the field and 18% from 3's.

GC was led by Hillard with 14 and Agomo with 11. I will say I was impressed with Ellis's conditioning, he's dropped alot of weight and looks good. Where does Coach Barber get these athletes.

As usual, no score out of Mac.

[hopefan]

Notes on the Webster game:    Webster wins by 18

Blackburn sticks with them in the first half.... Sykes dominated around the basket, Guard Brandon Roberts hit some nice shots... Jones did little for Webster and Coach used many off the bench... Ortworth kept Webster in it

2nd half totally different  -  Jones gets in the flow, Sykes is kept on the perimeter, then gets in foul trouble, Roberts can't hit anything.  Webster pretty quickly pulls away, and BC pretty much just plays out the game.

The future doesn't look too promising for BC - nice numbers in the Sophomore class, but only Roberts looked like a player - and no size at all...Frosh Devin Thompson did a nice job at point off the bench

First time I've seen Sykes - very active in the first half and great moves around the hole...unfortunately picked up 3rd and 4th fouls pretty early in 2nd half....  He's a legit 1st or 2nd team All Conference.

Webster has depth - Jones needs to play with more intensity throughout - a couple of outstanding moves to the hole, but too much wandering on the perimeter... 
Ortworth and Trippet had career nights... Ortworth was taller than any BC player, and hit a number of his short lefty J's that he might not get off against better D.  Trippet did a nice job off the bench, though I'm not so sure he's comfortable at point against pressure Defense.

I like newcomer Drew Moore  -  he quietly put up 16 points, plays tough D - a little like last years niebrugge, with more offensive potential.
Strickland on the other hand.... may drive Coach Bunch nuts - good handle, does too much with the ball for my liking -  Still, he's only been in the program for a short while and can learn - he's talented.

Weird looking shot (shots) of the game - Berton Wong - a true moon ball - looks like no chance, but he stuck 2 of them (though another completed an orbit and returned to earth touching nothing).

So, initial impression... Webster will certainly compete for a top 4 spot, though not a given.
Blackburn..... sorry, very doubtful, though there is enough talent to make any trip to Carlinville threatening.

[hopefan]

With Eureka thumping Mac at Mac, and BC showing little at Webster, and Prin getting crushed by non-eligible Spalding - did the conference race just go from 8 teams to 5 teams?   And Gville played Fontbonne tough, but loses at home... can they learn to win without Brooks and Cochrane?

Only a couple more conf games before January - Spalding at Font on Saturday should be interesting, but the biggie is Gville at Eureka next Thursday....

[fcnews]

With Eureka thumping Mac at Mac, and BC showing little at Webster, and Prin getting crushed by non-eligible Spalding - did the conference race just go from 8 teams to 5 teams?   

Hopefan - With it down to five, that was a big road win for FU. Puts FU one up on GC in tie breaker. And, every win against one of these on the road, makes me like our chances a little more.

[hopefan]

this room had become disappointingly slow for in season.....  FC and I get tired of blasting only each other

[fcnews]

Well Hopefan it's a good thing you have your other D3Hoops duties to keep you busy.

Interesting game at FU Saturday. Talking about not knowing what to expect. This is the first year the SLIAC has not had a tape exchange policy.

MacaFee must be a heck of an athlete. He's only listed at 6'. If I read the roster correctly, he is a transfer from Butler?

I know I said I would be happy with a first semester split. But, now I feel alittle greedy. Be nice to go into the break at 2-0.

[ec_fan14]

Big win for Eureka at Mac on Wednesday.  From what i heard the game was very even through the first half.  Game teeter tottered back and forth in the second half until down the stretch EC played good defense and knocked down free throws to seal the victory.

Nice game from Zasada 26pts 6 reb, Bell 18pts 5reb, and Kindred 11pts 4ast 1to.  Eureka went deeper into their bench with 10 players logging minutes but the starters still saw the bulk of the work.  Sort of like the "FU strategy" that was mentioned in a previous post.

Eureka has Milikan tomorrow but the bigger game is at Eureka vs Greenville next week.  I agree with FC it would be really nice to go into the break with a 2-0 record.

[hopefan]

Spalding beats Fontbonne  88-82     Here are some thoughts....

Fontbonne led by 14 in the second half and slowly gave it up....When the game was on the line, Fontbonne's shooting went ice cold...  Josh Branch had been 11 for 17 from the field, hit only 1 of his last 6 shots, and missed 3 crucial free throws in the last minute.  Frank Sheetz had been 5 for 7 from the field, but missed his last four field goal attempts....

This may have been the real introduction of Daniel Lisch - a tremendous job on defense making life difficult for for DeWhon McAfee (though McAfee respnded splendidly), and Lisch repeatedly seemed to be in the middle of scraps for loose balls... only a couple of questionable shot selections marred an outstanding day for Lisch.  The bench as a whole played well for Fontbonne, Lisch, Zoellner, Rust, and Hamilton all made positive contributions.

While Dewhan MaAfee played as advertised, perhaps even better, the guy that beat the Griffs was stringbean center Karlos Thompson - he had most of his points in the stretch run, kept after the ball on the boards , and used a sloppy looking but effective turn around jumper.... the Griffs had no answer, and really showed their achilles heal by being dominated on the boards....SUCH a DIFFERENCE from the last 3-4 years of having Fogerty and Storandt - either one of those guys would have bodied Thompson away from the hoop, nobody on this years team was capable

Save for the dismal last 5 minutes, Branch looked great - mixing the deadly 3 pointer with a number of nice moves to the hole. 
Part of his problem in the last portion of the game was some solid defense by Spalding Corie Cutsinger

Based on what I've seen in two conference games., candidates for first team all conf are Branch, McAfee, Sykes

Forest still plays a solid game, but doesn't get the open looks he got last year when defenses had to key
on Fogerty and McKoy.  He had to work very hard for his points today.

Anybody notice that Spalding only played Frosh and Sophs??    WOW!!!!!

[ac slater]

Heard Westminster wins at Blackburn 106-94 I believe. Vislay had 30 for Westminster and Sykes had 32 for Blackburn.

[watchdog]

Junior Jake Vislay scores 30 and four others score in double digits in Westminster's 106-95 win at Blackburn, which is the fourth victory in a row for the Blue Jays after three losses. Rod Sykes scores 32 and Todd West adds 26 for Blackburn.

12/5/09 SLIAC Scores:
MacMurray 71, Webster 62
Spalding 88, Fontbonne 82
Westminster 106, Blackburn 95

[hopefan]

Webster loses to Mac . maybe this thing will be a horserace.... congrats to Mac, that is a huge win for the program.....  Mac shoots 58% for the game, four players in double figures; for Webster, Jones and Whitcombe have meager games - these are the two guys I though would be leading this team....

[Gregory Sager]

Eureka beat Millikin at the Reagan Center, 71-57.

[fcnews]

Webster's loss does not erase any of the pain. SU is a very athletic team. With multiple weapons. But, end the end the Griffin's let this one slip through their fingers. Injury to Zeollner (split lip that they couldn't stop the bleeding) took FU's only other possible rebounder off the floor. Yes, Lisch did look well today, but he's just a freshmen. Rapp runs the offense well. But, Daniel will be hard to keep off the floor. Got to find a competitor like this a spot.

I'll mention it again. Storandt and Fogerty averaged 20+ rebounds. There were no offensive rebounds last year.

Santa please get FU's Christmas present here quickly.

Another good ( I'd say Great ) win for Eureks. Congrats guys.

Suprised at how close the WC v. BC game was. Considering the Webster win against BC. I said it before I think WC is the top of the heap. They lost Warnecke and two semi role players in M. Crawford and Soderman. By that look alone they should of been a landslide Pre Season #1.

I know Coach Bunch is considered the best SLIAC coach, on this board. But, is it possible that he just might be spreading the minutes out to far. Whitcombe doesn't start and only gets 16 minutes, Ortwerth 0 fouls 11 minutes and Jones one of the conferences premeir players only gets 20. You can't keep everyone happy.

By the way EC Fan, I wouldn't call it "FU strategy". As been discussed on these boards for the past 3 yrs., you can't win without a bench and playing a player over 30 minutes will wear him down for later in the season. Just call it the new EC Plan.

[ec_fan14]

Eureka scores good win vs Milikan.  Eureka DOMINATED the game from start to finish.  Bell and Zasada were outstanding with 16pts and 17 pts as well as 14 reb each.  Once Eureka got the lead they never gave Milikan a chance to get back in the game.

The boards awfully quite for it being mid season.  Heres my preview for EC vs GC

Matchups  based upon starters for each teams last game

G: Kindred vs Groves
G: Black vs Seaton
G/F: Bell vs Hillard
G/F: Leppard vs Agomo
F: Zasada vs Ellis

I matched up Leppard vs Agomo based up Leppards athleticism.  He is very versatile and can guard positions 1-4.   

I think EC will come out on top if they continue to take care of the ball.  Their offense has begun to click and if they can move the ball the way they did against Milikan Eureka should win the game.  EC has to remained poised though against Greenville's up tempo style of play.

Eureka's win at Mac looks even bigger now with Webster losing there.  Mac could be a sleep this year we'll have to watch and see how they continue to do