MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Denny McKinney]

What a great Christmas present Hopefan. Congrats..... 

[WUPHF]

Yes, congratulations!  And, while I am at it, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays to all the SLIAC fans out there.

[Pat Coleman]

Y'know, if you scanned that program from the '75 Brockport State regional and wrote your recollections of the opening game and sent it with the scanned file to Pat, it'd make a great story for this site. The opening night of the very first D3 tournament? That's a great story just waiting to be written.

I'm a week late on this but I agree, it would be great!

[Denny McKinney]

Happy Holidays to All from St. Pete Beach.

[y_jack_lok]

Link to an article on Patch.com about FU coach Lee McKinney:

http://clayton-richmondheights.patch.com/articles/fontbonne-basketball-coach-inspires-amid-battles-with-cancer#comments

Please share this far and wide.

[hopefan]

Great article!!!!   Thanks Yjak....

[Denny McKinney]

Thanks Guys. Pete did a great job. I thank him from the family for getting Dad's message out.

[hopefan]

Can't get my mind off the first night of January SLIAC hoops next Tuesday - four games and they each could really go either way...  I'm going to try to find time to do some pre game analysis in the next couple of days....  

a couple of pleasant surprises in the SLIAC to date:

new face performances...  Trimble, Kuehl, Huskey, Woods, Garner, Dioum, Burton, Pettyjohn, Henderson, and James all have had big games and/or steady contributions....

the competition within the league....  of the first 8 conference games 6 were decided by margins of less than 10 points, and 4 of the 6 were within 4 points...   I look at only Eureka as being a decided underdog in most games...

the return of several players that I thought were graduating...  Seaton and  Traeger were listed in the program as seniors last year, but obviously had eligibility left...  but most crucial is Todd Zimmerman of Prin.... his numbers have been fantastic, and he is very responsible for making Prin competitive... I hope I can see him play this year...

I've said it before and I'll say it again....  facility wise, crowd wise, sportsmanship... Greenville is just a pleasure to watch a game at......

a number of schools have really stepped up the non conference schedule, providing an opportunity for a true SLIAC supporter to see a lot of other good teams.... what I'd like to see... more matchups, perhaps even in a tourney format, with Midwest or Nath conference teams....  These are conferences that I'd like to see the SLIAC be competitive with top to bottom ....

Denny and I are getting along!!!


The disappointments...

well, the conference is below a .300 winning % vs non conference teams

little student support at Webster and Fontbonne... just a shame a couple hundred kids can't get interested...

A number of good players either didn't return, or were injured early on... Mac, Fontbonne, Westminster, were significantly altered before the first game

Eureka's loss of Kindred and Leppart... two of my favorite players...  and it really takes Eureka out...

This board is dead...  lots of readers... we're averaging over 350 hits a day the last 6 weeks... but no writers... I only have so much imagination with which to write... if I can't get info or opinions to write about, I go very stale...  I'm going to keep it going because I really like the conference, but it sure could be easier  .....

[hopefan]

Spalding beats Wilmington, 74-70.... big game for DeWhon McAfee with 27 points...  the bench contributes 29 points...

Spalding gets a major test tonight vs John Carroll, the no. 25 team in D3 hoops poll..

Also interested in seeing how Mac does against Albion (from my old Michigan stomping grounds)
in Defiance tourney today

[y_jack_lok]

Spalding gets a major test tonight vs John Carroll, the no. 25 team in D3 hoops poll..

Also interested in seeing how Mac does against Albion (from my old Michigan stomping grounds)
in Defiance tourney today

Spalding gets thumped by John Carroll 100-75 and Mac appears to have been handled fairly easily by Albion 80-65.

One other score of possible interest is that the D2 Maryville women, still coached by Chris Ellis, downed LaVerne, now coached by former Maryville men's coach Matt Rogers 78-72. Nice for two former colleagues to get back in touch in person.

[hopefan]

Now THAT (LaVerne-Maryville) is an interesting score ... in theory, a feather in LaVerne's hat for coming close to a team with scholarship players... checking out LaVerne, they are 2-7, with one of their wins being a 3 pointer over Elmhurst...  would be interesting to see how they would fare vs a SLIAC team....
But back to the men's side

as Yjak said, Spalding got thumped by JCU.. McAfee went for 20 points, but Spaldings 21 turnovers probably didn't help.. I notice another strong bench performance for Spalding... they use alot of guys!!!

Mac's loss to Albion was disappointing from a SLIAC perspective... another opportunity for a SLIAC team to beat a decent D3 team goes by the boards...  The big 3 of McClellan, Robertson and Burton had double figure scoring games, but little offensive contribution fron anyone else... Mac got crushed on the boards, 48-32.... Mac will play OSU-Lima in the consolation game today

[Denny McKinney]

Good Job, Hopefan. As a team it has been a very relaxing and team building trip. As a family, it's been tough on the Coach. This last treatment just didn't fall well. He's made the practices and made a "talk" with the two teams prior to the trips big dinner out at Gator's. (Sports fan must in St. Pete area) Three practices after returning it's Eureka @ Home. Between games Coach gets inducted into the SLIAC HOF. This should be just the nudge needed to "NOT" laying an egg. I won't be happy if the EC game his not double-digit win, put away early.

Tonites going to be tonite. All I can say. This Non Conf. nightmare is over. After setting down back on home ground we won't see any Tampas, CMSU, Austin Peay's.......  Time to perform to potential. FU is just to big at all spots to fall short in most match ups.

Next round of chemo starts? Four hours and the pump hooked up prior to facing Eureka                                                                                             

[Denny McKinney]

A little Business Info.: I don't know the news coverage on it back home. But, yesterday Florida received spill damage payments. Total Florida payment 922 million. To break it down.... The Tradewinds Property Inc. received $1.3 million in damages. Tradewinds owns about 6 properties here on St Pete beach...... To break it down further. Per food and beverage mgr....... Each server to applied received just shy of $5000....... Those checks were received yesterday seperate from the above..... Happy Servers today.

Just thought this might be interesting.

[hopefan]

Fontbonne loses to Tampa 88-45   yes yes yes, Tampa is good.... that doesn't excuse another 40 point loss.....

A number of names not in boxscore...  Raymond Woods, Jarred McCoy, Jarret Buford   (Freddy Fleming starts at point and has 10 turnovers)...Starters Dioum, Sheetz, Riva go 1 for 16 from the field....

Where were our missing players?
semester academic casualty?
injury?
on bench but in Doghouse?
stayed on the beach?
quit?
axed?
missed the plane?
forgot their sneakers?
sick?
at the movies?
what have I missed?

for that matter where were Dioum, Sheetz and Riva...

and we're still convinced we'd be even worse off with Lisch on the court?  geesh, give the kid 20 minutes and see what he can do.... then bench him if he's no better than what's out there..... 

3 on 3 Lisch, Hamilton, Garner or Jenkins  vs Riva Sheetz and Dioum...  winners play, losers sit

Height doesn't help that much if they can't play... watch out for Eureka....

Nothing surprises me anymore

Sorry Denny... frustrated cause these guys as a team should be accomplishing much more.....  the opponent's name and level of play is not an excuse for not performing to potential, and I think potential is more than 40 point losses highlighted by 24 turnovers, 32% shooting, 25% from 3's.....  at least the ladies got it down to 20

[magicman]

hopefan,
Well your old conference took care of Berry College tonight as Union beat them pretty handily, 83-62. The Dutchmen had a 41-34 lead at the half but quickly turned that into an 18 point advantage 3 minutes into the 2nd period and coasted from there. I'll let you make the conference comparisons, but remember I believe Union will be in the middle of the pack in the Liberty league.