MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

I've praised Greenville College in the past (and always will)... love the town, the campus, the gym, the fans, the coach, the kind of kids they get... but year in and year out, their schedule disappoints me.... For one reason or another, they feel it's necessary to play the non-entity area schools... not just one of them, but virtually all of them....  I feel this really lowers the perception of the program, the perception of the quality of the players they get.... and it certainly is unappealing to me as a fan

Greenville has a full slate of 9 non conference games....  They play in the weekend tourney with Hendrix and Rhodes, and they also host Concordia (Ill.) and solid NAIA Missouri Baptist....

But, their other 5 non conference games are St. Louis Pharmacy, St. Louis Christian, Logan Chiropractic, Concordia St Louis, and Lincoln Christian....  Seriously, some of these schools have difficulty year in and year out putting a team on the court, some use 'old men'... it's just not the competition a legit d3 team should be playing.....  for all the positives Greenville puts out, this really is a downer...

If I rate all the SLIAC schedules before the season, Greenville seems to have a lock on 9th in a 9 team race.....and I haven't seen 6 of them.....

[hopefan]

Eureka's schedule is out, and while they do face Lincoln Christian twice (which could be challenging given what Eureka returns on the court), their non conference schedule is VERY solid....
Headlining it are games with TWO Division one teams... Easten Illinois and Western Illinois.... neither of these games are pre starting date 11/15, so I assume they are full-fledged games, not exhibitions.  Others on the schedule are D3's North Park, Rockford, Central, and Rose Hulman, and a normally competitive Robrt Morris Springfield.  This may prove to be a better than middle of the pack schedule for a SLIAC team.

If Jordan Kindred recovers from injury and returns to Eureka, they'll be competitive with a handful of teams on the schedule, but some new faces contributing immediately will have to appear before they'll win many....   still, they have a good coach who has shown the program can be a winner with decent talent.....

[RustCollege]

Hey hopefan look like we will be in the Lou for the websters classic maybe we can get Pat Coleman to come watch us play

[hopefan]

Pat... you heard the man!!!  Visit us in St Louis.. I'll offer free room and board!!!!

[hopefan]

While I wait for other schedules to appear from the SLIAC, I have been reviewing other D3 schedules across the country (yes, the spreadsheet may be returning this year)....  one thing I've noticed, new Fontbonne coach seems to be intent on a solid schedule...already see 4 GOOD D3 games for Fontbonne from other school's schedules.. can't help but wonder if the Moody Bible tourney, 1 game cross country trips, might have been deleted..

Anxious to see schedules from Westmin, Font, Mac, BC, Prin, Spalding....  oops, just noticed Spalding's sched is available... will write about it soon...

[Gregory Sager]

Where did you see the Eureka sked, Hopefan? It's not posted on the Eureka website, nor is it here or on the SLIAC site.

[hopefan]

Spalding's schedule, (the 4th SLIAC school to announce) is just fantastic for a SLIAC school... right up there with Webster's

They open at Transylvania (18-9), then to D1 Coastal Carolina!!!
On the 2nd weekend of the season Spalding hosts a tournament.. unfortunately they do not yet post who is in it..
After home games against conference opponents Mac and Westmin, They go to Anderson (18-9)
They then host Indiana Southeast (21-11) (they won their conference last year)
Then it's hosting Thomas More (13-14) right before Christmas
then off to the D3hoops tourney in Vegas (do the SLIAC proud, Spalding) where they are lined up against Hanover (19-8) and LaVerne (13-13).

Great schedule - the way it should be done.

[hopefan]

Now Greg, shame on you, you should know the tricks of the trade!!!!!

Ahhh it was a 1 in 100 hit... Eureka's sked comes up with 2010-11 in its address... whenever I see that, I sub 2011-12 in just to see what happens... in this case, THERE IT WAS!!!!

[hopefan]

Interesting point of the day...

Fontbonne is NOT on Wash U's schedule...

[AndOne]

Did Coach Edwards screw up, or was the new Fontbonne coach smart enough not to schedule WU (despite the cost saving transportation expense)?

[hopefan]

 one thing I've noticed, new Fontbonne coach seems to be intent on a solid schedule...already see 4 GOOD D3 games for Fontbonne from other school's schedules.. can't help but wonder if the Moody Bible tourney, 1 game cross country trips, might have been deleted..

Got an email last night that indicates that most of the Fontbonne scheduling was complete prior to Coach McKinney's passing....

Appreciated the email VERY much....

But it also brings me to wonder...if the sender of the email heard from various readers that scheduling is a current topic ( meaning there are readers who care out there), and I understand why that particular person no longer posts and emailed me instead, and i accept that fact, why didn't any of the readers of this page who emailed that person make any remarks or comebacks here....  it's like, let's tell X what hopefan said..... I just don't get why fans of SLIAC teams don't post and discuss... this is not by nature a nasty place... ALL American Red went way too far, and Denny and I had opposite points of view that got heated, but I just don't understand why this can't be a forum heavily used just like the CCIW room...

[Gregory Sager]

 one thing I've noticed, new Fontbonne coach seems to be intent on a solid schedule...already see 4 GOOD D3 games for Fontbonne from other school's schedules.. can't help but wonder if the Moody Bible tourney, 1 game cross country trips, might have been deleted..

Got an email last night that indicates that most of the Fontbonne scheduling was complete prior to Coach McKinney's passing....

That was my first thought when you announced that Fontbonne was not on the 2011-12 Wash U sked. Schedule-making is done, for the most part, a year or two in advance of the season.

Did Coach Edwards screw up, or was the new Fontbonne coach smart enough not to schedule WU (despite the cost saving transportation expense)?

There's nothing at all "smart" about refusing to schedule Wash U. That's an opponent that every SLIAC school should strive to schedule, if it can. And I would be extremely surprised if Steve Schafer has any thoughts of ducking the Bears. On the contrary, my guess is that Steve's going to try to get Mark Edwards to agree to make Wash U vs. Fontbonne an annual contest, and then on the recruiting trail he'll tell prospects that, among other tough opponents, they'll get to play two-time national champion Washington University of St. Louis every year if they become Griffins.

[Dutch32]

Here's a link to a story on two former Eureka players making the preliminary roster of a semi-pro team in Peoria, Ill.:

http://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2010-11/contrib/20110801ielmgu

[GC Panther 01]

Hope I would have to agree that the scheduling on the part of GC is historically weak, always a game or 2 that will be tough but then the cupcakes.  I never understood it as a player there either.  We benefitted nothing from playing pharmacy or Logan or Harris Stowe.  Mostly just resulted in sloppy play and winning by 35+.  Followed by a brutal practice for the sloppy play!

[hopefan]

Thanks for the support GC01... You know I don't want to rub Greenville the wrong way, on the other hand, so little to be gained with the scheduling..... As an alum, YOU need to grab Coach's ear!!!!