MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Just noticed Mac's roster is up.... Brady Slagle is on it!!!   Now we just have to see what he has after a year away......he could pick up right where CJ McClelland left off...

[hopefan]

I would note that SLIAC exhibitions begin on thrsday with Blackburn at SIUE.... expect to see you all there!!!!!

[Denny McKinney]

I don't think anyone on here is suprised by Mac being mentioned in that article. I'm not sure of circumstances at Eureka. But, I agree with Coach Hart, cutting programs cost way more then saved. Most small colleges are athletic driven. At FU it always was about 65% student-athletes that made up the incoming freshmen class. Small colleges with small endowments are all feeling this economy pinch. See previous discussion.

... rather amusing that many of the 'west of St.Louis' kids from last year's recruits are not back.... in fact only Tyler Garner of the 'West 6' is on the current roster...  no I don't count Eureka's Eric Jenkins in that group, he is back too.   

Four of the six are still in school at FU. Alex Rowling still has 3 years left and if God blesses his family, he will be in uni next year. The other 2 have chosen their studies. Jon Connell transfered to Mo. State to go to school.

Rather amusing: Hopefan you've now applauded two one and dones. Thought that was frowned on. WC has lost a quality freshmen getting minutes the past 2 years. Rudd and Henderson. Webster Strickland, Miller and Ogansalu then Trimble and Kuehl. Attricion is part of the game. At all schools in this conference. But, you need numbers in all sports to keep the doors open.

Besides Zeollner add 2 more to the West group. Andrew Chism (transfer from Central Meth) and Hinshaw (transfer from WC) both from Rolla HS were part of last yrs class. Chism sat out having knee surgery and Hinshaw was an in conference transfer.

Enjoy the games folks.

[hopefan]

come on Denny.. rather amusing because you ballyhoo'd this class as being the next great one... the day I saw them when you invited me to practice, it was easy to recognize that this was in your dreamsand only your dreams... that you had WAY WAY WAY overblown the talents.. particularly of the frosh.. only Dioum the upperclassman was ready to play.. the big men, injury ridden or not, were slow and non athletic and the mass of guards, well, impressive at Sullivan etc, but not at Fontbonne or the SLIAC.. come on Denny, you had us all excited for months with your rants... you blew it... don't be putting the guilt trip on me...   what a joke....

[Denny McKinney]

No Guilt Trip Hope. Just be consistant. All programs lose players for various reasons. I'm glad you have a good eye. You missed your calling. It's all good Buddy. Wish you would of gave us your opinion on our private university discussion. Finally had more then three discussing the same thing.

Saw Webster standout Keith Houston playing in a game at the JCC. The man can still play.

[y_jack_lok]

Seems like there are two issues at work in the hopefan/Denny McKinney discussion. Ones is attrition/player retention, the other is evaluation of talent. Denny seems more correct regarding attrition/player retention while hopefan is more accurate when it comes to the realities of the talent level of a lot of the players who have been on the FU roster.

[GC Panther 01]

SLIAC schools need stronger backboards?

Hannibal Lagrange exhibition game suspended last night early in first half when an Iowa Weslyean player shatters backboard on a dunk.

[Denny McKinney]

Bingo Yjak +K. Retention is tough anyway. But, when you have large incoming classes, you will lose members of the team. But, it is the number that stay in school there and then graduate. FU has gone from 35 student athletes to 350 in 20 + years. Without scholarships. FC's total enrollment in 1988 was just over 300.

The athletic dept. has a no cut policy. Any player who wants to come to FU for an education will be allowed to participate in their sport. Dad has had some real good recruiter of numbers over the years as coaches. Most FC products. Incoming freshmen numbers are the biggest goal of a small college. It's the cash flow.

He also believed, wrote about it for his Doctorate, that for every athlete you recruit from a rural HS you will get to 2 future students. By God in a large percentage he was right. Places like Perryville, Washington, St. Gen, Rolla and the West of St Louis towns make up a very large portion of Enrollment.

Although, this theory does have drawbacks. You can only play 5 on a basketball team or 9 in baseball. Some kids will see the handwriting. These will either transfer and play somewhere else. Or, stay for the education. The latter in more cases then not. This is the foundation that the Athletic Dept was built on.

But this is never brought up about other schools on here.

The Amusing, Ballyhoo'd part is because I was the only poster with direct knowledge of recruiting classes to post on here. And, I was an SID for 8 yrs.

Hopefan I did not invite you to a practice. You said you would like see Dad and thought you could stop by for a practice. You got it. Quit with the verbal jabs. Please. That is in the past. As are a lot of things.

[hopefan]

Looking forward to BC vs SIUE, as BC is my dark horse candidate for making the conference playoffs.....

Anxious to meet each of the new coaches... Principia, Blackburn, and Fontbonne as each has responded to comments I've made...

[y_jack_lok]

In an 11 a.m. (weird time) exhibition game at UT-Martin, Webster loses 90-72. The gap was 3 at halftime and 10 with about 9 minutes left. Cody Bradfisch scored 24 9-14 (6-9 3s). Huskey with 11 pts (4-6 and 3-6 from the line) and 8 reb. Whittingham 10 points, 5 reb.

[hopefan]

wow very interesting....  I'm going to write up what i saw at SIUE later today...  SIUE beat BC 70-56

[hopefan]

Blackburn - SIUE
Blackburn jumped out to an unimaginable 14-2 lead... one must realize SIUE was missing several regulars due to injury and/or discipline situations... but gee...14-2???  SIUE couldn't make anything, Blackburn's Julian Lott hit several 3's, and I was laughing out loud while I could.   as expected, the overall talent level and depth took over and SIUE had a small lead at half and extended it to 14 by game's end.  I heard the SIUE coach interviewed on the radio afterwards and he was very negative regarding his team's performance...the word 'searching' was used several times... I'd say the Cougars were in for some tough practices leading up to their next exhibition game with MacMurray next Thursday.....
Blackburn's Julian Lott had a tremendous game.. 6 for 7 from 3's, 20 points  ...  old heads Sean Stochl and Madison Medley also started...  but the very interesting points of the game were 2 new faces starting, and one old face not playing...Missing in action was streak shooter Chris Williams, who destroyed Webster and MacMurray last year from the 3 point line.  Word in the crowd was that Williams will return 2nd semester.
New faces were senior transfer Steve White and freshman Billy Ray Wilridge.  Wilridge, an extremely quick 5'10" guard hit his first 3 point attempt and missed his next 10... he beat SIUE defenders off the dribble numerous times.. he just didn't put the ball in the hoop....he and Lott are just very quick and will be tough to stop by other SLIAC guards.
Steve White.. wow...  should be a dominant big man in the conference... He transferred from Robert Morris Springfield, and a quick study showed he averaged 20 ppg vs SLIAC teams last year in 5 games.... 6'7" goes to the basket with the ball with quickness....  he and Medley should dominate the inside area...  BUT... the big question is, will they see the ball enough to win games... that lies with New Coach Jason Barbereau... he'll have to tone down Lott and Wilridge, as many of their shots would be considered bad ones, despite the fact that Lott made most of his... Blackburn's depth may come into question.. there are several familiar faces, but they haven't accomplished much in the past...

Interesting... Wilridge, from Louisiana, prep school in Ohio, then to Blackburn... would love to hear that story...

Preseason Coaches meeting last week .. we should see the voted preseason standings soon.. Commish tied up with Fall Championships right now....

The word that DeWhon McAfee is not playing this year came out again... some still aren't believing... wait for the first game of the season...    when  you are geographically isolated from the rest of the conference as Spalding is, it's easier to mislead the rest of the group.....

6'6" Rutger Neece is not coming back to play at Greenville... Burnout cited... a shame, he would have been very solid.....this leaves Greenville even shorter on returning experience.... only one returning starter, (KJ Hilliard), and 3 others who saw some amount of time off the bench.

6'4" Brian Suckow not returning to Mac, nor is 6'6" Colton Pettyjohn...  two who didn't start, but were solid off the bench and contributed to Mac's great depth... two frosh should play prominent role......

[y_jack_lok]

Based on some of your comments it sounds like Coach Barber from Greenville and coach Creal from MacMurray were at the game as well and you talked to them. Either that, or you've been getting information from some sources not named. 

[hopefan]

Yjak   shhhhhh!!!!

[hopefan]

Worst I've ever seen with kids not coming back this year....
Blackburn, Greenville, MacMurray, Webster, Westminster, Fontbonne, Spalding all hit, Eureka loses at least two who quit midseason last year...  only Prin off the list, and that is only because we haven't seen their roster yet... and if you include McAfee, there are at least 5 not returning who were potential All conference players... Trimble, McAfee, Neece, Williams, Henderson...