MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[MObball41]

The Blue Jays took care of business this past weekend at home beating Blackburn by 18. This sets up 2 big games for the team to finish out the year against Mac and Eureka. I think 2 wins get Westmin in. Anything less makes things scary.

Initial thoughts on the Mac game coming up... How will Mac respond after getting thumped at Greenville? My guesses are the fiery Coach Creole will have the team ready to go. In the first game Westmin led at half, but were hurt in the second by the length of Slagle and Whitlock. The Blue Jays will need to lock down on their bigs, and infiltrate the zone which caused them problems the first time around. I was thinking about making the trip to Jacksonville but the combination of winter weather and work obligations may get in the way. Should be a fun one at Mac!

Hope, I assume you will be at the Webster-Greenville game. Here's to the Gorloks giving their rival Blue Jays a little help by knocking off the streaking Greenville! 

[hopefan]

yes Moball  I'll be at Greenville - Webser tomorrow night...wish we had communictions with Mac in order to follow their score with Westmin... Mac does not seem to report an ongoing score to whatever the source is at SLIAC.org or D3hoops, so you usually have to wait until the game is over to get a score on the net.... Webster on the other hand will normally update their scores....
I'm also counting on going over to Eureka at Westmin on Saturday... if you're there, find the old guy in a Hope sweatshirt, likely behind the Eureka bench....

With 6 teams making an impact on the standings, assuming those 6 teams win remaining games against the bottom 3, and with 6 games between the top 6, there are 64 different scenarios of w-l..... way too many tiebreakers to get a grasp of what needs to happen.... HOWEVER... if Greenville beats Webster and Westmin loses to Mac (both on Wednesday), Westmin is virtually out... even if Westmin came back and beat Eureka and Greenville lost to Spalding (let's face it Greenville won't lose to Prin), Greenville would hold any tiebreaker over Westmin with the 2 game sweep... As you said, Westmin needs these 2 wins badly plus a Greenville loss... if they both win out, Mac could get in the mix with a loss to Webster or Eureka.... haven't examined a 3 way tiebreaker yet....  if Greenville gets beat, and Westmin beats Mac, Westmin is in thedrivers seat.. but they would still have to beat Eureka on Saturday to get the 4th spot, because, Greenville should beat Spalding on Monday..... Wednesday and Saturday games are just going to be flat out fun to watch and follow.....  the Monday Spalding at Greenville game could be critical, and even the Eureka-Mac game could be huge on tuesday to establish who's out, who hosts, and seedings.

[hopefan]

hopefan's preliminary all conference team   ...   without looking at stats.... based on how they've played when i saw them

First Team
Lee   Mac
Slagle   Mac
Whittingham  WU
Fritsch   EC
Lessen  EC

2nd Team
McBride   GC
Prophet WC
Lee   WC
Brasher SU
Robinson  WU

3rd Team
Lott    BC
Nailor   EC
Kindred   EC
Medley  BC
James   WC

All Frosh
Lee   WC
Gentry  FU
Whitlock  Mac
Smith   Webster
Pittman  Spalding

Bench of the year....  Greenville... unbelievable contribution game after game
runnerup  Spalding   St. Julian, Pittman and others

Frosh of the year    
  Verdis Lee, Westmin   

Newcomer of the year
    Dustin Fritsch   EC

Player of the Year
if Webster wins conference title    Stefon Whittingham
if Eureka wins conference title    Dustin Fritcsh ....  though tough to rule out Mark Lessen
if Mac wins conference title    Clint Lee...... though tough to rule out Brady Slagle

Recruiter of the year   Skip Wilde   EC   (3 very solid starters from JC)

Coach of the year  Chris Bunch    lost 4 starters, still fields a first place contender

MIA All Conference
Willie Trimble  WU
Salieu Dioum  FU
Charlie Henderson  WC
Rutger Neece  GC
Steve White  BC  (gone after one exhibition)
Billy Ray Willridge  BC  (gone after a handfull of games)

[Denny McKinney]

Happy 2K12 to all SLIAC Posters. It's been a while.

FREE DENNIS!!!!

AA Redhead. – Sir, I am doing well, Thank you.  Enjoying watching my Brother's return to the sidelines as Head Coach at Sullivan HS, my nephew Ryan (13) sits right next to his Dad and assures another generation of coaching. Sullivan #2 seed for Districts 4A.  Please someone put a SHOT CLOCK in High School Basketball.

I got on tonite to scroll back and read the boards response to a couple of topics. But, first a Thank You to Hopefan for explaining the departure of a few FU players.

I like what I hear that is coming out of Fontbonne. Down to 10 players, a couple run off and a couple of semester academic failures.

Academic Failure is a horrible label to place on a young man. This is something that has no place on here. Even more so when it was based on 0 facts. Redhead you are the inside scoop for FU now. Let's just keep it real. I thought you would be a regular on here since it's a new era.

Well weather cancelled our Group trip to see FU at Greenville: So probably will not see this years Griffin's play.

The family was really looking forward to see Coach Barber, Coach Faulkner and the whole GC family. Folks, Greenville is a special place. Might not be the Basketball Mecca some would like to see. But, it is a Very Special Place. May catch the GC @ WU game tommorrow nite.

I did see the WC @ WU game earlier this year. My only take for this season. I don't think I saw WC's best game. But, is it night to night? WU has a very athletic team. The game I saw, the Sooter kid reminded me of Teddy DuPay. WU has been in that zone defense now for about a year. If you can't hit the perimeter jumper it will be a long night. Coach Bunch is a great friend and WU is lucky to have him. Negative: No size for a NCAA Tournament game. But it appears will need to get by a good Eureka team.

Comment on Fontbonne: New Coach- Very nice young man. Have had several conversations with him. From what I hear, area coaches will not out work Coach Schafer in the recruiting game. If he can just get them packaged. I hope to see good things for years.

The couple of topics I was looking for weren't even mentioned ??

First on the new member of SLIAC, Iowa Wesleyan. For you to read, an article from the school.

Magnani Fired
Iowa Wesleyan men's coach released after not supporting move to NCAA D-3.

By SUSAN DENK
sdenk@thehawkeye.com
After more than 16 seasons, the Iowa Wesleyan College men's basketball team will have a new coach after Alan Magnani was fired Wednesday.

Magnani leaves as the winningest coach in the program's history.

Magnani was fired after not showing his support for the college's move from NAIA to NCAA Division III.

Second. There had to be some conference records broke in the first FU @ PC game. PC attempts 56 ft's in a 25 point loss. Both teams combined to shoot 83 free throws on 56 total fouls. This game must of took 4 hours to play. SLIAC officiating ??

To a much earlier discussion on college completion of Minority Student Athletes. Good News. Jamhall Thomas will graduate from Mo Bapt in May, degree in Behavioral Science and a teaching degree. Freddie Fleming is helping out with team and will graduate in May from Fontbonne. And, Big Raymond Woods received his AA from SWIC and Certification of completing the IDOT Union program. Pays well. Honk if you see him holding a sign. Ha-ha.

That's about all I got for this year. After 50 straight years I'm taking a year off. Doing a lot of writing. And, may be taking a team overseas.

Guy's enjoy the season. Keep Hopefan company. Let's get a SLIAC NCAA win!

[y_jack_lok]

Went to the Fontbonne-Principia game tonight. I know, it's Valentine's Day, but my wife had to work. I thought I might witness Principia's first win of the season. They fell behind by 12 early but tied it at 36, then gave up a bucket late in the first half and were behind 38-36 at halftime. Fontbonne extended the lead again early in the 2nd half and kept it around 10-14 for a while until Prin made a little run to cut it to 5. But Prin just couldn't get it done. I walked out with a little over a minute left just as Fontbonne scored to extend the lead to 18. Give some credit to Fontbonne's pressure defense on Principia in-bounds plays and a good overall defensive effort. Prin also was at a serious height disadvantage which probably led to lopsided rebounding stats, though I'd have to see the box score to confirm that. Prin missed some crucial lay ups that could have made the game more interesting and didn't play as smart as they did in the two games against Webster. Webster needs to be ready for the Fontbonne pressure next Tuesday.

[hopefan]

Yjak.. thought it best not to join you at Fontbonne... didn't get out of work til 5:45, beat, and with the potential of 4 games in the next 7 days, thought I'd head home.....

Huge games tonight

Eureka and Greenville have the positive momentum,  Westminster level, Mac and Webster definitely sliding.....    will old mo turn tonite?  if Greenville and Westmin win tonite, just an incredible scenario this coming Saturday, Monday, Tuesday....

Am I rooting for Westmin/Gville...           

dang I love Sliac hoops

[hopefan]

Incidentally, I will also be rooting big time for Wash U wins this weekend, in hopes that they would be selected as a host for the first weekend of the NCAA tourney.... maybe get to see the SLIAC rep play in St Louis rather than far away....  ( What would slay me...  that weekend is an unavoidable no travel weekend for me due to work... ahh if the SLIAC team got sent to Hope and I not be able to go up and see this first ever meeting... )

[hopefan]

hadn't thought about Iowa Wesleyan

anybody notice they are 450 miles from Spalding, 7.5 hours
a little over 200 miles from St Louis, near 4 hours...
closest is Eureka, 2.5 hours

Given that amount of travel, why did these guys join the Sliac?  Why not the IAC, MWC, or NathC

they're 11-12 playing strictly NAIA schedule   

5 guys averaging 12 or 13 points, great balance!

interesting... looks like they got two midseason transfers, not on roster... both averaging 13 points/game 2nd half of season... other 3 starters, two are seniors, one junior.....  they make extensive use of bench.....

[hopefan]

Article about former Maryville men's coach Matt Rogers LaVerne women's team:

http://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/women/2011-12/contrib/20120212yhi2zz

article headline:   
La Verne sets Division III record with 26 three-pointers vs. Pomona-Pitzer

first thought I had:    These ladies shoot a whole lot better than Coach Rodger's last several men's teams at Maryville!!!   

[hopefan]

Wow tough room... and this is the time of season when the fans should be excited....   

[allamericanredhead]

Good to see Dennis come back on board. This has not been a fun season. I for a couple of years followed Flo Valley, now they don't have a team. FC is horrible, although I do think the new coach is doing things the right way, so give him some slack. Webster just don't interest me. Too hard to find a place to park, at my age. I have "adopted" UMSL as the team hubby and I follow this year. They are finally worth watching.

FREE DENNIS!!

Keep up the good work Hope.

[hopefan]

I have "adopted" UMSL as the team hubby and I follow this year. They are finally worth watching.

RED... have you slipped and given us a piece of info that I had never considered??   You just made me fall out of my chair!!!! 

[Gregory Sager]

hadn't thought about Iowa Wesleyan

anybody notice they are 450 miles from Spalding, 7.5 hours
a little over 200 miles from St Louis, near 4 hours...
closest is Eureka, 2.5 hours

Um, yeah. Did you forget that we had this discussion back in mid-October, hopefan? To wit:

Interesting, indeed. Of surprise to me is that the nearest SLIAC school is MacMurray 157 miles away, then Eureka, 161 miles away, then Westminster 193 miles, then Blackburn 196, Principia 198, Saint Louis 225, Greenville 253. Only Spalding at 450 miles could be considered unreasonably far away.

Given that amount of travel, why did these guys join the Sliac?  Why not the IAC, MWC, or NathC

We discussed that here in this room in mid-October, too. The IIAC is a no-go because that league requires its members to participate in all sports sponsored by the league, and Iowa Wesleyan doesn't have wrestling. While it could probably add wrestling (a relatively inexpensive sport) quite easily, there may be Title IX entanglements that prevent the school from doing so. Also, there's probably the more mundane reason that IWC inquired into IIAC membership and was rebuffed.

The MWC is most certainly a no-go. For one thing, I'm not sure that IWC is up to snuff academically with those schools. For another, the restrictive in-house rules of that league (no off-campus recruiting, mandatory smaller schedules than what D3 allows, etc.) are a turn-off for most schools, and I can't imagine that a school moving into D3 from the loosey-goosey NAIA would want to swing the pendulum all the way in the opposite direction as far as the rules are concerned. For another, the MWC's future is a bit uncertain at the moment. And, finally, travel would be much more horrible for Iowa Wesleyan in the MWC than it would be in the SLIAC. Same thing holds true for the NAthC as far as Iowa Wesleyan's concerned -- too many Wisconsin schools, too far to go too often.

Of course, Iowa Wesleyan's joining the SLIAC means that it will probably apply to the UMAC as well, since the four football-playing SLIAC schools are all associate members of the UMAC for gridiron purposes. If the UMAC was to accept Iowa Wesleyan as a football-playing associate (which is not a given), that would mean some prodigious road trips, indeed. But that's only for one sport.

Since the IIAC appears to be reluctant to accept Iowa Wesleyan, the SLIAC really seems to be the best fit out there for Iowa Wesleyan, as far as D3 is concerned.

P.S. Nice to see Denny and the Redhead make an appearance. Hopefan sure does get lonely sometimes.

[SLIACFAN]

I'm sorry for not getting on here in awhile, been busy at work. It is really getting exciting to end the regular season! Could favor any team! Tonight there are two big games with Greenville at Webster. I look for Webster to play better than they have and get a win against a red hot Greenville team. The other game tonight being Westminster at Mac. I think this is going to be a really exciting game, but I'm going to have to go with Mac getting the edge because of the home court. Look forward to seeing the results and the rest of the season!

[magicman]

I have "adopted" UMSL as the team hubby and I follow this year. They are finally worth watching.

RED... have you slipped and given us a piece of info that I had never considered??   You just made me fall out of my chair!!!! 

hopefan,
You mean you never considered that fact, even when someone uses the screen name "allamericanredhead"? I always wondered if she played for that team? How about it Red did you?