MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Into_the_Blue]

MacMurray   Webster     

Mac knocked off Webster at home the first time.  Webster took a slight lead into half but was only able to score 26 in the second half.  This one should be tight. 



Spalding   Greenville   

I expect Spalding to get this one but Greenville has more to play for. 

   
Fontbonne   Eureka     

Eureka needs to keep Fontbonne down.  This would really be scary for Eureka not to get this one. 


Blackburn   Westminster (Mo.) 

You can never overlook the beavers.  WC needs to keep its focus right here and not look ahead to a road game at fontbonne next week.  WC should handle BC and get a lot of players some quality time. 

[I_HAD_GAME]

This goes out to anyone who cares to comment. I saw Webster play twice early in the season. I thought with who they returned, the addition of Moore and a healthy Miller and the fact that Fontbonne and Westminster both having major losses of seniors that this would be their season.

What does Webster have to do to get prepared for post season? I know one is finishing 2-3 to avoid 1st rd match up with Bluejays. Or, is Westminster just that much better then the rest?

If Westminster runs the table, whats their chance of getting a favorable first Rd. draw?

[y_jack_lok]

This goes out to anyone who cares to comment. I saw Webster play twice early in the season. I thought with who they returned, the addition of Moore and a healthy Miller and the fact that Fontbonne and Westminster both having major losses of seniors that this would be their season.

What does Webster have to do to get prepared for post season? I know one is finishing 2-3 to avoid 1st rd match up with Bluejays. Or, is Westminster just that much better then the rest?

If Westminster runs the table, whats their chance of getting a favorable first Rd. draw?

I had an entirely different set of expectations for Webster, based primarily on who they lost -- two senior guards, one of whom was 1st team all-conference, plus a member of the conference's all-defensive team, and 4 other seniors.

I don't follow Westminster that closely, but I m not sure they lost any more than Webster did and probably returned a few more proven players. Webster has done better than I expected. No slight to the players and coaches (and probably more a testament to the pessimistic side of my personality) but before the season you couldn't have convinced me that they had a good shot at even making the conference tournament. I thought Westminster, Eureka, and Greenville were the three top candidates and the 4th spot a bit up for grabs.

If Westminster runs the table it will do nothing to improve their chances of a favorable first round draw in the NCAA tournament.

[hopefan]

Game

Westminster will still likely be the lowest or second lowest rated team in their regional....  the OWP (opponent's winning %) will just kill them, no matter what happens the rest of the way...  and in fact, they would be bubble if they ran the table but lost in the conference tourney

Webster was not looked at as the conference favorite by the two or three prognosicators during the preseason - I know several properly picked Westminster...  I, on the other hand chose Greenville (they then lost two potential All Conference players to transferring) and Fontbonne - I liked Fontbonne's experience despite losing the big 3 - that hasn't panned out either.  I do believe that anyone who picked had Webster in the top four however.  Lack of a point guard and losing all of Ryan Turk's scoring attributes, along with Steve Hrdlicka,  were huge.  Yjak also feels the loss of 3 point shooter Tyler Tiemann hurt the offense. 

Webster will have to maintain its solid defense to have a chance in the conf tourney  -  unless Jones goes wild again, the offense will  not be what wins tourney games for them.

Should be a great afternoon of D3 hoops at Webster tomorrow afternoon  -  both games are huge in the standings....

[y_jack_lok]

Yjak also feels the loss of 3 point shooter Tyler Tiemann hurt the offense. 

I'm not sure if this merits plus karma or minus karma.

[Titan Q]

If Westminster runs the table it will do nothing to improve their chances of a favorable first round draw in the NCAA tournament.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Westminster put itself in position to host a game.  I don't think that gym is big enough to accomodate an NCAA tournament game, is it?  Anyone know capacity?

Beyond seeding issues (caused by low strength of schedule), Westminster will probably always have to travel in Round 1 anyway due to the lack of other D3 tournament teams in the area.  Heading to Wash U for a 4-team Round 1/2 grouping seems likely.

[Gregory Sager]

If Westminster runs the table it will do nothing to improve their chances of a favorable first round draw in the NCAA tournament.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Westminster put itself in position to host a game.  I don't think that gym is big enough to accomodate an NCAA tournament game, is it?  Anyone know capacity?

Listed capacity is 600, but that doesn't matter. Seating capacity is only a consideration in site selection for sectionals, not for opening-weekend games. Here's the pertinent quote from the 2010 handbook:

To host first-round, second-round or sectional contests, a regulation court as defined in 2010 NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Rules and Interpretations must be used. To host sectional competition, arena seating for at least 1,000 spectators is required.

As long as Westminster's court is regulation-sized, there's no apparent reason why the Blue Jays couldn't host a first- or second-round game. Of course, as you mentioned, low seeding and lack of geographical proximity to any other D3 schools besides its SLIAC brethren and Wash U mitigate the chances that Westminster could ever host, anyway.

[watchdog]

There are a couple of things that need to be considered in hosting a regional contest. First, the school needs to apply and in the case of basketball, I believe the deadline is February 19. Second, geographical location is a critical factor.

As for the possibility of a seed, the strength of schedule index on this site can provide valuable information:

http://www.d3hoops.com/salem/10/sos.htm

[I_HAD_GAME]

Ok, I guess my opinion didn't go over very well.

To justify my opinion- Each of the Co- Champs lost 3 senior starters. Westminster / gutsy point guard Warnecke, who ran that team. / Crawford and Sodermann had been mainstays with experience.
Fontbonne / 3 starters / Fogerty and McCoy a lot of points and Fogerty and Storandt 20 rebounds / Storandt the best post defender in conference.

Greenville couldn't make the top 4 with Cochrane and Brooks, last year.
Eureka would be tough. Mac and the Beavers were unknowns.

Webster lost Turk's points and Niebrugge's tough play. Also, Hrdlicka who did not play a big role every night.
They did return starters Jones, Restoff and Whitcombe. Along with Ortworth, Meeh and Trippett. Along with a Healthy Kevin Miller. I thought Moore filled Niebrugge's role and was a better scorer.

Actually the main part of my question was what does Webster have to do? Good Defense and Jones going nuts. That's the plan for Webster?

[hopefan]

Game  -  I forgot about Niebrugge, whose style of play I just loved  -  another reason that I didn't look at Webster as more than a 4th place team---  none of the Webster players you mentioned had ever been asked to be anything else than role players except Jones -  that's why they weren't thought of as a top 1 or 2 candidate -  I'll give a second thought  -  I don't know what they can do to beat Westminster - man for man, they're not matched well at all  -  wild card though, is that Coach Bunch has come up with angles to win a lot of big games  -  but not in the conference tourney.

[I_HAD_GAME]

Hopefan you are down playing the Webster thing. Didn't Restoff, Whitcombe, jones and Ortworth start most of last years games? Meeh and Trippett saw their share of minutes. Add Miller, Bradfish and a very good player in Moore. They are not considered 1 0r 2.

Fontbonne returns two perimeter shooters in Branch and Foresst. Rapp saw limited minutes and can't score. Scheetz was a great shot off the bench, but few minutes. And, Storandt's back up Riva goes down pre season with ACL.
And, you put them 1 or 2.

Love your pre and post game analysis'. But some of your thoughts just baffle me. Webster returned a lot of experience.

Has Webster got the old soft toss from the posters since Coach Randall and Coach K left.

[y_jack_lok]

GAME, there was no consistent starting lineup for Webster last year. Turk and Niebrugge started 25 of the 26 games. The following players started the following number of games in descending order: Whitcomb-19, Ortwerth-13, Stiegemeier-11, Jones-10, Hrdlicka-7, Restoff-7. Average minutes played goes, in descending order, Turk, Niebrugge, Hrdlicka, Whitcomb, Jones, Meeh, Restoff, Ortwerth.

[I_HAD_GAME]

OK Y_jack_lok. Just difference of opinions. That is the purpose of a chat room. Was just expecting Webster to have a shot. Probably because Webster beat Fontbonne twice last year and Fontbonne beat Westminster three times.

Just wishfull thinking.

[y_jack_lok]

OK Y_jack_lok. Just difference of opinions. That is the purpose of a chat room. Was just expecting Webster to have a shot. Probably because Webster beat Fontbonne twice last year and Fontbonne beat Westminster three times.

Just wishfull thinking.

GAME, I wasn't disagreeing, I just looked up the infomation and put it out there.  And what happened last year has no bearing on what happens this year. Most teams change to some degree every season, so I find it hard to make statements about what I think should happen in a new season based on what happened in the previous season and who's coming back. New faces always change the dynamics. Who would have expected MacMurray to be in 2nd place in the conference at this point?

[hopefan]

I agree Game  -  this place is for discussion  -  and my pick of Fontbonne didn't pan out very well.....  I'm not arguing that point

Unfortunately, given the events of the day, Webster is just a game away from being out of 4th place  -  the game with Greenville on Wednesday becomes critical.....  Webster does not want to be a tiebreaker down to Greenville

Will write up the Webster Mac game tomorrow morn.....