MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[ec_fan14]

Tough loss for Eureka last week vs Spalding.  I heard the whole trip it self was hectic.  not blaming that for the reason EC lost but could have contributed.

Mac is definitely playing some good basketball right now.  I wouldnt want to play them any time soon.  Westminster has struggled in its last 4 games showing that they aren't as invincible as they seemed through the 1st half of conf play.

Eureka goes up against Lincoln Christian tomorrow.  Should be a good game for Eureka to get prepared for the big one on Saturday vs Westminster.  Greenville and Webster should win to keep themselves alive for the playoff race.  I like where Eureka sits, if they win 1 or GC WU lose one I'm pretty sure they secure a playoff birth.

Missed seeing Todd West playing for Blackburn on Saturday...  he had been putting up glowing stats, I was looking forward to it....   He wasn't dressed out on Saturday........Found out yesterday why he was gone....  something was more important

Thats terrible to hear about West.  He was a nice player and would have gave Blackburn a chance vs Greenville.

1st team  - McAfee Bell Zasada Forrest Vislay (because his team wins conf)
2nd team - Sykes Ellis Slagle or McClellan (one not both) Moore Crawford
HM- Zimmerman Slagle or McClellan (one not on 2nd) Kindred Millard Sichting

[hopefan]

very reasonable Ec   -  You're Hired!!!!

[ec_fan14]

thanks hope 

board seems awful quite for it being last 2 weeks of regular season....

surely there must be something to spark interest....

if the final 4 stay the way they are right now. who wins the first round games?

1st round matchups MCvsEC WCvsWU

[hopefan]

I agree EC   -    frustrating to throw a lot out to the board and have no responses  -  on the other hand, lots of guests are reading, so it is entertaining to someone!

As to your semi matchups.....    Can't see Westmin losing to Webster, but history says they better not take things for granted.....  MANY 1 seeds have lost in recent years... including Webster a couple of times, Blackburn....
The other semi, Mac is the logical winner, but not unless they play solid defense and take care of the ball on offense... Eureka is streaky - if Bell is hitting and Zasada is exploding to the basket, and Kindred is VALUING the ball, they could easily beat Mac  -  that game is the one to see....

[ec_fan14]

I agree I dont think Webster will beat Westminster in the 1st round if they end up playing each other. 

EC vs Mac is very interesting.  Eureka beat Mac by double figures at Mac and surrendered a 20+ point halftime lead at home.  If Eureka plays their style of game I think they can beat Mac handily.  However Mac is very scrappy and if they can slow down Bell and Zasada they give themselves a very good chance of winning the game.

this is all being said assuming that Greenville loses and doesnt beat out EC or Webster for the 3rd or 4th spot.  Still plenty of ball to be played so we'll have to see how the cards fall the rest of the season.  We should get a better look at things after Saturdays games. 

[hopefan]

Zimmerman - fun player to watch for Prin  -  deserving of an all conference spot - but wow, Prin dresses 8 players, 4 are seniors, only one underclassman really contributes.....  what are they going to do next year....  if ever there was an opportunity for incoming frosh to play immediately, it will be at this school next year.....   

Fontbonne at Spalding, BC at Greenville tonite.... Fontbonne and Greenville must win to stay alive in the race for a tourney spot.....

[Into_the_Blue]

Sorry about my lack of participation lately.  Been swamped.

This is a must win for Greenville tonight, IMO.  While it wouldnt technically eliminate them theyd have to hope for a lot of things to go right ahead of them, including spalding coming in and upsetting Webster at Grant Gym.  Gotta be a little scary to go into the beaver dome where those guys have nothing to play for but to respect the game and have fun. 

For Fontbonne every game is an elimination game from here on out.  It will be interesting to see if they fold it up tonight or keep marching on.  Thatd be a long road trip home if they take a loss. 

I expect GC and FU to win tonight. 

It would seem that McAfee, Bell, Zasada, and Forest would be locks, and the 5th spot wide open amongst Vislay, Randall, Slagle, Sichting, Ellis..... Slagle has come on VERY strong, and perhaps could overtake Webster's Moore for Newcomer....

So the (current standings) 3 seed takes two first teamers, and the 5 and 7 seeds get first teamers also.  But the one and two seeded teams might get a first teamer unless Ellis slides in there....

Sorry Hope but we'll not find a way to agree on this one.  I cannot overlook winning, consistency (team) and attitude (good) for the sake of stats alone. 

No way in my mind can Mcafee, Forrest and Ellis be first teamers over Vislay (or Millard or Crawford) or one of the Highlanders (Slagle, Robertson, Sichting, Randle, McClellan). 

WC and Mac both have very similar statistical charts: very balanced, team oriented, steady outputs.  Is there any correlation to their being this way and being the top two teams in the conference?  Id say so. 

Just saying I cant justify scoring output over team success (or attitude), especially on the first team. 

That said Id go with (assuming the season ended today)

First team:
Vislay (POY)
Randle
Zasada
Moore (NOY)
McAfee

Second:
Millard
Bell
McClellan
Forrest
Ellis

HM:
Zimmerman
West
Sichting
Sykes
Crawford

Defense (based on steals, blocks, def rebs and mins played):
Moore
Sykes
Ellis
Zasada
Zimmerman

[hopefan]

Good analysis Blue  -  but it doesn't matter who we think  -  who do you think the coaches will vote for?   THEY are the ones who decide....   and in my opinion, historicly, they are done at season's end and don't put a boat load of discussion in on it.....  I don't know, could go either way... But.... Moore first team would surprise me, give me Forrest...  then you would have Randall over Bell, which EC fans would scream about, but I could live with.... Vislay over Bell, another tough call.... it'll be a horse race

[ec_fan14]

Sorry Hope but we'll not find a way to agree on this one.  I cannot overlook winning, consistency (team) and attitude (good) for the sake of stats alone. 

No way in my mind can Mcafee, Forrest and Ellis be first teamers over Vislay (or Millard or Crawford) or one of the Highlanders (Slagle, Robertson, Sichting, Randle, McClellan). 


Just saying I cant justify scoring output over team success (or attitude), especially on the first team. 

That said Id go with (assuming the season ended today)

First team:
Vislay (POY)
Randle
Zasada
Moore (NOY)
McAfee

Second:
Millard
Bell
McClellan
Forrest
Ellis

HM:
Zimmerman
West
Sichting
Sykes
Crawford

Defense (based on steals, blocks, def rebs and mins played):
Moore
Sykes
Ellis
Zasada
Zimmerman

Blue-  I am baffled that you would put Moore or Randle over Forrest or Bell.  1st team all conf in my mind goes to the top 5 players in the conf.  Forrest and Bell in the games i've seen are flat out better players than both of them.  I'd even put Crawford and Ellis on there before Moore.   

As for Vislay for POY I dont see how you can give it to him:

Vislay      17.4ppg 4rpg    53% fg 41% 3fg  74% ft
Zasada   23.6ppg 9.6rpg 53% fg  39%3fg  78% ft also ranked in stl and blk

I dont see how Zasada would not get it over Vislay.  You can say that Vislay plays on a balanced team but Eureka has 4 players in double figures and Bell is the 4th leading scorer in Conf with 20+ppg. 

Bell is also ranked top 5 in ppg and rpg which deserves 1st team i think not to mention being ranked in almost every other statistical category.

is Slagle a newcomer? if so NOY is a toss up between him and Moore.   

[Into_the_Blue]

Funny you say that Hope, I was thinking as I wrote man the coaches wont see this stuff this way at all.  Funny how it all works out.  sometimes older guys get rewarded for their careers too...

[GCBball13]

Greenville 105
Blackburn 78
(BC score might be off by a few)

One of the most ridiculously called games I've ever seen.  West was already sitting out for disciplinary reasons, and than Sykes gets ejected within the first 8 minutes for "throwing an elbow." Although to me it looked more like him just reacting to the call rather than a player.  BC finishes the half with 13 fouls, but despite the slugfest the score was tied 44-44.  GC finally gets things moving to start the second half and take a 13 point lead with like 12 minutes to go.  BC cuts it to 4 but that's the closest they got in the 2nd half.  Stochl played an amazing game, doing it all, especially leading his team back from the setbacks that they encountered.  Unfortunately, he gets T-ed up for a little struggle for the ball with Agomo, and then later gets the 2nd one sending him out as well.  Dakota Tucker tried to keep them in the game, but I feel like with the loss of Sykes and West and Stochl, GC finally put the stranglehold on. 
2 big games yet, @ MacMurray on Saturday, then EUREKA to finish on Tuesday.  GC needs a little help from either Spalding or Fontbonne to take down Webster if the Panthers want to make the postseason...

[hopefan]

GCBBALL  where have you been hiding  -  thanks for the writeup  -  sounds like things got a little ugly GC vs BC....  Found your comment on Dakota Tucker interesting as I also had noticed him off the bench vs Webster...

As to Greenville making the playoffs.... if they win those two, they deserve it, but they certainly can't be scoreboard watching....

Fontbonne's loss came on a 3 pointer at the end, not sure who stuck it for Spalding  McAfee only made 1 the whole game, team made 3 total... someone hit it at the right time.....

[y_jack_lok]

Link to a spot by Rene Knott on KSDK Channel 5's 10:30 p.m. news (dealyed 30 minutes due to the Olympics) last night on FU coach Lee McKinney's 800th career coaching win.

http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=67111557001#/News/Fontbonne%20Coach%20Lee%20McKinney%20reflects%20on%20800%20career%20wins/48541678001/48355648001/67111557001

[ec_fan14]

Greenville keeps their playoff hopes alive iwth a win last night.  Fontbonne is officially out i think...

EC wins a convincing game vs Lincoln Christian last night.  Eureka looked good except for the fact they had 20 to's.  That being said they had 24 assists and were really moving the ball well.  Bell had a nice game with 21pts 7reb 8ast.  Zasada had 13pts 16reb and 6ast.  Freshman Mark Lessen had a career game with 19pts on 9-11 shooting.  This will be one kid to watch over the next few years. 6-7 very long, pretty good strength.  If he can work on a couple more post moves look out.

Eureka takes on Westminster for Senior night on Saturday.  Should be a real slugfest.  Eureka needs a win to guarantee them a spot in the tourney.  Zasada and Bell are the lone seniors on the roster.  Eureka is 0-7 vs Westminster since joining the SLIAC and I'm sure Zasada would like to beat them at least once.

Other games to watch this weekend are Spalding at Webster and Greenville at Mac.  Greenville desperately needs a win.  Webster also needs a win to remain in the driver seat.  This season is turning out to be an exciting one with the games at the end of the year meaning the most.

Any predictions on this weekends games?

[GCBball13]

Hopefan, I actually just joined recently after going most of the whole season reading as a guest...
But yeah, I agree that GC doesn't have the luxury of scoreboard watching, as they have 2 VERY tough tasks ahead of them yet...
Sorry about the tough one for Fontbonne 

ec_fan, sounds like Eureka has a couple challenges these next few days... in the event that Eureka loses both, GC wins both, and WU splits, leaving all three at 9-7, who would have the tiebreakers?

I think WC will squeeze by Eureka in an extremely tight one.
FU should win @ Prin, although at this point it's almost irrelevant...
GC @ Mac... I'm not even sure about this one.  GC handled Mac at home last time, being up by almost 25 at one point.  Of course I'd like to say GC but I have a feeling Mac will find a way to lock up that 2 spot.
Spalding should win @ BC, but I think will struggle the next night @ WU.  Again, of course I'll be cheering for SU against Webster, but Webster's pretty solid at their place.

What you guys think?