MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Denny McKinney]

In my imaginary Final 4 senario, I have given to spots to WC and WU. Leaving Mac, GC and FU battling for the final 2 spots. Spaulding will have a say in the final positions. Mac is one up with a win over WU.

FU will need a split at least that first week. EC is in trouble, so WU could make for interesting experiment. If FU plays a big 2-3 zone, Diuom, Woods and Thomas across the back and Garner and Fleming on top. Match up on Jones and let Woods size clog the lane. Can WU hit enough three's to beat you?

Just a crazy thought. You may see it.

[hopefan]

That first week of January is just fantastic... and the first Tuesday's games will really tell us if we are all experts, or if we're nuts..... wonderful chance for upsets in any of the games....

can Greenville win at Spalding, especially after a very long layoff?

BC has 2 close losses in conference... could they upset Webster in the matchbox?

Westmin has probably been the most consistent team in the conference, but coming back from Hawaii and bussing to Mac two days later is brutal.. can they really be ready?

And will Fontbonne play as capable and blow out Eureka, or just maybe could Eureka pressure Fontbonne into a boatload of turnovers and beat them from the 3 point line.. DENNY.. Woods and Thomas should have 60 points between them vs those guys...bench the first person who shoots the ball before those two touch it... 

[Denny McKinney]

Hopefan you remind me of what we used to call "The Barber shop Coaches".
Against a very good (9-2) RHIT team (who since has beat RMC-S by 42 and Depauw) the two combined for 20 attempts. I know Thomas (60+% fg) was extremely dissapointed in going 3-10. Two were missed dunks.

But, that's still 20 touches against a team with quality bigs. Add Fleming and you have 14-29 from the paint. The idea has been in effect for awhile. Just tough opponents and finding a flow camo what's trying to happen. And, waiting on Woods to get 70% back.

[hopefan]

Hopefan you remind me of what we used to call "The Barber shop Coaches".

Isn't that what this site is designed for???   

[Denny McKinney]

Four more years and I can critique your philosophies on the sidelines. Right. 

[hopefan]

Heck  -  you'll be my assistant....

[Denny McKinney]

Spent enough years in that roll. May spend my golden years as a HS Head Coach some where near Gulf Shores.

Shoot, if Dad says 4 more, you guys may face each other. I can see you at BC in the Beaver Dome.

[Gregory Sager]

The Mac  Dominican result disappointed me... not sure what could be the cause of a 20 point loss unless the kids were wiped out by finals week, or just looking forward to Christmas break... Dominican isn't bad, a 500 team who have basically beaten the teams they should beat this season, but I would have hoped that Mac, as one of the favorites of the SLIAC would be able to compete with a middle of the pack MWC team.... that is the conference that is ahead of the SLIAC in the Midwest region pecking order, the conference we would hope to catch... Mac was never in the game.  Looks like McClelland and Robertson came to play, but got little support from anyone else... Dylan Burton the frosh who ate up Webster, gets 2 pts , 2 rebs, 4 turnovers in 20 minutes?  Other 2 starters Lee and Best get 5 points between them...   team has 20 turnovers...  as I said, disappointing.....

I was at this game. Dominican is much, much more athletic than are the Highlanders, nor does MacMurray have big men as skilled as Milos Mandic or Logan Harris. MacMurray especially had absolutely no answer for the Turley brothers. The Highlanders were gamers, and they never caved in, but it was pretty obvious to me from the outset that they were outmatched.

[hopefan]

Definitely right about the size element Greg.. Mac has none with the exception of Pettyjohn, and he obviously is not equipped to go up against an athletic jumper type kid... clearly a major difference in the SLIAC this year from other conferences is that lack of mobile bigs.. which is why I feel Webster has the advantage if Frosh Huskey and Kuehl can stay healthy... Mac beat Webster close when Huskey went down in the first minute....  it MIGHT have been different if that hadn't happened, but I take nothing away from Mac's super effort that night..

[hopefan]

per the Augustana site, Augie beats Mac 53-50....While a win would have been an incredible boost for Mac and the SLIAC, a 3 point loss to a top 10 team is a great recovery from a lopsided loss to Dominican...   

Mac needs to catch up to the real world in communications... score was only to be found on Augie site, not on D3 hoops or SLIAC.org or the Mac site.....

[Denny McKinney]

On Tuesday Jan. 4th, between the games with EC, Dad will be inducted into the SLIAC Hall of Fame. This one is special to him. It's the fact that he's going in as Administator. He's being honored for his vision of what FC athletics could be and the foresight to know he needed a conference to compete in.

Next chemo treatment tomorrow. Merry Christmas.

[Denny McKinney]

Wow. Augie holds Mac to 16 1st half points. Leads by 13. Mac only has 17 rebounds for the game and shoots 35%. And Augie only wins by 3. Pettyjohn only plays 5 mins. and Robertson another T.

Was this the top 10 Augustana?

Looking forward to finally seeing Huskey and Kuehl. Hopefan gives nice reports on the two.

[Denny McKinney]

Next up for Fontbonne is (10-0) U of Tampa. The hits just keep coming.

[hopefan]

hey hey hey... hopefan becomes a grandpa again about an hour ago....  Anna Lee Hopefan!!!!  Watch out for the Eureka HS ladies team in about 15 years, with hopefan's and Denny's coaching on the side, how can she miss?

What a great Christmas present!!!!!!   Congrats to the very tired, very happy parents....

[y_jack_lok]

Awesome news. Congrats to the parents and grand parents. I love the name