MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Greenville's roster is now up and reveals a little plus to their depth....  Jonas McBride returns.. startred at guard last year, listed as a senior then, but returns... tough nosed kid, will help this relatively inexperienced team...

[hopefan]

Prin has an exhibition game tonite at Maryville.... and interestingly a 1:00 opener on Saturday hosting the system... Grinnell... May have to catch that, then come over for the Webster tourney doubleheader on Saturday night...  Grinnell against a Prin squad low in numbers could score a Bunch of points...

ouch... just realized that Fontbonne is hosting Central (Iowa) that afternoon too...   think I'll have to opt for the "New" Griffs rather than the long and winding road to Elsah and Prin.....

[y_jack_lok]

Fired up for the start tomorrow. Fired up for the coming weekend full of games. Fired up for the next 4 months.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Fired up for the start tomorrow. Fired up for the coming weekend full of games. Fired up for the next 4 months.

Yeah, the next four months are gonna be COLD - firing up is wise!

[hopefan]

Prin beaten badly by Maryville..  79-35  exhibition...  Matt Jones, who saw limited minutes last year, had some nice numbers...


Things are for real tonight....

[hopefan]

Eureka BEATS CCIW North Park!!!!!... Pinch me, I must be dreaming

[y_jack_lok]

hopefan, here is your SLIAC pre-season coaches poll and article: http://sliac.org/sports/mbkb/2011-12/releases/poll_111511

[y_jack_lok]

I really like the game box scores available on the d3hoops scoreboard. If anyone wonders how Greenville could have lost to St. Louis College of Pharmacy take a look at the 40 points put up by a Pharmacy player: http://d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2011-12/boxscores/20111115_mjzg.xml

[hopefan]

Well, as long as I'm at home ill, I might as well write!!!

Eureka's shocking win over North Park had to have a major cause... and it became evident as soon as the box score was reviewed.  Lo and behold, Eureka Coach Chip Wilde had to perform some magic to rebound from last year's two win season with little returning.. and he did... 3 JC'rs from Sauk Valley... Dustin Fritsch, Rian Nailor, and Niko Rivera....  All 3 started with returnees Jordan Kindred and Mark Lessen... With Fritsch at 6'6" and Lessen at 6'7", nice size, and we know Kindred can create offense... Fritsch goes for 21 and 10, the 3 transfers combine for 45 points, Kindred gets 18 on his return from last year's injury.. and Eureka gets a huge win...and is right back in the mix!!!!  I found some stats and all 3 started at the JC with decent numbers for a .500 team.

The Mac-Wash U game was disappointing... Dylan Burton started out with two fantastic plays but also committed two fouls quickly, and a possible decent matchup went downhill from there... Clint Lee kept it close in the first half virtually singlehanded....hit a couple of 3's coupled with penetration to the basket.. he made notice that he may be the premier point guard in the conference.. Brady Slagle started out very tight, but got into the flow in the second half... looked much better...  he and Burton will be a solid one two punch if Lee concentrates on getting them the ball....  Big Frosh Clayton Whitlock looked better than I expected, seemed patient as he fit into the offensive scheme setting picks, went to the basket nicely a couple of times...  he should develop into a solid player as he matures....
Wash U just had too many players that were better... great depth...

No McAfee as Spalding loses to Transy

As yjak told us, Stl Pharma stuns Greenville as Sean Menckowski goes for 40... wonder if that is a Eutectic record?... KJ hilliard hit 24 for Greenville

The coaches poll finally hits
1) Westminster
2) MacMurray
3) Spalding
4) Webster
5) Eureka
6) Greenville
7) Fontbonne
8) Blackburn
9) Principia

As we have seen one day of results plus exhibitions, my thought is that this is an 8 team horse race with few favorites - I'd rule out only Prin.. and keep in mind Spalding still has one more year of waiting for eligibility.

[y_jack_lok]

hopefan's observations about the Mac-Wash U game are right on target. I'd add that Wash U's defense was terrific. Mac had to work really hard for almost all of their 64 points. Only once or twice did they successfully break down the Wash U defense for easy buckets.

It was hard to tell from last night how Mac will fare in the SLIAC. I'd agree again with hopefan that at the moment it seems to be a wide open race given the relative youth of most rosters, the absence of a number of last season's top non-graduating players, and the unknowns about newcomers such as the three juco transfers at Eureka -- and others wherever they may be. I'm not sure we've ever gone into a season knowing so little about most of the conference teams.

[hopefan]

Fontbonne plays at Franklin tonite... and in a game that takes on quite a bit MORE interest after last nite, Blackburn takes on St Louis Pharma.....

[hopefan]

On the Franklin site     Franklin 79    Fontbonne  70

[hopefan]

Blackburn beats Stl Pharma 97-64...  Julian Lott gets 31 and is 6 for 6 from 3's...  surprisingly, neither of the big men that I liked went for double figures..
BC won't be a darkhorse much longer ...   and I'm not so sure that the eighth place prediction by the coaches will stand up....
Fontbonne box (79-70 loss) shows pretty even stats with Franklin, nice job on the boards, turnovers may have been the difference, along with 1 for 11 from 3's.. nice game off the bench from Nolan Zoellner....I notice Eric Jenkins didn't play... injury?

[GC Panther 01]

Losing to STLPharm makes for the looks of a long season. UGH

[y_jack_lok]

Found the box score on the Pharma website of last night's game vs Blackburn: http://www.stlcop.edu/campuslife/reports/mb_11162011.htm. The guy who torched Greenville for 40 only scored 12 against Blackburn. If he'd had 28 more points it still wouldn't have been enough for a W.