MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Games on tap Saturday

Prin at Webster.....   poor Prin

Spalding at Macmurray....  Coach Creal won't accept the level of play exhibited by Mac on Thursday... I have a hunch they'll get better quick, and that, coupled with the long trip for Spalding, may make this a double digit win for Mac

Eureka at Fontbonne...  I was edging towards Fontbonne here, until I remembered that Eureka has 6"8" Mark Lessen in the middle... if he comes ready to play and sees the ball, font won't stop him.... gotta go with Eureka...hoping to see Lisch vs Kindred, good D vs good O.. fun matchup

Westmin at Blackburn...  BC has so many problems to iron out... Westmin plays too smart to help BC get a win... Westmin with the W

[hopefan]

Now all you D3hoops readers come up and say hi to me at the Fontbonne game and wish me a happy birthday (1 birthday closer to retirement)... today's outfit is hope hat, blue plaid shirt, fresh haircut....

[SLIACFAN]

Hello to all, I decided to join this board in hope to get more discussion for the conference. On todays games, I look for Mac to bounce back today with a win, Spalding has been doing a lot of travel so Mac should bounce on them early and often. I believe they have the talent to be the top team in the conference, they just need to start using their size more.

[hopefan]

Eureka Fontbonne ends 87-74 Eureka, but at one point, Eureka had a 27 point lead... nice comeback in the 2nd half by Fontbonne led by Andew Chism to get it down to 12, but I don't think they got any closer.  I was very impressed with Eureka's 3 new players from JC... Dustin Fritsch is a very smart player, moves well without the ball to set up his shots... picture perfect shooting form... Rivera is a terrific jumper... Kindred doesn't start, plays out of control when he was in, gets a T, fouls out... on the other hand, Austin Nichols gets the start, roams the perimeter, gets 20 with 6 3's.... every time I see him, he shoots well....  my only complaint, big man Mark Lessen didn't touch the ball near enough... Fontbonne, some people played pretty well.. Fontbonne sets a 3/4 court press very nicely, gave Eureka problems, but they can't play it the whole game.... Chism, Curtis nice games off the bench

Geesh... Spalding wins at Mac?  Dylan Burton doesn't play?  well at least Slagle and Whitlock got their share of the shots, but Clint Lee going 1 for 9 had to hurt.... Spalding beats them badly on the boards... SHOULD NOT HAPPEN....    Tyler St Julian goes for 26 off the bench for Spalding.. he couldn't buy a hoop at Webster earlier in the week...  Well I hoped Spalding would impact the standings... they are....

Webster gets 96 vs Prin, but gives up 86?   come on Prin should not be scoring 86 against Webster... 6 players hit double figures for Webster....

Westmin beats BC by only 8... evidently no problems for Julian Lott as he plays 40 minutes and gets 22 points...Madison Medley 17 points... nothing from anyone else.... Prophet and Lee lead Westmin, Kurt Kovach gets 8 points and 10 boards in 10 minutes.....

[y_jack_lok]

Webster gets 96 vs Prin, but gives up 86?   come on Prin should not be scoring 86 against Webster.

I'm sure coach Bunch would agree with the last part. Webster had a 24 point lead well into the 2nd half but let Prin back in. Prin players had no quit. They kept playing hard, passing well, fighting for boards, making shots. They are better than everyone gives them credit for.

[hopefan]

Yjak... Tuesday night, Fontbonne at Prin... could be a game worth seeing......  If Prin can handle Fontbonne's press, they should be able to score enough to make this game close......Fontbonne will hopefully not go into this taking a win for granted......

[hopefan]

Would love to hear from either of our new contributors as to what might have led to Mac's loss today......

[hopefan]

The rest of the league really needs a Greenville win over Webster this Wednesday... With Webster holding a 2 game lead over Eureka and 3 games over everyone else, they are already approaching an uncatchable position as we near 'midseason'... they already have wins over Eureka, Spalding, Westminster, and MacMurray... If they win at Greenville as well, the mindset may approach everyone else playing for second place.....   Still appears that Eureka, Westmin, Mac and Greenville will be fighting for spots 2,3,4,....  BC, Font, Prin for 7,8,9,   and Spalding being amongst the top 6, but not yet eligible for the tourney.....

[MacHighlander]

With just a cursory glance at the schedule to date, it appears Webster has had the benefit of playing some of their tougher conference games at home in the early going. After the trip to Greenville, Webster still has visits to make at Westminster, MacMurray, and Spalding. No question, Gorlocks very much in the drivers seat right now. Much better to see the rest of the league in the rear view mirror. But plenty of games yet to be played, and for Webster, they'll probably have to win at least one or more of the games mentioned above to lock it up. Of course Mac, Eureka, Westminster, and Spalding could take turns beating each other, mix in an upset or two, and Webster cruises down the stretch.

From my experience watching SLIAC play, which pales in comparison to the other regular on this board, one thing to watch that is always interesting is to what extent, if any, personnel changes are made when the second semester begins. If history serves me correctly, hardly a season goes by when a handful of players either disappear, come out behind curtain #3, reappear, or some combination of all three. At the D3 level, this happens for a multitude of reasons. But if/when it does, especially this year when so many teams appear to be similar in strength, even the slightest addition or subtraction could make a significant difference. Maybe the second semester has already started for most of the SLIAC schools and we've already seen whatever changes to be made. I know the U of I is just getting back to class this week, so not sure if the SLIAC schools follow a similar calendar.

[y_jack_lok]

I believe from the standpoint of athletic competition the second semester starts as soon as the first semester ends so long as a player is officially enrolled for the second semester. Someone correct me if I am wrong. If I am right, then we have probably already seen the personnel changes that are going to occur.

MacHighlander is right. Webster has played only one conference game on the road -- at Eureka. Starting Wednesday they play five straight games on the road -- four are SLIAC games (Greenville, Fontbonne, Blackburn and Westminster) with a game against Lindenwood sandwiched right in the middle. Only three home games left all season, eight away games.

[hopefan]

I'm aware of 3 2nd semester  losses... there may be others I haven't noticed

Billy Ray Wilridge from Blackburn... teamed with Julian Lott in the backcourt, there was an air of excitement as both had great quickness and would shoot the ball... often...  Wilridge averaged  11 points per game, shooting only 38%... my thought when seeing them was that the interior game was being sacrificed... with Wilridge gone, their interior hasn't been strong enough to win anyway....

Fontbonne's Ron Rust is gone... he was their only size at 6'7", but had contributed little... Fontbone lost at least two other players during 1st semester, Saliu Dioum and Will Rapier... Eric Hamilton has been out with concussion problems since first semester, don't know if he'll get better to return or not... they miss him....

Eureka lost DT Thornton off the bench.. he was a football BIG player who had seen some minutes and had a couple of very good stats games....

Certainly Wilridge was the most obvious loss, and without him, BC seems less competitive... Fontbonne's roster was already diminishing prior to semester....

[hopefan]

Mac-H and Yjack make a good point regarding Webster's schedule - and not one I overlooked in writing what I did about 'Webster and everyone else'....  But their win on the road over Eureka seemed so convincing, as well as a win over Westmin at home that could be described as a romp.... and the win over Mac was also coasting in the end......    the competition is going to have to play much better the 2nd time around...

Mac, SLIACfan, no response on Mac's performance on Saturday, or why Burton didn't play?

[MacHighlander]

No clue on why Burton didn't play, hopefan. Will try to find out.

[SLIACFAN]

Sorry for the late response, but first I would like to say I agree about Webster still having all those away games, certaintly not locked up anything yet. Regarding the Mac game, Dylan Burton did not play because he scratched his eye by leaving his contact in while sleeping the night before. Regarding the game, rebounds and tecnical fouls were the difference. Creal recieved one in a critical time in the game and it changed the whole game and Spalding never looked back. Maybe Creal should consider going with a bigger lineup so they can use their size more. (burton 6'4, Slagle 6'6, Best 6'4, Busch 6'7, Whitlock 6'8) and just pound the ball inside to both bigs.

[hopefan]

Maybe Creal should consider going with a bigger lineup so they can use their size more. (burton 6'4, Slagle 6'6, Best 6'4, Busch 6'7, Whitlock 6'8) and just pound the ball inside to both bigs.

Obviously not all at once, but I like that much better than Slagle wandering the perimeter, and 'shooters' Columbia, Lee, Bishop, Ozee, Burton firing up 3's....   as a supplement to the offense, Bishop and Lee are shooting decently from 3 point land, but that can't be the focus of the offense....