MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[WU FAN]

And Eureka knocks of Webster 83-80 in OT.

[hopefan]

Hopefan standings after Saturday night
for simplicity  let's assume each team wins it's remaining home games against each other (Therefore they lose when they are away), and each team wins any remaining games with BC, Font, and Prin

Ending standings would look like this:

1    Webster      12-4   ( Forecast record changes with loss to Eureka at home)
2    Mac            12-4    (Holds forecast record playing non conf McKendree)
3     Eureka        11-5   (Forecast record changes with win at Webster)
4    Greenville     10-6   (Holds forecast record beating Wesminster at home)
4    Westmin      10-6   (Holds forecast record losing at Greenville)
NA   Spalding       10-6   (Holds forecast record winning over Prin)

Now let's get to where we really are:

Webster     9 - 2         Remaining  @Prin  @Spal   Gville   @Mac   Font
Eureka       10 - 3        Remaining   Font   @Westmin  @Mac
Mac           8 - 3         Remaining   BC   @Gville  Westmin   Webster   Eureka
Gville          7 - 5        Remaining    Mac  @Webster   @Prin   Spal   
Westmin     7 - 5         Remaining   @Font   BC   @Mac     Eureka

ONE VERY KEY point at this time.... Greenville beat Westmin twice... that's could be a BIG tiebreaker

a pie in the sky forecast?
Webster wins @ Spalding, beats Gville, loses at Mac     13-3
Eureka   wins at Westmin, loses at Mac                   12-4
Mac   loses Gville wins vs Westmin, Webster, EC         12-4
Gville  beats Mac  loses at Webster, beats Spal          10-6
Westmin loses @ Mac, loses to EC                             9-7

Now then... point to recognize   Gville with 3 tough games left, and Westmin with 2, and currently tied... Westmin must win both (winning at Mac) and Greenville lose 1, or if Westmin loses 1 of 2, Greenville must lose 2 of 3... because Gville holds the tiebreaker.....

[Dutch32]

Hopefan standings after Wednesday night
for simplicity  let's assume each team wins it's remaining home games against each other (Therefore they lose when they are away), and each team wins any remaining games with BC, Font, and Prin

Ending standings would look like this:

1    Webster      12-4   ( Forecast record changes with loss to Eureka at home)
2    Mac            12-4    (Holds forecast record beating Prin)
3     Eureka        10-6   (Forecast record changes with win at Webster)
4    Greenville     10-6   (Holds forecast record beating Wesminster at home)
4    Westmin      10-6   (Holds forecast record losing at Greenville)
NA   Spalding       10-6   (Holds forecast record winning over Prin)

Wouldn't this formula put Eureka at 11-5?

[hopefan]

Very good EC... I forgot to change Eureka's record with yesterday's win... I have made the correction

[hopefan]

Comments on Yesterday's games...

Superbowl, what Superbowl...  My mind is wandering to next week's SLIAC games, particularly on Saturday, when Mac plays Greenville and Webster goes to Spalding.... 
What I love about the SLIAC, and D3hoops... I had great conversations with Eureka Coach Chip Wilde before the game, Jordan Kindred at half time as the team waited for Webster HoF ceremonies, Austin Nicholas after the game...Only in D3

Fantastic shot by Webster's Cody Bradfish to tie the game with 2.xx seconds remaining... step back 3 pointer with a hand in his face. The long pass goes off fingertips to Eureka's Mark Lessen on the move... he grabs it and throws it up to the board... kind of a shovel shot from about 10 feet... just came off the rim... not a layup....
Bradfish has another 3 to tie at the end of OT, but was short...
Tough day for Roman Robinson... lots of great moves to the basket... and it just wouldn't go in
Jarrod Huskey... 6 for 6, best game this season..... BUT, Mark Lessen showed MUCH more strength, much more agility to be a dominant force in the middle...
And speaking of the middle.. keep your eyes on Webster's Lawrence Williams... he's learning Coach Bunch's way, but this kid is already a solid player, and his stats would show it if he was getting more minutes.  Williams and Ahmad Smith will be a solid one two punch in the future, and their inside game could give Molly and Maggie's little brother Danny a lot of looks from the perimeter....

Eureka... what a solid starting 5.... I really think best starting 5 in the conference... the three new faces from JC are all strong, intelligent players.... I view them as the favorites in the conf tourney, though depth may hurt (though I must say I'm impressed with some of the kids coming off the bench... they just haven't scored, besides vet Austin Nicholas)

Greenville beats Westmin ... Greenville gets a big lead, Westmin catches up to tie in the last minute (on a Joe Prophet hoop), but Jonas McBride breaks the tie with a jumper, KJ Hilliard gets a steal, and Free throws seal it....  Verdis Lee, my conference frosh of the year leading candidate, finishes with 26... but Westmin bench gets SHUTOUT... Greenville puts 10 players in the scoring column....

Fontbonne loses close to BC.... Fontbonne gets a great job from the bench, but can't overcome a career performance from Dakota Tucker who finishes with 25, 7 of 11 from 3's.... BC wins the championship of the 'bottom 3'... beating Fontbonne and Prin twice....

Spalding beats Prin badly...  Everyone from Spalding gets lots of minutes......

Mac loses to McKendree ... 71 - 55 ... worse than I would have thought.....frosh Clayton Whitlock has another solid game, 17 points in 21 minutes...... WHERE IS DYLAN BURTON...  Come on MacMurray supporters, let me know....

[SLIACFAN]

I don't know how you think Mac's lost last night was worse than expected, they played a d2 school and were down 4-8 points the whole game until a minute left...Dylan Burton was suspended 2 games after the fontbonne game for getting disqualified for an altercation. He will be back for the Blackburn game...

[hopefan]

Well, SLIACFAN, it's a 40 minute game, not a 36 minute game....and I had checked McKendree's record prior to the game and thought that Mac had a chance to get a win.. McKendree had lost to ALL the local D2's .. Maryville, Lindenwood, Mo Bap, and at 14-10, hardly approaches some of their great teams of the past.... so seeing a 17 point loss is disappointing to me, yes....

To your point...when I reviewed the play by play, yes, Mac had a nice comeback in the 2nd half to cut the margin to 4, but got blown out in the last several minutes.... Much more competitive game than the box score shows.....

Dylan Burton has got to be driving Coach Creal nuts.... so many things going right for the program this year, but that piece of the pie just has not fit in... Well, Burton is still young, time left to get his act together...
I hadn't heard about the incident with Fontbonne... I can imagine him and Lisch going at it pretty hard.....

[hopefan]

Never too early to imagine NCAA tourney time....  once again, and very obvious, the SLIAC champ will be low man on the totem pole and have to play a very good team on that Very good team's home court....

Where might we end up this year?

Well in the midwest region:
CCIW : Per Titan Q's analysis, it's a crap shoot.... 4 good teams at the top, beating each other up... Wheaton, Ill Wes, North Central, Augie.... Augie clobbered MacMurray, Illinois Wes clobbered Webster and MacMurray, Wheaton beat Westmin by 15...

MWC :  Lake Forest leads the MWC, Grinnell in 2nd...   Titan Q has Lake Forest rated behind Wheaton and north Central and ahead of Ill Wez, and Auggie

HCAC  : Transy leading, Hanover 2nd..  Titan Q has Transy at the top of the midwest region, Hanover behind all 4 CCIW teams

Wash U is 2nd in the Midwest Region per Titan Q.... tough schedule ahead in the UAA however, finishing up at Brandeis, at NYU, at Chicago....

the Nathcom leaders will likely not get to host as they rank behind the leaders mentioned, though several have far better records than any SLIAC team

no logical out of region possibilities within 500 miles unless Hope in Holland Mi comes into play, and they were in the same 4-some as Webster last year at Augie.... Iowa league wouldn't merit hosting, nor SCAC unless Birmingham southern, which is too far away....  I have the feeling we'll be visiting Transy, or one of our CCIW friends... 

of course, lots of hoops left to decide who will be hosts.....

I wish,somehow, the tourney was lined up in threesomes the first week, where two lesser teams would play a competitive game for the right to play a seeded team.... just to give the SLIACs of the world something to look forward to besides a likely thrashing..... but, it isn't going to happen....

[Gregory Sager]

CCIW : Per Titan Q's analysis, it's a crap shoot.... 4 good teams at the top, beating each other up... Wheaton, Ill Wes, North Central, Augie....

That's not really an accurate description, hopefan. Yeah, it's a crapshoot in D3 tourney terms, because North Central did so poorly in the non-conference portion of the season and is thus not assured of a Pool C berth, but the top-tier teams of the CCIW are not beating each other up. NCC is 9-1 and in sole possession of first place, with its only loss being a two-overtime thriller at Wheaton that the Cardinals could've won in either of a couple of different final-seconds scenarios.

[hopefan]

Gregory.... good to hear from you... hope i'll see you in March up north.....,.

[Gregory Sager]

Perhaps, but I think it's pretty likely that, if you're following the SLIAC entry up north, you'll be following them to Wisconsin rather than Illinois.

[hopefan]

uhoh... forgot all about the WIAC....   Had a good time at Stevens Point in 2007 when Wash U and Hope were up there, though the weather was Nasty.....

[hopefan]

hmmmm... leave me alone on this board, no responses, critiques, arguments, or useful information from anyone else... and my mind wanders ...
IF, in the next two weeks of games,

Webster goes down the drain losing to Spalding, Greenville, Mac     (I know, highly unlikely, but follow along)
and   Eureka loses to Westminster and Mac   (what, am I nuts??  no, keep reading)
and Mac loses to Greenville and Westmin    (wow, Westmin a huge comeback in the last two weeks)
and Spalding loses to Greenville

Final standings will be
Webster    11-5
Eureka       11-5
Mac          11-5
Greenville    11-5
and Westmn 11-5



Wonder who would get pushed out with tiebreakers?

[y_jack_lok]

Tied at 27 at halftime, Webster comes out strong in the 2nd half, builds an 18 point lead and holds on for a 76-67 win at Principia. That Prin team plays smart and never quits. Made some clutch shots late in the game to keep it interesting. Webster was without Hollis Edwards who had a class he couldn't miss. Sooter also didn't travel. Was told he's having a wrist X-rayed this week. Roman Robinson was snake bit around the hoop in the first half -- couldn't get anything to fall, just like against Eureka on Saturday. But found his rhythm in the 2nd half making almost everything he put up and ended with 13 points. Bradfisch (21 points), Whittingham (15 points/14 boards), and Smith (5 of 7, 12 points) also had solid games. Nice job by Mel Drady who got the start at point -- 36 minutes, 7 assists, 3 steals, only 2 turnovers.

[hopefan]

Wow, even missing Edwards and Sooter, tied at half....wouldn't THAT have been something!!!!!!!!

Mel Drady?   wasn't he on the old Dick Van Dyke show?   oh wait, Allan Brady, and Mel cooley.. yah, that's right...  Anyway, his stat line shows a nice, in control, game, 7 assts, only 2 TO's in 36 minutes,,, a heck of a job by a guy who never plays...

Hollis missing a game for class...  that's real D3, and great news... I feared if both he and Sooter were out with injury, Webster had a major problem coming down the stretch.... if Sooter is hurt, may explain his out of kilter shooting performance the last couple of games

Yjak, Font Westmin tonite?   Huge game for the ladies, and upset possibilities for the men.....