MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[WU FAN]

MacMurray knocks off Webster 68-62.  Gorloks go cold in the 2nd half and Mac keeps the pressure up.

[ecreddevils]

Webster leads Mac 37-26 at half after being down early.

52-44 Web with 8:00 left

60-56 mac with 1:30, webster falling apart

alley oops dunk by mac makes it 54-50 web with 5:15 left

56-55 web with 3:30 left

57-56 mac with 2:30 left, webster has gone cold, mac working inside out game

Mac pulls the upset.  Great game.

[allamericanredhead]

.........surprisingly, that group did not beat Webster again.

March 1, 2007 Fontbonne 67 Webster 62 SLIAC Conference Tournament WU #1 seed FU #4
FU went on to beat EC in OT for first of 3 straight Tournament Titles.

Didn't take long for Dennis to jump on this one. Maybe he lurkes on here more than he admits. Living iin the past. Come home Dennis, we miss you. Nobody, the facts be damned, could spin like you.

[Denny McKinney]

Dang!!!! My horse is out of the race already. In the two games I saw this year, WU has blown out two good teams in WC and GC. Didn't see this one coming. Nobody can question Webster has been the dominant team in the conforence in recent memory. But, it baffles me what happens comes tournament time. WU is 1-5 in 1st rd games. And 1-3 on their home court. Coach Bunch is a Great coach and a good family friend. I know how hard he works and the time he puts into preperation. This just amazes me. I didn't see Mac this year, so I can't talk about match ups.

I know he din't miss a shot or commit a single turnover. The man deserves more then this. Coach Bunch congrats on another Conference Title.

To Allamericanredhead - I've been back on for a couple weeks. I've followed the conference on the internet. And felt time had heeled enough to return on certain topics. As for your comment. I am not going to respond to anyone who cowardly hides behind a User name. And, has not contributed anything to this board but personal attacks. Period

Good Luck to WC and Mac. Should be a great game.

Yjak - I heard the WU mascot name is in reference to the intersection of Gore St. and Lockwood. Can you confirm this? Sorry my friend for tonites outcome. Your a loyal supporter of the program amd I know this hurts. Nice article on our friend Furbug.

[hopefan]

I may write about the games later in the day... but the single greatest impression I come away with from the games last night was the fun the Mac students had, when they were losing and when they were winning..  they never quit with the yelling and cheering... and there was a whole section of Webster fans sitting on their hands... when 'Jump Around' was played and the Mac kids took to jumpin', it was ELECTRIC!!!!   I hope they bring the whole campus down on Saturday....   this was as close to 'the old days' (when I was a fan at Hope) as it gets...  It's what this conference needs....  BUT MAC FANS-RESPECT YOUR OPPONENTS AFTER THE GAME-

[ecreddevils]

Mac is making a statement, to drop 4 of their last 5 regular season and then come out and impose their will on the home team and #1 seed Web last night was huge.  In the SLIAC, size often wins, and Mac with frontline boasting a 6' 6" Soph and very good 6' 8" Frosh might be a real team to beat for the next two or three years. 

As for EC, good season, some nights the buckets aren't there to be bought.  EC should be the favorite next year, considering all five starters should be back, another year for Lessen to develop even more and for the team to gell further.

[MacHighlander]

To be fair, most of Mac's losses down the stretch were nail-biters and some could have gone either way. Yes, a loss is a loss. But the Highlanders have been a tough opponent on most nights, as were several other SLIAC teams. That is probably why hopefan more or less called it a couple of weeks ago when he said this probably was the most balanced and competitive league he'd seen in his time following the SLIAC. And the post-season tournament was more or less a jump ball. A few years ago, when Mac and Webster tied for the regular season championship, neither team made it to the conference post-season tournament finals. Eureka, who Mac had beaten twice during the regular season, knocked off the Highlanders, and Fontbonne - with a load of talent but some inconsistent regular season performances, eased past tournament host Webster. My sense is the 2012 tournament, in many ways, mirrors that season. And you had a couple of other teams during that previous tournament - Westminster and Greenville - who were just as tough but didn't get in.

I've always thought good guard play and depth were the difference makers in the post season. Through in some size and solid coaching, and that team probably has the edge. But at the end of the day, if a team shoots well, it usually plays well. I think Mac may be on a mission and is poised to capture the NCAA bid. But Westy, as it proved in Jacksonville not that long ago, will be tough as nails. Should be a very good game that could go either way.

[hopefan]

EC should be the favorite next year, considering all five starters should be back, another year for Lessen to develop even more and for the team to gell further.

Once again, I'll temper that  statement with these facts

Webster returns whole roster WITH the possible addition of Willie Trimble
Spalding returns entire roster WITH the addition of Dewhon McAfee and Cody Cutsinger
Mac loses ONLY starter Clint Lee and minimal bench time (that means Whitlock, Slagle, Bishop, Burton, Best, Busch, Guthrie are back)
Westmin returns Tolson, James, Prophet (if the knee comes back), Lee, Valendra are back
Greenville loses a large number of seniors, but still return 5 players from their normal rotation

Quite honestly, I don't view EC as the favorite until they show more depth... the kids off the bench lent little except for Nicholas who is a senior.....  They needed a pick me up last night in the worst way, and just didn't get it, unlike Westmin who had Kovachs step in for the injured Joe Prophet, and Mac, who got great 2nd half efforts from Burton and Guthrie off the bench

[hopefan]

notes on last night semifinals

Faces in the crowd....  good to see Will Wolper and talk SLIAC hoops... though I was chastized for not taking part in the Wednesday chatroom  unfortunately work got in the way...  Eureka ladies, Webster Ladies there to support men's teams.. both were having a great time..... had a Mac fan come up to me after the games and thank me for my input on this site..it's always nice to know that someone appreciates my enthusiasm and honesty in writing about the kids.....  Good luck to Yjack and furbug with their trip to Fulton tonight - have a great time, but I'll watch some D3hoops on the web from home instead...

Game 1 was decided quickly... Eureka was going to keep throwing them up from 3 point land rather than going to Lessen and Fritsch, and when they didn't go in, they were going to lose... and honestly, some of those guys shooting 3 pointers are not very good shooters..... I wish Jordan Kindred would have decided to take over far earlier... once he got going the last 7 or 8 minutes, he actually gave Eureka a glimmer of hope.. but it was far too little too late....  Westmin took Lessen right out of the offense.. if he got any shot at all, it was at a bad angle where it was difficult to use the board... Westmin had four starters in double figures, but Kelsey Weymouth, who got shut out, may have been the MVP for shutting down Lessen.  Curt Kovachs... didn't quit on himself when minutes diminished during the season, really responding with Prophet out... I love that kind of story...

All conference announced at half... Bunch COY... glad I was right on that one
POY  Stefon Whittingham...  as I said, if Webster won the conference, he should get it
Newcomer (Freshman) of the year   Clayton Whitlock   no problem with this at all... I'm sure it was a tossup with Verdis Lee..   

First team Fritsch, Lessen, Brasher, Robinson, Whittingham   good team... I had Slagle and Clint Lee, and both have fallen off that level the last couple of weeks

2nd team   Lott  (sorry, I'm a non believer) Brown from Greenville (nope, not so sure on this one either... lots of baskets, countered by lots of mistakes) Hilliard Whitlock and Profit  -  I like the last three... personally would have preferred seeing McBride, Clint Lee or Verdis Lee  in other two spots

HM   Kindred, Verdis Lee, Slagle, Bradfish, Clint Lee

Only one gripe... No Jonas McBride... good grief... look at the guys who made the team... I think Mc Bride could be considered one of the top two or 3 guards in the conference.....

Game two comments a little later.....

[MObball41]

It seems that the coaches take too much of a look at statistics when making these All Conference teams, particularly PPG. It's a shame that a guy like Joe James from Westmin- a guy that does it all on the court- doesn't make any of the teams.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, WC will need Weymouth to shut down Mac's bigs like he did last night against Lessen. Valandra also stepped in last night and provided some good, hard-nosed minutes. All indications are tomorrow night will be another hard fought, close game between WC and Mac. Hopefully the WC students will show up for this one like the Mac students did last night. Would make for a great atmosphere!

[hopefan]

Already wrote about how much fun the Mac Webster game was with the spirit of the Mac Student crowd... game result was, lets say, unexpected.....  first half, Webster totally outplayed Mac.... offense was well distributed, Robinson and Ahmad Smith led the way and Webster was up 11 at half... Whitlock and Bishop had almost all of Mac's points... Webster led 51-39 with 11 minutes left... and with that, it seemed to end....... led by Frosh Dylan Guthrie and Dylan Burton off the bench, Mac outscored Webster 25 -5 over the next 10 and a half minutes... Webster got a couple of hoops in the last 30 some seconds, but too late.. Mac had a great comeback win... in that time span of 10.5 minutes, Webster shot 1 for 9 and had 4 turnovers.... in that same period of time, Mac was 10 for 15, including a remarkable 8 for 8 from the 7 minute mark down to the one minute mark...  Webster not only shot poorly, they settled for poor shots when they needed to go to the basket... quite honestly, panic time when Mac made a run......    the shots that went in up at Mac, didn't go in last night......

While dylan Guthrie had shown some good stats in several games this year, I personally had never seen him 'have a game'... until last night... wow 4 for 4, 3 from 3's... passed up one or two open looks, that will come with experience... and dylan Burton played like the kid I was so high on by the end of last season... that depth is what won the game for Mac, along with the fact that Frosh Clayton Whitlock shoots about 85% from 12-15 feet... GEESH!!!!!!   Just a pure shooter, lots of wrist, very soft touch...  man, plant him high, Slagle low, Bishop, Guthrie, Burton on the wings... now who's gonna play point next year?

Didn't matter to me which of the four teams won last night....  I knew I'd be excited for the winners... pumped for the championship game tomorrow..... no thought whatsoever as to who is the favorite......

[hopefan]

It seems that the coaches take too much of a look at statistics when making these All Conference teams, particularly PPG. It's a shame that a guy like Joe James from Westmin- a guy that does it all on the court- doesn't make any of the teams.

Agreed 100%..   they've also missed great defensive players, though get around that with the All Defense teams... I remember several years ago lobbying for Chad fournie of fontbonne to make All Conference... though he earned MVP of the conf tourney, he didn't even make HM all Conference... I had him on my First Team All Conf that year.......
Now then, while I like Joe James alot, he did not have a good conference season..... shooting 39% from the field, 29% from 3's and he had more turnovers than assists... still his creativity with the ball generated a large number of good looks for Prophet and Lee...... (McBride shot 48% from field, 44% from 3's and a/to of 1.5)

[ac slater]

I do agree that the individual awards are mainly based on PPG, and there were a lot of players who received awards that shocked me. With that said, individual awards are just that - its winning the conf. tourney that really matters.

The team that has been to the conf. tourney championship game the past 4 years in a row (I think), Westminster, usually doesnt have a lot of luck getting players on 1st team. To me, this just shows with balanced scoring and teamwork, individuals don't receive as much attention as other players who average 20 ppg on a sub-par team.

Also, being at a good amount of Westminster games, their statisticians (college students), have never really taken stats correct - mainly assists. I have kept stats a few times, and it seems they dont keep track of assists unless they are blatantly obvious. I think this is unfair for players (on home and away teams) because this causes their assist-to-turnover ratio to suffer.

With that being said, it can be assumed I am a Westminster fan. Hopefully they can pull out a win tomorrow!!

[ecreddevils]

EC should be the favorite next year, considering all five starters should be back, another year for Lessen to develop even more and for the team to gell further.

Once again, I'll temper that  statement with these facts

Webster returns whole roster WITH the possible addition of Willie Trimble
Spalding returns entire roster WITH the addition of Dewhon McAfee and Cody Cutsinger
Mac loses ONLY starter Clint Lee and minimal bench time (that means Whitlock, Slagle, Bishop, Burton, Best, Busch, Guthrie are back)
Westmin returns Tolson, James, Prophet (if the knee comes back), Lee, Valendra are back
Greenville loses a large number of seniors, but still return 5 players from their normal rotation

Quite honestly, I don't view EC as the favorite until they show more depth... the kids off the bench lent little except for Nicholas who is a senior.....  They needed a pick me up last night in the worst way, and just didn't get it, unlike Westmin who had Kovachs step in for the injured Joe Prophet, and Mac, who got great 2nd half efforts from Burton and Guthrie off the bench

Good post.  I will say that EC's top five will all be Seniors and has the possible re-addition of DT Thornton down low.  We relied a little too much on the three and not enough high-low to Lessen and driving by Fritsch.  Fritsch is a low-level D1 type talent, imo.

I forgot about Trimble, that's huge for Web.

Spalding and Mac will be tough, but have some younger players.

First things first, should be a very good championship game.

[MObball41]

"Now then, while I like Joe James alot, he did not have a good conference season..... shooting 39% from the field, 29% from 3's and he had more turnovers than assists... still his creativity with the ball generated a large number of good looks for Prophet and Lee...... (McBride shot 48% from field, 44% from 3's and a/to of 1.5)"

Hopefan, why all the stats?