MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[y_jack_lok]

I followed the live stats of the exhibition game between Webster and D2 Central Missouri. UCM won 67-62. Not a very good way to know exactly what factors most contributed to the outcome.

A 67-62 loss to a Division II basketball powerhouse in UCM is quite the result.  Washington University visits Webster on December 5th.  I already had it on the calendar, but now I have to go.  Anyone coming to campus next week when the Bears host Fontbonne in the home opener?

I get home from Chicago that evening (11/20) so I probably won't make it to the WUSTL/FU game. I know hopefan will be suffering from a lack of hoops over the preceding weekend due to an anniversary trip that gets him home barely in time to catch some of the last day's action. He will be eager to get a fix. I'm guessing he might make an appearance. I might also miss the 12/5 WU/WUSTL game due to jet lag from vacation, having been home only a few hours. A rough start to the season for me. I have traveled very little the past 5 years, so this is quite unusual.

[louhoopsfan]

2012-13 SLIAC Men's Basketball
Pre-Season Coaches' Poll
1 - Spalding (4)
2 - Eureka (1)
3 - Westminster (2)
4 - MacMurray
5 - Webster
6 - Greenville (1)
7 - Fontbonne
8 - Blackburn
9 - Principia

Strange that there were only 8 first place votes given out...doesn't every team get to vote?  No suprise that Spalding and Eureka are at the top.  I beleive this is the highest preseason rating for the red devils since joining the SLIAC.

I feel like the league could be a toss up between Spalding, Eureka, or MacMurray. I'll give the upperhand to Mac given their size advantage. Hoping to get out and see at least a LITTLE more hoops than I have in years past! 

[louhoopsfan]

Also, I'm expecting Fontbonne to be a little better than projected. I really like a couple of freshman players coming in for them. Richard Dorhauer, Blake Welch, and Jacob Martin all seem like they could contribute immediately. Dorhauer was a very solid, smart PG for a very good Vianney team last year. Kid looks like he can do a lot for them... defend, handle the ball, and score a little. If not this year, this Fontbonne team will continue to get better over the next 4 years

[hopefan]

2012-13 SLIAC Men's Basketball
Pre-Season Coaches' Poll
1 - Spalding (4)
2 - Eureka (1)
3 - Westminster (2)
4 - MacMurray
5 - Webster
6 - Greenville (1)
7 - Fontbonne
8 - Blackburn
9 - Principia

Strange that there were only 8 first place votes given out...doesn't every team get to vote?  No suprise that Spalding and Eureka are at the top.  I beleive this is the highest preseason rating for the red devils since joining the SLIAC.

Boy did I nail this last week!!!! Greenville getting a 1st place ballot... wonder if one of the coaches knows more than we do.....

[hopefan]

Westmin clobbered by D2 Lindenwood  78-45    Starters go 5 for 38 from the field... dont think that will happen again....   things for real starting tonight......

[Former Devil 40]

Mac and Eureka both start the seasons off with wins against what i would consider inferior competition.  Lessen paces the Red Devils with 25pts 6rebs followed closely by Fritsch with 23pts 7rebs.  The nice part of Lessen's game is that he did all his damage in only 24minutes and went 11-11 from the line.  hopefully they keep feeding the big man in their upcoming games.
http://eurekareddevils.com/news/2012/11/15/MBB_1115125326.aspx

Was anyone at the Mac/Knox game?  Looks like a balanced attack with 4 players scoring in double figures and 2 more with 9 and 8 respectively.  I'm guessing this is what we can expect from Mac all year.
http://prairiefire.knox.edu/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=983

Greenville, Westminster, and Blackburn are all in action tonight.  Should be competive games for each team.  Anxious to see how G'Ville and Westmin do against Rhodes and Hendrix.

[hopefan]

Good to see the SLIAC start out with 2 wins, though very much expected against weaker competition

Eureka beats Lincoln Christian, 89-65, up 20 at half... Id imagine 2nd team got a lot of time in 2nd half...Good to see Mark Lessen lead with 25 points... 11 for 11 from the line, likely leads the nation in FT shooting after one day!!!!!  16 FGA is a good sign that the ball is finding him, and Eureka will be successful with that happening... Fritch shoots pretty well and gets 23, Riviera chips in with 10, Kindred with 8 off the bench and will likely reclaim his starting role quickly....  Only bad number in whole Box is Misuraca with 5 turnovers.. first start....

Mac beats Knox  97-67... Dylan Burton does not play...Wonderful scoring distribution With Luke Bishop leading the way 5 for 8 from 3 finishing with 19, Dylan Guthrie gets 16, and has apparently won the initial nod at point guard, Cole and Pratt double figures off the bench... Slagle and Whitlock get warmed up, didnt need to score....  only 7 offensive rebounds could be something to evaluate, though Mac shot over 60%...
Hoping Burton can play down at Webster vs Rust and Sewanee

Just wish the board could keep up a stream of activity.... Hey former 40 posted while Im posting!!!

Plane arrives at 3PM...  Im gonna try to make it Saturday Night!!

[hopefan]

Well loyal readers, I made it back and did indeed attend doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday...  so here is a review of what I saw....
Mac wins close over Rust...  Rust quickness dominated Mac much of the game, penetrate and dish, putbacks, lots of shots around the basket... but Rust defense was poor...Luke Bishop was open for his picturesque 3 point shots, Rust makes no adjustments, and Bishop finishes with 27, 7 for 10 from 3s... They don't give help on Clayton Whitlock inside and he goes 10 for 12 ....  The two obvious guys to keep from scoring end up dominating the game....
Now Sewanee sees this... so for Sunday's game, they play Bishop very tough man to man... he has never been a one on one player... he takes ONE shot, a 3 pointer off a fast break, which he makes... ONE SHOT attempt!!!  And they harass Whitlock when he gets the ball and he gets fewer shots around the basket.  Spencer Pratt has a terrific game off the bench (I love his tough nosed to the basket game), but Slagle, Best, Guthrie can't put the rest together enough to catch Sewanee...
My view... Much will depend on Burton's level of play when he returns... if he plays with the team, and not as an island, that additional depth is going to make Mac one of the top two or three teams in the conference... AND, Coach Creal, there has to be some offense off the ball to get Bishop open against solid man...I saw nothing that seemed to be designed for him...
By the way.. Sewanee... nice team.. great perimeter shooting, limited inside game... smart players, smart coaching

Webster loses close to Sewanee, then comes back and beats Rust easily, which was a happy surprise to me.  The loss to Sewanee was disappointing to me in that some of the successes shown in the exhibition vs CMU seemed to fall flat vs Sewanee... the game was back and forth close.. seemed like each time Webster got close, Sewanee would make huge 3 pointers to take the lead back to 6-8 points.  Down the stretch, poor shot selection and turnovers really hurt... need more leadership from the vets in crunch time.  38% from the field, 27% doesn't win many games... but decent job on boards, reasonable turnovers kept it close.
Webster vs Rust was won with a smart move... Webster zoned most of the game... this diminished Rust quickness factor, and they shot very poorly from outside... once Webster got ahead by double digits, Rust seemed to be anxious to get to the bus... Big plus in game for Webster was shooting of Dietrich Sooter... all of a sudden he found it, and when he does, it is going up... finishes with 25... more important, Bradfish, Smith, Robinson each get 17... need to see that contribution often!!.. also, again, limited turnovers, create more shot attempts....nice team effort... though I worry about the weakness in the middle....

[hopefan]

Wow... a while back, I wondered how Fontbonne's Coach Schafer would work with his roster...bringing in 15 frosh...yet losing few seniors from last year's squad... well a look at the roster now, combined with Saturday's box score, shows that the broom was out, and the frosh are dominant....  gone from the roster all together are Daniel Lisch (that had to be tough), John Reese, Nolan Zoellner, and Tyler Garner.  Only Eric Hamilton and Greg Gentry from the rest of the returnees saw significant minutes in Saturday's game vs Central..... Seems pretty clear that Coach is starting the Frosh right out in varsity action....I'm anxious to see them in action this week...

[GC Panther 01]

GC opened up 2-0 in the Westminster Tip off   Game 1 vs Rhodes 70-69 W leading scorer was Daniel Anderson with 19pts
Game 2 vs Hendrix W 100-80  Daniel Anderson again was the leading scorer with 23  and Alex Mumphard hitting 4 or 5 from deep.  Face Lincoln Christian at home tonight.

[Former Devil 40]

Eureka takes on Monmouth tonight at home.  you can visit www.eurekareddevils.com for a live video feed of tonights game.

So far the SLIAC is 8-6 on the year with only Blackburn getting beat badly by Illinois College.  It looks like this could be an up year for the conference....obviously this doesn't mean someone would get an at large bid (we could only dream right?...) but who knows maybe the SLIAC wont get matched up with the #1 seed if things continue this way.

Good Luck to Eureka. Tip off is at 7:30.

[Dutch32]

Eureka takes on Monmouth tonight at home.  you can visit www.eurekareddevils.com for a live video feed of tonights game. 

Live stats are now also available for all Eureka home games: http://www.sidearmstats.com/eureka/mbball/scoreboard.aspx

[ecreddevils]

Quite the night for Kindred. Scores his 1000th point, hits the game winning three with :08, and then blocks the final attempt on the drive to the bucket.

Hard-fought game all the way.  Monmouth has size and is scrappy. Loved our fight tonight--found a way to get it done.

[hopefan]

Went to see Fontbonne at Wash U...  no question about it, Coach Steve Schafer is going with the frosh.. he rotated 7 freshmen with point guard Greg Gentry... Eric Hamilton and Bryton Curtis got a couple of minutes, other upperclassmen got nothing...  Frosh playing vs Wash U.... well, it was an education...    also not so sure I can handle watching Gentry go one on one penetrate and force shots on about 50% of Fontbonne's possessions... not exactly the best way to teach Fontbonne Frosh how to run a motion offense....   didn't see Wash U guards taking those kind of prayers...

The Fontbonne frosh show alot of promise... Dorhauer is quick and confident, Rucker unafraid to go to basket, Greenlee very solid body around the basket who shoots it too.  A couple of the others looked good too, just couldn't get the ball to drop...   Big man Jacob Martin has some bulk and showed at least one very nice shovel hook near the basket... but he looks out of shape...will take some time to develope...

I like the idea of keeping these guys playing together......

[GC Panther 01]

GC over Lincoln Christian easily last night  led 52-31 at the half and finished the game 101-67.  Daniel Anderson again the leading scorer with 24pts in only 22 mins.  I'm looking to see how this kid puts the ball in the hole so effictively.