MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Because we have some knowledgeable Eureka writers, I'm curious... what's the attitude?  Defeated, or looking forward to starting over in January?   As I said, a loss at Spalding wouldn't be a killer, but getting beat that bad could really be tough to overcome mentally... What's the word on Mark Lessen.. can he return? when?

[ecreddevils]

Because we have some knowledgeable Eureka writers, I'm curious... what's the attitude?  Defeated, or looking forward to starting over in January?   As I said, a loss at Spalding wouldn't be a killer, but getting beat that bad could really be tough to overcome mentally... What's the word on Mark Lessen.. can he return? when?

Lessen's injury may not be as serious as first thought--I'm hearing he could be back relatively quickly.  Fritsch is also banged up.  Good news is that there isn't another conference game for a month.

[hopefan]

Because we have some knowledgeable Eureka writers, I'm curious... what's the attitude?  Defeated, or looking forward to starting over in January?   As I said, a loss at Spalding wouldn't be a killer, but getting beat that bad could really be tough to overcome mentally... What's the word on Mark Lessen.. can he return? when?

Lessen's injury may not be as serious as first thought--I'm hearing he could be back relatively quickly.  Fritsch is also banged up.  Good news is that there isn't another conference game for a month.

That's great news regarding Lessen.....

[Former Devil 40]

I don't know how much can be put on the 40 point loss Spalding gave to Eureka.  Looking at the box score none of Eureka's starters played heavy minutes.  Eureka was missing one of the top big men in league and had another starter try tough through what must be a pretty decent injury.  these type of things never helps anyones chances.

That being said a 40 point loss can be crushing to a team's psyche.  hopefully the are quick to forget about this game.  I also don't understand why Brasher didn't play more. 

ecreddevils - can you elaborate more on Lessen?  What is the new diagnosis? Foot/Ankle?  At first they thought it was fractured...now is it just a bad sprain?  I remember i had a sprain my Junior year that happend right about the same time and it kept me out a month.  I wasn't back to 100% till almost end of the season.  Sometimes they say a break may be better than a sprain.

[hopefan]

A quick note... tonight's game Fontbonne at Millikin is listed as being video on the internet...  try to catch the Griffs!!!!  Get the link on the D3hoops scoreboard.

[hopefan]

woooo...watched the first half of Fontbonne-Millikin.... UGLY.... 52-31 Millikin.. the Griffs with a boatload of turnovers....

[ecreddevils]

I don't know how much can be put on the 40 point loss Spalding gave to Eureka.  Looking at the box score none of Eureka's starters played heavy minutes.  Eureka was missing one of the top big men in league and had another starter try tough through what must be a pretty decent injury.  these type of things never helps anyones chances.

That being said a 40 point loss can be crushing to a team's psyche.  hopefully the are quick to forget about this game.  I also don't understand why Brasher didn't play more. 

ecreddevils - can you elaborate more on Lessen?  What is the new diagnosis? Foot/Ankle?  At first they thought it was fractured...now is it just a bad sprain?  I remember i had a sprain my Junior year that happend right about the same time and it kept me out a month.  I wasn't back to 100% till almost end of the season.  Sometimes they say a break may be better than a sprain.

I haven't heard any specific details, only the possibility of the shortened absence.   Let's hope he's back healthy.

[hopefan]

Looking for a Most Improved Player early in the SLIAC season?....  how about Principia's Damon Wilgus?.. this kid made no impression on me last year... he played in only 15 games (injury?) average 6 ppg, shot well under 40% from the field and only 64% from the ft line.....

Go to this year..40% from the field, 45% from 3's, 90% from the ft line, leading Prin in scoring at 17.8 ppg....  very scrappy on the floor kind of player...   hope he can keep that kind of production up.....

[hopefan]

Significant amount of SLIAC action, all non conference, the last two days.... much of it disappointing to me....
Actually starting with conference action last week... I mentioned that Greenville did not look as good as I expected when I saw them play Principia, and it really showed when they lost to Webster badly at home on Saturday.... I look at the Greenville blowout of 0-10 St Louis Christian as meaningless, and I'll repeat my concern about Greenville - whereas Webster, Fontbonne,  Westmin, Mac play a tough non conference schedule that I think preps them well for the SLIAC conf schedule, Greenville year in and year out goes the cupcake route... what is accomplished by beating Hendrix, Pharma, STL Christian, Lincoln Christian by an average of 35....not much

So I saw two very good games Saturday (Mac at Westmin, IWU at Wash u) and had high expectations for Tuesday Wednesday...Let's see what the boxscores IMPLY

Fontbonne loses to Millikin by 10, though the margin was cut considerably in the last minute... the good news is that Fontbonne played Millikin tough in the 2nd half.. the bad news is they were already down 21 at half time.... I saw the first half and the frosh played like freshmen.. lots of turnovers, but of more concern is that Greg Gentry led in that catagory with 5 turnovers... I'm still not convinced his one on one game blends in with the basic concepts that Coach Schafer wants the frosh learning...  I'd be curious to see how one of the two frosh guards would do bringing it up....(Carel, Dorhauer)... although not all agree as one Fontbonne fan bent my ear that the upperclassmen should be playing Varsity and the frosh should be doing JV work... I beg to differ in this situation....   Anyway, I was hoping to see Fontbonne give Millikin a game... it didn't happen

The other Tuesday game was Prin at Mckendree... I would have taken Prin +40 after seeing them compete with Greenville... I would have lost.....

The game (or boxscore) of real interest was Eureka losing to North Park by 17...Let's remember that Eureka beat North Park last year .. well when we last saw Eureka, returning from their 50 point loss to Spalding, they were missing Mark Lessen, and we knew that Dustin Fritsch was hurting...  Now the NP-EC box score shows that Riviera did not play, Misuraca did not play, and Jordan Kindred still doesn't start and gets 13 minutes going 1-7....  To begin with, I TOLD YOU HE SHOULDN'T PLAY FOOTBALL!  But WHAT is going on?   I can only hope we're dealing with light injuries and that this club can come back solid in January, but with the club that played and performed versus North Park, I almost think that they drop into the group of non contenders with Fontbonne, BC and PC...  I hope not, but they need to get it back.  Also remember what I said about depth, Eureka's lack of it... I'm not being too bold to say that with 3 starters out, that lack of depth (solid replacements) isn't helping the situation.

I saw Webster at Wash U...   again, very disappointing.... where was any resemblance of a reasonable offensive set...  I swear the only person I saw moving without the ball most of the night was Cody Bradfisch...Everyone else was wild *ss one on one to the hoop and throw it up crazy because Wash U defenders were there...  as bad as I've seen a Webster team in a long time.. sure, some of it was the competition, as Wash U is pretty darned good, but it shouldn't mean abandon the offense that's been taught for playground style ball possessions....

AAAAh Westmin.... they save face for the SLIAC... winning at Elmhurst.... but a bizarre box score... Taylor Allen,the Jay's undersized (some would say underskilled too) center who had averaged one field goal per game in the first six Westminster games goes 6 for 6 from the field... WHAT??    Fantastic... as I've said before, I really like watching Allen play because he goes 100% all the time (proverbial bull in a china cabinet).. good to see that hard work pay off..Skylar Tolson goes 7-9 from 3's, Verdis Lee gets 18 points 5 assists...a great win..and crazy, it's done while James, Prophet, Burroughs, and Jones go a combined 4 for 23 from the field.. well, win with the 3 (Westmin 10-20), lose with the 3  (Elmhurst 2-17). 

Westmin plays at undefeated Wheaton tonight.. They will be giving up a lot of size... I don't have great expectations, but Wheaton could be taking our SLIAC guys lightly... let's hope...

We (the SLIAC) gotta get better......

[hopefan]

and by the way

Willie Trimble   ex of Webster   at Cal State Los Angeles
5 games  12 for 45 from the field 26%, 6 for 24 from 3's 25%, 3 of 9 from FT  33%      6.6 pppg

Stefon Whittingham ex of Webster at Lincon U, Pennsylvania
5 games, 1 did not play, 0.8 ppg

What a shame....can you just imagine if these guys were with the Gorlocks this year.....

[WUPHF]

Willie Trimble   ex of Webster   at Cal State Los Angeles
5 games  12 for 45 from the field 26%, 6 for 24 from 3's 25%, 3 of 9 from FT  33%      6.6 pppg

Indeed. Maybe we would have been closer to this last night:

1-12-11   St. Louis, Mo. (Grant Gymnasium)   Webster University 61, Washington University 58 

Trimble had 22 points in that game.  And, Washington University had a 14-2 lead in the game before Webster roared back.

[ecreddevils]

Significant amount of SLIAC action, all non conference, the last two days.... much of it disappointing to me....
Actually starting with conference action last week... I mentioned that Greenville did not look as good as I expected when I saw them play Principia, and it really showed when they lost to Webster badly at home on Saturday.... I look at the Greenville blowout of 0-10 St Louis Christian as meaningless, and I'll repeat my concern about Greenville - whereas Webster, Fontbonne,  Westmin, Mac play a tough non conference schedule that I think preps them well for the SLIAC conf schedule, Greenville year in and year out goes the cupcake route... what is accomplished by beating Hendrix, Pharma, STL Christian, Lincoln Christian by an average of 35....not much

So I saw two very good games Saturday (Mac at Westmin, IWU at Wash u) and had high expectations for Tuesday Wednesday...Let's see what the boxscores IMPLY

Fontbonne loses to Millikin by 10, though the margin was cut considerably in the last minute... the good news is that Fontbonne played Millikin tough in the 2nd half.. the bad news is they were already down 21 at half time.... I saw the first half and the frosh played like freshmen.. lots of turnovers, but of more concern is that Greg Gentry led in that catagory with 5 turnovers... I'm still not convinced his one on one game blends in with the basic concepts that Coach Schafer wants the frosh learning...  I'd be curious to see how one of the two frosh guards would do bringing it up....(Carel, Dorhauer)... although not all agree as one Fontbonne fan bent my ear that the upperclassmen should be playing Varsity and the frosh should be doing JV work... I beg to differ in this situation....   Anyway, I was hoping to see Fontbonne give Millikin a game... it didn't happen

The other Tuesday game was Prin at Mckendree... I would have taken Prin +40 after seeing them compete with Greenville... I would have lost.....

The game (or boxscore) of real interest was Eureka losing to North Park by 17...Let's remember that Eureka beat North Park last year .. well when we last saw Eureka, returning from their 50 point loss to Spalding, they were missing Mark Lessen, and we knew that Dustin Fritsch was hurting...  Now the NP-EC box score shows that Riviera did not play, Misuraca did not play, and Jordan Kindred still doesn't start and gets 13 minutes going 1-7....  To begin with, I TOLD YOU HE SHOULDN'T PLAY FOOTBALL!  But WHAT is going on?   I can only hope we're dealing with light injuries and that this club can come back solid in January, but with the club that played and performed versus North Park, I almost think that they drop into the group of non contenders with Fontbonne, BC and PC...  I hope not, but they need to get it back.  Also remember what I said about depth, Eureka's lack of it... I'm not being too bold to say that with 3 starters out, that lack of depth (solid replacements) isn't helping the situation.

I saw Webster at Wash U...   again, very disappointing.... where was any resemblance of a reasonable offensive set...  I swear the only person I saw moving without the ball most of the night was Cody Bradfisch...Everyone else was wild *ss one on one to the hoop and throw it up crazy because Wash U defenders were there...  as bad as I've seen a Webster team in a long time.. sure, some of it was the competition, as Wash U is pretty darned good, but it shouldn't mean abandon the offense that's been taught for playground style ball possessions....

AAAAh Westmin.... they save face for the SLIAC... winning at Elmhurst.... but a bizarre box score... Taylor Allen,the Jay's undersized (some would say underskilled too) center who had averaged one field goal per game in the first six Westminster games goes 6 for 6 from the field... WHAT??    Fantastic... as I've said before, I really like watching Allen play because he goes 100% all the time (proverbial bull in a china cabinet).. good to see that hard work pay off..Skylar Tolson goes 7-9 from 3's, Verdis Lee gets 18 points 5 assists...a great win..and crazy, it's done while James, Prophet, Burroughs, and Jones go a combined 4 for 23 from the field.. well, win with the 3 (Westmin 10-20), lose with the 3  (Elmhurst 2-17). 

Westmin plays at undefeated Wheaton tonight.. They will be giving up a lot of size... I don't have great expectations, but Wheaton could be taking our SLIAC guys lightly... let's hope...

We (the SLIAC) gotta get better......

Great analysis here...thanks.

These appear to be rocky times for the EC men--we'll see if they can pull through...

I'm a little surprised, also, by some of these results.  You truly don't know how things will go until the games get played.  Looks like Spalding and Westminster are the class of the SLIAC for now.

[Former Devil 40]

Eureka had high hopes coming into this season.  They returned all 5 starters from a squad with a winning record last year and brought in a couple pieces they thought would help this year.

Here is what i have heard on Lessen's ankle: after further tests the 2nd set of x-rays came back negative and it is just a sprain.  hopefully he will be back in 2 weeks or so. 

Jordan Kindred has a bad case of strep throat and thats the reason he only played 13 min last night.  injuries had nothing to do with it. (i've heard enough about the football talk.  if you have seen him this year he is just as quick and has added about 10lbs of muscle) 

Dustin Fritsch is also battling some type of lower body injury (i think it may be an ankle as well).

Chuck Misuraca didn't play due to a back injury. 

Rivera is not injured his DNP is disciplinary

Injuries/illness to 4 of Eureka's key 7 or 8 guys could explain why EC is struggling right now.  I know teams need to overcome adversity but in Eureka's case i dont think they have the firepower beyond their first 7 or 8 to do so. 

If this team gets healthy around the new year i'd look for them to be a top team in the SLIAC again and the games they lost  vs macmurray and north park IMO would have had different outcomes had the red devils been full strength.

hopefully santa claus will be good to EC and get everyone healthy in time for conf to start up again...

[hopefan]

(i've heard enough about the football talk.  if you have seen him this year he is just as quick and has added about 10lbs of muscle) 

Out of curiosity, I compared Jordan's stats with last year.. I know, not fair because less minutes per game means less stats per game... but my point is that his stats are dropping BECAUSE he played football, and the coach has docked his time because of it  (in Coach's mind, Player B practiced all pre season as a starter and deserves to start)..   If JK hadn't played football, this situation likely would not exist.....

min per game 2011-12  31.4     2012-13   22.7
FG %            2011-12  39.2%     2012-13   40%
3 pt FG %     2011-12  30.6%    2012-13   20.8%
FT  %           2011-12  75.5%    2012-13   64.7%
points p game 2011-12  12.2     2012-13    9.1
Reb per game 2011-12  3.5     2012-13      2.4
asst per game 2011-12  5.2     2012-13     2.3
trnovr per game 2011-12  3.3     2012-13   3.1
asst to trnovr ratio  2011-2012 1.6    2012-13   .7

A pretty obvious contribution downturn, and you likely have that intangible too, of Kindred being frustrated while sitting, as well as with his performance  and with the downturn the team has experienced whatever the reason....  Like we all said, let's hope there is healing over the semester break and EC comes back at levels that meet high expectations.....

[Gregory Sager]

The game (or boxscore) of real interest was Eureka losing to North Park by 17...Let's remember that Eureka beat North Park last year .. well when we last saw Eureka, returning from their 50 point loss to Spalding, they were missing Mark Lessen, and we knew that Dustin Fritsch was hurting...  Now the NP-EC box score shows that Riviera did not play, Misuraca did not play, and Jordan Kindred still doesn't start and gets 13 minutes going 1-7....  To begin with, I TOLD YOU HE SHOULDN'T PLAY FOOTBALL!  But WHAT is going on?   I can only hope we're dealing with light injuries and that this club can come back solid in January, but with the club that played and performed versus North Park, I almost think that they drop into the group of non contenders with Fontbonne, BC and PC...  I hope not, but they need to get it back.  Also remember what I said about depth, Eureka's lack of it... I'm not being too bold to say that with 3 starters out, that lack of depth (solid replacements) isn't helping the situation.

Throw out last year's NPU @ Eureka game, which was probably the worst game that that dismal Vikings team played last season, because it doesn't mean anything anymore. Also, NPU is pretty thin itself in terms of roster depth. And the Vikings have almost no size to speak of, either.

Eureka had high hopes coming into this season.  They returned all 5 starters from a squad with a winning record last year and brought in a couple pieces they thought would help this year.

Here is what i have heard on Lessen's ankle: after further tests the 2nd set of x-rays came back negative and it is just a sprain.  hopefully he will be back in 2 weeks or so. 

Jordan Kindred has a bad case of strep throat and thats the reason he only played 13 min last night.  injuries had nothing to do with it. (i've heard enough about the football talk.  if you have seen him this year he is just as quick and has added about 10lbs of muscle) 

Dustin Fritsch is also battling some type of lower body injury (i think it may be an ankle as well).

Chuck Misuraca didn't play due to a back injury. 

Rivera is not injured his DNP is disciplinary

Injuries/illness to 4 of Eureka's key 7 or 8 guys could explain why EC is struggling right now.  I know teams need to overcome adversity but in Eureka's case i dont think they have the firepower beyond their first 7 or 8 to do so. 

If this team gets healthy around the new year i'd look for them to be a top team in the SLIAC again and the games they lost  vs macmurray and north park IMO would have had different outcomes had the red devils been full strength.

hopefully santa claus will be good to EC and get everyone healthy in time for conf to start up again...

As I said in the CCIW room, NPU's had injury woes of its own. The 6'8 center of the Vikings, former D1 scholarship player Mike Gabriel, hurt his knee in preseason and is likely out for the year. His backup, 6'7 Nate Rummel, has been out with knee issues of his own. The Vikings are currently playing a wing, 6'6 Mark Holmes, at the center spot, and a shooting guard, Zach Cassita, at the point. (The new head coach was hired at the end of May, which means that the coaching staff's opportunities to bring in new players was pretty limited.) Put a healthy Gabriel and Rummel alongside Cassita, Holmes, Aaron Weaver, Chris Benjamin, etc., and the Vikings still win easily against a fully healthy Eureka squad.