MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Lots to write about last night's game.. hard to know where to start...Both teams 'lost it' at the end of Regulation... [...]

I am so mad I missed Webster-Fontbonne last night.  I have adopted Fontbonne as my second team this season and thoroughly enjoyed the first Webster-Fontbonne match-up.

Early on, you predicted that Fontbonne was going to compete for the SLIAC title in years to come.  Do you still think that today?

Absolutely.... if Everyone stays for the remaining 2 or 3 years... Fontbonne will be there... There are currently 7 frosh contributing with the chance that big man Jacob Martin, who sat out this year after surgery, may be a part of things... Gentry has toned his game down to blend in much better, now if Coach can rid him of that aloof attitude, he could be a real leader... Blake welch was tremendous last night, I just hope he and Dorhauer don't become 3 point shooters only.. and Rucker and Greenlee are two of the best Frosh forwards to hit our conference....Woods also has shown potential...

[JoshSellmeyer]

Good Evening Mr. Sellmeyer,
Where can we find your article? There are a few diehards on this message board. I'm sure Hopefan was a big help. He has the best understanding of the tie-breakers and has seen the most games. Thanks for your interest. Good Luck.

FU made it interesting for WU. Actually a free throw away from stealing one. Good Luck to all the teams down the stretch!!!

FYI... Hopefan did attempt to reach Josh, emails went back and forth, but schedule conflicts prohibited us from talking prior to his deadline.... I was hoping we might chat at last night's game, but he had other commitments and couldn't attend.....

Denny,

The column didn't happen, unfortunately. Like Hopefan said, we talked in emails, but didn't have enough time to do an interview because of my deadline. No one else contacted me. I left a message with our other sports columnist (who will be writing his column for our issue next week), and he might write a similar column to the one I was planning on doing.

[hopefan]

'kinda' big game tonight at Spalding... I'm not going to Louisville to see Westmin tonight and fontbonne tomorrow...but this is a great test for Spalding to see how they play in 'big games' without Dewhon McAfee...  and if they get beat, or are played closely, what a shot in the arm for potential upsets next weekend in the tourney...

In the mean time, assuming all goes as planned this weekend with wins and losses, how much bigger can a game get than Eureka - Mac on Tuesday... hoping all the Mac gang is out of class in time to attend the game, and Eureka fans are able to make it too....  Noticed both Brady Slagle and Dylan Burton played on Wednesday, so assuming all went well and the'll both be near 100% for the game with Eureka... bad sign was Dylan Guthrie only played a couple of minutes... wonder if he has injury or illness?  He is a critical for Mac to be at their best on tuesday.....

[hopefan]

... bad sign was Dylan Guthrie only played a couple of minutes... wonder if he has injury or illness?  He is a critical for Mac to be at their best on tuesday.....

... got the word...check the box score... 4 fouls in 4 minutes tends to limit the playing time.... ... he's fine

[hopefan]

Spalding beats Westmin by 2... despite Westmin having a horrible shooting night...  the tournament just got a little more interesting...   the Jammer, Jametrius Brasher, goes 9 for 10 from the field with 5 blocks....

[hopefan]

Mac dominates most of 2nd half and beats Greenville 85-64... sets up the one game playoff with Eureka for the 4th spot in the conference tourney.... this should show the conference policy makers that the tourney should be expanded to 5 or 6 teams... Mac and Eureka are Both as good as anyone in the top 4... a shame one will be eliminated, tho this can be looked at as a tourney game.....  women in the same situation..

[Former Devil 40]

lets assume Webster beats Prin. how do tie breakers work?:
Eureka win- they're in
Eureka loss - they tie with Mac and Webster at 11-5. Mac has tie breaker over eureka (2-0). Webster is 1-1 vs eureka. Does Eurekas win over Spalding put them in? Or since Webster is 2-2 vs Mac and eureka combined compared to Eurekas 1-3 record vs Webster and Mac put Webster in?

[hopefan]

In the 3 way tie situation, it has been confirmed by the commish that Eureka is out with the 1-3 record vs the group...

[Former Devil 40]

Thanks for the clarification. I will be making the trip to Jacksonville this week to watch the game. Hopefully eureka can get the W.

In regards to the current playoff format I would love to see the tourney expand to 6 teams. Most D-1 leagues allow every team in conference to compete in their conf tourney. I don't think there's a need for that in the sliac because typically the talent level of the bottom tier of teams is no where close to the top tier. However there usually isn't much that separates the top tier from the middle.

As a former player I was fortunate enough to play in the tournament twice but it could have been 4 times if the tournament was expanded to 6 teams.

[Denny McKinney]

I'll be rooting for EC. Pound the ball to Lessen All Nite!!!! #4 seed will work just fine. The 8 team tournaments were fun  . Spalding v. EC would be a great Prime time game.

[y_jack_lok]

In regards to the current playoff format I would love to see the tourney expand to 6 teams. Most D-1 leagues allow every team in conference to compete in their conf tourney. I don't think there's a need for that in the sliac because typically the talent level of the bottom tier of teams is no where close to the top tier. However there usually isn't much that separates the top tier from the middle.

The commissioner was at the WU/FU game on Wednesday and I asked him about the possibility of expanding the tournament once Iowa Wesleyan is in the conference.  He replied that it was not likely just for basketball because schools would want to do it for all sports. He elaborated briefly on the difficulties of this for the conference but I don't remember the reasons he gave. He further explained that Iowa Wesleyan wouldn't be eligible for post-season play for four years, but I don't recall if he said the idea might be revisited for when Iowa Wes is tournament eligible. I wish I had retained what he said a bit better. I'd love a chance to ask him again so I could better remember his explanations. Hopefan was between me and the commissioner, so perhaps he remembers better than I do some of the things he said.

[hopefan]

In regards to the current playoff format I would love to see the tourney expand to 6 teams. Most D-1 leagues allow every team in conference to compete in their conf tourney. I don't think there's a need for that in the sliac because typically the talent level of the bottom tier of teams is no where close to the top tier. However there usually isn't much that separates the top tier from the middle.

The commissioner was at the WU/FU game on Wednesday and I asked him about the possibility of expanding the tournament once Iowa Wesleyan is in the conference.  He replied that it was not likely just for basketball because schools would want to do it for all sports. He elaborated briefly on the difficulties of this for the conference but I don't remember the reasons he gave. He further explained that Iowa Wesleyan wouldn't be eligible for post-season play for four years, but I don't recall if he said the idea might be revisited for when Iowa Wes is tournament eligible. I wish I had retained what he said a bit better. I'd love a chance to ask him again so I could better remember his explanations. Hopefan was between me and the commissioner, so perhaps he remembers better than I do some of the things he said.

Primary was what YJak says... if one sport goes to 5 or 6, then all sports should, and evidently the logistics in other sports would be far more difficult to arrange...  There were also calender problems... something about the schools don't want conference games right after New Years (though there was one this year), and they don't want another week of 3 games per week... these kinds of changes would be mandated if the conf tourney went an extra round... I don't know... think I could figure something out.....

[hopefan]

I'll be rooting for EC. Pound the ball to Lessen All Nite!!!! #4 seed will work just fine. The 8 team tournaments were fun  . Spalding v. EC would be a great Prime time game.

I really feel EITHER Mac or EC will have a real shot at scoring the 4 over 1 upset....  and Webster-Westmin should be a good 2-3 game.....

[hopefan]

Wonder what attendance will be like.. an all time low?   Do Spalding people go to Spalding games?  and the distance from the other three schools will likely dictate only a few family members will come to see things from west of Louisville...
well hopefan will try to keep the readers abreast of the action...  if a handful of readers indicate they'd like to hear about it...

[y_jack_lok]

In regards to the current playoff format I would love to see the tourney expand to 6 teams. Most D-1 leagues allow every team in conference to compete in their conf tourney. I don't think there's a need for that in the sliac because typically the talent level of the bottom tier of teams is no where close to the top tier. However there usually isn't much that separates the top tier from the middle.

The commissioner was at the WU/FU game on Wednesday and I asked him about the possibility of expanding the tournament once Iowa Wesleyan is in the conference.  He replied that it was not likely just for basketball because schools would want to do it for all sports. He elaborated briefly on the difficulties of this for the conference but I don't remember the reasons he gave. He further explained that Iowa Wesleyan wouldn't be eligible for post-season play for four years, but I don't recall if he said the idea might be revisited for when Iowa Wes is tournament eligible. I wish I had retained what he said a bit better. I'd love a chance to ask him again so I could better remember his explanations. Hopefan was between me and the commissioner, so perhaps he remembers better than I do some of the things he said.

Primary was what YJak says... if one sport goes to 5 or 6, then all sports should, and evidently the logistics in other sports would be far more difficult to arrange...  There were also calender problems... something about the schools don't want conference games right after New Years (though there was one this year), and they don't want another week of 3 games per week... these kinds of changes would be mandated if the conf tourney went an extra round... I don't know... think I could figure something out.....

I wonder if cost is also an issue. While the commissioner did not say this explicitly, it could be implied in the context of the logistical difficulties mentioned.