MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Former Devil 40]

Both I guess. Neither team has a rhythm. Last post til the final I need To pay attention 44-38 EC. Timeout Mac

[Former Devil 40]

Eureka wins 52 47

[Denny McKinney]

Congrats Former Devil. Louisville is a fun town. Three schools get one last Road Trip for the Seniors. Arrive Thursday. Shoot around Friday, Play and Big Dinner after with Families and Friends. Do it all again if you win. Head home Saturday nite. Winners Sunday Morning. As for as attendance. Well 100 will look like a sell out. And, it has been my experience that Families will travel. FU parents and families enjoyed the travel. I remember Mr. Fogerty,"Where do you think we'll GO." Never thinking let's hope we play at Wash U. It's where do Parents and Grand Parents get to go. I'll go on record as saying FU parents were not high ranking on Financial stat.

It should feel like kinda going to the NCAA tourney. Kind of. And, on the Conference Tourney subject. You have to figure, every game costs $450 for officials and $150 for table and gate. Gate avg $4 per person (Figuring Students and Adults). Basically the Tournament is a losing Prop now!

And let's also remember we had a Team play a lot of games with 6 players. Could of been a Forfeit. Another is a school that has already dropped it's football program, they are like 6-44 the past two years. Getting 10 schools is more important in keeping an AQ, then how to expand tournament. My honest opinion is let all 10 into tourney. But, let's stay realistic.

Going to be a Fun Time for about 60 young men. Enjoy it Guys.

[hopefan]

Comments here and there...

Thanks EC40 for giving updates during the game... I'm sure Denny and others appreciated it.. that's what I have in mind for my trip to the tourney, though I am pretty inept with the cell phone.. if I take my computer along and can plug in to power, I will try to update regularly...  incidentally, got to speak with EC40 for about 10 minutes during the women'sgame... great SLIAC conversation...

Yjak, though you have me by a couple of years, Your powers of remembering particulars of tourneys past far exceeds mine.. I'm lucky if I can remember who won a game two weeks ago...hopefully it's because I see so many games they all blend together!!

Mac student body went all out for the game.. all dressed in white.. 'the whiteout'...  VERY loud and having a blast...I really haven't seen student support in the SLIAC that matches it ....  Blackburn had alot of fun when they were good 6,7,8 years ago, but they didn't have the numbers that Mac had last night...  Bleachers were probably 75-80% full, and while Eureka students weren't very obvious, their adult fans travelled pretty well....

The game was about as physical as it gets, and after awhile, particularly in the last 10 minutes, Eureka just wore Mac down... Lessen clearly won the battle of the big men, Whitlock just not aggressive or strong enough to get the job done  (8 shots? in the biggest game of the year?), Slagle hurting too bad with shoulder injury to help....  BUT the big reason for the Eureka win, (in my mind) was that Mac just had a horrible shooting night.. no sense in mentioning names, but Mac shooters were getting shots, and they just weren't falling.  Main breakdown occurred at 10 minute mark of 2nd half... Guthrie hit a 3 pointer to give Mac a 35-32 lead, Mac didn't score again until 4:27 left.. Eureka had a 3 point lead, got an answer back with a 3 from Fritsch to extend the lead to 6, and Mac never had the ball back after that with a chance to tie.. Kindred kept making free throws.....  Eureka's periphery players aren't playing anywhere near as well as they did earlier in the year.. Nailor, Riviera, are contributing little, Miseraca out of control... fortunately Fritch and Kindred continued to get the ball to Lessen to get Eureka the lead, and Kindred dominated the ball in the final five minutes to keep Eureka's lead safe from the foul line....The thing is, is that this strong arm approach that Eureka used last night could very well be effective this weekend....They just really need to get something more out of Nailor and Riviera (BOTH of whom I've seen play very well in the past).

Someone had to lose... Mac has a very good core of players returning next year, in fact may be a preseason No 1 in conference....    Wish the tourney was 5 or 6 teams.....

A final note...for now...  PLEASE everybody be aware of the nasty weather forecast... hopefully things will be clear by Friday for a trip to Louisville, but those who may be looking at a trip to Fulton on Thursday for the women's semis could really hit some poor driving conditions..

[hopefan]

Denny... I think you've been to spalding before... what's the gym like?  Do i remember hearing there is a track overhead?  If so, likely to remind me of the Gym I played in at RPI long ago....

Will be a shame to have the tourney with very few fans.... especially after seeing some great crowds this season at Mac, Eureka, Greenville..... Even Webster has had a good group of student support.....l

[Denny McKinney]

Hopefan, Sorry No Track. Haha. If you've never been there, you a taking a step back in time. I didn't go outside and check for a marker stone. But, would be willing to bet the building that the gym is in, was probably a WPA project. Benches on one side and I think the old wood portable seating is 4 rows. It was a balcony with 4 rows of wooden built-in seating area around 3 sides. From the balcony you are looking straight down on top of the floor.

It brought back a Lot of good memories of Dad's H.S. coaching days. Will be interested in everyone's first impression. 

[hopefan]

Let's get started

Game 1  #2 Eureka  vs #3 Westminster  Game time 6PM EASTERN...   REMEMBER, that's 5:00 Central

prior meetings
Eureka  75    Westmin  74   at Eureka   Lessen and Fritcsh combine for 42 points and 26 rebounds, Eureka clobbers Westmin on the boards 49-34, but Eureka turns the ball over 18 times vs Westmin 8 turnovers.. the game was a thriller, Joe James scores with 9 seconds to give Westmin a lead, Mark Lessen scores with 2 seconds left for the win.. Westmin had 4 players score in double figures, led by Verdis Lee with 17... Jordan Kindred did not play for Eureka

Westminster 67  Eureka 63  at Westminster   Joe Prophet goes for 25 points, 10 rebounds, Taylor Allen 8 rebounds... Westmin only outrebounded by 2,   forces 14 turnovers by Eureka.  Lessen gets 22 points, 12 rebounds... Eureka only 4 for 17 from 3's... Kindred returns with 8 points...



Game 2     #1 Spalding vs #4  Webster

prior meetings

Spalding 79  Webster 49   at Spalding     Game was 24-22 Spalding at half, Spalding blows out the Gorlocks in the 2nd half.... Dewhon McAfee goes for 25, but he's gone with the knee injury now... 2nd scorer was reserve guard Brandon Goeing with 15.. Brasheer only has 5 points, 3 boards.  Jarrod Huskey has a double double for Webster with 10 points, 11 boards, but nobody else does much...Webster outrebounds Spalding, but turns the ball over 18 times to Spaldings 7

Spalding  73   Webster  64 at Webster   Game tied at 49 with 12 minutes left, but Spalding slowly pulls away from there.  With McAfee gone, scoring is spread, Cutsinger has 13, Barber 18, Brasheer a double double with 16 points, 10 rebounds.   Dietrich sooter has good shooting night for webster, 5-9 from 3's, 17 points, but Smith, Robinson, Zehner, Bradfish basically shut down by Spalding.  Webster 6 for 21 from 3's, outrebounded 43-27... interesting spalding turns ball over 17 times, Webster only 6

[Gregory Sager]

Hopefan, Sorry No Track. Haha. If you've never been there, you a taking a step back in time. I didn't go outside and check for a marker stone. But, would be willing to bet the building that the gym is in, was probably a WPA project. Benches on one side and I think the old wood portable seating is 4 rows. It was a balcony with 4 rows of wooden built-in seating area around 3 sides. From the balcony you are looking straight down on top of the floor.

It brought back a Lot of good memories of Dad's H.S. coaching days. Will be interested in everyone's first impression. 

Here are some pics of Spalding's Derek Smith Gymnasium.

[hopefan]

Hopefan, Sorry No Track. Haha. If you've never been there, you a taking a step back in time. I didn't go outside and check for a marker stone. But, would be willing to bet the building that the gym is in, was probably a WPA project. Benches on one side and I think the old wood portable seating is 4 rows. It was a balcony with 4 rows of wooden built-in seating area around 3 sides. From the balcony you are looking straight down on top of the floor.

It brought back a Lot of good memories of Dad's H.S. coaching days. Will be interested in everyone's first impression. 

Here are some pics of Spalding's Derek Smith Gymnasium.

+1 Greg ... thanks... I LOVE the Balcony....will sit mid court upstairs...  PUMPED

[ecreddevils]

Biased Predictions: 

Semis:  EC vs. WC:  I really do believe that EC is the superior team and will again use their advantages in the post to forge an advantage.  The key here is defense--can EC slow Prophet?? I say they can slow him enough.  EC 71  WC 66

SU vs. WU:  Spalding did it once without McAfee...Webster will take this down to the wire, but home court advantage and the slightly better team win the day  SU 79  WU 77

Championship:  EC goes dancing!  This is a team of destiny.  EC slows tempo again and have to keep going back to the importance of their post advantage.  Spalding again unable to convert their 3 pt. looks (which they'll have to settle for).   EC 66 SU 63

[magicman]

Hey hopefan,

Your alma mater is 1 game away from going to the dance. They pulled a mild upset over Union last night 85-77 to advance to the championship game against Hobart on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 PM.

I remember back at the beginning of the year when some less than knowledgeable Liberty League tout remarked how badly RPI was going to be this year and picked them to come in 8th place. This was your reply:

"Danny, not that I know anything about the LL when I'm way out here in St. Louis, but I have a VERY hard time thinking that veteran Coach Mike Griffin and the RPI Engineers will see a dip all the way to 8th place in conference.....I have much confidence that this will be at least a .500 team if not better"

You were certainly right on the money as the Red Hawks finished in 3rd place with an 11-5 league record (16-9 overall). Now with their win over 2nd place Union in the playoffs Wednesday night, they just need to get lucky in Saturday's contest and what a year it would be for your old Engineers. Good luck!!   

[hopefan]

Hey hopefan,

Your alma mater is 1 game away from going to the dance. They pulled a mild upset over Union last night 85-77 to advance to the championship game against Hobart on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 PM.

I remember back at the beginning of the year when some less than knowledgeable Liberty League tout remarked how badly RPI was going to be this year and picked them to come in 8th place. This was your reply:

"Danny, not that I know anything about the LL when I'm way out here in St. Louis, but I have a VERY hard time thinking that veteran Coach Mike Griffin and the RPI Engineers will see a dip all the way to 8th place in conference.....I have much confidence that this will be at least a .500 team if not better"

You were certainly right on the money as the Red Hawks finished in 3rd place with an 11-5 league record (16-9 overall). Now with their win over 2nd place Union in the playoffs Wednesday night, they just need to get lucky in Saturday's contest and what a year it would be for your old Engineers. Good luck!!   

Magic.. thanks... followed the whole game on livestats... was shocked at the outcome as I didn't think RPI could beat them 2  times in a week, much less on their home court... Griff must have made a change 3 or 4 weeks ago, as I note the scores decreased, and the wins increased... win or lose on Saturday, and given the close call Hobart had with Skidmore, anything is possible, it's been a heck of a year for RPI....

[hopefan]

Biased Predictions: 

Semis:  EC vs. WC:  I really do believe that EC is the superior team and will again use their advantages in the post to forge an advantage.  The key here is defense--can EC slow Prophet?? I say they can slow him enough.  EC 71  WC 66

SU vs. WU:  Spalding did it once without McAfee...Webster will take this down to the wire, but home court advantage and the slightly better team win the day  SU 79  WU 77

Championship:  EC goes dancing!  This is a team of destiny.  EC slows tempo again and have to keep going back to the importance of their post advantage.  Spalding again unable to convert their 3 pt. looks (which they'll have to settle for).   EC 66 SU 63

EC  how about this...(if EC and Spalding is indeed the championship game)     if there is a clear winner in the middle, Lessen vs Brasheer, that team wins ..  but if it is a tossup in the middle, I have to think Spalding quickness, home court, EC long trip.. all give the edge to Spalding

[sac]

Has it been mentioned that one of Spalding's assistant coaches is former Louisville and NBA player Felton Spencer?



He kind of stands out in the team photo

[hopefan]

Felton was on the bench the first time or two I saw Spalding this year, but not the last 2 times I saw them... don't know if he was out recruiting,  or if he headed for greener pastures.. I made a point of standing next to him.. he is a BIG man...