MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Mac...  well I wonder which was more disappointing to Mac Coach Todd Creal... being beat 2 years ago by the Joe James miracle shot in the Conference Tourney finals, or losing at home to Eureka in the last game of the season this past year to be denied a spot in the Conference tourney... both tough losses...  the nucleus of those two teams is much the same as the team returning to Mac next year...They have to prove that a team made up of mostly small school rural Illinois kids can be tough enough, mature enough to win the big games against the Websters, Westmins, Spaldings who get most of their players from bigger more competitive high school programs.  Mac has top 4 (maybe even top two) talent returning this year... they just have to step up a notch and win with it... not 10-6 in conference, but 12-4, 13-3, 14-2!!!!

Gone from last year's Mac team are
Cody Best... I only really appreciated this 6'5" playmaker this year...  he got the ball up the court, got it to his scorers, played great defense, always hustled... he passed up too many shots and didn't score much, but when he went down with a knee injury with 3 weeks left, you just felt the spirit come out of Mac.   5.1ppg, 3.3 apg
Luke Bishop..  Picture perfect form on the shot, but results were hot and cold... Disappointing senior year, but a great kid....  11..8 ppg  39% from 3 poit range... BUT, 70% of FGA were from 3s.. I thought his game should have been more diverse..
Jake Columbia... great attitude off the bench....
Mac loses only 22% of scoring, and 18% of rebounding

Returning players at every position and enough for solid bench

Dylan Guthrie  Soph 6'1" 2 guard...  8.4 ppg   42% from 3's.... Inexperience showed at times with turnovers, shot selection, but he could be an all Conference guard next year... aggressive, good quicks, good skills...  just has to slow his game down to stay in the rhythm

Kolin Keltner  Frosh  5'11"  point... 2.5 ppg...  started at Point after Codie Best went down and was solid... strong, confident, good shooter, pushes the ball with control, should take over the point this year

Hunter Sutton Soph 6'5"  6.2 ppg   came off the bench this year, earned more playing time as the year went on... he will contribute as a starter or 6th man

Cole Busch Junior 6'7"  4 ppg 3rpg    competent backup in the middle for Spencer Whitlock..  Has accepted that role and made the most of it

Spencer Pratt  Soph  6'2"  8.6 ppg  3.4 rpg   Tough nosed, can play point , 2, or 3...  great to the basket.. 2nd on team in free throws attempted despite not being starter
Brady Slagle  Jr 6'6"  8.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg...  strong 4 man, his shoulder injury may have hurt Mac's chances to make conference tourney more than the loss of Best.. Slagle gutted it out and played, but couldhardly lift his arm... which is exactly why I like him...Brady should take the leadership role of this group next year

Dylan Burton  Jr 6'5"  6.9 ppg 1.4 rpg...  I've been preaching the potential of this kid for 3 years.... May be the most athletic kid for his size that I've seen in the SLIAC...but injury after injury, and failure to play to his potential with less than enthusiastic effort at times... anything he contributes will be a plus... but I no longer have high expectations... Don't know what else coach Creal can do....

Clayton Whitlock  Soph  6'8"  14.7 ppg, 5rpg... outstanding scorer at this level... scores around the basket, hits the 15 footer... but needs to become 'the man'.. Move without the ball to get position, demand the ball, diversify his moves when he gets the ball, rebound more... he needs to be the Mark Lessen of the SLIAC next year

This group is good enough, deep enough, to win the conference next year... they each just have to mature to the next step....

[ecreddevils]

Think I'll do team No 1 today... picking the easiest to write about.... Eureka.  Why easy?  Because they lose virtually EVERYONE....  I would think they lose more of their program than any team in D3...

In 2009-2010, Eureka had a solid team led by seniors Mike Dr Z Zasada and Kameron Bell... both 20 ppg scorers... losing those two was expected to drop Eureka in the conference standing in the 2010-11 season, but when starter Andy Leppart left early in the season and Jordan Kindred went down with a leg injury, Eureka suffered a free fall to a 4-21 record... Coach Wilde had to do something drastic to recover and he did, plucking 3 transfers from local Sauk Valley JC, as well as one from Carl Sandurg and one from Missouri Valley... and Eureka with the 5 tranfers, Kindred and Mark Lessen made the conference tourney the next two years and had overall records of 15-11 and 18-9.  But ALL those guys graduate this year.

Gone will be
Jordan Kindred 9.9 ppg and a go to kind of player despite coming off the bench most of the season
Mark Lessen  19.7 ppg 9.9 rpg  the SLIAC MOP, 2nd team all region D3hoops
Rian Nailor  7.3 ppg  2.6 APG
Niko Rivera  6.7 ppg  2.3 apg 5.3 rpg
Dustin Fritsch 13.5 ppg  8.6 rpg
Chuck Misuaca  4.4 ppg  3.8apg   started at point and had a huge game in the regular season win over Spalding
DT Thornton  6.9 ppg  3.9 RPG as 7th man
Jordan Fehr   3.2 ppg.... played in 21 games

That's 64.3 ppg of the team's 72 ppg!!!!

The only returning player that has any stats worth mentioning is Conner Lincoln, a 6'3 g/f ... my only impression of him is he must be a leaper because twice when he came into a game I saw, they looped him around for an ally-oop pass (neither of which he converted).. Lincoln did play in 26 of 27 games, but not very many minutes in the tight games.  The rest of the guys on the bench saw 'limited' action.

Eureka will either have to go the JC route again, totally, or face a year like Fontbonne did this year with virtually nothing but freshmen... and Coach Wilde is evidently 0 for 3 years recruiting the high schools.....
Can EC stay out of the SLIAC basement next year?   If I was a high school player looking to play right away at the D3 level, this would be the best place in the world to go next year!!!!  The campus is quaint, they have a renovated facility, they get great support from the community (as compared to most SLIAC schools), and the coach is a good guy and proven winner.... and they have 12 openings on the varsity!

Enjoying reading your analyses so far...as far as EC goes, I believe that this program could likely have enough puzzle pieces in place to not tumble to the bottom of the conference.  Can the pieces come together is always the question with any program who loses so much. Stay tuned!

[MObball41]

Westminster loses some key pieces.. Do they bring back enough to keep the conference tourney appearance streak alive? Let's hear it Hopefan

[hopefan]

Right on... Westmin will be next!!!!!

[hopefan]

Enjoying reading your analyses so far...as far as EC goes, I believe that this program could likely have enough puzzle pieces in place to not tumble to the bottom of the conference.  Can the pieces come together is always the question with any program who loses so much. Stay tuned!

What pieces are you considering... help us out...

[louhoopsfan]

hopefan, do you think Mac has the guard play to be able to win this conference next year?

[hopefan]

hopefan, do you think Mac has the guard play to be able to win this conference next year?

yes Louhoops, I really do ...  If we include Spencer Pratt in the guard group with Guthrie and Keltner, you have 3 tough nosed kids, all can score, reasonable quickness, physical.... maybe not the hoops talent of a Joe James or the quicks of a Hollis Edwards, but as a group, very competitive...  I don't see that any of them need to score double figures... Whitlock, Slagle, Sutton, and Burton should take care of that... and also don't forget,  Brady Slagle was the newcomer of the year his frosh year, as a 6'5" guard... he too is capable of getting the ball up the floor...

[hopefan]

OK... let's talk about Westmin...  from the get go, despite significant losses, I think Westminster will challenge to be back in the SLIAC Conference Tournament... I have a tremendous amount of respect for Coach Matt Mitchell, and the continuum of strong SLIAC level talent that he is able to attract to Westminster..  Beautiful, historic campus, good kids... it's one of the SLIAC schools I would recommend to any HS coach or player looking for a small D3 school.

Westminster is coming off a 12-4, 19-7 season, and they did it as the only of the top 5 without a legitimate big man... but they were athletic and could get the ball off the boards often enough to win...Unfortunately at the end of the season, they couldn't stop big men Brasheer and Lessen.

Westminster loses 4 seniors, two starters and two key role players, and new faces will have to play a big role during the 2013-14 season.  They lose 1st team All Conference Joe Prophet, 15.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg, and All Conference HM Skylar Tolson, 10.4 ppg, and always a 3 point shot threat; and backup Center Mookie Valandra who was a real scoring threat off the bench and role player Todd Stolte who saw more action when Valandra went down with an ankle injury.

Returning are four pure guards and middleman Taylor Allen... From what I heard, Westmin had a decent freshman class, but none of them saw varsity time of any significance.... Some of these guys are going to have to step up quickly, or Coach Mitchel will have to pull off some recruiting magic.
Returners are:
Verdis Lee  6'2" small forward... 2nd Team All Conference  13.1 ppg, 5 rpg... exciting athletic player... great to the basket, but had an overall poor shooting year at 44% from the field, 33% from 3's... my impression is he tried to do a little too much at the wrong time.. had horrible game against Spalding, but great game vs Eureka in tourney...Consistancy is needed
Joe James  6'2" Guard  2nd Team All Conference  12.4 ppg, 3 apg, 4 rpg.. Still everyone's hero for the tourney winning shot two seasons ago... very active, always dangerous offensive player
Robbie Buroughs 6'1 guard off the bench 6.9 ppg, Jordan Jones 5'10" 4 ppg off bench, quicks....... Neither did much to impress me this past season, no great performances in clutch situations when I saw them.. They'll have to do more than just eat up minutes this coming season..
Taylor Allen  6'4" middle man... not a 'basketball' player, but a tremendous amount of energy...5 ppg, 4.8 rpg... not much of an offensive threat, but athletic, plays hard, rebounds... Westmin didn't need scoring from the middle last year, but they do this year...Where will it come from?

James and Lee... then what...  This will be quite a challenge for Coach Mitchell.. Can he get them back to the top four... he'll need more than what the 5 returners provide...But he usually finds a way

[hopefan]

ok.. Spalding, Iowa Wesleyan, Eureka, MacMurray, and Westminster have been covered... that leaves Webster, Principia, Fontbonne, Blackburn and Greenville to cover....

Who should be next?

[MObball41]

Nice write-up, Hope. I agree, much like Webster, Westmin for the past 5-6 years has found ways to reload, and get to the conference tourney every year. I'd expect next year to be the same, but certainly some guys will need to step up.

Unless they pick up a big, tall true low post that can play right away (those are hard to find in D3), look for a fast-paced, guard-heavy attack next year. Coach Mitchell has shown he can have success with that type of team the past few years. Lee and James will likely lead the way in scoring. I'd imagine Jordan Jones will have the opportunity to step into the point guard spot. Allen will need to stay true to his role as an active rebounder and defender.

There are definitely some question marks with this team at this moment, but plenty of time remains for those to be answered.

[hopefan]

Nice write-up, Hope. I agree, much like Webster, Westmin for the past 5-6 years has found ways to reload, and get to the conference tourney every year. I'd expect next year to be the same, but certainly some guys will need to step up.

Unless they pick up a big, tall true low post that can play right away (those are hard to find in D3), look for a fast-paced, guard-heavy attack next year. Coach Mitchell has shown he can have success with that type of team the past few years. Lee and James will likely lead the way in scoring. I'd imagine Jordan Jones will have the opportunity to step into the point guard spot. Allen will need to stay true to his role as an active rebounder and defender.

There are definitely some question marks with this team at this moment, but plenty of time remains for those to be answered.

Thanks MoBall... I respect your opinion, whether you saw it as I did or not.....

[y_jack_lok]

ok.. Spalding, Iowa Wesleyan, Eureka, MacMurray, and Westminster have been covered... that leaves Webster, Principia, Fontbonne, Blackburn and Greenville to cover....

Who should be next?

I don't want to always be the one making the next request, but in the interest of keeping this going I cast my ballot for Greenville.

[hopefan]

ok.. Spalding, Iowa Wesleyan, Eureka, MacMurray, and Westminster have been covered... that leaves Webster, Principia, Fontbonne, Blackburn and Greenville to cover....

Who should be next?

I don't want to always be the one making the next request, but in the interest of keeping this going I cast my ballot for Greenville.

I was just sitting back waiting.....

[y_jack_lok]

Iowa Wesleyan has a coach: http://www.iwctigers.com/article/1142.php

[Denny McKinney]

Thanks for the Link Yjak. That is the third coach at IWC since D3 discussion started their. The Head Coach that had been their for awhile, would not sign the Letter agreeing with the decision. He was Fired. Then you have the coach that just left. I thought they may hire someone with some D3 experience. They didn't.

The health of the conference is not well. You have Prin who is on quite a losing streak and may not be able to field a team of 5 on a given day. You have BC, who if it wasn't for PC would have their own losing streak. I have know idea what is going on in Carlinville, IL. Shame it used to be a very competitive program. Is IWC another Lincoln Christian or more like Spalding?

I do know of one FU recruit. Only because he has FU spread all over his Facebook. Cody Eddinger (sp?) 6'1 shooter from Cuba HS. The kid averaged closed to 30 pts a game. Can shoot it from anywhere and did in HS. Interesting to follow what he could do in a real system.

Have a good one All.