MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[ecreddevils]

Mac/EC was a sloppy game for both sides, lots of bad passing and horribly missed three attempts.  I expected more out of Mac; Whitlock and  Johnson were unimpressive--Johnson in particular was lethargic and shot horribly, some of the worst free throw touch I've seen. Guthrie's timely shooting was really Mac's only consistent offense.

Greg Kent was a whirlwind for EC 10 pts/13 reb (!)/6 assist/3 steals, although there were times when he was overly aggressive on offense and failed to finish easy chances around the rim.  EC had a chance down the stretch, down 63-61 with :25 left, Sam James missed two free throws.  It was one of those nights.

On a positive note for EC, they showed they have the toughness to break into the tournament--FU and SU are looming as hugely important contests in the next week.

[ecreddevils]

A note regarding the EC women's team.  They defeated the Mac women 71-55, Kelsey Shoemake scored her 1000th career point and had a 28/20 night.

[hopefan]

Would say I'm shocked how close the WU vs BC game was tonight but without Ahmad Smith and the way Webster plays down to their competition day in and day out, this was about what I would expect.
Another big offensive game by Griffin but 22 points in the point given up and 11 second chance points. Has to be a better interior defender the rest of the way. He is so long and athletic that he should be able to affect a lot of shots. Also, again out rebounded by a much smaller team.

A win is a win though hopefully they can build. This team needs some confidence.

Side note... Webster bench players, nice work.

SLIACchamp... you seem to put quite a bit of a perceived deficiency with the interior defense and rebounding on Giffin's shoulders and I'm not so sure I agree... I think at least some of the interior points come off the SECOND pass... Griff has defended the receiver of the first pass and that guy is finding a baseline cutter or weakside cutter for the shot.. a cutter that should be defended by one of the forwards...and as to Griff's rebounding, he plays with a tremendous amount of energy, consequently gets a little more rest time.. so in 26 minutes per game, 8 rebounds per game is solid... likely the leading 'center-pivot man' rebounder in the conference, despite getting less minutes than other big men... I'd also note that while Webster seems to be a horrendous offensive rebounding team, they are first in the conference in Defensive rebounding, which at least implies that the opponent is not beating up the Gorlocks with offensive rebounds (I'm not sure if Opponent's offensive rebounds is an available stat on SLIAC.org?  would be interesting to see and compare across the league)

The win last night may very well have been BECAUSE of solid interior defense.. It was pretty clear BC was not shooting well from the perimeter... good interior defense was at least part of the reason for BC throwing up 25 3 point attempts (most of which weren't close).
And let's face it, there is limited ability/experience/size  to play that middle position for the 14 minutes per game that Aaron is on the bench....

[hopefan]

-1 is awarded to a top 6 team for any loss to the bottom 4, and for any loss at home to the other 5 of the top 6.
+1 is awarded for a win on the road vs a top 6

Current hopefan standings after games of Jan 21
Spalding   +1   (Won at Mac)
Mac  +1  (Lost at home to Spalding) (Won at Greenville) (won at Eureka)
Greenville  0   (Won at Fontbonne) (lost at home to Mac)
Fontbonne( -1)   (won at Eureka) (Lost to IWC) (lost at home to Greenville)
Webster (-1)    (Lost to Iowa Wes) 
Eureka   (-2)    (Lost at home to Fontbonne) (lost at home to Mac)

[hopefan]

Mac/EC was a sloppy game for both sides, lots of bad passing and horribly missed three attempts.  I expected more out of Mac; Whitlock and  Johnson were unimpressive--Johnson in particular was lethargic and shot horribly, some of the worst free throw touch I've seen. Guthrie's timely shooting was really Mac's only consistent offense.

I heard quite a bit this morning regarding the Mac-EC game... much credit to Coach Wilde for designing a defense to counter Mac's big men Whitlock and Johnson... seems every touch by the big men resulted in a double team, particularly from Greg Kent... the quick dish back out resulted in numerous open looks from the 3 point line, but Mac, and particularly Kolin Koeltner, had a horrible shooting night and did not take advantage... the fact that Whitlock and Johnson show only 12 shots between them is a tribute to the defense, and should not necessarily be used as a knock against them.  They may have been stymied by the double teams, but to label them as unimpressive is far overboard.
And yes, Mac's achilles heal this year is obviously ft shooting... they rank 7th in the conference in ft shooting, darn near lost the game at Greenville and now at Eureka due to poor performance at the line.. only Guthrie of the starters is above 70%.  Continued shooting at that level is bound to impact the win-loss record somewhere along the line....

[ecreddevils]

Mac/EC was a sloppy game for both sides, lots of bad passing and horribly missed three attempts.  I expected more out of Mac; Whitlock and  Johnson were unimpressive--Johnson in particular was lethargic and shot horribly, some of the worst free throw touch I've seen. Guthrie's timely shooting was really Mac's only consistent offense.

I heard quite a bit this morning regarding the Mac-EC game... much credit to Coach Wilde for designing a defense to counter Mac's big men Whitlock and Johnson... seems every touch by the big men resulted in a double team, particularly from Greg Kent... the quick dish back out resulted in numerous open looks from the 3 point line, but Mac, and particularly Kolin Koeltner, had a horrible shooting night and did not take advantage... the fact that Whitlock and Johnson show only 12 shots between them is a tribute to the defense, and should not necessarily be used as a knock against them.  They may have been stymied by the double teams, but to label them as unimpressive is far overboard.
And yes, Mac's achilles heal this year is obviously ft shooting... they rank 7th in the conference in ft shooting, darn near lost the game at Greenville and now at Eureka due to poor performance at the line.. only Guthrie of the starters is above 70%.  Continued shooting at that level is bound to impact the win-loss record somewhere along the line....

Kent's activity in the lane on the double was hugely helpful and Ian Saathoff was extremely aggressive and physical.  That said, it is not overboard at all to say Mac's bigs were unimpressive.  In my opinion, they were.  Whitlock is a mid-range finesse type player, so he did his thing to an extent, but Johnson to me looked very lethargic for large stretches.  He did pull down 10 boards, but he looked lost and disinterested on the offensive end.  Some of that was EC's aggressiveness but Johnson didn't seem interested in battling back for position.  Mac looks very beatable if you go at them hard.

[hopefan]

Whitlock is a mid-range finesse type player,

Uhhh, not sure I agree with the above statement....

I'll buy unimpressive last night if you'll buy impressive when I saw them play at Greenville...

[Denny McKinney]

Mac/EC was a sloppy game for both sides, lots of bad passing and horribly missed three attempts.  I expected more out of Mac; Whitlock and  Johnson were unimpressive--Johnson in particular was lethargic and shot horribly, some of the worst free throw touch I've seen. Guthrie's timely shooting was really Mac's only consistent offense.

I heard quite a bit this morning regarding the Mac-EC game... much credit to Coach Wilde for designing a defense to counter Mac's big men Whitlock and Johnson... seems every touch by the big men resulted in a double team, particularly from Greg Kent... the quick dish back out resulted in numerous open looks from the 3 point line, but Mac, and particularly Kolin Koeltner, had a horrible shooting night and did not take advantage... the fact that Whitlock and Johnson show only 12 shots between them is a tribute to the defense, and should not necessarily be used as a knock against them.  They may have been stymied by the double teams, but to label them as unimpressive is far
overboard.
And yes, Mac's achilles heal this year is obviously ft shooting... they rank 7th in the conference in ft shooting, darn near lost the game at Greenville and now at Eureka due to poor performance at the line.. only Guthrie of the starters is above 70%.  Continued shooting at that level is bound to impact the win-loss record somewhere along the line....

Whoa now! Coach Wilde didn't reinvent the wheel. Doubling down with a guard is how most teams double the blocks. Heck FU's Brian Fogarty faced that for about 50 straight games. Even with the double he was still get his. Teams had to double cause no one in The Sliac could guard him straight up.

Brian goes into FU HOF at halftime of FU's 1/31 game. He finished as FU career leading scorer and the Sliac's fourth. Despite being doubled and playing on a team with 4 guys averaging double figures
.
The rebounding issue I covered in previous post.

[hopefan]

Let's do a quick chat about Wednesday's results....

Webster beats BC in low scoring affair by 10, 56-46.... first, as mentioned before, I was really impressed by BC's floor... since I was there last (3-4 years ago), there are new bleachers on both sides, fresh bright paint, a refinished floor, and new lighting... while the building size limits seating capacity, the place looks great... and BC students still congregate in the one corner and give opposing players some pretty good grief... poor Adan Etter may be hearing the 'airball' chant in his sleep for several days...  I was impressed by BC's roster, many new faces played... Numerous athletic kids all showing potential to get this program turned around... Freshmen Jake Lockheed, Andre Strayhorn, and Jordan McMillen all could be four year contributors.. Mcmillen at 6'8" showed some nice moves around the hoop... if he puts on 20-30 pounds, he'll be tough to stop..Henry Hicks, Chris A Davis, Willie Orange are all players...and my first time seeing Chris J Davis.. tough shooting night from ouside, but great explosiveness to the basket...
My thought on this game... if BC had ANY shooter in this game, they might have won.. but they go 4 for 25 from 3's, pretty much fail to penetrate the zone, and go down... of course, Wester looked just as bad, or worse, attacking BC's zone.. as SLIACchamp said, thank godness for the bench.. Odjo, Zehner, Henry (who started for the injured Ahmad Smith), and Kaywood all managed to do some damage that Ward, Etter, and Moore didn't get done... and when the ball finally started to get into Aaron Griffin, the Gorlocks were able to pull away to the win...
Interesting play... Chris J Davis steals the ball in front of Hunter Ward and heads down the court for a layup or dunk.. Ward stays right behind and goes up with Davis and blocks it at rim height or higher perfectly.. no whistle, but as they turn in the other direction, Ward is called for a "T".. don't know if he trash talked Davis, or complained about a foul that started the play, or possibly even trash talked the ref (ie, couldn't call that one, could ya).. anyway, whatever he said, it must have been a beauty, because Hunter went right to the bench to be yanked, and Coach Bunch did exactly that....

NOTE, word I got was that Ahmad would not likely play this weekend, but would be good for next week...

Greenville at Spalding.... GC performs another miracle comeback, only to be nipped again...Greenville is down 13 with 3 and a half minutes left... and Nick Trisko goes on a rampage... he gets 8 points in next two minutes, but GC still down 7 with one minute left.. then Ron Harris takes over, hits two 3 pointers in a 6 second span, then a couple of free throws to tie the game with 7 seconds left.... BUT Renaldo Moore scores for Spalding in last second to win it for Spalding....  Brandon Goeing goes for 27 with 3 steals, 3 assists, no turnovers....Why is GC falling so far behind in 2nd half?  Two tough losses in a row despite incredible comebacks.....

Mac at Eureka... much already said... EC successfully defends Johnson and Whitlock, but can't stop Dylan Guthrie... Mac comes back from 8 point half time deficit to win, EC misses two critical fre throws that would have tied it with 25 seconds left.. instead they have to foul and Mac converts...

Westmin at Fontbonne... Fontbonne leading at half doesn't score for the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half... westmin takes a 3 point lead, but Evan Johnson goes on a scoring binge netting 3 3-pointers and 12 points in 3 minutes to pull Fontbonne to an 8 point lead.. they maintain that and win by 7..  Good to see Greenlee ok and playing well (12 points 6 boards off the shoulder injury) and Greg Gentry getting some minutes and scoring 8 points....

[Denny McKinney]

Hopefan. We're at the halfway point. Which team has the best chance to give someone a game come NCAA time?

[hopefan]

Denny, are you talking this year, 2015?  Or maybe next year?

This year, it just plain is not going to happen....  I'll take whoever our champ plays, -25.. there is no chance of a repeat of the Webster near miracle of 2014....

next year.... whoever gets the best JUCO additions... Greenville will have a lot coming back, but Harris is a huge loss... Fontbonne will have most guys back, but will lack a presence in the middle and a true perimeter threat.... Webster loses Aaron Griffin, left with no size..... Mac loses just about everyone except Deavis Johnson (will he return anyway?) and PG Koeltner.... Eureka loses 4 key players....Spalding loses Gabriel and Moore but will probably be preseason No 1... heck, Prin, has 3 of the best returners in the conference and absolutely nothing else, and BC and IWC are loaded with young talent that need to be convinced they can win...  Westmin, well, Mitch could be a miracle worker....

[hopefan]

For you Saturday morning readers... here's what to expect in the SLIAC today

Spalding at BC.... watch and learn BC... the talent level isn't that much different... but Spalding knows what it takes to win in the SLIAC... watch the defense, watch the to the basket action, watch the intensity... 

Eureka at Fontbonne.... huge game.. virtually a must win for both teams, because it's the two teams on the outside of the top 4 trying to get in...  this is a really good matchup, both teams a little small but aggressive hard workers.. EC has the edge on the perimeter with Seth Wickert, Fontbonne has the edge inside with Greenlee, Kissing, Rucker...  In a close game like this, I'll give the edge to the home team... the long bus ride down from Eureka can be tough...

Westminster at Webster... a chance for the Gorlocks to get back on track... we need to see more from Ward, Etter, CJ Moore if Webster is to be considered a contender come SLIAC tourney time.... As I said before, Westmin could rescue their season by playing the spoiler role in the next several weeks....

Prin at Mac....  this one shouldn't be close as Prin tires in the 2nd half...

IWC at Greenville....  Greenville is stumbling, as their sure thing status is out the window.... let's hope they play up to their abilities for 40 minutes...IWC already ran over Webster on the road, but I don't think it will happen at Greenville today....

So as you can see, the top four are playing the bottom 4 today, with 5 and 6 playing each other... given that scenario, will there be any 20 point margins today, or will top 4 teams squeeze by, or (gasp) might there be an upset?



 

[CoachClarke]

Point of clarification - Mac was up by 8 at the half against Eureka and never trailed during the game. 

[Denny McKinney]

Sorry Hopefan. I didn't realize Sliac was that dismal. I thought Mac had the size and interior presence to maybe give someone a good effort. My Bad for asking!

[hopefan]

Sorry Hopefan. I didn't realize Sliac was that dismal. I thought Mac had the size and interior presence to maybe give someone a good effort. My Bad for asking!

You know Denny, after I wrote that, I thought about Mac..almost did a rewrite... if anyone could give someone a game, they could... still not sure they are athletic enough, quick enough, or have a perimeter game that would match up with a 1 seed...but they would have a better chance than the rest...