MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Splding off school for a week...scheduled 4 game road trip..

Ugh.  $5 admission

Great atmosphere with pep band and big group of loud frat boys...too bad EC ladies down 17 at half

[y_jack_lok]

Splding off school for a week...scheduled 4 game road trip..

Ugh.  $5 admission

Great atmosphere with pep band and big group of loud frat boys...too bad EC ladies down 17 at half

Thanks. You can afford the admission. 

[hopefan]

Home from Eureka, Il, but not safe.. hit SOMETHING within 2 miles of my house after a 3 hour trip.... BIG BIRD.. broke my windshield, snapped a wiper in two...UGH

Eureka about out of the race for a tourney spot with the loss to Spalding...  they stayed with them for 28 minutes, then Spalding blew them out in last 12, led by guard play of Brandon Gabriel, work around the basket by Renaldo Moore... Things were going good, tied with 12 left when Coach Wilde gave a couple starters a rest.. bang, Eureka down by 8 in about 2 minutes and had to play catch up the rest of the game.. Spalding just slowly pulled away... will write more tomorrow.. this helped to settle the nerves....

[magicman]

Glad to hear that your encounter with "Big Bird" wasn't more serious than a broken windshield. Still, it's a pain it the butt to have to get it fixed. My plow truck got a broken windshield when I hit a branch that was hanging down because of the snow and ice build up. I still haven't got it replaced. Glad you're safe. 

[y_jack_lok]

Home from Eureka, Il, but not safe.. hit SOMETHING within 2 miles of my house after a 3 hour trip.... BIG BIRD.. broke my windshield, snapped a wiper in two...UGH

Eureka about out of the race for a tourney spot with the loss to Spalding...  they stayed with them for 28 minutes, then Spalding blew them out in last 12, led by guard play of Brandon Gabriel, work around the basket by Renaldo Moore... Things were going good, tied with 12 left when Coach Wilde gave a couple starters a rest.. bang, Eureka down by 8 in about 2 minutes and had to play catch up the rest of the game.. Spalding just slowly pulled away... will write more tomorrow.. this helped to settle the nerves....

Glad you're okay. I worry about having that happen every time we come to your house.

[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 27
Spalding   +2   (Won at Mac) (won at Eureka)
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   (-3)    (Lost at home to Fontbonne) (lost at home to Mac) (lost at home to Spalding)

[hopefan]

So what does Eureka have to do to catch 4th place... is it even conceivable?

Well with last night's loss, it's pretty darned improbable... they are 3 games behind GC and Webster.. so they need a total collapse of one or the other...  ALONG WITH EC winning out

1) EC won't win out, playing at MAC, at WU and GC at home...if they lose again, there's no way they can make up 4 games

2) They would definitely rather see a Webster collapse... if they finished tie with Webster, (by winning out including beating Webster)  they would have a sweep of Webster and gain the tiebreaker advantage.... but Webster would have to lose two other games to fall back into a tie... certainly feasible with at Mac, at GC and home vs Spalding as well as at Font left on the schedule.... but of course, they'd still have to worry about Fontbonne's record, as Fontbonne holds a sweep over Eureka...BUT see #1 above... there's no way they'll win out..

I'v seen EC 3 times now... I just can't see them winning out......they're a great effort team, but I really feel behind the top 4 on overall talent level.... the loss to Spalding last night was legitimate... they couldn't match up with Spaldings quickness, with Brandon Gabriel pretty much penetrating at will (he's definitely my choice as the Conference top PG, with or without some streakiness in his shooting), their bench hurt them, their best shooter can't get shots, they fell behind in the first half with turnovers, Saathoff makes strong moves but doesn't yet know how to finish, their point guard is their best rebounder (very impressive last night), they really don't have a legit perimeter shooter if Wickers can't get shots... Sorry, they're just not there this year...

[hopefan]

Also, congrats to Westmin for a win over Prin... they held everyone but Larry Patterson to single digits (that's two big scoring nights in a row for Patterson), but are we seeing the younger Prin players beginning to run out of gas or lose interest?  Westmin gets some much needed scoring punch from Brandon Moore, something that's been missing recently...

[Denny McKinney]

Hopefan. Time to make reservations for hotel in Louisville.

I want to go on record as giving Props to SU on their makeover on the gym. I've seen some pictures and they really brightened it up. I was extremely harsh in my comments about it.

Louisville is a nice town to host. Hotels and dining are great. You also have Churchill Downs and Louisville Slugger to tour.

With a discount for local students and HS talent. $15K tuition is a huge recruiting tool. I really like what Coach Gray has done there.

[hopefan]

8 mins left.    BC 70. GC. 65

[hopefan]

BC    90.    GC. 87 final

[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 27
Spalding   +2   (Won at Mac) (won at Eureka)
Mac  +1  (Lost at home to Spalding) (Won at Greenville) (won at Eureka)
Greenville  (-1 )  (Won at Fontbonne) (lost at home to Mac) (lost to Blackburn)
Fontbonne( -1)   (won at Eureka) (Lost to IWC) (lost at home to Greenville)
Webster (-1)    (Lost to Iowa Wes) 
Eureka   (-3)    (Lost at home to Fontbonne) (lost at home to Mac) (lost at home to Spalding)

SLIAC SUPER SATURDAY:

Webster at Mac
Spalding at Fontbonne

[hopefan]

Fantastic game last night at Blackburn... I have disappointing trips (ie Tuesday night, when Spalding broke open a tight game at Eureka turning it into a romp (and I get hit with a broken windshield), but the trips like last night more than make up for it... great conversation with both coaches, meeting a couple of the players, AND meeting the new commissioner... plus a great game, and entertainment from the Blackburn cheering section, dressed up in costumes, dancing to music ranging from rap and hip hop all the way to the duck dance...   There may have only been 100 to 150 people in the stands, but every one of them had a great time...

The game?  So much happened, I cant' get it all down in words..
Greenville just crushed BC on the boards... seemed to get every loose ball for 2nd chance opportunities... despite 8 first half turnovers, they still led by 6 at half... but there was an indicator the game might stay tight.. BC had been down 14, but was able to cut it to 6..  2nd half saw BC using a lot of half court trapping, forcing Greenville into numerous crucial turnovers, and despite continuing to win the rebounding battle, there were enough missed shots that BC made the comeback..

The last couple of minutes was about as good as it gets... BC's Andre Strayhorn (Who was the only BC player to have a rough shooting night) made a huge 3 to tie the game at 82, and when GC came back and missed, Chris J Davis made two ft for BC up 2... Harris missed at 1:11 and Davis made 2 more At 0:50 (more on that play later) for BC up 4... then the play of the game, Tim Daniel hits a long 3 at 34 seconds and is fouled... I'm thinking OT when Daniel makes the ft... EXCEPT he doesn't, he misses... now Jake Lockhead of BC is fouled, two more FTS, BC up 3, GC misses another 3, BC makes two more fts and is up 5 with 7 seconds... but what happened then leaves me as puzzled as what GC did at 0:50...

at 0:50 with GC down 2, BC has the ball and have already run 19 seconds off the possession.. and Coach Barber is screaming for his player to foul, out near half court... they do, and Chris J Davis sticks 2 FTs for a 4 point lead... don't understand that one at all... play defense for 11 more seconds and keep BC from scoring.. why foul, especially when Davis is dominating the ball and will eventually try to penetrate... if EVERYONE knows that, he can at least be double teamed and forced to shoot a jumper... that decision just bothered me the whole way home...

and the final 7 seconds BC with 5 point lead having just made 2 fts, Coach Barbereau calls a time out.... he has to be saying... DON'T FOUL.... what does BC do at 3.5 secs?  Fouls.... two fts by GC... 3 point lead... what is the one way barring a miracle steal that GC can get the ball back.. if BC throws it out of bounds.. and what does BC do, they almost throw it out of bounds, throwing it hail Mary full court.. it didn't go out, but Stevonte Young intercepted and at least had a 3/4 court heave for the tie, which missed....

So an exciting win for BC, something to virtually build the program on... a crushing loss for GC, pushing them to the 4 spot, and putting them dangerously close to the 5, 6 spots..

No one to blame for GC... yes a couple of critical missed shots in the last minute, but GC played hard the whole night.... But two things need to be corrected... cut the turnovers in half, and fix the defense... BC can't be allowed to score 90 points... I don't want to hear BC shot the ball out of this world.. rather, GC played a light enough defense that allowed BC to have open looks, plus they put BC on the line 15 times allowing them to go 20 for 26 on the line..

BC.. Chris J Davis was fantastic... the kid went hard to the basket for 30 minutes, making several hoops and a boatload of fts, then uses the room they start to give him to hit 2 critical 3's.... Jake Lockhead comes off the bench and hits his first 5 shots, finishes with 20 points in 23 minutes...and Jamie Moore, who I saw go 0-fer against Webster, couldn't miss anything against GC... looked like an All Conference player...  Lockhead, Orange, and Hicks give BC quality minutes off the bench, there's no letdown when they enter...

Stevonte Young really did a lot to keep GC ahead most of the game.. some critical hoops and some SWEET passes for assists.... Young's moves and passes draw oohs  and ahhs, while Ehresman does the same quietly... between the two point guards, they finished with 14 assists and only 3 turnovers.....

My memory gets short, but this may have been the best game of the year in the SLIAC for back and forth 'THINGS HAPPENING' basketball....

[WUPHF]

Blackburn...in the game of the year...wow!  What a year it has been.

[y_jack_lok]

I don't know how he remembers all that stuff. I leave a game and I've forgotten 99% of what happened. Maybe it's a case of CMS (Creative Memory Syndrome).