MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

y_jack_lok · February 07, 2015, 07:19:20 PM

Quote from: SliacChamp on February 07, 2015, 06:00:27 PM
Another loss for Webster. Big game Wednesday, do I dare say the winner will be playing for a conference tournament bid....Well after how the last 2 weeks have shaped up who knows what will happen.

Also, Webster is showing how valuable Miller was last season. He was a little bit older than average player and I think he brought some maturity to that team and the locker room that the Gorloks do not have this year. Tough break for him and the Gorloks as they continue to nose dive out of the conference tournament.

Ahmad Smith's scoring could have made a difference today. Also, did Webster play man or zone? Given how IWC shredded the zone a few weeks ago I'd have to guess it was man.

hopefan · February 08, 2015, 11:18:26 AM

I stayed a while after a game not too long ago, talking to whomever, or making a post on these pages, or checking scores. And as I sat in a small parking lot letting the defroster take care of the ice on the windshield, I saw the hometeam head coach, who was that night's losing coach, walking down the street by himself, head down, shoulders slumped, his gym bag held so low almost touching the ground... the same guy who before the game was all smiles and conversation and enthusiasm and optimism..

And in another locale, I see a bright, very young head coach, at wit's end, doing everything he can think of to try to keep his grossly overmatched team in the game, just for a little while, but the margin climbs continuously, 10 points, 20, 30, 40 and the opponents almost mock his players... and he knows he has to go back to the locker room and say something positive to his players...keep working, we'll get better, we'll get better...

The coaching profession can be a real b_tch....

hopefan · February 08, 2015, 05:38:27 PM

So where do we stand:

1) Mac 10-3 remaining : at Westmin; Greenville; IWC; at Fontbonne; at Prin
Hopefan comment.... tough to see them losing again if they take one game at a time, stay ready for each opponent... biggest threat could be at Fontbonne game, but Mac is so much bigger...

2) Spalding 11-4 remaining : Prin; at Webster; Westmin
Hopefan comment.... also tough to see them losing again, but of course Webster is big game... if they win out and Mac loses a game, tiebreaker may not be decided until last night of the season...

T3) Webster 8-5 remaining : at Fontbonne; Blackburn; Spalding; Eureka; at Greenville ...
Hopefan comment... clearly the toughest remaining schedule, can't imagine they'll catch Mac or Spalding..
They really need to take care of business, go 4-1 to guarantee themselves a spot....3-2 probably finishes in a tie for 4th and tiebreaker analysis... 2-3, which could happen, and they're probably out...

T3) Fontbonne 8-5 remaining : Webster; at IWC; at Westmin; Mac; at Blackburn
Hopefan comment... along with Eureka, the two teams on a huge upswing battling for 3/4... Schedule not as tough as Webster, but if a loss is assumed vs Mac, then Webster game is critical... and the IWC game can't be overlooked

T5) Greenville 8-6 remaining : at Mac; at Prin; Blackburn; Webster
Hopefan comment.... only an upset of Mac will put this team back in the hunt... if that happens, the season ending game with Webster could be decisive

T5) Eureka 8-6 remaining : Westmin; at Blackburn; at Webster; IWC
Hopefan comment.... No longer a longshot, no longer sneaking in... take care of business vs 3 of the bottom 4, and beat Webster a second time, and they are virtually guaranteed into the tourney.. lose to Webster and we're probably talking some kind of tiebreaker...

What I'd like to see... Too bad we're not talking a 6 team tournament... would have been a perfect year for it.... (heck, with all the upsets, it would have been a perfect year for a 10 team tournament)....
Anyway, perfect 1st round matchup would be Eureka vs Mac.... gotta think Mac would be very nervous about that one...

So, good luck to everyone in the last 2 and a half weeks of conference play.... having 6 in the mix and a seventh capable of doing damage to anyone makes it a great conference race....

hopefan · February 09, 2015, 02:18:17 PM

With 3, 4 or 5 games left, lets look at conference game stats for those who I feel merit all conference consideration.. my top 3 or more per position

Center :

Whitlock Mac 17.2 ppg 71.2% FG 63.4% FT 6.9 rpg 2.2 TO per game

Griffin Webster 12.8 ppg 54.8% FG 78.8% FT 7.8 rpg 1.9 TO per game

Ball Prin 15.2 ppg 47.7% FG 67.4% FT 6.0 rpg 2.6 TO per game

Hopefan Nod : Whitlock...... Second team Griffin

Power Forward:

Greenlee Fontbonne 14.4 ppg 56.5% FG 62.7% FT 8.1 rpg 1.6 TO per game

Harris Greenville 12.8 ppg 39.4% FG 80.4% FT 9.1 rpg 2.4 TO per game

Ward Webster 13.2 ppg 44.9% FG 79.5% FT 6.9 rpg 2.0 TO per game

Johnson Mac 12.8 ppg 54.7% FG 63.5% FT 9.2 rpg 2.1 TO per game

Hopefan Nod : Greenlee....... Second team Johnson

Small Forward:

Daniel Greenville 12.4 ppg 43.3% FG 89.3% FT 4.5 rpg 1.6 TO per game note 2.3 3 pt/g 38.1%

Sutton Mac 12.3 ppg 45.3% FG 64.7% FT 6.4 rpg 1.7 TO per game

Davidson Prin 14.0 ppg 54.7% FG 60.7% FT 9.0 rpg 3.5 TO per game note 1.9 3 pt/g 45.5%

Smith Webster 13.4 ppg 39.8% FG 75.9% FT 5.6 rpg 2.8 TO per game

Hopefan Nod : Davidson.... Second team Sutton

2 Guard:

CJ Davis Blackburn 14.5 ppg 39.1% FG 1.3 3 pt/g 37.0% 3 pt % 2.2 apg 2.3 TO pg 0.9 a/to

Guthrie Mac 13.5 ppg 41.2% FG 1.5 3 pt/g 35.1% 3 pt % 2.9 apg 2.7 TO pg 1.1 a/to

Goeing Spalding 17.3 ppg 41.8% FG 3.1 3 pt/g 40.7% 3 pt % 1.1 apg 0.7 TO pg 1.6 a/to

Hopefan Nod : Goeing..... 2nd Team Davis

Point Guard:

Kent Eureka 7.9 ppg 45.6% FG 0.4 3 pt/g 29.4% 3 pt % 4.1 apg 2.6 TO pg 1.5 a/to
(note, Kent also gets 7.4 rpg)

Ehresman Greenville 10.5 ppg 50.0% FG 0.8 3 pt/g 55.0% 3 pt % 3.2 apg 2.2 TO pg 1.5 a/to

Fowler IWC 10.3 ppg 39.6% FG 0.4 3 pt/g 31.3% 3 pt % 4.2 apg 3.5 TO pg 1.2 a/to
(note Fowler 91.1% at FT line)

Patterson Prin 14.4 ppg 34.2% FG 2.0 3 pt/g 30.6% 3 pt % 3.7 apg 4.0 TO pg 0.9 a/to

Gabriel Spalding 15.0 ppg 47.3% FG 0.8 3 pt/g 33.3% 3 pt % 2.8 apg 2.5 TO pg 1.1 a/to

Hopefan Nod : Ehresman.... 2nd team Gabriel

Denny McKinney · February 09, 2015, 02:34:49 PM

Hopefan I hope your missing the rest of the season, cause you and the Mrs are off for a long vacation.

hopefan · February 09, 2015, 11:12:35 PM

Given that I haven't generated much conversation with my prior two posts... I'll throw this one out.... Massey ratings, which are always fun to study, predict Fontbonne 68 Webster 65.....

Also.. Massey ratings out of 416 D3 schools

Spalding 215 Final last year : 156
MacMurray 223 Final last year : 178
Webster 249 Final last year : 135
Greenville 264 Final last year : 275
Fontbonne 267 Final last year : 347
Eureka 281 Final last year : 395
Iowa Wesleyan 322 Final last year : 410
Westminster 392 Final last year : 267
Principia 399 Final last year : 394
Blackburn 402 Final last year : 411

The SLIAC is rated 40 out of 47 D3 conferences; final last year 44 out of 47

improved big : Fontbonne, Eureka, Iowa Wesleyan
Stayed level : Greenville, Principia, Blackburn
Gone downhill : Spalding, MacMurray, Webster, Westminster

hopefan · February 10, 2015, 10:56:14 AM

What would be really nice to know....Coming into the biggest game of the year for both Fontbonne and Webster...

Is Ahmad Smith playing?

Has Ahmad Smith been going hard enough in practice that he can make a difference?

WU fan, can you give any insight?

Where is Bunchtime this year? He'd probably be able to help....

Denny McKinney · February 10, 2015, 11:00:31 AM

Hopefan, just wondering where You think FU's Darius Rucker fits in with those players you mentioned. Not the prettiest girl at the dance. But, where would FU be without him?

Denny McKinney · February 10, 2015, 11:06:32 AM

Smith will be playing tomorrow nite. Very good source.

hopefan · February 10, 2015, 11:58:17 AM

Quote from: Denny McKinney on February 10, 2015, 11:00:31 AM
Hopefan, just wondering where You think FU's Darius Rucker fits in with those players you mentioned. Not the prettiest girl at the dance. But, where would FU be without him?

Rucker.... 6th man of the year!!! Because he basically only plays the middle on offense, he just didn't fit too well vs the 3 bigs I mentioned....Don't know what happened to him last week at Greenville, he got eaten up (I saw it, couldn't believe it), but he sure bounced back vs Prin.....

With another year of Rucker/Greenlee/Kissing together, I'd like to see a rotation that has the three of them on the floor together some of the time... it rarely happens this year.... I just think they could present a devastating inside game... of course, rotating the three of them with 2 in at a time has been successful too, so I'm not complaining...

SliacChamp · February 10, 2015, 12:04:19 PM

When does Iowa Wesleyan become eligible for the tournament?

I could see them catching fire these last 5 games and catching the top 4. That would be a great story.

y_jack_lok · February 10, 2015, 02:41:56 PM

Quote from: SliacChamp on February 10, 2015, 12:04:19 PM
When does Iowa Wesleyan become eligible for the tournament?

I could see them catching fire these last 5 games and catching the top 4. That would be a great story.

This is Iowa Wesleyan's 2nd season in D3 and the SLIAC, I believe. I'm not the authority on this, but I think there is a four year provisional period. So if they became provisional at the start of the 2013 academic year then they would be eligible for conference tournament play in all sports starting with the 2017 academic year. Anyone who knows differently, please correct me if I'm wrong.

hopefan · February 10, 2015, 02:49:48 PM

Quote from: SliacChamp on February 10, 2015, 12:04:19 PM
When does Iowa Wesleyan become eligible for the tournament?

I could see them catching fire these last 5 games and catching the top 4. That would be a great story.

Just going by what happened with Spalding... they played a full SLIAC schedule for 3 years and were not eligible for the tourney, and in the 4th year, played in the conference tourney, won it, and went to the NCAA's...

This is the 2nd year IWC has played in the SLIAC...

I'm confused by Spalding's situation, because the NCAA manual talks about a 4 year provisional period, preceded by a one year exploratory year.... Doesn't seem to fit what Spalding went through...

Add to that the manual also talks about waivers...

Confusing....best bet call the SLIAC office...

BunchTime · February 10, 2015, 03:07:18 PM

Hopefan, I'm here. Been reading and following along...just not much posting thus far for me. As for as Ahmad Smith, it looks like he'll be good to go tomorrow night.

Been to a few Webster games and have followed closely via boxscores and on here. Like most of you, I agree that its been a disappointing year to date for Webster given the level of expectations and hype coming into the year. Obviously, some injuries played a part in that but there are no excuses. The good news is that the Gorloks still have something to play for...get in the conference tourney and anything can happen. Just need two good nights in a row. Gonna be tough given the level of inconsistent play this year. Nevertheless, it should be a fun ending to the season as usual. I'm gonna try to get over to Fontbonne tomorrow night.

And, finally, to Hopefan and others, thanks for the posts...always good reading your personal observations and opinions from those who get to see a lot of SLIAC games.

allamericanredhead · February 10, 2015, 03:13:59 PM

Hi everyone! Just wanted to check in. I am still out here and love reading the board. Hope, I know you get frustrated, but let it be known that I look forward to your posts. For someone who has not made any SLIAC games this year (for reasons beyond my control), you really fill a void. It is almost like I have seen a lot of games. I like all the new faces popping up around the league. Not glad to see Webster down some, but nice to see it is not a dynasty they have over on Big Bend. I have always liked how the SLIAC is up and down with most schools. Not as true on the girls side, but the men you can be penthouse one year and outhouse the next. Dennis, I hope you are doing well. I hope you have gotten off those darn cancer sticks. Told your daddy that for years and glad he finally listened, even meant putting up with that pipe of his.

. I know the basketball community misses him. You have my prayers for a full recovery. I am throwing my money on FC as a dark horse to win the tournament.