MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[WUPHF]

Blackburn... We all knew that Chris A Davis was booted and wouldn't be back....  The only other underclassman's name of any consequence that does not appear is Andre Strayhorn, who was listed as a frosh last year, started about half the games as a guard, ave 5.5 pts per game.... there was pretty much a 4 guard rotation anyway

I am sure this is old news but it looks like Blackburn has a new coach with SLIAC, CCIW and Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Association roots.  I am sure that was all discussed at length.

I am going to miss Coach Baribeau for some reason.

[y_jack_lok]

Great story on the SLIAC site about a Greenville alum who is now General Manager of the Milwaukee Bucks: http://sliac.org/Releases/2015-16/hammond

[WUPHF]

Great story on the SLIAC site about a Greenville alum who is now General anager of the Milwaukee Bucks: http://sliac.org/Releases/2015-16/hammond

That is a great story.

[hopefan]

I had heard that Spalding had a very good recruiting class, so spent some time looking up the new names...

Freshmen:
Jalen Bradley.. Louisville Butler HS.... same HS that sent Devon McAfee to Spalding... 6'3" guard... made list of top 200
Kentucky prospects, albeit at number 171.... found article on one game where his team won close, he was 7 for 8, 15 points... a lot of video out there, is a player, high competition level.

Dominique Ellis... N Bullit HS  6'1" guard...made list of top 200 Kentucky prospects, albeit at number 184... found article on N Bullitt win where he had 22... interesting, in same game, a teammate, Ricky Dunnavon had 8 3's... Dunnavon is going to Greenville

Matt Jeannellis... Cape Coral, Fla...6'3" guard....13 ppg, 62% from the field....

Luke McCarty.... Princeton, Ky... 6'2" guard... 9 ppg two years ago... interesting, found something that says he was going to go to Blackburn last year, don't know if he went or not, was not on BC roster last year.

Cameron Lame... Bloomington... couldn't find.. did find Cameron Lane...limited minutes

Trey Landry.... 6'7".... watch out... couldn't find Trey Landry, did find Tyler Landry, correct high school.. Senior year 2 years ago,14 ppg, 11rpg, looks strong.. signed with Bellarmine... played in 20 games for Bellarmine last year, minimal stats.... at our level, like I said, WATCH OUT!!

Josh McNair...6'0"...appears to be big scorer (high teens) at small Christian HS

Austin Moore..6'6"... Paoli, Ind... found AAU stats 14 ppg.... also played football... found a couple of games box  scores 9, 11 points...

Mike O'bannon.... Louisville Moore...6'6" power forward.... was number 83 on Kentucky prospects list... couldn't find stats

Will Rainey... Louisville Atherton...6'3"... found big points in 2 box scores.. 32 in one game, 19 in another

Jyre Richardson... Richmond Ky....6'5".... I couldn't find anything

Rylan Rowe... Frankfort, Ky...6'0"... MVP of 'county' , 17 ppg  in 2014.... not sure where he was last year... listed as frosh this year

Charles Thomas... Louisville Walden...6'7".... Big numbers.. scoring over 20 ppg at small private school

Keith Wallace...Memphis Overton.... stats were minimal

and last but not least....Nick Trisko, Greenville College transfer... challenge for Coach Gray, but IF he can get this guy to respond, there is a big upside... he's tough to stop around the basket... but gave GC coaches fits....


I'm VERY impressed....

[ecreddevils]

Good research, Hope.  Hopefully most of these guys don't pan out and are inflated a few inches over their actual heights.

[hopefan]

I found Iowa Wesleyan's roster.. They had NO seniors last year and 12 players who played in most games averaged double digit minutes per game... In early conversation, they clearly had been talked about as a top 4 contender..

However... 3 of those expected returning players are not to be found on the 2015-16 roster:

Will Stevenson... leading rebounder, 2nd leading scorer
Wesley Williams.... played 20 minutes/game, 6.5 ppg
Dion Lightner.... played 23 minutes/game, 7.6 ppg

Lightner and Williams were guards, and with lightning quick Chris Fowler returning at point, hopefully the guard losses can be replaced... Stevenson was good, he'll be missed....

6 new frosh on roster, 6'3" tallest....

[hopefan]

A retiree's busy first two weeks of the SLIAC men's hoops season... may as well see each team play in that time frame.. note, St Louis area is home base

Fri.. Nov 13....  surprisingly, stay at home... too far to go to see Eureka at Rockford or Iowa Wez at Carthage Tourney

Sat.. Nov 14... stay close to see BLACKBURN at Wash U

Sun..Nov 15.... No SLIAC games... who do the Rams play?

Mon..Nov 16... Northward to see EUREKA play at Monmouth... the good is I've never been to Monmouth.. the bad is not seeing Eureka's new court until later in season..

Tues..Nov 17... Back to back late nites travelling to Bloomington to see GREENVILLE at Illinois Wesleyan, though could opt for the shorter trip to see Illinois College at PRINCIPIA... but what would TQ or IWU70 say

Wed... Nov 18... Some times you just have to do the right thing... Take Best Lady out for 43rd Anniversary...

Thurs... Nov 19... Assuming full recovery from to much to eat and drink on Nov 18, Across the river to see Loras at PRINCIPIA

Fri... Nov 20... Two options... Could go up to Jacksonville to see MACMURRAY play Dubuque at Illinois College tourney, or over to Greenville to see the SLIAC-CCIW doubleheader WESTMINSTER vs Millikin  and GREENVILLE vs Elmhurst

Sat..Nov 21... Many options...  SLIAC-CCIW continues with WESTMINSTER vs Elmhurst and GREENVILLE vs Millikin, or I could stay close and see Loras at WEBSTER

Sun... Nov 22...  Back up to Illinois Wesleyan to see FONTBONNE play either Wilmington or Illinois Wesleyan

Mon.. Nov 23.. Nope, don't have to travel to Iowa to see Iowa Wesleyan... They are in St Louis!!.. IOWA WESLEYAN at Maryville in an exhibition game

Tues.. Nov 24....staying close to home... FONTBONNE  hosts Augustana

Wed... Nov 25... Thanksgiving Eve... What, no games???

Thurs... Nov 26... Thanksgiving

Fri... Nov 27... Over to Louisville to see SPALDING host Wash U

Sat... Nov 28... Quick recovery from a long Friday to see doubleheader at Webster... MACMURRAY vs Luther, WEBSTER vs Rust

That's it, will see all 10 SLIAC teams in that time frame... any coaches want a scouting report?

LO and behold, the SLIAC League schedule starts the next Wednesday!!

[WUPHF]

Sat.. Nov 14... stay close to see BLACKBURN at Wash U

Fri... Nov 27... Over to Louisville to see SPALDING host Wash U

Tues.. Nov 24....staying close to home... FONTBONNE  hosts Augustana

I'll be at the first.

I do think you should consider a back-up plan for Spalding-Washington University game depending on how the Bears do in the Lopata Classic, though SLIAC wins over Washington University come so infrequently, regardless of how close they do come, so that there is that.

No cheering for Augustana this time.

[hopefan]

Fri... Nov 27... Over to Louisville to see SPALDING host Wash U

I do think you should consider a back-up plan for Spalding-Washington University game depending on how the Bears do in the Lopata Classic, though SLIAC wins over Washington University come so infrequently, regardless of how close they do come, so that there is that.

Given the way the schedules work out, that is the best opportunity to see Spalding in the first two weeks...  they do play at Hanover the same night Augie plays at Fontbonne, but Hanover is a little farther away than Spalding, and I'd like to see Augie....

[hopefan]

Fontbonne roster is now up.. unfortunately prior info was correct... key contributors Blake Welch and Darius Rucker both taking part in the 3-2 program and are not on the roster.  Also missing are Rio-justice Chandler who just didn't seem to find his groove last season after showing some promise as a Frosh, and Jack Lake, who at 6'8", certainly had the potential to be getting significant minutes this year. 

On the other hand, i'm very pleased to see the return of Kody Ettinger, who saw significant time as a frosh 2 years ago, but sat out last year...averaged 9 points as a frosh and was an exciting player to watch...10 new names on roster too....a couple are guards who had outstanding stats at small outstate schools (Thomas Ritter and Alex Coggins), and a big man who was good in high school 3 years ago, but I couldn't find any info on the last couple of years (Jeff Smith).   Critical that one or two of the new big men rise to contribute immediately...Kissing and Greenlee can't do it by themselves....

[hopefan]

3 opportunities to see SLIAC teams in action prior to the 11/13 opening date..

11/6   Prin at Maryville (Mo.)     (scrimmage)

11/9   Fontbonne at SIUE   (exhibition)

11/11 Millikin at MacMurray   (exhibition)

These games all appeared on SLIAC school schedules... anybody aware of any other preseason scrimmages or exhibitions?

[hopefan]

The SLIAC Women's Coaches now have their preseason votes up on SLIAC.org... Westminster and Spalding lead the way..

Hoping that means we'll see the Men's preseason vote soon... new faces are critical to just about every team.. I have no clue how coaches will foresee things... But that sure makes things fun....

[hopefan]

Well, i was writing my thoughts on EXPECTED Coachs' thinking, when lo and behold, the ballots came up on SLIAC.org... see the voting after my prelim comments...

ok, how will the coaches vote? Here's my thoughts on reasons to vote a team as preseason favorite, or not.. these should be top 5, though no particular order....

MacMurray
   Why preseason favorite?   Best big man in the conference with Deavis Johnson
   Why not preseason favorite?   No proven perimeter shooting, little game experience at 3 positions

Webster
    Why preseason favorite?  3 solid guards return, plus extremely quick JC transfer... Hunter Ward could be unstoppable
    Why not preseason favorite?  Big men are gone must be replaced with new faces, perimeter shooting inconsistent

Fontbonne
    Why preseason favorite?  Greenlee and Kissing solid at foward, experience returns at guard
    Why not preseason favorite?  Undersized overall, need new big man to contribute.. guards have history of high turnovers, need to get better... This team needs to learn to beat top 4 on any given night, they haven't yet but they have potential

Spalding
     Why preseason favorite?  Small core of returning players are proven, they know what it takes, can score with quickness..outstanding coaching
     Why not preseason favorite?  Will have huge dependence on new faces, particularly around the basket

Greenville
     Why preseason favorite?  Very good perimeter game
      Why not preseason favorite?  Loss of three big men, little rebounding returning


Here are the voting results:


School   Total Points   1st Place Votes
Webster   71                            4

Spalding   70                             4

Fontbonne   64                      1

MacMurray   63                       

Greenville         43                         1

Westminster   38

Iowa Wesleyan    36

Eureka   24   
Principia   20   
Blackburn   14   

[WUPHF]

+1 Hopefan.  Keep up the good work.

[hopefan]

+1 Hopefan.  Keep up the good work.

Much appreciated WUH... many readers, few writers... per usual..

I'm counting on doing detailed writeup on each of the games I see that first 2 weeks.. the kids deserve to see their name in print, and I think they like me calling it as I see it....