MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[WUPHF]

I'm already looking forward to Fontbonne at Webster tomorrow night... guys and ladies games... after seeing Fontbonne win 2 on Saturday and Webster win 2 last night, I'd give the Griffin ladies and the Gorlock men a slight edge.... SLIGHT.... but both of these games should be thrillers... don't know if either school will have students back in class yet, but wish we could see a big enthusiastic crowd for these games... KEEP THE RIVALRY ALIVE!!!

I am not a student obviously, but you sold me.  I have seen a few Webster-Fontbonne games and all of them have been well worth watching.

[WUPHF]

In regards to Greenville and the use of the system, it may be worth mentioning that according to the NCAA statistics, they lead the nation in offensive rebounds per game (21), scoring offense (107), steals per game (16.9), total steals (186), and turnovers forced (28).  I assumed that Grinnell led all of these categories last season, but Pine Manor lead in steals per game and total steals.

They just have to find a way to knock Grinnell out of the lead in the category that seems to matter most: three point field goals made.

[Gregory Sager]

It should be noted that the Arseneault System is not totally inflexible. Even Arseneault himself will tinker with it slightly from one season to the next, depending upon what sort of talent he has at Grinnell.

Or, depending on how many records he wants to break...

Touché.

[hopefan]

Well, give Blackburn credit... they've been involved in the TWO worst games I've seen all year.. and been forced to leave at... one was the season opener when they were crushed by Wash U.. the other was last night, when they were on the other side of the ledger, embarrassing Principia...

I knew the loss of point guard Larry Patterson would hurt Prin, but this is beyond anybody's wildest imagination....

And BC was very good for the first 15 minutes, but degenerated into horrible hoops by half time.. 2nd half started out with no resemblance of the smooth movement of the ball that was there in the first half, but I guess it's tough to hear the coach when you're up 40....  I had to leave 3 minutes into the 2nd half, could watch no more.... Chris Davis 4 for 4 from 3's in first half, Andre Manuel 5 for 5 from field in first half, virtually everyone got court time... 36-5 with 2 minutes left, ended 38-11 at half... 83-42 final.

Prin was a real challenger with Patterson  3-0 with wins over Loras and Illinois College... since then 0-7...

Highlights of the night... the ladies game, little talent, but a whole lot of heart,   and great conversation with BC Men's Coach Steve Kollar, who I will say is ENTHUSIASTIC...

Don't mean for this to be negative towards BC... their improvement in just a half of a season under Coach Kollar has been significant.....All of a sudden, their game on Saturday at Westminster is HUGE... and these two teams were probably the 9-10 teams or at least in the 8-9-10 teams of the conference coming into the season!!!

[y_jack_lok]

I notice from the Prin-BC box score that all but one of Prin's starters played less than 30 minutes. Justin Ball did not start and only played 17 minutes. I'm guessing that normally all Prin starters log 30+ minutes unless they have early foul trouble. This suggests that Prin's coach knew pretty soon that this game was going to be a loss and he thus tried to keep his main guys somewhat rested for whoever they play next.

[hopefan]

My first thoughts when Ball didn't start:

he looks ok, but maybe he's ill?
Giving him an early break so he had more gas in the tank for 2nd half
Matching up better vs Blackburn's quickness...

Ball was in within a couple minutes of the opening tip...

When the first half box is looked at, it shows just how bad things were... 4 for 28 from the field (2 of the hoops were in the last 2 minutes of the half), 12 turnovers... and yes, Prin used everyone, even in the first half.... so did Blackburn....

When the game was early, BC really attacked the ball (Ball) when it went to him.. I can't remember him getting a shot near the basket.. he haad to push it right back out... but if I get into individual performances for Prin, it will be too ugly... don't want to hurt anyone's feelings... call it FAR FAR below my expectations....

[John Gleich]

Highlights of the night... the ladies game, little talent, but a whole lot of heart,   and great conversation with BC Men's Coach Steve Kollar, who I will say is ENTHUSIASTIC...

That's Kollar to a T! I played basketball and football with him in High School and he's nothing if not passionate.

[hopefan]

Highlights of the night... the ladies game, little talent, but a whole lot of heart,   and great conversation with BC Men's Coach Steve Kollar, who I will say is ENTHUSIASTIC...

That's Kollar to a T! I played basketball and football with him in High School and he's nothing if not passionate.

It's a small world!!

[hopefan]

ok ,  not likely to happen, but..... IF

Mac beats Greenville tonight
and
Eureka beats Westminster tonight
and
Fontbonne beats Webster tonight
and
Spalding beats Iowa Wesleyan tomorrow night

The Sliac standings will have an 8 way tie for first place at 3-2
Greenville will be in 9th at 1-4
and Prin will be in 10th at 0-5

MY SLIAC DREAM COME TRUE!!!

[ecreddevils]

Another monster home win for EC.  Controlled the game throughout, EC alternated 2-3 zone with aggressive man and largely stymied WC.  WC got some huge steals and 3 point shooting at the end of regulation.  Credit EC for coming out with renewed aggression in OT and getting it done.  Feehan and Goulding with another outstanding offensive performance, nearly a carbon copy of the Mac game.  Taking care of business at home, now can EC go steal a road win at IWC or FU?

[hopefan]

ok ,  not likely to happen, but..... IF

Mac beats Greenville tonight
and
Eureka beats Westminster tonight
and
Fontbonne beats Webster tonight
and
Spalding beats Iowa Wesleyan tomorrow night

The Sliac standings will have an 8 way tie for first place at 3-2
Greenville will be in 9th at 1-4
and Prin will be in 10th at 0-5

MY SLIAC DREAM COME TRUE!!!

Eureka Beats Westmin
Fontbonne beats Webster
Mac beats Greenville

SIX teams now 3-2.....  if Spalding beats Iowa Wesleyan tomorrow night, they will both be 3-2, and I have my 8 way tie for first!!!!

[hopefan]

A short take on last night's SLIAC activity (I have to go back to bed for a couple more hours sleep if I intend on driving up to Iowa Wez tonight to see IWC-Spalding...)

The Fontbonne -Webster game... parts 1,2,3..
Part 1... Webster comes out and dominates the 1st 15 minutes...up 33-16 with 7 minutes left.. going to the basket, hitting jump shots, everyone scoring
Part 2... last 6 minutes of first half, HUGE Fontbonne comeback, led by Kissing, Ettinger, Dorhauer, mostly from the perimeter, Fontbonne takes the halftime lead, 40-39, outscoring Webster 24-6 in those 6+ minutes.... This fan preps for a thrill a minute 2nd half... INSTEAD
Part 3 ... Abysmal basketball from both teams just awful.. a look at 2nd half stats shows:
        Fontbonne 30% from field, 11% from 3's  (1 of 9), 12 turnovers... BUT they kill Webster on boards 28-15
         Webster 25% from field, 14 % from 3's  (1 of 7), 9 turnovers

I won't point out individuals who failed to perform to their capabilities...
I point to 3 guys who won it for Fontbonne at crunch time...
Bryce Zimmerman had key hoops around the Basket
Greg Gentry again controlled the ball at crunch time, makes 4 key three throws
Rich Dorhauer, the play of the game, hits a huge 3 at 1:45 to push Fontbonne to a 6 point lead... Fontbonne gave Webster some chances after that, but Webster couldn't capitalize...

And Ben Kissing just a terrific total game, 17 points, 5 rebounds,0 turnovers in 30 minutes...

Elsewhere... Mac over Greenville 118-113... Mac wins despite 31 turnovers vs the system... that's enough that Greenville should win, but as usual, Greenville shoots poorly from 3's...Tim Daniel goes fantastic 8 for 13, the rest of the team goes 6 for 32 (17%)...  Mac follows the rules of beating the system, attempting only 3 3's (making none), but beating Greenville's pressure shooting over 60% from 2's.... Greenville tied game up with 2 minutes left, but missed some critical shots down the stretch...

Eureka bounces back from road loss to Webster to win at Westminster in OT.. Small but scrappy Eureka crushes Westmin on the boards 57-37 to win it... Guards Feehan and Goulding combine for 43 points....Interesting from Westmin.. 2 virtually new faces off the bench, Nick Carlos and Colin Caywood, go for 19 and 16 points for Westmin.. perhaps a sign of some new direction from Coach Mitchell.  Eureka gave up a big lead in regulation, Westmin missed winning shots at end of regulation...Feehan, Goulding, Wiegand took over in OT for the win...

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ Correction for hopefan. The Westmin-Eureka game was at Eureka.

[hopefan]

^^^ Correction for hopefan. The Westmin-Eureka game was at Eureka.

oops, thanks

[BunchTime]

Good recap from hopefan on the Webster-Fontbonne game.  One of the sloppiest, ugliest games I've seen in a while.  Just bad basketball.  Disappointing on many fronts as a Webster fan.  Lost a 17 point lead at home.  Terrible.  Way too much 1 on 1 play on the offensive end.  Thought Webster was lazy on the defensive end.  Fontbonne did a great job of getting good looks on Webster's zone.  Good ball movement and they hit key shots.  Credit to them.  Ward was disappointing.  A guy with his talent should not disappear for long stretches of the game.  And he doesn't necessarily have to score to have to make a difference as other teams key on him.  Wonder why Odjo and Moore only played 13 and 15 min, respectively?  Hmmm.  Bright spots for Webster were Joseph Henry who played a very solid game, Turner with nice minutes off the bench for the Gorloks and Evans was solid too.  Looks like the league is wide open with a ton of parity...Hopefan's dream!  Should be a wild ride.