MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[WUPHF]

Westmin at MacMurray... I keep thinking that the firey Coach Creal is going to be able to pull more out of his players, but if it isn't there, not much can be done... If Westmin is ok (See my concerns earlier), this one should be a given)

No way Westminster loses this one.

As far as the concerns, three games over two road trips...just not enough data in my mind.

[Gregory Sager]

First time I've watched a full game thru streaming last night BC vs Prin... but comparing what I did see vs the little I've seen in the past, the student (I assume) who announced the game did a FANTASTIC job.. I know all the players from both teams, but at times hard to see who did something, the announcer was right on top of it... and those his analysis was a bit overboard, he generally had things right... my thought, just say nothing rather than overdo it..ie, we were told Maestranzi was a 93% ft shooter umpteen times... but he did give the score, the time, consistently... GREAT JOB!

Giving the time and score consistently is the primary task of a PBP guy. It's especially crucial if the broadcast is audio only, or if it does not provide score and/or time graphics as part of the video feed. If he's constantly giving you the time and score, and he's correctly identifying scorers, foulers, and subs and is updating team fouls (because you can't take for granted that viewers/listeners can hear the P.A. via the broadcast mic), anything else he does right is gravy.

[hopefan]

Ouch... Webster literally gives away the game at Iowa Wesleyan
I turned it off at about 3 minutes and Webster up 12.... MISTAKE... especially this year where it seems no lead is safe..
After Iowa Wes gets a hoop to cut it to 10, Webster turns it over 4 times in a row!!!!.. Wesleyan scores each time to cut it to 1 in a minutes time...
Still Webster goes up 4 with 18 seconds, misses a ft that would have made it 5, Iowa wes hits a shot to cut it to 2, Webster misses a free throw, Elijah Johnson hits a 3 to win it for Iowa Wesleyan.....Brock Butler comes up big for Iowa Wesleyan, 26 points, 6 for 10 from 3's

Elsewhere.. Eureka pulls away from Fontbonne 98-78... Fontbonne kept it close much longer than expected, down 10 with 10 minutes left.... Oddity, the first time I checked score on this game, Fontbonne was leading 14-13, and Kendall Davis had all 13 points for Eureka!! Davis finishes with 32, Shea Feehan with 25, 16 for 17 from the line!!  Eureka 23 for 26 from line as a team.

Westminster breaks it open vs Mac in the 2nd half, wins 77-52....Sean O'Brien 1 for 7 from field, 4 rebounds in 26 minutes?  Why?   Good to see Jimmy Villabalos back in his game, 15 points, 9 rebounds from guard slot. Carter Wands 6 assists, no turnovers...Brent Long double doubles for Mac, 19 points 11 boards....

Iowa Wesleyan missing starter Marquis Jones, off the roster, a major loss 11.5 ppg.... also Mitch Drey plays 5 minutes vs Webster? injury?   No sign of Jamad Wilburn for Webster, though still on roster?   

[ecreddevils]

Elsewhere.. Eureka pulls away from Fontbonne 98-78... Fontbonne kept it close much longer than expected, down 10 with 10 minutes left.... Oddity, the first time I checked score on this game, Fontbonne was leading 14-13, and Kendall Davis had all 13 points for Eureka!! Davis finishes with 32, Shea Feehan with 25, 16 for 17 from the line!!  Eureka 23 for 26 from line as a team.

Workmanlike 20 point win for EC.  Feehan and Davis continue to be a potent offensive 1-2 punch.  Kendall Davis has his mid-range jumper working all night, carried the team in the first half.  Shea comes alive in the second half--one of things about his game is his uncanny ability to draw contact, truly a remarkable skill.  This is a very deep EC squad, quality contributions from McElmurry and Wood and continued hustle play from Gibson and Wiegand. 

On the FU side, not impressed with their guard play, overmatched clearly.  The two bigs are not bad, though, and both were able to work the post at times for scoring. 

Anyway, EC does what they were supposed to do and hold serve at home.  Should beat Mac, then brutal road stretch that will tell us a lot @ Web, GC, Westmin, IWU. 

[hopefan]

ECRed.. glad things are going well... always glad to see you post... I'm 'out of commission' for January... anxious to see Eureka in February... of course I'm hoping for a 7 way tie for first entering February when I can see Games... Prin has some serious work to do to get back into contention with 2 home losses already.

[cheapseats]

Saw the video of Elijah Johnson of Iowa Wesleyan hitting the game winner over Webster. I heard Webster was in charge for the majority of that game, what a heartbreaker for them. Speaking of Iowa Wesleyan, the game saturday versus Greenville might set some records. I put the over/under at 245, any takers??

Eureka and Westminster continue to impress. Shea for Eureka seems just unstoppable this year.

Is it really possible that a program like Macmurray or Spalding could go 0-for this year? That just seems insane considering the recent success.

[hopefan]

Greenville outruns Spalding 130-115... Spalding had beaten Greenville once last year, so I thought just maybe they would have the answer, but it was not to be... Spalding turns it over 35 times!!!

I notice Greenville's Ethan Lieb had a nice 12 minutes...8 points, 7 rebounds... good looking shooter who has had a rough go.. maybe this will be the confidence builder he needs.. his shooting could be a big plus... Kenny Greene leads the Panthers with 22 points, 5 of 9 from 3 point range..

Nick Trisko has monster stats vs his old team...37 points, 23 rebounds... BUT.. it is against the system (was that 16 layups?).. please player of the week voter, don't get too excited with these numbers.....

[hopefan]

Today's action

Principia at Fontbonne...  As much as I like Prin, they have failed to live up to my expectations... this is a MUST win if they are to remain in the race for the conference tourney... they should get it... perhaps a little more fire from the sidelines would help?

Eureka at Mac... poor Mac, poor Creal... it just isn't gonna happen...

Spalding at Webster... as long as the horrendous finish vs Iowa Wesleyan doesn't generate a hangover, Webster should win this one easily... Spalding just doesn't have the perimeter shooting to beat the Webster zone...

now the BIG ones
Greenville at Iowa Wesleyan.... with the loss of one starter, and my question as to why Mitch Drey played only 5 minutes the other night, The Iowa Wesleyan bench is decimated... I don't think 5 or 6 regulars and a bunch  of guys that don't have much experience can keep up with Greenville... I think Greenville wins this one with a big 2nd half...

Blackburn at Westminster... lots of good perimeter players, quickness going up against each other... but only one BIG man...Sean O'Brien.  He'll make the difference... win or lose... give me 18 and 10, Westmin wins, but if it's 6 and 6, I thing Blackburn can take this game...

[y_jack_lok]

Great comeback for Webster to beat Spalding. CJ Moore does it all -- especially the block of a Spalding 3 point shot with 7 seconds left then getting fouled with 2+ seconds left and making both FTs to give Webster a 4 point lead to seal the win.

[hopefan]

I really enjoy previewing the games, and fortunately, I'm able to laugh at myself, because I couldn't have been off much more with my thoughts after the results rolled in.. so hopefan... hahaha... you dork!!!!

Of course the big shocker was Mac beating Eureka 77-76... Eureka gets only 21 points fromall the other guys beyond Feehan and Davis... Assuming tough defense drives Feehan to a horrible shooting night 5 for 23, 1 for 12 from 3's, including missing the potential game winner... Davis unreal scorer with 35 points, too bad I'll not be able to see him until February..Mac wins it on the boards, 47-36, definitely a concern every night for Eureka...Mac 5 in double figures....

Prin beats Fontbonne in a game that was close most of the way.. Prin 5 in double figures

Webster has far more trouble with Spalding than they should have... not a good sign.. CJ  Moore leads the Gorlocks with 27 and Hunter Ward adds 19... Spalding shoots very well, wins on the boards but loses the game... turnovers likely contributed...

Westmin clobbers BC despite my theory that Sean O'brien needed a big game... BC lays an egg in this one, it was the game that could have labelled them as real.  O'Brien 6 and 5, hard to understand, but Westmin guards snuff out BC's Maestranzi which must have taken BC totally out of its offense.

Finally Iowa Wesleyan Dumps Greenville, darn near putting the whole starting 5 at 20 points or more!!!  Steve Soukup leads the way with 44 points... almost all scoring comes from the starters, bennch gets minimal minutes, perhaps just too smart to succumb to the Greenville pressure...64% from the field means a lot of layups!!!  As for Greenville don't ask me..41 missed 3 pointers doesn't help the cause....

[y_jack_lok]

Webster has far more trouble with Spalding than they should have... not a good sign.. CJ  Moore leads the Gorlocks with 27 and Hunter Ward adds 19... Spalding shoots very well, wins on the boards but loses the game... turnovers likely contribute...

Worth noting that Spalding was having an easy time getting the ball inside and scoring against the zone and built a 12 point lead before Webster switched to man with 8-9 minutes left in the first half. Also worth noting that Ward had 11 of his points in the final 5 minutes. I thought the scoreboard showed Moore with 25 points and Ward with 21, but the box score says 27 for Moore and 19 for Ward.

[hopefan]

Huge game Monday. Eureka at Webster. The loser will already have 3 losses. More critical for home team Webster to get the win.

[hopefan]

Hopefan standings.  Based On theory that top 7 teams beat Spalding, Mac,and Font, and win home games against other 6


Current

Webster +1   Won at Prin
Iowa Wes  0. Won at BC, Lost at home to Prin
BC. 0. Lost at home to Iowa Wes,  won at Prin
Westmin, Greenville both 0
Prin -1   Lost at home to Webster, BC, won at Iowa Wes
Eureka  -1  lost to Mac

The loss by Eureka to Mac is a little worse than others... they have no chance of recovering it, whereas teams that lose at home to a top 7 can get it back by beating the same team on the road.  The only way for Eureka to get back to level is by beating a top 7 team twice....  Not a major difference, but something to think about.  Of course if any other top 7 loses to a bottom 3, they are in the same situation.

[hopefan]

From afar.. looked to me like Hank (at the bank) Thomas and Brady Sanders teamed up to whip Webster in the last 5 minutes..

Amazing, with this result, everyone even in hopefan standings at 0 except for Prin at a -1... Prin doesn't have a chance to get that 1 back until they travel to Westmin on Jan 17.

Eureka, on the screen of my computer looked so small, but no difference... I missed Feehan's big first half, looked like Feehan and Davis were inconsequential in 2nd half... Thomas, Sanders, Wiegand come up big...... Webster play epitomized by critical possession with about a minute left, work it around for 28 seconds only to get it to Ojoe who has to hurry up a 3 point airball... Dortch not in, Ward, Milligan even Moore evidently didn't want to find a shot...I just shake my head....Frosh Tankins, thumbs up... Congrats to Eureka... that's a huge win.....

[y_jack_lok]

From afar.. looked to me like Hank (at the bank) Thomas and Brady Sanders teamed up to whip Webster in the last 5 minutes..

Amazing, with this result, everyone even in hopefan standings at 0 except for Prin at a -1... Prin doesn't have a chance to get that 1 back until they travel to Westmin on Jan 17.

Eureka, on the screen of my computer looked so small, but no difference... I missed Feehan's big first half, looked like Feehan and Davis were inconsequential in 2nd half... Thomas, Sanders, Wiegand come up big...... Webster play epitomized by critical possession with about a minute left, work it around for 28 seconds only to get it to Ojoe who has to hurry up a 3 point airball... Dortch not in, Ward, Milligan even Moore evidently didn't want to find a shot...I just shake my head....Frosh Tankins, thumbs up... Congrats to Eureka... that's a huge win.....

Was Ward in then? He left the game shortly after he drove the baseline and scored on that gentle dunk. I wasn't paying close attention so I don't know if he came back in. I saw the trainer looking at his shin on the sidelines.

Just checked the pbp. Ward subbed out at 1:11 and did not re-enter.