MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[WUPHF]

Both teams were way to unselfish today, especially in the first half...I could not agree more.

I was thinking about the game again...the Webster offense was something to behold.  It was not as if the were Gorlocks were dismantling the Blue Jay defense and getting easy points in the paint.  Webster had to work to get their shots, but just seemed to make everything regardless...

The final shooting stats: 58% from the field on 32-55 shooting and 53% from three point range (8-15).  77% shooting from the line.

Also, who the heck is Tony Jones?  16 points on 8-12 shooting and 12 rebounds.  5 of those aforementioned blocks.  I do not remember him from the game with Washington University.  I guess he played juco and then a season at the College of St. Leo.  Is that right?

[Greek Tragedy]

Up 30 points with 5 to go should be enough to take the gas off the pedal...HOWEVER (in my Stephen A. Smith voice), it's The System. I would argue it's possible to score 20 in a 5 minute span playing against The System. I suppose they could play 4-corners and slow it down, but I don't think I've ever seen Grinnell slow it down because they have a big lead.

The Spalding website has Trisko playing 11 minutes, IWUs has him playing 38.

[y_jack_lok]

WUH, you are right. Jones did not play against Wash U. Joined the team 2nd semester.

[WUPHF]

Thanks!  If Webster can get a few more games like that out of Tony Jones, look out SLIAC.

[hopefan]

Huge win for Prin over Iowa Wesleyan... 2 fts by Micah Paulson with 9 seconds left clinches the win.  Prin not out of it yet, but is going to have to win a lot in the next two weeks... wins over Eureka and Iowa Wes shows they can do it... but big task faces them with 2 games vs Greenville, as well as plying at Blackburn and ending the season with Westmin.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ Fascinating box score in that game -- 200 points scored, all but five by starters. Three Prin starters play 40 minutes, only Ross logging 18 minutes off the bench with no points or rebounds, one assist and 2 blocks.

[hopefan]

Well, hopefan has returned from Florida, where I experienced a brief fling with D2 hoops... which left a very favorable impression (Eckard College)... but am so happy to be back to the SLIAC.  Drove 580 miles two days ago, 550 yesterday, still ALMOST went over to Fontbonne last night, but was just too whipped, so watched a little of Webster-Eureka and immediately fell asleep before the 10 minute mark of the first half...  Not due to the hoops action!!      EC can't solve the Webster zone, Webster gets a major road win to put them in outstanding shape in the conference race, whereas Eureka now has some serious recovery operations to perform.

hopefan standings

Webster      2   won at Principia, lost at home to Eureka, won at Blackburn, lost to Mac, won at Greenville, won at Eureka
Greenville      1   won at Blackburn, lost at home to Webster, won at Westminster
Eureka      -1   lost to MacMurray, won at Webster, lost at home to Webster
Iowa Wesleyan      -1   won at Blackburn, lost at home vs Prin, lost at home to Blackburn
Westminster      -1   lost at home to Greenville
Blackburn      -1   lost at home to Iowa Wesleyan, won at Prin, lost at home to Webster, lost at home to Greenville, won at Iowa Wesleyan
Principia      -2   lost at home vs Webster, won at Iowa Wesleyan, lost at home to Blackburn, lost to Spalding

Now then, with their schedules, here is the max attainable, assuming each team holds serve by winning out at home and not losing to the bottom 3:

Webster has maxed out at +2... they have no more away games at contending schools
Greenville could move to +3 if they win at Principia and at Eureka
Eureka could get back to 0 if they win at Westminster
Iowa Wesleyan could move to +2 with wins at Webster, Eureka and Greenville
Westminster could move all the way to +3 if they won out on their killer final 2 weeks.. at Blackburn, at Iowa Wes, at Eureka, and at Prin
Blackburn could move to +1 with wins at Webster and Greenville
Principia could move to 0 with wins at Blackburn and Greenville

And obviously, a +1 for one team means a -1 for another.

Sitting the prettiest is clearly Webster... they still have all 3 bottom teams remaining to play, plus only 2 games with contenders, and both are at home...

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ You said "EC can't solve the Webster zone". Maybe not last night, although I wasn't watching so I don't know if WU was playing zone or not. In the game at Webster a few weeks ago Feehan scorched the zone for 28 points in about the first 13 minutes so Webster switched to man and held him to less than 10 points the rest of the game. Whatever defense Webster was playing last night Feehan and Davis combined for 60 of EC's 77 points.

[hopefan]

^^^ You said "EC can't solve the Webster zone". Maybe not last night, although I wasn't watching so I don't know if WU was playing zone or not. In the game at Webster a few weeks ago Feehan scorched the zone for 28 points in about the first 13 minutes so Webster switched to man and held him to less than 10 points the rest of the game. Whatever defense Webster was playing last night Feehan and Davis combined for 60 of EC's 77 points.

one thing I noticed was that Feehan had 7 free throw attempts, the rest of Eureka had 2... which implied to me that there was limited penetration to the basket... Feehan 17 shot attempts and EVERY ONE of them is a 3 pointer... Davis makes 13 fgs, but misses 15 others...Hank Thomas goes ohhhh for 7...and Webster called for only 10 fouls (that reeks of zone)... if it wasn't zone, then I'll amend my statement to "Eureka can't solve Webster's solid defense"!!!!

[WUPHF]

[...] so I don't know if WU was playing zone or not. [...]

I actually laughed out loud when I read this...

In the game at Webster a few weeks ago Feehan scorched the zone for 28 points in about the first 13 minutes so Webster switched to man [...]

But I trust everything you say, and trust that they can play man to man too...

[WUPHF]

Sitting the prettiest is clearly Webster... they still have all 3 bottom teams remaining to play, plus only 2 games with contenders, and both are at home...

I guess a lot of casual fans will cheer for Webster to win it all.  When was the last time the ST. LOUIS Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament was hosted in St. Louis?

[y_jack_lok]

WUH, trust what I say at your on peril. 

[hopefan]

Sitting the prettiest is clearly Webster... they still have all 3 bottom teams remaining to play, plus only 2 games with contenders, and both are at home...

I guess a lot of casual fans will cheer for Webster to win it all.  When was the last time the ST. LOUIS Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament was hosted in St. Louis?

I've argued in the past on these pages that the tourney should be in St. Louis at a neutral site every year. That idea drew great ire.   

[WUPHF]

I've argued in the past on these pages that the tourney should be in St. Louis at a neutral site every year. That idea drew great ire.

I understand an argument for the status quo, but I think a neutral site tourney in St. Louis would be a great thing.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ I disagree. With only four teams in the tournament the current arrangement is fine. Gives additional incentive to come out on top in the regular season. Expand the tournament to eight teams, then a neutral site (doesn't have to be Saint Louis) is probably a good idea. You guys just want the convenience of having the tournament convenient to where you live.