MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

What's the spread on the MacMurray vs Augustana game today? I'd like to see Long get a bunch of garbage time points in an anticipated lopsided game today.

[y_jack_lok]

If Coach Bunch can keep this freshmen band together over the next 2-3 years, his Gorloks could be a SLIAC champion and perhaps get past the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Perhaps a bit of hyperbole after watching just two of their games in the Lopata Classic.  But I like the very early returns of this team's performances.

I don't think it's hyperbole. An 0-5 start for Webster would not have been a surprise for a young team, so 2-3 is just fine. Just can't be discouraged when being outplayed in some games. Have to regroup during the game and fight back. Did that against Wabash but seemed unable to against Coe and to a lesser extent against Millikin. Sometimes the shots don't fall. Good to see the bounce back against Centre after the back to back losses.
.

[hopefan]

In SLIAC action yesterday..

Shea Feehan goes for 49 as Eureka beats Knox, 103-89....  I can not pass up SLIAC opening night Greenville at Eureka!!!!

Mac beat badly by Augie, 89=57... Mike Cameron plays big time against No.2 Augustana, 26 points, 6 rebs, 4 assists, but no one else matches up... I can only hope this is another learning experience for Mac, and they come out ready vs Blackburn on Wednesday night

Spalding dumped again, by Adrian, 71-52... Adrian voted 8th out of 8 in the MIAA.... Mystery in Louisville...

Westminster falls to Monmouth 78-66   Westmin crushed on the boards, 50-26

Fontbonne has a non conf game vs Robert Morris Springfield tonight, should get their first win... then Conference games begin Tuesday and Wednesday!!

[hopefan]

I'll throw out a number of interesting tidbits regarding the upcoming conference openers over the next three days..

As I said, I find it impossible, based on results of this season so far, to not go up to Eureka to see EC vs Greenville... One immediately thinks that She Feehan may go for about 60 points vs the system.. but hold on, look at last years results!!!  Two meetings, Greenville wins 145-142 in OT, and 149-146 in regulation (yikes, there's a HISTORICAL reason to see this matchup)... but ..

Was it Shea Feehan throwing up crazy scoring numbers vs the system?  No...   It was in fact the other guard, Hank Thomas who went absolutely nuts vs the openings available once the system press was broken... Hank didn't take advantage the normal way, getting layups... instead he bombed away for his own 3 pointers...

game 1 -  Thomas 14/17 from the field, 8/11 from 3 point, 8 of 9 from the line  44 points   (Feehan finished with 23 points and 9 turnovers, the departed Kendall Davis with 36 points)

game 2 -  Thomas 13/16 from the field, 9/11 from 3 point, 7 of 7 from the line  42 points   (Feehan finished with 20 points and 7 turnovers, the departed Kendall Davis with 32 points)

VERY interesting stats indeed, even moreso on Feehan, who for one reason or another seems very vulnerable to the system pressure...

[hopefan]

So the real season opener in conference is Tuesday night's game with Principia at Iowa Wesleyan.. both teams are winless, but Prin went to Overtime twice before losing to Illinois College and University of the Ozarks, then led Wash U at halftime before being beaten down in the 2nd half... on the other hand, Iowa Wez is 0-6, none of the 6 losses even by single digits... but they've played good competition, the 6 teams that beat them have a combined record of 17-9...Prin faces the same challenge night in and night out... keeping the starting 5 on the court for as long as possible...a 6th man, frosh Payton Sellers made his presence know vs Wash U when he scored 10 points, and that could be a big help.. but Prin has to stay out of foul trouble in order to comfortably compete against conference opponents... how can opponents contrast that.. obviously by upping the pace, pushing the ball down the court, penetrating to the basket at every opportunity to wear Prin down and create more potential foul situations... does Iowa Wes have the players to do that?  Butler and Drey are capable... we'll have to see about the rest... and of course Iowa Wez has to defend a pretty solid offensive attack offered up by Prin... Butler-Micah Paulson matchup will be fun to track, but does Iowa wez have anyone that can stop Trevaugh Goodman, or the Davidson/Ross combo that we're still waiting on to get their share of points...  This could be a fun game to watch, just a little to far from home to see it, especially if I count on going up to Eureka on Wednesday.. it does appear it will be streamed....

[hopefan]

Fontbonne gets their first win, beating Robert Morris Springfield, 96-75....Kris McCann 19 points, Eric Schark 17 points, Luke DeLine 11 points, 15 rebounds.

Not sure what's going on with Jack Lake..15 ppg, 7rpg in conf last year, far short of that this year.....

Fontbonne opens their conference season at home with Spalding.... spalding, who knows... will be interesting to see how that one turns out... are either of those teams possible tourney contenders???

[hopefan]

Here's the thing that is really fun about the SLIAC... 5 opening games, one tonight, 4 tomorrow, and I could pick 5 winners, and I could easily be wrong on all five... each one, at this stage, seems to be a toss up....

Prin at Iowa Wesleyan... Prin would seem to be a favorite, but the long trip, and the short bench evens things out... any foul trouble puts Prin in a deep hole..  and Brock Butler/Mitch Drey are SLIAC vets who could make a difference.. big question is what the rest of the Iowa Wesleyan players are capable of.. does Prin have a huge advantage after Micah Paulson and Trevaugh Goodman... can Davidson Ross dominate around the basket?

MacMurray at Blackburn... ask me two weeks ago and I would have said a 30 point Mac Advantage... now, heck, it's a tossup... BC has exceeded every possible expectation, Mac has underperformed and I just don't get it... it's time for them to step up, but the tiny gym at Blackburn is always tough to play in..

Spalding at Fontbonne....  Spalding a total mystery... plenty of recognizable names, they've gotten embarrassed by good competition.. the question is if Coach Gray is just fooling us all in prepping for SLIAC competition, or is this a group of guys that just can't play... Fontbonne is likely riding a newfound wave of optimism after beating Robert Morris Springfield last night, they are in a mind set that this can be a win to start off conference... we pretty much know what we have with the Griffs, but Spalding?

Webster at Westmin...  Westmin a team of veteran guards who can defend.. Webster showing strong inside game, on and off play from guards.. if Nigel Wilcox plays as well as he did vs Centre, there is no one on Westmin who can stop him... Webster just has to get him the ball... pretty savvy Westmin guards can make a difference though, (like Coe did, making it difficult for Webster to get into an offensive flow) if the less experienced Webster guards can't handle the pressure...

Greenville at Eureka... yep, I'll drive the 3.5-4 hours to see this one... hope it's as fun as I expect... to pick a winner, who knows... though Eureka players have all seen it (the system) before, but will they have a depth problem...they've been playing with 7... can't wait to see all the new Greenville faces....

[Greek Tragedy]

Good work like usual. Unfortunately for my SLIAC fantasy contingent, I've looked elsewhere for points even before getting the "vs Greenville" bonus. Points haven't been as large as I'd hoped for it so far, but I do know points from guys that I have dropped, Wands, Goodman and Paulson, their numbers should go up when conference play begins. But alas, I'll make due with using said players against Greenville in the One and Done League. I still have Feehan and Butler though, so not all is lost.

[ecreddevils]

Greenville at Eureka... yep, I'll drive the 3.5-4 hours to see this one... hope it's as fun as I expect... to pick a winner, who knows... though Eureka players have all seen it (the system) before, but will they have a depth problem...they've been playing with 7... can't wait to see all the new Greenville faces....

Hopefan in the house is big news.  Come up early for the women's game:  rematch of last year's conference championship (won by EC). 

[hopefan]

Good work like usual. Unfortunately for my SLIAC fantasy contingent, I've looked elsewhere for points even before getting the "vs Greenville" bonus. Points haven't been as large as I'd hoped for it so far, but I do know points from guys that I have dropped, Wands, Goodman and Paulson, their numbers should go up when conference play begins. But alas, I'll make due with using said players against Greenville in the One and Done League. I still have Feehan and Butler though, so not all is lost.

This old guy doesn't quite understand the intricacies of the fantasy leagues but appreciates the super efforts taken by you as the moderator and the participants for their research...  the no. of views per day of this room (SLIAC) have taken a tremendous uptick this year (UP 80%) over last year, and I thought last year was pretty good...some of that is probably attributed to fantasy players... still wish I'd get some thoughts from all these readers, but at least I get the good feeling that I'm entertaining someone and providing decent commentary....

[hopefan]

Greenville at Eureka... yep, I'll drive the 3.5-4 hours to see this one... hope it's as fun as I expect... to pick a winner, who knows... though Eureka players have all seen it (the system) before, but will they have a depth problem...they've been playing with 7... can't wait to see all the new Greenville faces....

Hopefan in the house is big news.  Come up early for the women's game:  rematch of last year's conference championship (won by EC).

Now, if a general admission ticket could just be left for "hopefan" at the table... EC one of only two SLIAC schools that charges.... well, I'll just consider it my donation to that beautiful new floor... am counting on dining out by the highway then catching BOTH games.... hopefully not to be obstructed by any deer or the State of Illinois finest... slow down hopefan, slow down...

[Smitty Oom]

Good work like usual. Unfortunately for my SLIAC fantasy contingent, I've looked elsewhere for points even before getting the "vs Greenville" bonus. Points haven't been as large as I'd hoped for it so far, but I do know points from guys that I have dropped, Wands, Goodman and Paulson, their numbers should go up when conference play begins. But alas, I'll make due with using said players against Greenville in the One and Done League. I still have Feehan and Butler though, so not all is lost.

This old guy doesn't quite understand the intricacies of the fantasy leagues but appreciates the super efforts taken by you as the moderator and the participants for their research...  the no. of views per day of this room (SLIAC) have taken a tremendous uptick this year (UP 80%) over last year, and I thought last year was pretty good...some of that is probably attributed to fantasy players... still wish I'd get some thoughts from all these readers, but at least I get the good feeling that I'm entertaining someone and providing decent commentary....

I like to keep up on the SLIAC, I dont know why really but your commentary may have something to do with it. Thanks and your posts definitely dont go unappreciated!

[hopefan]

Good game at Iowa Wesleyan....46-46 just into 2nd half... Elijah Johnson back for IWU... Drey scoring inside... Iowa Wez announcer VERY GOOD... tells everything you need to know, about BOTH teams...camera a little fuzzy, but keeping up with the action...enjoying watching the game at the desk!!!

shoot just when I say that, I lost the feed...

[hopefan]

Got the feed back watched most of the rest of the game.. Prin holds off Iowa Wesleyan, 85*78... has someone at Prin been reading hopefan... Ross and Davidson have their best games of the year, and both concentrate on getting the ball to the basket.. with Goodman doing the same, it resulted in a boatload of layups and shovel shots in the 2nd half... This is absolutely how this team should be playing... With Elijah Johnson back from wherever he was, Iowa Wez had 3 offensive threats, but not much else.. in the end, several turnovers in the last minutes and a couple of missed layups really took them out of the game... Drey, Butler, and Johnson are a nice 3some...

Prins sweet stats included Goodman 10-14, 8-12 from the line, 28 pts; Ross 7 for 10, 15 points (but 1-5 from the line); Davidson 7-13, 18 points, 10 rebounds, and Micah Paulson  5 for 8, 13 points, 12 REBOUNDS!!!

for Iowa Wez, Butler 23 points but only 2-10 from 3's, Johnson 21 points, Drey 19 points....

Prin shoots 60% from the field despite 4-17 from 3's...Prin, does that tell you anything?

[hopefan]

It's amazing.. I was going to pick winners for 4 SLIAC games tonight.. can't do it!!!!   Hmmm, maybe I should pick losers instead...

If there are players out there reading... good luck to you all.. it should be a great conference season!!!!