MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

^^^ Thomas hit the deck under the EC basket after having a shot blocked by Wilcox with 1:42 left. While the rest of the players headed back down court he just lay there. WU trainer came out when play was stopped. He might have cut his chin or had a nose bleed from the fall because the trainer was holding a towel to Thomas's face. He then got up and walked slowly to the stands behind the EC bench with the trainer next to him. I'm sure they were going to do concussion protocol as he looked groggy.

Thanks for the confirmation...a shame, but the good news is if no concussion, he'll likely be back Saturday....after being sure that it was a facial injury, I've again watched the play numerous times... unbelievably one of 3 things might have happened... he got hit by Wilcox... Wilcox clearly blocks the ball high, but the follow through looks like it came down on Thomas's face and Thomas noticeably bends backwards, seems to go limp on the way to the floor... THEN, Thomas falls right into teammate Austin Jurgens.. he may have hit his head full weight against Jurgens knee... then lastly totally out of control, he hits his head on the court...

[hopefan]

Eureka got to 78 with 2:45 left on the clock... they didn't score again.....

[hopefan]

You've all been waiting for:

5's on my All Conference Valuation system went to Long (Mac) (27 and 15); Butler (IWU)  (46, 5 rbs, 3 assts); Rusten (BC) (30, 8 rbds 3assts), McCann (Font) (40, 7 rbs 10 assts, despite 5 turnovers)

What a night!!!!

[y_jack_lok]

I just happened to catch a brief segment on Saint Louis's Channel 5 (KSDK) 5 p.m. news about last night's record setting game between Fontbonne and Greenville. I can't locate it on the KSDK website yet. If I ever do I'll post it.

[hopefan]

In the Atlantic Region this Saturday, the CSAC (Colonial States Athletic Conference) - CUNYAC (City Universities of New York Athletic Conference) challenge is taking place...  Current 1st place vs 1st place, 2nd vs 2nd down to 9th vs 9th.... (Unfortunately the 10th place CSAC team is left out)... I think a great idea to build a good non-conference rivalry between the two.. bragging rights and all that, rooting for the rest of your conference and so on..

Would be really cool if the SLIAC could consider this with a Central Region conference... no not the CCIW, afraid that would be a tad lopsided, but with either the MWC or the NACC... or take it to a different region, the HCAC, SAA, SCAC, IIAC, or MIAA.... unfortunately it would generate some awfully long trips.... aaah, just a hopefan pipe dream....

[Greek Tragedy]

Yeah. I think geographically it just wouldn't work. It would be cool if they schedule a neutral site on one weekend and have every team meet and play the 4 or 5 games on a Saturday.

[hopefan]

And so, my Eureka College friends and fans, the questions start... how are Shea Feehan and Hank Thomas doing.. will either be able to play on Saturday?  On the other hand, did either suffer a significant injury that would already rule them out for the remainder of the season...Horrible thought, Darned shame... The outlook would be glum with both gone, and with so many teams in contention for the 4 tourney spots, every remaining game is significant... my hopes and prayers for a quick and healthy return....

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The Greenville-Fontbonne game is also noteworthy for another reason

(Avert your eyes, basketball purists)

http://d3hoops.com/notables/2018/01/fontbonne-greenville-record

GRiNNELL WHO?   WE ARE IN THE RECORD BOOKS!!!!!  Nice thing is, this wasn't a blowout where a record was set because an opponent was weak... rather an exciting game the whole way... Greenville a tremendous comeback in the second half to send it in to overtime, Fontbonne a near perfect attack on the hoop in OT to win going away despite a poor performance from the foul line.... Final 164-154 Fontbonne in OT

For the record, the previous two games that I know of that were in this category of scoring - neither featured a "weak" opponent. Roanoke at Lynchburg a few years ago; Simpson at Grinnell in 1994.

Hard to set a combined total points record when an opponent is weak.

[Greek Tragedy]

Defining a team "weak" is subjective. Is a team going into that game at 3-16 and only 1-11 in arguably one of the worst conferences considered "weak"? I would say yes.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Sure... but in the context I think used... I'm pretty sure the comment was about the type of schools Grinnell has used in the past to set records against. My point was, when Grinnell set the record with Simpson, Grinnell lost. The other game was against two teams at the top of the ODAC. These weren't out-of-conference games featuring a team that was destined to be beat-up on.

[hopefan]

Sure... but in the context I think used... I'm pretty sure the comment was about the type of schools Grinnell has used in the past to set records against. My point was, when Grinnell set the record with Simpson, Grinnell lost. The other game was against two teams at the top of the ODAC. These weren't out-of-conference games featuring a team that was destined to be beat-up on.

Correct... I was thinking more of a game that would finish 180-140

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Sure... but in the context I think used... I'm pretty sure the comment was about the type of schools Grinnell has used in the past to set records against. My point was, when Grinnell set the record with Simpson, Grinnell lost. The other game was against two teams at the top of the ODAC. These weren't out-of-conference games featuring a team that was destined to be beat-up on.

Correct... I was thinking more of a game that would finish 180-140

In the past when Grinnell has picked a target to break a record, that target usually can't put up enough points themselves to make the combined record a threat. Furthermore, I would think that would also take some "coordinating" and if we thought the record attempts in the past were bad... that would be so much worse.

I also have a gut feeling, Grinnell's "record breaking on purpose" days may have come to a close. I may regret those words, but like I said ... gut feeling.

[hopefan]

Sure... but in the context I think used... I'm pretty sure the comment was about the type of schools Grinnell has used in the past to set records against. My point was, when Grinnell set the record with Simpson, Grinnell lost. The other game was against two teams at the top of the ODAC. These weren't out-of-conference games featuring a team that was destined to be beat-up on.

Correct... I was thinking more of a game that would finish 180-140

In the past when Grinnell has picked a target to break a record, that target usually can't put up enough points themselves to make the combined record a threat. Furthermore, I would think that would also take some "coordinating" and if we thought the record attempts in the past were bad... that would be so much worse.

I also have a gut feeling, Grinnell's "record breaking on purpose" days may have come to a close. I may regret those words, but like I said ... gut feeling.

Greenville played no non-D3 schools this year, but received some pretty heavy criticism last year when they beat Lincoln Christian 178-125...I'm hopeful they'll continue to play the solid schedule they played this year...

[hopefan]

So with both Eureka and Greenville looking vulnerable, MacMurray having pulled themselves from the conference basement to being a contender, and Fontbonne and Iowa Wesleyan looking very good on Wednesday, there is no game that is not a BIG game today within the conference..

of course, the game of tremendous curiosity, just to see who takes the floor, is the Eureka at Spalding game... Eureka has shown a little more depth with the addition of Dakota Bennington at semester, but it's obvious it will be a totally different team if 45 points per game are gone from the lineup in the persons of Shea Feehan and Hank Thomas with their injuries... no response from Eureka writers, I wonder if it's being held pretty close to the vest, or if it might be a game time decision... we can only hope the two are healthy enough to play... without them, I see the game being pretty tight with Spalding holding the upper hand as Eureka's support players would be called on to play major roles, and it seems that Spalding would have a big edge in quickness to the basket....and of course if Spalding can win, it would be huge in tightening the standings....Spalding in a do or die position the rest of the season, can't afford another loss...Eureka won the earlier matchup easily, Feehan and Thomas had 47 between them..

Prin at Blackburn should be a good one, in a game that is just about a must win for both teams...Prin won the first time, 80-66, and Blackburn couldn't stop any of the Prin Big 3 Paulson, Goodman and Davidson... they'll have to play far better defense today... once again,and I say it every Prin game, the fewer 3 point attempts, the better the offense is flowing...the loser will be at 7 losses not a good position to be in with 4 games remaining....

Westminster at Fontbonne... No contending team can afford a loss to Fontbonne at this point in time, but anyone playing them has to worry about it... With Kobe Wands back, you have to wonder if the solid defense will throw Fontbonne's offense off their game... Fontbonne looked super in the free flowing run and gun game vs Greenville, but slowed back down to being forced to run an offense and find good shots, Im not so sure that Fontbonne is ready to respond positively.  Westmin won the initial meeting easily, can they come back from the horrible performance vs Prin.. this team has really become unpredictable, along with Webster... good, bad, good, bad... who knows....

Greenville at MacMurray, yes Mac has won four in a row, but it's all for naught unless they can pull the super upset today against the league leaders...and their previous attempt vs Greenville was terrible... as I watch Mac on video, I think one thing that has to happen is PG Mike Cameron has to get even better... he's doing so much for this team, but still turning the ball over too many times... Mac has to reduce the turnovers, get more layups, ler GC fire away and NOT let GC get layups... now that isn't the formula Fontbonne used (Fontbonne beat them at their own game), but Mac needs to win in the low 100's not at 140...

Finally, Webster at Iow Wesleyan... anyone hear the word upset ringing  off the walls... the long bus ride... I feel it...But realistically, Webster should win this game by going to the basket... Iowa Wez matches up nicely at guard, but websters strength with Wilcox, Tankins, Ettienne, Joseph should dominate Wez's weak inside game... WEbster just can't allow themselves to fall in love with the perimeter game and then have a 25% 3 point% day giving away a dozen offensive possessions....

[Greek Tragedy]

Another day in fantasy land...

I actually benched Feehan in one of my leagues in favor of Butler, who has been doing well. I didn't want to play Feehan if he trotted out there on one leg. I have a big enough lead in the Draft League that it shouldn't make much of a difference.

I also picked up Cameron late in the week in the One and Done League to go up against Greenville. I already used Long and Davis (wish I didn't use him the last time these two teams met when he was stinking it up).

Lastly, I'm hoping Paulson continues his solid play against Blackburn.

I dumped Long a week or two ago when he was going through his slump and just recently added Davis because of his resurgence...plus he's going up against The System again, playing a lot better than he last time out.

I'll be doing a lot of live stats checking today, as usual.