MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

Paulson goes 3-20 from the field. Ouch.

[Greek Tragedy]

http://mchighlanders.com/boxscore.aspx?id=660&path=mbball

Greenville wins 146-140 while Kendall Davis scores 43 points.  Cameron with 27 pts and 13 assists (9 TOs). Brent Long with 17 pts and 23 rebounds.

[hopefan]

 hopefan standings after Saturday 2/3/18 games

for now, splitting the league into 8 contenders, 3 non contenders (Fontbonne, Iowa Wesleyan)

Contenders are expected to win at home against everyone, and not lose to non contenders at home or away

+1 for a road win vs a contender
-1 for a home loss to a contender
-1 for any loss to a non contender

Eureka          +2   won at Westminster, Won at MacMurray, lost at home to MacMurray, Won at Spalding

Greenville     +1  Won at Webster, Lost to Fontbonne, Won at MacMurray

Westminster    0   lost to MacMurray at home, won at Spalding, lost at home to Eureka, won at Webster

Webster         -1  lost at home to Greenville, lost at home to Westminster, won at Principia, won at MacMurray, lost to Iowa Wesleyan

Principia        -1  lost at home to Webster

Blackburn       -1   loss to Iowa Wesleyan,     

MacMurray      -2  won at Eureka, lost at home to Eureka, won at Westminster, lost at home to Webster, won at Spalding, lost to Iowa Wesleya, Lost to
                          Fontbonne, Lost at home to Greenville

Spalding        -4     lost at home to Westminster, lost at home to MacMurray, lost to Iowa Wesleyan, lost at home to Eureka

Spalding has been eliminated from the race for a Conference Tourney spot...MacMurray still alive

[hopefan]

So let's talk about yesterday... some surprises, some disappointments, some went as I forecasted, some didn't...

Blackburn crushes Prin, 74-53... An All Ugly Box Score for Prin except for Parker Davidson, whom I just can't say enough about.... after reading me complaining about him for 3 years (don't worry Parker, you're not the only GOOD player who I've yammmered about for years...ask Hunter Ward), Parker finally has pretty much forsaken the arc and taken his skills to the basket where he belongs... He totally merits a 1st Team All Conference nod, AND.. if the SLIAC had it...a Most Improved Player Award.. anyway, Davidson just misses his typical double-double going for 21 and 9, while the rest of his teammates were just awful...take his stats out and the boys shot 11-47 from the field, 2-19 from 3's... the paulsons shoot it often enough that Goodman only gets 9 shots, Davidson 10....and don't overlook the 20 turnovers, particularly Jeff Ross with 7... people, Ross doesn't touch the ball in traffic all that often,, he must have turned it over once every 3 times he touched it...

You know, I RARELY critique a coach, but somewhere along the line, I think Coach Zimmerman, seeing his point guard go 3 for 20 with only 4 assists, would sit the kid for a couple minutes and say look...penetrate and get the ball to Parker and Trevon...but nope Micah played 40 minutes and missed a shot about every 2 minutes.... I really think Evan Eisenhauer would have been capable of dribbling the ball up the floor and passing it to one of the two...

UGH..  Anyway congrats to BC...another one of our up and down SLIAC teams, they haven't given up the ship yet, remain very much in contention for a tourney spot...no big games from anyone, Jamaya Wyatt 14 off the bench, the Beavs shoot 50% from the field, enough to run away with it... Good Defense, right?
OK.. that rant is done...

Eureka a huge win over Spalding...on the road and without Shea Feehan and Hank Thomas...Dakota Bennington did what he had to do... have a monster game without his 2 cohorts..33 points and 8 boards (though he shot poorly from arc and had several turnovers), but solid efforts from McElMurry, Dehm, Juergens, White, helped push them to an easy win...Spalding 5 in double figures, but tough to win shooting 36% from the field, 55% from the line...

While I didn't think EC could win at Spalding with Feehan and Thomas out... and was wrong... I hit the nail on the head with the thought of an Iowa Wez upset of Webster...long trip, tough to be ready to play at a high level... this one could really bite the Gorlocks in the bid for a conference tourney shot...for IWU, Brock Butler and Mitch Drey have huge games, get nice help from Jake Neubauer and Austin Banks....for Webster, Nigel Wilcox remains consistent...8 for 11, 17 points, 10 rebounds... it amazes me that as a freshman, how he is doing this EVERY night, and relatively quietly...   wonder what has happened to Enrique Tankins, missing the last couple of games... that's a big hit to the Gorlocks...

Mac sticks with Greenville, but eventually succumbs 146-140....I think chances would have been better with a lower score, we'll never know... 32 turnovers, 9 by Mike Cameron, but he has 13 assists 27 points... Kendall Davis a super night, 43 points, 7 for 9 from 3's, Brent Long 17 points, 23 rebounds... but all of that is not enough...Greenville has no big scorer, but incredible 8 in double figures, almost 10 and spread the wealth all over...creating all those turnovers won this game, all the other stats leaned towards Mac...

Westmin takes it to Fontbonne, 75-60, and as I thought, that slower pace, tough defense from Westmin was far more than the young Griffs could handle..Kobe Wands a huge game for Westmin with 32, and it's a win that really puts Westmin in good shape for making the tourney... averting this kind of upset...4 for 20 from 's (0-7 from Luke DeLine) and 20 turnovers for the Griffs vs 6 for Westmin shows what kind of game it was....

[y_jack_lok]

Spalding at Webster will be played tomorrow (Thurs 2/8) instead of today.
http://websterathletics.com/news/2018/2/5/mens-basketball-basketball-home-games-with-spalding-pushed-back-one-day-to-thursday.aspx

[Greek Tragedy]

Spalding at Webster will be played tomorrow (Thurs 2/8) instead of today.
http://websterathletics.com/news/2018/2/5/mens-basketball-basketball-home-games-with-spalding-pushed-back-one-day-to-thursday.aspx

Good thing today is only Tuesday. 

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ Ooops!! 

While I'm thinking about it, have the fantasy league afficianods ever contemplated creating a co-ed league where three men and two women (or three women and two men) constitute a team?

[Greek Tragedy]

Big game in the real world and Fantasy Land today.

Eureka finds itself a game out of 1st going into tonight. They've lost 3 out their last 5 with the latter two both by just a single point. Things looked real bad when both Feehan and Thomas went down with injuries, but Bennington stepped up against Spalding with Feehan and Thomas out. They have to hope one or both play on short rest tonight. They lost at Principia last time out and that's when all three played.

Principia's wheels are falling off. They've lost 3 of 4 now. There's 5 teams ahead of them in the standings but they sit just a game out of a top 4 spot, depending on the breakers. Paulson was absolutely horrible last time out, so it shouldn't be hard to improve on 3-20 shooting.

I picked up Davidson for his week against Eureka and Greenville. I wasn't sure about Feehan's status, so I also added Bennington in case Feehan is out again.

[Greek Tragedy]

^^^ Ooops!! 

While I'm thinking about it, have the fantasy league afficianods ever contemplated creating a co-ed league where three men and two women (or three women and two men) constitute a team?

Ha. I've actually been asked that in the past. I have a hard enough time keeping up on the men's side of 400+ teams.

[y_jack_lok]

Principia's wheels are falling off. They've lost 3 of 4 now. There's 5 teams ahead of them in the standings but they sit just a game out of a top 4 spot, depending on the breakers. Paulson was absolutely horrible last time out, so it shouldn't be hard to improve on 3-20 shooting.

Gotta be tough for so few guys playing so many minutes to sustain a high level of play for 25 games. No surprise that Prin is starting to struggle late in the season.

[hopefan]

Big question tonight, any sighting of either Feehan or Thomas..... I don't think either was even in uniform at Spalding on Saturday.... I agree with YJack that Prin is likely running out of gas, but game should be a good one if Eureka still needs to replace Feehan and Thomas....Eureka did a great job on Saturday though....

I am going to have an updated All Conference valuation after Tues/Wed/Thurs  games... 

Question.. wonder how the All Conference team selection works in the case of a player missing games... I wonder if there is a minimum number of games that a player must play in to be allowed to have his name on the ballot....There are currently 4 players who will likely receive All Conference consideration but be well short of games played...
Shea Feehan could miss as many as 7 conference games if he doesn't recover from ankle injury
Dakota Bennington missed the first 4 conference games as a mid year transfer
Kobe Wands missed 6 games with injury
Hank Thomas could miss as many as 6 games with injury if he is out the rest of the way....

Honestly, those games wouldn't keep them off my All Conference team, just not sure how the SLIAC (or any other conference) handles it....

[Greek Tragedy]

I would guess either 2/3 or 3/4 of conference games.

[hopefan]

Eureka stomps Prin, 96-70.... Prin clearly down and out, so disappointing....  maybe just pooped out...maybe coach should have figured out how to use those kids on the bench, just a little... something that might have prolonged things a little longer for the 5 guys averaging something like 37 minutes per game....

And hooray for Eureka... the guys that had to really stepped up with Shea Feehan and Hank Thomas out... now then, Thomas was back in tonight, but did not contribute to his norm, but no matter...Ryan McElmurry has a career game.. 17 points, 5 for 7 from 3's, 5 assists, 3 steals no turnovers, Brady Sanders does the same with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assts and no turnovers, Jordan Dehm 15 points, 10 rebounds.... only Dakota Bennington had a rough night, with 6 turnovers.....  just a great night in a meaningful game for Eureka....So pleased Thomas back, hoping we'll see Feehan soon....

[hopefan]

So 3 games tonight, and the Spalding at Webster game pushed out to Thursday...

While it is possible, it will be very difficult for a team with 8 losses (10-8) to make the conference tourney... and if a team hopes to finish 10-8, they'll either be out of the tourney, or will have to figure out tie breakers, because if 10-8 makes it, there will probably be several teams at that level...
Right now, 3 teams have 8 losses, Prin, Mac, and Spalding... any on of them would have to win out (4 games) to finish at 8 losses....Spalding and Prin still play each other, so no matter how they do, one will eliminate the other if still in contention on Feb 17....

so Currently, Greenville has 4 losses, Eureka 5 losses, Westminster 5 losses, Blackburn and Webster 6 losses.... No locks, though obviously Greenville in great position...

Tonight:
Blackburn at Greenville.... Blackburn could really throw the standings into turmoil by scoring the huge upset.... though the 8 loss teams will be rooting for Greenville in hopes that two of the top 5 teams eventually drop to 8 losses...Blackburn beat Greenville in first matchup, 117-110, seemingly with good defense, as GC shot only 35% for the game, and BC attacked the hoop... getting to the foul line 47 times... BC will need to cut down their turnovers if they want the win, they had 30 in first meeting... GC obviously has to shoot better...This is really a huge game for both teams.. GC wants to keep 1st place for the Conference Tourney Host role, BC gets a huge step toward making the tourney if they win....

Fontbonne at Mac...  Mac needs it to retain any hope of a tourney spot, Fontbonne playing to show that they will be a force next year....

Iowa Wesleyan at Westmin.... Westmin can't afford to let down vs IWU, this game is big for Westmin to make the tourney... I'd like to think they'll concentrate on making Brock Butler work hard for every point he gets....

[Greek Tragedy]

Goodman plays 12 minutes in each half... that's not gonna do it.