MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Tough night for Fontbonne. They lose 111-99 to Greenville, but shoot just 17-44 from the FREE throw line. Those are uncontested shots. They shoot 51.8% when someone is apparently guarding them.

Geesh, watched parts of that game, and noticed crucial misses down the stretch, but had no idea of the final numbers... that's HORRIBLE

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ That's a remarkable stat, perhaps a result of the fatigue that comes with playing against The System.

Last night at Webster Eureka was whistled for two flagrants and a technical (second flagrant was a dubious call) and Webster made only one of the six free throws. There's something about being all alone on the free throw line that makes it harder, seems to me. As for the game itself, I can't think of much to say. Webster won, which is good, the score and stats were all pretty normal, but for some reason that I haven't figured out how to articulate it was not a very satisfying game to watch.

[hopefan]

Yes so far, the games played out pretty much as expected... Blackburn ran away from IWU, Webster beat Eureka in a "rugged" game.. Greenville beat Fontbonne... The Greenville outcome wasn't as high scoring as I expected, due to Fontbonne's woeful foul shooting coupled with Greenville's equally woeful 3 point shooting (13-67, 19%)..

Greenville really looked rusty, but Eric Williams continued his outstanding play with 31 points, 8 boards...Talk about a kid who the system was made for... as a HS senior he averaged 12 and 5, probably had minimal stats as a JC frosh, and averaged 7 and 4 his JC sophomore year... he comes to the system,  he's averaging 22 and 7, with 3 steals per game!!!

Hoping Eureka doesn't give up the ship just yet.. true they're 1-4 in conference... but they've played each of the other 4 teams that I labelled as contenders for the conference tourney spots.... next four games are Prin, Font, Mac and IWU... all winnable (though also labelled as must wins for Eureka).... if they put it together here, they'll rise to 5-4 and be back in the race....

[hopefan]

Prin's Trevaughn Goodman regains his seemingly lost form, he is virtually unstoppable by Mac... Prin dominates most of the way... happy for Prin, I love an underdog... feel bad for buddy Todd Creal.. His Frosh Logan Doherty looks like the real deal, and you gotta love the never say quit attitude of Derik Bourke, but the rest, a very disappointing performance after a positive weekend in Music City Tourney

Kobe Wands leads Westmin over Spalding.. I give Spalding credit for hanging in there for 35 minutes, Westmin iced it in last 5 minutes....
Disappointing crowds at both games, likely about 50 at Prin, 100 at Westmin, but then the students are probably not coming back until this weekend...

It's always a concern when names go missing from the box score right after semester... one wonders whether grades weren't made or unhappiness led a student to not return... or is it just an injury, illness, or the inevitable 'coach's decision'...
These important players did not see action in the first game of 2nd semester...
Warren... Greenville.... GC's only true man in the middle
Ellis..... Spalding... Former All Conference, but numbers down this year
Hollandsworth... Westminster.... to the basket, valuable off the bench
Cresswell.... IWU.... frosh, had a big game in win over Prin

[hopefan]

For readers who only read the postings in this room, check out this video, making national news, from the CCIW room:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsKFbvpAlhm/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1u1j7o6ojdh04
or
https://twitter.com/Skubie3Mageza/status/1080664665770942464

Truly incredible... thank God the player was able to get up and walk off the court... he'll be OK

[hopefan]

So what do we have happening on Saturday, Jan 5 in the SLIAC

Fontbonne (2-3) at Blackburn (2-3)    tough game to call... somehow I like Fontbonne in this matchup, but the homecourt advantage, the positive attitude conveyed by Coach Kollar, I've got to go with them... Fontbonne will win these game NEXT year, likely not this year...

Principia (1-4) at Eureka (1-4)... this should be a high scoring run and gun game... Goodman and Paulson may go for 60, but Eureka's solid starting 5 plus bench should dominate Prin over time...Just have to hope Eureka doesn't throw up too many bad shots....An absolute must win for Eureka

Spalding (3-2) at Greenville (5-0).... Robert Bendinfeld will be fun to watch in this one winding hs way through defenders and generating layups for teammates, , But Greenville should win... by a lot...

Iowa Wesleyan (1-4) at MacMurray (1-4)... Would love to see Mac Frosh Logan Doherty dominate and lead his team to a win... is he tough enough to go against the bulky Aussie Austin Rebel from Iowa Wesleyan?   Even if that is a push, I think Mac has a little more talent than IWU... a close home win

Webster (5-0) at Westminster (4-1)... Doggone it, Webster should win this game... equal or more offensive talent in probably every position...and I'll go with Webster... but this is the kind of setup that Coach Mitch surprises me with EVERY year.... I'll root as always, for a great game....Johnson and Hopp vs Wands and Wands, great matchups....

[WUPHF]

Hollandsworth did play substantial minutes on Monday.

[hopefan]

Hollandsworth did play substantial minutes on Monday.

Let's hope he's there to help Westmin vs Webster today...

[Greek Tragedy]

So what do we have happening on Saturday, Jan 5 in the SLIAC

Fontbonne (2-3) at Blackburn (2-3)    tough game to call... somehow I like Fontbonne in this matchup, but the homecourt advantage, the positive attitude conveyed by Coach Kollar, I've got to go with them... Fontbonne will win these game NEXT year, likely not this year...

Principia (1-4) at Eureka (1-4)... this should be a high scoring run and gun game... Goodman and Paulson may go for 60, but Eureka's solid starting 5 plus bench should dominate Prin over time...Just have to hope Eureka doesn't throw up too many bad shots....An absolute must win for Eureka

Spalding (3-2) at Greenville (5-0).... Robert Bendinfeld will be fun to watch in this one winding hs way through defenders and generating layups for teammates, , But Greenville should win... by a lot...

Iowa Wesleyan (1-4) at MacMurray (1-4)... Would love to see Mac Frosh Logan Doherty dominate and lead his team to a win... is he tough enough to go against the bulky Aussie Austin Rebel from Iowa Wesleyan?   Even if that is a push, I think Mac has a little more talent than IWU... a close home win

Webster (5-0) at Westminster (4-1)... Doggone it, Webster should win this game... equal or more offensive talent in probably every position...and I'll go with Webster... but this is the kind of setup that Coach Mitch surprises me with EVERY year.... I'll root as always, for a great game....Johnson and Hopp vs Wands and Wands, great matchups....

Fontbonne and DeLine really disappointed against Greenville, especially the numbers they put up against Greenville last year. Those games were insane. DeLine was averaging 33 fantasy points a game against conference opponents (or about), so I was expecting a big game from him. That didn't happen. Kleecamp and McCann had slightly better numbers. They'll probably lose a close one to Blackburn today.

As you said, Principia v Eureka could be a real high scoring game. It'll be interesting what Goodman shows up. The one that turns it over a couple of times or the one that coughs it up 6-8 times and misses half his free throws. I wonder what combo will do better, Goodman/Paulson or Bennington/Thomas. I do like Eureka slightly better in this one, plus, I have Thomas on my fantasy team.

Bendingfield is another guy who's put up huge numbers against conference opponents. I was expecting more from him against Westminster, but shooting only 5-15 isn't going to help your score line. Here's hoping Bendingfield will have a field day against Greenville in a lopsided loss.

[hopefan]

Note.  Egged late than never... Webster hosting Westminster

Never post from your phone and send without double-checking...   "Egged"   ??

Note.  Better late than never... Webster hosting Westminster

[hopefan]

So what happened today...Well, I picked 4 out of 5 winners, with Mac letting me down badly., AGAIN...  I believe in Coach Creal, he believes in his players, but they're not getting the job done..

IWU 73 Mac 63   Well I wondered if IWU's Austin Rebel might push around Mac's frosh Logan Doherty, and it looks like he did...Doherty goes 3 for 11, Rebel out rebounds him... Derek Bourke tries his best but it doesn't come close to being enough for Mac.... back to back losses by Mac to Prin and IWU make wins over Blackburn and Hampden-Sydney seem like a mirage...

Greenville 133  Spalding 121.... the good and the bad... Spaldings Marcus Montgomery goes for 51, but Spalding turns the ball over 46 times!!! CCIW guys, you don't know what you are missing!!!!!   46... mind numbing... plus a two team total of 254 points!!!!  CRAZY..... no otherworldly individual numbers for Greenville, Dix, Williams and Murphy each score in the 20's, Josias Parker comes up with 7 steals in 17 minutes... also notice Dom Ellis doesn't play again, wish we knew what the situation is....

Blackburn 81 Fontbonne 80...  Bc has the ball out of bounds with 7 seconds left, throws long pass that is intercepted, but by the time the Griffs can get it up the court, the possible winning shot is forced and rushed, Fontbonne loses another close one...Fontbonne had lead at 77-76, but Jamaya Wyatt hoop put Blackburn up, and Kirby Bryson 3 pointer is the game winner....note, Bryson may be best pure shooter in conference...Luke Deline on bench but not in uniform for Fontbonne...

Eureka 87, Prin 71... turnovers played a huge role...Prin has 21, Eureka 8.... So Eureka has 10 more field goal attempts, 6 more field goals...Dehm, Bennington, Thomas each score big around 20 for Eureka, Micah Paulson, Goodman pretty much go thud (Goodman Foul trouble) for Prin... the other Paulson, Brennan,  has a career day, 16 points, 10 boards, I've always admired how hard he plays the game....

Webster 78 Westmin 58... a 20 point win for Webster comes as a bigger shock than if Westminster had pulled off the mild upset...Webster killed them on the boards 41-24, shot very well 43% from 3's , 52% overall.... big day for Enrique Tankins, 22 and 11, Josh Johnson contributes 18, and Blake Ferrell and  Jordan Clay come off the bench to add 16 points, 13 rebounds... super job by the Gorlocks, and that matchup of undefeateds (GC vs WU) comes closer to reality.  Geesh, Romo Tabb throws in 24 with 6 boards for the Jays, but wow, the Wands brothers falter, 4 for 18, 7 turnovers between them.

[hopefan]

Sunday Morning...time for hopefan to come up with the SLIAC Player of the Week....
Wonder if readers appreciate this kind of stuff... I have fun doing it, and I take it seriously... wonder if the players read it and it is somehow motivational..I guess I'll never know..

This week was again tough...

BUT

Eric Williams, Dakota Bennington, Karston Hayes each had two good games, good enough to win POW in another week

AND yes, I like to give POW to a player on a team that WINS two games, not loses two

BUT

I can't get away from rewarding Marcus Montgomery from Spalding the POW
He did EVERYTHING he could to try to get Spalding a win
He scores 51 against Greenville, 2 short of the SLIAC single game record set by Jeff Reis of Webster in 2001... yes it's against the break-neck pace of Greenville, but I don't care... the numbers are real, they are in the books and they blow you away... 51 points, 18 for 29 field, 6 for 11 3 pointers, 9 for 9 foul line....
Earlier in the week Montgomery had 21 in a loss to Westminster...
Arguments can be made to go in a different direction given the great week the other candidates had, but I just can't put a 51 point game, 72 point week aside...

Just noticed that's 2 Hopefan POW's in a row for Montgomery.. both tough decisions... no, Montgomery is not related to hopefan

[y_jack_lok]

Re Webster/Westminster -- with about 1:45 left and Webster up by 17 coach Mitchell threw in the towel and called a time out solely for the purpose of getting some subs in the game. Really surprised me. Yes, it would have been a huge comeback. But I didn't see the same kind of aggressiveness from Westminster that Eureka played with on Wednesday. Westminster played a much more deliberate offensive style and a much less disruptive defensive game than Eureka. I think Webster was more focused today than Wednesday and Westminster's defense allowed Webster to be patient offensively and work to get good shots. Jordan Clay made two great steals that he turned into layups. Great all around game for Webster.

[Greek Tragedy]

I read and appreciate your posts. We've been over this before. You are he main reason I frequent this board. This year is different. I don't have 6 or 8 guys on my fantasy team anymore, but I still enjoy your posts. There are tons of lurkers that feel the same way. All because we don't respond to every post, or any, doesn't mean we don't read this page. Just note the views, come back a week later and see how many view you get.

[Gregory Sager]

I read and appreciate your posts. We've been over this before. You are he main reason I frequent this board. This year is different. I don't have 6 or 8 guys on my fantasy team anymore, but I still enjoy your posts. There are tons of lurkers that feel the same way. All because we don't respond to every post, or any, doesn't mean we don't read this page. Just note the views, come back a week later and see how many view you get.

Yep. I agree. Egged late than never!