MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Gregory Sager]

It's interesting that there's two programs in the Central Region this season that are losing their tournament virginity. Lake Forest won the MWC tourney and received that league's autobid, and now Eureka has done the same in the SLIAC tourney ... so both the Foresters and the Red Devils deserve congratulations for making it to the dance for the first time ever.

[hopefan]

It's interesting that there's two programs in the Central Region this season that are losing their tournament virginity. Lake Forest won the MWC tourney and received that league's autobid, and now Eureka has done the same in the SLIAC tourney ... so both the Foresters and the Red Devils deserve congratulations for making it to the dance for the first time ever.

It didn't pay to be a top seed in a Central Conference Region this year... 5 for 5 went down to defeat in their conference tourneys, leaving all the A bids to upset winners...
SLIAC...  #3 Eureka wins.... #1 Webster out
CCIW....   #2 North Central wins.... #1 Augustana will settle for a C Bid
MWC....    #3 Lake Forest wins.....  #1 St Norbert out
WIAC....    #3 UW-Platteville wins... #1 UW-Oshkosh will settle for a C bid
NACC....    #3 Aurora and #4 Illinois Tech play for the championship today.... #1 MSOE out

This has most probably happened before, a region's conference champs all losing in their tourneys, but I'd imagine it's somewhat unusual...

[hopefan]

And yes congrats to Eureka... hoping the NCAAs blesses you with a short trip to Augustana or North Central rather than a journey through the hinterlands to Wisconsin/Nebraska/Minnesota..   

I could not figure this team out for most of the season.. a starting 5 that had everything.. in fact maybe TOO MUCH...but wow, they really put it together in the last 3 weeks... Hank Thomas, if you read this, yes, I shot arrows at you for much of the season, but in my mind you adjusted your game perfectly in those last 3 weeks to combine assists with you scoring... you were outstanding, your changes led to these results, and you were absolutely deserving of the conference tourney MVP.. and Bennington, wow, I'd vote as best offensive player in the league, unstoppable around the basket... Dehm/Juergens/Wiegand... all unsung, all total positive contributors..
and Coach Wilde, it took a while to find the right formula, but when you did, it really took off...

Congrats to all...

[Titan Q]

It's interesting that there's two programs in the Central Region this season that are losing their tournament virginity. Lake Forest won the MWC tourney and received that league's autobid, and now Eureka has done the same in the SLIAC tourney ... so both the Foresters and the Red Devils deserve congratulations for making it to the dance for the first time ever.

It didn't pay to be a top seed in a Central Conference Region this year... 5 for 5 went down to defeat in their conference tourneys, leaving all the A bids to upset winners...
SLIAC...  #3 Eureka wins.... #1 Webster out
CCIW....   #2 North Central wins.... #1 Augustana will settle for a C Bid
MWC....    #3 Lake Forest wins.....  #1 St Norbert out
WIAC....    #3 UW-Platteville wins... #1 UW-Oshkosh will settle for a C bid
NACC....    #3 Aurora and #4 Illinois Tech play for the championship today.... #1 MSOE out

This has most probably happened before, a region's conference champs all losing in their tourneys, but I'd imagine it's somewhat unusual...

That's a great catch.

Pretty amazing.

[Greek Tragedy]

Oshkosh's loss is really the only one that effects Pool C. NCC was probably in if they lost in the final.

[ecreddevils]

how sweet it is!! red devils stepped up and showed their mettle when it looked over. congrats to coaches and players, awesome! first postseason appearance since 1994 (which, by the way, was an NAIA div. II championship). 

another thought: drew barth--how many two sport athletes go to football and basketball ncaa tournaments as a player in same year? 

now, time to make a run!

[hopefan]

how sweet it is!! red devils stepped up and showed their mettle when it looked over. congrats to coaches and players, awesome! first postseason appearance since 1994 (which, by the way, was an NAIA div. II championship). 

another thought: drew barth--how many two sport athletes go to football and basketball ncaa tournaments as a player in same year? 

now, time to make a run!

Good to hear from you EC.  Will be rooting for you, but keep in mind, a SLIAC win in the tourney will be a historical first.  Have fun this weekend.

[y_jack_lok]

Eureka headed to Lincoln, NE to face last year's national champs Nebraska Wesleyan. Best of luck.

[Gregory Sager]

The Red Devils are gonna need it.

[y_jack_lok]

I think I smell something, and it's not an upset.

[hopefan]

Would Eureka over Nebraska Wesleyan be the biggest upset in tourney history?  Probably. Can D 3 historians remember any other "ridiculous" upsets?  I can remember one to offer, but want to check the facts before I offer it up. How about it Greg, Greek,Pat, etal?

Here's the interesting thing though... because Eureka has experienced significant pressure from Greenville and learned how to beat it, just maybe they might be able to compete. They are playing their best right now....  Hank Thomas is so critical. 

[ecreddevils]

sweeping aside the quips above, bottom line is ec earned their way in here by winning 6 of their last 7, including the two wins over greenville.  this is not the same team that started 2-10. 

predict whatever you want, but i'll say this, this is an ec team with tough senior leadership that will not back down.  thomas and wiegand have seen it all in four years, including being on the court with a final four loyola team last year.  neb. wesleyan is clearly a tough order, but in some ways may be a better match up than augie or north central because martin and raridon present unique problems and they each play tough cciw schedule.

i'd point to a few small chinks in the nwu armor: only beating a 9-13 buena vista (beat westmin by 7) team by 3 at home, then another close 3 point win at wartburg on 2/9 and a close 5 point win over 16-10 simpson (beat westmin by 6).  an unstoppable juggernaut should have won those games by a wider margin.

ec has the ability to score the basketball and stay in this game.  the longer they do that, the more pressure on nwu.  i think this will be more interesting than many are giving ec credit for.

[hopefan]

sweeping aside the quips above, bottom line is ec earned their way in here by winning 6 of their last 7, including the two wins over greenville.  this is not the same team that started 2-10. 

predict whatever you want, but i'll say this, this is an ec team with tough senior leadership that will not back down.  thomas and wiegand have seen it all in four years, including being on the court with a final four loyola team last year.  neb. wesleyan is clearly a tough order, but in some ways may be a better match up than augie or north central because martin and raridon present unique problems and they each play tough cciw schedule.

i'd point to a few small chinks in the nwu armor: only beating a 9-13 buena vista (beat westmin by 7) team by 3 at home, then another close 3 point win at wartburg on 2/9 and a close 5 point win over 16-10 simpson (beat westmin by 6).  an unstoppable juggernaut should have won those games by a wider margin.

ec has the ability to score the basketball and stay in this game.  the longer they do that, the more pressure on nwu.  i think this will be more interesting than many are giving ec credit for.

Dang EC, I think that's about what I said...😉

[Gregory Sager]

Would Eureka over Nebraska Wesleyan be the biggest upset in tourney history?  Probably. Can D 3 historians remember any other "ridiculous" upsets?  I can remember one to offer, but want to check the facts before I offer it up. How about it Greg, Greek,Pat, etal?

Aurora over Wash U last season?

Northwestern over St. Thomas in 2015?

Defiance over UWW that same year?

I think that if Eureka (13-14), which finished in a tie for third in a league that's never won a D3 tourney game, beats Nebraska Wesleyan (26-1), which returned practically everybody from last season's national championship team, we'll have a new winner in this category.

I'm certainly rooting for the Red Devils -- I'm as much of a sucker for David-beats-Goliath stories as anybody -- but the odds against it happening are astronomical.

[ecreddevils]

sweeping aside the quips above, bottom line is ec earned their way in here by winning 6 of their last 7, including the two wins over greenville.  this is not the same team that started 2-10. 

predict whatever you want, but i'll say this, this is an ec team with tough senior leadership that will not back down.  thomas and wiegand have seen it all in four years, including being on the court with a final four loyola team last year.  neb. wesleyan is clearly a tough order, but in some ways may be a better match up than augie or north central because martin and raridon present unique problems and they each play tough cciw schedule.

i'd point to a few small chinks in the nwu armor: only beating a 9-13 buena vista (beat westmin by 7) team by 3 at home, then another close 3 point win at wartburg on 2/9 and a close 5 point win over 16-10 simpson (beat westmin by 6).  an unstoppable juggernaut should have won those games by a wider margin.

ec has the ability to score the basketball and stay in this game.  the longer they do that, the more pressure on nwu.  i think this will be more interesting than many are giving ec credit for.

Dang EC, I think that's about what I said...😉

yeah, i think the opposition was worth noting specifically. i just don't believe that buena vista and simpson are an order of magnitude better than eureka.  ec should not be intimidated going into this.  i'd love to have someone break down nwu a bit--what do they do so well?  just watched a tiny bit of youtube and they are solid and efficient but not overwhelming.  anyone have more analysis?  the am. rivers board is a ghost town.