MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

Simpson 161
Greenville 160 OT

[hopefan]

  GU game....Incredible game, great comebacks...but Greenville handed it to Simpson with a horrendous defensive play at the end of regulation (hey guys up 3 with 4 seconds, it doesn't matter if the big guy in the middle gets it..Guard the doggonned perimeter!!!!
Then up 1 with 6 seconds left in OT, they can't get the ball in bounds and virtually shovel it to a Simpson player who gets fouled and wins it from the line...

GU1999... feelin real bad for you.. this one should not have been a loss....

Problem I see... the defense is no where near the level it was last year....  I really think their offense is close to last year's

[WUPHF]

Twitter says Blackburn beat Division II Drury. Please tell me this is true!

[y_jack_lok]

Twitter says Blackburn beat Division II Drury. Please tell me this is true!

Corroborating evidence: https://drurypanthers.com/news/2019/11/23/mens-basketball-blackburn-prevails-over-panthers-in-exhibition.aspx

[WUPHF]

Drury was 21-12, playing in the toughest Division II conference a season ago. This may be the SLIAC story if the year.

[hopefan]

unfortunately we have to remember this was an exhibition game for Blackburn...

BUT two remarkable stats in the game article....

"battling back to take the lead at 70-69 after trailing by 25 points at the midpoint of the second half"

"Hayes (Karston) scored a game-high 33 points, all in the second half, including seven three-pointers and a perfect 8 of 8 from the free throw line"

absolutely incredible... and it makes Pre conference forecasting all the more crazy....

[y_jack_lok]

Webster loses to Hanover 65-58. Hanover is a very good team and their players, individually, are skillful. Webster competed well against them but, again, couldn't muster enough offense.

Webster gave up 72 points to Manchester yesterday and 65 to Hanover today. Westminster gave up 94 to Manchester today and 91 to Hanover yesterday. So I have ro conclude that Webster's defense is better than Westminster's. But Westminster has better shooters than Webster. When the two meet (not until Jan 11th) it will be interesting. Much can change in the meantime.

Shaping up to be an interesting conference season. Can't wait to see hopefan's revised forecasting of the SLIAC race.

[WUPHF]

Unfortunately we have to remember this was an exhibition game for Blackburn...

I assumed this was a regular season game for Drury, but they have it listed as an exhibition so this is a fair point.  Drury did only play 10 guys and there leading scorers each played 30+ minutes, so still incredible...

[hopefan]

So I have disagreed with the SLIAC.org Player of the Week two weeks in a row.. so I'll go through my thinking this week.. Team by team
Blackburn... Unfortunately Karston Hayes spectacular 33 point second half effort in a stunning win over Drury was in an exhibition game, and should not be considered.. BC had no regular season games

Eureka... Eureka had one game, and it was a beauty.. the win over Grinnell.. all 5 Eureka starters had great games, but to me, the real go to guy at crunch time was Austin Juergens with 31 points and 6 rebounds.. few of those points were freebe layups.. Dakota Bennington also had a great game with 30 points and 6 rebounds, but wasn't around at the end due to fouls.  Ian Milsteadt had a double double with 20 points and 14 rebounds and obviously is a prime candidate for newcomer of the week.  Jalen Hosea came closer than anyone to a triple double, with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists   My candidate for Eureka is Austin Juergens both for numbers and for performance down the stretch with a win..

Fontbonne... Yes the Griffs go 2-1, but against pretty weak competition in North Park (Sorry Greg) and Lincoln Christian... no individual had big games in both wins....  No candidates

Greenville... Greenville lost 2 close games to good opponents.. and should have won the second game...of course the numbers get skewed, but they would have to be huge to overcome two losses...  Santi Grady had a very good 2nd half vs Simpson, but overall for the weekend had a poor shooting performance... newcomer Quincy Pinkard had 2 good games.. 18 points 9 boards vs Simpson, 19 points 6 rbds vs Wabash and deserves consideration for Newcomer of the week.

Iowa Wesleyan... only an exhibition game

MacMurray DNP

Principia.. Prin had one game, a close win over Lincoln Christian, but because the level of competition was close, this game really has to be considered.. And Trevaughn Goodman took charge.. a fantastic game, 14 for 20 from the field, 34 points, 10 rebds, 5 assists,2 steals... Has to be considered... Note also Clark Davidson with a double double 16 and 11.. and Brennan Paulson in his 2nd game back from injury goes 4 for 6 from 3's, 14 points

Spalding... a loss to Franklin , a competition level I thought they could beat... Marcus Montgomery with 36 points, but virtually no other stats in a bad loss...

Webster..two losses... they should beat the Manchesters of the D3 world, but haven't shown they can.. Josh Johnson had 30 vs Manchester and 17 vs Hanover, but 7 turnovers vs 2 assists and shot under 50%...

Westminster... the expected loss vs Hanover, but a very nice win over Manchester.. unfortunately outstanding performances in the win over Manchester by Ethan Thompson, Jaxson Althaus and Landon Harrison were preceded by nondescript games for each vs Hanover....

So reviewing the above. The logical Candidates for Player of the week come down to Austin Juerens of Eureka, and Tre Goodman for Prin... they both stepped up with Big numbers and leadership in tight wins for their team... In this one, I'm going With Tre Goodman, whose numbers were better than Austin Juergens

Newcomer seems obvious... Ian Milsteadt of Eureka with 20 and 14 in a tight win.

[GU1999]

GU v Simpson - Simply put, it was a very entertaining game.  I watched the whole game and ran the full range of emotions. Hope, Despair, Joy, Hair-pulling-frustration, Hope again, and then numbness.   

My take always:
- Grady is a big deal shot maker.
- Vinsel continues to be on 🔥 (47+% from 3)
- 3rd line can really shoot the ball (Dortch, Reyes, Contreras) and they are very limited defensively.
- 3rd line is relevant because they played more against Simpson
- Systems teams are so one note they desperately struggle in tight end of game situations.  (See Grady's pull up three while leading with 42 seconds to play and 22 on the shot clock.  See also Hope's notes on the game. 
- Pickard, Johnson & Jackson are integrated into the system and are ready for the conf. season.
- Simmons is very instinctive and could challenge the conf record for steals in a season.  Currently at 3.7 a game.  Record book says 90 is the season mark.  He's trending for 90+
- This team is VERY well behaved.
-Flopping Ts are not real Ts
- Fingers crossed we see Bateman and Williams second semester.  If they come back that 3rd line gets much better and this team could be special. 
- GU will win 13+ conf games. 
- GU's schedule has been brutal (top 30 SOS in the country), but the king of SLIAC SOS against is  Blackburn (top ten SOS against even with out the Drury game). 
- Did I mention the brutal end of game situations stuff...

[hopefan]

GU v Simpson - Simply put, it was a very entertaining game.  I watched the whole game and ran the full range of emotions. Hope, Despair, Joy, Hair-pulling-frustration, Hope again, and then numbness.   

My take always:
- Grady is a big deal shot maker.    can create good shots with the step'back
- Vinsel continues to be on 🔥 (47+% from 3)   He looks like he could be the backbone of the program over time
- 3rd line can really shoot the ball (Dortch, Reyes, Contreras) and they are very limited defensively.   very very very
- 3rd line is relevant because they played more against Simpson     won't be many back to back nights
- Systems teams are so one note they desperately struggle in tight end of game situations.  (See Grady's pull up three while leading with 42 seconds to play and 22 on the shot clock.  See also Hope's notes on the game.   Didn't have the nerve to say it before, butI totally blame that loss on the coaching staff
- Pickard, Johnson & Jackson are integrated into the system and are ready for the conf. season.  Agreed.
- Simmons is very instinctive and could challenge the conf record for steals in a season.  Currently at 3.7 a game.  Record book says 90 is the season mark.  He's trending for 90+   Tough being the 5 man in system defense
- This team is VERY well behaved.  Agreed, after being the main critic of last year's team... and Coach Barber seems to have done a 180 too
-Flopping Ts are not real Ts    Stupid rule
- Fingers crossed we see Bateman and Williams second semester.  If they come back that 3rd line gets much better and this team could be special.  OMG
- GU will win 13+ conf games.  The SLIAC could have been so good this year, but instead we have the worst record in all of D3
- GU's schedule has been brutal (top 30 SOS in the country), but the king of SLIAC SOS against is  Blackburn (top ten SOS against even with out the Drury game).  Don't know how you found that and it is early, but a very interesting point
- Did I mention the brutal end of game situations stuff...  again.. both situations... COACHING

++++  An incredibly interesting post GU... I've put in some feedback in red

[Greek Tragedy]

I do remember back watching Grinnell games that they actually changed the pace of games when they were leading at the end of games. It's definitely something Greenville should consider, especially from this past weekend against two very good teams. Actually run some clock, don't just take threes, etc.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I do remember back watching Grinnell games that they actually changed the pace of games when they were leading at the end of games. It's definitely something Greenville should consider, especially from this past weekend against two very good teams. Actually run some clock, don't just take threes, etc.

I've talked to George about that before.  He said they've let up with big leads before and teams have come back on them.  They only practice playing one way, so it's tough to go away from it at the end.  That's definitely a conscious decision on his part.

[WUPHF]

-Flopping Ts are not real Ts    Stupid rule

I like the idea of officiating the flops.

I am not sure if it should be a technical foul.

I have watched 3 games in person and 4-5 games online and I think I have seen only two warnings.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

-Flopping Ts are not real Ts    Stupid rule

I like the idea of officiating the flops.

I am not sure if it should be a technical foul.

I have watched 3 games in person and 4-5 games online and I think I have seen only two warnings.

I've been told the officials give one warning, applicable to both teams, then every subsequent flop is a T.  The two games I've seen in person so far have followed that procedure.

The one thing I'd love clarified is when it's appropriate to call them.  I've seen two instances where shooters were definitely touched in the air and fell over and received flopping calls.  I saw one where the ref called a foul on the shot and then a flop on the shooter.  That seems like the scenario where it's most confusing.