MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Let's take a quick look at today's games:

Greenville at Fontbonne.... I feel bad for Fontbonne in this one... Greenville got to 200 against them the last time they played, through means that were the total opposite of Good Sportsmanship (let me know if I need to refresh any readers' minds).. but I will say that the institution of the Greenville rule has turned the program around to wholly acceptable behavior on the court and on the bench, and I'm sure that extends to know when to reasonably take the foot off the gas.....Fontbonne just doesn't have enough to turn the tables..   Greenville

Westminster at Eureka... Westminster has more than fans realize and great coaching, but Eureka's Chip Wilde won't let His Eureka team lower its guard...Eureka gets this one..

Blackburn at Prin.... Blackburn's quickness should beat Prin to the basket too many times.... Prin needs Tre Goodman to find his game....Blackburn

MacMurray at Webster... feelin' bad for Coach Creal... I could see this one being closer than expected, I almost could suggest a huge upset as Mac's defense could stifle the Gorlocks...  one of those where I'd love to go with the underdog... do it Hope, do it...   can't.... Webster

Iowa Wesleyan at Spalding... If this game was at IWU, I'd go with them without a second thought...  Still, Spalding played like they've hung it up against Mac.... I'll go with Iowa Wez, and hope they bussed it down yesterday and got a decent night's sleep.. not drove since 3 in the morning today (7 hours if roads are ok)...IWU

[WUPHF]

Westminster at Eureka... Westminster has more than fans realize and great coaching, but Eureka's Chip Wilde won't let His Eureka team lower its guard...Eureka gets this one...

More than some fans realize...

[Greek Tragedy]

Greek:  Players that play more possessions have a greater opportunity to have more substantial counting stats.  Those attempting to compare the counting stats statistical performances of players on disparately styled teams should bear number of possessions played facts in mind.  Some look to per possession played stats normalization.  Others may just try to "eyeball" it.  I think most teams use Synergy or similar software which make some of the normalization stats available to the coaches. 

That said, if my praise was not effusive enough re DB, I think he is the clear front runner for MOP and should be highly considered for regional honors.

I fully realize that being more "fast paced" has it's advantages in terms of more possessions. But to say his stats are "inflated" is a disservice to Dakota. You basically knocked him, inadvertently or not, simply by adding "compared to more traditional teams." Again, where is the cutoff for that? Yes, when a Greenville or Grinnell player has big numbers or even opponents' players have big numbers, there's definitely an "inflated" suggestion there. But, Dakota doesn't deserve such disservice. In fact, as we both agree, his numbers are incredible. He's shooting nearly 60%. He's not shooting the ball 30 times and he's not a one-man team either. Jeurgens is shooting nearly as much as he is and there's two others averaging double-digit attempts.

[GU1999]

4 and 11 playing for GU.  Everything looking a bit out of synch so far, but they're out there and that is very good for this team. 

[hopefan]

Wonder if they were practicing, and for how long....

As they are playing, I'll assume they learned from their prior mistakes, whatever they might have been...

[hopefan]

Well bad start, one wrong... Spalding wins 76-71 over IWU... Iwu had a shot to tie in final seconds, down 3, missed fouled quickly and Spalding converts for the 5 point win.... congrats to Spalding for getting that 1st W

[hopefan]

     oh my gosh, Fontbonne up 72-58 at half over Greenville??!!!

and Eureka down 16 to Westminster!!!....

Could be upset Saturday!!!

[hopefan]

Eureka is dead vs Westmin... Fontbonne just doing a super job getting layup after layup vs Greenville... using long passes, just killing it...

Webster squeaks by Mac............ Fontbonne gets sweet revenge vs Greenville.... BC wins at Prin....

6 teams at 2-1 after 3 conference games!!

[WUPHF]

Fontbonne scored 44 points on Tuesday
Fontbonne score 142 points today.

Almost 100 more points in a game...

Not as many as last season with the record breaking 200-146 point loss.

The Griffins are surely going out to celebrate as they should.

[y_jack_lok]

Mac at Webster was a tense game. The Gorloks had a 10 point halftime lead, but Mac whittled away at it then went up by five, 77-72  at the 4:13 mark. Webster took the lead back at 78-77 with 2:07 left. In one of several key situations late in the 2nd half and OT, Webster's Jordan Clay is fouled with 1:11  left in regulation. It's a 1 and 1. Mac calls timeout, after which Clay takes the first free throw, which bounces all over the rim as Clay stands at the line with his shooting arm up in the air, frozen at the end of his shooting motion, waiting to see what happens. The ball drops through the net. Next FT was all net. Webster up by 3. Mac then gets a bucket from Logan Dorethy, who was pretty much unstoppable down low, with 34 points, to cut it to one with 0:59  left. After a missed shot and offensive rebound by Webster, Mac fouls Gorlok freshman Wynne Browne, Jr. (who goes by J.R. I'm told) with 20 seconds on the clock. J.R. sinks both. Webster up by 3 again. Mac had called a timeout before the foul, so they had likely planned what to do based on the outcome of the free throws. Needing a three they get the ball down and pass it around, finding Elijah Powell, who had just entered the game, in the corner by the Mac bench. He swishes a three. Webster can't get the ball down to score in the final 3+ seconds, so we go to OT. It's back and forth in OT, with Mac up by 2 then Webster tying it, until Webster gets two FTs and a layup from Enrique Tankins in a 30 second span to go up 90-88. Mac ties it at 90. Webster's Rodson Ettienne gets fouled and makes one of two. Mac gets the ball to Logan Dorethy but it is stripped out of his hands by Ethan Hughes. Webster gets it past mid court and calls time out after which they inbound it to J.R. who gets fouled with 5 seconds left. Both FTs are good, Mac misses a three at the buzzer. Webster wins 93-90.

Webster was outrebounded 42-33, and slightly outshot from the field, but wins it at the free throw line on 16 of 18 shooting to Mac's 9 of 11. J.R. finishes with 27 points for Webster (5 of 8 from three), filling the scoring void for the injured Josh Johnson. Tankins has 22 for Webster. In addition to Mac's Logan Dorethy's 34 points, Camron Jamison has 25.

[hopefan]

Along with some great games by several individuals yesterday, there were a number of regular players who were absent from box scores... when it happens right at semester end, I always wonder if it's just an injury situation, or worse, an academic dismissal..

These players didn't play yesterday..
Eureka's Jordan Dehm.... had been out earlier with a wrist injury, but returned to play 2 conference games last week
Fontbonne's Gus Kleekamp...had a very good game vs Mac last week, but then played only 10 minutes vs BC, and not at all yesterday... reads like an injury vs BC
Greenville's Elijah Wychers..had 10 rbds and 4 assists vs Westmin, then played only 3 minutes vs Webster, and not at all yesterday... this could be an injury, or....
Iowa Wesleyan's Caleb Cresswell.... started last 3 games, did not play yesterday
Mac's Trevor Voss.... performed well in Mac's conference games last week, 15 minutes vs Augie midweek... did not play yesterday
Spalding's Robert Bendingfeld... started vs Webster with good stats, then just had 3 minutes vs Mac, did not play yesterday... likely injury
Webster's Josh Johnson... we know shoulder injury

[hopefan]

A number of outstanding performances in conference games this past Saturday.. and apologies to those deserving guys who didn't get selected..

Hopefan's SLIAC Player of the week goes to Mac's Logan Dorethy... Mac took a favored Webster team to OT before losing close, with Doherty 34 points and 12 rebounds... Add to that going 8 for 11, 17 points against Top 10 Augustana, despite losing playing time due to foul trouble..... it was a heck of a week...

Frosh of the Week goes to Wynne Brown of Webster...starting for the first time (I think), Brown goes 8 for 11 from the field including 5 of 8 from 3's, 6 for 6 from the line to lead the Gorlocks to that OT win over Mac...

I have to split the transfer of the week.... Jalen Wadlington from Fontbonne, Ethan Thompson from Westminster.... both had super performances in leading their teams to totally unexpected wins over the league leaders...  Wadlington goes an unheard of 16/17 from the field, 5 for 5 from the line , 5 assists, 37 points in the Griff win over Greenville.  Thompson goes 12 for 18 including 10 for 14 from 3's, 5 rebounds, 35 points in the Jay's win over Eureka... both clearly deserving of recognition...

[GU1999]

Very interesting Saturday.   

Specifically, to the win by FU over GU.  That is exactly how you expect a team with pride and character to respond to the adversity of the Moonshot  game.  If you don't like something, fix it.  FU fixed it on the court.  FU straight up beat GU at their game.  The won just about ever 50/50 ball.  They finished at the rim.  They out hustled GU.  They clearly wanted it more.  Despite FU's 31 turnovers, their long diagonal pass strategy resulted in a ton of uncontested lay-ins.  They caused GU to take difficult and contested shots, which they struggled to make.  They pressured GU the same way they did last year in the lopsided game.  This year the strategy worked out.  Will we see others go uptempo against GU as a result?  Kudos to FU.

As for GU.  They looked out of sync all game.  In order to compensate for the additions of two all-conf level players in Bateman and Williams, the staff elected to go with three equal lines.  Most players played 14 minutes.  Players sat for two shifts waiting to return.  It looked like the "two shifts off" plan resulted in some disjointedness when they players did get their 60-90 second shift.  It will be most interesting to see if they spend the Dominican game and the break integrating Williams and Bateman into the existing two top  shifts and just have a very good 3rd line that will play two to four shifts a game.  Fitness also looked to be a bit of an issue for the returning guys. 

Knowing that GU has the potential for three fairly complete shifts, I think it would be most interesting if the third of the three shifts were trained solely to play a totally different type of style.  I have always thought that GU could have a "change-up" team.  Dedicate one coach to them and they could play a match up zone and learn the swing offense or something.  Just throw them into game appropriate situations.  I know that this is never going to happen, but I think it could be really novel and innovative and potentially very successful if deployed well.

 

[GU1999]

In light of the SLIAC Sportsmanship Policy and the severe penalties associated with violation of the 14 technical limit, I will attempt to keep a record of the seasons technical fouls (team and player).

Season totals (as of 12/14/2019):

It was a great week of sporting basketball in the SLIAC with no new Class A T's during the first round of conference play.

Eureka 3 Ts (.375 T's per game):
Banks
Hosea
Juergens

Principia - 3 Ts (.375 T's per game)
Goodman - 2
Team

MacMurray - 3 T's: (.375 T's per game)
Ian Smith
Tanner Payton
Zach Kroenlein

Fontbonne 3 Ts (.33 T's per game):
CJ Purcell
Dominic Doolin
Caden Clark

Iowa Wesleyan - 3 T's (.33 T's per game)
Cresswell - 2
Team

Westminster - 3 (.33 T's per game)
Spriggs - 2
Althaus

Blackburn 2T: (.25 T's per game)
Karson Hayes
Team

Spaulding 1 T: (.125 T's per game)
Brian Tribble

Currently, NO teams pacing to be excluded from the tournament for being above the .56 T's per game threshold. 

Principia's Goodman is the only individual currently pacing for a one game suspension punishment(s) on personal aggregated Ts.

Kudos to Webster, GU and IWU for getting to the 1/3 mark of the season without a Sportsmanship violating T.  Keep up the good work. 

[GU1999]

Having watched the 5 T's from the EU v. Westminster game, I have to tell you that at leas t3 of them they are highly dubious.  The officials are clearly looking to call T's.  At 8:10 and 4:57 there are double T's called and neither seems warranted.  The 5th came of the 5 was on Banks.  He blocks a shot and for the smallest instant looks at the man (maybe says something) he blocked who fell to the ground based on what he says, he may have earned that one.  I know that EU had been clean for the season so far, so it is unlikely that this will affect their post season eligibility, but they went from last to first in the T's per game.  Dubious calls like these further bring into question the merit of the rule in general.  The officials are not listed in the box.  I wonder if some are more T-centric than others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjNNdjEsIC8
Ts at:
- 2:38 in the first (Banks)
- 8:10 in the second (double T) - terrible call for EU
- 4:57 in the second (double T) - terrible call for both