MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Webster runs away from Prin in 2nd half... 94-78... Josh Johnson a huge night with 35 points

[hopefan]

Had to chuckle at the Box scores of the Prin-Webster Women's and Men's games..

Attendance for the women's game was listed as   30

evidently, 10 were family members of women's players

Attendance for the men's game went down to 20

[GU1999]

Had to chuckle at the Box scores of the Prin-Webster Women's and Men's games..

Attendance for the women's game was listed as   30

evidently, 10 were family members of women's players

Attendance for the men's game went down to 20

++ a virtual master class in box score observation

[Smitty Oom]

Although it hasn't translated into wins, it's actually nice to see Principia spread the ball around a little. Four guys are averaging double figures with no one over 20 ppg. In conference, Goodman shockingly has a positive assist/turnover ratio.

Unfortunately for those that have him in fantasy leagues, a tough 3-10 FT night more than evens out the positive ast/to ratio.

[hopefan]

Although it hasn't translated into wins, it's actually nice to see Principia spread the ball around a little. Four guys are averaging double figures with no one over 20 ppg. In conference, Goodman shockingly has a positive assist/turnover ratio.

Unfortunately for those that have him in fantasy leagues, a tough 3-10 FT night more than evens out the positive ast/to ratio.

I have liked this kid since he arrived at Prin... the way he played, a very pleasant personality... but honestly, to me, he's playing like a senior who is losing interest... enough losses can do that to a guy....

[GU1999]

January 8, 2020

Fontbonne @ Spalding (Spalding -1)

The upset of the night is Spalding taking advantage of a team at the top of the "others" half of the standings. The long drive to Louisville for a midweek game is the primary reason as Fontbonne is the better team.

Greenville @ Mac (GU - 12.5)

Mac played pretty well over the break against Loras.  GU looked better against Spalding.  I expect a MONSTER game from Dorethy, but the result will be a double digit GU win.

Eureka @ IWU (EC - 14.5)

Eureka will win big on the road.  I expect IWU to take and make a ton of 3's, but they will also turn it over and give EC many live ball turnovers.

Blackburn @ Westminster (Blackburn -3)

OK.  Westminster is a clear top 5 team in this league.  My very early prediction which had them in a scrum for last.  I was wrong.  That said, I still think that Blackburn is better.  This will be a battle with very clear post season ramifications.  Blackburn makes a 15 - 17 3s and wins by very narrow margin.   

[hopefan]

Readers... two bad teams playing each other can sometimes make for a great game.... this was the case of Fontbonne at Spalding...

First half... Fontbonne was AWFUL... Spalding looked like a different team than we've been seeing... Spalding up 47-27 at half

Fontbonne comes out in 2nd half looking like Greenville full court pressure defense at its best.... cut the lead to single digits quickly and spent next 12 minutes slowly catching up... Cody McKinney puts Fontbonne up for the first time with approx 12 seconds with a 3 pointer, up two.... But Marcus Montgomery comes down and is fouled shooting a 3, makes all 3 to put Spalding up by 1...6 seconds left, Anthony Jones drives to the basket from three quarters court, puts up a layup under intense pressure that rolls off, but Noah Coddington comes flying through the middle untouched to slam it through the hoop at the final buzzer... no question it was good, an incredible come from far back win for the Griffs....

Spalding turnovers in 2nd half were just sad....

[hopefan]

Not to be outdone in performance vs Greenville....  Logan Doherty goes for Double Nickels (I like that term, GU1999) +1, breaking Marcus Montgomery's record which lasted for 4 days... and adds a mere 18 rebounds for the icing on the cake... Mac stuns Greenville, winning it in the last couple minutes...

Unfortunately no one in Florida ( ), or anywhere else could see the game as the picture froze during pre game warmups and never moved for 2 hours....  not to say there wasn't some entertainment as 2 former Greenville players entered the chat box attached to the video and got in to some lighthearted talk with some guy named Scott... if you 2 GU grads read this, I enjoyed it....

[hopefan]

When looking at top 5 and bottom 5 as I labelled them earlier.... Greenville is the only top 5 team that has 2 losses to bottom 5 teams (Font and Mac)... this is a big early disadvantage, and equates to Greenville needing road wins against (as well as home wins)  2 of the other top 5 teams....of course this assumes that the other top 5 teams will always beat the bottom 5 teams, which with the parity in the conference won't likely happen.
Still, right now, Greenville is 5th of 5 top 5 teams....

Any bottom 5 teams showing promise?
I think we can safely rule out Iowa Wesleyan and Principia
I'd say the same with Spalding... they have some talent, but are very young

That leaves Fontbonne and Mac... and while both have shown some promise, I still can't see either beating enough top 5 teams to get 10 league wins and finish 4th.... unless one of the top 5 teams breaks down..

Lots of ifs and unlesses this early...

[hopefan]

oh and word in the locker rooms say that Robert Bendingfeld is no longer on the Spalding team... he's been MIA since Spalding's game with MacMurray, when he started and played only 3 minutes... witnesses tell me he had a lengthy heated discussion with Coach Gray when pulled, and was not dressed for the 2nd half. of the game...

Seems to be a resignation by Bendingfeld or an expulsion by Coach Gray..

I hate to see it... he was a lightening quick guard who was a lot of fun too watch.... an All Conf candidate at the season's beginning...

[GU1999]

I totally agree that GU, although they have a top 3 team by way of aggregated talent, it currently either 4 or 5th overall in the league based on the 5 games played.  It will be very intersting to see if they rally as a team and figure it out.   

[GU1999]

For reference, in 2019-20 these are the games which resulted in a player scoring 28+ pts on 80+ fg% v. GU.  Most of these guys fit the role of the F or C reaping the largess of those who did the hard work to break the press. 

Bates (Centre) 43  on 20/21 (95.2%)
Mauck (Central) 29 on 13/15 (86.6%)
Spoehr (Central) 28 on 13/15 (86.6%)
Cappelletti (NC) 47 on 22/26 (84.6%)
Johnson (Carthage) 36 on 18/19 (94.7%)
Hallstrom (Wabash) 28 on 13/16 (81.3%)
Reiter (Simpson) 38 on 18/19 (94.7)
Riordan (Simpson) 39 on 16/19 (84.2%)
Wadlington (Fontbonne) 36 on 16/17 (94.1%)

The above represents each players career high for points in a game.

Adding two new examples from last nights games with Mac.

Dorethy (Mac) 56 on 25/31 (80.6%)
Voss (Mac) 36 on 15/18 (83.3%)

[Greek Tragedy]

For reference, in 2019-20 these are the games which resulted in a player scoring 28+ pts on 80+ fg% v. GU.  Most of these guys fit the role of the F or C reaping the largess of those who did the hard work to break the press. 

Bates (Centre) 43  on 20/21 (95.2%)
Mauck (Central) 29 on 13/15 (86.6%)
Spoehr (Central) 28 on 13/15 (86.6%)
Cappelletti (NC) 47 on 22/26 (84.6%)
Johnson (Carthage) 36 on 18/19 (94.7%)
Hallstrom (Wabash) 28 on 13/16 (81.3%)
Reiter (Simpson) 38 on 18/19 (94.7)
Riordan (Simpson) 39 on 16/19 (84.2%)
Wadlington (Fontbonne) 36 on 16/17 (94.1%)

The above represents each players career high for points in a game.

Adding two new examples from last nights games with Mac.

Dorethy (Mac) 56 on 25/31 (80.6%)
Voss (Mac) 36 on 15/18 (83.3%)

Dorethy's 18 rebounds impressed me considering, normally, as you pointed out, they are reaping the largess of those who did the hard work to break the press.

I was going to say that it would be interesting to see if Jarryd Fernandes of IWU can make it three in a row where Greenville's opposing player scores 50+ points. However, it looks like they've already moved that game from tomorrow (11th) to the 20th.

[hopefan]

I missed predicting Wednesday's games... fear I would have missed a couple..

Today... Greenville at IWU pushed out to 1/20/20... why?  imminent flooding, or is there snow and ice?

today

Mac at Blackburn... could Mac pull off two upsets in a row and actually be in Conf tourney discussions?  I think they have the guys that could slow down Karson Hayes, not so sure about other matchups... gotta go with BC in a close win

Eureka at Fontbonne... yes excitement over the tremendous win at Spalding by the Griffs.. but as I said, a great game between 2 evenly matched teams.... Fontbonne is NOT evenly matched with Eureka... Eureka wins evenly, Coach Thornhill scowls and moans from beginning to end...

Prin at Spalding... what a tough game to call... I admire Prin so much... but Spalding should win this game...

Westminster at Webster.... big game of the day....I go with Webster because of the homecourt advantage

I'll tell you, I only feel good about the Eureka over Fontbonne pick... the other 3, tossups....

[y_jack_lok]

When I saw Westminster play at the Webster Classic in November vs Hanover and Manchester, the Blue Jays had three guys who were making three-point shots. If those guys are still shooting as well as they were that weekend, and do so again today, I think Westminster will win. Webster teams have never been great at defending three point shooters. Bht if Webster can step up its three point defense, or if Westminster struggles to make threes (regardless of Webster defense), Webster can win this game.