MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

GU gets a BIG commitment.  Carter Clark, 7'1", is the son of former SLIAC all conference GU player Rob Clark.  He runs really well for a big and can also shoot it a little bit.  Coach Barber's boys seem to be executing a slightly more conservative version of the "GU system" these days.  Carter could thrive in that version. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F34gEdSo1rc

Oh my goodness.  Sweet tape!!!!   I know they always only show the good stuff.... but wow......

[y_jack_lok]

GU gets a BIG commitment.  Carter Clark, 7'1", is the son of former SLIAC all conference GU player Rob Clark.  He runs really well for a big and can also shoot it a little bit.  Coach Barber's boys seem to be executing a slightly more conservative version of the "GU system" these days.  Carter could thrive in that version. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F34gEdSo1rc

Oh my goodness.  Sweet tape!!!!   I know they always only show the good stuff.... but wow......

It's very unusual for a player his size to wind up at a D3 school. Randolph-Macon had a seven footer on its roster from 2011-12 thru 2014-15 who only played mop up minutes throughout his four years. Wash U had a seven footer in the mid 2000s who did start in his last season or two, but was hardly a dominant player. The SLIAC is probably a good place for this kid. It'll be interesting to see how he does.

[GU1999]

Just for fun, Carter's dad is Rob Clark who played at Greenville and was all-conference in 1999.  During Rob's time on campus GU (then GC) had a 7-footer named Shane Wells.  Shane played his first three years (including a red shirt year) on scholarship at SIU-Carbondale.  After not contributing a lot at SIU-C, he transferred to GC where he was a part of the GU team that shocked the world and won the conference tournament in 1998 as the 5 seed.  The story of the GU semi-final win over arguably the best SLIAC men's basketball team to date (the 1998 Maryville squad) deserves a very deep dive some day.   

Also of note, Carter's family is social media famous.
@thattallfamily has a billion + views on Tiktok and even more on YouTube Shorts https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VjjpQPyfZ8Q

[GU1999]

Congratulations to Dr. Barber on win number 300. 

[hopefan]

What a crazy turn of events in the SLIAC...

Eureka   3-0 in last 3
Spalding   4-1 in last 5
Greenville 4-1 in last 5

Webster  0-4  in last 4

No game a given... Webster no longer a playoff lock, Eureka, Spalding, Greenville now all in the mix for 3rd and 4th.... Principia locked, Fontbonne needs another win to be safe....

[y_jack_lok]

Blackburn and Westminster are out of the conference tournament. Webster's last two games are at home vs those two. Prin has road games vs Eureka and Blackburn. Fontbonne plays at Westminster and home vs Greenville. Those three are in the best spot for byes into the tournament. But there may be other scenarios involving Eureka that I don't want to go to the trouble to explore.

[GU1999]

My Projection for the Conference Tournament:

#1 PRIN 11-3
#2 WEBSTER 10-4
#3 FONTBONNE 9-5
#4 GU 8-6*
#5 SPALDING 7-7**
#6 EU 7-7

*Although beating FU on the road will be a huge undertaking, I think that the Panthers could very well do it. GU has been playing some of the conferences best basketball since the last Fontbonne game (which was a tight one resulting in a 3 FU win).  Going 6-2 since, GU has held opponents to 54% shooting (this is LOW for a GU team) and they have also really cleaned up their turnovers.  GU is averaging 10.5+ t/o margin in the last 8 and has been rebounding neutral in 5 of 8.  IN their last meeting FU beat GU by 23 on the boards and was only -6 in turnovers in a 3 point game.   

**Spalding wins tiebreak with EU winning both match-ups

[Gregory Sager]

Boy, what a story it would be if Principia won the SLIAC tourney and repped the league in the dance! Not only has Principia never reached the D3 tourney, it's an achievement that would've looked totally farfetched in the not-too-distant past. A decade ago, the Panthers were in the throes of a 57-game losing streak. Principia hadn't had a double-digit-wins season since 2004-05, and hadn't had a winning season since 2002-03. (This is only the second winning season Principia's had since the SLIAC began play 32 years ago.)

This looks like a true Cinderella story in the making.

[y_jack_lok]

Boy, what a story it would be if Principia won the SLIAC tourney and repped the league in the dance! Not only has Principia never reached the D3 tourney, it's an achievement that would've looked totally farfetched in the not-too-distant past. A decade ago, the Panthers were in the throes of a 57-game losing streak. Principia hadn't had a double-digit-wins season since 2004-05, and hadn't had a winning season since 2002-03. (This is only the second winning season Principia's had since the SLIAC began play 32 years ago.)

This looks like a true Cinderella story in the making.

Todd Zimmerman is a great coach.

[WUPHF]

And still doing it all by himself, it would seem.

Principia had a shot at a postseason a few seasons ago, but beating Greenville at their best with 5-6 guys was too much to ask.  4-5 seasons ago.  Principia had some great players, but not enough good players to get it done.

[hopefan]

My Projection for the Conference Tournament:

#1 PRIN 11-3
#2 WEBSTER 10-4
#3 FONTBONNE 9-5
#4 GU 8-6*
#5 SPALDING 7-7**
#6 EU 7-7

*Although beating FU on the road will be a huge undertaking, I think that the Panthers could very well do it. GU has been playing some of the conferences best basketball since the last Fontbonne game (which was a tight one resulting in a 3 FU win).  Going 6-2 since, GU has held opponents to 54% shooting (this is LOW for a GU team) and they have also really cleaned up their turnovers.  GU is averaging 10.5+ t/o margin in the last 8 and has been rebounding neutral in 5 of 8.  IN their last meeting FU beat GU by 23 on the boards and was only -6 in turnovers in a 3 point game.   

**Spalding wins tiebreak with EU winning both match-ups

I played with Scenarios last night after Eureka beat Prin... this result hurt playoff chances for Greenville ( and Spalding), but does not yet knock them out. With Fontbonne, Webster and Eureka now at 8 wins, Greenville and/or Spalding need 2 wins AND 2 losses by Webster  or Fontbonne or a loss by Eureka to have a chance to move into a tie for 4th... then tiebreakers would decide

Scoreboard watching?  Webster has BC and Westmin at home...
                                   Font is at Westmin, and and Greenville at home
                                   Eureka is at Spalding... a Spalding win is critical.. a Eureka win puts them in no matter what

Most likely scenario tonight
Prin already locked
Webster beats BC and locks
Font wins at Westmin and locks
Greenville is at Spalding... some one wins and still is alive, loser is out.

Interesting... if Spalding beats Greenville tonite... they play Eureka on Saturday....If they were then to beat Eureka, they would finish tied with Eureka, and would win the tiebreaker with two wins over EC... Spalding gets the 4th spot

If Greenville beats Spalding tonight, they would need to beat Fontbonne on Saturday and have Spalding beat Eureka.... GU and EC would then finish tied for 4th spot... that tiebreaker can't be established at this point.

[GU1999]

Well... so much for my predictions. 

Good news is that the SLIAC has posted a 6 team playoff format, so GU, Spalding and EU all make it, seeding is yet to be determined.


Wednesday, February 22 - At Higher Seed   
Game 1: #3 vs. #6, 7 p.m.   
Game 2:  #4 vs. #5, 7 p.m.   
   
Friday, February 24 - At Highest Seed   
Game 3: #2 vs. Second Lowest Seed, 5:30 p.m.   
Game 4: #1 vs. Lower Seed, 7:30 p.m.   

Saturday, February 25 - At Highest Seed
Game 5: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 7 p.m.

[hopefan]

Well... so much for my predictions. 

Good news is that the SLIAC has posted a 6 team playoff format, so GU, Spalding and EU all make it, seeding is yet to be determined.


Wednesday, February 22 - At Higher Seed   
Game 1: #3 vs. #6, 7 p.m.   
Game 2:  #4 vs. #5, 7 p.m.   
   
Friday, February 24 - At Highest Seed   
Game 3: #2 vs. Second Lowest Seed, 5:30 p.m.   
Game 4: #1 vs. Lower Seed, 7:30 p.m.   

Saturday, February 25 - At Highest Seed
Game 5: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 7 p.m.

Take me out behind the barn and shoot me.... ... large amount of time spent working on 4 team playoff scenarios.... typical hopefan flop..

[WUPHF]

Its only the second season of the 6 team conference tournament so yeah, and easy mistake to make.

[WUPHF]

The Mississippi University for Women has released the results of their name change effort.  May be the University of Northern Mississippi by this time next year.

https://www.wcbi.com/muw-releases-name-change-survey-results-but-holds-off-official-renaming/