MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Incidently, some good chat going on here the last couple of days....   keep it up guys, and tell your buddies!!!!  Having fans from 6 of the 8 schools posting here is a great way to hear what everyone is thinking.... while poor Prin probably doesn't have much to say, wish we could recruit a Westminster fan to keep us aware of what's going on out west.

[Daryl L Lloyd]

Thanks FC and Ganno
  I was wondering why it seemed MU's guards were so outplayed.   Good to see the Gorloks slide into that number 3 slot.  Keep it up against GC fellas. 

[hopefan]

Have SLIAC fans noticed that WASH U has taken the lead in the UAA???   They have a very difficult schedule ahead, travelling to Rochester, NYU and CMU.

SLIAC fans should hope Wash U wins their conference.  The travel conscious NCAA comittee would likely roll over backwards to match up the SLIAC winner vs Wash U in order to save a few $.  The way the NCAA tourney is set up, there are some opportunities for two lower level teams to play each other in the first round, with the winner hitting one of the top teams who were given a first round bye,  in the second round.  A very early scenario, if Wash u were to be UAA champ would be Wash U vs SLIAC champ with the winner playing the CCIW champ (currently Augustana).

If Wash U does not win their conference, there is little likelihood they will get a bid, and the SLIAC champ could end up against anyone in the midwest, or even West (ie Iowa, Wisconsin) regions.

One bad thing - the Maryville - Wash U game was UGLY.

Hope everyone gets to a game today!!!  I'm looking forward to being a neutral fan at Webster - Grenville today.

[Gregory Sager]

If Wash U does not win their conference, there is little likelihood they will get a bid, and the SLIAC champ could end up against anyone in the midwest, or even West (ie Iowa, Wisconsin) regions.

I don't think that that's necessarily true, Hopefan. Wash U's QOWI is a modest one, and it's likely to stay modest considering the lackluster Midwest Region non-conference schedule that they played:

(team, result for Wash U, MWR record, QOW pts)
Webster, HW, 4-6, 10 pts
Wis. Lutheran, HW, 4-8, 8 pts
Blackburn, AW, 6-7, 11 pts
Ill. Wesleyan, HL, 9-3, 6 pts
Fontbonne, HW, 1-9, 8 pts
Maryville MO, AW, 6-5, 13 pts

However, the UAA is chock-full of teams with winning regional records. NYU, Carnegie Mellon, and Rochester all presently have regional winning percentages above .667. Chicago, Case Western, and Brandeis all have regional winning percentages above .500. Only Emory is below .500, and they're still above .333. This will all flatten out a bit as the UAA goes through its second round-robin, but not too much. Therefore, even though Wash U's QOWI is undistinguished (I think that they're somewhere around 50th in the nation), it's not likely to dip much unless they start dropping a bunch of their eight remaining games.

Wash U's Midwest Region record is their main selling point. Right now it's a sparkling 10-2: 5-1 apiece in both non-conference and UAA play. My guess right now is that 11-3 will win the UAA, so if the Bears wind up 10-4 they'll still end the season with a 15-5 regional record. With 18 Pool C bids available, a 15-5 record in their region will most likely give a team a shot at one of those bids.

[hopefan]

interesting Greg  -  One of the reasons I'm swayed anti Wash U pool C is that I attended the IWU game - what a disaster that was!!!!  Despite the fact that they are off to a good start in conference, I'm still kind of doubtful on them.  I saw them beat NYU, and they really scrapped in that game.  Quite honestly, I'll be surprized if they beat any of the other Big 3 on the road (UR, CMU, NYU) - I'd likely go with CCIW team 3, and maybe even CCIW 4, before Wash U unless they perform well in those road games  -  Incidently, am hoping to see them play CMU tomorrow.
Thanks for the input  - 

[Titan Q]

hopefan, I think Wash U is pretty good.  The Bears are not on par with the CCIW's top 4 (Augustana, IWU, Elmhurst, North Central), but this year the CCIW really does have 4 great teams.  If the Bears played in the CCIW, they'd win some games vs the contenders in St. Louis.

Wash U has very nice balance with Stone's perimeter game, Ruths down low, and then solid role types in 7-0 Grunst, the freshman small forward Nading, and others. I think it's best not to over-analyze that IWU/Wash U game.  As we both saw, the Titans were just flawless in the 2nd half of that one on both ends of the floor.  The 21-0 run IWU went on from 14:23 to 9:40 was just one of those things where a really talented team put it all together and could do no wrong.   

I've often felt that in evaluating a team, it helps to "throw out" their worst game.  Every team is going to have at least one game where things just go terribly wrong.  I'd give the Bears a free pass on that 27 point home loss to IWU and evaluate the rest of their games for what they are.   

[Gregory Sager]

hopefan, I think Wash U is pretty good.  The Bears are not on par with the CCIW's top 4 (Augustana, IWU, Elmhurst, North Central), but this year the CCIW really does have 4 great teams.  If the Bears played in the CCIW, they'd win some games vs the contenders in St. Louis.

Hopefan, I saw Carnegie Mellon play Chicago last night, and I'd have to say that CMU is not all that and a bag of chips, either. They're certainly very good -- they're deep, senior-led, and feature three pretty good players in Nate Maurer, Clayton Barlow-Wilcox, and Marques Johnson. But on a neutral court I'd take each of the four teams in the CCIW's first division over the Tartans.

In other words, I doubt that Wash U faces a significant talent deficit against any of their UAA rivals this season. That's not to say that they won't drop some games on the road, because the UAA actually is very solid from top to bottom this season (I saw sixth-place Brandeis play last week, and I can report that Brandeis is not a bad team at all). But if you're waiting for a Bears collapse in the UAA race based upon what you saw in their game against Illinois Wesleyan, I think you'll be waiting in vain.

Oh, and the chances of the CCIW getting a third team into the tourney this season are slim ... and the chances of a fourth team are so small as to approach the vanishing point. Are there four teams in the CCIW better than Wash U? I'd agree with Bob and say, "Probably." Does that make a difference as far as the selection committee is concerned? Definitely not. In spite of their mediocre non-con schedule, Wash U is still in much better shape to land a Pool C than the third- and fourth-choice CCIW teams will be, especially since the CCIW now has a postseason tourney in which the other Pool C contenders will each take on an extra loss.

[20eagle31]

congrats to blackburn for another win. 

[fcnews]

BC 72 FU 58

A very even game for the first 16 minutes. FU had several leads, but went ice cold and allowed BC to finish on a 20 - 3 run. 38 - 21 halftime score. Storandt and the Griffin's did not allow Djedovic to get into the game finishing with 7 points on 2-13 fg (1-8) 3pt. But, had no answer for Zeb Hammond who went for 31 pts 11-16 fg (6-9 3pt). Hammond is an extremely smart player that will cause match up problems. Has the size to get his shot against smaller guards and to athletic for a bigger player to cover. BC runs a very disciplined offense and puts the ball in the right players hands. Defensively if they allow BC to clutch and grab in the paint, they can overcome the lack of size. FU cut the lead to 7 several times in the second half and the ball inside of four minutes to play, but could not buy a bucket when needed. With 10-12 seconds remaining and a 4 pocession game Hammond looked off an easy base line dunk and dribbled back out, "Class". The ball was kicked back to Stevens, while the players on the floor and the two coaching staffs are shaking hands Todd decides to knock down a wide open 3 with two seconds, "Not Classy".

Stat of the game - Besides Hammonds stat line - both teams combined to shoot 2 free throws in the first 32 minutes and shoot 25 in the final 8. I can see why kids get frustrated trying to figure how some of these crews are going to call. Is there a quota on Free throw attempts. A game that flowed well for 75% of the contest was ground to a halt. I don't see the reasoning in it. If it's not a foul the first 32 why call it the last 8. Free throws were pretty much even with BC shooting 16 to FU's 11.

One achilies heal for BC is that their not very deep. Starters averaged about 34 mins. with Djedovic playing 39.

FU comes into a stretch of three games that are all winnable (?), we need to see them mature and start taking care of some business. FU plays WU and BC the last two games of the year and can still play a role in the conference tournament seedings.

[hopefan]

FCNews, as I said, Djedovich, Hammond, or Regan for MOP  -  seems you may like hammond also..    good matchup between Regan and Hammond, similar type players

Well I went to see Webster - Greenville expecting to see a good game  -  I guess it was a good game for Webster Fans, but a real clunker from the get go if you were looking for a close competitive game.  Webster dominated from the start - as expected Greenville couldn't stop Hoggit - unexpected was they couldnt stop Spinner either, and Spinner hd a super shooting day as well, hitting 8 3's and finishing with 32 points.   AND, Webster played tough defense - really took Greenville out of their offense - Greenville looked bad.

Wednesday Webster - Maryville will be a real battle

[fcnews]

Hopefan - this is when it get's tough. MVP - i'd take Regan MOP - I'd have to lean to Hammond. SLIAC POY - ?

[MACMAN5]

guess whos back

Mac Attack who are you?  There are a lot of guesses but noone can figure it out.

daryl dont call me a mental midget if you dont want to be called a pedophile.

Make_Believe(Lance Wallace from MacMurray) I heard that you are transferring to Hawaii next year to play ball....any truth?

[pantherpride]

Hopefan:  I'm sorry the boys here at Greenville couldnt have gave you a better game.  We just looked pretty rough from the get go.  We are going through a couple of injuries on our team.  But, we have to have a stellar 2nd half of conference to have a hope for the tourney.  We have to starting winning some games.  Wednesday w/ Fontbonne will be a big game.  It's always fun when Lee brings his boys into HJ Long.

Scott Spinner for Webster was just a monster again us.  He lit us up for 32 points.  Unstoppable from outsite.  He's a tough little player.

[fcnews]

Panther Pride- Looking forword to Wednesday evening. There have been some very eventful games their. Better pack a lunch, never know how mant overtimes it will take.

[hopefan]

hang in there panther  -  having seen Greenville when they played well in the first half vs Maryville, I know what they're capable of  -  trouble is, at this point of the season, you have to hope they don't lay down.  they are still in the playoff hunt, but probably need to win 5 of 7 in the second half to assure themselves of a playoff spot  -  a tall order.

And speaking of "tall".. wow , Gville really needs to find some size in the middle  --  the tall skinny starter is just too weak, and while I admire Mutton for how hard he plays, a 6'2" middle man is just not going to stop a Hoggit or Bash/Klein or Kirkpatrick without fouling out in 10 minutes.

See you at Maryville in a couple of weeks....