MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[buncheriffic]

according to buncherrific fontbonnes schedule is plenty tough enough......3-4  sounds to me like fu better keep he schedule as is. 
just a side note.....i hope i have the energy that lee mac has when i reach his age someday! he is constantly up and down the court during practice!

If having a losing record means that you have a tough schedule, I guess that CalTech is the toughest team in all of Division III!

[y_jack_lok]

"I heard Kuhn has been sidelined w/ injury. Any Update?"

Above quote from fcnews.

I talked to Kuhn briefly after the SLIAC women's volleyball tournament Saturday night. He said he is fine and practicing at full speed.

[fcnews]

As for SLIAC assistants seniority FU's Lance Thornhill has 11 years in at Fontbonne, after coming over from Webster. He may not be the recruitor the Webster asst. is, but anyone who has seen a FU game knows the amount of in game coaching he puts in. And, his knowledge of the game.

As for as the animosity shown by some WU posters goes. I think Bunchtime will back me up when I say that the FU folks don't carry that with them. If FU can't win it, I'm sure they would rather see Webster win it then anyone else.

It has always been a tremendous battle on the floor, but that's as far as it goes from the Griffin Camp.

Yjak - Thanks for the info on Korey. You never want to see a Sr. have to fight through injuries his last year.

[FU_Pride]

heard over the weekend that thornhill was a gamer at pattonville back in h.s......any truth to this fc?

[FU_Pride]

(mens)fontbonne vs. webster in basketball in my opinion is one of the biggest rivalries in the sliac in all sports...men and women both.  just a fan wanting to see my griffins do well.

[BunchTime]

I would agree that Webster and Fontbonne is by far the best rivalry in the SLIAC.  I believe there consistency at being one of the top teams year in and year out and the short drive between the two schools located on the same road (maybe 6-7 miles) makes for an excellent rivalry.

[Gregory Sager]

Agreed, but it also calls for very good coaching (and resiliant players).  Otherwise, TOO tough a nonconference schedule may lead to demoralization.  While the ratios vary depending on the players and coaches, I'd say that generally the best schedule is a mix of cupcakes (confidence-building), top teams (see where we need to get, and hopefully learn a few 'tricks'), and fairly even competition (see where we stand).

You must've dozed your way through that Dennis Bridges class as an undergrad at Wesleyan, Chuck. Bridges firmly believed that there was no such thing as "too tough a non-conference schedule" -- and his cupcake-free Novembers and Decembers invariably paid off for his teams in January and February.

The track record of Illinois Wesleyan is one of the best examples on this level of why it pays to schedule as many tough non-conference games as possible, due to the competitive dividends a team thereby reaps when it enters conference play.

While I confess to dozing through many classes as an undergrad, "Coaching ala Bridges" was definitely not one of them!  But you ignored the rationale in my first two sentences.  I dare say there are not many Dennie Bridges out there!  Blindly following his lead may not work so well unless you ARE Dennie!  (Besides, with the teams he put together, quite a few of those tough opponents looked like cupcakes by the time he got through with 'em! )

That last sentence deserves about five of these, Chuck:



Illinois Wesleyan was notorious for playing D1 teams throughout the '70s and '80s and into the '90s. And, no, those D1 teams did not "look like cupcakes by the time he got through with 'em." The Titans took their lumps in most of those games, although they occasionally came close and once even beat Arizona (back during my student days at North Park in the early '80s, when the great Blaise Bugajski and his accomplices Greg Yess and Joel Fruendt wore the green and white for Wesleyan). They played plenty of D2 and NAIA teams as well. It was much easier to get games against D1 and D2 programs back then.

Your hero worship of Bridges misses the point. The rationale is valid, no matter who is doing the coaching or who is doing the playing. A tough non-conference sked prepares a team for the higher intensity of conference play. Rather than become demoralized and disheartened, even if they get whipped by better teams, your players enter conference play with the attitude of, "We've already seen great teams this season. Therefore, nothing we see in conference will surprise us or intimidate us." It's all a matter of the coach carefully explaining the rationale behind the tough non-conference scheduling to his players beforehand, and the players grasping that rationale. Illinois Wesleyan players traditionally not only grasped why they were thrown into the lion's den every season before the main stretch of conference play got underway in January, they relished it. They bragged about it.

The strategy works for plenty of other schools, too. Wooster always plays a pretty tough non-conference schedule. I'm sure that Wooster head coach Steve Moore figures that his rather undistinguished league (Woo and Witt excepted) will look like easy pickings after his Scots have faced top-notch D3 and NAIA competition throughout November and December -- and those tough games also steel the Scots for what they're likely to face in the NCAA tourney, since they invariably qualify for it. More to the point for SLIAC fans, Aurora head coach James Lancaster also tends to schedule "tough" as compared to the level of his league, which is not considered to be among the better leagues in this region. And it certainly pays off for his teams as well.

I think that Coach Bunch does it the right way at Webster, and while I'm sure that the MacMurray schedule was already constructed by the time that Coach Creal arrived on campus I'll bet that he'll be eager to use his CCIW ties to have his Highlanders step up in non-conference competition in future seasons.

[fcnews]

FU Pride - Coach Thornhill was one of the best point guards in the area. His Pattonville teams were very good in the then very tough Sub. North Conference. He also went on to a short career at Southwest Mo. State.

As for great debate, we will know more after the 12/5 game.

SLIAC SID - Why was there nothing in the Post about the SLIAC post season tournaments for soccer and VB

[Titan Q]

SLIACers,

Can someone provide me with the 411 on the MacMurray Highlanders in advance of tomorrow evening's IWU/Mac scrimmage in Bloomington?  I can't seem to find 2006-07 cumulative stats on their website (could be operator error).

Who are the key returning players?  Any impact newcomers? 

Thanks.

[fcnews]

Titan Q - Probably not operator error. Mac athletic dept. had a tough year last year. Mac lost almost everyone from last year. I believe Compton and Schmidt are the only returners with much experience. Coach Creal brought Wes Littrel (sp?) with him from MU. Hope this helps.

[iwumichigander]

SLIACers,

Can someone provide me with the 411 on the MacMurray Highlanders in advance of tomorrow evening's IWU/Mac scrimmage in Bloomington?  I can't seem to find 2006-07 cumulative stats on their website (could be operator error).

Who are the key returning players?  Any impact newcomers? 

Thanks.

Q - I have to agree with FCNEWS.  Even if you had the 06/07 cumulative stats those would not be meaningful.  The Highlanders previous coach, as I recall,  attempted to run the Grinnell system with poor results.  My guess would be coach Creal will not use the "system" but implement something built around whatever talent he has to work with.

[hopefan]

IWUMichigander - no, wrong - the system coach was not there last year  - They brought in Steve Hettinga, who did an excellent job - but he left for Lake Superior State - and through the summer three starters, each of whom could have been viewed as All Conference level players, also left.  Add to that several graduations, and the procram is starting this season with one returning starter and a couple of guys who saw limited time off the bench last season.

[Deep Six]

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    Re: SLIAC Chat
« Reply #3691 on: Today at 04:00:19 pm »   

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Mac has Senior Neil Compton and Billy Long returning. Neil Compton is the lone starter returning and is a sharp shooter. Long is a great perimeter defender and very athletic. Nick Schmidt(Jr.) will be a presence in the post even though he is undersized and new comer Wes Littrell(So.) will be a presence in the post as well. Adam Polston(So.) will provide a scoring punch off the bench. Last year he played a significant role in Mac defeating Blackburn @ Blackburn when Jerel Robertson was injured by providing 15 pts off the bench in a hostile envirnoment. He's a left-handed sharp shooter. They also have freshman brothers the Fullers who are both very athletic. Quick footed guard Dustin Rieken(Fr.) will handle the ball at Point along with Polston and Mikie Sellers(Jr.). Brock Talleur(So.) is a hard nosed defender who also is another post player. The other two freshmen are posts Bryan Casad who is a threat in the post and on the perimeter as well and Travis Albright who is a 6'5 300 lb athletic post player. Adam Martinez is a transfer from Rober Morris-Springfield who also will play a role.

[fcnews]

OK guys here is a stat for you to try and grasp. Wash U's endowment now ranks in the top five at 4.7 billion dollars. 4.7 billion. I say this because the deal closed on the purchase of the CBC property. Wash U. came in late with an offer of 22 million, out bidding FU's 20 million. I don't know about you all but I can't even grasp the figure.

With the dow dropping 300 pts today, Wash U. probably loss more then FU's total endowment.

[FU_Pride]

thats no joke....you dont know what its like to goto school and feel wash u practically breathing on you!! just a little over a week left!!