MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Spinner  -  on the Fontbonne bench???   Wearing a purple blazer???

I do believe Hell just froze over....

[Long Distance Traveler]

Just wanted to drop a note for the Webster fans that were in attendance Sunday for the Augustana game.  The gentleman (Auggie fan) that was doing all of the officiating from the stands during the first half of the game had a personal interest in the game.  Come to find out he is the father of the head coach for Augustana.  Information obtained from the AD at Augustana also said that he is a retired Hall of Fame Basketball Coach.  I just wanted to let Hope Fan know what he was up against.

[Gregory Sager]

Just wanted to drop a note for the Webster fans that were in attendance Sunday for the Augustana game.  The gentleman (Auggie fan) that was doing all of the officiating from the stands during the first half of the game had a personal interest in the game.  Come to find out he is the father of the head coach for Augustana.  Information obtained from the AD at Augustana also said that he is a retired Hall of Fame Basketball Coach.  I just wanted to let Hope Fan know what he was up against.

Wow, Hopefan ... you told off Chips Giovanine? Illinois high-school coaching legend Chips Giovanine? Millikin33 was certainly correct when he said that your scolding of that then-unknown fan really took some stones!

You're my new hero, dude!

[fcnews]

Well Hopefan it has been chilly.

[sully309]

Right guard, I wouldn't let the loss to IC get you down too much. In case you haven't noticed, not too many SLIAC teams are really tearing it up in the non-conference portion of their schedules so far. I follow one of them.

Illinois College had some injuries last year and starts 4 juniors and a senior. They will improve on their 8-15 record from last year and if they had the opportunity to host all SLIAC teams this year, they would beat several by 25.

On the topic of officiating, I really don't think it matters what "conference" the officials come from, each league thinks the officiating could be better. As has been said, it is important to note that these are not "SLIAC" officials we're talking about, they are just officials that work at SLIAC games. They work lots of different games and perhaps levels of basketball.

My personal observation has been that the refs I've seen since switching to the SLIAC from the NIIC are a little better. There are a few good veteran officials that occasionally show up at Eureka and usually give a good effort.

This applies more to the women's officials I've seen, but I've generally seen a better called game from the younger officials, who are working their way up and still giving an honest effort each and every game. Some of the older officials (again, applying more to the women's games I've seen) really need to stop doing college games because they either don't seem to care, think they should be working better games, or are in no shape to keep up with the players and get out of position on routine fast breaks.

Oh yeah, I should mention that I crossed over to the dark side 6 years ago (when I looked like I was 10 as opposed to 16 like I do now). I don't pretend to know everything when it comes to officiating and I have much to learn about the craft, but it is fun most of the time.

[hopefan]

Mac loses to Robert Morris Springfield 93 - 75  no stats up yet on Mac site.

As I said to Right Guard, Blackburn's and Fontbonne's performance against RMS this week will provide a nice comparison.

[fcnews]

FU had a scout at the game last nite. It appears that RMC-S only played five players.

Principia puts it's undefeated season on the line tonite @ U of Dallas.

Checking the three box scores up on the Mac site, it appears the 6'7 260lb (?) Travis Albright has not appeared in a regular season game yet. Any word?

[hopefan]

Had it not been for the Mizzou game on TV Saturday night, this could have been a really fun Saturday of hoops - watch Fontbonne vs Robert Morris and then scoot up to Bloomington to see Webster at Ill Wez  -  if I watch the football game at home, perhaps I may still be able to listen to the Webster game on the internet broadcast by D3Hoops hall of famer Titan Q.

[sully309]

Eureka leads Dominican at half 28-25. Darnall leads EC with 12. Garcia has 9, Haiduc 7 and 7 for DU. Both teams shooting 32%, but with only 6 turnovers. Dominican was 5-11 at line EC did not shoot a FT. EC led by as many as 11, but Dom. scored the last 6 points of half. More late tonight...

[sully309]

Dominican comes back to send Eureka to 0-5 tonight 57-49. This one was a difficult watch. It looked like midway through the 1st half this would be the Red Devils' night, but the offense really fizzled in the 2nd half. It was a pretty short bench tonight...maybe it was a tad early to ask that many minutes from the starters? I really don't think that was it though. Just WAY too many missed lay ups, if you ask me!

This one was there for the taking and kudos to Dominican to stealing one on the road. They were really firing blanks from long range and EC was more than happy to let them launch away. Some (or perhaps many) of the home faithful wanted to point to officiating as the cause for tonight's loss (Dominican was called for 9 fouls all night). But, don't think many of those people can look in the mirror and say Eureka played well enough to win this game. It was a good effort defensively, but too many missed opportunities on the other end.

We're going in the right direction defensively: allowing 79, 80, 73, 64, and now 57 points in games this year. That much is nice to see.

If Blackburn can't get a win between now and next Wed, we should have some match up on our hands in Eureka as conference play tips off Dec. 5...

[Gregory Sager]

Looks like Greenville gave a good accounting of itself up in Naperville tonight. The Panthers lost to North Central, 84-65, but they led by six points with 11:15 left in the game and were tied with the Cardinals with five and a half minutes to go before the roof caved in and NCC closed out the game with a 22-3 run.

While the final score is about what I expected, I certainly did not expect Greenville to have NCC fans biting their nails in the game's waning minutes. Kudos to the Panthers.

[hopefan]

I think that shows that Greenville can be considered one of the top 4 teams in the SLIAC as we start looking forward to the conference openers next week.

[fcnews]

Hopefan - In your opinion, do you think the conference tournament race will be as close this year as last? Or, will the SLIAC be top loaded with four teams seperating themselves from the pack?

I see Webster, Westminster, Greenville and Fontbonne being maybe one step ahead of the second pack of Eureka, Mac and MU.

[hopefan]

Based on the results to date, That's pretty much the way I see it too - I'm not sure that we can rule out Maryville yet - I like some of their returning group - just have to hope that they don't get too down absorbing the punishment of a brutal non conference schedule. 

So far, Blackburn, Eureka, Mac and Prin have presented little that would indicate they might be at the top 4 level   -   on the other hand, that's why they play the games - any one of those teams could jump up and play better within the conference -

Font misses White, Webster misses Spinner, Westmin lost the big man in the middle, Greenville loses Conquest.   I really don't think any of the top 4 is as good as they were last year - but Blackburn, Mac , and Eureka lost even more.   Only Maryville, who used so many guys last year, may actually be better with experience and attrition this year.

Really, I look at last year as a pinnacle of SLIAC basketball  -   the programs will have to work hard to acheive that overall level again.

[fcnews]

Greenville's first 30 minutes last night against NCC has to be a lift for them. NCC 5-0 is probably as tough an opponent as they will face in the SLIAC.

The problem I see most teams having is the size match ups they will face when playing WU and FU. I don't think, from what I saw last year, Ellis of GC will be able to be a defensive force in the paint. I would say he is more of a finesse type player.