MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Gregory Sager]

I hope this is the year that the SLIAC can get a win in the NCAA tourney.  We've been wishing this for a while now, I know.  Fontbonne will be sporting a 21-6 record and hopefully can get a favorable first round game.

Fontbonne's actually sporting a 16-5 record as far as the selection committee is concerned. The wins over Moody Bible, RMC-Springfield, Hope International, and Lincoln Christian (twice) and the loss to William Penn don't count, because none of those are D3 teams, much less D3 regional opponents. It's that 16-5 record that will be put into the mix as the selection committee determines where to seed the Griffins.

[fcnews]

Franklin beats Defiance for HCAC AQ. Fontbonne beat Rose Hulman, RHIT beat Franklin twice.

[fcnews]

Fontbonne and Coach McKinney are now 3 for 3 in the post season, with an AQ on the line. Fontbonne has been second guessed about scheduling (not preparing them for the season) and minutes played (no bench means starters will be worn down by seasons end). I guess those are all moot points right now. Coach prepares his team for their ultimate goal, reaching the DANCE.

The griffin's loss 5 DIII games Wash U., Webster and WC (w/o POY Fogerty), Webster and Maryville (w/o McCoy). Not to bad of a season. Any seasons good when your playing in March.

Looking towards next year. FU returns The top three returning scorers Fogerty 20, Branch 17and McCoy 16. Along with the conferences best big man Storandt 1st in rebounding and 1st in blocks. Freshmen Rapp, Abozen and Sheetz( who had 5 huge pts. today ). They will be adding Daniel Lisch and a couple more who I can't speak about just yet.

Can we make it Back to Back to Back.

Now can we just get a draw on Monday. I do not want to walk accross the street to Wash U. Anywhere else and we'll give it our best shot SLIAC Fans.

[SLIAC Man]

Hope, you are killing me leaving Compton off!

I do got nothing but love for Fournie so I can respect that.

Holland for 6th man I am down with too; I'm always impressed with him.

SLIAC Man and Hopefan: the keenest eyes on D3 Hoops???

[fcnews]

Boy this board just shut down. Thanks Bunchtime and Yjak for the nice comments.

Yesterday was not what the Doctor ordered. MU was as physical as you could be without getting arrested. They went to the boards and weren't going to be denied. If you would of told me FU would go 2-15 from 3's a win, I would of told you were smoking something. FU found other ways to get it done.

Fogerty - 24 pts. and 10 rebounds those are the numbers of a POY. I don't no how many 8 ft. jumpers he hit.
Storandt - 5 pts. and 14 rebounds (5 off.) and 4 blocks
Fournie - 5 pts; and 6 rebounds ( 5 huge offensive)

Fontbonne won the battle (an that's an understatement) 41-35 (16 offensive)

It was definately a day when 3's were not falling, but Branch and McCoy got it done in other areas.
Branch - 24 pts. 11-14 from the line
McCoy - 10 pts. 4-4 from the line and 3 assists
Fontbonne had a season low 12 turnovers

Star of the Game- Fr. Frank Sheetz (Vianney - Home of Bunchtime ) 5 pts. in the 2nd half took just two shots. One huge 3pt. and a pretty reverse lay up in traffic. I've been saying this guy would help.

The Saints were led by All Conference Aaron Steinke - 20 pts. and 7 rebounds. McGrath - 14 pts (3-5 3's) and Saxton 10 pts. Kudos to Senior Casey Holland 9 pts and 9 reounds.

There were 8 lead changes in this game and 5 ties. FU was down 14 with 18 to play and just started to chip away. This bunch never gave up and found away to get it done.

As hopefan would say - It was a great game to watch. And a great atmosphere.

I just noticed, no post from Hope. Hope, I'm assuming your still at the boat and winning.

[hopefan]

The teams were announced yesterday, and while I can't remember all 3....

first team was Fogerty, Turk, Buxton, Robinson,  Ellis

Ihave no problem with that EXCEPT, Fournie did not even get honorable mention and Storandt only got mention, not 2nd team.  Seems to me the coaches are too focused on scoring alone.

2nd team was Hoggitt, Steincke (I don't agree), P Mckoy, Branch (I was down on him,  but he really stepped it up the last couple of weeks) and Compton.

Coach of year was Coach Bunch (yes my selection of Coach Wilde was far out, but with reason), MOP was Fogerty, Newcomer Cochrane

Old hopefan nailed it pretty well!!!!


AND, It just doesn't get any better than the Thursday MU-WU game and yesterday's MU-FU game - just a real pleasure to witness both....

[fcnews]

Hopefan - Since about 10 years ago, the COY on the men's side is not a voted award. Auto to the conference champs.

[hopefan]

I certainly agree with Coach Bunch's selection and only threw out Coach Wilde's name as a special way to mention Eureka's unexpected accomplishment.  In addition, Coach Rogers, despite the negative vibes sent his way on these pages, really did peak Maryville at season's end to play some great games and challenge for an NCAA spot.  And of course we should mention Coach Mckinney for keeping Fontbonne in the mix despite injuries to several critical players, and having them hit their own peak to win the conference tourney.

Great job by all.

Do I agree that the conference winner should AUTOMATICLY get COY  -  no


You know as I look at the list of Automatic qualifiers, and being somewhat familiar, though outdated, with schools in the east, I tend to think that the SLIAC may get pushed down a little more than deserved - being a midwest conference, the SLIAC is surrounded geographicly by (what I feel) is the best D3hoops in the country - the CCIW, WIAC, MIAA, SCAC, MWC,HCAC - if we were located further east and could compete with the E8s, LL, 3 or 4 of the NE conferences, the CC, the PnAC - I'm not so sure our competitive stock wouldn't rise  -  I would love to see the SLIAC, one time, get a shot in the tourney at someone other than a 1-2 seed, just to see where we stand.

Wish the tourney had a bunch of 'playin games', where the top 32, 40 48 teams, whatever, sat, and a series of very competitive first round games could be played amomgst the bottom 12-16-20 teams to determine who would advance to meet higher seeds.  The kids who play so hard to win conference tourneys deserve, when possible,  a competitive game rather than the typical first round trouncing.

[y_jack_lok]

Hopefan - Since about 10 years ago, the COY on the men's side is not a voted award. Auto to the conference champs.

Why is the standard different on the women's side? Mike Williams certainly did a fine job at Blackburn, but Chris Ellis has built a SLIAC dynasty and deserves COY just as much. I could maybe see co-coaches of the year in this situation. The Blackburn women were 9-7 in conference. Giving the nod to Williams alone is a bit of a stretch. Were that record 11-5, I could maybe see it.

I don't agree with hopefan about Wilde, however. Yes, Eureka lost a lot from last year. But an 8-8 conference record isn't strong enough in my opinion. And especially the way he coached his team in the final 4 or 5 minutes of their late season game at Webster had me scratching my head. Yes, they were down a lot and maybe he didn't want the margin to grow, but Webster had it's deep bench on the floor, as did Eureka, and Wilde had his team just stand and dribble and run down the shot clock to about 10 seconds on their final 4 or 5 possessions before attempting to do anything offensivley. Maybe he was having them practice some play, but why? I think he should have just let the kids play their regular offense. How much fun could those guys have been having? They finally get a few minutes of playing time and this is all they're allowed to do?

[BunchTime]

FYI, there is a little article about Webster's broadcasting of the agonizing minutes of their defeat and specifically the heartbreak that the female announcer went through as the clock hit all zeros on the Daily Dose, which could be found on the frontpage of this site.

[hopefan]

I forgot about that incident Yjack - at the end of the Webster game - I didn't like that either.

Still though, A eureka team that I thought would be in the bottom group of the standings with Mac, BC and Prin, was instead playing for a spot in the conference playoffs.  Why, because they won 6 vs the bottom group, and defended home court vs MU and GC.    For that, I have to give Coach Wilde credit.

[fcnews]

Maybe, now that it is an auto, Coach McKinney could get his first COY. If they voted last year, he would of been in the running, with a starting line up of 3 soph's and 2 freshmen. But, I don't think he really cares.

Let's all keep Coach Wooden in our prayers. The FU family has a special tie to him, since Coach McKinney received the Wooden Award at the Guardians of the Game Banquet a few final fours back.

Get well soon Coach.

[pantherpride06]

Well, I'm back.  I've been busy the last week with the Northwest Conference Men's and Women Championships.  Just as a note, our women won the conference tournament and our men got bombed 96-69 at Whitworth.

As for the SLIAC Tournament...  Am I surprised, absolutely not.  I said last week to some people...  Don't punch Webster's ticket before they play the games.  Once again, the tough schedule did not pan out for the Gorloks.  I'm not going to punch or kick anyone when they are down because it sucks.  But, I just want to recognize that the whole scheduling issue that comes up about December with Fontbonne's Moody Bible against Webster's Augie and UW Plattville is almost a moot point for a second straight year.

Who am I to say anything though, my Panthers missed the tournament again this year by one game. Assuming because of our schedule... or so someone may mention.   

Back to Greenville, here is the news on their NCCAA National Tournament run...

NCCAA North Central Regional Championship Tournament (at Trinity Christian)
Friday, March 7th

Game 1: #4 Greenville(13-12) at #1 Trinity Christian (19-12)
Game 2: #2 Northwestern (19-3) v. #3 Bethany Lutheran (11-16)

Bethany Lutheran (NCAA III / UMAC) [UMAC 4-Way Tie for Second]
Northwestern (NCAA III / UMAC) [UMAC Tournament & Reg. Season Champion]
Greenville (NCAA III / SLIAC) [SLIAC 5th Place]
Trinity Christian (NAIA / CCAC) [CCAC 2nd Place]

Quality group of basketball teams.  Hoping for a good showing Friday at for Greenville up in Chicago.

[hopefan]

I'm sure everyone in the SLIAC is wishing the best for Greenville  -  a chance to do the SLIAC proud!!!!

[Gregory Sager]

Once again, the tough schedule did not pan out for the Gorloks.  I'm not going to punch or kick anyone when they are down because it sucks.  But, I just want to recognize that the whole scheduling issue that comes up about December with Fontbonne's Moody Bible against Webster's Augie and UW Plattville is almost a moot point for a second straight year.

Is it? Seems to me that Webster went undefeated in regular-season play this season. If you were to ask Coach Bunch, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he said that playing teams like Augie and UW-Platteville helped get his Gorloks ready for the SLIAC season.

Taking nothing away from Maryville for beating the Gorloks, or from Fontbonne for winning the SLIAC tourney and garnering the Pool A bid, what Webster accomplished this season was pretty special. Your predictable jab at Webster's tough non-conference schedule does not add up, Pride.