hopefan:
Thanks.

Re: Tiebreakers....
I guess that just goes to show you that painting your face, carrying silly signs, and shouting strange things in unison DOES NOT make you unintelligent.

Kudos Beaver Backers for knowing the tiebreakers. Very impressive.

I have to say I'm rooting very hard for the squad from Fulton this weekend.

MU 77 - BC 55

Dominant performance from start to finish by Maryville. Jumped out to an early lead (17-5) and kept that distance the rest of the way. BC rallied, after being down 21 early in the 2nd half, to cut it to 11. But that was as close as they could get the rest of the way.

Hebl, Regan, Bash, Elwell, Smiddy, Klein (all seniors) played a very solid game collectively. Klein hurt his shoulder again in the first half, but came back and played well in the second half. Bash was clearly still a little hobbled, but was very tough to stop down low. He plays so well when he is double-teamed and kicked more than a few passes out to Hebl for 3's. Smiddy had a big three pointer at a key point when Blackburn was trying to claw back in it. Elwell just runs the team so well and was very much in control. And, Hebl and Regan are just so good. They absolutely took the game over early in the first half and made it a walk the rest of the way.

It was a great way to end it for those seniors. Nice lead allowed Coach Rogers to take them out with a few minutes left to get the thanks they deserved from the crowd. (Great crowd, by the way.)

Blackburn had a small contingent of enthusiastic guys in the stands. But their chants were continuosly drowned out by the strong MU students under the basket. One perplexing chant from the BC fans when the game was nearly over.........."Still in First Place, Still in First Place". I'm not 100% sure on the tiebreakers, but on the SLIAC standings website, Maryville is now on top.

Finally, congrats to MU Asst. Coach Gene Myers. After 15 years as MU assistant, he is hanging up the sweater vest at the end of this year. He has been the one constant through many ups and downs with the MU program.

Let's hope MU can stay focused and close out the season with wins at MacMurray and Prin. It would be much more fun watching the tournament in a college gym at MU as opposed to the grade school gym in Carlinville.

Please remove MACMAN5. I think we have been tolerant enough of his egregious comments. But enough is enough.

hopefan and fcnews: kiss and make up. It's making it uncomfortable for the rest of us

What did we learn last night? Regan from MU is a strong contender for  POY. He and Hebl have really been carrying that team this year. Bash brings stability to the team from the interior, but he has not been near as dominant as he was two years ago when he won POY. Any other contenders out there for POY? I know it's early, but not having seen all teams, I would like a little feedback.

I doubt if MACMAN5 will be able to make it to Maryville tonight. The house arrest anklet only lets him go 500 feet from the house. Plus, I'm sure he's already got a big night planned watching Gilmore Girls reruns.

Isn't there an age requirement to able to post here? Clearly MACMAN5 falls short of the requirement. However, I must applaud him. It does take guts to make statements on a public forum (that can be tracked)  that are so idiotic. But enough about that....let's hoe he has gotten all the response he's going to get. He doesn't deserve anymore......................................

Back in the day.......I played in a SLAIC championship game at Blackburn (when the conference had a full tourney at the end of the year, and at which the tourney winner advanced to the nat'l tourney). I must tell you that it seemed a bit ridiculous to play such an important game in a grade school-sized gym. But, that being said, they earned home court advantage (even though we did win the game) and deserved to host the game. It would be unlikely for the SLIAC to change the host site. I can appreciate "hopefan"s reasoning behind it (and it clearly makes sense), but it won't happen.

It is definitely a 3 team race for the conference. The play for the fourth spot will be fun to watch. I don't see anyone cracking MU, BC or WC (barring injury). Home team in the tourney will probably take the championship.

Anyone have early thoughts on all conference selections?