MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Denny McKinney]

Hopefan. Really wondering about A. Smith. 22 pts on 17 fga's. Wow! A player like Ward was last year, might be wondering how he gets rolling when he's not touching ball at one end of the floor. Someone said that Ward looks very thin this year. Not the muscular body that he sported last year??? Any comment on that? I haven't seen him to comment.

Last comment on A. Smith. 38 minutes and 0 fouls. Just two boards. Don't remember any past Bunch teams that have been this one deminsial.

Happy to see GC continue to roll. Is this finally Coach Barber's year? Come back Panther Pride.

[hopefan]

I compared Ward's current stats with his stats in the 12 games he started last year..

shots per game are similar, 3 point shots per game are similar...  the big difference is shooting %

overall from the field... last year 53%, this year 40%
from 2 point shots....  last year 65%, this year 45%
from 3 point shots....   last year 38%, this year 34%

last year he got nearly 4 fts per game, 73%.... this year 2 fts per game, 57%

Why?


Ahmad Smith, I'm not going to get down on him.. many times this year he ends up with the ball as the shot clock is winding down and HAS to create... I just wish there was more to the hole offense from him rather than the fade away j's, which take him out of any rebounding position...He's shooting very similar % as last year...

[hopefan]

Yjak made a good comparison....  Hunter Ward to Jarrod Huskey

In Jarrod Huskey's Frosh year, he had a tremendous streak of games when playing with Willie Trimble... Trimble, the most exciting player the SLIAC will ever see, could penetrate from the point on anyone, and as he drew more and more coverage from defenses, was able to find Huskey in the paint for basket after basket... alas, Willie left after one year, and Huskey, though as hard of a worker and great leader as you could ask for, never again matched the production levels he achieved as a freshman.

The same could be a very real reason why Hunter Ward's numbers are down.. last year defenses had to respect a constant barrage of inside scoring from Kevin Miller with additional work from Huskey and Griffin... now, with the only inside offense coming from Aaron Griffin, defenses can pull out to the perimeter to play Ward tighter, as well as to pinch off any potential moves with the ball to the basket... It could be that Ward's game is missing Kevin Miller in a big way....


And while I'm talking... just noticed... no Tommy Ulinski for BC vs Fontbonne...??   That's TWO starters they were missing?

[WUPHF]

Willie Trimble had to take a season for personal reasons but had planned to return.  Does anyone know whatever happened?

[WUPHF]

I am sure you all know this, but after a quick search, it looks like Willie Trimble used his final season of eligibility to play close to home at Cal State Los Angeles.  It looks like he fared well in Division II: http://www.csulaathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=1501

[y_jack_lok]

I am sure you all know this, but after a quick search, it looks like Willie Trimble used his final season of eligibility to play close to home at Cal State Los Angeles.  It looks like he fared well in Division II: http://www.csulaathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=1501

You can find Trimble's stats CSULA here: http://csulaathletics.com/cumestats.aspx?path=mbball&year=2012&.

Willie Trimble had to take a season for personal reasons but had planned to return.  Does anyone know whatever happened?

What I heard from a very reliable source, during the season that would have been Trimble's senior year at Webster, he was attending classes and eligible to play but elected not to, instead leading his WU intramural  basketball team to a championship. If anyone knows this to be incorrect please say so.

[hopefan]

Regarding Willie's decision not to play :http://websterjournal.com/2011/11/08/video-basketball-star-willie-trimble-to-skip-upcoming-season/

[hopefan]

Regarding comments I made about missing players from Blackburn... Chris A Davis will return likely within a week, Tommy Ulinski will be out the rest of the season but likely back next year.... From a good source....

[y_jack_lok]

Regarding Willie's decision not to play :http://websterjournal.com/2011/11/08/video-basketball-star-willie-trimble-to-skip-upcoming-season/

I never saw that. Perhaps the decision to go back to LA after the 11-12 season when he didn't play at Webster and play his final year at CSULA was also driven by his grandmother's health. I hope he has been able to get a degree somewhere. I know it can be challenging to change schools as many times as he did and have one of them grant you a degree if you haven't taken the majority of your courses there.

[WUPHF]

Thanks guys.

[Denny McKinney]

Hopefan. I wasn't calling out Mr. Smith. He just happens to be the one taking most of WU's shots. Thanks for Ward's stats. You may be right on the loss of Miller.

[hopefan]

3 games tomorrow... the split of midweek games to Tuesday, Wednesday AND Thursday allows the opportunity to see SIX teams, 3 games rather than only one game on Wednesday... Doubtful that anyone besides me will take advantage, but hey... I love
SLIAC HOOPS!!!

So tomorrow night

Westmin at Prin.... hate to say it, but could this game be a deciding factor in ultimately deciding ninth place?

Mac at Iowa Wesleyan..... IWC nearly defeated early conference leader Greenville... I think they'll have a rougher time with Mac if the threesome of Whitlock, Johnson and Sutton continue to perform

Fontbonne at Spalding...  Long trip for Fontbonne, don't know that they can perform at a tough court where they'll  see quickness and pressure...  I'm rootin' for the Griffs, but think it will be Spalding... to win, Rucker, Kissing, Greenlee need to play tough, guards must minimize turnovers....

Would love to see Font at Spalding (good ladies' game too), but will settle for the short trip to Prin... gotta check out this Savoye kid from Prin....  anxious to see the new faces at Westmin...

[hopefan]

Prin 40   WC   24 half

Prin frosh Parker Davidson 16 points

[hopefan]

Final   Prin 75. WC 57

[hopefan]

Prin's top 4 played very well against Westmin last night... Freshmen Parker Davidson and Jeff Ross continue to show they're the real deal, Justin Ball a force in the middle, Larry Patterson running the offense with tremendous energy despite being hampered by foul trouble all night.... the big 4 got a little help with some key hoops from Joey Sander, Conner Savoye, and Dorian Watkins... Savoye in particular had an impressive night subbing for the foul plagued Patterson, hitting a three pointer (I've seen prettier shots, but hey, it went in), collecting 4 boards, 3 assists, and no turnovers in 16 minutes.

Poor Westmin.. a steady stream of player rotation couldn't pressure Prin into significant turnovers, never could cut the lead to single digits in the second half... Verdi Lee trying to come back from an achilles injury lacks explosiveness to the basket that he's displayed in the past, so Brandon Moore is their only true offensive threat...  and there is little if any activity around the basket.. what bigs there are don't play big.. Ross, Davidson and Ball dominated around the hoop....

And as usual I made a wrong turn leaving Prin and ended on a campus road named 'no exit'....   

Totally enjoyed chatting it up with Coach Mitchell, Kenny Sydness, and one of the Prin players...

Elsewhere, Mac handles IWC in a high scoring affair  97-86... Deavis Johnson gets his first start for Mac and responds with a double double 18 points and 12 boards... Clayton whitlock held to 9 points in 12 minutes, likely due to foul trouble, but Brent Long comes off the bench to help with 12 points and 5 boards.... and Hunter Sutton plays big again with 16 and 5 boards... James Williams finally finds his shooting touch with 19 points in 19 minutes.... This may be the Mac team we've expected to see..

Spalding beats Fontbonne in a game that was never close in the 2nd half... all of a sudden, look who is at 5-1 in the standings... SPALDING... Big game off the bench from James Turner, and Brandon Gabriel goes 32 minutes for 18 points, no turnovers.... this team could be maturing at the right time...

All of a sudden, the conference race may be moving in the direction of a top 4, one 'maybe', and a bottom 5.... the top 4 being Greenville, Mac (with the addition of Deavis Johnson), Webster, and Spalding... and the maybe being Eureka.... tonight's game Eureka at Greenville is a terrific opportunity for Eureka to say hey, there's a top 5 and we're in it... if so, conference results thus far say Webster is very vulnerable, losing to Eureka, needing OT vs Prin...   Webster's loss to Eureka is the only loss by the top 4 to the rest of the conference...  Eureka's loss to Fontbonne could hurt them in the long run..