MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[pantherpride06]

Hopefan:  I'm about an hour or so from Hanover, Ind. I'm also headed up to Bloomington to watching IU v. Ball State.  I wish the Hope ladies well though.

Greenville men slated to head back to campus on the 1st and get ready for Prin.  I'm getting excited to get back in the swing of things.  Any word or any new comers to anyone's squad?  I know Fontbonne usually picks up a few.  Anyone know any thing yet?

[Beaver_SID]

Mac,

Mickie and I were captains of the Cahokia baseball team, and actually Mickie never played basketball for Cahokia. i knwo he spent his first year or so down in Kansas or something like that playign baseball. Mickie is one hell of an athlete, good runner with great hand-eye coordination. Very opinoinated and a little moody though. I am not surprised to see him on a court though, he was always playin @ the park! 

[Mac Attack]

TAMPA, Fla. – The University of Tampa men's basketball team held off Fontbonne for an 84-71 victory. The Spartans move to 8-4 on the season with the victory.

Following a first-half where Tampa extended its lead to as many 17 points, the Spartans allowed the Griffins to cut the lead to single digits on three occasions in the second half.

[fcnews]

University of Tampa 84 Fontbonne University 71
U of T just defeated #5 ranked division 2 rollins

[hopefan]

Looking at the Fontbonne box score, looks like Brian Fogarty had a great game from the field  -   8 for 9 in 20 minutes.  Another good showing for Fontbonne, but another loss  -  I still think things will go much better for the Griffs starting next week....

[Mac Attack]

MacMurray defeats Huntingdon. Not sure of the final score, but heard it was about a 10 point win. MacMurray moves to 3-3. First time the Highlanders have been at .500 this deep into a season in several years. MacMurray plays the host school,  LaGrange College, tomorrow afternoon. LaGrange (7-5) lost this evening to Millsaps, 81-75. More details when they become available. As previously noted, Huntingdon had lost by by one point to Rhodes College - and Rhodes lost by three to Westminster.

Congratulations to Coach Hettinga and the young MacMurray team!

[Mac Attack]

MacMurray 67   Huntingdon 57

Highlanders broke it open at the nine minute mark in the first half, led by 10 at the break, and kept the lead between 7-12 for the final 20 minutes. This was a decent Huntingdon team who has played several strong clubs some close games - much better than Principia, Lincoln Christian, etc. For MacMurray to take three weeks off, travel 12 hours, play in a strange gym against an opponent they've never seen, and come out with a win is huge for Coach Hettinga and his team.

Stat notes: Mac's leading scorer, Jerel Robertson, failed to record a field goal, and finished with five points on 5-8 free throw shooting. For Mac to win a game like this with their leading scorer not making a FG gives you an idea about what kind of team they have this season. Whalum had 15 pts and 3 assts; Coleman, Compton, and Schmidt all had 10 pts. Greene had 9 pts, team-high 7 rebs, and 3 stls. Solid bench minutes from Schmidt, Hipshir, and Long. Mac was only 17-50 FG%, but 9-20 3pt and hit 24 FTs. Biggest stat of the night for MacMurray - only 9 turnovers.

Mac plays LaGrange College tonight and will be a decided underdog. But the Highlanders have won three in a row, all on the road - and Robertson may bust out with a big game. Hope the team remains injury free and can avoid illness. Long trip home tonight, with games coming up on January 3 (Rockford) and January 6 (Westminster).

It appears that everyone made their grades and is 100% for the second semester. Word is the team may add one or two mid-year transfers. This would help the team's depth and ability to match up against different teams with different looks.

Hope to get a big win tonight!

[fcnews]

I thought this last game deserved a few comments.

I think that FU made very good showing for our conference. It is my understanding that the SSC conference is one of the better in DII. U of T ( selected 3rd in their conference; behind Rollins and Eckard) has already beat Pre Season #5 Rollins and is 8-4 overall.

UT started 6'8,6'8,6'7,6'4,6'4. The 6'7 kid was playing only his third game since transfering from Butler. UT could probably beat UMSL by 20.

Fontbonne put on a clinic in blocking out. The rebounding margin was 43-41 in UT's favor. Storandt and McCoy both had 11.

Most encouraging stat was the second halfscore FU won the half by four.
FU is 1-1 on the season against DII teams.

Hopefan I agree with you and look for FU to start making great improvements in January.

[hopefan]

LaGrange defeats MacMurry 84-72.....  I was not as impressed by Mac's win over Huntingdon as Mac Attack was, though as Mac pointed out, a win on the road is a good win   -  but Huntingdon has yet to beat a D3 team, their only win being over Atlanta Christian.    LaGrange appeared to be a real test, and evidently Mac stayed with them, but couldn't get the win.

Don't despair Mac - these games mean little - the real stuff starts up again in a week!!!!

[Mac Attack]

Huntingdon gave Rhodes all they wanted, losing by one. Rhodes lost to Westminster by three. Either Huntingdon is better than their record would indicate, or Westminster isn't as good as most of us think they are. Guess we'll find out next week which is true...

And as I said earlier, anytime your team goes three weeks without playing, then travels 12 hours to play someone theynever seen before in a strange gym, a win is special. I don't care if the opponent is the Little Sisters of the Poor, and I think most coaches would agree.

MacMurray trailed by as many as 26 early in the second half this afternoon, and then proceded to cut it to four several times, the last time with 55 seconds left to play. Mac had to foul, the Panthers hit their free throws, and that was the end of it. LaGrange was a quality opponent. Coach Hettinga and his team have a lot to be proud of. This was a good trip for the Highlanders in several aspects, and the work that was done will pay off down the road.

Greene had 18 points and seven rebounds in only 23 minutes. Greene and Robertson were hampered by foul trouble from the very beginning - both fouled out. The technical foul on the MacMurray bench would seem to indicate that Coach Hettinga was more than a little exercised with the officiating. We'll leave it at that. Mac had four other players in double figures - Whalum 14, Coleman and Robertson with 12 each, and Compton with 10. We were a dreadful 3-17 on 3 point shots, which probably had a lot to do with the outcome.

fcnews - you're right about next week. With the possible exception of Eureka, there isn't a clear cut "top tier" group of teams in the SLIAC. My sense is, with the exception of Principia, every team will have to play well to win its conference games. I don't think there will be many "ugly" conference wins. Teams that keep their turnovers down, play tough team defense, hit their shots, rebound tough, and play hard for 40 minutes will get the win. Those who don't will probably lose.

Mac has worked hard for its 2-0 conference start - but much work remains. Let's get started.

[hopefan]

Blackburn loses to UMSL  84-71....   From the Box score, it looks like Blackburn has made a couple of tweaks to the starting lineup.  This is another team, like Fontbonne, who has dropped a number of nonconference games to good teams, but still seem like they'll make a lot of noise during league play...

So something to consider before league play starts next weekend, at this point, who do each of us really think will be in the four team conference playoff...   everyone, including me, has said it's a 7 or eight team race  -  let's take off our rose colored glasses and whittle it to four

would like to see a forecast from the following  ... Mac Attack, Bunch time, Beaver SID, Panther, FCnews, Yjak, EurekaSID, anyone else?

Great praise to anyone who can hit 4 of 4.   And yes, I'll also ponder and put out my picks.

[Mac Attack]

These were the four teams I picked before the season started, and I still think they'll be there in the post season tournament:

Eureka
MacMurray
Webster
Westminster

I believe that Fontbonne, Greenville, and Blackburn have the potential of moving into the top four if they can steal one or two big wins on the road. When you boil it down, as I think I've stated more than once, the key to the post season will be to win the games you should win at home and steal one or two on the road. The teams that can win at home and pull an upset or two on the road will be there when the smoke clears. Any team that loses a home game they should have probably won will have their work cut out for them.

Key games coming up in the next week or so will help all us see how this formula will play out:

January 6
Westminster @ MacMurray (BIG test for both teams, especially MacMurray)
Fontbonne @ Blackburn (If Beavers are to make a serious run, they need to win this one)

Tuesday, January 9
Greenville @ Maryville (If Panthers can win games like this one on the road, look out)
Webster @ Westminster (Blue Jays need to hold their home court)

Friday, January 12
Eureka @ Webster (Gorloks can't afford another home loss)
MacMurray @ Greenville (Can Mac steal another road win?)

Saturday, January 13
Blackburn @ Webster (Can the Beavers get it done on the road?) 
Eureka @ Westminster (Would be huge win for the Devils) 
MacMurray @ Fontbonne (How much will the Greenville game take out of Mac?)

On Sunday, January 14, we'll have a much better idea of who the contenders are and who the pretenders are. One note - several teams, MacMurray included, have a number of tough conference games away from home in early January. Down the road, these teams will be defending their home court. How much of a difference that will make, only time will tell. But teams that can win on the road early have to be considered post-season favorites - unless they can't win games they should win at home. Should be a great conference race.

[Mac Attack]

Week #6 Pick 'em results:

PantherPride 4-4
BeaverSID 4-4
Mac Attack 3-4
fcnews 0-4

Season total (correct picks)

PantherPride - 49
BeaverSID - 49
fcnews - 47
Mac Attack - 46

Need someone to step in and replace fcnews this week and for the remainder of the season. Come one, come all.

Week #7 Games

Wednesday, January 3   
Washington U @ Webster 8:00 PM
Eureka @ Dominican  7:00 PM
Rockford @ MacMurray 7:00 PM
   
Thursday, January 4   
Baptist Bible MO @ Westminster 6:00 PM
   
Saturday, January 6   
Maryville @ Eureka  3:00 PM
Principia @ Greenville  3:00 PM
Webster @ Lincoln Christian  3:00 PM
Westminster @ MacMurray  3:00 PM
Fontbonne @ Blackburn  3:00 PM

Please post your picks by noon, Wednesday.

Good luck to all!

[Mac Attack]

My picks for Week #7

1/3/07
Wash U
Dominican
MacMurray

1/4/07
Westminster

1/6/07
Eureka
Greenville
Webster
MacMurray
Fontbonne

[pantherpride06]

For my final four or top four, it's going to be a dog fight.  Everyone has Eureka at 1.  I think it's possible to put them number one.  I'm not really sure who I put number 1.  I'd love to put Greenville there, I'm not sure we can really fufill the position well.  Here is my stab...

1. Eureka  (Why not, everyone else has)
2. Greenville  (Really think my boys are coming togeather)
3. Westminster (Mo.)  (Awful decent NC schedule)
4. Maryville (Mo.)  (I believe in the Saints)

5/6 - MacMurray/Webster

As for the weekly picks.... see below.

Week #7 Games

Wednesday, January 3  
Washington U
Eureka (If they are that good, should be a easy win)
MacMurray
 
Thursday, January 4  
Westminster
 
Saturday, January 6  
Eureka  (Maybe the game of the weekend!!!)
Greenville
Webster
Westminster
Blackburn