If all of the talk is true about MSOE's recruiting class and WLC's internal addition, it sounds as if the top seven teams in the NAC should be pretty strong.  So maybe AU and Edgewood at the top with teams 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 coming down to Benedictine, Dominican, Lakeland, MSOE and WLC (in no particular order other than alpha).

There was a lot of talk of how well Dominican's guys played in the summer leagues this year.  Any insight as to how this has translated into their preparation for the upcoming season?

MSOE sounds to be improved from last year with a lot of depth in the front court, which could be a factor in a conference with a lot of talented front court players (Welton, Haiduc, Averkamp, Murphy, etc.).

I'll go:

1. Edgewood
2. Aurora
3. Dominican
4. Lakeland
5. WLC
6. MSOE
7. Benedictine
8. Concordia Chicago
9. Concordia Wisconsin
10. Marian
11. Rockford
12. Maranatha

Time for basketball predictions.  The NAC Coaches Poll hasn't come out yet but anyone got any thoughts on how the conference will shape up this year.

Conference play opens up this weekend, although it is predicted to be a very wet weekend throughout most of the country.  Any thoughts on the NAC and how this season should play out.  If baseball can be as exciting as the basketball season was, I think we are in for a fun month-plus of action.

Best of luck to all teams.

weekend series:

Aurora @ Lakeland*
Benedictine @ Marian*
Concordia Chicago @ Edgewood*
Dominican @ Rockford*
Wisconsin Lutheran @ Concordia-WI

*Note:  Four of the first five series in the inaugural season of the NAC pits a 2006 LMC school vs. NIIC school. 

Predictions?

Quote from: bigdog55 on February 24, 2007, 09:41:26 PM

Quote from: Big_Uns on February 23, 2007, 02:10:41 AM
I'm awfully surprised Lakeland got picked ninth. This is a team who finished fifth last year with a super young team and took two of three from Edgewood last year (Edgewood only lost 4 in conference all season). They will be a sleeper this year. They have plenty of talent returning (only one season long starter was lost) and their pitching should be much better. Their offense is going to be their strong suit, though, and could make some noise.

How good is this conference altogether though? Edgewood, the LMC's best, slips to second because of Aurora. You have two World Series trips in the last five years (Aurora last year and Lakeland in 2002) and a near miss by Edgewood two years ago. Dominican won the tournament last year with a super young team, and the team's two best pitchers return.

This has to be the strongest out of any of the sports the NathCon offers.

I believe it was Concordia that won the NIIC tournament last year who has their top pitchers back after only losing 2 seniors.  Concordia did however lose two starters who are not returning to the team this year.  With a deep bench CUC is bound to compete in the NAC

Dominican did win the LMC tournament.  Concordia Chicago won the NIIC tournament.  So  the original post was correct to a point.

Aurora is eligible for a Pool B bid since the NAC doesn't have an automatic qualifier.  That is most likely the bid they will get.  I would think that even if they don't win the conference, they would still get their bid - be it as one of 4 Pool B's or 18 Pool C's (per the front page article).

That's exactly what I'm saying.  The parity in the NAC creates an atmosphere where a lot of schools have very little separation between them.  Marian and Benedictine probably also feel like they could have finished better than in a tie for sixth.  Benedictine played the final two and a half weeks pretty much without their two highest scorers in Swanson and Bailey.  That really could devastate any team filled with no seniors and mostly freshman and sophomores.

I have to jump in on the close losses keeping a team from getting the two-seed.  Almost any team in the conference can make that claim because of the parity within the conference.  Look at Dominican for example, they played a six overtime games this season, five against conference opponents.  They are currently sitting on a 17-9 overall record and could very easily be looking at a 20-win season if they didn't fall by two at Marian (in regulation), to Wisconsin Lutheran at home in overtime, at Edgewood by one in overtime and at home to Aurora by three.  As a matter of fact, their only really convincing defeats were at Aurora and at Benedictine.  The rest of the season all of their losses were either in overtime or by no more than five points (excluding against Coe when they were ahead by six at the half.

The flip-side of that story though is that Dominican also won nine games by fewer than 10 points or in overtime.  That shows how close they were to a.500 season as opposed to being 17-9.

I have to say I think the polls seem pretty legit.  I mean, if anyone plans on winning the conference, you are going to have to beat Aurora.  Welton is a freak of a Division III basketball player and they always seem to have a couple of shooters every year and floor leadership at the point.

Lakeland was very solid last year and ran their offense better than any team I saw.  However, new head coach and no Germayne James...jury is still out on them.

Edgewood is very solid with the a strong front court featuring Averkamp and Ciche not to mention the fat that the Edgedome is a tough place to play.

Dominican has been a hot topic on this board with all of their guys returning a what-not.  They typically have been very athletic but sloppy with the basketball.  I'm very interested to see them this year.  If they take better care of the ball and learn how to finish games, they could be extremely dangerous...just ask Aurora.

I would have to slide Concordia up to fifth behind Dominican.  They have improved immensely over the last couple of years.  In fact, they beat Benedictine (who claimed the five spot in the poll) three times last year, including twice in a five day span at the end of the season.

Benedictine, Wisconsin Lutheran and Rockford will all be contenders for anywhere from fourth to eighth come the end of the season.  Benedictine routinely finished in the top two or three in the NIIC annually.  They lose Harrison but he may have pulled the team apart rather than be the glue that held it together.  He wore his emotions on his sleeve and when things didn't go his way, he showed his frustrations towards teammates.  WLC marched to the LMC championship last season but the road to repeat will be tough.  They may miss out on the NAC tournament this year as may Rockford (but I don't know much about what they have).