Quote from: System Error on January 29, 2010, 12:28:59 PM
Has anyone else noticed there have been a lot less postings from the LU faithful this year...? In past years it seemed we only heard from Lawrence and Grinnell followers (and of course the Roop). Just food for thought.

We hang out in the archive pages to feel good about ourselves. Apparently Braier had a triple double last night to cap a weekend sweep of Carrol and Ripon.  LU!   

QuoteOr did the stuff that came before the ellipsis escape your attention when you read my post?

If you had read my post, it would not have escaped your attention that my concern wasn't with what you wrote prior to your ellipsis, it's what came after.  Predicting the season series is a good topic for conversation.  But prefacing every matchup that NPU has against the MWC with the injury crutch is an excuse.  Meaning, if they lose, you can always say "well they had a lot of injuries."  What else would that be called?  At least that's how I took it.  

I'm mostly kidding around, but bring that CCIW noise to the MWC board and there isn't going to be a positive reaction.  

QuoteThis year's series will either end up CCIW 5, MWC 4, or CCIW 6, MWC 3 ... and that's in spite of the fact that three of the nine CCIW/MWC games scheduled for this season involve an NPU team that's been staggered by multiple injuries to the rotation.

Well, then it's a good thing they play the games.  Are there any other precursory excuses the MWC should know about just in case?   

Horton is a tremendous player, no doubt.  However, I think it's fair to question his durability thus far.  As good as he is, he plays pretty soft for a guy with his frame and really doesn't like physical defenders.  You can't help getting hurt, but sooner or later his tougness has to be questioned.  Part of being great means being on the floor playing through injury, illness, etc. 

Leading a team in stats that took last in the conference last year doesn't mean much either. 

Quote. Being ranked #32 does not guarantee success at any level, and certainly does not alone make any player a "hybrid." 

I agree.  It was more of a joke in passing but any player that is described as a combination of Kroeger and Ladwig (disgusting shots, ability to finish games, finsishing around the rim, cutthroat, etc.) is someone that I want to see. 

I understand there are variables when deciding on a school, but if he's that good...

All heresay for now.

QuoteHe is a combination of Kroeger and Ladwig.

That's a hybrid D1 player, what's he doing in D3?!

QuoteThey return Schultz (should've been COY), Hoch (Should've been 2nd if not 1st team AC), and Ladwig (easily should have been POY no questions asked). At the D3 level it is all about the guards and Carroll probably has 2 of the 3 best guards in the conference.

With all that talent it seems it should have been them making the trip to the NCAA's last year...or at least the conference champs.

QuoteI am sick of seeing all the LU posters talk about how great their team is when Carroll has been just about as good over the same amount of time.

A tough statement considering Lawrence holds 4 NCAA appearances comapred to 2 for Carroll, 4 MWC tournament championships to 1, and 4 regular season championships to 0 (going back to '03-'04). 

As a side note, Ladwig is pretty awesome.

I took the bait; apologies to the rest of the board.

I heard that Tony Jandron will not be playing for SNC this year....wants to focus on his heater in hopes of getting drafted into the MLB.  That would hurt them a lot.

You're right, they have plenty of opportunities to experience winning within their own conference.  Beloit has displayed the ability to play any MWC team tough.  Having a difficult non-conference schedule has the potential of being the X factor in having a solid MWC run.   

I too played at a small private school (basketball) and believe me, I would have much rather taken on the challenge of playing a team that would be considered better than my own, than go play a team we have a "legitimate" shot at winning.  Playing in that kind of fire exposes all of your weaknesses and identifies your strengths (only teams that are better than you will show you both in 40 minutes).     

Kids play D3 because they love to compete - being around the MWC, I think that most of the kids on that Beloit squad would rather have the opportunity to take on a Stevens Point than a Caltech (I know, I'm missing the point on what you mean by "lower level" teams).   

While getting thrashed might psychologically hurt a young team, think about how positive it would be if you went and got a win (or even hung in there and played them really tough).  There is nothing more encouraging for a squad searching for an identity than getting a huge upset win.   

Good teams (or teams trying to emulate those teams) challenge themselves with tough non-conference opponents. 

Why wouldn't you want to play a tough non-conference schedule?  You don't gain much experience by playing to your level of competition.  To get any respect down the road, you'll have to eventually be able to beat the traditional "power" teams.  Better off gaining that experience while you're young, so a couple years down the line you can hopefully make a serious run at those types of team.

I strongly believe that playing a team like Augustana will tell you 5 times as much about what kind of team you have than beating up on a weaker non-conference team (I'm not trying to assume you meant that they should have a cake walk non-conference). 

Just a thought. 

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this before, but here is a link to LU's incoming class...

http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/public_affairs/media/sportsnews/0708/060308.html

I doubt the LU players are looking past Wheaton, regardless if LU fans are. They know they have their hands full in both games. 

No love for the MWC on the home page poll Any tourny with Carroll, Lawrence, and Grinnell in it is going be exciting!

I for one am not worried at all by the way LU has been playing recently.  After losing a close one to Carroll, they have responded with a 37 pt. win over monmouth,  they put up 84 pts. on a Lake Forest squad that is allowing a league low 64 pts., went to Ripon and won in a game that is always a toss up regardless of how either team is performing on the season, and just rolled Beloit by 24. 

Their defense will have to be in top shape come tourny time because they are going to run into some very solid teams, but I feel their offense is still more dangerous than any other recent LU team.

And apparently I don't know how to quote from posts properly...sorry.