Is it true???  Wait....let it set in.....The NWC not only gets 2 teams in the tournament but they also get separated???  Am I dreaming?  Thank goodness the committee has finally recognized the strength of the NWC and what we have done when we get teams into the tourney.  Congrats to Fox and LC, now go make the NWC proud

This is an amazing conference!!  I just wish everyone could see that....we have a tendancy to get overlooked by the other conferences and voting committtees.  "For the love of the game,"  holds firm when it comes to DIII athletes.

Predictions on the 4th place finisher?  Whitman, Whitworth, or Linfield??  Its a race.......

Well said Lutefisk!!!  Quality instruction is a key element.

I will be rooting for the underdogs this weekend

Lutefisk,

I don't believe I said the coach has "Nothing" to do with team chemistry??  Of course they have some.....Attitude though, is controlled by the individual and a coach can only influence that.  Its up to the athlete to choose their attitude!!  So, if a team is worried more about petty behaviors and who is and is not playing, scoring, sitting, rebounding, etc. then their attitudes will show as bad chemistry.  Seems to me....you want all the blame on the coach and I want you to open your eyes to the fact that its not just the coach.  Is the coach part of the downfall?? Absolutely!!  All wins and losses fall on the shoulders of the coach.

As far as the Fox game goes.....With Gordon or without Gordon PLU still took them to OT.  Don't you think a win over Fox would have boosted the teams morale?  A win over Fox is still a win over Fox, with or without Gordon!

Your right they did not beat Whitman BUT THEY DID BEAT WHITWORTH!!!

I firmly disagree with you.....at the high school level parents think its their kids right to play no matter how good or bad they are.  They feel since their kid is putting in the time they should be given the playing time.  It should be a priviledge at all levels.

Its never a good situation when everything is blamed on the coach!!  This is college basketball NOT high school.  Its a priviledge to put the uniform on, not a right.  This is always the time of the year when unsuccessful teams start making excuses for why they didn't play up to their abilities.  I know that when PLU took Fox to OT they played pretty well. And when they beat Whitman in OT, they were playing hard.

You can have the best players in the world on paper and not win many games if you don't have chemistry on the floor.  That does not have much to do with the coach, but rather the players and their attitudes toward what they are trying to accomplish.

I guess what I meant was that they have a loss and are not undefeated.  There is not one team dominating the conference.  LC barely beat fox and had to shoot lights out to get past UPS on the road.  I will try to be more clear for you next time bballfan05!   

Agreed BruinFan!!  It seems that the conference is really up in the air.  The top 3 teams are beating each other, the middle teams have wins over everyone, and the bottom teams occassionally pull out wins.  Makes it tough to make any kind of predictions that is for sure. 

Does anyone have predictions for this weekend???

So BruinFan.....Do you think the conference is down simply because your precious Bruins have now lost 2 conference games this year?? The Loggers really took it to them last night!!   Personally, I think the conference is young and with youth anything can happen on any night.  Plus, with several new coaches each team takes on a different mentality than what everyone is used to seeing.  The league is exciting for sure

Isn't the division III level about the student athlete?  So, they get rewarded if their team makes the 64 team tournament but then they get penalized because they are an athlete on the west coast and there are more teams back east.....What about whats best for the athletes and the best possible tournament know matter what the level???

It always comes down to money......then do something to change that so the NWC teams can get separated!

Well....one more year where the NWC teams don't get separated!  What is it going to take for the committee to separate the NWC??  They have already won the national championship and ran through oth everyone last year to go 39-0.  This year Puget Sound has 4 total losses, 3 of which are to the defending national champion.  Both teams are deserving to be separated and not have to face each a 4th time until later in the tournament.

Well congrats to both teams....good luck this weekend!!

The show down.......Another matchup between George Fox and Puget Sound for the conference championship.  Did Fox feel like they needed to run the score up on LC by dropping in 98 points and beating them by 41??  Or were they just working on fine tuning their 3 balls since they hit 15 of them!!

Any predictions on the final outcome on Saturday night??

1st Team:
Keisha Gordon:  George Fox
Jocelyn Riorden: Puget Sound
Cassie Pilkinton: Whitworth
Kristina Williams: Lewis & Clark
Hillary White:      Whitman

POY:  Claire Ely:  Puget Sound

2nd Team:
Hannah Munger:  George Fox
Gretchen Owens: Linfield
Melissa Pixler:      PLU
Alex Zennan:       Willamette
Elise Kuenzi:   George Fox/ Natasha Ludwig:    Puget Sound  I can't decide with these two players.  They both do so much for their teams and its not always about the scoring and the rebounds.

COY:  Suzy Barcomb:  Puget Sounds

Okay....lets hear all the disagreements

Whitworth has given Puget Sound a pretty good game in both regular season games but LC has not shown up to play Fox either game.  And with Dowling out for LC they don't stand a fighting chance.  UPS being at home will help their cause.  Another George Fox--UPS conference final game is in the  making!  Will that make 4 in the last 4 years??

I too agree that Fox is playing really well right now and truly don't see them getting beat. 

I'm happy to see that you all worked out the team rebounding issue 

I think you make great points BruinFan!!  COY is very subjective but as I've a done a little research....it seems strange to me that Coach Barcomb has never once been voted COY by the NWC??  I can't believe the NWC has never believed her to have earned a COY?  What I do notice is that basically which ever team wins the conference they also seem to get COY and POY......  In 06-07 UPS and Fox shared the title, all went to Fox.  In 03-04 UPS and Whitman shared the title, COY went to Michelle and POY went to the 4th place team.  You have to go back to 01-02 when Helen received COY at Whitworth and POY was granted to Whitworth as well....They took 2nd in conference that year.  This all makes me think there is not a lot of thought that truly goes into these two awards, rather just the conference winning team earns both!  At least 5-7 other times this is what happened.  Barcomb has over 200 wins in her career and always seems to have her teams battling Fox in the end.  No respect has ever been given.....strange.....My vote is still Barcomb COY and Ely POY in 09-10!!!!!!!

Northernstar.....I believe you are correct on the tiebreaker.

Huh?