Big news out of Defiance College, with the hiring of Thomas More's offensive coordinator, Brian Sheehan, as the new head coach for the Yellow Jackets. Full release up on the DC site with an introduction video from Sheehan - http://www.defianceathletics.com/news/default/86/1876/

Big news out of Defiance College, with the hiring of Thomas More's offensive coordinator, Brian Sheehan, as the new head coach for the Yellow Jackets. Full release up on the DC site with an introduction video from Sheehan - http://www.defianceathletics.com/news/default/86/1876/

DC posted a short highlight video of its game against Manchester - http://www.youtube.com/user/DefianceAthletics#p/a/u/0/p4a0FHsJQLc

Should be a great tournament, but I'll go chalk until the finals ...

Anderson over Bluffton / Transylvania over Rose-Hulman

Hanover over Anderson / Manchester over Transylvania

Hanover over Manchester in a fantastic  championship game.

Count me in the crowd that can't understand why Manchester is getting so much preseason love? #2 in the HCAC and #25 in the nation? What about Hanover? How does Franklin get votes and Hanover gets nothing? Will also be interesting to see how AU does without Riddle. Do they have another outside threat to keep teams from cheating with a soft zone against their 3 bigs? Gonna be a crazy year once again, and DC likely finishes higher than 6th...but 2011-2012 could be DC's year to shine with so many teams around the league losing big senior classes and the Jackets losing nothing after this year.

Part of DC's improvement has been that its young and injured O-Line has gotten healthy and experience. With that, Powell has looked much better as well...and Kuesel has really been running strong and like he's healthy for the first time since his freshman year.

With that said, my opinion is that DC's potential 7-3 record would be misleading, as outside of Franklin.... no other HCAC squad looks impressive at all. It's a really bad year around the league. MSJ is way down, Rose is struggling after a few good years, Manchester's rise was short-lived and Anderson has just been horrendous....Bluffton is better but still Bluffton and Earlham is the new Bluffton. So who does that leave? DC and Hanover looking better than they are, bc the schedule is so weak.

And now DC's Sales named First-Team All-Midwest District by the NABC. Good to see him getting his props for a great season. Which again brings up the question that has been beated to death already in DC hoops water cooler discussions...Sales took over for Pettaway, but who steps in to replace Sales???

Props to DC's Nick Sales for being named to D3hoops All-Midwest District Team. Also a tip of the cap to AU's Coach Slyder for netting the District Coach of the Year honors. Gettin it done in the HCAC.

Having only seen Bluffton play one time this year, I'm not the most qualified voice here by any stretch, but I certainly think Bluffton was far better than its 2-23 record would suggest. They rarely got blown out and played well as a team. I actually think the Beavers have a pretty good season or two on the horizon if the youngsters on the roster stick around and continue to develop as they should.

The problem is, there are alot of good young squads in the HCAC, so the road won't be easy at all. I really think the HCAC is on the rise.

Brumett needs to find at least one impact freshman to continue DC's recent tradition of impact rookies (CJ Johnson, Anthony Pettaway, Nick Sales/Mike Floyd, Anthony Brown, Logan Wolfrum) in the past five years. So it isn't a stretch to bank on getting at least one of those types. If that player is a forward/center who happens to have an immediate impact like Franklin's Conoley did in his freshman year, or Nick Sales in his rookie year, or even Hanover's Mike Case two years ago, then they'll have a shot to be dangerous....but you gotta think Hanover/Anderson are the cream of the crop next season barring some DI transfers coming to Defiance, Franklin, Transy, Bluffton, Manchester and changing the landscape.

soooo with the hoops season over for HCAC teams...what now? i already miss the chatter and we're only 2-3 days removed from DC and AU's NCAA showings...

This is a day late, but I was also fortunate enough to be at the Defiance/Whitewater game on Friday and while the loss was crushing, I left with my head held high. Defiance has nothing to be ashamed of and represented itself and the HCAC very well. Brumett and his staff had a great gameplan, the players weren't intimidated or satisfied to be on that stage and played their guts out against a much bigger, more physical and more athletic Warhawk squad, and DC had a very impressive and vocal backing, with a couple hundred fans making the 6-hour round trip.

The Jackets clearly deserved to win and if one of several bounces/rebounds woulda went DC's way, the outcome woulda been different. On several of UW-Whitewater's offensive boards down the stretch, DC had position but the ball bounced long and right to a Warhawk. To Whitewater's credit, it capitalized and pulled out the win in an incredible game.

Anyway, thanks to the Jackets for a very fun season. They exceeded many expectations and should really be proud of what they accomplished and how they improved in the last several weeks of the year.

Quote from: mrbibler on March 04, 2010, 12:14:23 PM
Whitewater is 20-0 when leading or tied at halftime this year so it is crucial that the Yellow Jackets stay close.

And Defiance is 20-2 this year when leading at the half. That's the sign of a couple of pretty good and experienced teams that know how to close out victories.

Not at all familiar with UW-Whitewater but I think Defiance has to clog the lane to try to keep that Mitchell guy from taking over. The Jackets also will likely need a strong shooting performance from its guards (Brown, Wolfrum, Armstrong, Floyd), because I'm not sure how many good looks DC will get inside. If at least two of the perimeter guys are on, it could give the Jackets a good shot at pulling the upset tonight.

Yep, the action is just a few hours away now and hopefully Defiance and Anderson can represent the league well. It's a big step for the league to have gotten two teams in...hopefully the HCAC can build on that.

Not as familiar with AU's bracket, but DC's pod is mighty tough. You've got #8 UW-Whitewater (who has been top-10 all year and as high as #3), then there is #17 Wooster on its home court, and Defiance is just outside the top-25 and winners of 8-straight, and oh yeah...a 19-8 Grove City squad. All four are conference champions (tourney and/or reg season) and all four teams boast their league's Player of the Year.

Well Slyder was a given bc the reg season champ gets Coach of the Year by default in this league pretty much.

I prefer to look at which team exceeded expectations for THIS year the most and I think that was clearly Hanover, who Miller turned into a HCAC contender a year earlier than anyone should have.