Interested in this match up.  Watched the Wheaton v. North Central CCIW Champ game this weekend.  They are a good team, but hard to judge since NC runs a Grinnell-like system.  But I would definitely give WLC a chance here.  I will for sure be tuning in. 

On the other end UWO is matched up with North Central, also will be an interesting game. 

If they want a good example of how to beat the system, watch the second half of the championship game between Wheaton and NC from this past weekend.  Wheaton down 12, stormed back and was up by as many as 15 or more in second half.

Solid half court defense by Wheaton, good rebounding to limit second chance points, PASS to break the press and get easy layups on other end.  it seemed like Wheaton had 2-1 or 3-2 advantages the entire second half (understanding this is how the system is set up).  Feed the ball inside, NC only has one girl with size, when she was out Wheaton hit the paint hard.  Wheaton post player had 33 points.

Should at least be a fun game to watch.

NACC Tournament is set.

Matchups

#8 Aurora (8-17, 8-12) at #1 Wisconsin Lutheran (20-4, 18-2) (WLC won series 2-0)
#5 Concordia Chicago (15-10, 12-8) at #4 Concordia Wisconsin (19-6, 15-5) (Series Tied 1-1)
#6 Edgewood (12-13, 11-9) at #3 MSOE (19-6, 15-5) (MSOE won series 2-0)
#7 Lakeland (10-15, 9-11) at #2 Benedictine (16-9, 16-4) (Series Tied 1-1)

Predictions
WLC - By a comfortable margin, this wont be like the first matchup between these two teams @ the Rex
CUC - CUW not playing all that well to close the season, CUC picks up the tempo for a minor upset
MSOE - MSOE with a grind it out win, EC cools off after Wednesdays hot shooting night
Benedictine - BU looking to avenge last weekends upset loss to the Muskies

That will be interesting for LC and EC to turnaround and play each other right away again on Saturday.  Home court could play a big roll in that game.

Lets see if LC men and women can knock off EC in back to back nights at home to clich the tie breaker and higher seed for each.

Locked in seeds:
WLC - 1
CUW - 4
CUC - 5

Up for grabs:
2 Seed - BU Wins they will be #2 and MSOE #3, if BU loses and MSOE loses BU will be #2 and MSOE #3, if BU loses and MSOE wins, MSOE will be #2 and BU #3 (BU has the tie breaker, it goes all the way down to the CUW matchups) Tonights matchups: BU @ Rockford and MSOE @ WLC.  Prediction BU gets #2 and MSOE gets #3

6 Seed - Edgewood wins they will be #6 and LC will be #7, if LC wins they will be #6 and Edgewood #7 (these are the fun games, because it is one on one to decide seeding).  Prediction LC takes care of business at home to move up another spot in the standings.

8 Seed - Marian wins or Aurora loses MU will recieve #8 seed by 1 game lead, if Marians loses and and Aurora wins then AU sneaks into the #8 seed (interesitng if MU fails to make the tourney after their hot start, but losing 5 straight conference games to end the season puts them in that situation) Matchups: Marian @ CUW and Alverno @ Aurora. Prediction Marian loses 5th straight, Aurora sneaks by Alverno for the final spot in the tourney, MU is left watching from home on Saturday.

Should be an interesting night of games with a lot still on the line.  Can't wait till saturdays first round matchups, shaping up to be some good games.

One interesting thing I noticed when reviewing recent scores, is that Brook McBain has now played 5 games for Alverno since the end of the first semester.  The same Brook McBain who started 27 games for Edgewood last year as a sophomore and scored 10 ppg.  Should be a nice little boost for an Alverno team who has been struggling.

Well I think the big topic of the day is Schulz from WLC going down last night early in the matchup against Marian (Marian was up 10 at the time), it only appeared to be a sprained ankle, but thats just an educated guess based on seeing it.  Depending on the severity of the sprain it can sometimes take a few weeks to return, especially for bigs who seem to take longer to return.  Fortunately for them its leading up to xmas break and will give her some extra time to recover.  Regarding the game, I am actually surprised WLC fought back for the win after Schultz went down giving Marian their first loss of the season, shooting 11-20 from 3 pt range really helped, as well as an 11 point advantage at the FT line (C. Pendergrass 14-15).  It was a high scoring game ending up 87-83, 5 WLC players in double digits, let my Pendergrass 23, 4 Marian Players in double digits let my Olewinski 24.

This leaves only one undefeated team in conference play and that is Benedictine who eeked out an 8 point win at CUC last night (thought this would be a much bigger win the way BU has been playing and after CUC seemed to cool off after its early season hot streak).  However this game was at CUC where they were previously undefeated (0-2 on the road with average margin of loss by 25.5).  Either way BU seems to be the team to beat this year as they seem to be the most complete team, excellent guard play, solid interior play, ferocious defense, deep bench and alot of athleticism.

DU with another 20 points loss.

A big matchup tomorrow night for conference standings between LC and CUC, CUC won big in the first matchup at home, but now have to go on the road (where they havent played well) to LC.

Saturday is the final set of conference matchups before the holiday break with three pretty important games:  LC @ MSOE, Edgewood @ Marian, Aurora @ CUW.

I thought CUC was very beatable, but i wasnt expecting them to get blown out the way they did with as high flying as that offense has been, road games are always tough.

just an odd game between WLC and AU, probably wouldnt have been to exciting to watch without Schultz and Koski.  Going forward teams just need to shut down Koski and AU will be in for a long year.

I still think Marians only good win comes against MSOE at home, but even that isnt looking as impressive.  The next 3 games should tell us a lot more about Marian (CUC, WLC and Edgewood)

Benedictine is tough no matter where you play them.  CUW just doesnt have as many weapons as in previous years.

DU is just bad, simply put, probably time for a change down there after seasons end.

Two intrigueing matchups tomorrow, CUW @ LC and MSOE @ Edgewood. 

The surprising thing is they are shooting 48% from 3 point land on the season.  Also, Bahr is out for a couple weeks which seems to take away that second reliable person at the moment.  I am a little intrigued to see how they match up against CUC and their what I would consider "40 minutes of chaos" (similar to a VCU or Wichita State).

Little Surprised by Marian over MSOE.  Nothing major stuck out at me aside from the number of fouls, (49 combined).  Only other thing was 23 to 14 advantage Marian had in turnovers.

LC played a very effecient game in beating WLC, limiting themselves to only 8 turnovers, shooting 44% from the field, 43% from 3pt range (10-23), and 81% from the line (although only shooting 11 FT compared to WLC 25, and it wasnt even that close as the FT difference was 23-4 with 2 minutes left in the game).  Schulz had 23 and 16, although taking her 22 shots (8-22) to get there (7-8 FT), LC played solid straight up defense forcing her into tough shots.  WLC outrebounded LC 44-30, collecting 21 Offensive boards.  WCL not shooting terribly either at 37%/38%/71%

CUC continues their surprising dominance in the early conference season.  beating an overmatched Alverno team at home.  It wil be interesting to see CUC in their first road challenge of the year saturday heading to a tough Edgewood team.

Rockford over Dominican big as expected, another long season for the Stars

Closer than expected BU win over Aurora, AU up 2 at halftime, limited to 19 points in the second.  Really only 1 or 2 scoring threats for AU with Koski and Marks.  Still havent figured out BU, will be nice to see a matchup between BU and CUW this weekend, good game to see where both teams stand.

CUW with a comfortable win over Edgewood. 

Did anyone catch the Calvin/Lakeland game live saturday?  Any thoughts or comments regarding both teams and the game in general? Thanks

I noticed over the weekend that Aurora's returning leading scorer and first team all-conference player from last year Bethany Dorrington (SO last season) is not on the roster, this could deter Aurora from repeating last seasons success. 

Also, two players who were named all-freshman team- Tori Riechers - CUW and Alyssa Hernandez - Dominican - are also not on this years rosters.

This is about what I had as well, although I have MSOE slightly higher in the 3rd and maybe even 2nd spot, I think they will be strong this year and compete for the top spot.

Also, I dont see Alverno making the playoffs this year, after losing 86% of their scoring and not bring much in this year there will be a steep drop off and I dont see them finishing ahead of the likes of Marian and Rockford.

POY - Schulz - WLC
Dark Horse Candidate - Denfeld - MSOE

Conference Champ, WLC (until someone proves they can knock them off) - However, I think there will be more parity among the playoff teams this year. 

Looking forward to the first week of non-conference games to see how some of the NACC teams stack up.

Does someone know why it shows Rockford as having the tie breaker over Marian in the standings as they both sit at 6-12?  Since they split the season series wouldnt the next tie breaker go to the best in conference win based on the standings, which would go to Marian with a win over #3 seed Alverno at this point? Unless i am looking at something wrong.

A few other side notes:
Congrats to CUC on their first win of the season!

Player Notes:
Genke - CUC - out since end of first semester, apparently academically ineligible 2nd semester.
Kroll – MSOE – out remainder of the year with torn ACL
Boteva – Alverno – missed last three games, no longer on team roster per team website

2 of those (Kroll and Boteva) could have an effect on the overall standings by the end of the year.