MBB: American Rivers Conference

[Rock Chalk DuHawk]

Are the DuHawks up to the challenge to repeat this year, I think so.

Loras returns its entire starting lineup and eight letterwinners from last season's 21-7 team that captured the school's first Iowa Conference title since 1951 with a 15-1 mark and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, but the Duhawks will have to adjust to new head coach Greg Gorton. Defending Iowa Conference Most Valuable Player Kyle White was Loras' leading scorer and rebounder last year. White averaged 13.4 points and 6.8 rebounds and shot 50.0 percent from the field, ranking 11th, 4th, and 12th in the IIAC, respectively. Luke Slater, a First
Team All-Conference selection, averaged 12.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, which ranked 14th and sixth in the Conference. Slater was also in the IIAC's top-15 in field goal percentage (13th, 48.5 percent), free throw percentage (4th, 87.2 percent), three-point field goal percentage (9th, 38.8 percent), and blocked shots (14th, 0.61/game). Second Team All-IIAC guard Ricky Kolze was the Duhawks' second-leading scorer with a 13.4 point per game average, ranking 12th in the Conference. Kolze also ranked third in the IIAC in three-point field goal percentage (42.2 percent) and 15th in field goal percentage (48.4 percent).
Loras head coach Greg Gorton says, "The Loras men's basketball team returns a group of experienced Iowa Conference players. The team is excited and hungry to prove itself."

[Dr. Phil]

Interesting and lot of great stats, but what you fail to note, is that Loras was very lucky to beat Coe  on 1/9 - I believe the game was in the bag until a a colapse in the waining minutes of that game.

How about the conference game - Coe had them down and out and once again Loras was fortunate to win that battle.

I cant see Coe falling apart like that two years in a row!!

[doolittledog]

Interesting and lot of great stats, but what you fail to note, is that Loras was very lucky to beat Coe  on 1/9 - I believe the game was in the bag until a a colapse in the waining minutes of that game.

How about the conference game - Coe had them down and out and once again Loras was fortunate to win that battle.

I cant see Coe falling apart like that two years in a row!!

Just like Central in football...Loras in basketball finds ways to win.  It's not just luck, Loras has a good team.  (that is hard for a UD man to say )  It will be interesting to see how the switch to the new coach turns out.  Loras hired from within so I would think it will go smooth. 

[birds of prey]

Touche doolittledog...Good teams find ways to win. And I suspect that the transition to Greg Gorton will go very smooth. They are running pretty much all of the same stuff and when Chad Walthall was in command last year, he gave Gorton the ability to make decisions as a head coach would. So things with Gorton aren't so much new as they are common.

The real question is, can BV, Coe, or Wartburg give the Duhawks a legitimate run this year, or will Loras match their 15-1 IIAC mark, or dare I say it...run the table?

[du-sz]

The Duhawks did beat St. Thomas in a scrimmage last weekend and host Clarke in the new AWC on Friday.

Loras will have to beat the Crusaders, and others, without key bench player Rex Parker who is out for the season with an injury.

[The Show]

The real question is, can BV, Coe, or Wartburg give the Duhawks a legitimate run this year, or will Loras match their 15-1 IIAC mark, or dare I say it...run the table?

Are you kidding me?

Let's see...BV won 5 straight IIAC conference tournaments before last year.  BV returns all 5 starters on the team that led the IIAC in scoring last season.  So yeah, I think they can maybe give almighty Loras a legitimate run this year.

[birds of prey]

We'll see...Ten of Loras' 15 regular season conference wins were by double digits and they added two more with walk away wins at home in the conference tournament.

They too have all 5 starters coming back and add depth to their 4,5 positions. The fire burns deep following their 84-82 OT loss to St. John's in the first round of the Nat'l Tournament. Not saying that nobody else has a chance, but everybody in the IIAC has a lot of catching up to do...including those beloved Beavers.

[Dr. Phil]

Coe 23
Wisconsin Lutheran 24
At the half

[The Show]

BV hammers St. Olaf tonight, 89-70.

[du-sz]

woah....Loras got blown out by Clarke tonight....White and Oeth were way off.  The only brightspot might have been the play of Brian Centella who posted a 20 point night.

Good energy in the new AWC all night.  The crowd tried to get them back in it, but the Duhawks couldn't get much closer than nine.  Missed free throws killed them all night.

Bynum was amazing for Clarke; he was making shots from everywhere!  The Duhawk defense wasn't even that bad, the Crusaders just couldn't miss.

[birds of prey]

Clarke shot an incredible 67% from the field and 73% from beyond the arc...and that was for the entire game. Simply "En fuego"!!!

[Rock Chalk DuHawk]

Shocking to see the new Loras regime going down so easily to cross town rival, Clarke......good thing they are a NAIA team now.  Dont get your hopes up......the DuHawks are for real and will be ready once conference rolls around.

[The Show]

73% from behind the arc is pretty tough.

Wagner was only 71% and Stribe was 100% last night for BV.

BV travels to Augustana (S.D.) to play tonight.

BV, Coe, Cornell, and Dubuque start the season off with back-to-back road games. (Although I don't know if UD's trip to St. Louis College of Pharmacy should count... )

[Golden Norver]

Great to see the Beavers start off the year with a win.  But that is a team they should beat.  Tonight will be A LOT TOUGHER. Playing at Augustana, a team that beat Minnesota Crookston by 46 last night will be a stiff challenge.

Live stats and web cast
http://goaugie.com/section_front.asp?arttypeid=848

[doolittledog]

73% from behind the arc is pretty tough.

Wagner was only 71% and Stribe was 100% last night for BV.

BV travels to Augustana (S.D.) to play tonight.

BV, Coe, Cornell, and Dubuque start the season off with back-to-back road games. (Although I don't know if UD's trip to St. Louis College of Pharmacy should count... )

I was kind of thinking that to.  BUT, a win is a win for a young team.  Especially one that hasn't made the conference tourney in awhile.