MBB: American Rivers Conference

[The Show]

Good call.  I try not to keep track of the days until I hear Friday!  Luckily there isn't very much traffic on the board, so I didn't mislead too many...   

My predictions stand.

[Charlie Kohawk]

Amazing atmosphere in Eby Fieldhouse tonight! Cornell shot lights out, but Coe prevailed 89-84 to go to 5-0 in conference play. Kyle Kuenstling poured in 38 points, complemented by Mike Kilburg's 23. I'd say it's about time the Kohawks got some attention from the voters.

[coocooforcoekohawk]

I'd say it's about time the Kohawks got some attention from the voters.

      I'd say you can't expect attention from the voters until Coe beats Wartburg, which we will find out if they can this Saturday. 
     The game last night was a fun one to watch.  Cornell should be proud of their effort, and a little bit mad at the refs.  Too many calls toward the end of the game.  They should of let the players decide the outcome.  The end of the game is not the time to start calling ticky tack fouls.
      I do think Coe would have prevailed regardless of the refs, but the Cornell coach was visibly angry at the end of the game, and not because of the way his kids played.  It was great to watch another heated contest between these long time rivals.
      I also thought the Coe students handled themselves very well.  Cheering positively for Coe and not negatively toward their opponent, I can't say as much for the Cornell fans. 
     In closing, I must say it was disappointing to see so few students in the stands, back in my day it would be hard to find a place to stand for Coe vs. Cornell, and that was back when Coe had about two hundred less students.  The atmosphere was good, but definately not amazing, but Charlie has a problem with embellishing the facts.

Coo Coo for Coe Kohawks!

[Walston Hoover]

 Coocs,
  I think all rivalries have lost some flair this year with the games being scheduled on weekdays. With the Wartburg/Luther game before Christmas on a weeknight this year, there were far fewer people than normal, A far cry from some of my years there when they would bring in several extra rent-a-cops to controll the crowd.

[balla_1982]

Dubuque had three guys who attempted atleast 20 shots, that stat is amazing, I've never seen that in a college game.  And why didn't Soppe play, what was the deal there?
On another note, barely beating Cornell, the worst team in the league or in the midwest for that matter, is hardly worthy of receiving votes...granted they probably played better due to it being a big rivarly game, but the voters won't take that into consideration.  I agree, if they beat Wartburg then they should receive serious consideration.
One last comment, I highly doubt Wartburg wants Lee Nelson leading the team in shot attempts when you have Cartmill, Steege, and Schmidt on your team.

[keith45]

I think Coe can give Wartburg a run, especially at home...for some reason, Schmidt hasn't looked (to me anyway) as dominant as I thought he would be..
And what happened to Luther?
And I don't know what to say about UD..I had high hopes this year, and they got higher after we beat Platteville..but 1-6 in the conference is not looking good...but at least we have played teh top 3 teams already, maybe we can bounce back by feasting on BV, Central and Cornell, to get us to the conference tournament anyway

[pdmcgee]

Balla-

If you haven't seen Lee Nelson shoot then you should bite your tongue.  He is probably the best catch and shoot guy in the league, not to mention the most improved player in the league as well.

[keith45]

PDMCGEE
Well, since Steege had 8 assists, I may agree with you...but a catch and shoot guy isn't getting a ton of shots, unless they are playing a horrible team with no scouting report

and I don't know about most improved player, I'd vote for UD's PG or Stottmeister or even Soppe

[balla_1982]

Trust me, I've seen him shoot and I wasn't too impressed.  He's not even the best catch and shoot guy on his own team, Cartmill is probably the best in the league at catch and shoot...and after that it's Braden from Loras, Axdahl from Coe, Clark from Central.

[sportsknight]

You can argue about Nelson's rank as a catch and shoot guy, but the one thing about him is that he takes very few bad shots.  If he doesn't have an open look, he'll usually pass it up.  If we're starting to look at who's taking the most shots for Wartburg in a game where the Knights won by 20, I think some people on here are looking for any chance to rip Wartburg.

To go from averaging about 10 minutes a game to being a starter that shoots better than 45% for the season, then factor in the fact that he's done that on the best team in the conference, and I think you've got a pretty good case for Nelson as Most Improved.  I don't think you can give that honor to Soppe since his real breakout year was last season.  Soppe's probably closer to an MVP candidate than for MIP.

As far as the comment about Nate Schmidt not having very good numbers this year, I don't think that's very valid.  While his FG% and rebounds are down slightly, his scoring average is up from last year and he's scoring 2.5 more points per IIAC game than he did last season.  And if you think he's seeing the same level of defensive pressure this year, you're crazy.  Teams are game-planning around him defensively this season and he has seen a ton of double teams from squads whose posts just don't measure up.  That probably accounts for the drop in FG% and boards, but to put up MORE points with that going on is pretty impressive.

Saturday's game should be a good one.  Both the Wartburg-Coe games last year were outstanding, and Wartburg's win at home provided a spark that shot the Knights out to that 15 game win streak and 15-1 IIAC record.  Any Wartburg fans coming to the game are asked to wear black to see a great game and, in all likelyhood, the game in which Schmidt reaches 1,000 points for his career.

[keith45]

I think I was basing that comment on non-conference...but I expected him to dominate..bad comparision, but Nick Thomas sees as much, if not more defensive attention that Schmidt due to his team (Schmidt has Steege, Thomas has Daugherty, who would you take?) and Nick is matching and exceeding last years performance...I guess I expected more than 14 and 6 for a pre-season MVP candidate..and overall he is averaging 13 and 5.8..those are average numbers, to me anyway..and right now, Coe is the top team in the conference..and no, I am not looking to rip Wartburg, I actually they have more skill than any other team in the conference, and due to that, Schmidt isn't standing out..Plus I think Schmisd is not very aggressive this year, Steege has twice as many free throws on the year than Schmidt

[balla_1982]

I'm not ripping Wartburg either, I don't know why everyone got so defensive.  I just couldn't believe Nelson lead the team in shot attempts when you have three other potential all conference players on the court.  4 of 13 sticks out when it's your fourth or fifth option.

And I agree with Keith, I was expecting bigger numbers out of Schmidt this year.  I was thinking he was going to have a year like Scott Weber had a couple of years ago averaging about 18.5 and 7 rebounds.  I can't imagine Schmidt is getting any more attention than Weber did that season.  But Wartburg is winning and that really is all that matters, but you Wartburg fans have to admit, coming into the year you'd expect Schmidt to average a lot more than 13 and 5.8

[sportsknight]

Maybe a couple more points, like 15 or so, but his rebounds are right at or above where I expected.  Obviously we've got some short memories around here because when he got MVP last year everyone was saying he didn't deserve it because his rebound numbers were so low.  Schmidt isn't, and never has been, the kind of guy that's going to pull in 8-10 boards per game.  That's just not his game.  He's much more likely to block a shot than to grab a rebound and I would argue that those two things are equally as valuable.As for the points, I already mentioned that his FG% is down this year.  If he pulls that up a bit, he'll be averaging 15 or 16 in no time.

Now about the defensive attention, I'm not going to argue that Nick Thomas is the focal point of any team that plays Dubuque, but teams found out last year that you can contain him with one guy.  He's not someone you need to double team for 40 minutes.  On the other hand, there are very few big men in the IIAC that can handle Schmidt by themselves.  Teams will sag defenders off of Wartburg's 4 and 5 options to double Schmidt every time he gets the rock.  Weber saw a lot of that at BV, but on the teams he played on, you almost had to guard him with one guy and take your chances.  If he didn't beat you, Wiebers or Bissen or Pelzer would.

And one argument I didn't want to bring into this, but I'm going to anyway is that Schmidt gets absolutely zero help from the striped shirts.  Talented guards will often get calls because they can make it look like things are worse than that actually are, but big men working in a crowded area don't have that luxury.  If you want to argue this with me, I suggest you watch the tape from Wartburg's games against Loras, Central, and Dubuque to see exactly what I'm talking about.  I believe in making a guy work for his points just as much as the next guy, but Schmidt gets worked over every night.

[CrAzYkNiGhT]

balla....i think we need to lay off nelson...one night he goes 4-13, and your all over him....but i do think he is one of, if not the best pure shooter in the league

[balla_1982]

sportsknight, I agree with you 100% about the referees and their calls with good posts in the league.  It seems like the guards always get bailed out, while on the other side, they look at someone like Schmidt who is bigger and think he should be able to take the physical beating without a foul.  I don't know why IIAC officials do that, but a foul is a foul and it needs to be called, otherwise they just keep hacking them all game.  We saw that at BV a lot last year with Bissen.  It can get really frustrating and makes you think twice about going into the post sometimes