MBB: American Rivers Conference

[Klompen]

I'm afraid I will be watching from home on Saturday.  I would love to make the trip, but things are a bit tighter financially now, and I hate to admit it, but if I had to go through the CR area on the way to UD, I might get horribly side tracked by another one of my time and money wasters.  This one tickles my feminine side as I love to shop the quilt shops and there are some really good ones in the Amana's and Cedar Rapids areas.  I get in one of those and lose track of time.  I would probably never make it to the game.  Leave it to a Dutch fan to spend hours picking out beautiful fabrics only to cut them all up just to sew them back together.  Then I can't even use the ones I make to keep warm because my dogs would have pet hair all over them.   

Then again, I might have to think about a trip to Coe!  Even though I am not a fan of the famed Eby Fieldhouse.  Heritage Designs and Pine Needles quilt shops have been calling my name for months now.

[doolittledog]

Dubuque leading Central 33-23 at halftime.  I believe that is the same score as the Iowa/Michigan game earlier today!!!

Link to the webcast...http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/dbq.portal#

[Klompen]

You were right again, Doolittle, the video is not as good as football.  From what I see, the Dutch are ice cold again, therefore, I don't like the video!      Hopefully the Dutch get hot the second half and do better as they did against Loras Wednesday night.  I figured UD would have the edge, being the home team, but the Dutch could be playing better.  Got to give credit to the UD defense though.  We aren't able to get the points or the rebounds very well.

[doolittledog]

I took a look at the preseason poll.  Dubuque was picked to finish 7th and Central was picked to finish 8th.  Today, these are the last two undefeated teams in conference play. 

[doolittledog]

Dubuque beats Central 72-54 in the battle of the 1st place teams in the IIAC.  And there was much rejoicing!!!

[Klompen]

And there was a long bus ride home.   

Congratulations to UD.  The Dutch just didn't have it in them today.  I still wish we could skip the break as it never does well for us.  Cold shooting and good Spartan defense doomed the Dutch.  Not sure why they are so cold shooting from 3 land the last two games, but they need to get that touch back.  Having an inside game is nice, but I don't want it at the full expense of the 3 ptr. 

Oh well, time to regroup and get ready for Simpson Monday.  With the game today and more Monday, Wednesday and Saturday of this week, there is no time for crying.  Well, except on that long bus ride back.   

Doolittle, I'm glad one of us enjoyed the game.  I expected UD would win as the home team, but I thought the Dutch would make it a game.  Spotting UD a 11-1 lead kept us from doing that.  Time to go back to playing a full game boys.

[doolittledog]

Hey Klompen, as Little Orphan Annie was known to say...The sun will come up tomorrow   

This is just one game, there is still a lot of season left for Central and Dubuque and everyone else.  But, I am very happy with where the Spartans are right now.  Robbie Sieverding has done a great job as coach and he has his players playing some good basketball.  For someone like me that remembers the 80's and early 90's this his how I think UD basketball should be playing.  I'm in the process of forgeting the late 90's early 00's and those 1-23 type seasons. 

[Klompen]

Yeah, Doolittle, I think you said something similar after the football game, but it was really cloudy the rest of the season for the Dutch.     I'm counting on the Dutch rebounding (pun not intended) tonight at Simpson.  It won't be an easy week with coming back from a loss tonight, Luther on Wednesday and a rematch with UD Saturday.  It's gut check time for the Dutch.

[doolittledog]

Luther leading Dubuque 29-24 at the half in Decorah

[Klompen]

At least your game is close.  Apparently Central forgot how to play basketball and is down I think 45-23 against Simpson.  The shooting stats are even worse than at UD.  I don't know why the Dutch run so hot and cold and I won't be able to tell you from the Simpson feeds.  They stop every 3 seconds to buffer, so you can't get any real idea of what is happening other than that the score is lopsided and the Dutch really hit the skids.  It just seems like this group of players can't deal with the pressure that comes from doing well.  They have been hot all season from the 3 point arc and again they are under 15% there.  I understand that players have off nights, but why is Central either everyone is off or everyone is on?  At this rate, I might as well go watch TV because the score and buffering are both incredibly frustratingl

Or maybe I will turn in to the UD/Luther game.  From the looks of it, neither team will have a problem with the Dutch later this week.

[doolittledog]

Luther takes it to Dubuque in the 2nd half.  Final score Luther 66-44 over Dubuque in Decorah.  Luther held the Spartans 30 points under their season average. 

[Klompen]

Ouch!  Central did play a little better the second half, but the hole was just too big again.  I was wrong too, Winker did have a great game and Turned had a good second half.  Well, so much for our teams ruling this year.  Hopefully at least one of them will bounce back.

[doolittledog]

Dubuque leading BVU 37-31 at halftime...

...and falls apart in the 2nd half...BVU wins 73-62...ouch

[Klompen]

Central started out poorly for the 4th consecutive game and for the 3rd time, it cost them the game.  They have to be ready to go from the start and that was something they did so very well at the start of the season.  At that time, expectations of them were low and they let that carry them to a 10-1 record with only a narrow 2 point loss.  Then it was time for the first place showdown with UD and they crumbled under the pressure and have struggle ever since. 

The encouraging thing is that last night Luther was a great team playing very tight defense and connecting on their shots, but the Dutch were able to battle back and make a game of it.  Jake Winkler has really stepped up his scoring since Nick M got hurt against UD and is playing great.  It seems like at the start of the season we were using 3's to jump out to big leads that other teams struggle to dig out of, now we are establishing an inside game and I think we sacrificed a great outside game to work on it and we just haven't been able to get back to that.  I would love to see Central come back with that outside shooting confidence Saturday against UD.  Sorry, Doolittle.  Seems both our teams are sliding a bit lately.  At least one of us will right the ship Saturday.

[Phred]

Seems to me that Simpson and BV are the teams to watch from here on out.  Both could give Luther a hard time.  Too bad the Knights are not what they were under Buzz.