MBB: American Rivers Conference

[keith45]

Dubuque wins at home over Simpson 81 - 67 earning the split on the day after the Simpson women beat the Spartan women earlier in the day. 

Simpson is tough this year, arent they? I know they won the tournament in AZ this past holiday. UD has their big man coming back, and a semester transfer who is still getting his feet wet...they may be ok in the post,a nd let Nick and Tyler do what they do

[doolittledog]

Dubuque beats cross town...not really rival...Clarke College Crusaders 73-67

Dubuque's second win of the season over Clarke. 

[Storm-what?]

Who can ever tell if Simpson is any good, they are so streaky it's hard to tell!

6 mintues left, Simpson by 5 against the Knights.

[Storm-what?]

Simpson knocks off the Knights in an effort to get out of the conference gutter. It was a squeaker. Makes me glad that Steege kid from Wartburg is gone- we lost more than once to WArtburg in buzzer beaters from that kid!

[StormE]

Good evening, IIAC brethren.  I'm a new member, although I've been reading the board for over a year.  I finally just had to create an account for two reasons: 1.) Simpson has been rather poorly represented here for the last two seasons.  2.) One of our only consistent posters is "a little misguided" let's say.  It seems stormtruper doesn't actually "go to the games" or "know anything about basketball" or "have any idea how to state a coherent argument supported by evidence." 

Ok, got that off my chest.  Now, I actually go to the games.  Even some away games.  I live with one of the team members.  I am good friends with most of the team.  I actually know what the #$%@ is going on, as spoken from the mouths of the actual teammates. You get the idea.

Now, I will agree that there have been some disappointments so far this season.  I had high expectations for the team myself, and was surprised at the sloppy play I saw at BV, and I heard Dubuque was the same.  But we also shot 35% from the floor both of those games....makes it hard to win when the ball doesn't go in. We haven't seen the output from Soppe that we have earlier in the season, but he is a little banged up and the conference has started to double team him.  Luckily, Hittenmiller and Parkinson have picked up some slack, and impressive play from some promising freshmen (Dunlavy, Dau) have added depth to the bench.  (Heaven knows how much coach BW loves that....what with the NHL-like line changes as soon as the five on the floor get a rhythm.)  Tubaugh has become  more reliable with better ball handling and 78% free throw shooting, and stellar defense from Cermak with 34 steals has helped turn games around (especially tonight vs. Wartburg). 

Point is, we all know Simpson has the athletes, they way the cleaned up the Cactus Jam was a good example of that, and I think that getting their first conference win against a school that these seniors had never beat until tonight is just the spark they needed to turn their conference play around.  Simpson should be 3-3 by Saturday night when we get back from Luther and Central. 

Ok I'm done.  Too much for a newbie? I promise I'll keep it much shorter from here on out.

[Storm-what?]

Hey StormE! Glad to have some Simpson support here. Sorry that you feel I am "misguided:" in stating that SImpson is streaky and unreliable. Hey, no offense, I am a huge fan- but the writing is on the wall. This team is just all over the place with wins and losses- I do watch the games and I never know what team is going to show up that night. I hope they can turn it around, last night was a good start. Anyway, welcome aboard!

[sc_stormchaser]

Wow- harsh words for stormtruper. I don't normally post on this board (I'm more of a d3football guy), anyway, I know stormtruper and he happens to be one of the biggest supporters of SC athletics that I know. Stormtruper does go to games and goes know a thing or two about basketball. I certainly can't speak for other SC fans, but I believe the frustration stems from the letdowns of the past two years. Three years ago, we had 3 freshman clocking significant minutes and playing major roles on the team. I believe that team finished 5 games over .500. Everyone said, wait until next year...we'll have 3 experienced sophomores playing. Great expectations for the following year. Cermak was primed, but if I remember correctly, he got injured, and they finished well below .500 and that was a huge disappointment. Okay, so we get to their junior year, Soppe gets injured, 13-14, again, a huge letdown.

I certainly don't claim to know the x's and o's of basketball, and I know Stormtruper doesn't claim to, but when you have 4 guys that already have 3 varsity letters a piece before their senior year...you have very high expectations.

StormE, I guess those of us who watched Wilson's teams of the mid- to late- 90s, got pretty spoiled and we thought our current players could replicate that. I hope you're right about the team climbing back to .500 in the conference after this weekend!

[coebball70]

Wow! Loras out in front at 4 and 0.  For all you Iowa Conference 'gurus' how did this happen, can it continue, and will the Duhawks be here in March?  I watched Loras get soundly beat by Mt. Mercy and absolutely dominated by Aurora University.  Also, am I correct in assuming the conference tournament winner get the D3 tourney bid?  When is the last time an 'at large bid' or two teams made the post-season dance in the Iowa Conference?

[Gregory Sager]

Also, am I correct in assuming the conference tournament winner get the D3 tourney bid?

Yes, you are.

When is the last time an 'at large bid' or two teams made the post-season dance in the Iowa Conference?

1996, when Upper Iowa made the tourney as the IIAC champion and Simpson made it as an at-large.

[coebball70]

GS - thanks for taking the time to reply to my post!

[doolittledog]

At halftime Dubuque up 33-28 on Central

Sounds like Centrals 6'10" Driftmeyer...not sure of the spelling...is a load.  Dubuque hasn't had too many answers for him yet. 

[doolittledog]

Dubuque beats Central 81-58

Dubuque goes to 8-4 overall and 2-1 in the IIAC
Central falls to 6-7 overall and 3-2 in the IIAC

[StormE]

Simpson beats Luther in Decorah 51-50 on Cermak's layup with 0:06 left!

[keith45]

Nice win for UD....was Central picked to finish in the top 4 (can't remember)....UD has had some nice home wins, so hopefully we can translate that into some raod wins

[stickman]

Who has seen Wartburg play - what is their deal?  When is the last time they have been 0-5 in the league - life without the big 3 has not been good!!