MBB: American Rivers Conference

[doolittledog]

Dubuque hands Luther their 1st conference loss of the year in double OT. 

I guess I picked the wrong night to go to bed early and not watch.  I'm watching the game from the Luther site right now.  It looks like Luther pairs up a local radio guy with a team of students.  That's a nice way to do it.  I've been listening to him give the kids pointers all night.  He has done a great job.  I laughed a moment ago when he said with this game going into double OT the kids won't mind the extra work study money they are making for the night

[Klompen]

Congratulations to UD for handing Luther that first lost.  Somebody had to do it, it was coming, they were just escaping too many times to keep up the luck. 

[coebball70]

I think the Beavers "needed" the victory more than anything else.  It was Brian VanHaaften's 300 victory, an impressive total in so little time.  Coach VH is a class act, he earns and deserves his success out there on the cold shore of Storm Lake! The race is getting tighter.

[IntramuralChamp]

I didn't know anyone listened to me but I am glad I have been missed! I will try to be more of a regular poster! I am back with my thoughts on the last time since I posted...

Coe gets a huge road win at Central by 23, impressive by all means regardless of who played. Anytime you get a beat down like that on someones home court is impressive.

Loras gets well needed win at Cornell to get their 2nd half started off right.

Wartburg continues their struggles and Taylor Blum starts his trek to be on D3 Hoops team of week.

Luther goes to Storm Lake, and holds the home team to 32% shooting, mind you- 45 points! Luther scores 70 points- I don't know what score is more surprising!

Next week of games...

Taylor Blum gets the last laugh at home against BV as he sinks a 15ft with little time left to get a big 2 pt victory.

Simpson makes Klompen mad by getting a 10 pt win at home- Zanders has the Storm fighting for every point and really getting after it defensively.

Wartburg finally gets a W in conference play. Had Loras won, I think Wartburg gives up! Who would have thought Wartburg would have 1 win with 8 conference games played!

Luther puts up another 70 points and gets another road win at Cornell.

Next games...

Luther gets another win to stay atop leaderboard.

Coe continues to dominate at home and beats dismantled Knights.

Central bounces back and starts to fullfill Klompens new years wish.

   
     

[IntramuralChamp]

Last weeks game to get my caught up in the action before I get to my picks!

Central wins offensive battle at Dubuque scoring 97 points in the victory! Does home court advantage not mean anything anymore?

Coe squeaks out a big road win in big rivalry game with Cornell. Love the toilet paper tradition, regardless if the final score ended up in a one point loss. D3 needs more things like this to get more fans/students to come out and support.

Luther continues to win, going to Waverly and getting a W. This Luther team must be different then most because they are scoring more then 60 points and winning games by scoring 83 points and giving up 76.

Storm continue their improvement by going to BV and getting big road win. Once again, does home court not matter? For a team picked to finish 2nd and have a worse home conference record then road record is a surprise for any team.

Wednesdays Games...

Simpson continues its winning ways by beating a struggling Wartburg team. I am still amazed at how bad Wartburg has been. Injuries will affect a team, but 1-7? There must be real issues in Waverly? Any insight?

Luther loses it first game of the year at home to a hot Dubuque team, led by Taylor Blum and company. The Spartans help tighten up the conference race with the win before they 2nd half conference schedule starts.

Buena Vista wins at Central in a game of runs. Turner plays well for Dutch, but BV must have found a way to limit him down the stretch. If I remember right, Dutch have had BV's number last 8-10 years at home? Klompen must be the reason:).

Loras wins at Coe, in their attempt to get hot and start making the conference interesting in their push to finish towards top half?

[Klompen]

I think the Beavers "needed" the victory more than anything else.  It was Brian VanHaaften's 300 victory, an impressive total in so little time.  Coach VH is a class act, he earns and deserves his success out there on the cold shore of Storm Lake! The race is getting tighter.

I'm not so sure Central fans are as impressed with Coach VH, not because he came from this area, but because he caught the inbounds pass Central through while on a run and he should not have been on the court!     If he wanted time out, he should have called for it from the sidelines, not be catching and inbound pass. 

But congratulations to him for getting win #300.  That is quite an accomplishment.  Must have been his Dutch roots.   

[IntramuralChamp]

Ok now that I am caught up! Here are my picks for tomorrow and thoughts going forward...

Coe @ Wartburg... The Knights have dug themselves a hole, sitting at 1-7 is there any motivation left? I think so, Knights are young enough they continue to play hard and win a big one against Coe to log jam the conference race even more. 74 to 70 Knights. Danielson gets hot and Sathoff continues where he left off when he scored 34 and 14 against Simpson.

Loras @ Central- Call me crazy and hate me more Klompen, but I think Loras finds a way to get rolling and it starts/continues when they visit Pella. Both teams find themselves at 4-5 following the game, fighting to stay out of the bottom half.

Cornell @ BV- Cornell has been playing bad lately but Lott plays well and keeps Cornell in the game, but BV's big men prove to be too much and win a close one in shoot out 85 to 80.

Game of the night: Luther @ Simpson! Simpson has been playing well, Luther just lost one and are off their high horse. In a defensive battle, Luther loses two in a row and Simpson at 6-3 following the win moves into 2nd place.  The conference race heats up as we approach 2nd half.

Love to hear thoughts and opinions!

[IntramuralChamp]

"I'm not so sure Central fans are as impressed with Coach VH, not because he came from this area, but because he caught the inbounds pass Central through while on a run and he should not have been on the court!     If he wanted time out, he should have called for it from the sidelines, not be catching and inbound pass. "

Hadn't heard that, but being a ref I am guessing he was asking for a Time out after a made basket by his team? One official I bet was watching the inbounder and the other one was running down the court, I had this happen to me in a recent game where the coach was in the corner right in front of me on the court trying to get a TO, after the ball was inbounded. With the time of game and score, I was locked in and didn't hear him, but granted him the TO....We heard it the rest of the game from the fans, just glad the game wasn't close at the time.

Did you see this in person Klompen?

[Klompen]

Welcome back IMC and CoeBB70, glad to have you back here, even if it took beating Central to get you back here.  

This Central team has me equal parts proud and frustrated, it all depends on which team shows up.  They go up to UD and play like they were playing prior to Christmas break.  I think, good, things are back on track!  Then BV comes to town and Central shoots the lights out.  No, not saying they shot well, literally meaning they seems to come closer to shooting the lights out than to hitting the basket, or the rim, or the backboard...  

Get those contacts checked boys, I think a few of you got your prescriptions mixed up.  Usually I only think the refs are blind, but they did pretty good by comparison.    Here's hoping they can beat Loras tomorrow.  All depends which team shows up.  

With the possible exception of the night we played Luther without 3 players, all of whom have started at least part of the time, if not regularly, I think Central was outplayed in the games they lost.  Coe clearly outplayed us in every phase of the game.  BV really hit the boards hard and their height advantage got them a lot of tip in points that made the difference.  But Central didn't appear to be trying consistently, they did during their runs, but then they let up again.  Much as I HATE to say it, even Simpson really outplayed us.  So no excuses, if you don't come and play 40 solid minutes, you don't win.  And, no, home court doesn't mean anything this year.

[Klompen]

Love to hear thoughts and opinions!

I think Coe beats Wartburg.  I think Wartburg needs a coaching change. 

Central players get the right contacts in and beat Loras at home.  They were off Wednesday, in true inconsistent form, they will be on tomorrow. 

I think Cornell-BV will tell us if home court means anything tomorrow.  I think Cornell has a better chance than most think, but BV does have a lot of height and that made a difference in the outcome at Central, so this on could go either way.  I will give home court edge to BV. 

I also think Simpson is playing well now and give them the nod for a win tomorrow. 

[Klompen]

"I'm not so sure Central fans are as impressed with Coach VH, not because he came from this area, but because he caught the inbounds pass Central through while on a run and he should not have been on the court!     If he wanted time out, he should have called for it from the sidelines, not be catching and inbound pass. "

Hadn't heard that, but being a ref I am guessing he was asking for a Time out after a made basket by his team? One official I bet was watching the inbounder and the other one was running down the court, I had this happen to me in a recent game where the coach was in the corner right in front of me on the court trying to get a TO, after the ball was inbounded. With the time of game and score, I was locked in and didn't hear him, but granted him the TO....We heard it the rest of the game from the fans, just glad the game wasn't close at the time.

Did you see this in person Klompen?

I did see it in person and it was after his team made a basket.  Not saying he didn't have the right to ask for a TO, just not by stopping the game.  Which he didn't have much choice in since he was in the direct path between the two Central players.  But as a true Central fan, and given that things were tight at the time, you can understand why a lot of Central fans were thinking he should have had a technical for being on the floor/interfering with the game. 

BV deserved the win, they showed they wanted it more.  So I'm not really arguing that.  Heck if Central had just not shot about 10 major air balls, it would have made more of a difference.  That still just blows my mind.  The home team should know where their own basket is, shouldn't they? 

[Klompen]

Central men all wear their own contacts and not a Central air ball in sight today as the Dutch jump out to a huge early lead then hang on to win 78-66.  Saw the transfer, Baxter, play for Loras and decided that the highlight videos I watched of him did just what they were meant to do.  They made him look good.  I think that he can make a real contribution at Loras the longer he is with the team, but he wasn't overly impressive in today's game, even though he did come in and score 4 of the team's first 6 points.  Problem was, that was after they spotted Central something like an 18-2 lead or better. 

In other games, Coe beat Wartburg 82-72, which was in line with my predictions.  Luther beat Simpson 77-65, which I had predicted might go the other way.  I just base too many of my Luther predictions on how they played against Central, but apparently that was their off night.  BV and Cornell are at the half with BV trailing by one, 26-27, so it is really anybody's game at the half.

Congratulations to all of today's winning teams, particularly the Dutch.  Loras may be down, but a sweep of Loras men in basketball has been a long time coming for the Dutch. 

[5 Words or Less]

Wart's miss uberfrosh McCarville (18.4 ppg) ... redshirting/ACL

[IntramuralChamp]

Home teams go 2-2 on Saturday night--  Central and BV get big home wins and Luther and Coe get big road wins. Wartburg and Loras continue their struggle as they maintain their spot in the middle of the league. Cornell and Wartburg continue their spiral at 1-8 in the league. BV was the only disappointment in the night, only winning by 3 at home against Cornell. Luther gets a big road win against hot Storm team, getting to the free throw line proved to be the difference in the game. Luther is showing why they will win the league by winning on the road. Rest of league is up for grabs! Disappointing nights include Loras losing at Central, however give it up to Demarco Turner- who will be player of week in IIAC, chance for D3 Hoops team of week?  Got a chance with the game he had against BV and Loras!

[doolittledog]

I'm hopefull that seeing Loras and Wartburg...and to an extent, BVU struggle this season that this will carry over into the football season next fall.  Not that I want to see Central or Warty have bad seasons...I just want to see a school that traditionally doesn't shine...like, um, I don't know, say Dubuque, perhaps have a great year