MBB: American Rivers Conference

[doolittledog]

Congrats to Luther and BVU for winning the 12-13 IIAC basketball title. 

I'm looking forward to a great conference tourney.  It's been a fun year to watch. 

[Norsanity]

Congrats to Coach Franzen for another championship year. No MVP Larson or defensive MVP Merritt and still win the iiac. Impressive!

[Floyd in Iowa City]

What a fun week for my son and I as we saw the Norse game Wednesday against Coe on the computer, went to the Luther-St. Olaf wrestling meet on Thursday (Norse won big), went to the Luther-Wartburg game on Saturday, and the Iowa-Minnesota game on Sunday!  

This was the most fun I had watching college sports this school year as I am still trying to forget the football seasons that they had in Decorah and Iowa City.

What a great time on Saturday at Decorah!  The Norse win big on senior day for Wedemeier and Matos, win a share of the conference title, and find a way to sweep a rival in the process. 

Congrats to both B.V. and Luther for finding a way to go 11-3 in a conference season in which not much seperated the league champions many nights from Central or Loras.  The tourney could be crazy.

Luther shot the ball as a team so much better against Wartburg than they had in recent games.  They got balanced scoring from inside and outside, and good passes were setting up shots that they actually hit this game.  Wedemeier might have only had 12 points and 13 rebounds, but many of his passes and decisions set up scores.  Cale Austin and Zach Matos really were big sparks on offense as well.

I don't know if Luther is the best team, but they have had a great season.  Wedemeier also has to be in the running for defensive MVP and overall league MVP.

[doolittledog]

Higher seeds win tonight.

Wartburg 64-54 over Coe
Dubuque 71-63 over Simpson

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congrats to the Knights and Spartans.

No matter who won the Coe-Wartburg game, Luther was going to have to beat a team that they have already beaten twice this season.  They were also going to have to beat a team for the 2nd time in about a week.

Those things are hard to do, but another Luther-Wartburg game should be fun for everyone involved.

Both games on Thursday are going to be tough as Dubuque should be a very tough out for B.V.

[doolittledog]

Games are postponed to Friday.

http://www.iowaconference.com/news/2013/2/20/MBB_0220131608.aspx

Luther/Wartburg this season...
01/23/13  Luther 75-61 @Wartburg
02/16/13  Luther 78-61 @Luther

BVU/Dubuque this season...
01/12/13  BVU 70-68 OT @Dubuque
02/06/13  DBQ 73-58 @BVU

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to the Knights and Spartans.

No matter who won the Coe-Wartburg game, Luther was going to have to beat a team that they have already beaten twice this season.  They were also going to have to beat a team for the 2nd time in about a week.

Those things are hard to do

Um ... no. Beating a team for the third time is not as hard as you imply it is. I know which dreaded cliche you're about to invoke. Please don't. It isn't true.

One win over an opponent could be chalked up to an inordinately bad shooting night by the loser, an inordinately great shooting night for the winner, a few random bounces of the ball, etc. But two wins over an opponent demonstrates superiority that much more clearly, because the odds that those random factors influence the final score yet again decrease proportionally.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congrats to the Knights and Spartans.

No matter who won the Coe-Wartburg game, Luther was going to have to beat a team that they have already beaten twice this season.  They were also going to have to beat a team for the 2nd time in about a week.

Those things are hard to do

Um ... no. Beating a team for the third time is not as hard as you imply it is. I know which dreaded cliche you're about to invoke. Please don't. It isn't true.

One win over an opponent could be chalked up to an inordinately bad shooting night by the loser, an inordinately great shooting night for the winner, a few random bounces of the ball, etc. But two wins over an opponent demonstrates superiority that much more clearly, because the odds that those random factors influence the final score yet again decrease proportionally.

I hope you are right!

[doolittledog]

UD gets their 2nd win @ BVU this season.  64-61 the final. 

Dubuque hosts Wartburg on Sunday.  The Knights won @ Luther 62-57.  Don't have any updates yet on how the game up in Decorah went. 

With UD hosting Wartburg at 2pm and the IIAC indoor T & F championships also at UD on Sunday, I'll see if I can sweet talk mrs doolittle into letting me roadtrip over there this weekend. 

This has been a fun conference season.  Teams 1-8 could win or lose against anybody each and every night. 

[Alfredeneumann]

Wart 62- Luther 57
Key stat - Luther goes 4-20 from 3 and starting guards go 0-11 from 3 @ HOME.

http://wcfcourier.com/sports/college/wartburg-tops-luther-rolls-into-iiac-championship/article_571f24fc-7d66-11e2-accf-001a4bcf887a.html

So much for 3 game season sweeps for Luther or BV.

Guess you shouldn't under estimate Coach Peth. Picked for last and now in title game.

[5 Words or Less]

Streaky game.  Warts better streakers.

[doolittledog]

Dubuque beat Wartburg in the conference tourney final 73-60

The Spartans enter the NCAA tourney with a 22-6 overall record.  1st NCAA tourney appearance for UD since I was in school in '90-'91 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congrats to the Knights and Spartans.

No matter who won the Coe-Wartburg game, Luther was going to have to beat a team that they have already beaten twice this season.  They were also going to have to beat a team for the 2nd time in about a week.

Those things are hard to do

Um ... no. Beating a team for the third time is not as hard as you imply it is. I know which dreaded cliche you're about to invoke. Please don't. It isn't true.

One win over an opponent could be chalked up to an inordinately bad shooting night by the loser, an inordinately great shooting night for the winner, a few random bounces of the ball, etc. But two wins over an opponent demonstrates superiority that much more clearly, because the odds that those random factors influence the final score yet again decrease proportionally.

And yet Luther and B.V. lost on Friday!

It was an even conference this year and the margin for error was not great for any team.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Dubuque beat Wartburg in the conference tourney final 73-60

The Spartans enter the NCAA tourney with a 22-6 overall record.  1st NCAA tourney appearance for UD since I was in school in '90-'91 

Congrats to Dubuque as they had a strong team all season.  Good luck in the NCAAs!

I guess Luther and B.V. can still feel very good about sharing the regular season title in a year in which so many teams were potential contenders.

[doolittledog]

Dubuque travels to defending national champion UW-Whitewater in the 1st round of the NCAA tourney this Saturday. 

UW-Whitewater is 23-4 and on a 9 game winning streak.
Dubuque is 22-6 and on a 7 game winning streak. 

Winner gets North Central/Centre winner the next Saturday.