MBB: American Rivers Conference

[Floyd in Iowa City]

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.

Good luck!  I remember a couple of years ago when the Norse got a better first round game when they beat Concordia (Wisconsin) before getting UW-Stevens Point in the 2nd round.  Stevens Point might have been like 25-3 and was the defending NCAA champions.

[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.

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

Doesn't make the "hard to beat a team three times" cliche true, though. The vast majority of two-time winners still end up winning the third matchup.

And Buena Vista split with Dubuque during the regular season, so that matchup is not germane to the discussion.

Luther beat Wartburg by 14 @ Wartburg and by 17 @ Luther. Unless the lineups changed due to injury or some other reason, that five-point win by the Knights last Friday constituted a pretty significant upset.

[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!

Doesn't make the "hard to beat a team three times" cliche true, though. The vast majority of two-time winners still end up winning the third matchup.

And Buena Vista split with Dubuque during the regular season, so that matchup is not germane to the discussion.

Luther beat Wartburg by 14 @ Wartburg and by 17 @ Luther. Unless the lineups changed due to injury or some other reason, that five-point win by the Knights last Friday constituted a pretty significant upset.

Luther and B.V. won the league, had home court advantages, yet lost the tourney games.

The league was pretty even as Luther had overtime games with Central, Simpson, Dubuque, Coe, and B.V.  The fact that they beat Wartburg by double digits both times seemed unusual to me in that the Norse had so many other close games.  They pulled away in the 2nd half both times in games that were pretty tight for 25-30 minutes.

The guards shot solid to good in the two regular season games against the Knights.  They shot very poorly in the tourney game just like they did in several of the overtime wins and other close games in the regular season games with other league members.

It was a great year for Luther Basketball even if the team had certain flaws that showed up too often.  Tyler W. had a great senior year and led the Norse to the kind of season that was fun to watch.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

http://www.luther.edu/sports/headlines/?story_id=446475

Luther Sweeps Iowa Conference Major Awards

Congrats to all of the all-league players this year, including the three Norse players.

Congrats especially to Tyler Wedemeier for being voted IIAC Most Valuable Player!   He was very deserving as almost nightly he made impacts in games through scoring, rebounding, blocking shots, passing, and leadership!  He had a great career and was almost always an impact player on defense in his career.  I really thought this season he made a huge improvement in free throw shooting, overall offensive production, and staying out of foul trouble.  I also think the refs helped on that last point. 

Coach Franzen has now won Coach of the Year five times in the Iowa Conference (Luther Basketball 2013, 2011, Wartburg Golf 2000, 2002, 2004).  Congrats on what he has done with Norse Basketball these last three years.  It will be tough next year without Wedemeier and Matos though.

It was also neat to see Androus win IIAC Defensive Player of the Year as that is the 3rd year a Norse player has won this award.

[DBQ1965]

On the link for the video of todays UWW - UD basketball game, they have us listed as Dubuque College

[doolittledog]

On the link for the video of todays UWW - UD basketball game, they have us listed as Dubuque College

It's not like you'd expect a place of higher education to get something like that correct...oh wait

[doolittledog]

Whitewater beats Dubuque 58-42.

Congrats to the Spartans on a great season.  22-7 overall. 

[badgerwarhawk]

Just a quick note to congratulate the Sparatans on their season and to compliment you on the following you brought to WHITEWATER for the game on Saturday.  It was one of the largest contingencies that we've had in our experiences hosting in the post season ranking right up there with Illinois Wesleyan which I've always considered the leader.  Your program is fortunate to have that kind of support. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Whitewater beats Dubuque 58-42.

Congrats to the Spartans on a great season.  22-7 overall.

I just ran into someone this weekend who had a lot of good things to say about the Spartan Athletic Department.  Congrats to Dubuque overall as things have changed a lot in the last 10 years.

[doolittledog]

Thanks for the kind words badgerwarhawk and Floyd. 

Spartan fans were able to watch NCAA playoff basketball and the wrestling regional that was held in Dubuque this past weekend.  Sounds like it was a good time.  Remarkable when you think back to a decade ago when the entire athletic program was in shambles and the school was just starting to dig itself out of a finantial crisis. 

Now we get to move on to baseball, have fun over the summer, and then start all over again in the fall with football.  Looking forward to it all. 

Next fall UD becomes an associate member of the WIAC for 3 weekds with non-con games against La Crosse, Platteville, and Stevens Point.  And gets Luther for homecoming the 2nd week of the conference portion of the schedule. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

http://www.iowaconference.com/news/2013/3/18/MBB_0318132009.aspx

Congrats to Tyler Wedemeier and Wes Nordquist for being on the 2013 NABC Coaches' Division III All-District teams!

[Alfredeneumann]

Wartburg's Clay Cook and  Drew Bentley--Simpson to play in IC Prime Time League.
http://www.primetimeleague.com/rosters.html

[BandGetsToPlay]

I see where Central's biggest recruit (per their web page) was bringing back a former asst. coach?! Really?! Sounds like things are going down the drain in Pella? Anyone with info on what's going on? The way I read this story was the guy left b/c he got passed over when MB left the program and now he's coming back? Interesting...

[doolittledog]

Interesting 1st post 

Welcome to the board, always fun to have someone that stirs the pot...a little or a lot!!!

From searching around on twitter there were a lot of high school seniors that had Central high on their list.  I know of 2 that decided on Dubuque and 2 that decided on Central.  My guess is the Dutch will stay competitive in the IIAC.  But as most old timers on here will tell you...I am often wrong. 

[BandGetsToPlay]

Interesting 1st post 

Welcome to the board, always fun to have someone that stirs the pot...a little or a lot!!!

From searching around on twitter there were a lot of high school seniors that had Central high on their list.  I know of 2 that decided on Dubuque and 2 that decided on Central.  My guess is the Dutch will stay competitive in the IIAC.  But as most old timers on here will tell you...I am often wrong. 

Weren't they supposed to be competitive last year with what MB left in the cupboard? Maybe they were but not what I remember reading, seeing online? Who did Central get as recruits?
Quote from the Central web page:
"Men's basketball coach Craig Douma has locked up one of his most significant recruits--Joe Steinkamp, who helped guide Central College to an Iowa Conference championship and NCAA Division III tournament berth, is returning to the Dutch coaching staff as the top varsity assistant."

Really? If I am a HS senior and I see that they think bring back an asst. coach, who is an alumni, who got passed over when MB left as big 'recruiting' news...then I might look elsewhere. Maybe not...just my 2 cents.