MBB: American Rivers Conference

[duhawk]

Loras takes down #2 Illinois Wesleyan tonight 80-75 and they have indeed had a very nice week.  They were down by 10+ in 2nd half but started shooting it better.  Could be interesting, they are balanced and hard to defend. 

[doolittledog]

Loras is an enigma to me.  Losses to Rockford and Millikin...wins against Wheaton and Illinois Wesleyan.  I'm just not sure what to make of that. 

[doolittledog]

Just so we don't go too long without a post.

The Dubuque Telegraph-Herald reports the Jon Davison Holiday Tourney starts today. 

http://www.thonline.com/sports/local_sports/article_0ff5cb4b-f172-5c71-b2a6-add7f20b21c7.html

From the article...

Jon Davison Holiday Tournament

Today's games

5 p.m. -- Clarke University (8-3) vs. St. Francis of Illinois (4-7)

7 p.m. -- University of Dubuque (8-0) vs. Rockford University (7-3)

Tuesday's games

2 p.m. -- Consolation

4 p.m. -- Championship

[doolittledog]

Dubuque beats Rockford in the 1st round of the Jon Davison Tourney 89-81.  I would characterize it as "hanging on to win"  UD was up 72-48 when I tuned in with a little over 10 minutes left in the 2nd half.  The next thing I knew it was a ballgame. 

St Francis of IL beat Clarke 93-81 in the opening game of the evening. 

[doolittledog]

Dubuque wins their own Jon Davison Tourney with a 79-61 win over St. Francis IL

The win moves UD to 10-0 on the season. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congrats to the Spartans!  They seem to be picking up from where they left off last season.

I must admit that I haven't been paying too much attention to the Iowa Conference members (except Luther) since the football season ended.  It looks like Wartburg and B.V. have been playing some of the same opponents as the Norse.  B.V. looks like once again they plan on scoring a lot.

I have been to a couple of Norse wins and saw a couple of other wins and a loss on the computer.  A couple people had been telling me good things about Norse Basketball in the fall, but I had a hard time seeing Luther having a strong year this season without the two stud big men from last year.

However having seen the Norse enough now to get a feel for trends of what are the strengths and weaknesses, I am starting to really wonder that maybe the Norse really are a contender again in 2014.  John Androus has been outstanding so far this season (16.5 ppg, 6.6 rbs, 2.7 apg) and Jake Martin has also been strong inside (12.3 ppg, 9.5 rbs).  With Tyler W. having graduated, the Norse are not as strong at the back end of the defense, but they still are working really hard to keep from having to double on good scorers.

It was impressive to see the mental toughness in road wins at Northwestern and UW-River Falls.

The thing that seems so much different this year (to this point) is that the Norse are shooting 38.5% from beyond the arc.  If they can keep that up and continue to shoot almost 48% from the field, then I would expect good things as the Norse usually can play defense.

[Klompen]

Okay, so I am late to the party again, what else is new?  Well I can answer that, wins by both the men and women over mighty fine Luther teams.  Both come from behind wins and far too close for comfort. Congratulations to the Dutch and sorry that you have such a long ride home, it was completely opposite what they had to be expecting.  I don't quite no how to handle both Central teams at the top of the conference after only one game.  Hope they can build some momentum with the Spartans coming to town on Saturday.

Doolittle aren't you and tour family about ready for some tasty Dutch letters?

[doolittledog]

Okay, so I am late to the party again, what else is new?  Well I can answer that, wins by both the men and women over mighty fine Luther teams.  Both come from behind wins and far too close for comfort. Congratulations to the Dutch and sorry that you have such a long ride home, it was completely opposite what they had to be expecting.  I don't quite no how to handle both Central teams at the top of the conference after only one game.  Hope they can build some momentum with the Spartans coming to town on Saturday.

Doolittle aren't you and tour family about ready for some tasty Dutch letters?

I wish...but our kids are to that age now where our weekend schedules are pretty filled up.  It looks like both games should be pretty hard fought contests. 

Conference standings...
Men
Dubuque (RV)  1-0 12-0
Central            1-0   8-4
Loras              1-0    8-4
Buena Vista     1-0    6-6
Coe                 0-1    8-4
Luther             0-1    8-4
Wartburg         0-1    6-6
Simpson          0-1    2-10

Women
Central         1-0 9-3
Dubuque      1-0 8-4
Coe             1-0 6-6
Loras           1-0 6-6
Luther          0-1 9-3
Buena Vista  0-1 6-6
Wartburg      0-1 6-6
Simpson       0-1 5-7

What happened to the Simpson women's program???

[Klompen]

Guess I get all the letters, Saturday.  It is a little discouraging that all the letters are in the shape of an S.  The Spartans ought to be stocking up on them.

If the games do not go as well as last night, at least I will have plenty of sugar to keep me sweet!

I have a bit more faith in the women right now as they seem to be stepping up more consistently, not to mention that I remember the Pella girls doing well in high school and at the state tourney.  The men can do it, but I am just never sure if they will show up or not.  They seem to do better when the students are on break, then struggle when classes resume.  Not sure if it is academic or social pressure that breaks them down though.

Go Dutch!

[doolittledog]

Hey Klompen, my computer is malfunctioning today.  I can't get video, so was unable to watch the game.  Mrs Doolittle wants to know if Mitchell Boerm got any playing time...she was his babysitter back when he was a wee lad...not the 6'6 kid he grew to become 

I hope you had a great day out, even though your favorite team came out on the losing end. 

[Alfredeneumann]

Good win Saturday by the Knights against Luther 76-69. 6-10 pt  lead for the Knights all day. Diemer did a very good job of passing out of the double team and when it didn't come did damage 1 on 1.  Wartburg is playing much better since Taylor Jacobsmeier has joined the team after the football season and is starting. A stop @ Toppling Goliath Brewing and Mabe's... A good day.

A new eating a drinking establishment is opening in the near future in Waverly., Dirty Dogs is opening in the former Godfathers site. Owner has Toad's  and Wild Hare in CF and Screaming Eagle in Waterloo.

[doolittledog]

Good win Saturday by the Knights against Luther 76-69. 6-10 pt  lead for the Knights all day. Diemer did a very good job of passing out of the double team and when it didn't come did damage 1 on 1.  Wartburg is playing much better since Taylor Jacobsmeier has joined the team after the football season and is starting. A stop @ Toppling Goliath Brewing and Mabe's... A good day.

A new eating a drinking establishment is opening in the near future in Waverly., Dirty Dogs is opening in the former Godfathers site. Owner has Toad's  and Wild Hare in CF and Screaming Eagle in Waterloo.

Now that is a name of an eating/drinking establishment I would like to try out    Though I think my wife has her heart set on visiting the Fainting Goat, after hearing me and my kids tell her about the place 

[Alfredeneumann]

doolittle, 1 place for pregame, 1 for post game. I'll send out a scouting report once D Dog's is open.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Good win Saturday by the Knights against Luther 76-69. 6-10 pt  lead for the Knights all day. Diemer did a very good job of passing out of the double team and when it didn't come did damage 1 on 1.  Wartburg is playing much better since Taylor Jacobsmeier has joined the team after the football season and is starting. A stop @ Toppling Goliath Brewing and Mabe's... A good day.

A new eating a drinking establishment is opening in the near future in Waverly., Dirty Dogs is opening in the former Godfathers site. Owner has Toad's  and Wild Hare in CF and Screaming Eagle in Waterloo.

Congrats to the Knights as I only saw the 2nd half, but it looked like the Norse were swimming upstream the whole time.  Luther almost never had to or wanted to double team on defense these past three to four years, but Diemer and others forced the Norse into doing some of that.  Big road win for Wartburg as I thought the Norse has the better preseason between the two teams.

Speaking of the Norse Defense not being quite what it has been, it seems like it has been a long time since the Norse scored in the 80s and still lost the game.  Central did that to the Norse earlier last week (84-82) even though Luther shot well and limited turnovers.  They just couldn't stop Central enough.  Kevin Kaerwer shot the ball like Jimmy Chitwood in Hoosiers and the Norse did not alter enough of the Dutch shot attempts.

Can Luther get it turned around this week?  Dubuque will be very hard to beat with how the Norse defended last week, but I still think Luther can be solid to good within the IIAC.

[doolittledog]

I grabbed a beer and sat down in front of the computer, all ready to watch the UD/Luther double header...only to realize that would be Wednesday evening