MBB: American Rivers Conference

[doolittledog]

Wartburg men seem to be on a similar run that the Wartburg women went on last year.  I think the Wartburg women finished 4th before winning the conference tourney and then ran all the way to the final 4.  Would be nice to see the Wartburg men make a similar run this year.  Would speak volumes for the IIAC if a mid-table team can make a run in the national tourney!

Wartburg women didn't win the conference tourney - they got in via Pool C.  They thought they had no real chance to get in - so much so that the Sommer sisters were in Florida with the softball team when they got the call to come home.

Yeah, just looked it up.  The Wartburg ladies went 9-5 in conference play to finish in 3rd place, and didn't win the conference tourney.  Kind of surprised they got selected...but goes to show the  committee got that pick correct.  They definitely showed they belonged!

[Alfredeneumann]

Wartburg win 76-43 @ #4 UW -RF.  Wartburg executed and broke the press, FR either jacked  up 3'S or drove and got fouled. Obviously playing as well as they have all year and have kept the pedal down to extend leads instead of settling for the lead they have.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Shared this on the MIAA page - thought some here might be interested as well. 

So Wartburg and Augie shared some common opponents this season as well.  Stats below for those games:

Offense	% 2pt	% 3pt	% FT
Wartburg	46.5	42.8	75.8
Augustana	50.7	35.5	81.1
------
Defense	% 2pt	% 3pt
Wartburg	46.5	40.7
Augustana	46.7	33.7
------
Rebounding	Team	Opp	Margin
Wartburg	38.2	40	-1.8
Augustana	34.4	35	-0.6
------
Scoring	Team	Opp	Margin
Wartburg	87.8	87.2	0.6
Augustana	76.6	68.6	8.0
------
3 point shooting	Made/game
Wartburg	11.2
Augustana	5.4
------
Ball Control	Blks/game	Stl/game	TO/Game
Wartburg	2.2	4	8.4
Augustana	4.2	8.4	13
------
Assists	Per Game	A/TO
Wartburg	14.2	1.69
Augustana	12.8	0.98
------
Vs. Opponents	UWO	NCC	Central
Wartburg	1 - 0	0 - 1	1 - 2
Augustana	1 - 0	2 - 1	1 - 0
------
Record vs common
Wartburg	2 - 3
Augustana	4 - 1

P.S. If anyone is headed to Holland this weekend and looking for suggestions on lodging, restaurants, etc., this Hawkeye (born and raised in Orange City - and a Northwestern College alum) would be happy to assist. 

[Gregory Sager]

Massey:

13. Augustana
14. Hanover
15. Hope
20. Wartburg

Augustana 80, Wartburg 78 (AC 53%, WC 47%)
@ Hope 76, Hanover 71 (Hope 67%, Hano 33%)

Ken's HAL 9000 supercomputer is not sanguine about the chances for the national champion to come out of this sectional:

Hope -- 5.24%
Augustana -- 4.68%
Wartburg --  3.35%
Hanover -- 1.35%

[Alfredeneumann]

Massey:

13. Augustana
14. Hanover
15. Hope
20. Wartburg

Augustana 80, Wartburg 78 (AC 53%, WC 47%)
@ Hope 76, Hanover 71 (Hope 67%, Hano 33%)

Ken's HAL 9000 supercomputer is not sanguine about the chances for the national champion to come out of this sectional:

Hope -- 5.24%
Augustana -- 4.68%
Wartburg --  3.35%
Hanover -- 1.35%

"So you're saying we've got a chance" Go Knights!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

My Wartburg feature went up last night - http://www.d3hoops.com/playoffs/men/2017/wartburg-playoffs-come-early - in case anyone missed it.

[HansenRatings]

My Wartburg feature went up last night - http://www.d3hoops.com/playoffs/men/2017/wartburg-playoffs-come-early - in case anyone missed it.

Nice article. Looking at Massey's rankings, the IIAC has 4 Top 50-caliber teams and 6 Top 75-caliber teams. I wonder if the perception of the conference is hurt by being in such close proximity to the MIAC, WIAC, and CCIW, just like in football. I remember when I was at Wartburg, BVU was a Top 10 team, but didn't get an at-large bid to the (smaller) field for the national tournament. Hopefully more teams like Wartburg's women last season can keep making runs deep in the postseason to help the conference's perception.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

My Wartburg feature went up last night - http://www.d3hoops.com/playoffs/men/2017/wartburg-playoffs-come-early - in case anyone missed it.

Nice article. Looking at Massey's rankings, the IIAC has 4 Top 50-caliber teams and 6 Top 75-caliber teams. I wonder if the perception of the conference is hurt by being in such close proximity to the MIAC, WIAC, and CCIW, just like in football. I remember when I was at Wartburg, BVU was a Top 10 team, but didn't get an at-large bid to the (smaller) field for the national tournament. Hopefully more teams like Wartburg's women last season can keep making runs deep in the postseason to help the conference's perception.

This season was clearly a step forward for the IIAC - they did really well in the non-conference.  I wonder if it's looking more like the MAC Commonwealth out east, where they've got eight teams that are all competitive every year and their conference schedule usually keeps them out of Pool C contention?  Adding Nebraska Wesleyan helps their competitiveness, I think, but it also makes it more difficult to get out of conference with a decent record.

[doolittledog]

Congrats to Wartburg for advancing to the sweet 16.  Loved seeing the IIAC 6th seed make a run like that!

[Alfredeneumann]

Congrats to the Knights on making the sweet 16! And Wartburg Wrestling winning 13th national title, most ever in D3 wrestling.

2 Wartburg seniors were honored with all-region awards, Jordan Cannon 2nd team, Nick Webber 3rd team.
http://www.go-knights.net/news/2017/3/13/mens-basketball-duo-named-all-region.aspx

Other Conference players honored
1st Team
Cooper Cook    Nebraska Wesleyan    
Colby Taylor    Central

2nd Team
Kennedy Drey    Buena Vista

3rd Team
Nate Schimonitz    Nebraska Wesleyan (Rookie of the year winner)

[Gregory Sager]

Nebraska Wesleyan is going to be absolutely loaded next season. The Prairie Wolves return four starters, including All-Region picks Cook and Schimonitz, their top six scorers, and their top five rebounders.

[Smitty Oom]

Nebraska Wesleyan is going to be absolutely loaded next season. The Prairie Wolves return four starters, including All-Region picks Cook and Schimonitz, their top six scorers, and their top five rebounders.

I saw you posted this elsewhere (NCAA Tourney page), please keep quiet as they are my sleeper for the Futures Draft!

[Alfredeneumann]

Wartburg Men end season ranked # 18.

http://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2016-17/final

Key to Wartburg next year is who takes role/points of Sabus + Kickbush who take over for Cannon and Webber. Herman should take the Kalan spot. Good news, Coach Peth usually has A LOT of good guards!

[dunkin3117]

Will be interesting to see who steps into those roles.  Any idea what the recruiting situations are around the league?  There was quite a bit a talent in Iowa this year, curious to see who is going to end up in the IIAC.

[rlgyank]

It's my first post, and I know I'm a little bit late to the party, but I thought I would post some things that I have noticed over this season. I am a fan (parent) of a Nebraska Wesleyan player. I have read the board all season, just never posted before.

Regarding the final rankings, I can't believe that Wartburg was the only IIAC team rated, or even receiving votes. As a newcomer to the IIAC, and for the most part, D3, has the IIAC always not gotten much respect? It seems that if your 6th place team goes as far as Wartburg did in the tournament, and beat the teams they did, the teams that finished ahead of them in the regular season would get more respect.

NWU should be pretty good next year. As noted before, they have a lot of experience returning. And of that experience, most of it is current freshman and sophomores. I am looking forward to watching them the next couple of seasons.

A couple of things I noticed in moving from the GPAC to the IIAC. First of all, the competition was very good in the IIAC. Even though Wesleyan ended up in first place, they played a lot of close games. I think the top teams in the GPAC are better than the top teams in the IIAC, but after you get by the top couple of teams in the GPAC, the teams in each conference are pretty close. The second thing is that the officiating in the IIAC is not even close to being as good as it is in the GPAC. There were a few good officials in the IIAC, but not a whole lot. I don't think they were biased or anything, just not very good. Another thing is that I thought the coaching in the IIAC was pretty good.

I look forward to a lot of good, close games in the next couple of years. I wish the Iowa schools were closer to Wesleyan, it makes for a lot of long trips. Hopefully Wesleyan will be a good addition to the IIAC basketball portion of the conference.