MBB: American Rivers Conference

[Goldy97]

Loras is now 3-0 after a 20 point victory tonight against Concordia-Wisconsin. Surely a different looking group, but the trio of Boyd, Navigato, and McGowen have been impressive thus far. McGowen had 25 points tonight. An additional positive, none of the above 3 are seniors.

[SpartyBlue]

Sunday

NWU 88 Hardin-Simmons  81   NWU struggled a bit more here than they should have against what looked to be a fairly average opponent. The St. Thomas game on Saturday will have a lot to say about this group sans Garver.

Drake 98 Simpson 53

Tuesday

UD @ Edgewood
Bethel @ Wartburg
Simpson @ Cornell  Tough one to call based on scattershot early results from both squads.
Coe @ Millikin  MU seeking first win without two best players.

[SpartyBlue]

Wednesday

Loras @ Auggie  Huge statement win for Duhawks at home last year.  Will be difficult to replicate on the road.
Luther @ Bethany Lutheran  Could be a close one, give slight nod to home team.
Crown @ BV

[Gregory Sager]

Wednesday

Loras @ Auggie  Huge statement win for Duhawks at home last year.  Will be difficult to replicate on the road.

Augie, not Auggie. "Augie" is Augustana. "Auggie" is Augsburg.

[SpartyBlue]

Wednesday

Loras @ Auggie  Huge statement win for Duhawks at home last year.  Will be difficult to replicate on the road.

Augie, not Auggie. "Augie" is Augustana. "Auggie" is Augsburg.

Loras @ Augie

[SpartyBlue]

Tuesday

UD @ Edgewood
Bethel @ Wartburg
Simpson @ Cornell  Tough one to call based on scattershot early results from both squads.
Coe @ Millikin  MU seeking first win without two best players.

UD 67 Edgewood 61  Sparty prevails in first road game.  Sloppy offensive game with lots of fouls.  Win is a win and a week to prepare for SC.
Bethel 73 Wartburg 68  Missed on this one.  Wartburg outplayed badly in the second half.
Simpson 84 Cornell 74 
Coe 77 MU 54  Really missed on this one, ouch.  Quality road win over a CCIW squad.

[dunkin3117]

Really looking forward to tuning in for the Loras/Augie game tonight.  Last year, Loras won it at the free throw line with no time remaining on the clock. 

[SpartyBlue]

Wednesday

Loras @ Auggie  Huge statement win for Duhawks at home last year.  Will be difficult to replicate on the road.
Luther @ Bethany Lutheran  Could be a close one, give slight nod to home team.
Crown @ BV

Augie 88 Loras 59  Augie runs away early and never looks back
BL 88 Luther 62  Luther shoots 30.3%
BV 93 Crown 59   Somehow Crown put up more points against University of North Dakota than they did BV

[doolittledog]

Hey SpartyBlue.  I've only watched a few minutes of two UD games.  Has their offense changed?  It just looked like two guys underneath to grab rebounds and dish to the other three guys standing behind the three point line? 

[SpartyBlue]

Predictions (with computer rankings)

Friday

Simpson 62 @ Carroll 84
Coe 81 @ WashU 33

Saturday

Simpson and Coe TBD
Northwestern, MN 93 @ BV 95
Ripon 144 @ Luther 188
St. Thomas 9 @ NWU 2
Loras 11 @ St. Scholastica 229

[SpartyBlue]

Hey SpartyBlue.  I've only watched a few minutes of two UD games.  Has their offense changed?  It just looked like two guys underneath to grab rebounds and dish to the other three guys standing behind the three point line?

Space and motion concepts.  Pretty much scored at will against Finlandia and IWU, IA.  Edgewood was an ugly game all-around, never really got into flow.  Looking for some continuity.  Simpson will tell us a lot more.

[dunkin3117]

With conference play starting up this week, a quick glance at what the league looks like right now.

6-0 Buena Vista
3-0 Dubuque
5-1 NWU
4-1 Loras
5-2 Simpson
3-2 Wartburg
2-2 Central
3-3 Coe
3-3 Luther

BV has clearly been the biggest surprise through the non-conference.  Not the most challenging of schedules, but a 92-76 win at Bethany Lutheran is impressive considering Simpson (preseason #2) lost to them 106-102. 

NWU had an "impressive" 78-56 win over St. Johns to start the year, but have stumbled a bit as of late falling to St. Thomas 82-63 and edging UChicago 81-79.

Loras has had its way with lesser opponents and was steam rolled by Augustana. 

Simpson has been up and down in my opinion so far this year.  Putting up 161 against Greenville is impressive, even if it was a system game.

Wartburg clearly missing Sabus/Kickbush/Gehling early on in the season.  I'm sure Peth will have them oiled and ready to roll come the second half of the season.

Coe has gone out and challenged themselves to start the season.  The wins haven't followed, but games against Wash U and Whitworth could pay off in the long run. 

Conference games this week
UD at Simpson
Central at Loras
Coe at BV

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I think you're just going to see NWU with a lot less margin for error.  They need consistent performances from everyone every night.  Those players are good, of course, but they no longer have three All-Americans to pick up the slack when needed (they just have one - and he can't do everything).

[SpartyBlue]

UD 91 @ Simpson 81
Central 219 @ Loras 29
Coe 97 @ BV 36

[blue_jays]

I think you're just going to see NWU with a lot less margin for error.  They need consistent performances from everyone every night.  Those players are good, of course, but they no longer have three All-Americans to pick up the slack when needed (they just have one - and he can't do everything).

Nebraska Wesleyan looked super vulnerable this weekend. St. Thomas shot the lights out against that zone and hit 19 threes. With UChicago sticking with them the whole way, they eventually abandoned the 3-2 zone for man-to-man and just barely pulled it out in the final minute. It's a senior heavy team that is relying on their starters to do almost all the lifting. As St. Thomas showed, that zone can be exploited in the corners.