MBB: American Rivers Conference

[dunkin3117]

What computer projections are you using?

[SpartyBlue]

What computer projections are you using?

Massey win probabilities.

[SpartyBlue]

Saturday in the ARC

Simpson 186 @ Central 333  Must win for Simpson to keep pace with Wartburg.  Problem is Simpson has shown inability to win on the road.  Moody's return will make the difference here. 

Coe 96 @ Loras 80  Game of the day.  Duhawks on a bit of a roll since Coe loss.  They return the favor here and get to nine conference wins.

NWU 7 @ Luther 287 

UD 118 @ BV 84  Game of the day, Part II.  Two teams tied for the four seed at 6-5.  Can UD find a way to win this on the road (make 15 or more threes?)?  Can BV stop their three game skid?

It's February basketball...conference picture either clears a bit or stays caucus night muddled.  We shall see.

[SpartyBlue]

ARC teams in top 25 nationally by statistical category:

Scoring Offense 13. NWU 88.8  16. BV 88.5

Scoring Margin 7. NWU 16  21. BV 13

Three pt. fg/Game  19. BV 10.9  22. UD 10.8

3 pt. fg attempts 15.  BV 650

Asst/TO ratio  17. NWU 1.45

Fewest TOs  18. Coe 219

FG%  1. NWU 53.30%  21.  Simpson 49.00%

Off. Reb./Game  5. BV 15.90

Fouls/Game  10. NWU 13.5

Reb. Margin 14. Loras and BV 8

[Greek Tragedy]

NWU #1 in fg%! Impressive.

Nate Schimonitz for POTY. I don't think many national pundits had them doing as good as they have this far after losing two top players.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

NWU #1 in fg%! Impressive.

Nate Schimonitz for POTY. I don't think many national pundits had them doing as good as they have this far after losing two top players.

Really? Schimonitz was back ... and Preseason they were picked #8 and are currently #7. I think NWC is right were many of us thought they would be.

[SpartyBlue]

Saturday Results

BV 81 UD 70  Dismal first half sinks UD as Beavers gnaw their way to victory

Loras 77 Coe 76  Duhawks continue surging and take two game lead for bye spot

Central 78 Simpson 71  Storm continue struggling, still not out of postseason race

NWU 95 Luther 65

[dunkin3117]

NWU clinched their 4th straight regular season championship after defeating Luther Saturday

Game of the day was in Dubuque as Loras took on Coe.  I didn't know if I was watching a wrestling match, football game, or basketball game.  This had to have been one of the poorest officiated games I've seen in a long time.  I don't know if the officials have gotten a memo to allow more physical play, but the league seems to have certainly gone that direction recently.  Brian Martin was VERY VISIBLY upset following a no-call at the end of the game, camera angle wasn't the greatest, but it looked like there might have been contact with one of the officials. 

Simpson continues to slide.  The preseason #2 pick has gone 3-6 since coming back from Christmas break, and things aren't going to get any easier with games against Coe, at Wartburg, and home with NWU and BV. 

Regional rankings should be coming out soon, will anyone other than NWU find a spot in the west rankings?

Wednesday Games
BV at Wartburg
Loras at UD
Coe at Simpson
Luther at Central

Current Standings
13-0 NWU (Central, at Simpson, Loras)
9-4 Loras (at UD, Wartburg, at NWU)
7-5 BV (at Wartburg, at Coe, Central, at Simpson)
7-5 Coe (at Simpson, BV, UD, at Luther)
6-6 UD (Loras, Luther, at Coe, Wartburg)
5-7 Wartburg (BV, Simpson, at Loras, at UD)
4-8 Simpson (Coe, at Wartburg, NWU, BV)
3-10 Luther (at Central, at UD, Coe)
2-11 Central (Luther, at NWU, at BV)

[Gregory Sager]

Regional rankings should be coming out soon

The first regional rankings will be released on Wednesday.

[SpartyBlue]

Wednesday in the ARC

Loras 72 @ UD 126  Game of the night.  Battle for Dubuque.  Duhawks on 5 game roll, Sparty coming off lackluster loss to BV.  Throw out the records and expect a spirited contest.

Luther 285 @ Central 308  Dutch over Norse in Battle of Northern Europe.

Coe 107 @ Simpson 199  Huge game for Storm.   A win here keeps them in the postseason race and sets up big Saturday game vs. Wartburg. Home advantage tips this one.

BV 78 @ Wartburg 185  BV cruises easily at home.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

First Regional Rankings are out: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2020/02/men-regional-rankings-first

[SpartyBlue]

Hump Day ARC Results

Loras 72 UD 71     Big game from JT Ford and Duhawks cement clear second-best to NWU status.

Coe 80 Simpson 60      Storm look to have given up the ghost. 

Luther 79 Central 72     Ugly box score...Norse take this one James Harden style, at the free thrown line.

BV 91 Wartburg 67      Wartburg still in the running for that 5th or 6th seed.

[dunkin3117]

Hard to pick a game of the day on Saturday.  Each has a MAJOR impact on the conference tournament.  NWU, Loras, BV and Coe are the only teams who have qualified to this point. 

BV at Coe (This game went to 2OT with Coe coming out on top, 86-80)
Simpson at Wartburg (Both fighting for their lives to make conference tournament.  Simpson won the first meeting 71-65)
Luther at UD (For the first time in several years, Luther is alive to make a tournament push.  UD won the first meeting 75-69)

Current Standings
13-0 NWU (Central, at Simpson, Loras)
10-4 Loras (BYE, Wartburg, at NWU)
8-5 BV (at Coe, Central, at Simpson)
8-5 Coe (BV, UD, at Luther)
6-7 UD (Luther, at Coe, Wartburg)
5-8 Wartburg (Simpson, at Loras, at UD)
4-9 Simpson (at Wartburg, NWU, BV)
4-10 Luther (at UD, BYE, Coe)
2-12 Central (at NWU, at BV, BYE)

[SpartyBlue]

Saturday in the ARC

Central 307 @ NWU 5   NWU belongs in the top four national rankings.

Coe 107 @ BV 77  Double overtime win at Coe in first game.  Coe is a 52% favorite here.  This game will likely go down to the wire, still my feeling is that Austin Roth will have another monster game and put the Kohawks in the win column.

Luther 282 @ UD  125  Luther needs to win last two for six wins to have any chance at postseason. Problem for the Norse is that they're terrible on the road.  Luther doesn't travel well and UD trying to get to at least 8 wins for seeding purposes.  Sparty should win this by 10-15. 

Simpson 198 @ Wartburg 184  Another must win for two teams battling for tournament.  Hard to pick the Storm here after three straight bad games.  That means they'll likely win.  But seriously, Knights can hammerlock a berth since Simpson finishes with BV and NWU.  A Wartburg win here also helps UD.

[Greek Tragedy]

Is the conference worse than we thought it would be or is NWU just that much better than everyone else? I mean, NWU is running away with the league, winning every game by double digits except their two games against Coe (huh?).