MBB: American Rivers Conference

[dunkin3117]

Like I said....bonkers.  Every game has so much weight on it.

[SpartyBlue]

Seeding Battle Saturday in the ARC

BV 74 @ Simpson 161 Intriguing match up...does Simpson believe after their huge upset on Wednesday?  Maybe, but track record just too shaky for the Storm. 

Coe 79 @ Luther 256  Norse have played well down the stretch and hold that BV scalp on their home court.  Kohawks superior athleticism wins out in the end.

Loras 80 @ NWU 14  Great teams use setbacks as fuel.  Wolves locked in as one seed, but will certainly play this one to win after debacle in Indianola.  Momentum matters and NWU will get it back in this one.   

Wartburg 185 @ UD 136 Huge game here.  UD win and in.  Knights won first game by 16, UD was without leading scorer Burger.  Dogfight type game, gotta with Sparty to pull it out on their home floor.  UD needs to come out of the gate with energy and stop digging early holes for itself. 

[dunkin3117]

Field is set...

1 NWU
2 Coe
3 Loras vs 6 Wartburg
4 BV vs 5 Simpson

Might be the most dangerous 5/6 seeds in recent memory.  Simpson is one of the hottest teams in the league and Wartburg has already knocked off Loras twice this year. 

[SpartyBlue]

Saturday Results

Wartburg 92 UD 81  Worse-case scenario played out for UD. Bottom line was had to win here to get in and did not. Wartburg played with energy and missed free throws and techs hurt Sparty down the stretch. 

Simpson 85 BV 72  Storm finally living up to their potential and at the right time.  Credit them for two huge wins to sneak in.  The NWU win makes the conference tournament very interesting.  Intriguing rematch at BV. 

NWU 88 Loras 73 

Coe 76 Luther 60

[SpartyBlue]

ARC Conference Tournament Round One

Simpson 145 @ BV 85  Very interesting match up for all the obvious reasons.  Storm finally showing their potential, but can they beat a good team back to back, this time on the road?  Have to ride with the hot team here. 

Wartburg 167 @ Loras 76  Another great match up.  I think this goes down the wire again, remember Knights beat Duhawks in their own gym only a week ago.  If Wartburg plays like they did Saturday at UD, they win this. I would pound it inside to Stulken and Zumbach if I'm the Knights.    Hard to pick against Duhawks at home to lose twice in a week to the same team, though. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The Week 3 men's regional rankings are out: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2020/02/men-regional-rankings-third

[Goldy97]

Tough end to the year for Loras. After the loss of Ruggles, DiCanio, and George, guys needed to step up. And guys like Rowan McGowen and JT Ford did big time. By the end of the season, though, the Duhawks had lost Boyd, Matthews, and Navigato from the original starting lineup. Dimitric Young then gets hurt replacing Navigato. Matt Dacy-Seijo missed significant time. Just a long series of unfortunate events which eventually ends the Duhawks season last night. Lucky for Loras, they will be returning all but 1 starter (JT Ford) next season and should return heavily motivated.

[SpartyBlue]

Tuesday Results

Wartburg 79 Loras 73  Knights jump on Duhawks early and hold on.   Played stronger and earned this win--Wartburg won rebounding battle 34-21.

Simpson 86 BV 70  Storm keep rolling, shoot a lights out 62.2% from field. 

Sets up some good games tomorrow.

Simpson 121 @ NWU 11  Wolves avenge shocking 27 point loss at Simpson.

Wartburg 151 @ Coe 68  Both teams on a nice roll when it counts. Coe swept the regular season series.  That said, I'll go with Wartburg in a dogfight here.  Just feel like they're the tougher team and impressed with the team energy they've brought down the stretch. 

[SpartyBlue]

Thursday Results

Coe 113 Wartburg 75  Good time for Coe to pull out their highest non-Grinnell point total of the year.  Kohawks shot 60.7% from the field in the second half with six made 3s and 11-12 from the stripe. 

NWU 91 Simpson 77  Schimonitz 34 pts, Reimers with a double-double.


ARC Championship

Coe 68 @ NWU 11  Both regular season contests were six point Wolves wins. This is not a foregone conclusion, yet impossible to pick against NWU at home.

[Greek Tragedy]

Late in last night's game, Nate Schimonitz went down with looked to be a hamstring injury. Hope they use the magic spray and he's able to play in tomorrow's championship game.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Late in last night's game, Nate Schimonitz went down with looked to be a hamstring injury. Hope they use the magic spray and he's able to play in tomorrow's championship game.

He only needs like six points for 2,000.

[Smitty Oom]

Dang those can be tricky, hope he can come back healthy! Would be a shame for him to miss out on 2k and the NCAA tourney. Additionally, a lot of bubble teams hope he can come back and be healthy today...

[Smitty Oom]

Dang those can be tricky, hope he can come back healthy! Would be a shame for him to miss out on 2k and the NCAA tourney. Additionally, a lot of bubble teams hope he can come back and be healthy today...

Well congrats to the prairie wolves on winning the conference regular season and the conference tournament. They have been such a great program the past couple years and have been a wonderful challenge for the other ARC teams and helping this conference gain the national recognition it deserves!

Nate Schimonitz was not in yesterdays box score. Hopefully he has been in the training room all weekend trying to get healthy for Fridays game, where they will most likely be hosting a pod! NWU write-up of the game mentions Nate got hurt in the semi-final but did not give a timeline for his return, anyone closer to the program have any idea on his likelihood to return?

Lastly, cool tidbit I read in the NWU write-up of the game. Congrats on coming up big in the championship, Cordell!

In his first career start in a Prairie Wolves uniform, senior Cordell Gillingham came out firing in the first half scoring 12 points to lead NWU.  Gillingham scored a career-high 19 points making 7-10 from the field and 3-5 on his 3-point attempts to lead the Prairie Wolves in scoring.

[SpartyBlue]

Webster 179 @ NWU 7 

NWU is a 20 point favorite at home, and that should be about right.  With or without Schimonitz, NWU  should control this game with relative ease.  Despite riding a 12 game win streak and 16-2 conference record,  the numbers say the Gorlocks are a slightly below average team by Adjusted Efficiency Margin.  The eye test says that Webster is a balanced team, physically tough, but will still struggle to match up defensively with the freakish balanced efficiency of the Wolves, especially on their home court.   I really think NWU cruises into an interesting second round game vs. Wash U.

[doolittledog]

Webster 179 @ NWU 7 

NWU is a 20 point favorite at home, and that should be about right.  With or without Schimonitz, NWU  should control this game with relative ease.  Despite riding a 12 game win streak and 16-2 conference record,  the numbers say the Gorlocks are a slightly below average team by Adjusted Efficiency Margin.  The eye test says that Webster is a balanced team, physically tough, but will still struggle to match up defensively with the freakish balanced efficiency of the Wolves, especially on their home court.   I really think NWU cruises into an interesting second round game vs. Wash U.

This matchup will have some interest for me.  I was born in Webster and had friends parents that worked for the school.  My family moved to Iowa before Webster started an athletic department.  I will be firmly an NWU fan though.  I support our conference!