MBB: American Rivers Conference

[doolittledog]

Luther 86  Coe 78 

Flippant predictions rarely go unpunished.  The Norse conquer the Kohawks in a stunner on the road.  Jadyn Torres had a nice game for Luther with 22 pts. 9-10 FT.  Free throws were the statistical difference, Luther 17-20, Coe 7-7.  Coe certainly looked like the better team with the eye test, but that's why they...you know the rest...Luther's 56 bench points were huge, Blumberg and Westhusing combined for 30. 

This result adds a bit of intrigue to the Luther/UD matchup on Saturday, Luther will be riding the momentum of this win vs. UD just coming off pause trying to shake rust with a short practice week and several players injured/out.

Perhaps luckily for me, i will be following my wife around as she looks for antique doors on Saturday.  I won't get chest pains and pull my hair out while watching the UD/Luther game that way 

[doolittledog]

6-0 Dubuque @ 5-1 BVU will be a big game tomorrow!

[SpartyBlue]

UD 94 Luther 70  Spartans come off pause like it didn't happen and roll the Norse behind 54.5 fg% and 43.5 3%.  UD offense is potent--the best player in the conference this year, Patrick Mayfield, only scores 11, yet Spartans still put up 94.

Simpson 102 Loras 100 2 OT   This is one is baffling.  Loras is clearly the more talented team, all their normal starters played, yet somehow managed to make Curren, who had gone 2-11 from the field in his last game, look like James Harden as he dropped 43 on the Duhawks.  Go figure.

Huge game tonight (#8) UD 10-0 travels to Storm Lake vs. (RV) BV 6-1. Both programs were recently on pause, gotta think anything can happen here.  UD is the more talented and complete team, but never know on the road with a long bus ride against a quality program.  Mayfield looks to come off a down statistical game matched up with a great scorer tonight in Demers.  Should be a good one. 

[doolittledog]

With the Dubuque victory over BVU, does this mean UD is the conference regular season champion?  Or is the conference only crowning a tourney champ this year?

[SpartyBlue]

UD 76 BV 67  Huge win for the Spartans.  Covid context: BV had been affected by other team's protocols yet had 19 days of practice with no tune up to game plan and prepare for this vs. UD no activity for 10 days, 4 days of practice and tune up vs. Luther.  I figure it comes out in the wash. 

The first half saw BV able to control tempo and take UD out of their normal transition pace of play. The Beavers were also able to keep the ball out of the hands of the most talented player in the conference in my estimation, Patrick Mayfield.  UD adjusted some in the second half, got Mayfield into some one-on-one situations where he's lethal as a driving 6' 5" guard.  UD also just flat out made shots. 6-10 from three in the second half trumped BV's 0-14.  Bench sub Josh Hammer hit two, and then late defensive breakdowns led to two open top of the key extended 3s for 40%+ three shooters, Fitzpatrick off the bounce and Zimmerman off the pick and pop, both to extend BV runs out to three possessions.  Thompson had a big game for BV with 28, but not enough to counter the UD shooting in the second half. 

I would highlight the significance of Sam Kilburg to UD's success, 21 pts. 6 reb. last night--at 5' 10" the freshman plays like a senior, and I would dare say is the best point guard in the ARC right now, or at least in the conversation.  He's a high-level decision maker and has that knack for burrowing into the paint against bigger defenders and scoring or dishing or posting up smaller guards and finishing with an array of crafty moves. Oh, and he can make the three, 3-4 last night. Huge difference maker for this team.

Unfortunately Saturday's game against NWU is cancelled, they seem to have been the most protocol affected team in the ARC.  It's on to the conference tournament, which hopefully can play out.  Doolittle, no direct answer to your question, but would assume the tournament title would weight more heavily considering the imbalance in games played.  UD will get home court advantage all the way through, huge, although by no means a gimme as the top 4 or 5 seeds are all dangerous. 

[SpartyBlue]

American Rivers Conference Tournament

The ARC will have a champion other than Neb. Wesleyan for the first time in four years.

NWU 58 UD 65  Rare off shooting night for the Spartans leads to a defensive battle.  Mayfield and Kilburg combined 2-19 from the field, but senior Peter Ragan steps up huge with 32 points.  Spartans go to 12-0 and move on to face Coe in semis.

Simpson 88 Coe 94  Kruse, Auen, and Schmitt all score 20+ as Kohawks beat Storm. 

Central 97 Loras 95 OT  6 seed Dutch shock 3 seed Duhawks.  Stunner of the evening.  Central hadn't won in a month and fights off late Loras charge to move on.

Wartburg 70 BV 96  Beavers roll behind 24 from Demers. 

[doolittledog]

American Rivers Conference Tournament

The ARC will have a champion other than Neb. Wesleyan for the first time in four years.

NWU 58 UD 65  Rare off shooting night for the Spartans leads to a defensive battle.  Mayfield and Kilburg combined 2-19 from the field, but senior Peter Ragan steps up huge with 32 points.  Spartans go to 12-0 and move on to face Coe in semis.

Simpson 88 Coe 94  Kruse, Auen, and Schmitt all score 20+ as Kohawks beat Storm. 

Central 97 Loras 95 OT  6 seed Dutch shock 3 seed Duhawks.  Stunner of the evening.  Central hadn't won in a month and fights off late Loras charge to move on.

Wartburg 70 BV 96  Beavers roll behind 24 from Demers.

I see this as a positive for UD.  If Mayfield and Kilburg can go 2-19 and the Spartans still pick up a win, that is impressive!

Home team wins with Coe over Simpson which is about what was expected.

Central winning at Loras, as the saying goes, is why we play the game.

BVU as a typically strong team you would expect to win their 1st round game.  What puzzles me is how much of a yo-yo team Wartburg seems to be.  I haven't looked it up, but Wartburg seems to be either near the top of the league or at the bottom over the past few years. 

[SpartyBlue]

I see this as a positive for UD.  If Mayfield and Kilburg can go 2-19 and the Spartans still pick up a win, that is impressive!

Home team wins with Coe over Simpson which is about what was expected.

Central winning at Loras, as the saying goes, is why we play the game.

BVU as a typically strong team you would expect to win their 1st round game.  What puzzles me is how much of a yo-yo team Wartburg seems to be.  I haven't looked it up, but Wartburg seems to be either near the top of the league or at the bottom over the past few years.

I didn't think the Coe/Simpson game would be that close, but Coe is also very up and down, beating Loras one day and losing to Luther the next.  They are a dangerous, athletic team, should be a good one tomorrow at UD

Wartburg to me just isn't a good offensive team. They have size and athleticism, still in this conference you have to be able to shoot it at a high rate and 43% fg 31% 3fg team shooting just doesn't translate to wins.  They haven't had a consistent scorer since Kickbush and Sabus a couple of years ago.

BV is a handful because they kind of muck things up, hard straight up guarding team. Johnson comes from the Wellman coaching line, BV guards hard much like NWU did last night, makes things difficult for your top options and largely controls tempo.  Tempo is crucial since teams like  Loras, UD, and Coe,  typically like to get out and play fast, get quick transition looks and utilize bench depth scoring. 

[doolittledog]

Congrats to the UD Spartans for their 78-64 victory over the BVU Beavers.

So if I understand this correctly.  This year there won't be a conference champion and tournament champion.  Just a conference champ.  But to be named the conference champ, you have to win the conference tournament.  So the conference tourney champ is the conference champ, but not the tourney champ, because they aren't naming a tourney champ.  Not confusing at all. 

In the end, it makes no difference as Dubuque won both.  I just feel like a team than ran the table during the season and the tourney should get to hang two banners in their gym instead of just the one.  But I guess the powers that be at the conference feel otherwise. 

[SpartyBlue]

UD 78 BV 64   Spartans run the table and finish 14-0 with this hard fought win.  What a great cap to such a weird season.  This one was a battle, BV took an early lead and was up by as much as 14 late in the first half behind 21 pts. from Demers.

The second half belonged to Sparty.  UD pulled even at the 7:31 mark and then the special talent of Patrick Mayfield took over.  After being held scoreless in the first half, at 61-60  Mayfield went on a personal 13-0 run behind three 3-pointers and a contested mid-range jumper.  At 6' 5" Mayfield is an elite scorer at this level when he's flowing.  Also huge credit to senior Peter Ragen who absolutely willed this team to victory in the tournament, just hit big shot after big shot, hustle plays and defensive stops on what felt like every possession, Rocky Balboa-esque performance to be sure.

Doolittle, I'm not sure on the championship politics, I guess banners are banners, but it is a shame there is no national tournament.  This is a dangerous team because of the diversity of weapons: Mayfield's scoring, crafty play from freshman Kilburg at the point, grit and fire from Ragen, size and athleticism in multiple unit combinations, and shooters all over the floor.  UD shot 14-27 from three last night, and leads the nation in team three point shooting (finish at 44.8% on 306 attempts).  Great season and most everyone is back next year--the national recognition is warranted and this team will be making noise for years to come.

[doolittledog]

I wish D3 basketball had been able to do what D3 wrestling and track are doing and just put on a tourney on their own.  Would have been fun to see how things play out. 

As far the conference and tourney champs situation, schools like to play up how many conference and tourney titles they have.  It's on the conference website, it's on the different schools websites, it's used in recruiting.  I get they didn't play the typical double round robin this year, but each school was scheduled to play each other once, it's not like football this year with only 3 or 4 teams on the schedule.  It's just my opinion, but I feel like the conference messed up only naming one champion. 

[SpartyBlue]

I wish D3 basketball had been able to do what D3 wrestling and track are doing and just put on a tourney on their own.  Would have been fun to see how things play out. 

As far the conference and tourney champs situation, schools like to play up how many conference and tourney titles they have.  It's on the conference website, it's on the different schools websites, it's used in recruiting.  I get they didn't play the typical double round robin this year, but each school was scheduled to play each other once, it's not like football this year with only 3 or 4 teams on the schedule.  It's just my opinion, but I feel like the conference messed up only naming one champion.

I hear you.  I guess my personal opinion is that since the regular season was so disjointed in terms of pauses for teams and uneven schedules, that it holds less meaning.  NWU only played four conference games, very tough breaks for them. 

But to argue from your perspective, looked at with hindsight, UD went 7-0, no other team had fewer than two losses, and things were settled on the court since UD ultimately beat every team in the conference they deserve a regular season banner.  But if the policy was set before the season that sort of outcome was unknown.

[SpartyBlue]

Great season for the Spartans, only thing left is to see where things fall nationally in the poll.  My (meaningless) top 10:

1.  RM  12-0
2.  Yeshiva 7-0
3.  St. Thomas 7-0
4.  Trine 17-1
5.  Dubuque 14-0
6.  IWU 8-1
7. Marietta 12-1
8.  UW-Platteville  9-2
9.  Wheaton 12-1
10. DePauw 12-1

[SpartyBlue]

Spartans dominate postseason conference awards:

Coach of the Year:  Robbie Sieverding

MVP: Peter Ragen 6' 4" Sr. (presumptive returnee)

Defensive Player of the Year: Brock Simon 6' 5" So.

1st Team All-Conf : Patrick Mayfield 6' 5 So.

2nd Team All-Conf:  Sam Kilburg 5' 10" Fr.

Hon. Mention All-Conf: Levi Scheurmann 6' 4" So., Keegan Zimmerman 6' 8" So.

[DBQ1965]

Granted it was a shortened season, but going undefeated on the way to the ARC Championship should warrant a photo and story on D3Hoops.