MBB: American Rivers Conference

[SpartyBlue]

https://nwusports.com/news/2024/10/22/2024-25-prairie-wolf-preview-mens-basketball.aspx

Nebraska Wesleyan picked first in the preseason poll. Here is NWU's season preview. They note 3 transfers and 3 freshmen, but don't mention anything about them, not even names. I thought that was unusual.

Nick Howard 6' 8" played some big minutes for Illinois Benedictine as a Soph....Owen Alleman 7' 0" Fr. which is unusual but...175 lbs...Vinnie Veiklas didn't do a lot in two years at College of Wooster.  Carter Ruse didn't do a lot at Roane College....That's what I see, but could be missing something.  It feels like the Wolves will struggle to fill the numbers missing with Lash out. 

[GusD]

https://nwusports.com/news/2024/10/22/2024-25-prairie-wolf-preview-mens-basketball.aspx

Nebraska Wesleyan picked first in the preseason poll. Here is NWU's season preview. They note 3 transfers and 3 freshmen, but don't mention anything about them, not even names. I thought that was unusual.

Nick Howard 6' 8" played some big minutes for Illinois Benedictine as a Soph....Owen Alleman 7' 0" Fr. which is unusual but...175 lbs...Vinnie Veiklas didn't do a lot in two years at College of Wooster.  Carter Ruse didn't do a lot at Roane College....That's what I see, but could be missing something.  It feels like the Wolves will struggle to fill the numbers missing with Lash out. 

Nick Howard started every game for Benedictine last season. Overall, he was the third best player on the team, averaging 11.1 PPG, and 7.5 RPG, with 27 blocked shots. Two possible reasons for his transfer 1) Benedictine's top two players also transferred. Top player went to D2 Minnesota Crookston, and 2nd best went to D3 Champ Trine. 2) Howard is from Kansas so he's now much closer to home. 

[SpartyBlue]

https://nwusports.com/news/2024/10/22/2024-25-prairie-wolf-preview-mens-basketball.aspx

Nebraska Wesleyan picked first in the preseason poll. Here is NWU's season preview. They note 3 transfers and 3 freshmen, but don't mention anything about them, not even names. I thought that was unusual.

Nick Howard 6' 8" played some big minutes for Illinois Benedictine as a Soph....Owen Alleman 7' 0" Fr. which is unusual but...175 lbs...Vinnie Veiklas didn't do a lot in two years at College of Wooster.  Carter Ruse didn't do a lot at Roane College....That's what I see, but could be missing something.  It feels like the Wolves will struggle to fill the numbers missing with Lash out. 

Nick Howard started every game for Benedictine last season. Overall, he was the third best player on the team, averaging 11.1 PPG, and 7.5 RPG, with 27 blocked shots. Two possible reasons for his transfer 1) Benedictine's top two players also transferred. Top player went to D2 Minnesota Crookston, and 2nd best went to D3 Champ Trine. 2) Howard is from Kansas so he's now much closer to home. 

Patrick Mayfield, former Dubuque all-conference player, then two years at Division I Akron, is at Benedictine this year under former Dubuque assistant Jordan Townsend.

[OldShooter]

Final from Concordia tournament:
NWU 66
Hastings 49
Carter Glenn with 20..

[Schipper Strong]

Central split their exhibition games. Van Gorp scored 33 points one night and 37 the next. Outside shooting was terrible. It would be nice if the outside shooters could take some pressure off Van Gorp. Central has 15 new freshmen, one that appears to have made the starting lineup according to playing time. Owen Schipper (good name 🤣) is a 6'7" forward from Waukee.

[Schipper Strong]

Central seems to be playing a bit streaky. They played a good first half against the Johnnies and were flat in the second half. When their player guarding Van Gorp fouled out with 7 minutes left, we stopped trying to get the ball to him. I think they are really missing what Grant Johnson did for the team in recent seasons. He didn't necessarily score that much, but he did a great job of moving the ball around and being able to get it in to Van Gorp for a lot of easy points. Kaleb Brand was the other half of a 1-2 punch offensively and he has done very little scoring this year. I am glad to see him back for his 5th year and he is doing well defensively, but not much on offense. Three point shooting tonight against the Gusties was terrible with one exception. The second and third string players shot better against Augsburg from 3 point range than the starters. Van Gorp continues to play well, but we aren't doing a good job of getting the ball to him. A very bright spot is freshman Owen Schipper who had 23 points tonight filling the 1-2 punch spot Brand used to provide in scoring, but we lost 75-73. Our defense was so strong during Coach Steinkamp's first season, but isn't as aggressive this year. That will come. We have several new players and need to get in a rhythm playing together. Schipper really played great tonight and is a hopeful sign of things to come.

[GusD]

After chalking up 3 easy wins against much less than stellar competition, Loras ventured into the big city tonight and wasn't able to keep ticking as they took a 73-64 licking from North Park in Chicago.

Loras coach Chris Martin was evidently intensely intense throughout the contest, at one point looking like he was about to turn a clipboard into a pile of fiber board particles even though there were only about 2 seconds left in the game.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I was telling someone last night, there's not much more Van Gorp can do.  He's got to get a little help from the rest of the team at some point.  They're not playing terribly, but obviously not well enough to win.

[Schipper Strong]

Central beat Cornell today 102-61. It wasn't much of a contest. Van Gorp had 24 points in 24 minutes of play. Schipper was again the second punch with 22 points in 23 minutes. Hitting 6-9 from behind the arc. We still need more support from the other players, but we are playing a lot of young players, so they need to find the combination that works. Love having a freshman step up as second leading scorer.

[Schipper Strong]

I was telling someone last night, there's not much more Van Gorp can do.  He's got to get a little help from the rest of the team at some point.  They're not playing terribly, but obviously not well enough to win.

Central found help for Van Gorp tonight in their win at Simpson 100-79. Two freshmen lead the scoring as Central shot 50% from 3 pt range. Owen Schipper had 29, Grant Uecker had 24 points in a reserve role, Van Gorp had 18 while being triple teamed much of the night and Kaleb Brand kicked it up a couple notches with 17. Great balanced scoring with the Storm concentrating heavily on stopping Van Gorp. Nice win for the Dutch to start out the conference play on the road.

[Schipper Strong]

Great game today between Central and Loras with the Dutch coming out on top 78-76. Very poor officiating. Van Gorp is getting over an injury and still scored 28 points.

[Schipper Strong]

Chatting with myself here. Central goes to NWU tonight and won 70-55. Josh Van Gorp had 31 points. I think UD is up next. Go Dutch!

[Greek Tragedy]

Chatting with myself here.

It happens a lot on other boards too. I appreciate your input.

[doolittledog]

Chatting with myself here. Central goes to NWU tonight and won 70-55. Josh Van Gorp had 31 points. I think UD is up next. Go Dutch!

I haven't been posting because I hadn't been watching any games.  I was able to watch part of the UD @ BVU game last week and saw the last 3 1/2 minutes of last nights UD victory over Coe.  I'm impressed with the start of conference play for UD.  5-1 with only 2 games having been played at home.  That one loss was by 2 points at NWU.

Of course, with Central getting a blow out win at NWU last night, perhaps that isn't quite the statement I thought it was.  Should be a good game this Saturday with Central heading over to UD for an afternoon game. 

[doolittledog]

Dubuque beats Central 74-67. Believe it was 37-30 at the half. I know fouling late rarely works, but Dubuque got a rebound with 30 seconds left and Central just let UD run out the clock. Seemed a bit odd, but I get it.
Happy to see the Spartans at 6-1 in conference play.