MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[zander]

Hanover has a nice win over Denison "Big Red" in Chicago on Saturday night and then Denison beats Chicago today after Chicago beat Hanover by 20 on Friday night....go figure.

[kyballr]

With starting 1 and 2 men out for Transy Pioneers, I unfortunately give the vampires little chance against Centre on Tuesday.  Certainly one of the best rivalries in the country but lil' fanfare...    Centre has been solid with four straight trips to NCAA but TU has won last 3 of 4.  For a while the SCAC looked like a more potent conference but not sure given Centre has won last 4....

[Darryl Nester]

Transy/Centre just ended, with the Pioneers holding on to win 56-51 (or maybe 54-51; the live stats play-by-play shows 54-51 with 4 seconds left, and is no longer updating, although the scoreboard says the game is over).  TU led from the 17:29 mark in the second half, but had to survive a late surge from Centre.  Although they only hit 17-25 (68%) from the line, they were 6 for 6 in the last half-minute.

Defiance/ONU just went into OT2.  Last week's POTW Logan Wolfrum currently leads all scorers with 38.

Final after OT2:  ONU 93, DC 90.  Wolfrum ended with 42 points, including 16-16 FTs and 12-17 from the field (2-5 on 3's).

[dc_has_been]

Tough loss for the Jackets last night.  Losing to a team picked seventh in the OAC preseason poll is not a positive indicator for DC.  I got to follow it on live stats and IMO ONU's coach was doing a great job taking time outs and setting up plays to win the game.
Wolfrum is showing that his rookie season wasn't a fluke thus far.  He is putting up some big numbers.  

[BUBeaverFan]

Bluffton picks up a road win 71-60 at Hiram.  Beavers go to 3-0 for first time since the 1997-98 season and have already exceeded last season's win total (2-23).   

[kyballr]

Looks like the HCAC is off to a pretty good start.  Was not disappointed that my prediction for Transy-Centre was off .  Took some grief from some of my pals but did not know that same team that lost to Thomas More would look so different at Danville. Frosh of Year Meyer played after not seeing any time vs. saints.  TU started a junior (Owens), two sophs (Rash and Meyer) and two Frosh (Cox  and Hatfield).  Cox was in street clothes for first game of year. He is good! Hatfield got his first start and was leading scorer. Can't remember a team that young playing so much.  Transy brought a few pep buses of fans.  Most Centre students were on break. Looked like that was a huge plus for the inexperienced Pioneers.  Next up for "Vampire Nation" is Wilmington on Saturday @ 2pm.  I will be watching live via web since food coma will still be in place....    

[kyballr]

Transy men's game vs. Wilmington is 7 pm tip not 2 pm as indicated earlier by me.  Women play Centre at 2 pm tomorrow.  Had my days wrong. 

live video of tonight's matchup   http://transy.nmtvsports.com/(S(4kvkyibxp3tobuwct051u0oi))/sportzcastplayer.aspx

[kyballr]

Transy gets key home win vs. Wilmington to go to 2-1.  Mark this prediction down in ink..... Brandon Rash will be Transy's next All-American. He was superb tonight with 18 and 11.  http://www.transy.edu/athletics/go/m_basketball/112710.htm

Vampires head to Hanover on Wed. for first HCAC game.

[BUBeaverFan]

Bluffton off to a 4-0 start.  That is the second best start in school history (6-0 in the 65-66 season).  The Beavers start conference play this week so things get quite a bit tougher. 

[zander]

Hanover has a nice win over Washington Univ. Keep it going Panthers!!!

[Titan Q]

Rough weekend for the 2 HCAC ranked teams.  Last night #14 Anderson fell @ #24 Augustana.  Today #25 Manchester lost at home to North Central.

[dc_has_been]

In regards to the Manchester game, it is interesting to see that Bluffton beat NC and Manchester lost to them.  Maybe the preseason poll had them backwards?

[BUBeaverFan]

In regards to the Manchester game, it is interesting to see that Bluffton beat NC and Manchester lost to them.  Maybe the preseason poll had them backwards?

It looks like North Central shot the ball well for the first time this season.  North Central shot 37% from the field against Bluffton and shot 50% from the floor against Manchester. They were also 2 of 16 from behind the arc against the Beavers and 7 of 17 against the Spartans.  Probably a case of Manchester catching them on their best game of the early season. 

Can the Beavers continue to surprise?

[dc_has_been]

BUBeaverFan,

I agree with your assessment, but considering Manchester was picked second in our conference preseason poll and 25th in the country while Bluffton was picked to be 8th, it shouldn't have been a game for Manchester even if NC shot well. 
Bluffton is off to a hot start and it will be interesting to see what they can do.  They showed some promise last year at times.

[cardinalpride]

BUBeaverFan,

I agree with your assessment, but considering Manchester was picked second in our conference preseason poll and 25th in the country while Bluffton was picked to be 8th, it shouldn't have been a game for Manchester even if NC shot well.  
Bluffton is off to a hot start and it will be interesting to see what they can do.  They showed some promise last year at times.

DC,
The NCC team that played Manchester on sunday is closer to the NCC team that we  should see the rest of the year.  NCC's preseason all american Derek Raridon is off to a slow start.  Raridon went 5-18 fg with zero ft attempts for 10pts against  Blufton.  Now some of his poor shooting had to do with the Beaver defense but much of it was missed open shots by the "national freshman of the year".  Against Manchester, Raridon was 8-13 fg with 6-7ft for 23pts.  After seeing Blufton play this year, they will definitely be a better than .500 team.  They have a couple of good freshmen to go along with their 4 returning starters.  It shouuld be a good year  for the HCAC!