MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[dc_has_been]

Congrats to Rose for cracking into the top 25 this week.  They made a big jump from 3 votes to 48!  Hopefully they'll win out and then eventually lose to Defiance in the HCAC tournament final!

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Using Massey's predictions... here's the odds for winning at each round of the HCAC tourney...

                      QF         SF         Final
1 Rose-Hulman        100%      68.60%      43.96%
                  
4 Mount St. Joseph    90%      30.60%      14.55%
5 Transylvania        10%       0.80%       0.11%
                  

3 Hanover             81%      31.59%      11.25%
6 Franklin            19%       3.42%       0.49%
                  
2 Defiance           100%      64.99%      29.63%

[dc_has_been]

I'm not looking forward to whom ever DC has to play in the semi's.  Both Hanover and Franklin have been tough teams for them, so I'm expecting another tough game either way. 
I expect MSJ to top Transy and then for MSJ to give RHIT a hard time in the semis. 
Overall, I think it will be a tough tournament and am hoping the Jackets come out on top.
Thanks for sharing Griz!

[dc_has_been]

Well, another epic fail by my jackets   I expected a tough game but not a loss. Oh well, great career for Hicks and hopefully DC will have more than two guys to come off the bench next year and another person that can pick up Hicks's slack.
Good luck to whom ever represents the hcac in the playoffs.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Rose-Hulman will face Wheaton up at Hope at 5:30 on Friday. Conference is 0-4 in the last two tournaments including losses by Rose to Calvin (72-52) last year and to North Central (74-71) in 2012.

[newCCIWfan]

Congratulations to Coach Loyd. He will do great at RHIT. http://www.rose-hulman.edu/athletics/basketball-mens/mens-basketball-news/rusty-loyd-promoted-to-mens-basketball-head-coach.aspx

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Coaches Poll is out. Top 4 from last year are the same, but not in the same order.

1) Hanover (4)                93
2) Mount St. Joseph (2)  86
3) Defiance (2)                83
4) Rose-Hulman (2)        74
5) Transylvania              60
6) Franklin                      43
7) Bluffton                      40
8) Manchester                32
9) Anderson                   25
10) Earlham                   14

[dc_has_been]

Should be interesting to see how it turns out.  The top four are returning a lot of talent from last year.  MSJ impressed me a lot last year and Hanover always has some quality players.  I am also interested to see who can fill Strickland's shoes at Rose. 

In my own personal interest, Defiance lost a first team all HCAC player, Hicks, but returns Edwards (1st team) and Roth (HM).  Plus, Wooley, according to the roster has continued to trim up is 6'9" frame to 245 lbs.  Down from 260 last year and 280 his freshman year.  Hopefully that will lead to some extended minutes because he does a great job on the glass.  Also, Schomaeker returns  and Tietje return as well with plenty of experience.  Finally, I am hoping for either some other veterans to step up and contribute or some of the new Jackets can add to the team too.

[Darryl Nester]

Anybody from Hanover (or elsewhere) know what happened to Tim Bass? He was still listed on the roster last Monday, but is now gone (and did not play in any of HC's games).

[Ohigy]

HCAC is 9-23 in non-conference play.  Most of the teams are in action this weekend.

[dc_has_been]

HCAC is 9-23 in non-conference play.  Most of the teams are in action this weekend.

Now make that 12-29.  Not an impressive non conference record, but hopefully they do much better during the holiday tournaments.

I am happy with Defiance's first four games.  I know 2-2 is not great, but I feel they played some good competition and showed they are going to be very competitive in conference play. 

MSJ and Hanover fared well too IMO.  MSJ lost to very good Augustana and took a 1 point lead going into half time.  Hanover lost to two very good teams and beat a nationally ranked opponent. 

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

HCAC is 9-23 in non-conference play.  Most of the teams are in action this weekend.

Now make that 12-29.  Not an impressive non conference record, but hopefully they do much better during the holiday tournaments.

I am happy with Defiance's first four games.  I know 2-2 is not great, but I feel they played some good competition and showed they are going to be very competitive in conference play. 

MSJ and Hanover fared well too IMO.  MSJ lost to very good Augustana and took a 1 point lead going into half time.  Hanover lost to two very good teams and beat a nationally ranked opponent.

Using the records on Massey, the HCAC has a better non-conference record than only the NAC and UMAC... but one of the toughest SoS.

[Ohigy]

Where does the "Ohio Conferences" rank?  OAC, NCAC, HCAC etc?

The big HCAC game of the day - Mount St. Joe vs. Defiance.

[dc_has_been]

Well Defiance took the W over MSJ yesterday, which is a sigh of relief!  DC needed that one, especially since it was at home and obviously, every conference win is important, especially against the ones that were picked to higher than you on the preseason poll.

I am starting to consider Anderson being the dark horse of the conference.  They already have a W over RHIT and they played Hanover pretty tough too at Hanover.  Also, they played a pretty strong second half against Calvin and DePauw.

[dc_has_been]

Also, because I was playing around on Massey's, I put together the following table, which includes: current record, change in ranking, Rating, Power rating, SOS, SSF (SOS including future games, and finally I too Massey's expected W/L (rounding to the whole number and compiled the final record.  If there is an asterisk next to the team, then a game or two excluded because of a holiday tournament.  Also, I ordered the teams by their Rating.

Defiance   4-2   -21   53   49   27   222   18-6*
MSJ           4-2   -25   74   72   43   175   18-7
Hanover   4-2   +9   83   99   35   152   17-8
Bluffton   4-2   +66   174   214   198   156   12-11*
RHIT        2-4   -65   185   141   73   271   14-11
Transy   0-5   -31   252   205   4   216   11-14
Anderson   2-4   +62   279   282   278   258   10-15
Franklin   0-7   -87   333   296   39   180   7-18
Manch.   2-6   -7   356   357   267   280   6-19
Earlham   0-7   -44   396   387   166   171   2-24