MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Darryl Nester]

Rod:

I was sitting in the Founders bleachers listening to the men's game on my computer, while watching the women.  Several times, I stopped listening to the men's game in frustration.

Both games played out in similar ways:  The Ravens jumped out to big leads (Women: 14 points at halftime, as high as 18 in the first half; Men: 18 points at halftime, extended to 24 points with 12:20 to play).  The Beavers fought back in both games: For the women, the Beavers took a 1-point lead with 5:03 to go, but only scored 2 points after that, losing by 3.  The men trimmed the lead to 2 with 1:56 to go, and again with 9 seconds left, but couldn't quite get out of the deep hole.

The losses were disappointing, but it was nice to see the efforts from both the men and women, in games where they might have given up.

[M and L]

what are the match ups this weekend

[Darryl Nester]

The Beavers came up short in a see-saw battle against Manchester -- at least I assume they did, as the radio signal disappeared with BU trailing by 7 with 30 seconds left. Any other reports?

M&L:  This weekend has
Hanover at Bluffton
Defiance at Transy
Manchester at RHIT
Franklin at Anderson
and MSJ at UC-Clermont

[RO_24]

Well the Beavers lost a game they should've won last night, another tough road loss for them.  I'm hoping a home  game against Hanover Saturday will cure their blues right now, we'll see though.  I think confidence is shaken quite a bit right now. 

Darryl, I was 3 for 4 I believe last night with BU being the only wrong pick, don't quote me on that though.

[M and L]

I this sounds like some pretty easy pickems

Hanover
Trnsy
RHIT
Anderson
UC-Clermont

Those are my predictions

[RO_24]

I don't know about easy, but here are mine...

Bluffton - can't go against the Beavers yet.
Transy
Manchester
Franklin
MSJ

Good luck to all.

[M and L]

So, what were the results of the picks?

[Darryl Nester]

In conference play, the home teams went 3-1:
Bluffton downed Hanover at home, 94-83.
Transy crushed Defiance 74-50.
RHIT held off Manchester, 50-47.
Franklin picked up the lone road win, 79-74 at Anderson.

Haven't heard the result of MSJ over UC-Clermont.

Bluffton, MSJ, and Transy are now in a three-way tie at the top with 5-2 records. The Beavers and the Lions square off at MSJ on Wednesday, while Transy hosts Hanover.

HC, FC, and DC stand at 4-3, MC at 2-5, RHIT at 2-6, and AU at 2-5.  RHIT has finished the first half of the conference season, while Franklin travels to Defiance and AU visits MC Wednesday.

[M and L]

Bluffton pulls off a shocker!

[RO_24]

Well another good night in the HCAC, MSJ is all alone in first with 4 teams right there.  Bluffton lost a tough one last night, had their chances.  MSJ killed BU in the paint, but there were no adjustments made to try and slow it down, I think  MSJ outscored them by 30 in the paint.  Hopefully the guys will stay up, because they travel to Franklin this weekend and need a road win.

How did the other games go?

[Darryl Nester]

Again, the home teams went 3-1:

Defiance over Franklin, 66-49
Manchester over Anderson, 64-59 (OT)
MSJ over Bluffton 88-85

And Hanover with the lone road win, 71-70 over Transy.

At the halfway point:
MSJ is alone at the top with a 6-2 record
Bluffton, Hanover, Defiance, and Transy tied at 5-3
Franklin at 4-4
Manchester at 3-5
RHIT at 2-6
Anderson at 1-7

Noting the home-court advantage from the first half of the season, the following observations may be important:  The road schedule for the top six teams.  (Teams in boldface in the last column are other top 6 teams.)  Note that by this measure, Hanover, Transy, and Defiance may have a slight edge in the number of "tough" road trips, while Franklin has the advantage of being at home for 5 of their last 8 games.

	# road
Team	games	Who they visit
MSJ	4	Anderson, Bluffton, Defiance, Transylvania
Bluffton	4	Defiance, Franklin, Hanover, Transylvania
Transy	4	Anderson, Defiance, Hanover, Rose-Hulman
Hanover	4	Anderson, Manchester, Mount St. Joseph, Rose-Hulman
Defiance	4	Franklin, Hanover, Manchester, Rose-Hulman
Franklin	3	Hanover, Mount St. Joseph, Transylvania

[HCAC-TU]

Transy lost tough 1 at home last night to HC.  Transy up 2 when HC hit a 3 with 6 seconds left.  A 3rd stringer was somehow in the game and took the last second shot for TU.  Again, they are still searching for chemestry with just a month left to play.

The press release from TU said that game broke a 23 home court win streak for the pioneers dating back to the first matchup with Wittenburg early last season.  Tough game to lose as TU usually considers HC their "rival" in the conference, especially when HC is down for their standards this season.

[RO_24]

Well I don't know what happened in here, but we have a tight race going into this weekend.  What's everyone think about this weekends games, BU needs a big W over RHIT who are on a nice winning streak. 

[Darryl Nester]

The road teams had a big day today:  Manchester, Defiance, and MSJ picked up wins at (resp.) Transy, Hanover, and Anderson.  Bluffton was the only home team to come out on top in conference play, beating RHIT 62-53.  (Franklin also picked up a win at home in non-conf. play).

[M and L]

I can the maddness starting to brew wit hall this excitment in the conference with so many teams fighting for control to be at the top.

But first we have to finish the Football season this Sunday.

I know MSJ has Hanover at home this Wed., what are the the other matchups of signifcance?