MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[cave2bens]

DC didn't bring it on the road AGAIN and the Jackets got what they deserved at Founders. Sad, disappointing and a couple other adjectives come to mind that I can't use on here.        

Isn't that what the [shift]+selected numerical keys are for?   

[Buzz]

Welp, the best way to heal from Wednesday is to move forward with more fearless predictions!

Anderson (8-0) at Mt. St. Joseph (3-5) - The Lions have enough to give the Ravens their fourth-straight nail-biter...plus this is a bit of a trap game between two road tests at Manchester and at Defiance, and Anderson can let its foot off the gas a bit with the three-game cushion.....all good reasons to pick the upset, but I learned my lesson on Wednesday, and I gotta go with Anderson.

Defiance (4-4) at Rose-Hulman (2-6) - Man. Jackets have a six-man senior class and as many weapons as anyone. So how is the 1-4 road record in the league explained? Just baffling and it's now or never for Defiance. I think they play 40 tenacious minutes for the victory. BTW - With the next 4 against Anderson, Hanover, Manchester and Transylvania...is Saturday a must-win for Defiance? I say yes.

Manchester (5-3) at Hanover (4-4) - I've been on the MC bandwagon and even thought they would upset Anderson, plus they beat Hanover by 14 back on Dec. 5....BUT, everyone knew this Hanover squad would only grow as the season went along and the last two showings back that up (4-point loss at Anderson and 54-34 home win over Rose). Panthers are much better now and are 5-1 at home, so I'm picking the upset and going with HC.

Transylvania (5-3) at Bluffton (1-7) - Bluffton would certainly help Defiance out by staying hot but it just is not going to happen. Pioneers roll and take sole-possession of second place.

[Gregory Sager]

I was just making the point earlier that Anderson has some very good wins this year and Platteville was one of them. I know it's an out-of-region victory, but just thought it was a noteworthy victory.

Oh, it was, and ... hey, who knows? If Anderson finds itself stuck with having to rely upon garnering a Pool C berth on Selection Sunday in order to get into the dance, and one of the teams it's up against has UW-Platteville as a common opponent and seems to be Anderson's equal in every way among the five primary criteria, perhaps it'll come down to secondary criteria and that Ravens win over UW-Platteville will actually mean something.

[Jackets Backer]

I keep thinking Anderson is going to slip up and actually I picked against them the last two games. Not anymore. Not much else they can do to prove their worth. I'm sticking with the Ravens the rest of the way and a 24-1 record.

I'm baffled as well with the Jackets' road woes. Like you say, six seniors, scorers galore and one of, if not the most experienced groups in the HCAC. But they can't win on the road. Good thing they won at MSJ last Saturday or they wouldn't even be in the HCAC Tournament right now. I say it's must-win as well. It's gut-check time for the Jackets and they'd better get it together. This season has been super disappointing and while I'm venting how in the world does a youthful Bluffton backcourt pretty much do whatever the heck they want? The Beavers were averaging 54 ppg and totaled that just in the final 20 minutes. The defense has been shaky all year and they've given up 72, 83 and 91 in the last three games. It's time for the senior class to step up and decide how they want this season to end. Time to BRING IT in the final eight games and hopefully earn a spot into the HCAC Tournament where you get a second life.  I say DC brings an attitude to Rose and gets a W.

Hanover

Transy

[wc4252]

I'll take:

Anderson - I see this as a big time trap game and I can tell you from experience Sat. afternoon games at MSJ are always a struggle for AU.  Tough to pick against them at this point though

Defiance - I think the Yellow Jackets bounce back from a very disappointing performance last week

Manchester

Transy

[zander]

It's hard to understand how R-H could give Anderson such a strong game and then only score 8 pts. in a half at Hanover. I think this league is still wide open to any team that comes out and plays tough defense for 40 minutes.

[Jackets Backer]

Exactly right Zander. Rose almost got Anderson and you saw what happened to DC at BU although the Beavers didn't exactly play a whole lot of D in the second half giving up 64. You better lace em up every day on the road in the HCAC and bring it, and the same can be said for almost every league around the nation.

[wc4252]

Final from MSJ

AU 66
MSJ 63

[Buzz]

Anderson does it again. Using an 11-0 start and another second-half rally to escape with a three-point win. That's four thrillers in a row for the Ravens, who should be a top-10 team on Monday evening.

Defiance got off to a sluggish start on the road yet again but avoided back-to-back road losses with a 61-57 win at Rose. The Engineers had a shot to tie it in the final seconds but couldn't connect. DC gotta feel good about only having 2 more road games, cuz nothing is coming easy for the Jackets away from the Hive.

Hanover dominated Manchester 81-63 in a game that was never close. The Panthers jumped to a 14-4 lead, lead 43-26 at the break and rolled. This HC squad is one to keep an eye on, as this win moves the Panthers into a tie for 3rd.

Transy escapes Founders Hall with a 69-66 win over Bluffton. Beavers certainly look poised to play the roll of the spoiler down the stretch...

Updated HCAC Standings
Anderson 9-0
Transylvania 6-3
Hanover 5-4
Defiance 5-4
Manchester 5-4
Franklin 4-4
Mt St Joseph 3-5
Rose-Hulman 2-7
Bluffton 1-8

As far as our picks go, Buzz and DC Backer went 4-0, while WC went 3-1 to bring our updated pickem standings to...

Buzz 15-5
DC Backer 13-7
Has Been 3-2
WC 5-4
Indy 5-4

[Jackets Backer]

Wow, the Ravens do it again. They're turning into a real nail-nipper of a team. Be interesting to see if they can survive another thriller at the Hive, which I'm sure will be rocking with a top 10 team coming to town. I know I'm excited to see a matchup of this magnitude. DC has been at its best inside the Weaner Center, so should be a good one.

Not surprised by what Hanover is doing. Jon Miller knows knows a little something about hoops and they'll be a tough out in the HCAC Tournament. Manchester is still very good and is another team wouldn't be surprised to see win the HCAC Tournament.

After watching Bluffton on Wednesday, I'm not shocked by them playing Transy tough at home. Bluffton is much better than 1-16 and seems like they're younsters are starting to figure out the college game. The ball just hasn't bounced they're way, but they've been in almost every game this season. They'll win a another game or two with the talent they have, especially at Founders.

What a fight it is for the No. 2 seed. We may have to go deep into the tiebreaker scenario to figure that one out.

[Buzz]

I've seen some other conference boards doing this. So I put my twist on their ranknig system. Here is the point scale

Home W of less than 10 points = +1
Home W of more than 10 points = +2
Road W of less than 10 points = +2
Road W of more than 10 points = +3

Home L of less than 10 points = -2
Home L of more than 10 points = -3
Road L of less than 10 points = -1
Road L of more than 10 points = -2

I did this pretty quick, so I could have made some mistakes, but the point totals play out pretty much exactly like the standings...but really do emphasize just how good Anderson has been.

Anderson +18
Transy and Defiance +5
Hanover and Manchester +2
Franklin -2
MSJ -3
Rose-Hulman -12
Bluffton -13

Yeah, aggregate totals are plus 32 and minus 30, so I'm off 2 points somewhere. Anyway, just another way to show how good Anderson is, how evenly matched Transylvania, Defiance, Hanover, Manchester, Franklin and MSJ are in the middle 6 and how overmatched Rose and Bluffton have been.

On a side note, Anderson's win today was its school-record 14th straight. The streak began against Defiance, who just so happens to be hosting Anderson on Wednesday. Should be a fun atmosphere at the Karl H. Weaner Community Center.

[dc_has_been]

Good work Buzz! 

Anderson has clearly showed their dominance so far.  I think Anderson is going to slip up somewhere, but where that will be is still the question.  They've had some close ones over their last four games.  Three of them they one by 3 and one by 4.  Now they come to DC for their third road game in a row.  The Jackets have played well at home this season.  They have not lost a home, yet & are averaging 20 point margin of victory.  Keep in mind they played a very subpar OSU-Lima School & won by 63, so really they are averaging 13 point margin of victory.  Anderson is undefeated on the road too.  Should be a good game!

[zander]

Any predictions on the Hanover vs. Transy game Wednesday night at Hanover??

[Buzz]

I am struggling with my picks for this week and admittedly just sorta winging it...we'll see how it goes.

Mt. St. Joseph (8-9, 3-6) at Bluffton (1-17, 1-8) - It is never a good idea to pick a 1-17 team to win, but Bluffton has been very competitive at home of late, knocking off Defiance and nearly taking down Hanover and Transylvania. I am going on a limb to predict the Beavers to play spoiler once again and to put a huge chink in MSJ's touney hopes.

Franklin (6-11, 4-4) at Rose-Hulman (6-12, 2-7) - I can make good cases for either side here. My case for Rose is they play much better D than Franklin, they are at home and they won at Franklin. My case for Franklin is basically that Clay Starrett shot 1-12 in that loss to Rose and I can't see that happening again...I am going with Franklin.

Transylvania (10-8, 6-3) at Hanover (8-9, 5-4) - Very tough to pick games pitting teams from the pack of (TU, DC, MC, HC) and I think they are all very evently matched. I'm going with a trend here, and that is the Hanover squad that seems to be playing its best hoops of the year. Plus the Panthers haven't lost at home in two months. I'll take Hanover to continue their ascent up the HCAC standings and set up a fun showdown at Defiance on Saturday.

#10 Anderson (17-1, 9-0) at Defiance (14-4, 5-4) - This clash has been circled on the calendar for weeks by both sides, but especially by Defiance. The Ravens embarrassed DC back on Dec. 2, by outscoring the Jackets 52-26 in the 2nd and by hitting 19-of-20 shots inside the arc en route to setting a school record with a 70.4 team field goal percentage. That game was also the first in AU's current school-record 14-game win streak and brings everything back full circle to the Karl H. Weaner Community Center (aka - The Hive) on Wednesday. What else....Nick Sales scored his 1,000th point at Anderson, and is 14 points from also getting his 1,200th against Anderson. And finally, the Ravens are 8-0 on the road, Defiance is 7-0 at home. So who am I picking? Well, DC has the depth and the firepower and the home crowd, but the Jackets have been in a bit of a funk since the turn of the calendar, while Anderson has been beating everyone in sight. As a numbers guy it would be great to see AU's streak be snapped by the team that started it, but I gotta go with the Ravens in another close one.

[dc_has_been]

This IMO, is probably the most interesting week in HCAC action.  This week could really make or break some teams come tourny time.  MSJ & RHIT need these games badly to stay in the hunt for a spot in the tourny while the second spot is still up for grabs too.