MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Darryl Nester]

GRIZ_BACKER: Welcome to the board.  But I must warn you, I'm not sure that the words "active" and "poster" are allowed in the same sentence by those posting in this conversation.

This Saturday's Franklin/Bluffton should be a good one.  Both are playing well right now, and they have split their regular-season games for the past four seasons.

[GRIZ_BACKER]

I did a little homework on Bluffton and they will be a tough test. FC at their best is good enough to win the HCAC this year.  However, the youth on the team is a huge factor IMO.  How well will the young guys hold up over the long haul is a big question and how well will they play on the road in must win games?

A couple of guys to watch if you attend the game (I cant as I have my work xmas party or I probably would.. i like saturday road trips)   Clayton Starrett #15 is a freshman guard   about 5-8 155 lbs is my guess.  very solid ball handler, passer and sees the floor well.  did not come off the floor in the second half.  The type of kid that can play 40 minutes.  He got 10 against Anderson and made some really nice passes

#40 Conley scored 20 against Anderson and is a freshman.  Very skilled and still will put on another 30 pounds over the next couple years.  Will be a beast in the years to come.  A real get for FC.

#32 is another new kid that FC is really going to appreciate.  He scored 13 and had several boards. Bigger than Conley and has a twin brother on the bench that is also big.

Kerry really did a nice job bringing in new guys to compliment the outstanding guard/swingman senior trio. If FC plays to their potential they really have a chance this year.  Only a 2 point loss to Centre and a last second loss to Millikin of the CCIW.  They also went over and beat Wabash and Depauw (i think but too lazy to check) and won the Wabash tournament.

[Darryl Nester]

Transy coach Brian Lane was on the Hoopsville podcast this week (the link is in the D3hoops Daily Dose) giving the Great Lakes report (even though Transy and the HCAC is officially in the men's Midwest region).  The whole report is worth a listen, but if you want to skip right to Lane's part of the show, it starts at about the 1:48 mark.

[Darryl Nester]

RHIT over MSJ, 78-71
AU over HC, 79-73
DC over MC, 86-72
FC over BU, 92-81

Bluffton shot a respectable 58% from the floor, but Franklin shot 70%.  Franklin was 16-18 from the FT line, while Bluffton managed only 10-17.

All five Franklin starters hit in double-figures.  I had Yochum with a team-high 19 points for Franklin (all in the second half), but the box score on the live stats has him with 17.  Conoley had 18.

I still wonder how Franklin lost to Trine .. they clearly weren't playing that game like they did this afternoon.

[GRIZ_BACKER]

The Trine loss is a mystery.  Trine lost last week to IU Northwest ( a glorified intramural team)  Franklin is certainly playing well right now particularly getting a lot of solid play out of the three freshman in the rotation.

Big road win for FC.  It will be interesting to see how they hold up at Transy and Defiance on the road.  70% shooting cures a lot of ills though. 

[dc_has_been]

This has been an interesting season so far with which teams are beating who.  So far the biggest surprise has to be Hanover over Transy!   DC hasn't started off very strong with big losses to Albion & Heidy (considering they are not as good as last year).  Anderson playing two top schools to the buzzer shows they can play w/ the big boys, but they fell short at crunch time.  Franklin is another team who had an odd loss as mentioned but still can cause some damage in the HCAC.  It will be an interesting winter as several HCAC schools will beating on eachother for the top seed in the conference tourny.

[cave2bens]

Appears that Defiance have found themselves since the early season blow-out losses to the "Princes" and "Britons."  In spite of a tourney loss to Rockford and consolation victory over Geneva, there are five players (including three frosh) averaging in double figures for conference contests with Nick Sales close behind at 9.0 ppg.  The Tietje brothers from nearby Henry County have provided quite the punch in both points and caroms as newbies - it will be interesting to watch the progression as the season unfolds.

What happened to Franklin the other night - first home loss to Wabash since '99 and a JV loss to boot?  From what little was read, it appeared that Wes Smith got hot and Conley really got shut down the second half.  Accurate depiction from anyone there? 

[cave2bens]

"Cave's Corollary" to Murphy's Law... as soon as I say something positive   Defiance shoots 92.5% from the charity stripe, over 80% inside the arc, and 53.4% FG pct for a game - yet manages to lose a 16 point lead and the game by a deuce to Transy at home.  Ow, ow, owww - and a road trip to RHIT and 9-3 Anderson this week.

Back to my "hole in the wall."

[hcacdad]

New to the board..in an effort to help get some activity going in the HCAC cyberworld, I will begin posting regularly. Hope I am worthy of all you long time posters.
After watching many college games, I must say the HCAC has developed into one of the strongest "top to bottom" conferences in the country. Congrats to Anderson for cracking the top 25 and representing the HCAC with a huge upset (according to the rankings) against Elmhust. The Ravens have proven they are a premier program and will be hard to top in the Conference. The HCAC is the Ravens to lose-by far the most athletic and talented team I have seen. I would pay some cash to see the defiance anderson game saturday.
As for the rest of the league-
Franklin has continued its hot play in conference getting off to a quick start. Their guard play will be tough to stop when they are connecting from long range.
Transylvania will have a tough trip to Bluffton following a nice road win at Defiance. Bluffton has been playing well as of late....should be an interesting matchup
Defiance will be a force to reckon with incredible size in the front court.

Hanover goes to Centre and wins their Christmas tourny-they lost to nationally ranked Ill. Weslyan by 2 in OT and beat Transy while they were in the top 25. Rose has had some close ones- lose to anderson in OT.
Mt. St. Joes and Manchester can't be counted out as well.
Great job HCAC- The NCAA tourney will be represented well from the HCAC!
Can't wait for another exciting week of HCAC Hoops.

[BUBeaverFan]

HCACDad's comments got me thinking. 

What is the furthest that an HCAC team has advanced in the men's tournament? 

I think that Anderson and Franklin will probably be the class of the league when all is said and done this season.  Anderson has proven at this point in the season that they can compete with just about anybody.

I look forward to catching the rest of the HCAC teams when they come to Bluffton to take on the Beavers. The Beavers have looked good at home for the most part. 

[Titan Q]

HCACDad's comments got me thinking. 

What is the furthest that an HCAC team has advanced in the men's tournament? 

Steve Alford's 1994-95 team comes to mind for me...

http://www.d3hoops.com/archives/mncaa95.htm

[Gregory Sager]

HCACDad's comments got me thinking. 

What is the furthest that an HCAC team has advanced in the men's tournament?

Two HCAC members reached the national championship game and lost, both back when the league was known as the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference:

1990: DePauw (lost to Rochester in national championship game, 43-42)
1995: Manchester (lost to UW-Platteville in national championship game, 69-55)

DePauw has since left the league, of course.

Wabash, a founding member of the ICAC/HCAC back in 1987, won the D3 national title in 1982. I think that Wabash was an independent at that point, but one of the Wallies over in the NCAC room would probably know that for sure.

[BUBeaverFan]

Thanks pointing out the links and the information.  It looks like Hanover and Transy have had the most recent tournament success.   Hopefully the HCAC can send a team deep into the tourney this season.

[GRIZ_BACKER]

New to the board..in an effort to help get some activity going in the HCAC cyberworld, I will begin posting regularly. Hope I am worthy of all you long time posters.
After watching many college games, I must say the HCAC has developed into one of the strongest "top to bottom" conferences in the country. Congrats to Anderson for cracking the top 25 and representing the HCAC with a huge upset (according to the rankings) against Elmhust. The Ravens have proven they are a premier program and will be hard to top in the Conference. The HCAC is the Ravens to lose-by far the most athletic and talented team I have seen. I would pay some cash to see the defiance anderson game saturday.
As for the rest of the league-
Franklin has continued its hot play in conference getting off to a quick start. Their guard play will be tough to stop when they are connecting from long range.

As a long time FC hoops follower I am not sure that the conference is "Anderson's to lose" yet.  While they have two impressive losses, they are still a game back in the HCAC.   Is FC just "hot"?  We will see in the next 2-3 weeks as FC goes to Defiance, Transy, and Anderson.

Manchester and FC also made the Sweet 16 in 1999.  Certainly not a conference with the year in and year out balance like the CCIW and the WI teams.  Certainly not weak either.  FC, Hanover, and Transy have been the dominant teams over the last 10-12 years with NCAA appearances withDefiance usually a front runner.

[GRIZ_BACKER]

Grizzbacker- NOT SO FAST!
To say Defiance has been the front runner in the last 10-12 years is completely asinine. In the past decade-Franklin and hanover began with its dominance and then Transy and Franklin owned the league for the past 5 years- with Defiance having only 1 tournament championship. I would agree the conference is not over and Anderson is going to run away with it, however, they do have the most talented team in the league. To your point-I find it ironic that Franklin has received no votes for the top 25 and they are 5-0 in the league. Enough with that.

Another exciting weak in the HCAC. Franklin remained undefeated with a bye on Saturday. An interesting matchup will be the Grizzlies traveling to Transylvania on Wednesday. A week to prepare for Coach Praither could be trouble for a very inconsistant but talentine Transy club. Anderson continued to roll with a big win over Defiance. The biggest question for Anderson will be can they sustain this run when they finally have to go on the road- 9 of its wins have come on the home court. Bluffton defeated Transy and Hanover this week as Coach Guy Neal has done an impressive job with his team again. As for the rest of the league-good luck in your recruiting for next season!

Should be an exciting week again.

Defiance has been near the top the last few years. In fact FC had to beat them at their place last year to get to the NCAA.  Franklin also beat them in the conference championship down at Hanover in 2000 or 2001 (i don't recall exactly what year).  If that's being "asinine" so be it.  Defiance has had several good teams in the last 10 years as I recall. They may not make the tournament as much as FC Transy or Hanover.