MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Jackets Backer]

Wow, what a game tonight inside DC's Karl H. Weaner Community Center, as the Jackets scored a 95-82 thriller against No. 42 Manchester. It ultimately came down to Defiance's depth, as DC outscored the Spartans, 53-19 off the bench. Mike Floyd had 17 points and five helpers off the bench, but no reserve was bigger than Heath Armstrong who score 15 points in the final 3:02, including 11-straight from the 3:02 to the 1:51 marks of the second half. Armstrong canned three-straight trifectas in the span of 39 seconds to turn a 73-70 DC edge into an 84-70 cushion. This Yellow Jacket team has its flaws, but man is it deep, athletic and explosive. Great game.

BTW - Really impressed with Manchester. They are for real this year and have really got that program back on track in a hurry.

We've talked all year about the plethora of weapons DC has and Wednesday was no different. Armstrong busted out of an early-season shooting slump while Floyd, Sales and Wolfrum also scored double figures. Wolfrum had some really big buckets at big moments last night and really was efficient with 17 points. Plus freshman rookie Brandon Campbell gave some great minutes along with the Tietje boys again. Kyle and Kevin really feed off of each other when in the game together and run the court really well. They're hard to contain with the way Floyd can push the ball up the court. Brandon is starting to get used to the college game and is contributing a lot.

Using the hockey line approach with two different groups is fun to watch. Both groups can really go hard and run the floor for 5 minutes or so knowing that a breather is coming. Now with Floyd back, there's another concern on opposing team's scouting reports.

I too was impressed with Manchester. They only have a couple seniors but their juniors are almost like seniors since they've been playing for three years. Some may be surprised by Manchester but playing Illinois Wesleylan reinforced the fact they'll be a force to be reckoned with this year. The Spartans are much like DC with their depth and scoring options they possess.

Jackets have a chance to go 3-1 in the first wave of the league games at Hanover on Saturday. Hanover is 0-2 but has lost at two tough HCAC venues, Transy and Manchester. Schedule has not been kind to Jon Miller's crew. The Panthers scare me a little bit. They've had a full week to prepare being off Wednesday and of course Miller knows DC's guys and they have Mitchell Meyer. They also beat ONU in Ada and gave DC fits last year in the final two games after DC blew them out earlier in the season. DC's experience and depth should be the difference however.

[wc4252]

I'll try to be the AU rep for the year, I just don't get on here much.  The Ravens have been playing well despite losing some key players from last years team that were expected to be big contributors this year.  It seems like they might be better off with the guys that have stuck around despite losing some very talented guys.  I haven't had the chance to see them yet this year, just caught a couple of games on the internet but this sounds like the most balanced team AU has had since the early 2000's.  Should be an interesting conf season.

[dc_has_been]

Anderson has shown the most promise so far in the HCAC.  I still think it could be 4-5 teams fighting for the top seed at the end of the regular season.  Regardless of who wins the tournament, I see that team representing the HCAC very well.  The only problem is that the team that gets in will probably have around 6-7 losses and may put them against a tougher team to start the playoffs.

[Jackets Backer]

I said Thursday that Hanover scared me today and I was right. Knowing Coach Miller and how they played DC the last two games last year, I knew it would be a battle.

Pitiful shooting day for DC today, 31 percent overall and 3-for-25 behind the arc. Thought DC had some good looks but they just wouldn't drop and it was like that for everyone of the Jackets. The final 10 minutes of the game was a free-throw fest (75 charity tosses combined for the day with most in the second 20), not fun to watch. Jackets fell behind 41-29 in the first six minutes of the second half and just couldn't recover. They got to within a bucket on several occasions and one late but never got over the hump. They really fought and clawed with their press after going down a dozen but it was too much to overcome.

I think it's safe to say it's a disappointing 2-2 start to the league season with two losses on the road. At Anderson, it took an 80-percent shooting second half for AU and today it took an awful shooting display for the Jackets to lose. Those are DC's two worst showing this year and they paid for them with an L.

Would've been nice to steal one today shooting so poorly. Had DC shot it remotely well they would've likely won comfortably but that's the way it goes in the HCAC on the road sometimes.

Surprised to see Rose beat Transy today and Franklin barely survived at Founders. Anderson adds another huge win to its resume by clobbering Wittenberg by 17. Ravens also beat UW-Platteville earlier this year and played Augustana tough. AU has to be  the league favorite with what they've done the first month of the season.

[Buzz]

funny thing is, DC hit 14-of-26 threes last year at Hanover in a 103-78 thumping and then go down there this year and shoot 3-of-25.

can either be frustrated with a less than stellar 2-2 league start for DC, or encouraged that it took two pretty flukish performances (AU hitting 19-20 2pt shots in 2nd half, and DC goin 3-25 downtown today) to get those 2 losses.

if the Jackets can get a little more steady as the year progresses, they will be ok...but it looks like they'll have some work cut out to be in position to host the tourney come Feb. 26 as these 2 early setbacks will be a tough hole to climb out of.

[Jackets Backer]

if the Jackets can get a little more steady as the year progresses, they will be ok...but it looks like they'll have some work cut out to be in position to host the tourney come Feb. 26 as these 2 early setbacks will be a tough hole to climb out of.

DC is going to be in the mix but they have to find a way to play better when they hop on the bus if they want to host the HCAC Tourney. You're exactly right about both the games they lost being pretty crazy in regards to Anderson scoring every trip down the court in the second half and the 3-for-25 performance from behind the arc at HC . Would be hard to fathom those kind of scenarios continuing on the road. But as Bill Parcels says, you are what you're record is and right now DC is .500 in the league .

[Buzz]

Anderson climbs to #29 in the week 3 polls...and I'd argue that they should be higher. The Ravens have flat out smacked some good teams recently, winning the last four by an average of over 16 points...two of those were Defiance and Wittenburg. Ravens are 7-1 with the only loss coming in a close game at #18 Augustana.

I'm hoping AU is top-25 come Jan. 27 when Defiance hosts the Ravens. That'd be a fun environment at the Karl H. Weaner Community Center!

[dc_has_been]

Congrats to Anderson so far.  They have shown to be the front runner early in the season.  I'm hoping they accurate DC team shows up when they get a second chance against Anderson. 
So far, I'm not to confident in DC taking charge of the HCAC.  They have been inconsistent IMO in HCAC action and need to be able to dominate the remainder of their conference play to host the tourney.  They play Transy & MSJ away and then Franklin at home when they get back into HCAC play.  Hopefully they'll have things running at full throttle then.

[Buzz]

Well I was going to recap DC's 114-51 dismantling of OSU-Lima on Tuesday night but the story of the night in the HCAC - and all of D3 for that matter - has to be Transylvania taking down #1 Washington 73-69 in a huge victory for the Heartland Conference. Congrats and huge props to the Pioneers on the big win.

On the side note, the HCAC will have a shot at another impressive non-conference victory when DC hosts DePauw for the P&G Tournament Championship on Wednesday at Defiance. Should be a good battle between a pair of 8-2 squads.

[dc_has_been]

This should gauge how good DC really is tomorrow.  Especially because they have Trany when they get back from Salem to restart conference action.  Trany on top of beating the #1team in DIII has been playing well (except the freak ot loss to RHIT).  DC needs to take care of business the rest of the P&G tourney and the Domino's too. 
Glad to see a lot of guys got some minutes for DC last night.  I hope they don't let the W go to their heads beating a very subpar team.  Hopefully DC's main guys will come to play with fresh legs.  Depauw played a tough one so hopefully they won't have the fresh legs and DC can use that to their advantage.  Anyways, I guess we'll see by the end of today.
Congrats to Transy and hopefully they take down Wooster as well.  Then they'll have a week break that cools them off and DC will come in and knock them down a few notches.

[BUBeaverFan]

Hats off to Transy.  They played great perimeter defense.  They shot the ball very well and they controlled the tempo.  WashU was never able to get a flow going offensively.  The game was pretty physical but not rockem' sockem' robots.  Having another body down low to help Alex Toth might have helped, but the key to the game was Transy's perimeter shooting, they never missed a shot when they needed to either stop a WashU rally or maintain one of their own. I honestly thought WashU looked pretty sluggish in the first half and not nearly as crisp as they certainly can be.  Spencer Gay was the only bright spot for most of the game.  Transy's defense took away other options for large chunks of the game.  Fifteen turnovers by the Bears seemed more critical than the same number by Transy because WashU was trying to battle back so the TO's become magnified.  Transy maintained great composure as WashU tried to mount a comeback late.  I will be interested in the Transy vs. Anderson matchup in the HCAC. 

Go Beavers!

[Jackets Backer]

Wow, Transy pulling a shocker of immense proportions over the two-time defending champions.  I guess I'm surprised that TU pulled it off with some of the guys they lost to graduation but not surprised in the same sense. The HCAC has some big-time wins this season and none will likely be bigger than what Brian Lane's crew did last night.

DC and DePauw should be a slugfest tonight.

[Buzz]

Defiance added to the impressive list of the HCAC's non-conference victories with a nice 89-75 win against DePauw on Wednesday for DC's 19th P&G Tourney title in 35 years.  It was vintage Mike Floyd in this one, as he dished out 13 assists and had only two turnovers. Kyle Tietje also continued to blossom, hitting 10-of-12 for a career high 20 points, while Nick Sales had 23, Heath Armstrong 14 and Anthony Brown 14. So many weapons on the Jackets and this key win bumps them to 9-2.

Another tourney aways at Roanoke this weekend and then back to the HCAC with a pair of road tests right out of the gates. At Transy and at MSJ will really test DC and the Jackets absolutely can't afford to go 0-2 and fall to 2-4 in league play...gotta at least split and that won't be easy!

[dc_has_been]

Way to start the New Year DC!  Looking forward to seeing how DC plays once they get back into HCAC action.  Big game at Transy Wednesday!  DC really has had a lot of different guys step up and play when others are struggling.  Hopefully that will continue, but they need to put teams away.  Both Ferrum and OWU should not have been close.  They let Ferrum get back into the game and OWU get a early lead.  That won't work in the HCAC, there are too many good teams that will take advantage of that. 
How about Anderson continuing to show that they are a top notch team.  A lot of top 25 teams took a loss over the holidays while Anderson took advantage of a not so tough nonconference schedule.  It will be nice to see them IMO, in the top 20 the next poll.  I look forward to the next time DC gets a chance to play them again. 

[Buzz]

DC's recent win streak has got them back in the national poll at #38. A win at Transylvania could be a turning point for the Jackets. It's going to be a huge game on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Anderson climbs to #18. What a good start for the HCAC.