MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[cave2bens]

Press "2".  Matador defense is only effective if the cuadrilla is fully functional.  Without lance and sword to slow the bull, a backside goring is inevitable.  Ole! (As in Mediterranean influence, and not the Ole and Swen jokes from the Yoopers...) 

[Buzz]

Hanover plays defense and Defiance doesn't. I don't know that DC was flat, Hanover was just better.

Agreed. It probably was not fair of me to call the Jackets flat on Saturday. And by that I mean not fair to Defiance who played hard - just not well - and not fair to Hanover who played outstanding. Sometimes you just get beat and I agree that it was simply Hanover outplaying Defiance, controlling the tempo and never letting DC or the crowd really get on track. In fact I remember the 2 or 3 times that it looked like Defiance was about to go on one of its spurts and get some bounce in its step and Coach Miller would just calmy call a TO, draw up a play, run 30 seconds off the clock and get a bucket to turn everything right back around.

Gotta tip the cap to Miller and Hanover for winning a big game in a tough environment. They deserved it on Saturday. And if you look at Hanover's remaining sked (Thanks Darryl), this win really put them in great shape for the No. 2 seed.

If Defiance is not careful, it could be looking at the No. 6 seed, a first-round game AT Transylvania on the Tuesday game and then if they get past that, a semifinal with Hanover....with Anderson possibly waiting in the championship game on its home court. That would be a very very tall task to navigate those three matchups! Jackets definitely need some wins to get out of that scenario and @Manchester and home vs Transy in the next two games is going to show what DC is made of. Every setback from here in will be crushing to the team's chances.

[dc_has_been]

Well said Bob!

In regard to DC, they need to finish strong by taking the rest of their games to have some momentum going into the tourney where ever they're seeded.

[zander]

Which team has the best shot of winning the conference tourney besides Anderson this year?

[cave2bens]

Which team has the best shot of winning the conference tourney besides Anderson this year?

If one takes into account Darryl's mind-boggling, statistical morass on the previous page, the remaining schedules (home and away) among the "contenders," and toss in irrelevant, uneducated opinion of this fossilized flake - I'd give an edge to Hanover.  With 1 game remaining (@ home to boot against AU) against the contenders/pretenders, coupled with scrupulous observation from Saturday, Coach Miller has them playing well and within their capabilities.

Poor foul shooting aside, Hanover forced many difficulties on Defiance.  Bottom line, IMO, was DC isn't as bad as Hanover was darned good on Saturday.  I doubt Anderson is counting on "a gimme" down in Madison, either. 

[dc_has_been]

I'm going to agree with cave on that one.  Hanover has been playing very well and took down Manchester, Transey, and Defiance their last three games.  Pretty impressive considering those three teams fighting for the 2nd spot with Hanover.  Looks like they are the ones marking their territory right now.

[Buzz]

Wednesday's picks...

Bluffton (2-18, 2-9) at #14 Anderson (17-2, 9-1)
Should be interesting to see how the Ravens come back off their first league loss, and the following bye on Saturday. AU should be refreshed and refocused, and ready to handle the much-improved Beavers.

Hanover (10-9, 7-4) at MSJ (8-11, 3-8)
The Panthers are playing their best ball of the year and its unknown if Romes will be back and 100% for the Lions. Hanover should get its fifth straight.

Franklin (8-11, 6-4) at Transylvania (11-9, 7-4)
FC has won three straight but that's a bit misleading with those W's against MSJ, Bluffton and Rose. Pioneers should get this victory to keep their hopes for the #2 seed alive.

Defiance (15-5, 6-5) at Manchester (12-7, 6-4)
First time around was a gem that DC won late. Manchester much better at home, DC has really struggled on the road and really needs to invest on the defensive end. I do think DC is the better team though, so I'll go on a limb and pick the Jackets to finally score a big road victory.

[zander]

Anderson
Hanover
Transy
Manchester

[Jackets Backer]

Andy
HC
TU
DC

[dc_star]

Anderson
Hanover
Transylvania
DC

[Darryl Nester]

Anderson holds off Bluffton, 72-66.  It was within 3 points late, but AU got lots of rebounds and hit their FTs down the stretch.

Elsewhere, Transy blows out Franklin, 81-55, and Hanover keeps on rolling, beating MSJ 74-59.

Midway through the second half, DC leads Manchester 52-46.

[Darryl Nester]

Defiance over Manchester by double digits ... live stats feed is stuck at 25 seconds, but I assume this is over.

After tonight's action, Hanover and Transy have clinched a spot in the tourney, and Defiance is nearly a lock, while the bottom three are nearly locked out.

If one takes into account Darryl's mind-boggling, statistical morass ...

Here's a bit more statistical swampiness to trudge through:

Team	Overall	Home	Away	Remaining Games
Anderson	10-1	5-0	5-1	@ FC, vs. RHIT, vs. TU, vs. MC, @ HC
Hanover	8-4	5-0	3-4	vs. BU, vs. FC, @ RHIT, vs. AU
Transylvania	8-4	6-1	2-3	@ DC, @ MSJ, @ AU, vs. MC
Defiance	7-5	4-1	3-4	vs. TU, vs. MSJ, vs. BU, @ FC
Franklin	6-5	3-2	3-3	vs. AU, @ HC, @ MC, vs. MSJ, vs. DC
Manchester	6-5	5-2	1-3	@ RHIT, @ BU, vs. FC, @ AU, @ TU
Mount St. Joseph	3-9	2-4	1-5	vs. TU, @ DC, @ FC, vs. RHIT
Rose-Hulman	2-9	2-4	0-5	vs. MC, @ AU, @ BU, vs. HC, @ MSJ
Bluffton	2-10	2-4	0-6	@ HC, vs. MC, vs. RHIT, @ DC

Team	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	#7	#8	#9
Anderson	85.60%	10.29%	3.78%	0.33%	0.00%	0.00%	--	--	--
Hanover	6.41%	35.00%	28.89%	16.55%	8.98%	4.17%	--	--	--
Transylvania	6.73%	34.29%	26.06%	16.61%	12.62%	3.70%	--	--	--
Defiance	0.28%	8.36%	18.93%	33.54%	26.35%	12.53%	0.01%	--	--
Franklin	0.31%	4.55%	11.83%	14.98%	22.80%	43.91%	1.59%	0.02%	--
Manchester	0.67%	7.51%	10.51%	17.99%	29.20%	32.53%	1.54%	0.05%	0.00%
Mount St. Joseph	--	--	--	--	0.03%	1.89%	48.34%	31.96%	17.77%
Rose-Hulman	--	--	--	--	0.01%	1.22%	33.36%	38.98%	26.42%
Bluffton	--	--	--	--	--	0.04%	15.16%	29.00%	55.80%

[Buzz]

Looks like Darryl has the HCAC updates covered, so I'll just provide the HCAC Pickem results.

Buzz, Star and Backer all go 4-0 on Wednesday, with Zander paying the price for picking against Defiance and limping in at 3-1! Updated season standings...

Buzz 25-7
DC Backer 23-9
Zander 9-3
Star 4-0
WC 8-5
Has Been 3-2
Indy 5-4

[Buzz]

Take this for what it's worth - and that's not much...but I went through the team's remaining games and predicted the outcome. Here is how I see the final standings looking...

No. 1 Anderson - 13-3
No. 2 Hanover - 12-4
No. 3 Transylvania - 11-5
No. 4 Defiance - 11-5
No. 5 Manchester - 8-8
No. 6 Franklin - 7-9
--------------------------
No. 7 Bluffton 4-12
No. 8 Mt. St. Joseph 3-13
No. 9 Rose-Hulman 2-14

Transy gets the No. 3 seed in this scenario bc TU and DC would split the head to head and would each have one victory against Anderson. The edge goes to Transy with its win against Hanover, whereas the Jackets were swept by the Panthers. Leaving the HCAC Tourney matchups...

Anderson vs winner of Defiance/Manchester
Hanover vs winner of Transylvania/Franklin

I think we'd then get Anderson/Defiance and Hanover/Transylvania in the HCAC Semis and honestly, I'm not sure you could get two better matchups.

[BUBeaverFan]

Man, another close loss for the Beavers.  Still hoping for a couple more wins to finish off the year.  Fear the Beaver!  

Beavers are scoring 61.3 pts/game in conference while giving up 65.9 pts/game.  So close yet so far.