MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[zander]

Here we go... I know you all were worried I would not get my picks in on time.
Iu east vs MSJ-   tie   0-0
Manchester
Hanover
Franklin-   (upset making things a little interesting)
Defiance

[Jackets Backer]

Manchester
Hanover
Anderson
DC

[cave2bens]

Excellent ballgame in spite of anemic attendance.  Take it the snow is falling as far north as DC and the Transy folks get to experience an exciting evening at the Comfort Inn and Bud's for pie?  56.8% from field (45.2% from the arc) and nearly 83% from the line  - nice. 

[Buzz]

Caves - I'm guessin the webcast numbers will be pretty high for today's games at DC, at Transy hardly brought any fans. The crowd was pretty normal on the side under the camera though.

Only 3 league games today with AU/MSJ getting moved to Monday and MSJ's non-conference game gettin cancelled also. The big news was Defiance and Manchester joining Anderson, Hanover and Transy in the six-team HCAC Tourney field. Should be just a matter of time before Franklin rounds out the field. So it's all about seeding now, and today's big loser was Transy, who dropped to the No. 4 seed, due to DC's win over AU getting the Jackets the tie-breaker.

If the tourney started today...

#6 Franklin at #3 Defiance --- winner gets #2 Hanover
#5 Manchester at #2 Transylvania --- winner gets #1 Anderson

Pickem was boring today, with all participents going 3-0. Updated standings...

Buzz 28-7
DC Backer 26-9
Zander 12-3
DC Star 7-0
WC 8-5
DC Has Been 3-2
Indy HCAC 5-4

We'll have to update this on Monday, with Buzz/Backer/Star having AU, and Zander takin FC in the upset special. A Grizzly upset would make things a bit more interesting for the regular season crown!

[Darryl Nester]

According to my program, Manchester has not quite locked up a tourney spot, although it would take a rather unlikely sequence of results for them to miss.  (One more MSJ loss, or Manchester win,  will tip the scales--and even if MSJ wins out and Manchester loses out, Manchester would almost certainly come out on top based on tie-breakers.)

Team	Overall	Home	Away	Remaining Games
Anderson	10-1	5-0	5-1	@ FC, vs. RHIT, vs. TU, vs. MC, @ HC
Hanover	9-4	6-0	3-4	vs. FC, @ RHIT, vs. AU
Defiance	8-5	5-1	3-4	vs. MSJ, vs. BU, @ FC
Transylvania	8-5	6-1	2-4	@ MSJ, @ AU, vs. MC
Manchester	7-5	5-2	2-3	@ BU, vs. FC, @ AU, @ TU
Franklin	6-5	3-2	3-3	vs. AU, @ HC, @ MC, vs. MSJ, vs. DC
Mount St. Joseph	3-9	2-4	1-5	vs. TU, @ DC, @ FC, vs. RHIT
Rose-Hulman	2-10	2-5	0-5	@ AU, @ BU, vs. HC, @ MSJ
Bluffton	2-11	2-4	0-7	vs. MC, vs. RHIT, @ DC

Team	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	#7	#8	#9
Anderson	83.37%	12.87%	3.27%	0.49%	0.00%	0.00%	--	--	--
Hanover	13.86%	47.98%	20.50%	10.74%	4.97%	1.95%	--	--	--
Defiance	0.30%	9.16%	31.79%	34.27%	17.93%	6.55%	--	--	--
Transylvania	1.34%	16.79%	23.44%	21.22%	28.24%	8.97%	--	--	--
Manchester	0.57%	7.84%	12.76%	23.82%	30.08%	24.90%	0.04%	--	--
Franklin	0.56%	5.36%	8.24%	9.46%	18.78%	56.57%	1.03%	--	--
Mount St. Joseph	--	--	--	--	0.00%	1.06%	61.44%	26.57%	10.92%
Rose-Hulman	--	--	--	--	--	--	27.95%	45.24%	26.81%
Bluffton	--	--	--	--	--	--	9.54%	28.19%	62.27%

[Buzz]

I just broke it down again, and Darryl is correct. If MC loses out and MSJ wins out, they'd tie at 7-9, and they split the season series, so it'd go to their record against Anderson and work down. Both were 0-2 against AU but MC would clinch with its split against Hanover IF the Panthers were still the #2 seed but if DC is the #2, then it'd go to MSJ, bc MSJ would have to win out to force the tie, meaning they would beat DC next Saturday and earn the split.

Of course, if DC loses that game to MSJ, it will be awfully tough for the Jackets to claim the #2 seed...so yeah, MC hasn't sealed it quite yet, at least not mathematically speaking.

A three-way tie between MC, FC and MSJ is also a possibility still, in which case due to several factors that are very difficult to explain, MSJ would again be the odd team out.

Basically MSJ might be better off taking their chances with the mathematical 1.04% chance then by having the games played.

[dc_has_been]

Looking at Darryl's info, it looks like there is a big fight for the 2 spot.  I think things will be interesting after this upcoming week.  Anderson has three games Monday, Wednesday, and Friday which is tough with their limited bench. 
I wouldn't want to be Franklin having to play Anderson Hanover, Manchester, and Defiance to finish the season. nor would I like to be in Manchester having 3 of four away and two of those against Transy and Anderson.  Which leads me to a question for all here.  Who has the easiest remain schedule?  IMO it's Defiance.  They have a great opportunity to win their remaining three.  Two at home and one at Franklin, a team that has to play five games in under two weeks.  I don't want to be too confident do to their inconsistent play at times and b/c their loss to Bluffton earlier, but they should be able to do it.  They just need Hanover to slip up twice and Transy once and that would lock up the 2 spot I believe.  Time will tell.

[zander]

I wouldn't count on Hanover slipping up twice--They have Franklin and Anderson at HOME where they are undefeated this season and RH on the road. I think there is a good chance that the young Panthers may defeat both Franklin and Anderson especially if they hit all their free throws--

GO PANTHERS!

[Buzz]

Congrats to freshman Logan Wolfrum (Defiance College) on being named HCAC MBB Player of the Week. It is his second weekly honor, making him the only repeat selection this season in the HCAC on the men's side. Wolfrum has really become a very important part of DC's attack and seemed to be the team's go-to guy on Saturday against Transylvania.

It would be an interesting discussion to highlight the top young talent from around the league. Wolfrum would certainly be in that discussion, and I wonder if he is the frontrunner for Freshman of the Year? I'm sure that there are other very strong candidates though and curious what other names should be in that debate. Also be interested in naming a Sixth-Man Award, and Wolfrum would be DC's nominee for that as well in my opinion.

[zander]

Congrats to Wolfrum! That is a great accomplishment to receive player of the week twice and especially as a freshman!

[dc_has_been]

zander, unfortunately I have to agree with you on Hanover.  I really don't see them dropping any of the three.  As I mentioned before, I don't see Anderson playing their best ball right now.  The question is, are they running out of gas having such a short bench?

Buzz, I agree that Wolfrum has had a great freshman season so far.  Hopefully he will bring a spark with him off the bench during the tourney time.  DC will need strong bench play in order to get into the finals.  I still feel like the starters are inconsistent.  

[Buzz]

Anderson certainly looked back to being dominant tonight and took another step towards the regular season crown with a blowout of Franklin.

Buzz, Backer and Star had that one right, while Zander gambled on the upset and came up empty. Updated standings...

Buzz 29-7
Backer 27-9
Star 8-0
Zander 12-4
WC 8-5
HasBeen 3-2
Indy 5-4

[Buzz]

Alright, here are the top freshman in the HCAC. Jump in if I am leaving someone out. I just went through the HCAC individual statistical rankings and pulled the freshmen from those reports.

Anderson - Phil Hogan ranks 10th in the league with 2.6 assists per game
Bluffton - Josh Fisher ranks 14th in ft% at 71.4
Defiance - Logan Wolfrum ranks 22nd in scoring (10.8), 8th in assists (2.9), 15th in steals (1.1), 6th in 3pt% (42.2), 11th in blocks (0.6)
Defiance - Brandon Campbell ranks 3rd in steals (1.7)
Franklin - Erwin Gunner ranks 23rd in scoring (10.8), 18th in rebounds (4.5), 2nd in 3pt% (49.0), 5th in blocks (1.1)
Hanover - Ryan Nowicki ranks 16th in scoring (11.6), 2nd in ft% (88.3), 5th in 3pt% (43.5)
Manchester - None
Mt. St. Joseph - None
Rose-Hulman - Jon Gerken ranks 16th in rebounds (4.6), 10th in blocks (0.7)
Rose-Hulman - Austin Weatherford ranks 9th in ft% (76.4)
Transylvania - Barrett Meyer ranks 8th in 3pt% (42.0)

From this list, the Freshman of the Year conversation probably starts and ends with the trio of Ryan Nowicki (HC), Erwin Gunner (FC) and Logan Wolfrum (DC), while Barrett Meyer (TU) and Jon Gerken (RH) would round out my All-Freshmen Team. Although Brandon Campbell (DC) and Phil Hogan (AU) are both very solid as well.

How would that team do in the league? Might lack size, but four of the top eight in 3pt% are on that squad...

[zander]

WOW! that is a great list of young talent contributing to the HCAC this year--It's nice to see the freshmen having such an impact around the league.

It will be fun to watch them compete in the tourney and really earn their stripes-

[Buzz]

Yup and we could have a great discussion about all of the impact sophomores around the HCAC as well. The HCAC really has a youthful look to it and it is exciting to see this new wave of talent, which I think will elevate the league's rep around the nation.

I'm going off the top of my head - which is usually very bad - but I am wanting to say that Anderson, Hanover, Franklin and Manchester are all returning ALL starters next year. That's four of the top six teams in the conference, set to only get stronger in 2010-2011!