MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[zander]

Any predictions for the Hanover vs. Transy conference game tonight?  It would nice to see Hanover get its offense really going and get a win at home- The Panthers have not shot well at home yet this season-

[dc_has_been]

BUBeaverFan,

I agree with your assessment, but considering Manchester was picked second in our conference preseason poll and 25th in the country while Bluffton was picked to be 8th, it shouldn't have been a game for Manchester even if NC shot well.  
Bluffton is off to a hot start and it will be interesting to see what they can do.  They showed some promise last year at times.

DC,
The NCC team that played Manchester on sunday is closer to the NCC team that we  should see the rest of the year.  NCC's preseason all american Derek Raridon is off to a slow start.  Raridon went 5-18 fg with zero ft attempts for 10pts against  Blufton.  Now some of his poor shooting had to do with the Beaver defense but much of it was missed open shots by the "national freshman of the year".  Against Manchester, Raridon was 8-13 fg with 6-7ft for 23pts.  After seeing Blufton play this year, they will definitely be a better than .500 team.  They have a couple of good freshmen to go along with their 4 returning starters.  It shouuld be a good year  for the HCAC!

That's fine, but based on preseason expectations Manchester still shouldn't have lost the game to NCC either way.

[cardinalpride]

BUBeaverFan,

I agree with your assessment, but considering Manchester was picked second in our conference preseason poll and 25th in the country while Bluffton was picked to be 8th, it shouldn't have been a game for Manchester even if NC shot well.  
Bluffton is off to a hot start and it will be interesting to see what they can do.  They showed some promise last year at times.

DC,
The NCC team that played Manchester on sunday is closer to the NCC team that we  should see the rest of the year.  NCC's preseason all american Derek Raridon is off to a slow start.  Raridon went 5-18 fg with zero ft attempts for 10pts against  Blufton.  Now some of his poor shooting had to do with the Beaver defense but much of it was missed open shots by the "national freshman of the year".  Against Manchester, Raridon was 8-13 fg with 6-7ft for 23pts.  After seeing Blufton play this year, they will definitely be a better than .500 team.  They have a couple of good freshmen to go along with their 4 returning starters.  It shouuld be a good year  for the HCAC!

That's fine, but based on preseason expectations Manchester still shouldn't have lost the game to NCC either way.

Point  taken...

[Darryl Nester]

Manchester seems to have some depth issues in the early goings.  Six players are averaging in double figures (which is amazing), but they have little scoring beyond those six: two other players have contributed 11 points (total).

MC's six freshmen are still pretty much an unknown quantity, too: All have played in at least one game, but only for a total of 39 minutes, and taking a total of 11 shots (making none).  I suspect that some of them might start to see more playing time (and scoring) as the season progresses.

Franklin appears to have similar depth issues:  Six players have covered 927 of the 1025 collective minutes they have played this season, and accounted for all but 13 of their points.  Only four other players have seen the floor.  I seem to recall this happening at Franklin in seasons past, but after a few weeks, more players joined the rotation.  Perhaps we will see that again this year.

(Of course, my real reason for doing this analysis is to try to spur SOMEONE from Manchester or Franklin to join the conversation, and give us an opinion based on first-hand observation, rather than having to rely on information gleaned from the season box score.  MSJ, AU, and EC posters are welcome to join in, too.)

[dc_has_been]

Any predictions for the Hanover vs. Transy conference game tonight?  It would nice to see Hanover get its offense really going and get a win at home- The Panthers have not shot well at home yet this season-

I'm going to go with Transy on this one. They have put two games in a row together or at least a lot better than their first.  Hanover has had some inconsitent play IMO as well, so again, I'll pick Transy on this one.

I'm looking forward to seeing if DC can bounce back from their loss to ONU.  They need to play big if they want to take this one and will need better bench production too.

[BUBeaverFan]

Bluffton starts the game on a 12-0 run and moves to 5-0 with a win over Mt. St. Joe 82-76.  Last 5 minutes were pretty sloppy. Beavers host Transy on Saturday.

[Darryl Nester]

Hanover over Transy in OT, 68-60
DC over Anderson, 72-67
RHIT over Franklin, 84-78

The home teams have all picked up single-digit wins.  Live stats feed for MC @ EC is not working for me, so I don't know how that is going.  (I'd be surprised to see the home team pick up the win in that game.)

Live stats finally came up from Earlham; MC picks up the lone road win, 72-63.

[zander]

Hanover pulls off a good win against Transy and shot much better than they did against Wash. U and Wabash---The point guard Pangallo is doing a good job filling Jake Inman's shoes and Hanover is moving the ball well.

[dc_has_been]

I was pretty happy with the DC win over Anderson.  I watched part of the first half on video and IMO it was a pretty sloppy first half with poor shot selection by both teams.  There was a lot of trading baskets through out the game too.

Even though I picked Transy, Hanover should have one that game and they did so it wasn't a big suprise.  I was suprised that RHIT beat Franklin.  RHIT's off to a fast start and I wonder if it will continue at home against DC on Saturday?  

Congrats to Bluffton for keeping their streak alive.  They'll get their first true test against Transy on Saturday followed by Anderson.

[kyballr]

Kudos to Hanover for their live video coverage of last night's Transy-Hanvoer game.  Enjoyed the great quality picture, different angles and radio guy that is pretty darn good.

Pioneers take lead by as many as 9 in second half but could not hold on.  Freshman Ashley Hatfield continues to impress with 19 points.  Rash fouled out late in game and Vampire offense looked like it struggled after that while Panthers hit overdrive.  Bluffton Transy game will be interesting to say the least.   

[zander]

yes.. the live feed was wonderful for the hanover - Transy game. I hope it continues all year. The Freshman from Transy is tough!

[zander]

                 Defiance       Rose-Hulman       3:00 PM    Live stats
Audio
      
     Earlham       Franklin       3:00 PM    Live stats
      
     Anderson (Ind.)       Mt. St. Joseph       3:00 PM    Live stats
      
     Transylvania       Bluffton       4:00 PM    Live stats
      
     Manchester       Hanover       5:00 PM    Live stats
Audio

I've got Defiance, Franklin, Anderson, Transylvania, and Hanover. We'll see if Bluffton is for real. And Hanover vs Manchester should be close down to the wire.
      

[BUBeaverFan]

Beavers can't overcome 23 turnover afternoon and lose their first of the year to Transy 65-57. Beavers won the rebounding battle but the 23-7 turnover number killed them. Other stats were pretty even.  Transy had a +6 in FT's.

[zander]

The video coverage wasn't as good tonight for the Panther fans but the win was a good one over Manchester-- A great team effort with offense coming from a lot of different players. Now, they have a week to prepare for their first Road Conf. game against Defiance on Saturday. Hopefully, the defense will get more aggressive and Hanover will pull off another victory.


Rose Hulman looks to be another tough team in HCAC. With a win against Defiance tonight they move to 5-1 for the season. I bet Defiance player Wolfrum will be looking for a big shooting night against Hanover after a tough one tonight.

[BUBeaverFan]

Anderson over Bluffton 76-68.   Anderson let by 12 at half,Beavers tied it twice in the second half.  Decent showing by the Beavers on the road.