The Undefeated and the Winless

[Greek Tragedy]

Goodness!  I better start looking to see who I'm picking!

I can already hear Carrie in the background, "basketball season already???" 

[Greek Tragedy]

My early choice is St. Norbert College.  Subject to change!

They do play Oshkosh and Elmhurst early though.

[Titan Q]

My early choice is St. Norbert College.  Subject to change!

They do play Oshkosh and Elmhurst early though.

Last year Oshkosh was 5-11 in the WIAC and Elmhurst 1-13 in the CCIW.

St. Norbert's toughest non-conference game will probably be the 12/30 game* vs Augustana.  From what I heard from people who saw the IWU/St. Norbert scrimmage, the Green Nights are going to have trouble with teams with a lot of size (they could not guard IWU in the low post, and IWU was without their 6-9 backup center) ...and Augustana might be the biggest team in Division III this year.


(* potential tournament game)

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Is anyone keeping track of these picks?

[John Gleich]

My early choice is St. Norbert College.  Subject to change!

They do play Oshkosh and Elmhurst early though.

Last year Oshkosh was 5-11 in the WIAC and Elmhurst 1-13 in the CCIW.

St. Norbert's toughest non-conference game will probably be the 12/30 game* vs Augustana.  From what I heard from people who saw the IWU/St. Norbert scrimmage, the Green Nights are going to have trouble with teams with a lot of size (they could not guard IWU in the low post, and IWU was without their 6-9 backup center) ...and Augustana might be the biggest team in Division III this year.


(* potential tournament game)

Another tough early match up (though it's a conference game) will be St. Norbs @ Lake Forest on Dec 18th.  The Foresters at first look don't appear to be world beaters (14-10 last year) but they won 11 of their last 12 before bowing out to Carroll by 4 in the MWC tournament Semi's, including beating Norbs in DePere.  Their left something to be desired (2-10) but that's about as drastic a mid-season turnaround as I've ever seen.  I don't know any specific details (if they had a player or players eligible for the second half of the season that weren't initially, or if there were injuries early, etc) but part of me thinks it doesn't really matter.

Now, the MWC wasn't as good last year as it has been at certain times in the last decade, but it still was an upper-half conference and Lake Forest tied for second.  Their season kind of reminded me of Carleton...  The Knights started the year 6-8 before finishing by winning 12 of their last 13 until their first round (one point) NCAA loss to UWSP.  In the process, they beat St. Thomas and their only loss during that stretch was to the Tommies.  They ended up in 4th place in the MIAC, one game out of a tie for 2nd and finished the MIAC schedule at a 9-1 clip after starting 3-7.

Now, I don't know who Carleton has back from last year's team... but I know that Lake Forest has 3 starters back and 6 of their top 8 points and minutes guys from last year.  That could bode well for them.  I've got this one circled on my calendar as one I want to attend.

[tomt4525]

Of Carleton's 3 headed monster...Rosett graduates but Sutherland and Jonker both return.  They will have something to say in the MIAC this year for sure.

[Greek Tragedy]

Last year Oshkosh was 5-11 in the WIAC and Elmhurst 1-13 in the CCIW.

Norb's only beat Elmhurst by 2 last year.  Point by won by 8 and La Crosse won by 10. 

Oshkosh was very inconsistent last year.  They'd go on the road and lose to Whitewater in OT, but get blown out at home to Eau Claire, play Point tough at Quandt, get destroyed at Kolf by Point.  Up and down. 

Obviously Jared Jenkins isn't joining the team until after football season.  He usually sits out or plays sparingly for the first couple of games to get into basketball mode.  If he doesn't play, Point will be knocked down a couple a rungs.

[Gregory Sager]

Last year Oshkosh was 5-11 in the WIAC and Elmhurst 1-13 in the CCIW.

Norb's only beat Elmhurst by 2 last year.  Point by won by 8 and La Crosse won by 10.

Doesn't matter, Tom. You're putting far too much stock in winning margins when the record (and my own eyeballs) tell me that Elmhurst was very much a subpar basketball team last season. It's not likely that Elmhurst is going to be vastly better this year, either (although stranger things have happened). If St. Norbert is anywhere close to being the top ten team that the pollsters say it is, then the Green Knights are practically guaranteed to beat an Elmhurst team that will in all likelihood have a very difficult time reaching double digits in wins this season -- especially since the game will be played on the Knights' home floor.

Last season the Bluejays went 6-19, 1-13. My hunch is that they'll go 8-17, 3-11 this season -- and the three wins are mostly because the CCIW has a team that should be even worse, Millikin.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Sheesh!  The season hasn't even started and IWU already looks like a MASH unit (two starters out indefinitely)!

I'm not bailing on my pick yet - unless WashU has indeed re-loaded, I don't see anyone on the 2010 portion of the schedule the 'survivors' shouldn't be able to handle.  But if both are still hobbled by January 6th, Hopefan will almost certainly enjoy that night more than I will.

[magicman]

Here are the players and their picks in the undefeated pool so far.

hugenerd                 MIT
Hoops Fan               Wooster
Ralph Turner            UT-Dallas
Mr Ypsi                     IWU
KnightSlappy            Depauw (early favorite after beating D1 Evansville)
Ethelred                   Plattsburgh State
Flying Dutch Fan       Hope
hopefan                    Carthage
magicman                  Middlebury
nescac1                     Williams
PointSpecial               Amherst
Old School                 St. Norbert

Where's all the guys from the "S" contingent? Sager, Sac, Smedindy, Scout? Lots of good teams still up for grabs. Surprising that both of our big Stevens Point supporters passed on the Pointers. When was the last time the preseason #1 team hadn't been chosen this late in the process.

And where's all the ODAC supporters? Randolph-Macon and Eastern Mennonite are ranked #2 and #3 and Virginia Wesleyan and Guilford are also ranked in the top 25, yet no one has chosen any of these teams. If the Running Royals get by that Dec. 4th game at home against Randy-Macon they could be in good shape to win this pool. The league coaches obviously like them as they were picked to win the league over R-M. Somebody should hop on this team. Still 15 top 25 teams available and 10 days left to get your picks in guys.     

[magicman]

Here are the players and their choices in the winless pool. Pretty slim pickins so far.

hopefan              Principia
Mr. Ypsi               Crown
KnightSlappy       Macalester
magicman            Caltech
Ethelred               Cazenovia   
Flying Dutch Fan   Alma

[John Gleich]

Surprising that both of our big Stevens Point supporters passed on the Pointers.

More being realistic than anything else.  Whitewater has beaten Point in their first match up 3 of the last 4 years and the year SP beat the Warhawks, they lost at Lawrence (where SP starts the season this year).  They also have to go to Stout and River Falls to start the WIAC schedule, two of the more seasoned WIAC teams.  And, finally, they go to St. Thomas.  On their brand new floor.  And this is all in 2010.

I'm not saying that, going in, I think they'll lose any of these games.  But the schedule is much tougher than, say, Amherst, whose schedule is steeped in teams from the Northeast, not exactly the hotbed of D-III talent.

[scout]

Here are the players and their picks in the undefeated pool so far.

hugenerd                 MIT
Hoops Fan               Wooster
Ralph Turner            UT-Dallas
Mr Ypsi                     IWU
KnightSlappy            Depauw (early favorite after beating D1 Evansville)
Ethelred                   Plattsburgh State
Flying Dutch Fan       Hope
hopefan                    Carthage
magicman                  Middlebury
nescac1                     Williams
PointSpecial               Amherst
Old School                 St. Norbert

Where's all the guys from the "S" contingent? Sager, Sac, Smedindy, Scout? Lots of good teams still up for grabs. Surprising that both of our big Stevens Point supporters passed on the Pointers. When was the last time the preseason #1 team hadn't been chosen this late in the process.

And where's all the ODAC supporters? Randolph-Macon and Eastern Mennonite are ranked #2 and #3 and Virginia Wesleyan and Guilford are also ranked in the top 25, yet no one has chosen any of these teams. If the Running Royals get by that Dec. 4th game at home against Randy-Macon they could be in good shape to win this pool. The league coaches obviously like them as they were picked to win the league over R-M. Somebody should hop on this team. Still 15 top 25 teams available and 10 days left to get your picks in guys.     

Sorry, been studying for a med school module that's pretty tough.

Anyway, I'll take Eastern Mennonite. No ties whatsoever... it's really a shot in the dark. Fortunately, that's all this thing is.

Smile, gentlemen (and women). Basketball is right around the corner.

[smedindy]

Undefeated - St. Thomas (MN)
Winless - John Jay

Been footballin'...

[Greek Tragedy]

Merged the two topics, winless & undefeated along with the survivor pool.