The Undefeated and the Winless

[Gregory Sager]

It's an even bigger head-scratcher for me, because I've seen Luther. Folks, the Norse just aren't any good.

[smedindy]

There was just a nine percent chance.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Earlham has three wins already this year.  They had only two last season and no more than 8 in any year in the last decade.

[hopefan]

As I noted in the CCIW room, we all missed on Millikin and Knox

[augie77]

I picked Millikin and Knox for "winless" in back to back years (2012 and 2013).  I came close with both of those one win teams.  Millikin seemed to be turning things round in recent years, but it's now clear the wheels have come off.

I recall that Millikin's one win was by a single point against Cornell, and then Knox' win the next year was also against Cornell!.

This year I'm going with Fontbonne--still think they have a chance to run the table with L's.

[Gregory Sager]

Not only did I lose out by picking Otterbein as my winless choice, I see that last night the Cardinals beat Ohio Wesleyan in a game in which Otterbein led for the last 38 minutes. I still don't expect Otterbein to go anywhere, but I note that OWU has now lost three straight and I have to wonder who put the itching powder in the robes of the Battling Bishops.

[smedindy]

Is Knox competent at anything but soccer?

[Gregory Sager]

Nope. The last Knox team to finish in the top four in the MWC in anything besides men's or women's soccer was all the way back in 2012-13, when the Prairie Fire baseball team finished second in the MWC South Division. And even that squad went 16-19 overall for the season, so it's not as though they, um, set the diamond on fire.

Great academic school ... but that only gets you just so far in a conversation about a league that has several great academic schools.

[hopefan]

I picked Millikin and Knox for "winless" in back to back years (2012 and 2013).  I came close with both of those one win teams.  Millikin seemed to be turning things round in recent years, but it's now clear the wheels have come off.

I recall that Millikin's one win was by a single point against Cornell, and then Knox' win the next year was also against Cornell!.

This year I'm going with Fontbonne--still think they have a chance to run the table with L's.

Fontbonne is a great pick... they were not going to be very good anyway, then they have had injury problems taking out 3  potential starters... the games you'll need to watch are with MacMurray.. it just came out that Mac's starting point guard is out for the season, and they are also winless... I'd expect Mac to beat the Griffs, but it could be close....

[ronk]

 Scranton(ronk) falls from the undefeated @ Hobart 70-58. 10 turnovers and missing all 10 3-pt attempts in the 2nd half wasted an 11-pt 1st half lead.

[magicman]

Undefeated action

Bates    53    No. 2 Babson    87
Scranton    58    Hobart    70    ronk says goodbye

Undefeated Pool is down to the Final Four:
Whitman - augie77
Babson - hopefan
Amherst - magicman
Swarthmore - Hoops Fan



The 5 remaining winless teams were all winless again last night.

Franciscan (Ohio) 67    La Roche    103  magicman
Wilson  67   Penn State-Abington    73  ronk
Geneva 62    Washington and Jefferson    50  Greek Tragedy
Fontbonne 69    Westminster (Mo.)    94  augie77
Curry    56    No. 24 Endicott    85  sac

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm going to Swarthmore's matchup with Dickinson on Saturday - and I'm usually bad luck for the home team.  I guess I'm jinxing myself.

[Greek Tragedy]

Earlham has three wins already this year.  They had only two last season and no more than 8 in any year in the last decade.

Stout's history isn't as bad, but they have 4 wins this year. They had 3 last year and 3 the previous year while going 0-30 in the WIAC in that span.

[hopefan]

ok Magic... here's the game plan... we get a Dickinson win over Swarthmore, and a Whitworth win over Whitman on 12/6... and it's the 2 seniors vying for the undefeated championship on 12/8  hopefan (Babson) vs magicman (Amherst)   ...woohoo!!!! 

[magicman]

ok Magic... here's the game plan... we get a Dickinson win over Swarthmore, and a Whitworth win over Whitman on 12/6... and it's the 2 seniors vying for the undefeated championship on 12/8  hopefan (Babson) vs magicman (Amherst)   ...woohoo!!!! 

hopefan,
I like that idea. It has all the makings of a well thought out plan that has real possibilities. I certainly hope we can get a little magic and have it fall into place. Of course, we know all about the best laid plans stuff and how that usually works out. 

Amherst has games against Emerson this Saturday, then plays Brandeis next Tuesday, December 6th, and on paper, should win those games. Babson, however, could run into a stumbling block along the way. They play in a 4 team tournament at Brandeis tomorrow and Saturday. They meet Salem State on Friday while the host team, Brandeis, takes on Tufts. If things go as I think they will, Tufts and Babson will square off on Saturday for the title game of the Big Four Challenge. Tufts may be better than either Babson or Amherst.

The Jumbos now have the services of last year's leading scorer, Vinny Pace back. Pace didn't see any action the first 2 games of the season, as he was recovering from a knee injury that took him out of last year's NCAA tournament about 20 seconds after it started. He played 20 minutes off the bench for his first action of the year back on Nov. 22nd and led the Jumbos with 15 points and 6 boards as they beat MIT 74-66. He had a team high 23 pts and 5 boards against WPI a couple of days ago in a Tufts' 75-71 victory.

A #3 vs #2 matchup, should be a good game to watch. I think my Cardinals will just be finishing their game on Saturday when the Tufts-Babson game (should that occur) will be starting at 4 PM.

If we are fortunate enough to be undefeated when we go head to head next Thursday night, you need to PM me your phone number. A matchup that grand demands actual back and forth conversation as it plays out. I'll definitely have to root for Babson if they play Tufts on Saturday.