Top 25 talk

[titansrus]

For those interested:

You can watch the #5 UW-Oshkosh Titans face the #22 La Crosse Eagles tonight at the Kolf Sports Center. Here's the link:

http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/MBasketball/

The unfortunate part is it costs $8 to watch-but as the article says includes the play by play and camera work done by Titan TV sports. The money is needed to offset the costs of Stretch Internet.

[Greek Tragedy]

I got ripped pretty good by Sager in the NathCon room (really? no, but it sounded good)...As I said at the beginning of my post about the Aurora/WLC game, it was the first time I've seen Aurora and it could've been the worst game they played all year, for all I know...So, it was important to know that my post was based ONLY on that game.  Is Aurora that bad, I doubt it.  Are they #16 in the nation?  I have no idea really.  I guess I would have to see them 2 or 3 more times to get an "average" opinion on them. 

With that said, even on "bad" nights, the attitude of the team and the defensive efforts can still be there, they weren't last night.  I realize I based Aurora on that game alone....so, that would be like someone coming to Quandt to see Point lose at home to Oshkosh by 17 and I'm sure someone would say, "Wow, that's supposed to be the #1 team in the nation, I think not!"  There you have it. 

There really wasn't that much that impressed me with Aurora, and it's not like WLC is a highly talented team either (though their heart, hustle and will was a lot more intense that Aurora's, and that's what won them the game, IMO). 

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  #2 Wooster 109  Allegheny 71

Wooster jumped out to a 14-0 start, led by 23 points at the half and cleared the bench with about 7 minutes remaining.

Wooster was led tonight by James Cooper with 31 points (7 of 9 on three pointers), Tom Port with 15 points (3 three pointers, one dunk) and Brandon Johnson with 14 points.  Scots played good defense and shot well to secure this lopsided win.  Wooster made 14 three pointers and shot over 58% from behind the arc.

Wooster is now 18-2, 11-0 NCAC.    Big game vs Wittenberg on Saturday!

GO SCOTS!!

[diehardfan]

In CCIW action,

Elmhurst is only up 4 at the half to Millikin, 38-34.

Carthage is up two @ Wheaton at the half.

IWU is destroying NCC at home thus far 39-23. It sounded like Walton got in foul trouble early... a big uh oh to that... there go NCC's other receiving votes if they can't catch up

wheatonhoops.googlepages.com/broadcasts is where you can find the links to the various schools broadcasts... sorry, I'm too lazy to type them all in

[David Collinge]

Top 25 Schedule and Scores, Jan. 29-Feb. 4 (UPDATED with Thursday scores):

#   1   Amherst (21-0) won at Rhode Island Coll. 62-48, hosts Conn. College Fri., and hosts Wesleyan Sat.
#   2   Wooster (18-2) def. Allegheny 109-71 and hosts #11 Wittenberg Sat.
#   3   UW-Stevens Point (17-2) def. UW-Eau Claire 90-61 and plays at #22 UW-La Crosse Sat.
#   4   Mississippi College (17-2) lost at LeTourneau 64-62 and plays at East Texas Baptist Sat.
#   5   UW-Oshkosh (17-4) lost to #22 UW-La Crosse 73-62 and hosts UW-Stout Sat.
#   6   St. Thomas (18-2) def. Carleton 51-41 and hosts Bethel Sat.
#   7   Washington U. (16-1) plays at #25 NYU Fri. and plays at Brandeis Sun.
#   8   Virginia Wesleyan (17-3) def. Bridgewater (VA) 85-46, plays at Roanoke Sat., and plays at Washington and Lee Sun.
#   9   Hope (17-2) won at Olivet 79-57 and plays at Albion Sat.
#   10   Augustana (17-3) won at North Park 71-56 and plays at #17 Carthage Sat.
#   11   Wittenberg (17-3) def. Earlham 87-40 and plays at #2 Wooster Sat.
#   12   Elmhurst (15-4) lost to Millikin 89-85 and plays at Illinois Wesleyan Sat.
#   13   Whitworth (17-2) hosts Linfield Fri. and hosts George Fox Sat.
#   14   Ohio Northern (16-4) won at Otterbein 66-63 (OT) and hosts John Carroll Sat.
#   15   Worcester Polytech (17-1) def. Clark 73-52 and plays at Babson Sat.
#   16   Aurora (18-2) lost at Wisconsin Lutheran 87-82, def. Maranatha Baptist 100-49, and hosts Marian Sat.
#   17   Carthage (13-6) lost at Wheaton (IL) 71-67 and hosts #10 Augustana Sat.
#   18   Occidental (13-4) def. Whittier 82-60 and plays at Cal Tech Sat.
#   19   Chicago (15-3) plays at Brandeis Fri. and plays at #25 NYU Sun.
#   20   Johns Hopkins (18-2) won at Swarthmore 63-59 and plays at Haverford Sat.
#   21   Puget Sound (15-4) def. Pacific Lutheran 89-86 and hosts Pacific Sat.
#   22   UW-La Crosse (14-6) won at #5 UW-Oshkosh 73-62 and hosts #3 UW-Stevens Point Sat.
#   23   Bates (16-3) plays at Williams Fri. and plays at Middlebury Sat.
#   24   Guilford (15-3) won at Washington and Lee 62-61 and plays at Lynchburg Sat.
#   25   NYU (14-4) hosts #7 Washington U. Fri. and hosts #19 Chicago Sat.

[hope1]

  HOPE 79 OLIVET  57

[diehardfan]

Craziness in the CCIW.

ORV Wheaton knocks off #17 Carthage at Wheaton's King Arena in their first matchup of the season. Wheaton was down by two at half, and then got further down as the game progressed.... grabbed the lead in the last few minutes and then stayed off a Carthage comeback attempt. The game ended with Wheaton hitting their fts down the stretch.

Right now I think Wheaton is about right in terms of Top 25 (on the radar, but off the list.... though if they keep playing like they did in the last 8 minutes of Carthage they will earn their ranking back later). Carthage is probably too high... but I guess we'll know know more as the season moves forward...

Millikin takes down Elmhurst 89-85.

ORV NCC loses big @ IWU

[David Collinge]

LeTourneau upends #4 Mississippi College tonight, 64-62, snapping MC's 17-game winning streak.

[golden_dome]

Not a good night for Mississippi College. I was not there but the boxscore shows MC just 1-10 from the three point line while LeTourneau hit 9-21.
boxscore at http://www.gochoctaws.com/sports/mbball/2006-07Stats/letvsmc.htm

[Rhodes Scholar]

LeTourneau upends #4 Mississippi College tonight, 64-62, snapping MC's 17-game winning streak.

Mississippi College opened the season with a rather puzzling loss to Wesley, MS and then won their next 17 in a row. It should be noted that 16 of those 17 wins were double-digit victories. Even though they faced a less-than-demanding schedule, that's still a nice accomplishment.

[gccfan]

I saw the LETU-Miss Coll. game tonight and it was an amazing finish.  MC led by 5 with under two minutes to play thanks to DJ Jones who was 10-of-14 from the field and had 23 points.  The Jackets scored on a nice back door with 1:22 left and then got a steal on the other end.  After missing three shots on the ensuing possession the Jackets got another chance and Jayme Bradley hit a three to tie the game with 32 seconds.  No time out called.  Jonathan Collins cleared out and went one-on-one missing a shot with 9 seconds left, Bradley grabbed the rebound and threw it the length of the court thinking time was about to run out.  The ball hits the backboard, LETU rebounds the ball near half court, miss one chance and get a tip-in at the buzzer to win.  Craziness!

[Ralph Turner]

LeTourneau upends #4 Mississippi College tonight, 64-62, snapping MC's 17-game winning streak.

Mississippi College opened the season with a rather puzzling loss to Wesley, MS and then won their next 17 in a row. It should be noted that 16 of those 17 wins were double-digit victories. Even though they faced a less-than-demanding schedule, that's still a nice accomplishment.

My take on the MissColl schedule is that they had their off-night at their worst venue on the East.  LeTU is having a great season, and has more athleticism than they have had in years.  Also, I think that their match-up gives MC the hardest time.  It is very hard to defeat someone by 21 at home and then go their place a week later, as this series was.  Altho' MC goes to UT-Dallas two weeks from tonight, I think that the Chocs match up very well with UT-Dallas.

The Chocs have a 4-game lead on UT-D with 5 to play and a 5-game lead on LeTU.  The conference tourney is where all of the shuffling is going.  Dollars to donuts that the tourney goes back to the Golden Dome.  Everyone is jockeying for position.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

As the story on the front page mentions, MC has been without their best player since last week.  That might be the grain of salt for this loss.  Taking nothing away from LeTourneau, because it's still a great win, but that should be mentioned.

[Ralph Turner]

As the story on the front page mentions, MC has been without their best player since last week.  That might be the grain of salt for this loss.  Taking nothing away from LeTourneau, because it's still a great win, but that should be mentioned.

I think that the more accurate assessment of Winford's contributions to the team relate to his leadership ability.

Looking at the stat sheets, thru last Thursday, he was 5th in minutes, 4th in scoring and 5th in rebounds on the team.  His replacement, Ryan Hudson, was 6th in minutes, 5th in scoring and 4th in rebounds.  That is not much drop-off on a team that has 9 players getting double-digit minutes and 11 players getting 8 minutes per game.

He is scheduled to return for the conference tourney.  From MissCollege's perspective, this may the "adversity" episode that the team needed to take their game to the next level for the ASC tourney and the playoffs. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Let's hope, it's time for the players to step up and earn the respect MC's worked so hard for over the last few years.