Top 25 talk

[cubs]

Not quite set in stone, but my current preseason Top 25...


#22 UW-Whitewater (23-6 overall, 13-3 WIAC/West) – Round of 32, lost to Wooster
Starters Returning: (2) G Phil Negri, 6-3 SR (8.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg), F Alex Edmunds, 6-4 JR (7.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg)

Starters Lost: (3) C Dustin Mitchell, 6-9 (18.0 ppg, 8.7 rpg), G Dupree Fletcher, 6-2 (14.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg), F Mike Bendall, 6-6 (10.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg)

Top Returning Reserve: G Nolan Free, 6-1 SO (6.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg)

Really just a crapshoot, but that's what I got.

I have a pretty good source that has told me that Free will not be playing this season for Whitewater, and PG Negri is still having back issues that plagued him last season.  Take those two out of the rotation, and the Warhawks look "thin" in terms of experience.  While Negri may still be on the roster once the season rolls around, one has to wonder just how effective he will be.

River Falls is the team in the WIAC that I would keep an eye on as the season goes along.  Just have a hunch that they will be solid this season.

So do I get a little credit for this comment back in October now, or is it too early yet?  

[John Gleich]

Hey, I beat you by a good month on that prediction!

UW River Falls could have a breakout year this year.  

They have 3 of the top 7 returning scorers in the WIAC this year, in addition to adding Shane Manor, a transfer from UW Superior who will be eligible this season who averaged 11.5 as a Frosh and 10.5 as a Soph (sat out this last season).  I don't necessarily think they're a top 25 team right now, but they might be on the cusp.

They beat Whitewater on Feb 6th last year and took St. Thomas to a 1 point game earlier in the year.  I'm trying to remember from last year... but I think RF dealt with some injuries that cased them to be just 3-13 in the WIAC last season.

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared--Midweek Report

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	616	Wooster	17-0	def. Allegheny, 88-56; 01/22 vs. T#42 Wittenberg
#2	586	Virginia Wesleyan	16-0	01/22 at Guilford
#3	555	Whitworth	16-0	def. Whitman, 104-71; 01/21 vs. Pacific
#4	543	St. Thomas	14-1	LOST at Hamline, 79-92; def. Macalester, 75-63; 01/22 vs. St. John's
#5	529	Middlebury	13-0	01/21 vs. Wesleyan; 01/22 vs. Connecticut College
#6	482	Williams	15-1	01/21 vs. Connecticut College; 01/22 vs. Wesleyan
#7	472	Wabash	14-2	LOST at T#42 Wittenberg, 54-55; 01/22 at Oberlin
#8	463	Augustana	16-0	def. Millikin, 72-58; 01/22 vs. North Central (Ill.)
#9	435	Amherst	14-0	01/20 vs. Curry; 01/22 vs. Trinity (Conn.)
#10	411	Randolph-Macon	15-2	def. Lynchburg, 83-44; 01/22 at Hampden-Sydney
#11	390	UW-River Falls	15-2	01/22 at UW-Stout
#12	344	UW-Stevens Point	14-3	def. UW-Eau Claire, 92-37; 01/22 at UW-Oshkosh
#13	292	St. Mary's (Md.)	13-4	LOST at Wesley, 80-95; def. Salisbury, 81-74; 01/22 vs. Stevenson
#14	275	Eastern Mennonite	13-3	def. Bridgewater (Va.), 85-65; 01/22 at Randolph
#15	227	St. Norbert	11-3	01/21 vs. Lake Forest; 01/22 vs. T#40 Illinois College
#16	222	Illinois Wesleyan	13-3	def. #29 Wheaton (Ill.), 82-72; 01/22 at North Park
#17	214	Hanover	12-3	LOST at Rose-Hulman, 64-66; 01/22 at T#42 Manchester
#18	171	WPI	14-3	def. Clark, 60-43; 01/22 vs. Springfield
#19	169	Western Connecticut	14-2	def. Rhode Island College, 82-77; 01/22 at Southern Maine
#20	141	Ramapo	15-3	def. New Jersey City, 77-76; 01/22 at Kean
#21	137	Brandeis	11-2	01/21 vs. Chicago; 01/23 vs. Washington U.
#22	59	Ithaca	12-3	def. Elmira, 101-67; 01/21 vs. Stevens; 01/22 vs. Hartwick
#23	55	Ferrum	15-2	def. Shenandoah, 83-46; 01/23 vs. T#36 North Carolina Wesleyan
#24	48	Centre	11-3	01/21 at Southwestern; 01/22 at Trinity (Texas)
#25	42	Chapman	13-3	01/20 at LeTourneau; 01/22 at UC Santa Cruz; 01/23 at University of Dallas

Others receiving votes

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#26	38	Becker	13-2	01/22 vs. Lesley
#27	37	Franklin and Marshall	12-4	def. Dickinson, 69-68; 01/22 vs. McDaniel
#28	34	Marietta	14-2	01/22 at Baldwin-Wallace
#29	22	Wheaton (Ill.)	11-5	LOST at #16 Illinois Wesleyan, 72-82; 01/22 at Elmhurst
#30	21	Lewis and Clark	12-3	01/21 vs. Willamette; 01/22 at Puget Sound
#31	12	Bowdoin	11-2	01/18 vs. Babson (canceled); 01/21 vs. Tufts; 01/22 vs. Bates
#32	9	Mary Hardin-Baylor	12-3	01/20 vs. Hardin-Simmons; 01/22 vs. McMurry
#33	8	Concordia (Wis.)	13-2	def. Lakeland, 95-84; 01/20 vs. Edgewood; 01/22 vs. Rockford
T#34	7	Anderson	11-5	def. T#42 Manchester, 59-57; 01/22 vs. Mount St. Joseph
T#34	7	Capital	12-4	def. Denison, 81-58; 01/22 at John Carroll
T#36	4	North Carolina Wesleyan	12-5	def. Methodist, 73-69; 01/22 at Averett; 01/23 at #23 Ferrum
T#36	4	Penn State-Behrend	13-2	LOST to Medaille, 53-60; 01/22 at Penn State-Altoona
T#38	3	MIT	12-5	def. Springfield, 60-50; 01/22 at Wheaton (Mass.)
T#38	3	UW-Whitewater	12-5	def. UW-Platteville, 65-62
T#40	2	Emory	11-3	01/21 vs. Case Western Reserve; 01/23 vs. Carnegie Mellon
T#40	2	Illinois College	10-3	01/21 at Carroll; 01/22 at #15 St. Norbert
T#42	1	Manchester	10-6	LOST at T#34 Anderson, 57-59; 01/22 vs. #17 Hanover
T#42	1	New York University	11-3	01/21 vs. Washington U.; 01/23 vs. Chicago
T#42	1	Wittenberg	12-4	def. #7 Wabash, 55-54; 01/22 at #1 Wooster

[nwhoops1903]

#3 Whitworth wins big at home over Pacific 94-48,  Oh yea, school record 19 3 pointers (19-34).  Clay Gebbers the "defensive stopper" scored 17 in the first half.

This is the 5th WW player to have 14 or more points in a half this season.  It is the 13th time it has happened amongst the five leading Pirate scorers.

Whitworth is 17-0 and hasn't lost a NWC conference game in forever (2009) 28 straight.  Whitworth has now won 42 of the last 43 games it has played.

The latest NCAA Division III statistics report was released on January 18th and Whitworth leads the nation in turnovers per game. The Pirates are giving up only 9.7 turnovers per contest.

Anyone still wondering if WW reloaded?   Williams lost Schultz & Whitworth lost Montgomery.  Of every team that had a 1st - 5th team Senior All American, those are the only two teams making noise at the top of this years poll.

Question, Is Williams better than last year?  Is Whitworth?

[magicman]

Whitworth is 17-0 and hasn't lost a NWC conference game in forever (2009) 28 straight.  Whitworth has now won 42 of the last 43 games it has played.

Anyone still wondering if WW reloaded?  Williams lost Schultz & Whitworth lost Montgomery.  Of every team that had a 1st - 5th team Senior All American, those are the only two teams making noise at the top of this years poll.

Question, Is Williams better than last year?  Is Whitworth?

I have to think that Whitworth is better than last year. not only did they return just about everbody except Montgomery, they gained two DI transfers in Jack Loofburrow and Mike Taylor. In the 17 games that the Pirates have played this year either Loofburrow or Taylor has been the leading scorer in 8 of them and the leading rebounder in 10. Taylor leads the team in scoring with 18.4 ppg and Loofburrow leads the team in rebounding with 6.6 rpg. In addition Taylor has a team high 63 assists, is shooting 55% from the field (103x187) 50% from long distance (26x52) and 86% from the foul line (81x94). He is a 6'4" guard that is the third leading rebounder on the team with 4.9 rpg and is 2nd on the team with 13 steals. Loofburrow is also shooting 55% from the field (89x161) and 49.5% from long distance (46x93, an average of 2.7 3's per game, from a 6'7" forward) He also leads the team in blocked shots. Not many teams can bring in 2 new players and have them give you those kinds of numbers. I tried to look up what Montgomery's statistics were last year for Whitworth, but couldn't find a link to last years stats. I'm just wondering,  if you compared what Taylor is doing this year, to what Montgomery did last year, which player had the better year? If I was voting for the All American teams I think I would have to find a place for Taylor. And it wouldn't be on the 5th team either. . So Whitworth replaced 1 all american with another all american candidate and added a 6"7" 3 point shooting forward who can rebound and block shots. Yeah, I think they got better.  

[nescac1]

Surprisingly, Williams seems to be playing at roughly the same level as last year (certainly, statistically they are very close), which is amazing considering (1) they lost three very good seniors starters including all-American Schultz, as well as two senior bench players and (2) unlike last year, when they had amazing injury luck (not one rotation guy missed a game), this year, they've already had three starters banged up, missing a total of six games (and playing off the bench in six others while rounding into form).  The Ephs are still a very efficient offensive team, although they don't shoot at last year's historically impressive levels.  They seem to have improved a bit on defense to compensate for the offense they lost.  The Ephs' two best defenders, Troy Whittington and Nate Robertson, are both playing more minutes this year after coming off the bench last season, so that has helped.  Middlebury is arguably a bit better than last year, and Amherst is dramatically improved, so I do expect Williams to have a tougher time making the Final Four, but not because they have declined.  

The new guys added to the rotation, despite being inexperienced, are very talented, with sophomore James Klemm replacing much of Schultz' perimeter scoring (though not yet his all-around contributions) and two rapidly-improving frosh as the top two players off the bench.  The biggest improvement for the Ephs is that Whittington has continued to improve his offensive game (In particular his foul-shooting) while playing a lot more minutes, and he is playing at an all-American level overall.  So long as he and James Wang are on the court together, the Ephs will always be difficult to guard, and with how Klemm is shooting, they have an offensive big three just about equally productive as last seasons' Schultz-Wang-Whittington trio.  What I like about Williams is that all of its perimeter players are very good creators off the dribble -- and in good news for Eph fans, none of them are seniors. 

[nescac1]

By the way, Whitworth is a very interesting team.  I can't imagine any team has more talent 1 through 6, great combination of size, athleticism, and tremendous shooters, and two legit D-1 transfers is hard to top.  But, they play only a seven man rotation, and really, only six players seem to contribute much in terms of offensive production.  In the tournament, playing tough back-to-back games, that could prove to be an issue, especially if they suffer any injuries or foul trouble -- not much of a margin for error. 

[nwhoops1903]

Let me correct a few things magicman has said.

First off, Loofburrow is in his second year at WW.  
WW lost all region point guard Beale and all conference player Gregg.  Nate was NOT the only loss, not even close.

WW had some untapped depth last year.  Taylor is the only key new player. 

Loofburrow is a junior that WW found out of basketball and out of school.  Injuries had threatened to end a career early.  Pirate coaches have done an amazing thing with this young man but calling him a "legit" D1 transfer might be a stretch.  What qualifies as legit?  He doesn't start, fyi.  

Sophmore Wade Gebbers has stepped in at PG and done well.  He won't be all region.  Freidt is no Montgomery.  Taylor has taken up the difference and can do more than Gregg, so really only the true upgrade.  

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Just watched the video feed of Guilford's three point home victory over #2 Virginia Wesleyan.  Guilford is a strong squad, despite some tough losses this year.  While VWC does have some athletic bigs, their post play was lackluster, especially for a team hoping to contend in March.  #2 is definitely high, at least from what I saw today.  Still, a road loss to a conference rival is not too much to worry about.

[John Gleich]

#12 Stevens Point beats Oshkosh 74-70 on the road.

[Mr. Ypsi]

EMU also fell on the road at Randolph, by an identical 64-61 score.

(Since PS snuck in a post before I posted , that score is identical to the Va Wes loss. )

[Hugenerd]

La Roche now 16-1, with a 15 game winning streak.  ORV Penn-State Behrend (also in the AMCC) lost earlier in the week to Medaille, so La Roche is now the only unbeaten team left in AMCC conference play.

Losing in the top 25 (in addition to those mentioned) were:

#17 Hanover (2nd loss this week), today they lost by 15 to Manchester
#20 Ramapo, lost by 5 to Kean
#22 Ithaca, to Hartwich in OT

[David Collinge]

Trailing most of the game, by as many as 11 in the second half, #1 Wooster closes strong, outscoring Wittenberg 27-9 over the last nine minutes to grab the 65-58 home victory in one of D3's greatest rivalry games. 

[Hugenerd]

#16 Illinois Wesleyan loses to North Park.  That's their 3rd loss to a team with a losing record this season.

[wooscotsfan]

#21 Brandeis loses at home to Washington University by a lopsided score of 70 to 36.