MBB: Midwest Conference

[The Roop]

I agree. This is likely just some speculation that made it to the press. Fun to think about but not worth losing sleep over.

[Eastside]

When I graduated from Carleton College we participated in the Midwest Conference.  I played football and have many great memories of battles on the gridiron with Lawrence, Ripon, Beloit, Knox, Coe, Cornell and Grinnell. Nightmares of Monmouth still haunt me.  Since I reside in the Twin Cities I follow Carleton sports closely and can guarantee that neither Carleton nor St. Olaf will return to the MWC.  Both schools enjoy their presence in the MIAC.  One of the primary reasons involves the fact that Carleton can recruit high school athletes on an easier basis by participating in the MIAC.  High School student athletes from Minnesota, for the most part, have never heard of the MWC and are not impressed by the thought of playing in that conference.  On the other hand, the local media hypes the MIAC to the point that the locals think it is probably the premier D 3 conference in the country.  I can tell you I viewed a number of MIAC basketball games last year and other than St. Thomas was not impressed at all.  The second, third and fourth place teams, Gustavus, Carleton and Augsburg were slow half court oriented squads which would not have fared very well in the MWC.  I observed St. Norberts, Lawrence, Grinnell and Carroll among others last year and thought those squads were stronger than any in the MIAC other than the Tommies.

[doolittledog]

That comment from the commissioner of the IIAC made it sound like this rumor has some serious legs to it.  It makes no sense at all to me.  Travel costs would increase making for larger athletic budgets for the schools.  I would think not many potential athletes would be interested in all the long bus rides these trips to far away schools most had never heard of would entail. 

But, who knows.  My guess if this did happen would be the Wisconsin schools left out of this would go to either the NAC, the CCIW or some other conference with Wisconsin and Illinois schools.  The IIAC I think would go after some Iowa NAIA schools.  Iowa Wesleyan is already on record about exploring a change to D3 and the IIAC. 

[cubs]

While Oshkosh has a great player in Marsh, they are not the #24 team in the country (that probably would be more appropriate for St. Norbert, to be honest!) or the #3 team in the WIAC.  That is probably Whitewater, Platteville, or River Falls (with Point and La Crosse 1 and 2).  I think Oshkosh is probably going to end up #6 or more likely tied with teams that make up the first 6, if that makes sense.  There are just too many other balanced teams with multiple good players that will negate what Marsh can do.

Let me preface this by stating I said over a month that Oshkosh had NO BUSINESS being ranked #24 in the pre-season poll, OR for that matter getting a first place vote in the WIAC pre-season rankings....

However, the Oshkosh team that I watched play on Monday and the team that played at Lawrence Thursday, were two completely different teams.  About the only thing that was the same was the Titan's defensive play.  The play on the offensive end actually resembled something other than the NBA last night.  The same ball screen that I saw Monday at least 40 times seemed to have been left in Oshkosh Thursday night.

What am I trying to say?  While Oshkosh may not end up in the Top 25, I don't think they are going to finish in the bottom third of the league either.  I would guess they will end up somewhere in the 4th-6th place range, which I would think is pretty respectable considering what they are returning this season.  There are a lot of freshmen and sophomores getting minutes, and quality minutes at that.  UWO may be one of those teams that ends up playing their best ball the last month or two of the season.

[The Roop]

Beloit loses a close one to Benedictine 74-66. I'll see them twice this week and determine if they are correctly predicted as 9th in the conference or not.

[System Error]

Long day for the Pioneers as they lost 126-85... Considering Grinnell is a young team and Buena Vista is the reigning Iowa Conference champions, it was somewhat expected. Now its off to the Whitewater tournament to face Aurora and Whitewater. Tough beginning schedule for the Pioneers. Hopefully it will pay of come conference time.

[TurtleHead]

Beloit loses a close one to Benedictine 74-66. I'll see them twice this week and determine if they are correctly predicted as 9th in the conference or not.

Please Roop let us know.  I was thinking of taking in a game sometime during the holiday season, but was not sure if it was worth the drive.

[The Roop]

I think being short handed hurts them more than being undersized. You can work around one or the other but not both. The scoring droughts need to stop but that has been an issue since before any of these players were even on campus. So the trend makes no sense.

I'm not conceding an 0-5 start but if you have a choice of one or the other this week, I would go to Tuesdays game vs. MSOE.

[scottie]

When I graduated from Carleton College we participated in the Midwest Conference.  I played football and have many great memories of battles on the gridiron with Lawrence, Ripon, Beloit, Knox, Coe, Cornell and Grinnell. Nightmares of Monmouth still haunt me. ....  I observed St. Norberts, Lawrence, Grinnell and Carroll among others last year and thought those squads were stronger than any in the MIAC other than the Tommies.

Would it be okay with everyone if we don't mention St. Thomas for awhile??  

I popped into Glennie Gym to catch about 10 minutes of the Scots v. Dutch game.  'Twas about all I needed to see given the football hangover I was experiencing at the time.  A few gridders to rejoin the team (at least a week sooner than this fan's liking) which should be an immediate upgrade for the 2009 Vershawshank Redemption.

[larry_u]

Could be a long year for Viking fans as they went down to Iowa and got swept by Cornell and Coe.  It appears the coaches know more then the fans do, as LU definately does not look like a MWC tournament team early in the season.....

[Redmen09]

Ripon went 1-1 thier opening weekend against Coe and Cornell, and was nearly 2-0 as they were down by 5 against Cornell in the final minute.  Not bad for the first two games as this years squad looks much improved over last year

[The Roop]

  They went 1-1 last year against the same teams and it was cause for concern. How is 1-1 an improvement this year   

[John Gleich]

They went 1-1 last year against the same teams and it was cause for concern. How is 1-1 an improvement this year   

Moral victories?  Or maybe they were graceful in defeat this year and they pouted last year?

[Redmen09]

They went 1-1 last year against the same teams and it was cause for concern. How is 1-1 an improvement this year   

They played better overall. You dont have to neccesarily win a preseason/non-conference game to count it as playing better or worse.

[Gregory Sager]

They went 1-1 last year against the same teams and it was cause for concern. How is 1-1 an improvement this year   

They played better overall. You dont have to neccesarily win a preseason/non-conference game to count it as playing better or worse.

Fixed it for you.