MBB: Midwest Conference

[falco1610]

No dispute on the POY award from me, CB is a great player.  Jeff P-  No dispute from me on freshman of the year either that kid from GC is going to score a lot of points by the time he is done, and it is not just the system, I see him averaging 18 points in most systems.  

Tough road trip for Carroll this weekend,  Either Carroll or LU could loss this weekend if GC getts hot.  Hopefully it will be LU, I would love for Carroll to have a chance to host at tourny time.  Good luck to the real Pios this weekend.

LU fans-  Do you think your coach will be around much longer, he must have some bigger programs starting to draw interest  

[systemfan86]

Tough road trip for Carroll this weekend,  Either Carroll or LU could loss this weekend if GC getts hot.  Hopefully it will be LU, I would love for Carroll to have a chance to host at tourny time.  Good luck to the real Pios this weekend.

Falco, I'm hoping the 'real' Pioneers (of GC) will "Rock You Amadeus". (Sorry for the obscure song reference from the year I graduated).

At the risk of sounding like I'm losing confidence, I am happy to see that two of the current 5 loss teams will be six loss teams after tonight. I'd love to see the GC team put up a good showing this weekend and finish strong, but sometimes you still have to make sure that instead of trying to outrun the bear, you outrun the other guy being chased by the bear!

Six losses will put a team at least 2 games behind GC at the end of the weekend. I'm hoping for 3 games behind!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Roop, there is no conference that will get two automatic bids.  You have to split the conference, like the MAC to do that.  They don't have divisions, but actually two conferences that are still relatively connected, especially in other sports.

I haven't seen Grotberg in person yet, but it seems to me that 30-35 points in 18 minutes could translate to 30ppg in 36 minutes in a different system.  I think he'd be scoring like this no matter where he played, unless he was on an exceptionally deep, experienced team.

[scottie]

everybody else once makes for an 18 game conference season. Probably need to back off the 23 game limit then. Good. Play 25 like the rest of DIII.

WOW, WHAT A CONCEPT!  Why the heck don't they do that now and actually play everyone in their conference TWICE like normal people?! 

Don't all of you realize the toll that two additional games would take on our eternal reign of academic superiority??  Absolutely out of the question!  (Again, Gregory, I'm just kidding.)  I say, lace them up!    

[Gregory Sager]

Don't all of you realize the toll that two additional games would take on our eternal reign of academic superiority??  Absolutely out of the question!  (Again, Gregory, I'm just kidding.)  I say, lace them up!    

You must really think that my sense of humor is tone-deaf, the way that you feel the need to insert a caveat with my name in it into every joke you post. I'm not even a tenth as sensitive as you seem to think I am. How could anyone be perceived as overly sensitive after two years of rhetorical thumb-wrestling with Roop in this room?

[jeffdc]

Best of luck to GC tonight!

And best of luck to MC against LU - wear 'em out for us!   

[scottie]

GS - All I know is that there has been more than CCIW knee in need of orthopedic care after jerking out of place following a remark about academics in the MWC.

But, alas, this IS a basketball site.  Good luck to my Scots tonight against the #3 Vikings.  

Just two years ago
The Scots upset the Vikings
Dejavu, again?  (Channeling Yogi)

[viking68]

The last time Lawrence visited Monmouth, the Vikings were 8-0 in the MWC and No. 10 in the nation. Monmouth was 1-8 in the MWC. Two years later, LU is 8-0 and No. 3, while Monmouth is 1-7.

Two years ago, the Scots were an amazing 14-of-21 on treys (that's like being a perfect 21-of-21 on two-pointers) and beat LU in overtime. Beaird was 6-of-6 and the mighty Snydz was 6-of-8.

The Scots' only answer for Braier (32 points, 12 boards) was to make another three.

I'll be in lovely Monmouth, Illinois this evening to see the Viking/Scot games. Hopefully history doesn't repeat itself. And, with a tough Grinnell team tomorrow afternoon, I hope it is a relatively easy win too.

Go Vikes!

[hjmphelp]

viking68-
It's only 2:45 to Grinnell from Monmouth. You might as well come on over for that game, too!

We are NOT looking for the same outcome, though.

[jeffdc]

It'll be interesting to see if CC and LU try and double or triple team Grotburg. Hint, guys: it doesn't seem to make much difference. John just pretends you aren't there.

[viking68]

I agree with everyone saying the teams should play everyone twice. I love the academic standards in the MWC and I agree that schools should focus on that aspect, but I don't see how 2 extra games would make that big a difference.

As for adding teams to the conference, I completely disagree. I really dislike the "Super-Conference" trend in college athletics. One of the biggest reasons I dislike it is actually from a football standpoint. I hate conference title games. You have a team that has gone through the year in great shape and has one bad game and all of a sudden they are out of the play-offs (which would certainly happen to the MWC if we had 2 divisions).

From a basketball stand-point too, I really don't like the idea of adding 5 new schools. The set-up of having 2 automatic bids (one for the regular season champ and one from the tourney) is good in theory, but the set-up proposed (the regular season champ is not in the conference tourney) is completely off base. One of the problems is that it leads to complacency. If that set-up happened, I could see our tourney champ going farther than the regular season champ simply because they have experienced a tournament scenario beofre actually playing the first round of the nationals.

Second, it sets up a potential inbalance in the divisions. Imagine a 5 team division in the north - Lawrence, St. Norbert, Ripon, 2 new teams. Lawrence plays each team in the division twice and only has to tangle with Carroll or Grinnell or Knox once. That sets up a scenario where there could be one dominant team in a division that takes the regular season title by playing a bunch of weaker teams. That's not healthy for competition and would hurt the MWC nationally when its regular season champ always gets thrashed in the tourney.

Plus, what 5 teams would we add? I'm assuming no "good teams" would leave the current conferences, so we're looking at Augsburg, Macalester, Marian, Concordia, Wisconsin Lutheran, maybe MSOE (although they are doing okay this year in basketball). Maybe some other top teams in the LMC (Lakland) would consider moving to get to a better conference (like Cornell and Coe did in going to the IIAC).

Anyway, I'm all for keeping it as is. Add 2 more games and we're set!

[viking68]

JeffP - Yeah, I know. I actually live in Mt. Vernon, IA (work at Cornell). I went to see the LU/Grinnell games last year. Unfortunately, I've got other plans tomorrow night.

Thanks for the invite, though...

[hjmphelp]

viking68-

Did you get to see the GC vs Cornell back-to-backs last year and this year? Two completely different games, eh?

[Greek Tragedy]

I agree with everyone saying the teams should play everyone twice. I love the academic standards in the MWC and I agree that schools should focus on that aspect, but I don't see how 2 extra games would make that big a difference.

You don't even need to add "two games".  You just play two less nonconference games if the MWC is so into only playing 23 games.  The MIAC plays a 20 game conference schedule.

Second, it sets up a potential inbalance in the divisions. Imagine a 5 team division in the north - Lawrence, St. Norbert, Ripon, 2 new teams. Lawrence plays each team in the division twice and only has to tangle with Carroll or Grinnell or Knox once.

Everything is cyclical.  All because Lawrence has been a "powerhouse" the last two years, doesn't mean their going to dominate forever.  I mean, Beloit may be looked upon as a weak team now, but weren't they dominant back in the days? 

[titan2000]

LU fans-  Do you think your coach will be around much longer, he must have some bigger programs starting to draw interest  

D1 programs are generally self feeding--they'd rather get a GA or an assistant from D1 than go from D3, might be a big mistake.

I'd like to think John is the next Bo Ryan but hoe many of those situations do you see out there--remember, Bo stayed within the WI system where personnel, even at D3 levels, have great health adn retirement bennies.  He didn't go out of the system where this is not the case--e.g. Indiana, where benefits are more like in normal businesses.  They aren't like that at LU either, so if he leaves for family security reasons, I wouldn't blame him.    

I'd like to hear other people's views--I know there are some WIAC lurkers around--would a WIAC school consider a guy like Tharp and if they did, would he want to go there and why?    Economics?  Budgets are getting tight everywhere unless you are D1.