MBB: Midwest Conference

[Gregory Sager]

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.

The putdown of the WIAC people? You're still on that? Hey, I've already explained that if you put down someone else's education and you misspell a word in doing so, expect to get tweaked for it. As I've said twice now, it's the old "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" idea.

More to the point, if "there has been more than one CCIW knee in need of orthopedic care", why single out mine? You can make all the jokes about CCIW academics you'd like (and if you misspell a word or use improper grammar in the process, expect it to be pointed out  ). Nobody's stopping you. We all know that they're jokes. I'm just getting a little annoyed at seeing my name in parentheses every time you crack wise, as if I don't know the difference between a joke and a serious argument.

[Sam Johnson]

Ok, since this is my first post in...oh, about a year...I thought I should answer the inevitable questions about my dereliction of duty as the previous Pick 'Em Commissioner.

Q) What happened to you and what did you do with last year's MWC Pick 'Em results?
I had a little incident while visiting the Springfield Mystery Spot. The last time I saw the results, Ozzie Guillen was taking a picture of them while they swirled into the abyss.

Q) Fair enough, it could happen to the best of us. But who won?
Um...everyone! You're all winners in my book. Except me, I was DQ'd for being a poor commish.  

The shame of my transgressions (plus a large increase in my workload) kept me away...but the 18th annual System Love Fest/Tomato Toss was enough to drive me back into action.  Please bear with me while I scrape the rust off.

"GC takes 100 shots per game, but that's spread over 18 guys.  We need to get the statisticians on here to work it all out and let us know what the numbers actually say. "

I assume others on this board may read a basketball blogs occassionally.  I prefer the "Big Ten Wonk" myself. The Wonk is a big fan of stats...but only one kind of stats...TEMPO FREE STATS.  I'm not sure if anyone else here is familiar with them, but they're very applicable to this arguement.  Here is a link to Big Ten Wonk that explains them in detail: http://bigtenwonk.blogspot.com/2005/11/this-is-tfs-tempo-free-stats.html

However, the gist of tempo free stats is this (and I'm plagarizing badly from the page linked above): "Scoring offense," "rebounding margin," turnovers, assists, individual points per game are all magnified or shrunk according to pace. As MWC fans can attest to, different teams can play at wildly different paces. If we can factor out the distortion caused by even these wildly different paces, we can compare any player to any other player or any team to any other team. Now, the explanation of how this is done is pretty lengthy (so you need to read the page I linked to).  However, these stats are a great way to compare how players are doing regardless of the style of ball they play.  I will work on computing some #'s, but it will take a little time. Anyone else is willing to try the simple formulas I've linked to on Big Ten Wonk themselves and beat me to the punch (as my long absence and shotty Pick 'Em follow through have indicated, it might take me a while to post some tempo free numbers).  

Regardless, my rational mind demands a satisfactory rational answer that will end this never-ending circle of "Is Grinnell Basketball?"  The debates we had in Freshman Studies at LU about Justice as proposed by Plato in the "Republic" were easier to resolve than this...

[TeeDub]

We all know that they're jokes. I'm just getting a little annoyed at seeing my name in parentheses every time you crack wise, as if I don't know the difference between a joke and a serious argument.

I'd probably jokingly put your name in parentheses too if I knew it would get this kind of reaction.

[Old Fighting Scot]

So what exactly is everyone arguing about?

Isn't this banter kinda what this 'posting up' stuff is for?? 

I mean it is just my opinion that I'm allowed to have an opinion...and I defend that we should have a right to defend it...no matter how wrong OFS usually is...

SO IM WRONG FOR POSTING WHAT IS ON THE GC WEBSITE?  AND THREE POSTERS WANT TO JUMP ON THAT BANDWAGON? AMAZING TALK ABOUT THE MAN TRYING TO HOLD A BROTHA DOWN!!!!...  THAT IS LIKE SAYING KOBE ONLY GOT 81 B/C TORONTO SUCKS... THAT STATEMENT MAY BE CORRECT BUT THERE IS DEFINITELY MORE TO THE STORY.....

P.S. I BY NO MEANS DO I IMPLY ANYTHING RACIAL BY MY THE MAN COMMENT....  I KNOW HOW SENSITIVE SOME OF YOU CAN BE.

BTW- JR, JEFFP, SF86, THE WAY U GUYS RIDE A BANDWAGON YOU SHOULD MOVE OUT TO CALI AND BECOME LAKER, I MEAN CLIPPER, I MEAN LAKER, I MEAN USC FANS.....

[TeeDub]

OFS...

I was actually referring to about 90% of your other posts...not this one so much.

Sorry for the confusion you must have felt.

[TeeDub]

CURRENT THOUGHTS OF MWC POSTERS:

"Oh great, here goes Jordis and OFS again." 

Sorry board, I'll refrain.

[Old Fighting Scot]

REALITY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER, NOT THE NUMBER OF PIONEERS (AND THEIR COHORTS)ON THE BANDWAGON.

[systemfan86]

Hey, I looked up rant in the dictionary and one definition read:

"To utter or express with violence or extravagance"

The second read:

"SO IM WRONG FOR POSTING WHAT IS ON THE GC WEBSITE?  AND THREE POSTERS WANT TO JUMP ON THAT BANDWAGON? AMAZING TALK ABOUT THE MAN TRYING TO HOLD A BROTHA DOWN!!!!...  THAT IS LIKE SAYING KOBE ONLY GOT 81 B/C TORONTO SUCKS... THAT STATEMENT MAY BE CORRECT BUT THERE IS DEFINITELY MORE TO THE STORY.....

P.S. I BY NO MEANS DO I IMPLY ANYTHING RACIAL BY MY THE MAN COMMENT....  I KNOW HOW SENSITIVE SOME OF YOU CAN BE.

BTW- JR, JEFFP, SF86, THE WAY U GUYS RIDE A BANDWAGON YOU SHOULD MOVE OUT TO CALI AND BECOME LAKER, I MEAN CLIPPER, I MEAN LAKER, I MEAN USC FANS....."

I'd like to respond, but (A) I need a map and a sherpa to find the point and (B) I think we've already pushed someone off their meds, so the kind thing would be to let it go...

Deep cleansing breath, deep cleansing breath.

We're cool.  8)

[Mr. Ypsi]

from GC's website
12 John Grotberg Fr. 6-2 G Ann Arbor, Mich./Ann Arbor-Pioneer

this looks like Ann-Arbor Pioneer to me, since you all like your facts so much.

so either the GC website is inaccurate or jeffp and system fan are, make your own judgements...

Those who read the Daily Dose this offseason might remember this specific recruit coming up:

http://www.d3hoops.com/dailydose/?p=26

John Grotberg, who last played at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood, will attend Grinnell. According to the Ann Arbor News, Grotberg led the Detroit area in 3-point shooting as a junior but sat out his senior season with an injury.

Thanks, Pat.  Since I'm 10 miles from Ann Arbor Pioneer (and the Ann Arbor News is my 'hometown' paper), I was certain that Grotberg was not from Pioneer.  But having been burned so often for my faulty memory, I decided NOT to get involved!

Now to stick my memory (and neck!) out on the chopping block: in (partial) defense of the GC website (and OFS), I seem to recall that he did play for Pioneer his freshman (and perhaps sophomore) year(s) before transferring.  But he graduated from Cranbrook.

[The Roop]

At the half LF 32 BC 31. Hinz has 18 and Beckford has 10.

[carlsandburg]

Knox 70, Norbert 63 Final/OT

Knox moves to 6-3 in the MWC with Beloit headed to town tomorrow.

[The Roop]

Final BC 60 LF 57. Hinz 29 Beckford 15 Glos 14. Beloit went up 3 with 9 seconds left and Lake Forest missed a 3 at the end.

[jeffdc]

CC 150, GC 138

I'll leave the details to JeffP, but it was a great game. Carroll played a solid fast game, Grinnell played just as hard. Solid work by Grotberg, Schmidt, Arsenault, Chamberlain. GC shined in the first half, just couldn't put it together in the 2nd half.

[Sam Johnson]

LU over MC, 75-68.  Box score looks like a close game throughout.  Find it here: http://www.monm.edu/sportsinfo/basketball-men/2005/box-scores/lu1-27.htm

Better even than this, Minnesota beat Wisconsin in hockey tonight in Madison.  Its a great night to be a Gopher in Madtown! 

[schwanman]

LU-MC was closer than the final ... Beaird missed a short runner in the lane with under a minute left that would have brought the Scots within one. He later made a trey that got them within three, but LU made 5-of-6 at the line to clinch it.

FS13 made a great point to me comparing the No. 3s in football and basketball (as Monmouth has played them both in the span of two months or so), but I'll let him post it.

Braier was solid again (18 and 14), but Kroeger (16 points) was part of the difference tonight. That and 23-of-27 foul shooting by the Vikings.

Monmouth never backed down. I guess the bright spot is the Scots will get a little love from the Grinnell gang because they made LU play hard for 40 minutes.

I don't post on the women's board, but I've got to give our women a hand. Lawrence's women entered the night in first place with a 14-1 overall record, but Monmouth knocked them off 66-63. Great job, Scots!