MBB: Midwest Conference

[scottie]

Now, YOU'RE livin' on a prayer!   





(Seriously, you MAY be onto something...)

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I know it's early, but working on the assumption that Lawrence makes it into the national tourney (barring a monumental collapse down the stretch) - how far will they go?

That one will all depend on how the bracket comes out.  If they get shoved into the same section as a couple CCIW teams, they could be in trouble.  I think Lawrence has as good a claim as anyone to the #1 spot in the country.  So, technically, they could go all the way, but it will be harder if they get a tough road to Salem.

former Grinnell Student Walter Koenig--Star Trek's Chekhov.  Nice tie in.

Not to knock Water or anything, but this "high acedmic standards" thing from Grinnell is just becoming more and more preposterous.  It must be a recent development (after all, they let JeffP in).

[Early]

Little carification here Scottie....

I MAY be on to something as in I'm LIVIN ON A PRAYER , or that Ripon could jump ahead of Knox?

[scottie]

The latter...

[hjmphelp]

Hoops Fan

Every bell has its curve. Meet me at the wide part on the right!

gary cooper
fred friendly
herbie hancock
bob  noyce
tom czech
peter coyote
ken adelman
et al

i helped balance 'em all out!

[dahammer]

good read on an MWC player

Publication:Waukesha Freeman (Conley);  Date:Feb 2, 2006;  Section:Sports;  Page Number:1B  


There's a corollary between Carroll doing well and ...

NATE PLAYING GREAT

Junior's scoring average takes big jump this season

By TONY MOOREN Freeman Staff (Tony Mooren can be reached at tmooren@conleynet.com)



   Nate Drury kind of fell into Carroll College's lap. Call it a lap of luxury after the Carroll men's basketball team got not only Drury but Buck Colomy from Littleton, Colo., of all places three years ago.

   Coach Dave Schultz might have to ban any future visits from prospective students in February.

   Drury, a junior, was looking for a Division III college where "I could probably come in and play and not have to sit out."

   He said he searched for a school "as close to Colorado as possible and not in the middle of nowhere."

   Carroll came up on his radar but his initial visit to the school nearly dissuaded him.

   "I visited in the middle of February – and it wasn't the same type of cold as in Colorado," he claimed.

   Fortunately for the Pioneers, weather wasn't a deciding factor.

   "I wanted to be near a big city and Waukesha is similar to Littleton," he said. "And the success of Carroll's basketball team was similar to the situation I had in high school where the program was down a few years and my dad took over as coach when I was a freshman.

   "I also saw that the players really liked coach Schultz and I thought I could be part of the turnaround."

   As was the case in high school, he is.

   "I only saw him on tape but I liked how his game fits my style on how we use wing players," Schultz said. "I like wings to be involved in pick-and-rolls, to have the ability to push the ball, to be good passers and be able to spread the floor with 3-point shooting, which allows the big guys to go one-on-one down low.

   "Nate is a very good shooter, a tremendous free-throw shooter, a very good passer – he sees lanes and makes passes you can't teach – and has added dribble-penetration. He now has a very good all-around game."

   Drury began the week second among Midwest Conference players in freethrow percentage (.881), shoots .439 from 3-point range, and was fourth in steals (2.20) and assists (4.9).

   But the huge plus is he was also fourth in the conference in scoring with a 21.2 average.

   He averaged only 12.0 points a game last season and his best average in high school was "15 or 16" his senior season when he was a first-team all-conference player and helped his team reach the final 16 in the state tournament and finish with a 17-5 record.

   "This is the first year I've been looking to score more," he said. "I know what coach wants out of me. On the free throws, I've averaged around 80 percent in the past but this year I'm more confident and I'm going to the line more. The more you're there, the more comfortable you become."

   Drury has helped Carroll teams reach the conference playoffs the past two seasons – a goal again for the team, which is 15-2 overall and in second place with a 9-1 record behind defending champion Lawrence in league.

   "We had a lot of new faces last year but now we're all coming together," Drury said. "We all knew that we had talent and could do this. We've played good basketball so far but we think our best games are yet to come. It's exciting to see what we can accomplish and I think we can turn a few more heads.

   "Coach says opponents have to pick their poison. I've been taking more shots, which should push your average up. But we have guys like Jason Scheper and Paul Toshner, who can go off for 25 or 30 points and James Johnson, our point guard, makes things easy for me by drawing two or three guys and him, which leaves me open."

   Scheper and Drury are the only seniors on the team.

   "Colorado doesn't have many (one) Division III colleges and in the last 20 years, Wisconsin has had eight or nine national-champion teams and several more that reached Final Fours," Schultz said. "We're fortunate to get both players. Nate was a key player for us off the bench his freshman year, was a starter last year when we lost in the conference championship game and this year he's improved and more confident as a second-year starter."

Caleb Vandenberg/Freeman Staff Nate Drury of Carroll College passes away from Ryan Lallensack of St. Norbert College during a game at Carroll on Tuesday.

[jeffdc]

Hoops Fan

Every bell has its curve. Meet me at the wide part on the right!

gary cooper
fred friendly
herbie hancock
bob  noyce
tom czech
peter coyote
ken adelman
et al

i helped balance 'em all out!

ahem....and JeffDC 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Next time a link would probably be better, hammer.

[the game]

HUGE weekend in the MWC particularly for BC. They must go 4-2 rest of the way to get in. Of course the Saturday game against GC is big, but they CAN NOT  look past monmouth.  It will be very easy to do since monmouth is struggling. The Blood usually coaches well against GC, and that must continue. 2 wins for BC puts them at 7-5, which gives them hope. Any losses from here on out are devastating. It may take a 10-6 mark to reach tourney.   TOURNEY PICKS ANYONE- BESIDES OBVIOUSLY LAWRENCE AND CARROLL. This should be the best finish in years. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I see GC and RC, but their head-to-head should decide the order.

[mwc4life]

9-7 will make the tournament and it will be RC and Grinnell....there will be tons of upsets by the time 16 games are played...there always are, no team wins all the games they should....IC, MC, and LFC will have a lot to say with who makes it this year...but I echo one this 50 cent and "the game" mentioned...this will be one of the better finishes.

[The Roop]

MC 62 BC 60

Free throws, free throws, free throws. I think Beloit missed 47 in a row at one point. Pretty much sums up everything.

[fightingscots13]

I have absolutely NO details, but heard the Scots won 62-60.  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

[The Roop]

Pretty evenly played game through out. Both teams lapsed defensively at times. Monmouth held a 9 point advantage with about 4 minutes to play and that held up even though it looked like it might not. See my previous post about free throws.

Oafs were to MWC standards. Let everything go in the first half then invented calls in the second. Game was getting a little too physical so I don't know that that was a bad thing, but it was disruptive.

Beloit went through about a 5 minute stretch when they couldn't buy a basket even though most were good looks. Monmouth seemed to have the range from 3 point land when they needed it.

[scottie]

From the MWC website:

Men's Basketball
Feb. 3 MWC SCORES
Monmouth 62, at Beloit 60 - FINAL
at #23 Carroll 67, Lake Forest 55 - FINAL
Grinnell 124, at Ripon 110 - FINAL
Illinois College at St. Norbert
at #3 Lawrence 70, Knox 46 - FINAL

Congrats to the Scots, and nice win for Grinnell.  It appears that nobody wants that #4 spot...  Forget 9-7.  Could 7-9 possibly make it into the playoffs???