MBB: Midwest Conference

[hjmphelp]

Scottie-
didn't I mention that the GC vs MC game was a great one? I musta forgot!

Hoops-
we gotta give the Clarke kid a break - it was just his 2nd post! Besides, rumors are hot and heavy around here that Clarke may soon be in the MWC!

[Early]

Looks like a good night of basketball last night, with the exception of one area.....and it just happens to be my main area of thought for the night.

Ripon losing to Beloit. 

Ripon has given up 80, 94, 73, and 99 points in their last 4 games and none of which were against Grinnell.  That just isn't going to win you many ball games on a consistent basis.  I hope the guys learn how to play some defense in the off season.
Congrats to Wally DeVries and Josh Fischer on their careers!

[Maverick]

But if the LU/CC game isn't worthy of top billing on the home page of this site, I don't know what is?  Right, Pat?    

Oh for goodness sakes, there's nothing that pisses me off more than whining about something I haven't done yet.

Pat, you're really stretching it here...  I include a humorous wink at the end of my statement and you call it "whining"??   Your retort was much more pediatric.  The winter blahs may be getting to you... 

BUT, thanks for your MWC inclusion on the homepage.  You're all heart. 

Speaking of MWC on the front page, where is Snydz?!  He hasn't posted up in a quite awhile and I'm sure he's out there somewhere...

[thevicar]

Highly questionable call with 3.4 (that only the ref Koester saw that way) left that gave the ball back out to LU under their basket and lead to game winner.   

I was watching that play from a pretty good angle, and it was a good call. What happened was MacGillis was looking for bradley under the hoop and Bradley put a move on his defender that also faked out MacGillis. Kyle's pass was headed out of bounds anyway, but LU got really lucky and the ball clearly went off a Carroll shoulder. Wasn't even a little nick, it bounced off of his shoulder out of bounds. LU got lucky on the play, for sure, as it probably would have been a turnover, but it did go off a CC shoulder and the ref made the right call.

[Sam Johnson]

Time for a random conspiracy theory...

Is Ripon trying to sneak in an extra year of eligibility for Bo Johnson? He's listed as a sophmore on RC's roster, but he should be a junior.  The evidence:
Bo played 22 games in '03-'04
Bo played 25 games in '04-'05
Bo played 22 games in '05-'06

He was a senior at Wausau East in '02-'03 (Player of the Year in his conference in fact).  He was listed as a Soph in last year's MWC All Conference Team.

Is this just a horrendous misprint? Or are we seeing St. Bonaventure type number fudging that implicates individuals at the highest levels of our government?!?! (Have I gotten carried away enough yet?  )

In all seriousness, I assume its just a misprint.  But I'm snowed in at my apartment and bored of working via VPN connection (ITS SO F-ING SLOW WHEN THE WEATHER IS BAD!  )

RC Fans: Care to comment? 

[Sam Johnson]

Highly questionable call with 3.4 (that only the ref Koester saw that way) left that gave the ball back out to LU under their basket and lead to game winner.   

I was watching that play from a pretty good angle, and it was a good call. What happened was MacGillis was looking for bradley under the hoop and Bradley put a move on his defender that also faked out MacGillis. Kyle's pass was headed out of bounds anyway, but LU got really lucky and the ball clearly went off a Carroll shoulder. Wasn't even a little nick, it bounced off of his shoulder out of bounds. LU got lucky on the play, for sure, as it probably would have been a turnover, but it did go off a CC shoulder and the ref made the right call.

I didn't get to see it but I trust vicar (and the oafs, as scared as that makes me!).  From my spot behind LU's bench, all i saw was a bad pass that went out of bounds.  At this point the CC fans were going nuts for the sake of going nuts (who wouldn't be!) so I couldn't read the crowd.  Scheper seemed hyped, but I couldn't tell if it was good hyped or bad hyped.  And the ref seemed to take forever to make the signal.  All I can recall is looking at my buddies and saying: "Is it ours?" over and over and over.

I'm still stoked that I got to see that game! 

[Early]

Sam,
It is a misprint.  Ripon isn't trying to pull one over on anybody.  Bo is a Junior don't worry....he was another protege of mine, along with Brian Schmitting, that I coached when they were freshmen.  Again I taught them all that they know and groved them into the players they are today.

[systemfan86]

OK, let me throw out the first question on All MWC.

Braier and Hinz are returning 1st team-ers and have played like it, so they're given. Who else goes on the 1st team, 2nd team, and Honorable Mention?

I'm expecting names like Drury, Johnson, Maclin, Schmitting. What about Zick from Knox? He's 9th in scoring, 3rd in rebounds, and 6th in assists. That's really well rounded play? Where does someone like Grotberg belong? Leads the league in scoring and was vital to GC getting the 3 seed.

I'm not prepared to create an entire platform, but I'm guessing others might be.

What the heck, let's throw in COY as well.

[scottie]

I wonder what the record is for the shortest length of time as the lead feature story on the homepage of this site...  I think the "Lawrence Survives" story may have set the record.  What did we get, about six hours of daylight with this story?  Yeah, MWC!   

Oh well, at least we can now read about the CCIW and Wheaton's "flagging conference tournament hopes" for the next several days.

BTW - Pat, this IS whining.  I guess you showed me.

[LU_nut]

I have been thinking about who gets all conference.  One thing that cannot be separted is how well a team does.  It should have an influence as it is a reflection of the top players on the team.  You certainly can debate how much of one it should.

With that as background, I see the following real strong candidates for first team:

Braier
MaGillis
Schmitting
Hinz
Grotberg
Drury
MacKlin

I know I am butchering a name or two.  I think that Sheppler and Toshner are just a step behind(very good players on a very good team).  Also Zick, Johnson, and McMullen are good, but not first team candidates.

What people will want to argue with is probably McGillis.  I think he should and will make first team.  This comes back to the winning thing.  LU wins with Defense and determination.  Braier and McGillis are the two best in the conference at those two things.  That is why they have lead LU to three straight titles.  That is why they will be voted first team.  McGillis shut down people like Johnson and Drury (first time...some foul trouble last night).

The winning thing is also why Drury should be first team.  That is also why both Sheppler and Toshner should make second team.  The lack of winning is why Schmitting, a very good player, will be second, not first team.  If Johnson, Schmitting, and McMullen are really first team types, they would not have been so darn mediocre all year long.    Don't get too hung up on stats.  Above average players on bad teams get good stats.

Hinz gets a nod because even though he has not led his team to anything, he is that good.

That leaves MacKlin and Grotberg as the lose ends in terms of who is first and who is second.  Both fabulous players who have lead their teams to good years and the playoffs.  Flip a coin.....Macklin might get it because he is not a freshman.  He also does not have much beside Zick to play with.   On the other hand, it would be very difficult to leave the leader scorer in the conference off of first team, particularly as the team is much improved this year.

One other person who warrants second team consideration is Nordlund.  Good player who missed a part of the year with injury.

[Sam Johnson]

Sam,
It is a misprint.  Ripon isn't trying to pull one over on anybody.  Bo is a Junior don't worry....he was another protege of mine, along with Brian Schmitting, that I coached when they were freshmen.  Again I taught them all that they know and groved them into the players they are today.

So much for my wild accusations.    I just thought I'd have a little fun with an obvious misprint.  

All Conference Selections....hmmmm...I'll put on my thinking cap for this one.  Has anyone else noticed that it took our board WAY longer to get to this topic than in previous seasons? POY talk started a while ago, but usually there'd have been a little All MWC or COY talk before the last week of the season.  

[hjmphelp]

lu_nut
Great analysis! One person left out, and his recognition would challenge your assertion for the need to be on a good/great team-Beckford from LFC. I still think this guy is one unsung hero in the conference. he has just had to carry too much team this year to get the acolades, but I think he is a great player.

Of course I would like to see some honor for Nordlund and I think he deserves it, but what do the rest of you think about it? GC has never had a better big man, and given a full season, I think he would have been a shoe-in. Should he be honored for a half season, or for what coulda been?

[mnelson]

Since Sam did such a good job summarizing the LU - Carroll game, I won't add too much more.

To reiterate, what an amazing game. It was interesting because I didn't get the sense that either team played even close to their potential. Maybe you could credit that to the other team's defense and intensity, because both of those were there for the Vikes and the Pios the majority of the game, but neither team would go away.

The officiating was a little inconsistent, as in a ref would call a little bump on one end, then a player would get hammered on a lay-up the next play down, but nothing would be called so long as it went in. This happened both ways, though, so I don't think either team had an advantage in that respect. And I have to give the officials credit for really improving and not deciding the end of the game.

As a Lawrence fan who has gone to every home game that was scheduled while I was in this country, I can say the team is good enough that the only way we were going to lose was to either a team nearly as good as us, or by having one of those nights where not a whole lot goes right. This was one of those games -- MacGillis and Kroeger got in foul trouble early, not only handicapping our offense but allowing Drury a little more room when Carroll had the ball, and we had a poor shooting night from Braier (actually, the same happened against Carroll at Alex. Scheper is a big body down low, but Braier missed some shots he will normally make). Prime position for Carroll to score the upset (if you could call it that) but they had just enough issues of their own to keep the game close almost the entire time.

As far as the final plays go, I had just about the same view as Vicar (actually was right behind him) and yea, we got lucky to retain the ball, but not because of the call, just because it so happened to bounce off a Pioneer shoulder. And that last shot... beautiful inbound, beautiful pass from MacGillis back to Bradley, what can you say? Certainly could have had a different outcome, so we'll see what happens in the conference tourney.

Just my moment to gripe: Lawrence chartered a bus to take the fans from Appleton to Carroll; not sure if it was the weather or what, but the bus driver didn't know where we were going, we showed up about 5-10 minutes into the half, and the stadium was so packed already we almost weren't let in. Would have been tragic. So I apologize to any of the Carroll/Lawrence fans whose view we were blocking, but we crammed as many as we could into the small "Lawrence section" as we could. It seriously was maybe 1/8 of the gym they had for us. Ah well, that's the way it goes. Great game anyway.

[thevicar]

Just to add the the all-conference discussion: I think if Keven Bradley doesn't at least get an honerable mention he's being severely slighted. I look at his emergence this year as the difference between 15-0 and 11-4 right now. I know that says a lot, but I think his contribution to the team has been enourmous this year, and that goes way beyond his stats (which are not at all unimpressive).

Let no LU poster ever forget that he single handedly beat Ripon at Alex, scoring the final 20 Lawrence points. That will go down as one of the rivalry's great performances.

[LU_nut]

Jeff P.

You are right.  Beckford is good.  I would put him the mix ofr second team.  he is strong and unselfish.  LU has shut him down when they face him, but it takes a lot of work.

Still have not figured out why LF collapsed this year.

Vicar:  I agree on Bradley.  I was only hitting first and second team.  I think he will make HM.