MBB: Midwest Conference

[systemfan86]

MWC Tournament preview posted on the LU website..here's the link.


http://www.lawrence.edu/athletics/mbasketball/previews0506/mwctournament.pdf

Wow, Grotberg doesn't start for Grinnell...?

When you're only in for 45 to 60 seconds, 'starting' for GC doesn't necessarily mean a lot. They've had 13 different players 'start' for them. I get the sense that Grotberg will be on the floor plenty.

I went back and looked at the box score from the CC-GC game and it would appear GC needs to do a better job getting turnovers (and not committing them) in order to beat Carroll. Should be a fun game.

I was just trying to make a case for the BEST 6th MAN in college basketball...since there are some who don't think he can be first team in the MWC....

He also could very well be considered the best 10th man in College Basketball (and I'd include Division 1 in that one).

Given the Grinnell rotation, it's possible that he's the best 12th or 13th man. All depends on when his 'line' is scheduled. 

[Sam Johnson]

Scottie~
Between your haiku in my inbox (a classic that will be posted) telling me to update the blog and JUSTINTYME stealing my thunder with the links...Well, I'm afraid I'm close to a Pick 'Em League disaster.  This issue shall be rectified...................as soon as I finish QA'ing the last set of deliveries for my customer.  I wish I could flip flop my priorities sometimes. 

[mwc4life]

HAHAHA

Man you guys are cracking me up today.

The Game~

"As for the Braier- Hinz debate. What does Braier do if he's with BC the past four years and Hinz is with LU. Hinz would win a couple conference titles and Braier struggles as badly as Hinz to get BC to tourney."

You couldn't be more wrong.  Braier would change the culture of Beloit basketball to be tough and hard-nosed....compete, play hard and then you can be happy with whatever result follow's.  On the flip side, if Hinz is at LU, LU never becomes the great team they are today, they would definitely make the conference tournament once, but may not have won a conference championship.  It's easy to say LU would have won atleast one (championship) with Hinz there and the rest of the talent that LU has had, but I believe Braier changed the mind-set of LU basketball....that's why I'm so happy/sad to see Braier go....probably the most special player I have played against in the MWC.  Again, Hinz is a great kid, but all those numbers he put up looks terrible compared to the amount of wins that transpired.  There's no doubt Hinz was a good player for the MWC, but if he's one of Beloit's "all-time greats" i don't know guys.

[wc2viking]

I've just been hired to work at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.  Does anyone know if they have an intercollegiate sports program?  I like to watch basketball - do they have a team there?

Thanks for your help!

[JUSTINTYEM]

WOW,now that funny!!!!!!!!

[Sam Johnson]

Again, Hinz is a great kid, but all those numbers he put up looks terrible compared to the amount of wins that transpired.  There's no doubt Hinz was a good player for the MWC, but if he's one of Beloit's "all-time greats" i don't know guys.

I suppose it really comes down to how you define an all time great.  The article in the Post-Crescent today (that was linked by JUSTIN earlier) makes it pretty clear that Braier's mark on LU and the MWC is as much b/c of his leadership as it is b/c of his talent.  Here are a couple quotes that I think say it all:

When he first got out of Wauwatosa East, he thought about walking on and playing football at the University of Wisconsin. But he says football, unlike basketball, is more of a chore. UW-Stevens Point wanted him, too, but eventually he told former coach Jack Bennett he was going to Lawrence.

So Bennett tells him fine, but Lawrence is a second-tier school when it comes to basketball, which, at the time, it was. But that statement lit the pilot light. Braier got in the car and told his mom he was going not only going to attend LU, but he was going to make a difference.

"It kind of propelled me to make our team the best it could be," Braier said. "Turn around the program. I didn't think I was going to do it single-handedly, and I haven't at all. It goes back to, I just don't want mediocrity. I want to make a difference somehow.

He also knows he's being watched and shivers at the idea that he would ever be accused of taking the easy way out and wants to make sure everyone else knows it's not acceptable ever to take that path. It's who he is, yet there is a method to his madness.

"I think we've turned this into a top-25 team program in the country," Braier said. "Hopefully, that will set the precedent, and the recruits will keep coming and we can turn this into a dynasty and not just be a three-, four-year wonder. And I'd like to think I was some part of it."

When freshmen arrive, they are pulled aside by Tharp and are issued the Braier Notice. They are told he might call them out in practice, might be abrupt, but are assured it's never personal. That said, Tharp said Braier is mean on the court, said he's a mean S.O.B, but, in the same breath, acknowledged that's why his team is in the position it's in. As for the rookies, they learn quickly.

"My first practice, we're doing a rebounding drill and he's dominating," freshman Ryan Kroeger said. "He's getting all these rebounds, then all of a sudden a ball goes flying to the right side and the rest of us kind of just look at the ball. And then you see Chris Braier jumping after the ball, diving all over the ground. He kind of puts that into you the first day of practice — a senior captain jumping on the ground to get a loose ball that's already out of bounds. You see that and think, 'So that's how practice is going to be.' "

Braier leaves with two legacies that I think everyone can agree on: Great Player and Great Leader.  The discussion on Hinz is not whether he is great player or a great person.  The debate seems to be about whether he defined himself as a leader.  In my opinion, he's one of Beloit's all time greats.  His accomplished far to much with his ability to be denied that.  But I have to agree with MWC opinion.  If Braier ends up at Beloit, he brings the same intensity noted in the quotes above.  And I think that would be the reason Beloit would have had more success.

[Sam Johnson]

I've just been hired to work at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.  Does anyone know if they have an intercollegiate sports program?  I like to watch basketball - do they have a team there?

Thanks for your help!

I have to assume this is a joke. 

[mwc4life]

With all that being said about Braier, can you LU fans finally understand why I had posted for the majority of the year...only so many days left until he's gone etc.  The man is special.  Those quotes are special.  Those stories....man I obviously never heard any actual practice stories, but somehow I knew he was throwing guys out of practice.  A guy like that, with that ability, rarely comes along and when he's gone LU will come back down to earth.  It's been real tough as a fan/player to go through this Braier/LU run...but its almost over and while I'm mixed with feelings of his departure, I have the ultimate respect for a program I hate...the way LU played basketball for a 4 year period is the way basketball should be played

[JUSTINTYEM]

So true,theres a right way and a wrong way.Chris does it the Right way,with heart and emotion!!!!

[diehardfan]

This was my favorite line by far:

Welcome. Welcome to the NCAA.

Reading that article about Braier made me miss Nielson. 

You guys sure are lucky to have such great coverage for your team budding in the local paper... it's definitely a way to build greater community support and awareness. Maybe one of these days there will be so much persistant demand for seating that Lawrence will have to build a new gym! Neato! 

[JUSTINTYEM]

I was so hoping to win the PowerBall lottery,cause if i did.Because then Tharp Court @ The JustinTyem Center would have been born!!!!

[Sam Johnson]

With all that being said about Braier, can you LU fans finally understand why I had posted for the majority of the year...only so many days left until he's gone etc.  The man is special.  Those quotes are special.  Those stories....man I obviously never heard any actual practice stories, but somehow I knew he was throwing guys out of practice.  A guy like that, with that ability, rarely comes along and when he's gone LU will come back down to earth.  It's been real tough as a fan/player to go through this Braier/LU run...but its almost over and while I'm mixed with feelings of his departure, I have the ultimate respect for a program I hate...the way LU played basketball for a 4 year period is the way basketball should be played

MWC~
While I agree that LU cannot replace a Braier, I don't think it can be automatically assumed that LU will fall completely "back down to earth".  

"I think we've turned this into a top-25 team program in the country," Braier said. "Hopefully, that will set the precedent, and the recruits will keep coming and we can turn this into a dynasty and not just be a three-, four-year wonder. And I'd like to think I was some part of it."

If Braier's hopes come true, you should see a new crop of leaders take the reins at LU.  I'm not guaranteeing this, but i don't think its out of the question.  As you say, LU has been playing the "right way" for 4 years now.  I think that his leadership has created an environment that will last after he is gone.

[Sam Johnson]

I was so hoping to win the PowerBall lottery,cause if i did.Because then Tharp Court @ The JustinTyem Center would have been born!!!!

Amen.  I've always vowed that if I ever won, earned, recieved a ridiculously large sum of $$$ that one of the first things I would do is contact the University so that I could help improve our often less than stellar athletic facilities.  A new weight room would be priority #1. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I was so hoping to win the PowerBall lottery,cause if i did.Because then Tharp Court @ The JustinTyem Center would have been born!!!!

I know that's how you spell it, but shouldn't it be tyme, not tyem?  You know you can change that; you're definately not from the South.

[T-Bird Teacher]

"As for the Braier- Hinz debate. What does Braier do if he's with BC the past four years and Hinz is with LU. Hinz would win a couple conference titles and Braier struggles as badly as Hinz to get BC to tourney."

Lifer-

You might be right.  Braier could change the culture of Beloit basketball.  That's all great, but changing the culture doesn't mean the supporting cast can make a basket any easier!  Last time I checked you have to be able to score more than the opponent to win games.  It's hard to do when you only have one person on the team that puts up consistant numbers.  Trust me, Braier's assists would go down big time if he was at Beloit for the same reason Hinz's assist numbers are low.  NO ONE ELSE CAN PUT THE DAMN BALL IN THE HOOP!