MBB: Midwest Conference

[Early]

Larry-U
I got you today with a karma point.  One of many to up hold the wager.

Was anyone at the LU-RC game?  Was LU defense that good, or did Ripon miss open shots also.  I know LU plays great defense, especially at home with their crowd.  So I was just curious.
(I was out sick sorry for the question coming so late)

I think Ripon needs two wins this weekend.  I agree with LU-nut with a 0-4 start it is going to be very difficult to make the tourny this year.....but you never know.

[larry_u]

Thanks Early..

It should be an interesting weekend, try and clear up some of the logjam in the middle.  I think LU and Grinnell match up fairly well when both are at full strength, and if Chamberlain/ Little A are still banged up, it can only help LU in that aspect so I see a 2-0 weekend from them. 

I also am in the camp that Ripon needs a 2-0 weekend to try and get off the bottom of the pack.  From what it looks like as Old School posted there are the big three, and then the rest of the league.  Should be an interesting 5 or six way battle for the last tournament slot, assuming something weird doesn;t happen to one of the big three.

[Greek Tragedy]

I think LU and Grinnell match up fairly well when both are at full strength, and if Chamberlain/ Little A are still banged up, it can only help LU in that aspect so I see a 2-0 weekend from them. 

I agree and I think that's why LU will easily handle Grinnell this weekend.  Are they out?  Is one playing, are they at full strength?

I think LU has the guards and big men to handle the pressure.  They seem to be good with the ball and plus it is at the Alex.

Oshkosh's game on Tuesday is going to be a real good one.  Oshkosh just got upset at Eau Claire on Wednesday, so they'll be out for blood on Saturday.  Oshkosh has three great players in DJ Marsh, who can create his own shot, Matt Miller, who can score from anywhere and Dane Seckar-Anderson, a pretty big force in the middle.  Jordan Johnson doesn't score much, but he can rebound with the best of them.

They dont' have much of a bench at all, if any.  They only play two or maybe three off the bench while four of the five starters will log 35 minutes apiece.  To guard Matt Miller, put someone taller on him and make him work for his shot.  I think Marsh is nearly unstoppable.  If you can get any of those starters in foul trouble, you'll have a good shot to win.  They have no depth. 

I'll be making two stops at the Alex in the next few days, tomorrow for Grinnell and Tuesday for Oshkosh.  Feel free to throw something (soft) at me and say hi. 

[schwanman]

The Monmouth perspective ... a sweep is certainly no gimme, but the Scots are playing two teams without a conference win this weekend. As this board has chronicled, Beloit is certainly beatable (and no Horton tonight?) and Ripon might be. The Scots haven't won at Ripon in nearly 20 years, but the possibility exists that this could be a 2-0 weekend for the Scots.

Even one win this weekend keeps them firmly in the playoff race. Two wins -- to stretch the team's winning streak to five -- would be a tremendous boost.

In a nutshell, finally playing only Division III teams and getting a healthy Blaise Rogers back have been the keys. But credit also goes to Coach Vershaw. He has kept the team on board through some pretty tough times.

[scottie]

A fairweather fan?
Hardly.  I've just been busy.
Scots' streak bringing joy.

[Early]

Larry-u karma +1

schwan,
keep in mind that except for the LU loss, Ripon's largest margin of defeat was 6 points and the average margin was 3.2 points in all the losses.  Including the LU loss the average margin is now 5.3 points.  They just need more leadership to be able to finish the close games.  So Ripon definitely challenges their opponents and eventually will win some of these close games.

[Maverick]

A fairweather fan?
Hardly.  I've just been busy.
Scots' streak bringing joy.

scottie!  Been awhile for the haiku.  Where's the "Scots in '08!" scrolling message at the bottom of your post?

[jeffdc]

hey, I need some help! I'm trying to access the video feed and my computer doesn't seem to want to help. Has anyone bought video feeds of the games this year?

Wanting to see LU-GC......

[jeffdc]

figured it out. Man, they don't make it obvious where you can buy the darn things!!!

[Put up a #]

Jeff,
How about an in-game update, and let us know if Keith C is on the floor.

[jeffdc]

LU 79  , GC 55

Ouch. What can I say. LU simply played better. They shut down GC's 3 pt game, were relentless on their inbound game, and GC couldn't seem to put together a string of plays to get any momentum. From my computer monitor I wondered about the refs, but honestly, it wouldn't have made much difference if they'd favored GC.

Congrats, LU. And on to Beloit.

[The Roop]

Monmouth 74 Beloit 50. Probably shouldn't have gotten that far out of hand but the Bucs got turnoveritis late in the 1st half and a 6 point defecit swelled to 17 in the final 4 minutes. In the second half Monmouth shot well from beyond the arc and owned the boards. I'm not sure if I want to see how the 2nd chance points ended up in this one.

Refs did a good job of letting them play for 35 minutes then called everything to prolong the obvious. Maybe they get paid by the hour, that's my guess anyway. LOL.

[fightintitan2006]

Roop,

Did Horton play?

Someone hinted he may not.

Is he hurt again? If so, same injury as before?

[The Roop]

He played more than I thought. Then a 4th foul, immediately followed by a very questionable "T" sent him to the bench with about 9 minutes left. Same foot/leg as before but it's an ankle sprain this time. He seemed to move pretty well but this will probably be one of those day to day things.

[wc2viking]

It was difficult to determine which record Coach A and company were going after tonight.  I can only guess, but perhaps the guys were instructed to pursue Most 3-pointers clanged off the rim, Most layups conceded, or Highest substitution:point ratio. One record that the Grinnell men do see to have locked up is Most whining by a coach-player combo (Father-son division).

LU used suffocating defense and opportunistic offense to dominate the Grinnellians all game long.  I don't have the final stats in front of me, but I heard that Grinnell was shooting 19% at halftime including 2-23 from 3-point range.  Ouch!  The first 6 minutes of the second half were a layup drill for LU as they pushed the lead to 30+ points.  The Pios finally went into "white flag" mode with 12 minutes left to burn time off the clock so they didn't lose by 50.  Grinnell went on a 10-4 run at the end of the game to result in the final score of 79-55.

Yeah, I'm excited by LU and it was especially sweet to beat a Grinnell team that has to be motivated by pursuing bogus records against weak opponents.  Hopefully, LU doesn't have a letdown tomorrow against Knox.

Go Vikes!