MBB: Midwest Conference

[The Roop]

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=blogs020101

Interesting that he's now a finalist.

[pgkevin]

Instead of voting for the buzzer beaters, I vote that by next year we have a D3 hoops version of One Shining Moment.  I'll even volunteer to sing the song.

[sac]

Lake Forest has a commitment from hard-driving combo guard Conor Boyle from Rochester Adams.  Rochester is a Detroit suburb.

I think he's 6-2 but I'm not sure of that,  at least one MIAA school got his attention.

[Fort Knox]

Friend told me on FB last night that the MWC will go to a full 18-game conference round robin next year. Anyone else heard that???

[hickory_cornhusker]

Coach Buchanan at Carroll has the 2010-2011 schedule out side his door and it has an 18 game conference schedule on it but I haven't had a chance to ask him about it yet. It also only has 5 non-conference games.

[Gregory Sager]

Friend told me on FB last night that the MWC will go to a full 18-game conference round robin next year. Anyone else heard that???

A full double round-robin could work in the MWC's best interests as far as getting a Pool C bid is concerned. The league doesn't tend to fare too well in non-conference play, no doubt because it plays so many games against the CCIW and WIAC. Here's how the MWC has performed in regular-season non-conference play over the past four seasons:

2009-10	33-43 (.434)
2008-09	32-43 (.427)
2007-08	37-36 (.507)
2006-07	31-41 (.431)

A double round-robin would mean twenty fewer non-conference games for the league. Given the way that MWC teams tend to perform out of the circuit, two extra games against MWC teams would probably be more favorable for the records of the teams at the top of the league.

[sac]

More importantly thats 20 fewer dates for in-region matchups for the CCIW and WIAC among others.

[Gregory Sager]

More importantly thats 20 fewer dates for in-region matchups for the CCIW and WIAC among others.

Yep ... which probably means more travel, especially for WIAC teams. CCIW teams can probably pick up the lost games more easily than can their WIAC counterparts, especially since the CCIW has better proximity to the NAthCon and the SLIAC. The WIAC most likely won't be able to pick up the slack by scheduling more games against the MIAC, which has an even more straitjacketed non-conference schedule than does the MWC.

[The Roop]

Translation.....................................

WIAC, this is the UMAC. UMAC, this is the WIAC. Enjoy your non-conference schedules. 

[Gregory Sager]

Translation.....................................

WIAC, this is the UMAC. UMAC, this is the WIAC. Enjoy your non-conference schedules. 

Yep. I think Northland and St. Scholastica might end up playing more games against WIAC teams than in the past. Independent Finlandia, too.

[The Roop]

Well, you have to crawl before you can walk. Who knows, in another 30 years the MWC may go to a 25 game schedule.

[Titan Q]

An article that mentions 2 Illinois kids heading to St. Norbert...

http://www.mchenrycountysports.com/columnists/columns/2010/04/08/r_cuvzpt93t8swq9dppm0cog/index.xml

* Chad Ljunggren (6-0 G, Prairie Ridge) - 15.2 ppg

* Josh Rappaport (6-3 F, Grayslake Central) - 17.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg


Rappaport made the Daily Herald's Lake County All-Area team...

http://basketball.dailyherald.com/story/?id=363123


Rappaport's high school team played in a Christmas tournament at Illinois Wesleyan this year.  I remember a few people who went to several games saying he was one of the best players in the tournament (which featured a bunch of D1 kids).  His biggest challenge at the next level is that he is a 6-3 inside player.  

[Greek Tragedy]

The WIAC and old LMC used to have a challenge and teams from those two conferences had played each other regularly.  I would think the WIAC would try to play the NathCon northern teams on a more regular basis again.  There are plenty available (Edgewood, Marian, Lakeland, Concordia, MSOE, Maranatha, WLC) at least for the "southern" WIAC schools (Oshkosh, Whitewater, Stevens Point, La Crosse, Platteville).  I think it's a matter of those teams wanting to play one another though.

[Greek Tragedy]

I've always been in favor of a full-round robin. 

With more games for the WIAC to find, I wonder if they will go the "football" route and start scheduling conference opponents as non-conference games.  I believe the NESCAC does that, at least Williams and Amherst always seem to play each other twice.

[Pat Coleman]

The "Little Three" (Amherst, Wesleyan, Williams) and "CBB" rivalries (Colby-Bates-Bowdoin) play each other twice. One game counts in the NESCAC standings but I believe both count for purposes of bragging rights.