MBB: Midwest Conference

[The Roop]

Calling all Ralph Turners................

Beloit will be playing in the Concordia (TX) tournament this year but whom are the other schools participating ??

[Eastside]

Concordia University - Austin, TX and McMurry University - Abilene, TX

[Greek Tragedy]

I'm guessing Sam Dekker (scholarship offer to Wisconsin) is the younger brother of recently graduated John Dekker of Lawrence...

[jam8788]

I'm guessing Sam Dekker (scholarship offer to Wisconsin) is the younger brother of recently graduated John Dekker of Lawrence...

Yes.

From cbssports.com in June:

Sam Dekker, a 6-foot-7 wing from Sheboygan Lutheran and the Wisconsin Playground Warriors, made a verbal commitment Tuesday afternoon to play for the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team.

Dekker, who will be a junior this fall, will be part of the Badgers' 2012 freshman class. He made the commitment while attending a Bo Ryan basketball camp in Madison this week.

As a sophomore for Sheboygan Lutheran this past season, Dekker averaged 26.2 points and 7.3 rebounds a game. Playing on a talented Wisconsin Playground Warriors team this spring, Dekker continued to improve and he has made several all-tournament teams. He was the most outstanding player at the 2010 Wisconsin AAU state tournament recently.

Dekker's other scholarship offers were from Bradley, UW-Milwaukee, Northern Illinois and Northern Iowa, according to Playground Warriors coach Ritchie Davis. He was scheduled to visit UW-Green Bay Wednesday. Loyola, Northwestern and Notre Dame also were showing serious interest in Dekker, according to Davis.

[The Roop]

Verbal commitments really don't mean anything until they become written commitments after the junior year. A California 6th grader made a verbal to Kentucky but I don't think anyone in Lexington is holding their breath.

[pgkevin]

R.I.P Midwest Conference Board

[hickory_cornhusker]

R.I.P Midwest Conference Board

I didn't even know it was sick.

[krytonite]

St. Norbert's ranked 5 in the country.  Can anyone in the MWC beat them? 

http://www.midwestconference.org/news/2010/9/9/MBB_0909105308.aspx

[The Roop]

Top 15 I'd agree with. #5 is too high. They're undersized and lack the speed to be at that level.

Win the conference ? Sure, go undefeated in the process; unlikely.

[AndOne]

I saw SNC all summer in the Deerfield Summer League. A good team for sure with, I believe, their top 5 scorers back, Granted, not all the players are present in summer league, but they usually had a large contingent. However, based on what I saw, I agree with Roop that #5 is a stretch. I think one of their main problems is lack of any real bigs/wide bodies and, accordingly interior defense. I think they would have difficulty against a good big team or even an athletic big body post. I'm most familiar with the CCIW, and I think teams like Carthage, IL Wesleyan, North Park, and especially Augustana would be especially tough matchups for SNC as they all feature good, strong, mobile interior play.

As far as conference play, they will most likely be the team to beat. I like their chemistry, quickness, and shot making ability. How they play defense will tell if this will be an elite team.

[John Gleich]

Hmm... I must not have submitted my post last night.  I'll have to do that when I get home.

In short, I agree with the two previous comments.

[John Gleich]

St. Norbert's ranked 5 in the country.  Can anyone in the MWC beat them? 

http://www.midwestconference.org/news/2010/9/9/MBB_0909105308.aspx

My money is on Lake Forest.  I already have December 18th circled on my calendar (SNC @ LFC).  I don't know if LFC can win the conference, but they were hot down the stretch last year... won 12/13 (including beating Norbs) until losing to Carroll in the MWC semi's. 

I know what Norberts returns, but Lake Forest returns 3 starters and 6 of their top 8 minutes and points guys.

The last two seasons, Norberts has been good early and then faltered late, when it really matters.  One would almost expect LFC to have struggled early last year because they had so many young contributors... but that big recruiting class from three years ago are upperclassmen now and I expect they won't struggle as much early on as they did last year.  To start out 1-8... and then rattle off victory after victory like that, clearly, something clicked.

[krytonite]

Interesting- LFC over #5 in the country.  Judging from the way LFC ended the season, it makes sense.  December 18 is on my calendar too.  I'm thinking I give the edge to St. Norbert's at this point.  LFC lost 2 starters, so they should have more jelling to do than St. Norbert's.

[Pat Coleman]

Just because the Sporting News ranks them No. 5 doesn't mean anyone takes the ranking seriously.

[John Gleich]

Interesting- LFC over #5 in the country.  Judging from the way LFC ended the season, it makes sense.  December 18 is on my calendar too.  I'm thinking I give the edge to St. Norbert's at this point.  LFC lost 2 starters, so they should have more jelling to do than St. Norbert's.

#5 in the country... Hmm...

I'm going to quote Pat here:

Just saw on the R-MC website that the Sporting News ranked the Jackets a preseason #3 in Division III Hoops and Brandon Braxton is listed as a preseason Honorable mention All-American!! Good news for the Jackets, but I hope it's not the kiss of death.....

Sporting News isn't a kiss of anything.

Sporting News puts out a preseason poll every year... and that's about it.  They don't cover D-III basketball and their preseason poll isn't and hasn't ever been great.

St. Norbert is probably going to be good this year... but I think there's a distinct chance that they aren't any higher than the 5th best team in Wisconsin, let alone all of D-III.

(UWSP, UW Whitewater, Carthage, and probably River Falls)