MBB: Midwest Conference

mwc4life · January 09, 2006, 01:35:10 PM

No no no, sorry if i made it sound like Gordie has passed, but he decided to go back home in Joliet to coach for St. Francis College again (baseball). Gordie helped out with the Ripon's big men mostly, but like I said his knowledge was endless and was always there to calm/help Bob out...players for that matter as well

T2K-

That's a good point...Ripon, more then anything is missing Becker's ability and Massen's leadership (although he is coaching). Ripon, specifically soph. guard Wise, lost their cool which killed any shot of an upset...despite the late technical, Ripon still managed to cut the lead to 4 with two minutes to go...If Wise doesn't reach in and then compound it with a Technical, we are looking at possibly a different outcome. What I thought was weird was a different official called the technical then the one who Wise was arguing with. I'm not saying Wise didn't deserve it, but why would another official call a technical for a situation that was being handled by the other official?? It didn't make sense...you would think the other guy would have better judgement of the call...especially at the point in the game...quick whistle. How about that last play that sealed when McMullen had a sure steal on a weak skip pass to the corner which somehow he missed and deflected into Bradly's hands for a 4 point play...unreal. Needless to say, I hope Ripon comes away with the confidence that they can play with anyone in our league in any gym. This was the closet game I've seen in Alex in 5 years (not counting the Conference championship game). They made again more FG's then LU, but the FT line killed them.

Maverick · January 09, 2006, 02:14:07 PM

Quote from: Old Fighting Scot on January 09, 2006, 01:29:10 PM
all this talk of ripon losing at alex had me wondering. When is the last time MC won at LF. the talent and final standings have been similar over the years but i know i cant remember the last time MC chopped the trees in chicago.....

schwannman, any insight?

Old Fighting Scot - I know I'm not Schwann Man, but I think I can help you out with your question anyway. After doing a little research on the MC website, I found the last time the Scots won at LFC was during the 2002-03 season. It gave the Scots a good win in the final game of that season which was a very rough year (I remember 'cause I was still there at that time

). Prior to that, MC won at LFC in both the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons.

titan2000 · January 09, 2006, 03:09:10 PM

Quote from: mwc4life on January 09, 2006, 01:35:10 PM

T2K-

That's a good point...Ripon, more then anything is missing Becker's ability and Massen's leadership (although he is coaching). Ripon, specifically soph. guard Wise, lost their cool which killed any shot of an upset...despite the late technical, Ripon still managed to cut the lead to 4 with two minutes to go...If Wise doesn't reach in and then compound it with a Technical, we are looking at possibly a different outcome. What I thought was weird was a different official called the technical then the one who Wise was arguing with. I'm not saying Wise didn't deserve it, but why would another official call a technical for a situation that was being handled by the other official?? It didn't make sense...you would think the other guy would have better judgement of the call...especially at the point in the game...quick whistle. How about that last play that sealed when McMullen had a sure steal on a weak skip pass to the corner which somehow he missed and deflected into Bradly's hands for a 4 point play...unreal. Needless to say, I hope Ripon comes away with the confidence that they can play with anyone in our league in any gym. This was the closet game I've seen in Alex in 5 years (not counting the Conference championship game). They made again more FG's then LU, but the FT line killed them.

Good to hear Gordie is alive and kickin'

I saw that T on Ripon and it confused me too. My guess is that he may have been on a short leash with that ref already and some action caused him to blow the fuse. Too bad, it did make a huge difference in sealing the game for LU, would have been real tight otherwise.

Similarly, did you see how the ref jumped at Tharp after he called the T on the LU bench (I assume it was something Tharp said although maybe not)? Tharp and the three refs were in a circle in front of the bench after the T was called and John said something and the ref said something and John said something (looked normal under the circumstances) and then the ref physically lunged at John. The other refs grabbed him before the LU assistants pulled John away. It was sorta unusual. If John would have done that he would have been run or worse...I assume the other refs were protecting their guy because it looked like he was going after Tharp with too much vigor.

I'd like to hear what was said, or maybe it was just cumulative effect. No question they missed a call a few times down before in front of the LU bench, there may have been some catting from multiple people as it was an obvious miss and the cover call was wrong. Maybe 15 minutes into the first half so not a critical game changer.

Ripon looked pretty tough, I am suprised they are 2-7, I expect to see them in the MWC tourney anyway.

mwc4life · January 09, 2006, 04:24:29 PM

T2K,

Yeah, a very very strange altercation....I was thinking what is Tharp doing??? I couldn't believe he got a tech so soon so I assume it was for compounding comments. (I remember he lost his cool a couple years ago getting two T's and his team lost by four @ Ripon). The guy who called the Tech on Tharp was the guy who Wise was complaining to...and seemed to compose himself while Wise began his rant...then came some other official from left field and called it on him...again, the officials were equally bad for both teams. I don't understand how we can't get solid officials for these marquee games. Officials have to realize that the rivalry between RC and LU is like no other in this league and sometimes they need to grow some thicker skin (my respects to MC and Knox).

You also bring up the idea of a "make up or Cover call." Which I'm assuming you mean when the refs miss an obvious foul and then make it up with a touchy foul or even a no foul call. We all know the foul count was 7 to 1 early in the 2nd half, but as you stated it quickly went from 7-1 to 7-6 by the 10:00 mark. It just seems like there are agenda on some of these officials minds. I'll never forget the game LU @ Ripon last year when the bald official told me before the game that he wasn't going to give Ripon any calls because of something he overheard me say (about how bad refs are) during the Girls game before.

titan2000 · January 09, 2006, 06:40:57 PM

Another reason that Ripon fans should keep their mouths shut !!

diehardfan · January 09, 2006, 09:57:12 PM

congrats to larry u on moving up to 6th place in the poll this week!

8)

polek2 · January 09, 2006, 10:38:57 PM

Ok, Ripon's Big Men are good this year because that vraney assistant coach is gone! How are Lake Forest's big men doing this year? Probably worse then last year with vraney. The guy is clueless and if he gets a head coaching job it will drop like a stone. He is not a players coach all he does is bark and make people run. It is his way or the highway and his way is usually wrong! As a person he is a great guy. He just doesn't know basketball that well.

Gordie is a good calming affect on Gillie because gordie can talk back to gillie without making him mad.

scottie · January 10, 2006, 12:07:16 AM

I think Jurecko is pretty good.

Congrats to Bopper and the boys on their number 6 ranking. Hopefully, they'll pass up IWU next week. Is this their highest ranking?

The Roop · January 10, 2006, 12:14:58 AM

Might only be #6 for a day so they should enjoy all 24 hours of it. I wouldn't bet on Beloit winning tomorrow but it wouldn't shock me either. Things are falling in place for an upset. Beloit will be rested and LU just had a fight on their hands. Could be a tendency to look past this one and get tripped up.

Mr. Ypsi · January 10, 2006, 12:18:11 AM

Quote from: scottie on January 10, 2006, 12:07:16 AM
I think Jurecko is pretty good.

Congrats to Bopper and the boys on their number 6 ranking. Hopefully, they'll pass up IWU next week. Is this their highest ranking?

The win by Lawrence that got them big-time attention was over then-#2 Oshkosh. Since that has now been shown to be a misunderstanding, what other credentials do you have?!

(Actually, I DO have Lawrence in my #6 spot, but unless IWU loses again I can't see ever moving Lawrence above them. Your better hope is that Albion and Hope meet this week - keep winning and you might pass the loser of that game!)

LU_nut · January 10, 2006, 12:18:35 AM

scottie

I think they were 4th last year at the start...coming off the NCAA quarterfinals the year before.

Mr. Ypsi · January 10, 2006, 12:22:39 AM

The Roop,

I, too, will root for "bel-WAH"!

Greek Tragedy · January 10, 2006, 12:50:38 AM

I think Lawrence is the real deal. But, I don't think they deserve the ranking they have right now. They beat an overrated Oshkosh team and they've beaten LMC foe MSOE. That's the only teams they've played that have .500+ winning %s. That's not saying much.

I was surprise to see Lawrence outside the preseason Top 25, but I think the voters went overboard a little bit to "make up" for their early season omission. It also helps that a lot of teams in the lower half of the Top 25 had lost, helping Lawrence move up quickly.

Lawrence is in a weak conference, with really only Carroll standing in the way...and a trip to Ripon where you can "throw out the records". Grinnell may also catch them by surprise. So, Lawrence has a good chance to run the table. But, they'll have to prove that outstanding record come tourney time against the big boys in the sectionals since the West Region looks pretty weak thus far (assuming they are thrown in the West Region and not in with the CCIW teams).

For the record, I picked Lawrence in the Survivor Pool 2.

titan2000 · January 10, 2006, 07:05:19 AM

Old School:

Look at recent action around the country--IWU beat Carthage by 1--LU handled Carthage on th road a few weeks ago. Transitive theory says LU is pretty good.

Vanguard win is big.

Two wins at home, 7 on the road.

Beat Oshkosh 3 years in a row. Don't ask me why, I used to think it was that TVD didn't take them seriously, now I think they are just better than Oshkosh.

This is not a fluke and you know it.

Gregory Sager · January 10, 2006, 08:13:23 AM

Quote from: titan2000 on January 10, 2006, 07:05:19 AMLook at recent action around the country--IWU beat Carthage by 1--LU handled Carthage on th road a few weeks ago. Transitive theory says LU is pretty good.

Yeah. Too bad that the transitive theory is a lot of hooey.

Quote from: titan2000 on January 10, 2006, 07:05:19 AMVanguard win is big.

Vanguard is a middling (8-7, 2-3) program in a very good NAIA-1 conference. Since you're so keen on the transitive theory, you should note that the Lions beat a team by one point (Concordia-Irvine) that Carthage whipped by 14 in their second meeting. As credentials go, Lawrence's win over Vanguard is pretty decent, but hardly "big". The win over UW-Oshkosh is more impressive.