MBB: Midwest Conference

[Old Fighting Scot]

How does the MWC not have that posted somewhere on their website?  Maybe they do need an independant commissioner to make sure things run decently.  For a conference with this quality of basketball being played, they sure act quite bush league.

i believe the commish does an excellent job in updating scores and news on the MWC webpage.  If your only complaint is what the tiebreaker is for conference play (kind of ambiguous i think) you should still be able to sleep well at night.  Besides, he is a fellow Scot...So Lay Off!!!

[mwc4life]

I told you I wouldn't be surprised if Ripon layed an egg...and I wasn't

What a complete disappointment this year...inexcusable

Now it's spoiler time for Ripon:

They can either crush CC's chance of sharing the MWC title and or knock Beloit out of the conference tourney. 

In my opinion Knox should be in, but I'd like to see Beloit and Cecil get in the tourney...I'm a huge Youngblood supporter...great guy...but I don't see Beloit beating Ripon in Beloit....the match-ups don't favor Beloit.

Now I'd just like to see LU run the table and see how far they can go in the NCAA tourney...They really have an opportunity to put the MWC on the map for good as an very good/elite conference....a lot of pressure is going to be on LU for the tourney as being the possible #1 team in the country...WOW what a year they are having, so they will definitely have to perform...

Which leads me to this question, how far will LU go?  Do they have to make it to the final four in order to consider this season successful? (I realize they have already made history and have had a great year, but all the regular season awards and wins don't mean as much without advancing in the tourney, especially having advanced to the elite eight but two years ago with Braier)

[Early]

Ripon's only chance this weekend is to get the ball into Schmitting's hands

Otherwise it is gonna be a long game

-Hey Early hows that clap treating you these days-

I can't agree more....still shooting 71%.  That's amazing!!  Get the big fella a touch on every posession.  He is not greedy, he will pass it back too.

Robsmokes,
I got rid of the clap with the 'tussin'.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I think its a mixed bag for Lawrence.  I think a final four would be the goal, but then again if they win the national title, I wouldn't doubt that Thorpe gets picked off by a small d1 school.

[Greek Tragedy]

Which leads me to this question, how far will LU go?  Do they have to make it to the final four in order to consider this season successful?

It's the age old question!  At the beginning of the season, you may say you want to win the conference title.  With the recent history of Larry U, you may say, "Let's make sure we get back to the NCAA tourney."  Then players might also say, "Well, we came up short the last two years, lets make the Final Four our goal."  But when you get to the Final Four, obviously that's not good enough.  You get greedy and you want to win it all. 

Like in pro sports, you never hear a player say that it's just good enough to get to the Super Bowl.  So, for Lawrence, while the season is still going on winning the National Championship is the only thing that will make it a successful season.  But, after the season (if they don't win it), having a great season, [possibly] winning the conference title, [possibly] winning the conference tourney and making the NCAA tourney will all be considered successful...but there will still be a little hole of not winning it all.

[scottie]

Mav, I don't want to steal Scottie's thunder ... I think he has a comment on the Maclin trey. You're right, he'll be making it tomorrow after he gets back.

Okay, I'm back.  Regarding Schwanie's quote:  With the game tied at 61 and Knox with the ball, I told Schwannie that the Scots better not let Maclin get a 3 attempt.  I believe Maclin had the ball near the top of the key, passed it and got it right back.  He shoots....he scores.  Scottie is then heard to say, "Sometimes I hate it when I'm right."

My thoughts about last night are mixed -  

An earlier poster (from Knox?) mentioned something about how exciting the environment was.  I've been to plenty of games at Knox and this one was probably the worst.  There shouldn't be any empty seats for this game and there were probably only 125 students from MC at the game, 25 of whom were cheerleaders.  Here's a tip:  When the opposing team is shooting free throws in the final seconds to ice the game, the gym shouldn't be silent.   Kudos to the Knox student body who rocked the house despite Finals.

The game was evenly contested for the most part.  Throughout the season, I've been reading about the Scots not putting together a full 40 minutes.  This was the case again last night as Knox erased a 17 point lead in a manner of minutes.

Tough night for Beaird.  Three points on 1-9 shooting.  Maclin defended him quite a bit.  That strategy opened up the middle (see next point), but kept Beaird cold.  

Joe Terwelp abused Knox.  While overshadowed by some of the long-range shooters, look out for this sophomore to be an all-conference performer the next two years.

Price got off to a very shaky start, but did a great job on the glass.  He and Terwelp should be a dominant front line next year.

Good to see Schwan Man, Mav and Mission Man last night.  

OFS - Zero dunks last night.  

Schwannie - After my trip through the drive through of the golden arches last night on the way home, I was awoken around 2:00 with a stomach ache that attacked me with extreme prejudice.  (True story...inside joke.) ...

...On a similar note, the remaining games against LF and IC will determine if the Scots finish in the MWC basement.  

[T-Bird Teacher]

This coming from Feb.3 notes on the MWC page:

2005-06 MWC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTS: The 2005-06 MWC basketball tourneys will be held Friday and Saturday, February
24-25. The tournament sites are TBD; the MWC Champion will host the host the men's tournament with the winner earning the
conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The women's team with the top regular-season conference record earns hosting
rights, while the tournament winner is crowned MWC Champion and receives the league's NCAA tourney bid. A brief overview of
MWC tourney tiebreakers.
* - Head to head competition pooling all tied teams records against each other. Continue to eliminate by winning percentage and repool remaining teams until field is set
* - Record against highest ranked common MWC opponent. (Common opponents are teams played twice, unless Team A is 1-0 against Team B and Team C is 0-2 against B)
* - WOMEN (men skip to next step) Point differentials between tied teams in head-to-head play. Point differentials between tied teams against highest-ranked common opponent
* - Coin flip by conference commissioner

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

In an enlightened conference like the MWC, do you think its right to have different rules for the women and the men?

[scottie]

How does the MWC not have that posted somewhere on their website?  Maybe they do need an independant commissioner to make sure things run decently.  For a conference with this quality of basketball being played, they sure act quite bush league.

i believe the commish does an excellent job in updating scores and news on the MWC webpage.  If your only complaint is what the tiebreaker is for conference play (kind of ambiguous i think) you should still be able to sleep well at night.  Besides, he is a fellow Scot...So Lay Off!!!

The commish is actually a Red Hawk.  The SID is a Scot.

[systemfan86]

A brief overview of
MWC tourney tiebreakers.
* - Head to head competition pooling all tied teams records against each other. Continue to eliminate by winning percentage and repool remaining teams until field is set
* - Record against highest ranked common MWC opponent. (Common opponents are teams played twice, unless Team A is 1-0 against Team B and Team C is 0-2 against B)
* - WOMEN (men skip to next step) Point differentials between tied teams in head-to-head play. Point differentials between tied teams against highest-ranked common opponent
* - Coin flip by conference commissioner

So specific to my previous question, if GC and BC end up at 9-7, the first tie break is a push, but Beloit wins the second because they have to beat Carroll to get to 9-7.

Well, I guess I'll just hope that GC wins 2 of their last 3 and makes that a non-issue. A win in Jacksonville is the right way to start. If the Blueboys get 14 against the Pioneers in a half, I think we can expect a W for GC. 

[jeffdc]

sysfan86:  I'd be dumbfounded if they didn't win all 3. Of course, I was dumbfounded when they beat Ripon on RC's homecourt, so there's a lot of wiggle room there. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Doesn't Knox have the same chance to finish with 9 wins as well?  Isn't a Knox-Beloit tie more likely?

[systemfan86]

Doesn't Knox have the same chance to finish with 9 wins as well? Isn't a Knox-Beloit tie more likely?

Yes, they can hit 9 wins. What is more likely? Well, honestly, I think Beloit winning 2 of the 3 (at best) and finishing at 8-8 is more likely than worrying about what the tie breakers are.

I'd guess the only tie breaker that we might need to worry about is one to figure out who is the 3 seed and who is the 4 seed.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Do you really think GC is going to drop two of the last three or do you want them to, figuring you match up better with Lawrence than Carroll?

[viking68]

I admit that I haven't seen Grinnell vs. LU or Carroll this year, but how can anyone seriously think that Grinnell would rather play LU over Carroll!?!?!? Personally I don't think they want to play either, but to insinuate that the Pioneers would have a better chance against LU than against Carroll is just silly.

LU is undefeated (I think a few folks have mentioned this) and if they remain so, will be playing at home (most difficult place to play in the MWC) in the tourney. Plus, Tharp's teams have always played well against Grinnell.

Plus, don't you remember what they did vs. Grinnell (on the road after a tough win vs. Monmouth)? Held them to 30+ points below their average and won by double digits!! I'm not saying Carroll is a bad team, but to claim that Grinnell would rather play an undefeated LU team at Alex is crazy! Screw the match-ups!