MBB: Midwest Conference

[diehardfan]

Okay, okay, you guys got me. 

What that was intended to be was a segue... Apparently I failed, as usual, to make any sense. 

[The Roop]

Don't worry dhf, the end result is irrelevant. Your caring and compassion is more important than making any sense.     

Excuse me now as I watch the Carroll-Ripon game.

[The Roop]

WOW. I guess Carroll simply wanted to lose it more than Ripon did. Let's face it, this was a high school JV game at best. Each team stood around and watched the other score.

Roop Vegas for Saturday........................... Beloit -17.5 going away.

Americas Team has answered the call and I pity those that do not obey it.

[RiponRed34]

Ripon 80 Carroll 76

A gigantic collapse by Carroll.  I'm not entirely sure, but I believe they were up 16 with close 9 minutes left in the game.  For close to 30 minutes of this game Carroll ran their offense beautifully.  A lot of cuts and movement without the ball.  Ripon was forcing their shots along with continually dumping the ball down to Schmitting.  Again, Ripon looked like the team we saw last season playing without any urgency until the last 9 minutes of the game. Then, I don't know what happened.  Maybe CC got a little conservative and Ripon continued to pound the ball to Johnson and Schmitting.  I have no idea what Schmitting numbers were but I can bet it was a double double.  He was dominant.

This was probably the first game I've seen Ripon look to go to Schmitting all game and it payed off.  I truly believe he wore down Carroll's defense.  I have no idea how Ripon pulled this off, but hopefully they can learn from this....probably not.

Druery was pretty awesome.  I'd have to say he's the best player in this league that I've seen to date.  He had total control of the ball and got his teammates easy layups all game.  He had great range with defenders in his face. 

Bo Johnson did not start again, for reasons I don't know.  Hopefully Coach Gillespie is sending a message to his team that you better play hard every game or you will sit.  Bo struggled much of the game, but came up huge during Ripon's comeback. 

Carroll's achillis heal seems to be on the inside. 

[RiponRed34]

Roop = Hater

I knew you'd love that ending.

Go Red

[The Roop]

RR34,

Lets stop the arguments and fighting. Wouldn't it simply be easier for the Red Hawks to go to Beloit and ask their players for autographs than to actually play the game?? Dignity on both sides as far as I see it.

Roop

[RiponRed34]

Roop you can't stop being who you are...no one in this room would want that!

PS, Yes that would be easier than playing the game.  Then, the Ripon players can tell their children the story on how they went down to Beloit and asked for their autographs instead of playing the game.  When asked why, they'd say...it was easier then playing the game....they were that good!  Dignity on both sides as far as I see it.

[The Roop]

WOW. I can't stop being who I am yet as soon as I say I don't like Ripon the walls fall in. I've said it in the past and nothing happened.............. Simply put this is a rivalry. Beloit - Ripon always was. When you faced your rival you wanted to kill them. And you also wished they would lose all their other games.

Brewers - White Sox kind of thing when they were both in the American League.

Do I condone fighting in the stands? Of course not. And I've seen it at Beloit-Ripon games in the past. No MWC code of conduct at the time; etc.

But you are wrong. Roop does not = hater.

Your snide aside. When you see Mike Dowden you will wonder why Gillespie ran him off.

[The Roop]

Roop Vegas stands as called.

[LU_nut]

LU wins a close one against Norbs.....not looking terribly good doing it.

Assuming Grinnell beat Knox at home, does that mean a 4 way tie for first with Norb just 1/2 game behind??  Is this crazy or what?

Nut

[titan2000]

I have to defend the Roop. This bashing is out of line.

REtroactvely, any comments from the Ripon faithful demeaning Roop only count half the weight of comments from fans of other MWC schools, due primarily to the lower entrance requirements of Ripon vs. the rest of the league. 

Yes, I'm a quant jock. 

[scottie]

Nice road win for the Scots. 

[Greek Tragedy]

Ripon 80, Carroll 76...Schmitting with 20 rebounds?  Carroll had 25 as a team.  Wow.

Grinnell 90, Knox 70...Grotberg 4-21!  Ouch.  Arseneault goes for 23 and 7 asts

Monmouth 55, Lake Forest 53...comes from 8 down at the break to win

Lawrence 55, St. Norbert 49

I'm back from The Alex to see Lawrence hold off St. Norbert in a game I'm still trying to figure out.  I won't put much emphasis on Lawrence since we have plenty of posters to throw out their opinions. 

I was expecting Lawrence to be a lot more precise and sharp, but they looked like they didn't care much about the game.  There were about five times when Lawrence was called for an off-the-ball offensive foul, usually down in the post.  St. Norbert had solid post defense, while Lawrence played tough perimeter defense. 

This is the first time I've seen Norb's play and they impressed me in some areas.  #43, Jake Dietz, was pretty hard to stop and Osland and Hurley had a hard time preventing him from getting inside and scoring.  Tony Jandron looked like he had an off-night, based on the box score, but he's obviously the engine that runs the team.  Eric Bieniasz also had a good game and wasn't shy about shooting from the outside.  After looking at the boxscore, I have no idea why Dietz only played 22 minutes.  He didn't have any fouls and from what I saw, Lawrence really had problems defending the low post.

Gary Grzesk really has St. Norbs playing a methodical, deliberate offense and usually didn't set anything up until there was 15 seconds left on the shot clock.  Lawrence built a pretty good lead in the second half, but St. Norbs stuck around and took a lead or two in the 2nd half.  Lawrence, to their credit, knocked down shots and made the stops necessary to avoid the upset.  They hit their free throws and got the win.

On a side note...unless I was hearing those voices in my head again, I could've sworn I heard someone yell, "Old School" after the game when I was heading to the bathroom.  Obviously I wouldn't expect anyone to wait for me.  Anyway, if that person did yell to me, send me an email or a message to confirm that I actually heard that.  Don't worry, I'll keep your identity a secret!  If not, it will just give me another reason to stop doing all those recreational drugs! lol. 

[systemfan86]

LU wins a close one against Norbs.....not looking terribly good doing it.

Assuming Grinnell beat Knox at home, does that mean a 4 way tie for first with Norb just 1/2 game behind??  Is this crazy or what?

Nut

Yup, four teams at 6-3 - http://www.midwestconference.org/mbasketball/ - and one a half game behind. Very weird and wide open...

I looked at the GC-KC game and TTMG had company in cold shooting. Bobby Long, who has had a really nice step up in his game this year, was 2 for 10. The team was 38% (29% from 3) for the game. I was wondering how they won by 20(?!). The box score provided the answer...25 offensive rebounds and 29 turnovers by KC. The play-by-play has some interesting entries where GC gets 3 and 4 shot attempts in a single trip down the floor.

[systemfan86]

The free-for-all nature of the year is going to make it tough to pick a POY and COY, not to mention All MWC.

Looked through the league site, and two players jump out for All MWC first team: Schmitting and Arseneault. Drury of CC probably belongs with those two on the team. All three of those should get consideration for POY. TTMG is going to get consideration, but from a distance, it appears that Little A has been more consistent than TTMG. Still, I'd guess Grotberg ends up on the first team All MWC, but I wouldn't be completely surprised to see him on the 2nd team. Hurley (LU), Hendry (BC), and Maclin (KC) have the numbers to be considered for the first team. If the team record impacts the vote Hurley has the clear advantage.

Anyone else I overlooked?