MBB: Midwest Conference

[wc2viking]

Nut,

Good point about Hurley.  The 3-guard set works because he is so good at taking care of the defense and rebounds inside.  He also has a good post game and is an excellent passer on the offensive side.

[jeffdc]

Best of luck to GC tonight in their game with MC. Luckily the weather didn't intervene AGAIN - yesterday we had blizzard conditions....

[gcfan33]

Interestingly enough, with a loss to LU, St. Norbert could end up finishing 4th if Grinnell wins out.  That would pit Grinnell against Carroll in the opening round of the tournament, and St. Norbert against Lawrence.

[Greek Tragedy]

Speaking of Grinnell...score anyone?

[gcfan33]

Grinnell 51, Monmouth 48 at the half.

Monmouth plays a 2-2-1 zone press the entire first half and Grinnell figured it out after about 5 ugly minutes at the beginning of the game.  Because Monmouth is pressing, they are giving up three after three after three in the corners.

[Greek Tragedy]

Half time now?  It's two hours after the scheduled tip-off! lol...

Grinnell 51, Monmouth 48 at the half.

Because Monmouth is pressing, they are giving up three after three after three in the corners.

If that's the case, shouldn't they be up by more? 

[Maverick]

Well we've hit 10:15...and still no score yet.  Can't find anything on the MWC website, GC site, MC site, or the d3hoops.com scoreboard.  Anyone out there know anything??

[gcfan33]

Grinnell wins 114-113 in Overtime.  Game finished at 10:24pm Central Time.

Monmouth played great basketball, simply could not score down the stretch -- the addition of Chamberlain to the Grinnell lineup might have made the difference as he affected quite a few shots in the overtime. 

One of the better Grinnell games I've watched this year in terms of entertainment value. 

Kudos to Monmouth for their surprise strategy of pressing Grinnell and shooting 3's themselves (I think they were 8-14 from three?)  I played at Grinnell for four years, and have followed the system now for 10 years... and I've never seen a team play a press against us for an entire game.  Monmouth's press turned into a bunch of guys backing up in the second half because they were tired, but it still earned a place in my book as an interesting game against the System.

[jeffdc]

GC 114, MC 113

The score tells it all. Neck and neck most of the game (GC trailed the entire 1st half), and a game I would not have predicted given their meeting earlier in the season.

I'm with GCFan33 - their strategy of the press definitely threw GC off their stride, and they actually pulled off the threes. At one point I heard Coach A yelling to box in the shooter because it had become fairly predictable.

Incredible contribution by Idrissa - reminds me of another of my favorite GC players, Doug Ticus. Long arms, wild leaps, and amazing steals/rebounds. Long kept coming through in the clutch with some very important 3s and great work at the free throw line.

MC really did play a fine game. As did GC. Just not the game I expected.

Don't know if you could see this via the video feed, but truly, the reffing was absolutely the worst I've seen in years. Just awful, against both sides. Let's retire these guys. Please. Ridiculous calls, even more ridiculous misses.

[Put up a #]

I watched the Grinnell/Monmouth game last night. Herewith some observations, some already stated by others.

Bobby Long is a legitimate star in this conference and in the Grinnell system. He's quick, handles well and has a sweet deadly release.

Ahmed Idrissa - WHERE DID THIS GUY COME FROM? All night he rebounded over much bigger guys, disrupted passing lanes and gave his teammmates opportunities to score with some nice passing.

Grinnell has to handle the ball better if they want to make some noise in the tournament. Way too many turnovers with high lazy passes, and backwards passes. They need more consistent intensity on offense.

Keith Chamberlain played very sparingly (couple shifts a half) until right at the end of regulation, and then in most of  OT. Then, down the stretch, he was a difference maker. He blocked shots, grabbed rebounds and ALTERED A REMARKABLE NUMBER OF PLAYS. Sure, he looked rusty. He's got 2 more games to play into shape, and then GC is a different and much more dangerous team.

Monmouth played a very nice game. About as well as they could have, I believe. taking and hitting open 3s is a legitimate way to attack the system.

Officiating. Awful. Too many times they call the brush foul and let the body check go. Coach Vershaw wasn't happy, but the calls went both ways. Coach A wasn't too happy either.

[The Roop]

Idrissa has been there all along, he simply never had many scoring chances until this year. So he honed his rebounding and defensive skills in the mean time. I'm not surprised with his play this year.

Officiating.............. Well, if you reach in the MWC it is usually a foul in the MWC. That has improved in recent years but the trend hasn't died just yet. I've noticed they tend to call more reaches when more body contact is allowed. So I guess you can get away with one or the other but not both.

[systemfan86]

Glad to see Chamberlain back on the floor.

GC was 7-1 with home wins against CC and STN with him in the line up.

If LU beats STN and GC wins out, who is the #3 seed and who is #4. They split, both lost to LU twice, and both split with CC.

Does it keep going down the rankings? Could it go down to record vs Knox? GC won twice, and STN split against the Prairie Fire.

[The Roop]

Lets wait until GC wins out to speculate.

[jeffdc]

Lets wait until GC wins out to speculate.

I'm with Mister Notorious on this one....

[The Roop]

Idrissa has obviously had Roopacinnos at Saints Rest............. Therein lies the key to his success.