MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[RFMichigan]

CUC - BU coming down to the wire. BU up by 1 with two minutes to go.

[WLCALUM83]

WLC/Maranatha men's game suspended until tomorrow night-  women's game also to be rescheduled--

(This poster is reminded of the Royals/Yankees game in which the last 4 outs had to be replayed --if I recall correctly it was because of a disputed home run by George Brett-- Billy Martin was in on it too (no surprise there)

Yes, I realize I just dated myself, but so what?

Wow. It's pretty surreal that the visiting guys' team will drive all the way back tomorrow, go through a full warmup, and then play about 3 minutes! The suspense for both teams will be pretty high since they are playing for a playoff spot.

Warriors would have had that one in regulation if they'd have hit their FT's down the stretch--

[WLCALUM83]

CUC loses by 2--Cougar announcers say their team is out of the playoffs--

[WLCALUM83]

Suspended WLC/Maranatha game scheduled to resume at 6:00 pm tomorrow-per Maranatha site.

[RFMichigan]

It looks as though Benedictine will hold on and win at CUC - 70-67. The way I see it, Benedictine wraps up the top spot in the South, while CUC will finish out of the playoff contention. They are tied with Rockford for 4th place, but since those two split their two meetings, Rockford wins the tie-breaker due to a sweep over Dominican while CUC split with Dominican. Of course this would all be a moot point if they would not have had to forfeit their win over Lakeland, but it is what it is.

Frankly, I'm not sure what to make of CUC's season. Yes, they were picked to win the South Division and are going to end up out of the playoffs, so there has to be disappointment. At first glance, you'd say that they just lost too many close conference games (two 2 point losses, a 3 point loss, a four point loss, and a double overtime loss). Then someone might counter that without their ineligible player they wouldn't have even been in some of those close losses and may have indeed lost some of their close wins that they had early on - a 3 point win and three overtime wins. However, the case could be made that they were actually playing their best ball of the entire season over the final 13 games of the year - including an emotional win at Concordia - Ann Arbor which is arguably better than any team in the NAC. And all this while dealing with the passing of a member of their basketball family.

Part of the purpose of sport is to build character, and I think that CUC's team must have banked a whole bunch of it this year. Hopefully the seniors can move on to be productive members of society and the program can continue to move in the direction that they have been going in the last few years.

[jdubb104]

RFMichgian...I would like to agree and disagree with your prior statement about CUC. To start off, if the Conference would have known that James Morgan was an ineligible player and not have been playing this whole year, they would not have been picked to be #1. The conference would have went with Benedictine most likely.

I agree with remark that they have been playing better ball these last few games...however, teams tend to play a little differently the second time around so fluff may have played a factor as well just knowing they beat them up the first time around.

On regards to the Ann-Arbor game, it was a very good an emotional win for them. However Ann Arbor is not arguably a better team than anyone in the NAC. Ann Arbor did beat CUW, but also shot 70% from the 3 point line. And being on a high, the next night against CUC, Ann Arbor short a poor 5-23 from the 3 point line. Ann Arbor would be lucky to finish in the top 3 in the NAC if that.

I will fully agree with you however on the fact that they built a lot of character this year. I happen to be personal friends with the player that lost his father to cancer a few weeks ago. I also know that a few other players found out their parents had cancer this season. It's sincerely a tough issue. But it is the team and the family that makes D3 sports so special. They are not getting their school paid for by bball...instead they pay to be a part of something special, that team and family. CUC most certainly grew closer together as a family this year and built some solid character.

[RFMichigan]

jdubb104 - Thanks for the reply! In regards to some of your thoughts:

RFMichgian...I would like to agree and disagree with your prior statement about CUC. To start off, if the Conference would have known that James Morgan was an ineligible player and not have been playing this whole year, they would not have been picked to be #1. The conference would have went with Benedictine most likely.

This is a very good point. In fact, looking back at the pre-season rankings, if each coach would have dropped CUC by an average of one place in their rankings, CUC's predicted finish would have dropped to third in their division and in all probability even further below that.

I agree with remark that they have been playing better ball these last few games...however, teams tend to play a little differently the second time around so fluff may have played a factor as well just knowing they beat them up the first time around.

I think that this could be the case with Benedictine last night as BU handled CUC easily (despite the final score) back in December when CUC had Morgan.  However, BU was playing for 1st place in the division, so I don't think complacency was a problem for them last night.

The biggest factor as to why CUC was playing better in the last half of the season? Maybe the competition. They beat the teams that they were supposed to beat! (But they DID beat them.) As a track coach of mine once said, " You want to get a better record? Schedule teams you can beat."

On regards to the Ann-Arbor game, it was a very good an emotional win for them. However Ann Arbor is not arguably a better team than anyone in the NAC. Ann Arbor did beat CUW, but also shot 70% from the 3 point line. And being on a high, the next night against CUC, Ann Arbor short a poor 5-23 from the 3 point line. Ann Arbor would be lucky to finish in the top 3 in the NAC if that.

As I said right after CIT, I think that CUW was better than CU-AA (but don't tell CU-AA that). However after watching CU-AA in a couple of games this year and a couple of other teams in their conference, I'm pretty sure CU-AA would be favored to win just about every game they played against NAC teams except, ironically, CUW - not that they would win every game mind you. (But hey, they're a scholarship-granting NAIA school. They should be favored against NAC teams.)

And please give my condolences to Jacob. Tom was a freshman the year after I graduated, but we had mutual friends so I was aquainted with him. In fact, I sat with him at the CUC-CUW game two years ago, and we had a real nice conversation. My prayers go out to the family.

Good to have you on the board! Don't be a stranger.

[WLCALUM83]

WLC/Maranatha going to a 2nd OT tied at 76!

[WLCALUM83]

WLC 88, Maranatha 87  Final  2 OTs!  The Warriors get in by the skin of their teeth. I'll put more in a seperate post.

[WLCALUM83]

This poster has to be honest:

IMHO-Maranatha  should have got in-- the Crusaders were only 1 defensive stop  away from doing so --had they got that stop on Marian's final possession last Tuesday,  in--or had the Crusaders not turned the ball over with 21 secs left in the 2nd OT tonight. they would have got in--and with their balance of talls and quick players who can hit 3s probably would have stood a better chance in the tournament.. WLC's going to be hobbled somewhat as it is.-(Jahns got hurt in the first half). The Warriors should consider themselves awfully lucky to have gotten in at all.  

[WLCALUM83]

NAthCon Tournament Pairings:

#8 WLC @ #1 CUW
#5 Lakeland @ #4 Edgewood
#6 Aurora @ #3 MSOE
#7 Rockford @ #2 Benedictine

My Projections:

Concordia-WI (After all the Warriors went thru last week, how much do they have left?)

Edgewood

MSOE  in a tight one (Raiders remember the buzzer-beater in a previous match-up, will be determined not to let it happen again.)

Benedictine (especially if Green stays out of foul trouble and the whole squad takes good care of the ball--Rockford can still take this if Malone has another big day scoring and the Regents get a lot of points off turnovers.)

[RFMichigan]

NAC Quarters Prediction:

CUW over WLC - Falcons just too strong (and remembering the shocking loss to #8 Domincan last year)

Benedictine over Rockford - I just don't think that Benedictine will let a one-man gang beat them

I'm going to take Edgewood over Lakeland because . . . umm.

The last one I'm really struggling with. I've always liked MSOE, but they usually manage to underperform in the playoffs. I don't think that Aurora is the better team, but they do have experience in this playoff gig and I think they have a swagger. Aurora

[BadgerFan42]

CUW over WLC - CUW has too much talent and it's at home

Benedictine over Rockford - Snelling/Green are too much for Rockford to handle

Edgewood beats up a 'shrinking' Lakeland squad

I'm going with MSOE over Aurora, Meier and the rest of the Raiders turn up the defense and pull out a win

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Final Regional Rankings are out before Selection Sunday: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/category/ncaa-stuff/regional-rankings/

[WLCALUM83]

Rockford/Benedictine NAthCon playoff action on deck: