MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[jgatz33]

yeah the tournament will really determine POY but i have to say frontrunner has got to be James followed by Mikos then Bayhia
1st team will be james mikos bahiya saberlich averkamp cooper peets hagel haiduc  i would say are locks but other possibilities include murphy jiles lipanot burch clay van ess redmond

rogers takes home rookie of the year

[crusader]

I agree with RCSID, people should talk about somebody other than aurora.  lets talk about the clarke crusaders, who lost 2 members of the d3hoops all region team, and their starting point guard, and are set to win the conference for the first time in school history.  Clarke pounded benedictine last night by 27 at home...what a credit to the home court advantage clarke has built in the last 2 seasons, making it a tough place for opponents to play, and an inspirational place to play for the home team.  with only one game left against a decent opponent, I see clarke knocking off aurora, just like last year at home, and walking away with the conference title.  clarke played aurora tough at au without our starting 3 guard, now he's back and they will not be denied.  eureka plays tough at home, but clarkes too good to lose to them.  and after watching clarke play rockford a few weeks ago, i never thought i'd see such an undisciplined team.  just goes to show you, poor attitudes get you no where, had the officials not influenced the game, clarke might have won by 30!  clarke is a class act, and gets no respect for its recents accomplishments.  i'm just glad to see clarke move on to bigger and better things this year after the conference is dismantled.  the niic has done nothing for clarke.

[Big_Uns]

yeah the tournament will really determine POY but i have to say frontrunner has got to be James followed by Mikos then Bayhia
1st team will be james mikos bahiya saberlich averkamp cooper peets hagel haiduc  i would say are locks but other possibilities include murphy jiles lipanot burch clay van ess redmond

rogers takes home rookie of the year

Is the ROY open to anyone that is playing their first year in the LMC or just freshman?

I think the more likely choice for POY is either Mikos or Bayiha because they have the gaudy numbers and it doesn't seem like anybody's too concerned with on-court presence enough to jump him nine spots in PPG, 20+ spots in RPG, and three spots in APG.

And if you say that the tournament will decide it well then I'd have to clearly go with the MSOE boys simply because Lakeland certainly isn't going to stray from the team style of play that's worked for them all year, and lately with how MSOE has been falling behind on a game-to-game basis, you know Kobe--I mean--Floyd will be jacking threes at every opportunity.

[Greek Tragedy]

Is the ROY open to anyone that is playing their first year in the LMC or just freshman?

I think the more likely choice for POY is either Mikos or Bayiha because they have the gaudy numbers and it doesn't seem like anybody's too concerned with on-court presence enough to jump him nine spots in PPG, 20+ spots in RPG, and three spots in APG.

Any first year player...as far as I know.  I agree with you about Mikos or Bayiha because of the numbers.  I'm leaning towards Bayiha even though he has a hard time passing the ball.  Sometimes I think the homers in Milwaukee give Bayiha an assist when he shoots, misses, someone else rebounds and scores.  That's an assist from Bayiha in their eyes. 

[fishguy]

Rookie of the year is an award for the top freshman - it's not open for any newcomers. Otherwise, Weitor from Concordia would certainly have been a past winner.

[bodhi5]

with only one game left against a decent opponent, I see clarke knocking off aurora, just like last year at home, and walking away with the conference title.  clarke played aurora tough at au without our starting 3 guard, now he's back and they will not be denied. 

The NIIC has always been a three team league, with those teams being Aurora, Benedictine, and Rockford (in alphabetical order).  Crusader, you say that the NIIC has done nothing for Clarke.....how about this:  Clarke has done nothing in the NIIC.  Don't get me wrong, the Crusaders are playing very very well in conference this season.  But don't knock the NIIC becuase Clarke has never won a conference title.  Other than a long, scenic drive through Iowa, Clarke basketball hasn't done much for the NIIC.

I have to question your description of the Rockford squad as well.  Rockford has some very talented individuals, and a similar 12-10 overall record to the Crusaders.  Unexpectedly losing your head coach cannot be easy on any team, in any sport.  "Poor attitude" is a vague term as well, and 40 minutes of basketball is not enough to judge these kids' personalities.  Officials or not, Clarke would not have defeated RC by 30.  Leave the zebras out of the discussion.  They get bad mouthed enough in person, they don't need to get it on the internet as well.

As far as "not being denied" the NIIC title, the Crusaders are already behind the 8 ball.  Let me list the reasons why:

1.  AU's youth has led to some inconsistent play so far, but they always have a good chance to win with Welton on the court.  29.9 points per NIIC game is quite impressive for a sophomore, who didn't play his final two years of high school and sat out his "true" freshman year. 

2.  Even though both AU and CC have 6-1 conference records, AU currently holds the head-to-head tie-breaker.  So Clarke has to beat Aurora to stay in the race for the #1 seed. 

3.  If CC does defeat AU and both teams end up with 8-2 records (meaning Eureka or RC would have to beat CC), AU would hold the tie-breaker of overall record (AU 15-10, CC 14-11). 

Clarke has a quality squad this year.  They lead the NIIC in scoring defense and scoring field goal percentage, and they are second in the NIIC in scoring margin and field goal percentage.  I don't want to be misread, so:  I AM NOT TRASHING CLARKE COLLEGE.  I just disagree with Crusader's comments, and felt the need to respond (which is why we have this discussion board, correct?). 

Hopefully whoever win the NIIC will get a chance to play in the NIIC tournament.  It would be a shame for the conference not to have a representitive in it's final year of existence. 

[from downtown]

IMO, it is Jeff Mikos over Floyd. Mikos seems more valuable to MSOE's success. Bahiya puts up more points, but Mikos gets it done on both ends of the floor. He is a good rebounding guard. One of the best defensive players I have seen. One of the best at getting steals in the nation despite usually getting the responsiblity of guarding the other teams best player, forward or guard. If Floyd werent on the roster, Mikos would obviously get more points.

[crusader]

If you think the NIIC has only been a 3 team league, I think you should consult the all-sports standings.  I was not referring to just basketball, I apologize for not clarifying earlier.  In basketball, in the past 10 years, aurora, benedictine, and rockford have had great squads, but in the past 3 years clarke has really made a name for itself in basketball.  If you new what went on behind the scenes, you would see a conference that is very unorganized and bends the rules much too often.  Also, being so far away, Clarke seems to get picked on as far as all-conference selections.

As for Rockford, I have always enjoyed watching them play.  DeCook was one of the better all around basketball players I have ever scene at this level, and Wing would light it up with the likes of Reddick(I'm not even joking).  While watching Rockford, they have a ton of talent, but all i saw was undisciplined basketball and a lot of individual play.  Also, my ears started to hurt by the end of the game from listening to their coach yell at his players.  Has he ever tried positive reinforcement?  You know where Rockford messed up, they could of had geoff wing as a coach this year and they let him go.  Talk about a guy who knows a ton about the game and would have had the pride to win and spread it to his players.  They really let a good coach get away.

I don't understand how we are "behind the 8 ball"
1.  Welton is one player(a hell of a player at that), not that he doesn't have a decent supporting cast, but it takes a team, not one player.
2.  The AU-Clarke game will be for the conference championship.  If clarke were to lose, we wouldn't have to worry about the tie breaker.  Lets face it, no one else will defeat either of these teams.  This game is not about a race for the title, it's about the conference title.  Clarke will not lose to Rockford at home, it's just not going to happen.  The only home conference game clarke has lost in the last 2 years was against benedictine, a game where clarke just couldn't get anything going.
3.  Just face it, its not going to happen.  If Aurora wins against Clarke, then its over.  If Clarke wins, then its over.

If Aurora wins out, they might have a chance to get in.  Clarke might have shot itself in the foot against Mt. Mercy, a game where they played without their starting pg bynum(17.2 ppg, 4.5 apg) because he signed a contract he would no longer miss a night class.  The class didn't even have anything to do with his major.

Clarke is finally starting to get back to full strength.  Murleys back, Kilburg, who has fought through a stress fracture in his foot even since the end of December, is starting to become more mobile, and the emergence of Cirks becoming not only a guy who does the dirty work, but a shooting threat make Clarke dangerous.  Also, harris and fitz have really started contributing on the O end.  They may not have a Welton, but they have 6 guys who know how to play team ball, and this wednesdays matchup will be something special.  Lookin forward to see it.  Any predictions out there?

[showtimeSmyHero]

The coaches vote a number system and rank people like 1-6 (something like that). The person who averages the highest gets POY(I am not sure if coaches can vote for their own player, or if they have to show the other coaches their picks....i was told they do have to show).

Thinking about who the coaches would vote for and leave off based on spite..... I dont think bayhia will get the votes from the coaches. I dont think cooper, averkamp, or peets will get the votes either. I dont think WLC, Marian, Maranatha, and Dominican have a possible POY. I think that narrows it down to Saberlich, James, Mikos, and possibly bayiha. I know people think Lakeland is a great team and it kinda shadows the stars or whatever. I think that will have the same problem with bayiha and mikos.

I think its to soon to tell who will jump ahead because those 4 are pretty close with the most important games left to come.

[The Way]

The Way I See It,

There is just no clear cut regular season MVP. Lakeland's team is like the Detroit Pistons in that there is no clear cut top player. They just get the job done. James, Mikos and Bayihaa are all worthy candidates. If one of them doesn't get POY, then I would be shocked.

Despite some previous posts and some other beliefs, I think the LMC coaches have done a good job of seperating out the POY to just the regular season instead of including the playoffs. Out of the last 4 POY's, 2 have gone to the NCAA tournament and 2 have not.

With that said, my choices are the following:

COY : Gary Grzesk
ROY : Matt Rogers
POY : Germayne James

1st Team:
Germayne James, LC
Jeff Mikos, MSOE
Floyd Bayiha, MSOE
Mike Haiduc, DU
Matt Peets. CU
Titus Redmond, MC
Brian Hagel, WLC
Seth Cooper, EC
Scott Murphy, MSOE
Charlie Averkamp (as much as i don't like his game,,,the guy averages a double-double), EC

All-rookie
Matt Rogers, LC
Peter Worth, LC
Jon Ciche, EC
Danny Behm, WLC
Jameel Sabree, MSOE

[Gregory Sager]

If Aurora wins out, they might have a chance to get in.  Clarke might have shot itself in the foot against Mt. Mercy

Aurora is not going to get into the big dance. The NIIC will get shut out of March Madness in this, the final season of the league. Check out the Bumbling B's room under the Multi-Regional Topics header for the discussion of which four teams are going to get the Pool B bids, and why Aurora will not be one of them. Seriously, they aren't even close to being in the running. The Spartans aren't ranked in the region; they're an unspectacular 10-6 in regional play; and their QOWI is 164th in the nation out of 394 D3 teams.

Clarke's game against Mount Mercy has nothing to do with anything as far as the D3 tourney is concerned. Mount Mercy isn't even a D3 team.

[crusader]

i guess we have dominican to thank that there will be no NIIC rep in the tourny this year.  it's just ashame that in the last year of the conference, we will not be represented.  although the records don't state, i think au, ben, clarke, and rockford could all play with other schools that will make the tourny, this has just been a year of inconsistency for the niic

[cardinalpride]

i guess we have dominican to thank that there will be no NIIC rep in the tourny this year.  it's just ashame that in the last year of the conference, we will not be represented.  although the records don't state, i think au, ben, clarke, and rockford could all play with other schools that will make the tourny, this has just been a year of inconsistency for the niic

Crusader, I'm not so sure about that.  I can't speak for clarke or rockford, but North Central College beat benedictine by 28pts at NCC and beat AU by 29pts at AU earlier in the year!  Now, I know teams improve as the year goes on, but they didn't look like tournament teams then.  The interesting thing is NCC is not even guaranteed to get in the big dance and they are 12-4 in the region.  Making the tournament in the midwest region is not easy. 

[Big_Uns]

Surprised to see Saiberlich off that list.

[Greek Tragedy]

I don't see James winning it.  Nothing against him, but Lakeland is the definition of "TEAM".  There are just too many options on the Muskies' roster where one guy will stand out.  With Edgewood, it's Seth Cooper, with MSOE it's either Mikos or Bayiha.  You can't just shut down James and stop Lakeland.  They are too balanced as a team to single out one guy...and that's exactly when Grzesk will get Coach of the Year, he's really got that team playing as one.