MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[WLCALUM83]

NAthCon Men O-fer on the night!  

[Just Bill]

Two NathCon coaches, Todd Adrian of Edgewood and Brian Miller of MSOE, are among the six finalists for the UW-Eau Claire head coaching job.

[Gregory Sager]

Dominican assistant coach Sam Hargraves has been named as the new head coach at Alma.

[kenoshamark]

Here is the link to follow the Lakeland basketball team, staff, family and friends during a current trip to Prague.

http://lakeland.edu/athletics/blog-from-prague.asp

[jdubb104]

Any thoughts on this years season already? Who your favorites for the conference may be? Going off of the end of last years performance and returning players, I would say the top 2 teams in the conference will definitely be Concordia Wisc. and Edgewood. They each have a lot of fire power returning and a ton of depth. Both of their conference games will be as if its for the conference championship. The North in general looks to be a lot tougher than the South this year. Lakeland returns a lot and also gets Schwarz back after his knee injury. If he can stay healthy they can be a tough team. Let me know your thoughts.

[BadgerFan42]

I'll shake off the dust and throw my hat into the ring jdubb104, since it looks like no one else has yet to come out of off-season hibernation. 

I don't see anyone out of the south contending with the north teams this year, which is unusual, the south in my mind tends to be deeper year in and year out.  I was surprised with the turnout of the conference preseason voting.  I thought Edgewood would have been picked #1 in the North this year with their returning 'honorable mention preseason all-american' (Faurote), named by the Sporting News.  I think that's a bit of a stretch, but who am I to judge.  Nonetheless I see Concordia winning the North again this year and possibly overcoming their Conference Tournament struggles.  They return 3 starters, PG, SG,& SF, two of which were 2nd team all-NAC last season.  They will get major contributions off the bench from Nick Doedens, David Lopez, and a host of returning role players.  I don't think anyone in the NAC has the depth to run with the Falcons.  I'm picking the Benedictine Eagles, led by Nate Green, to win the depleated NAC South followed closely by AU.   

I do think however that both Edgewood and CUW will make the NCAA tournament.  Looking at schedules if Concordia starts their season off undefeated they will quickly find themselves a national ranking and Edgewood, if they have the season they could have, will have a high regional ranking and possibly a national ranking as well. 

My surprise teams this season:

Maranatha-The Crusaders are no longer the whipping boy of the NAC or the old LMC.  Gone are the days of 'gimme' wins against the small Baptist College.  They return a good core of players and have some size to go along with their underrated athleticism.  They won't be sneaking up on anyone this year.   

Lakeland-The Muskies could turn things around this season if they stay healthy and play together.  They get Jake Schwarz back for his 3rd Senior year after 2 ACL surgeries.  The Muskies brought in a solid group of youngsters last year and will hopefully find some senior leadership to lead the Muskies back to the upper ranks of the NAC.

ON WISCONSIN!   

[Just Bill]

Here is the preseason poll in case you missed it...

2011-12 Northern Athletics Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll
NORTH DIVISION
1. Concordia Wisconsin (7), 64
2. Edgewood (5), 63
3. Lakeland, 52
4. Marian, 33
5. Wisconsin Lutheran, 23
6. Maranatha, 17

SOUTH DIVISION
1. Aurora (8), 68
2. Benedictine (4), 63
3. MSOE, 46
4. Concordia Chicago, 30
5. Dominican, 26
6. Rockford, 19

first-place votes in parentheses
voted by the conference's 12 head coaches
6-5-4-3-2-1 point scale used for each division

http://www.northernac.org/sports/mbkb/2011-12/releases/2011102706dk4r

[Gregory Sager]

I do think however that both Edgewood and CUW will make the NCAA tournament.

That would be a first. Neither the NAthC nor its two predecessors, the Northern Illinois and Iowa Conference and the Lake Michigan Conference, have ever placed two teams in the D3 tourney.

[Just Bill]

I do think however that both Edgewood and CUW will make the NCAA tournament.

That would be a first. Neither the NAthC nor its two predecessors, the Northern Illinois and Iowa Conference and the Lake Michigan Conference, have ever placed two teams in the D3 tourney.

Except for.... LAST SEASON. CUW and Benedictine both made the tournament.

(I think I got one up on Greg!)

[Gregory Sager]

Indeed, you did.

Score one point for Bill, and one brain fart for Greg.

[ausid]

Sager,

In the former NIIC (Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference) both Aurora and Rockford (2001-2002) and Aurora and Benedictine (2000-2001) made the NCAA tournament in the same years. In 01-02 Aurora won the opening round game at Trinity and Rockford had a bye into the 2nd round.

[Gregory Sager]

You're right, except that the year Aurora and Rockford both made it was 2002-03, not 2001-02.

Nevertheless, the moral of the story for me is: Double-check the record book before you hit "post", even when you think you know what you're talking about. 

[BadgerFan42]

I think it's very likely both Edgewood and CUW make the NCAA Tourny, both teams have Tournament qaulity rosters and schedules that will prepare them for post season play

[BadgerFan42]

TIP-OFF Night!!!

Edgewood@Lake Forest
CUW@UW-La Crosse
Marian@Ripon
CUC@Manchester College
Benedictine@Knox College
WLC@Silver Lake College
Dominican@Univ. of Chicago
Aurora@Augustana

There are my picks, the NAC goes 3-5 on opening night

[Just Bill]

Edgewood beats Lake Forest 61-54. Wisniewski with 16, Nkemnji with 15.

Chicago beats Dominican 92-80

WLC beats Silver Lake 81-55.

CUW beats UW-La Crosse 63-57 (Always nice to beat a WIAC team).

Benedictine beats Knox 69-63.

Manchester beats CUC 63-47.

Augustana is up 15 on Aurora with about 8 to go.

Rockford leads Millikin by 6 with 11 to go.