MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[ExBBaller40]

My midweek blog where I discuss things that frustrate me with post play, as well as debuting by "Picks to Click" in the 5 Worth the Price of Admission section and much, much more http://diiihoopsblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/midweek-blog-10-airing-of-grievances.html

Agree with the fact that the NAC is down this year, especially in the South. It's just a bunch of bad to mediocre teams in the South beating up on each other. But really the whole league is down because of the graduating talent that left the conference the past couple of years.

[BadgerFan42]

DEAD MESSAGE BOARD ALERT

My picks for tonight:
Benedictine over WLC in a close one
Dominican over CUC
CUW over MSOE
Aurora over Rockford

My upset pick:
Edgewood over Marian at the EdgeDome!!!!

[Captain_Joe08]

Bah the board was taking a nap....

2/6

WLC over BU: WLC clinches a tournament spot and keeps pace with Dominican for for second place in the South.
Dominican over CUC: CUC just wants the season to end.
Aurora over Rockford: Aurora gives WLC a gift here by knocking Rockford out of a third place tie.
CUW over MSOE: MSOE is slipping at the wrong time but....
Marian over Edgewood: ...it won't really matter because Marian helps them clinch a spot in the tournament.

[ExBBaller40]

My midweek blog which gets me caught up (I've been tons busy with work and personal stuff) on whats going down in the conferences as well as other stuff in the NathCon, WIAC and MWC http://diiihoopsblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/midweek-blog-11-catching-up.html

A couple of must win games this weekend against teams at the bottom of the South with teams at the Top of the North with CUW going against Wisconsin Lutheran and Marian going up against BenU (Who is somehow, miraculously alive). CUW and Marian are both battling for that No. 2 spot and possibly the No. 1 should Lakeland falter again.

[BadgerFan42]

Things are going to come down to the wire again this year.

Tues.

Hoping for chaos...
Benedictine pulls a fast one on Rockford
WLC loses a close one at CUC
CUW guts another out at MBBC
Aurora handles Dominican
Marian beats Lakeland in the final minutes
Edgewood wins the season finale against MSOE

[ExBBaller40]

Here is my weekend blog taking a look at BenU-Marian and CUW-WLC as well as games from the MWC and WIAC http://diiihoopsblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/weekend-analysis-9-nitty-gritty.html.

I am also hoping for chaos this week just like Badger Fan...to think that BenU would have a shot at the conference tournament two weeks ago would've just been insane. But there they are controlling half of their destiny against Rockford.

I'm going to go out and say that losing Maranatha is a good thing for this conference because the divisions mess a lot of things up as far as seeding stuff goes. I mean Marian and MSOE getting between a 5 and 8 seed while Dominican gets a three or four seed with a mediocre record is just a travesty. When it goes back to not having divisions next year, this will all go away.

This isn't even the first year that this has happened

[RFMichigan]

Here are my picks for the last regular season slate:
Aurora big over Dominican
CUW gives a rude farewell to Maranatha
Benedictine gets by Rockford
MSOE defeats Edgewood
Lakeland tunes up for the tourney by handling Marian
I'm going with WLC over CUC. WLC is playing to make the tournament - a huge motivation - and CUC is finished after Tuesday. However, CUC is playing a little better recently, and this could be a nail-biter for WLC. (I think that finally figuring out who the players are and which combinations work has helped them somewhat, but they still don't have the overall talent to compete on a night in-night out basis.)

How many other conferences in the nation have a two division setup? I like the idea of playing everybody twice, but will the NAC be able to do that, or are they going to have to go the Big 10 route and play SOME of the teams twice a season but others only once. That I really don't care for either.

[Just Bill]

Next year will be a full double round-robin with no divisions. 20 conference games for the men, 22 conference games for the women.

[ExBBaller40]

That is going to be tough to schedule any kind of non-conference schedule. That lengthy conference schedule maybe only gives you the chance to schedule four, maybe five if you can find a decent spot or a tournament, non-conference games.

For those looking to build a resume at a possible pool C bid, which is obviously difficult to do in the NAC (only happened once in NAC history if I remember correctly, which would've been my senior year with Benedictine and Concordia-Wisconsin making it.) that leaves a limited window and a limited range of possibilities.

Also surprised that they didn't go to an 18-game schedule like it was in the first two years of the conference when they didn't have divisions. Kind of interesting.

[ExBBaller40]

NAC tiebreakers for tomorrow's games...and please correct me if I'm wrong on any of these especially on my quick tangent

http://diiihoopsblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/blog-special-2-nac-tiebreaker-scenarios.html

In other words the South is going to be fun to watch tomorrow.

But in all seriousness though, if what I'm seeing is correct on the conference website, that Dominican is the No. 3 seed because they beat Concordia-Wisconsin head to head because there is no crossover games this year? If it is I'm speechless.

[Greek Tragedy]

Next year will be a full double round-robin with no divisions. 20 conference games for the men, 22 conference games for the women.

*applauding*

The best and most fair way. NESCAC take note. The MIAC  does it.

[RFMichigan]

That is going to be tough to schedule any kind of non-conference schedule. That lengthy conference schedule maybe only gives you the chance to schedule four, maybe five if you can find a decent spot or a tournament, non-conference games.

For those looking to build a resume at a possible pool C bid, which is obviously difficult to do in the NAC (only happened once in NAC history if I remember correctly, which would've been my senior year with Benedictine and Concordia-Wisconsin making it.) that leaves a limited window and a limited range of possibilities.

Good point. This got me to thinking (about time).

I'm going to use CUC and Marian as an examples for a little exercise. Both teams currently play a 16 game conference schedule. For a 20 game conference schedule, there have to be four more conference games scheduled. If there are not any extra games added to the overall schedule, there would have to be four fewer non-conference games.

1) What is the purpose of the non-conference schedule? (I'm going to give my answer in bold as if I were the czar AD for an "average" NAC conference team.
Is it:
a) to prepare your team for its conference season? Yes

b)  to get your new players a chance to get acclimated with the veterans before the conference season begins? Yes
      This season, CUC and Marian both played only four (4) non-conference games before they played their first conference game. (Since there are so many teams in the conference already, they all have to start their conference season well before Christmas anyway.) 
     Are four games enough to acclimate your players to each other and/or to prepare your team for conference play? Well, even if they aren't you're not getting many more than that with a double round robin schedule unless you cut down the amount of conference games - and that's not going to happen unless the conference totally splits in two- or add more overall games. You could play less than four non-conference games before the conference season starts, but I doubt the coaches would like that.


c) to give your student-athletes an opportunity to play more games than your conference season allows? Yes
      If you expand your conference games and reduce your non-conference games, the number of games played is the same.   

d) to give your team a "break" in the middle of the conference season from the conference grind? No. (I don't think the CCIW or MIAA teams do this. Once the conference season starts, you're in it for the long haul.)
        Of the other non-conference games that CUC and Marian played after the conference schedule began, Marian played five: Dubuque, Martin Luther, St. Norbert and Northwestern MN (in a tournament), and Northland. CUC played five: Roosevelt, Eureka, Robert Morris, and two other Concordias. If you stay with the scenario that you must cut out four non-conference games to make room for the extra conference games, you get to keep one more of these latter non-conference games on your schedule. Are there any of these games that are "must-plays" for either school?
     I see two issues here: a) are there any "rivalry" games that you absolutely can't play before the conference season starts? and b) what about "reward" tournaments to warm, sunny climes? (Personally I would hate for the Concordias to have to give up the Concordia Invitational Tournament, but that's another story)

e) to build a resume for a Pool C bid? No. The NAC has gotten precious few of those in the past anyhow, although CUW did get one last year as well as the one mentioned in the post below.

2) Is the purpose of non-conference play the same from conference to conference? From team to team? From year to year?
     I'd be interested to hear any thoughts from other posters.

3) Does distance of travel within the conference and cost of such travel effect the number of non-conference games?

     For CUC (or Marian), are an extra two or three trips to the Wisconsin (or Illinois) schools per year (remembering that if you play those schools twice instead of once, half of those "extra" games will be at home) going to be more of an economic impact than playing the five non-conference "mid-season" games you're playing now? I'm thinking no.
     
Right now I'm leaning toward "20 game double round-robin is a good better thing than the current setup or a Big 10 type schedule, fewer non-conference games or not.

Now about the women and that 22 game conference schedule . . .

[Just Bill]

I would wager most men's teams will play three non-conference games before the NAC schedule starts. That leaves two to play for a Christmas break tournament. Most teams don't want their first game after Christmas break to be a conference game.

It will be harder for the women, especially if they want to travel to a tournament.

[Gregory Sager]

Next year will be a full double round-robin with no divisions. 20 conference games for the men, 22 conference games for the women.

*applauding*

The best and most fair way. NESCAC take note. The MIAC  does it.

Agreed. There's really only two fair ways to schedule a conference slate. Either make it a double round-robin within divisions and a single round-robin across divisions, which is how the NAthC currently does it, or eliminate divisions altogether and make it a double round-robin for everybody, which is what the NAthC is now going to do it.

This actually goes against my self-interest, as this move will make it harder for CCIW teams to find non-conference foes. But I applaud the NAthC for doing the right thing.

Of the other non-conference games that CUC and Marian played after the conference schedule began, Marian played five: Dubuque, Martin Luther, St. Norbert and Northwestern MN (in a tournament), and Northland. CUC played five: Roosevelt, Eureka, Robert Morris, and two other Concordias.

How much of an institutional investment does CUC have in taking part in that annual Battle of the Four Concordias tourney? Is it a case of the school's administration telling the coach, "We need to show the flag whenever there's a get-together of Missouri Synod schools," thus forcing him to put that tourney on CUC's schedule? Or does he have the ability to abandon that tourney at his discretion?

[RFMichigan]

How much of an institutional investment does CUC have in taking part in that annual Battle of the Four Concordias tourney? Is it a case of the school's administration telling the coach, "We need to show the flag whenever there's a get-together of Missouri Synod schools," thus forcing him to put that tourney on CUC's schedule? Or does he have the ability to abandon that tourney at his discretion?

That, Greg, is an excellent question. For us old-timers, when CIT was a tournament which featured, literally, brother against brother, former high school teammates playing against each other, former college teammates playing against each other, and future professional colleagues playing against each other, it was a BIG DEAL.  Now, I'm not so sure.