MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

I went to 4 of those games....and Carroll vs Dubuque. The atmosphere at the Ripon game was really nice. Loud, vocal, student section.

[Greek Tragedy]

If anyone is interested in following my adventures in the Wisconsin D3 Basketball Challenge, I moved the thread to the multi regional section since it is multi regional after all. It mostly involves teams from the WIAC, MWC, NACC and the two Wisconsin based CCIW teams.

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=9368.0

[Greek Tragedy]

Entertaining game last night in Mequon. Weird how Con WI first game of the season is a conference game.

https://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2022-23/boxscores/20221115_32ey.xml?view=boxscore

https://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2022-23/contrib/20221116i2hc6v

I traveled south down Interstate 43 to Mequon last night to catch the Concordia WI v Concordia Chicago game. It was the NACC opener for both and, interestingly, it was the host's season opener as well. I think it kind of sucks to have your first game a conference game, but I'll leave that up to Concordia's scheduling gurus.

Of the 6 games I've been to, it was, by far, the best, most competitive game. The only game won by single digits...87-85 to the southsiders. I don't think there was a lead larger than single digits.

Jared Jurss went to the line with less than 3 seconds left down 3 and made the 1st FT. After a timeout, I'm pretty sure he tried to miss the 2nd one, but it rolled in. Con WI still had a chance after fouling right away. Con Chicago missed the 1st, but made the 2nd. A 3/4 court desperation heave wasn't even close and Con Chicago escaped with the win.

[Captain_Joe08]

Yeah it seems the CUC basketball programs at this point may have a slight leg up on the CUW programs. I think it may be a bit more even as the season goes on.

[Greek Tragedy]

Gym #7 found me in Fond du Lac with Marian hosting #23 ranked Elmhurst. An electric crowd welcomed the visitors. Marian more than handled their opponents and lead by 3 at the break. It could've been more. They were up 6 with the ball with about 8 seconds left. However, they coughed the ball up on the inbounds play and Elmhurst ended up with a "and-1" play.

Marian increased their lead in the 2nd half, but that's when Elmhurst went on a huge run and basically put the game away. The taller, more athletic visitors dominated the boards. It was still an uncomfortable 10 point lead with about 5 minutes to go, but the Sabres just ran out of gas.

Sadoff gym is really small. There is literally no walk way between the stands and the player bench and between the wall and the end lines. If play was going on, you'd feel uncomfortable trying to walk past either spots. It was a nice intimate gym as the crowd was literally on top of the players. The Marian fans were a treat and the student section filled up most of the opposite side stands. This site says Sadoff holds 1100. The box score says there were just over 400. There's no way you're getting another 400 in there, let alone 700 to make up the 1100 capacity.

I mentioned this on Twitter. Have you ever seen Saved By the Bell? You remember the basketball game scenes? This reminded me of that...almost like the court was smaller than it was supposed to be, like on the show. It's definitely not a criticism. I'd rather have 500 fans at Sadoff than 500 fans at WLC's Tex Center that apparently holds 2500.

Find the public Facebook group: Wisconsin D3 Basketball Challenge and check out some pictures or follow me on Twitter @greektragedy08

[Greek Tragedy]

Edgewood up 39-36 on Stevens Point. No stopping big Jake Schroeckenthaler. 12 and 9 so far.

[Second Wind]

Looking forward to CUC's game at Carroll this Tuesday. Cougars are off to fine 3-0 start including road wins at Loras and Concordia Wisconsin. Scoring has been very balanced and defense is forcing lots of turnovers. Should be a fun team to watch this season!

[Second Wind]

CUC 73, Carroll 67. Cougars now 4-0 but not before a few anxious moments late. It was business as usual in the first half as CUC forced the hosts into several turnovers and built a 20-point lead. However, the Pioneers cleaned things up at halftime, hit some threes and made a game of it. Carroll got as close as five before the visitors wrapped up their third road win.

Jordan Matthews led the Cougars with 18 points. The team now has a week off before traveling to Edgewood next Tuesday.

[Greek Tragedy]

Lakeland won again, moving to 3-0. They beat Martin Luther 104-75 as AC player Cam Jaeger made his season debut with 28. I'm not getting too excited yet because the Muskies have been beating up on perennial bottom-feeders Finlandia and Martin Luther, and Lake Forest is 1-4.

[RFMichigan]

I think that this year's NACC conference race will be just as tight as last year's; maybe an even more balanced conference than last year. It will, of course, shake itself out, but the conference has had some good non-conference showings so far.

[Greek Tragedy]

Greenville comes to my Alma Mater next week. They may not be good, but Greenville can still be fun to watch. Stout's Brody Fox scored 70 against Greenville. I don't see any of Lakeland's players doing that, but it would be nice to see Oostburg graduate (my kid goes there) Cam Jaeger score some points.

[Second Wind]

CUC 79, Edgewood 78. Cougars now 5-0, 2-0 NACC.

After sweating out the USMNT win earlier today, I thought the Cougars would make it easy on me when they took a 19-point lead midway through the second half. But the Eagles came soaring back behind Traeder and Schroeckenthaler to take a late lead. It was William Bishop-Green to the rescue with two buckets that tied and then gave CUC the lead. Jordan Matthews scored the next four points at the FT line, and that was enough to withstand a last second three. Always good to have the ball in Matthews' hands in a close game!

Cougars home to IIT on Saturday. Looks like they had a barn burner v Aurora tonight.

[RFMichigan]

Justin Greenlee missed the entire second half for CUC. I don't think it's a coincidence that Edgewood made their comeback with him out.

[Second Wind]

Busy Opening Night on the NACC. Anyone have thoughts on the other conference games?

at Marian 76, Rockford 64
Aurora 78 at IIT 76
Benedictine 78 at Dominican 63
at WLC 88, CUW 73
St. Norbert 95 at Lakeland 56
MSOE idle

[RFMichigan]

Busy Opening Night on the NACC. Anyone have thoughts on the other conference games?

at Marian 76, Rockford 64
Aurora 78 at IIT 76
Benedictine 78 at Dominican 63
at WLC 88, CUW 73
St. Norbert 95 at Lakeland 56
MSOE idle

I know St. Norbert was voted #1 in the conference pre-season poll, but that is quite a score vs. Lakeland.