MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[WLCALUM83]

From what I've read, Edgewood's got a better chance than Dominican, but both teams appear to be on the outside looking in. The Eagles would have to win out and get a lot of out-of-region help.

Unless something drastic happens, though, also heard that Aurora's got a good chance of getting in.

(Keep checking the Pool B and Pool C Men's Boards over the next week or so.)

[libero]

first off, I have to say thank you to you all for not just ripping into us cursaders every chance you/we give you too.

I hope this school can turn it around, and soon.

anyway, I believe that it will come down to EC vs. AU for the champ.

No one has ripped MBBC on this board for a long time. . .it would help if you could at least spell Crusaders. As a Maranatha fan, the problem is not posters trashing Maranatha - that would be kind of fun, but rather the fact that no one really cares about Maranatha anymore. They have become a complete non-factor. I would rather be hated than ignored.

That said, I think the women's side of the NAC tourney might be more interesting than the men's side this year.

[WLCALUM83]

Dominican's up by 17 with less than 1 1/2 minutes left:

[WLCALUM83]

Final:  Lakeland 51, WLC 50. (Ouch!)

WLC's M Biesterfeld and L Rundel miss the back end of 2 shot-free throw opportunities, then M Zondag gets called for a charge. Muskies' M Rogers misses a couple of free throws and a last second heave by C Lindberg misses.

This poster half expected something of the kind, however.

I'd say the three most costly regular season in-conference losses were the following:

1-- vs. Benedictine at home.

2-- vs. Dominican at home. (difficult when you're 23 points down in 2nd half.)

3-- vs. Edgewood on the road.


Had they won all three of those games they would have been in position to earn a first-round bye.

Again, after their early to mid-season in-conference slump, there was a good chance they'd have missed the playoffs had they not won their last regular season in-conference home games and upset Aurora at home. They still made a good showing their first year in the NAthCon.

[WLCALUM83]

NAthCon Semi-Final Projections:

Edgewood over Dominican:  (Too close to call if WI Eagles' C DeMarco doesn't play).

Aurora over Lakeland:  (Even more so if the Spartans are hitting their 3's.)

[Big_Uns]

I think Lakeland is still improving as the season moves on and I expect a closer game than the one some witnessed earlier this season. Matt Rogers hasn't hit 10 points the last two games, a rout of Marian and, in my opinion a very impressive win at WLC, but the Muskies have still won. Rogers didn't play at all in the first half tonight and the Muskies still ran out to a double digit halftime lead. Danny Ehnert and Tyrone Coleman have been amazingly good the last couple games. The team as a whole is rebounding the ball better than they have all season. The key to Lakeland's success is being careful with the ball. If Lakeland limits the turnovers, they're a very very dangerous team.

And speaking of season changing losses, Lakeland was ahead by 16 at halftime against Edgewood and lost, lost in overtime at Marian, lost on free throws with no time on the clock at Dominican, and went cold for 3 of the final 4 minutes at WLC a week ago and lost by 6. They could've easily been looking at the second seed, too. No matter who wins though, Lakeland has to like its chances for next season graduating only one player in Coleman.

In my mind, Lakeland can give Welton all the points he wants, it's getting Mike Leonard in foul trouble like they did the first two games and keeping Dusty Magee from getting open looks around the three-point line that will win the game.

[FrSamuel]

I have to jump in on the close losses keeping a team from getting the two-seed.  Almost any team in the conference can make that claim because of the parity within the conference.  Look at Dominican for example, they played a six overtime games this season, five against conference opponents.  They are currently sitting on a 17-9 overall record and could very easily be looking at a 20-win season if they didn't fall by two at Marian (in regulation), to Wisconsin Lutheran at home in overtime, at Edgewood by one in overtime and at home to Aurora by three.  As a matter of fact, their only really convincing defeats were at Aurora and at Benedictine.  The rest of the season all of their losses were either in overtime or by no more than five points (excluding against Coe when they were ahead by six at the half.

The flip-side of that story though is that Dominican also won nine games by fewer than 10 points or in overtime.  That shows how close they were to a.500 season as opposed to being 17-9.

[WLCALUM83]

Concordia-WI also had 7 real close in-conference games--5 of which the Falcons lost. They win 3 of the 5 they lost and at least they stay in contention for a post-season conference tournament berth.

[FrSamuel]

That's exactly what I'm saying.  The parity in the NAC creates an atmosphere where a lot of schools have very little separation between them.  Marian and Benedictine probably also feel like they could have finished better than in a tie for sixth.  Benedictine played the final two and a half weeks pretty much without their two highest scorers in Swanson and Bailey.  That really could devastate any team filled with no seniors and mostly freshman and sophomores.

[WLCALUM83]

wizbegs:

As far as NAthCon freshman team of the year I agree with most of your picks, except I'd give CUW's Ulrich a slight edge over Marian's J Holewinski (sp). Everyone else would stay the same.

[luv d3hoops]

Will AU be givin a B or C poll bid if they win the division.

[FrSamuel]

Aurora is eligible for a Pool B bid since the NAC doesn't have an automatic qualifier.  That is most likely the bid they will get.  I would think that even if they don't win the conference, they would still get their bid - be it as one of 4 Pool B's or 18 Pool C's (per the front page article).

[Gregory Sager]

Aurora will be in the tourney as a Pool B entry. Make book on it, because the Pool B teams are picked before the Pool C teams. Just follow the conversation and check out the numbers posted in the "Bumblin' B's" room under the Multi-Regional Topics header. The Spartans are a stone-cold lock to get into the dance as the first Pool B pick.

[NICNAC]

Hey Greg,

What are the chances that Dominican receive a bid to the tournament, lets say they win out and beat Aurora for the NAC championship. Does that give them any credit?

[WLCALUM83]

Edgewood announcers report the following:

Aurora 86, Lakeland 72  Final.