WBB: American Rivers Conference

[hoop_junkie]

Yea, I agree. Good to be able to talk some hoops. I've seen a probably 5 or 6 of their games this year over the internet. The game that stands out in my mind was Coe @ UD. UD seemed to have Coe figured out matchup wise. I do like Coe's team though. They have some talented players. Any idea why Anciaux comes off the bench this year? And I know Brittany Norris left the team but does anyone know of her whereabouts?

[Bird Dog]

Yea, I agree. Good to be able to talk some hoops. I've seen a probably 5 or 6 of their games this year over the internet. The game that stands out in my mind was Coe @ UD. UD seemed to have Coe figured out matchup wise. I do like Coe's team though. They have some talented players. Any idea why Anciaux comes off the bench this year? And I know Brittany Norris left the team but does anyone know of her whereabouts?

Keep in mind that I don't have access to videos of the games to analyze them, but I think U.D. and the first Cornell game used similar defensive schemes.  That with somewhat less than stellar (fill in the blank just about anything will work here) caused most of the problems.  

My wife and I have asked the same question about Anciaux.  Norris is still at Coe. Just not playing ball.  She was at the last game and seemed quite happy.

[Bird Dog]

West Region Record Overall Record
1. George Fox 11-1 17-2
2. Puget Sound 11-2 16-3
3. Cal Lutheran 14-3 14-4
4. Gustavus Adolphus 15-2 15-3
5. Simpson 13-2 18-3
6. Concordia-Moorhead 13-4 13-5

The NCAA Division III regional ratings were released Feb 3.  Records are as of Feb.1.  They also have a PDF version that rates all West Region teams.  It appeared Whitworth College was the only team with power ratings above the top teams in the IIAC.

[Kohawk Krazy]

No predictions today, as the Kohawks are off, but I will say one thing...

Go Knights!!!

I can't believe I just said that....

[doolittledog]

I have the Cornell webcast going.  

Dubuque up on Cornell 46-39 8 minutes left in the game...or regulation I suppose I should say.

Dubuque wins by 12 @ Cornell.  I think the final was 62-50 or something close to that.  Score is already off the website.   

[hoop_junkie]

Watched the Cornell/UD game and Central/Luther game simultaneously. UD and Luther both get wins. The battle for the 7-8-9 spots starting to shake out. One observation from the UD game...Mollie Whiting has got to be the best freshman in the IIAC. Very tough off the dribble and plays with a lot of poise for a freshman, very impressive!

[doolittledog]

Watched the Cornell/UD game and Central/Luther game simultaneously. UD and Luther both get wins. The battle for the 7-8-9 spots starting to shake out. One observation from the UD game...Mollie Whiting has got to be the best freshman in the IIAC. Very tough off the dribble and plays with a lot of poise for a freshman, very impressive!

As a UD fan, that is good news.  The story on Coach Noll is he is a very good recruiter.  Hopefully the Spartan women can start to be a constistant top level IIAC team. 

[Kohawk Krazy]

Watched the Cornell/UD game and Central/Luther game simultaneously. UD and Luther both get wins. The battle for the 7-8-9 spots starting to shake out. One observation from the UD game...Mollie Whiting has got to be the best freshman in the IIAC. Very tough off the dribble and plays with a lot of poise for a freshman, very impressive!

Does the battle for 7-8-9 really matter?  They are all done in about 2 weeks.  The real battle to be talking about is the 1-2-3 battle!

[Bird Dog]

Krazy, did you mean the race for second third and fourth?  I don't see Simpson losing two out of three to let someone tie them for first.  They have BV @ home and Coe and Dubuque on the road.    

Coe is @ Wartburg and BV, home against Simpson and Central.  Three of the top four teams.  Could be a rough two weeks.  I don't see Coe winning out.  Wartburg and Simpson look tough to win and Coe hasn't come close on the road at BV the last two years and only won by two at home this year.

The tornament seeding will be, 1. Simpson  2. Wartburg  3. Coe  4. Buena Vista    
5. Dubuque  6. Loras.    

[hoop_junkie]

Watched the Cornell/UD game and Central/Luther game simultaneously. UD and Luther both get wins. The battle for the 7-8-9 spots starting to shake out. One observation from the UD game...Mollie Whiting has got to be the best freshman in the IIAC. Very tough off the dribble and plays with a lot of poise for a freshman, very impressive!

As a UD fan, that is good news.  The story on Coach Noll is he is a very good recruiter.  Hopefully the Spartan women can start to be a constistant top level IIAC team. 

The NCAA just recently made it okay for D3 coaches to coach AAU again in the summer. I wonder if Coach Noll will be getting back into that scene? If so, that could be quite an advantage for UD and for other schools whose coaches have access to AAU teams.

[Kohawk Krazy]

Krazy, did you mean the race for second third and fourth?  I don't see Simpson losing two out of three to let someone tie them for first.  They have BV @ home and Coe and Dubuque on the road.    

Coe is @ Wartburg and BV, home against Simpson and Central.  Three of the top four teams.  Could be a rough two weeks.  I don't see Coe winning out.  Wartburg and Simpson look tough to win and Coe hasn't come close on the road at BV the last two years and only won by two at home this year.

The tornament seeding will be, 1. Simpson  2. Wartburg  3. Coe  4. Buena Vista    
5. Dubuque  6. Loras.    

My take on Tourney Seeds with Records in IIAC:

1. Simpson 14-2
2. Coe 13-3
3. Wartburg 12-4
4. Buena Vista 9-7
5. Loras 8-8
6. Dubuque 8-8
7. Luther 4-12
8. Cornell 2-14
9. Central 2-14

[hoop_junkie]

Predicted finish order:

Simpson 15-1   1st  Far and away the best IIAC team. Might get beat if they shoot poorly and turn it over on the road.
Coe    12-4 2nd    Has some good talent/depth and plays pretty good D, which will help them down the stretch.
Wartburg    12-4 2nd  Success depends on scoring from Hempen and Harrington. Don't score a lot inside.
UD    10-5 4th  Interesting group. Tough to beat when they shoot well. Also have pretty decent depth.
BV    8-7 5th  Muhlbauer always gets hers and when Hauswirth scores they put up pts in a hurry. Suspect defensive team.
Loras    7-9 6th  Had some ups and downs this year. Will have to get hot down the stretch to stay out of the 6th seed.
Luther    4-12 7th Scrappy team, plays hard but lacks depth. If Jewell or Stenhaug ever went down they'd be in trouble.
Cornell    3-13 8th  Young team that has shown flashes. Lidd is a staple in the middle and they have some capable shoters.
Central    1-15 9th  Not overly talented and play no D. Bad combo!!!

Should be an exciting finish. There are a number of great matchups that could go either way for teams 2-6. This is a time of year where teams that are playing well generally keep rolling and teams that are up and down go in the tank.

[hoop_junkie]

Also, while we're on the subject of recruiting. Who does Coach Niemuth know down in AZ that keeps feeding him players? I remember a couple years ago they had that one girl who was their 6th player from AZ and she was like a 23 or 24 year old sophomore. And now they have that Bledsoe kid who is undoubtedly the fastest player in the IIAC. She completely keys their uptempo style. I know doolittle mentioned Coach Noll and there are some others in this league who've done well recruiting but nobody really gives Simpson a whole lot of credit for the great recruiting job they've done. They just seem to reload every year. I would be interested to know how a JUCO kid from AZ ends up at SC.

[hoop_junkie]

Conference rankings in D3 WBB...IIAC coming in at 3rd out of 49 leagues. Also of note, Simpson has the #1 offense in the country according to masseyratings.com

1 Wisconsin IAC 9 54 26 0.157 3.18 65.62 1.50 1.82 0.5787
2 NE Smalls 10 100 28 0.064 1.27 63.27 1.93 2.55 0.3518
3 Iowa IAC 9 46 35 -0.080 -1.44 65.89 -3.40 1.69 0.4447
4 University AA 8 66 21 -0.083 -2.51 61.23 0.19 3.68 0.4456
5 Northwest 9 39 40 -0.092 -1.98 61.22 0.73 2.86 0.3960
6 Ill & Wisc 8 51 36 -0.122 -3.38 62.76 -2.21 2.16 0.3159
7 Little East 8 60 26 -0.217 -4.52 58.84 0.57 3.45 0.4384
8 Minnesota IAC 12 15 23 -0.218 -4.95 61.55 -2.56 2.12 0.4457
9 Centennial 11 32 17 -0.311 -6.99 58.24 -1.29 1.04 0.4224
10 Michigan IAA 9 37 39 -0.370 -8.35 57.40 -1.81 2.30 0.3810
11 New Jersey A.C. 10 64 47 -0.371 -8.05 58.69 -2.81 2.06 0.2879
12 Midwest 10 38 29 -0.383 -8.70 59.17 -3.94 4.07 0.3925
13 Ohio AC 10 37 32 -0.394 -8.88 60.41 -5.35 2.14 0.4765
14 Landmark 8 58 27 -0.396 -9.40 58.16 -3.63 2.65 0.3453
15 NAIA 1 429 346 -0.410 -6.84 58.94 -1.84 2.71 1.0000
15 NAIA II 1 392 462 -0.410 -6.84 58.94 -1.84 2.71 1.0000
15 California Pacific 1 26 69 -0.410 -6.84 58.94 -1.84 2.71 1.0000
18 American SW 15 32 28 -0.416 -9.29 59.82 -5.17 4.76 0.3844
19 Mid Atlantic 15 80 66 -0.443 -9.72 57.76 -3.54 3.08 0.4262
20 Southern CAC 12 60 41 -0.449 -9.78 61.60 -7.45 4.68 0.4113
21 Capital 9 38 34 -0.497 -11.21 55.23 -2.50 2.58 0.3718
22 Southern Cal IAC 8 55 31 -0.524 -12.00 56.67 -4.73 1.35 0.3294
23 Empire 8 9 40 34 -0.552 -12.07 56.12 -4.25 1.45 0.4531
24 Liberty League 8 40 40 -0.582 -13.42 54.95 -4.44 1.51 0.5336
25 Mass St 7 48 35 -0.614 -14.25 55.70 -6.02 4.02 0.5582
26 Presidents' AC 10 37 32 -0.624 -13.68 55.43 -5.17 3.95 0.4458
27 Old Dominion AC 11 23 26 -0.649 -14.33 56.19 -6.59 2.11 0.3927
28 NCAA 438 433 283 -0.675 -15.03 55.53 -6.62 2.65 0.3514
28 NCAA III 438 255 294 -0.675 -15.03 55.53 -6.62 2.65 0.3514
30 Heartland CAC 9 31 47 -0.680 -14.68 56.60 -7.35 3.32 0.4666
31 SUNY AC 10 31 37 -0.683 -15.01 53.94 -5.01 2.17 0.4419
32 USA South 10 34 25 -0.685 -15.75 56.02 -7.83 2.74 0.3621
33 Northern Athletic 13 28 48 -0.704 -15.51 54.28 -5.86 1.53 0.4702
34 Upper Midwest 8 33 45 -0.773 -17.29 52.92 -6.27 0.46 0.3840
35 North Coast AC 9 30 48 -0.786 -17.36 54.64 -8.07 2.44 0.4313
36 NE W&M 10 25 38 -0.823 -18.27 50.12 -4.45 1.43 0.4094
37 Commonwealth Coast 14 82 75 -0.904 -20.32 52.53 -8.92 2.84 0.4276
38 Colonial States 11 44 50 -0.953 -20.91 54.53 -11.51 2.59 0.3217
39 St Louis IAC 10 32 62 -0.968 -21.37 53.38 -10.81 3.08 0.4587
40 Skyline 10 34 27 -1.064 -24.10 50.40 -10.56 2.02 0.3038
41 Great Northeast 13 75 84 -1.082 -24.16 51.72 -11.94 1.98 0.3436
42 Allegheny Mtn 11 18 32 -1.149 -25.55 50.52 -12.13 2.07 0.3021
43 City Univ NY 10 36 66 -1.150 -25.04 51.63 -12.73 1.55 0.3369
44 Great South 8 22 45 -1.248 -27.07 50.47 -13.60 4.63 0.2929
45 NCAA III Ind 21 98 222 -1.318 -28.87 48.58 -13.51 2.26 0.2571
46 North Atlantic 8 30 49 -1.338 -29.88 49.54 -15.48 4.28 0.3802
47 Pennsylvania AC 1 4 14 -1.351 -29.69 40.74 -6.49 3.57 1.0000
48 North Eastern AC 11 29 53 -1.550 -34.72 43.81 -14.59 4.72 0.3654
49 New England CC 9 14 57 -1.941 -43.08 39.69 -18.83 2.54 0.3491

[doolittledog]

I loves me some stats...thanks h_j