WBB: American Rivers Conference

Klompen · February 09, 2010, 02:31:41 PM

Quote from: hoop_junkie on February 08, 2010, 10:23:59 PM
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.

I think that Central actually has a few talented players and they were playing teams well early in the season. Guess I can't argue with the idea that teams that are up and down, or in our case, simply down, go in the tank though. Central doesn't seem to be playing with any fire, even though a couple of girls are raising their individual game at times.

Jerry Nikkel was very good as a high school boys coach, but maybe he doesn't have what it takes as a college women's coach. It would be fun to see Scott De Jong from Ankeny take over the team his daughter played on in college and Central is his alma mater. I'm not sure if Nikkel is still the "interim" head coach or if he is the actual head coach now that it has been two years, but I would like to see him moving the program forward and I'm not seeing any signs of that happening, even though I think he has a few really good players.

hoop_junkie · February 09, 2010, 05:18:47 PM

Klompen, I agree that they have a couple nice players, but they would need more then they have to overcome where they're at. How hard does Nikkel recruit? I am just curious because I would think being in Pella, you would need to recruit awfully hard to draw kids to a smaller community like that. Not that it's a difficult sell, because it seems to be a nice school but I am just curious how hard their WBB staff hits the recruiting scene. If I were coaching there, I'd would try to recruit Minnesota heavily, in addition to recruiting all of Iowa. There are lots of good kids in Minnesota.

doolittledog · February 09, 2010, 06:21:14 PM

Quote from: hoop_junkie on February 09, 2010, 05:18:47 PM
Klompen, I agree that they have a couple nice players, but they would need more then they have to overcome where they're at. How hard does Nikkel recruit? I am just curious because I would think being in Pella, you would need to recruit awfully hard to draw kids to a smaller community like that. Not that it's a difficult sell, because it seems to be a nice school but I am just curious how hard their WBB staff hits the recruiting scene. If I were coaching there, I'd would try to recruit Minnesota heavily, in addition to recruiting all of Iowa. There are lots of good kids in Minnesota.

Mt. Vernon - 3,390
Decorah - 8,172
Waverly - 8,968
Pella - 9,832
Storm Lake - 10,076
Indianola - 12,998
Dubuque - 57,250
Cedar Rapids - 128,056

I've always thought Decorah, Waverly, Pella, Storm Lake, and Indianola were similar type communities. Good coaching and institutional support go a long ways towards attracting talented student athletes.

Bird Dog · February 09, 2010, 07:12:29 PM

I just checked the starters for the top three teams, only two from out of state. I didn't check all the rosters but, with the exception of the Dubuque colleges drawing from Wisconsin and Luther who draws several from Minnesota there are very few from out of state. You don't need to recruit out of state.

Hoop Junkie mentioned the girl that showed up at Simpson for one season. I have a feeling one winter was enough.

Pella has a lot to offer example: they get out of school for a couple of days for the Tulip Festival.

quote of the day
"Are you crying. There's no crying in Baseball." Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own.

I wanted to use this quote when Nikkel was the hot topic but didn't get to it. I think Nikkel is a good coach. I also think you need continuity in a program. The coaches from Simpson (23 yrs), BV (18 yrs) , and Luther (26yrs) have won all the Championships since 2003. Jane must have started coaching when she was thirteen. I thought she was only 39.

Kohawk Krazy · February 10, 2010, 12:52:21 PM

Here are the hot picks for tonight...

Buena Vista at Simpson - Would love for the Beavers to knock off the Storm, but I just don't see that happening.

Coe at Wartburg - Kohawks get a win here and put themselves in position to get a first round bye in the tournament. Don't expect a 32 point lashing like they gave the Knights last time, they'll have to earn this one.

Loras at Central - Duhawks take this, as I just can't see this Central team beating anyone.

Luther at Dubuque - Luther shouldn't be able to win this on the road.

hoop_junkie · February 10, 2010, 01:27:19 PM

Quote from: doolittledog on February 09, 2010, 06:21:14 PM
Quote from: hoop_junkie on February 09, 2010, 05:18:47 PM
Klompen, I agree that they have a couple nice players, but they would need more then they have to overcome where they're at. How hard does Nikkel recruit? I am just curious because I would think being in Pella, you would need to recruit awfully hard to draw kids to a smaller community like that. Not that it's a difficult sell, because it seems to be a nice school but I am just curious how hard their WBB staff hits the recruiting scene. If I were coaching there, I'd would try to recruit Minnesota heavily, in addition to recruiting all of Iowa. There are lots of good kids in Minnesota.

Mt. Vernon - 3,390
Decorah - 8,172
Waverly - 8,968
Pella - 9,832
Storm Lake - 10,076
Indianola - 12,998
Dubuque - 57,250
Cedar Rapids - 128,056

I've always thought Decorah, Waverly, Pella, Storm Lake, and Indianola were similar type communities. Good coaching and institutional support go a long ways towards attracting talented student athletes.

Indianola is right by Des Moines and Waverly is right by Cedar Falls. That is a big help in recruiting to those areas. Unless you grew up in a rural area, most kids don't want to go to college in small Iowa towns. I realize that most of Iowa is smaller communities but in order to get some of the caliber players that other schools are getting, Central in particular needs to branch out. And Luther's best player is from Minnesota so I don't see why you wouldn't go out of state if you were those schools. I agree that a quality coach and quality institution can help and that's most evident in Wartburg's case. Their campus, along with UD are the two nicest in the IIAC. That being said, the two Dubuque schools have a major advantage over the others in recruiting, being located on a tri-state border. It's easy to sell that distance to WI/Il kids and also being an Iowa institution they're able to go after any Iowa kids that they want.

Side note, Margo Muhlbauer of BV is 53 pts away from 2000 going into tonight. That's quite an accomplishment! IMO she should be POY in the IIAC.

doolittledog · February 10, 2010, 03:54:12 PM

Quote from: hoop_junkie on February 10, 2010, 01:27:19 PM

Indianola is right by Des Moines and Waverly is right by Cedar Falls. That is a big help in recruiting to those areas. Unless you grew up in a rural area, most kids don't want to go to college in small Iowa towns. I realize that most of Iowa is smaller communities but in order to get some of the caliber players that other schools are getting, Central in particular needs to branch out. And Luther's best player is from Minnesota so I don't see why you wouldn't go out of state if you were those schools. I agree that a quality coach and quality institution can help and that's most evident in Wartburg's case. Their campus, along with UD are the two nicest in the IIAC. That being said, the two Dubuque schools have a major advantage over the others in recruiting, being located on a tri-state border. It's easy to sell that distance to WI/Il kids and also being an Iowa institution they're able to go after any Iowa kids that they want.

Side note, Margo Muhlbauer of BV is 53 pts away from 2000 going into tonight. That's quite an accomplishment! IMO she should be POY in the IIAC.

Nice to see some UD love from an outsider. An old guy like me can remember the days when the UD campus was looked down on. Now it's a pretty nice place.

I think Muhlbauer does get POY. She is a great talent and the conference powers seem to know it too.

Klompen · February 10, 2010, 05:04:27 PM

Quote from: hoop_junkie on February 09, 2010, 05:18:47 PM
Klompen, I agree that they have a couple nice players, but they would need more then they have to overcome where they're at. How hard does Nikkel recruit? I am just curious because I would think being in Pella, you would need to recruit awfully hard to draw kids to a smaller community like that. Not that it's a difficult sell, because it seems to be a nice school but I am just curious how hard their WBB staff hits the recruiting scene. If I were coaching there, I'd would try to recruit Minnesota heavily, in addition to recruiting all of Iowa. There are lots of good kids in Minnesota.

I think you may have hit the nail on the head in that I'm not sure Nikkel is the best recruiter. He didn't have to recruit as a high school coach. I think one of the assistants may do the majority of it and that is never a good thing. If we just take whoever wants to come to Central regardless of the WBB program, I shudder to think. I really thought that when Natalie was here she did a pretty good job of recruiting and I don't think she got much time to turn things around.

Nikkel is a real nice guy, but as Coach Boschee said when replacing Dan Mason, "I don't want people to say he was a real nice guy when I leave. I want them to say he was a great coach."

Klompen · February 10, 2010, 05:11:36 PM

Is anyone else in the running for POY. I think Margo M is a stud, glad her boyfriend stayed at Central instead of transferring to BV, or maybe they broke up?

Central can get Iowa kids, with the 4 lane up to Des Moines now, I don't think the size of Pella is as big a deal. And we have some stores open on Sunday now!

hoop_junkie · February 10, 2010, 10:34:02 PM

Other players that would be considered for POY are:

Lindsay Bava- Loras
Jen Nichols- UD
Stacey Schutjer- Simpson

Last year, I felt that the IIAC coaches really goofed this award up badly. I can't even remember which kid from Simpson won it but she probably wasn't even a top 5 choice for POY. Muhlbauer has to be the clear favorite. She averages 6 more points than the next closest player. The 3 players I mentioned above are all solid but Muhlbauer has been more consistent than Bava and Nichols so I think she should get it. Although, it seems Simpson must've had a great focus on stopping her in tonight's game (3 pts, i'm assuming that's a season low and probably career low for her). However, in Margo's favor, BV won the game and she has sort of become the Stephen Curry of the conference, seeing double teams on a regular basis.

Bird Dog · February 11, 2010, 12:39:41 AM

Did anyone see the Simpson vs. BV? What kind of defense did Simpson use to hold Margo M to 1-13 shooting from the field. MM is also good at driving to the hoop drawing the foul. She only shot one FT.

hoop_junkie · February 11, 2010, 08:09:44 AM

Whether it was man or in their standard 2-3, or a box and 1 I'm sure they didn't let her catch the ball. Probably guarded her face to face the entire length of the floor.

Klompen · February 11, 2010, 09:36:58 AM

At the start of the season the Central women seemed to be playing well together, as things went south, everyone seemed to start playing for themselves. The Central men went from bottom, or near bottom feeder, to top of the conference by playing more as a team than I have seen in years, maybe the women need to stick around and watch the men play and learn.

hoop_junkie · February 11, 2010, 09:54:49 AM

Klompen, I am curious as to whether or not you think Coach Nikkel will be back? I could see this being the kind of season that would frustrate a coach near the end of his career enough to where he hangs it up. Just wondering what your thoughts are for the future of the Dutch women?

Bird Dog · February 11, 2010, 10:19:16 AM

Quote from: hoop_junkie on February 09, 2010, 05:18:47 PM
Klompen, I agree that they have a couple nice players, but they would need more then they have to overcome where they're at. How hard does Nikkel recruit? I am just curious because I would think being in Pella, you would need to recruit awfully hard to draw kids to a smaller community like that. Not that it's a difficult sell, because it seems to be a nice school but I am just curious how hard their WBB staff hits the recruiting scene. If I were coaching there, I'd would try to recruit Minnesota heavily, in addition to recruiting all of Iowa. There are lots of good kids in Minnesota.

Congratulations to the Central Men's team for clinching the title last night. Miguel Ley, from Texas lead the team with 18.1 ppg. The next seven players in minutes and scoring were from Iowa. Liming 17.5, Holan 10.6, Madsen 7.9 Bruns 6.3, Cooper 5.4, Chapline 4.9, and Caves 1.1.

Hoop Junkie this proves you were right a team needs at least one player from out of state to win in Pella.