WBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Those are generally teams with decent W-L numbers, so good for OWP, but none of them plays in a strong conference, so their OOWP really suffers.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Well not very good news.  Kahlan is out for the rest of the season with a concussion so will not be at Hanover tomorrow.  Rose will  be going into the game with 7 players.  Really tough on her to have played through the hip issue all year.  She was playing terrific against earlham. Making passes that made the crowd go oooh.  Just bad luck with the 2 players hitting heads.  Somehow she willed herself through the 2nd half to help the team but she started feeling worse so it's time to worry about her and pull the plug for now.  If the girls can get the huge upset she can be re-evaluated

That sucks. Never want to have to sit when there's still something at stake but also don't want to make things worse for the future.
Considering where Rose was a month ago, the fact that they still have a meaningful game in the finale is an achievement. They were 1-8 first time through the conference and 2-14 overall, they're 5-3 in the rematches.

[Enginerd]

I think Transy will destroy the field at the HCAC Tournament - so any discussion about whether they deserve an at-large bid is moot. They'll likely get a winnable 1st round game, too. Will be interesting to see where they get sent. My way-too-early prognostication is Oglethorpe - and I wouldn't be surprised if they managed another Sweet 16 appearance - depending on the match-ups with the other two teams in that pod.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Saturday
Mount St. Joseph (6-11) @ Anderson (6-11) 1:00 PM
Bluffton (7-10) @ Transylvania (16-1) 2:00 PM
Defiance (6-11) @ Franklin (11-6) 2:00 PM
Earlham (6-11) @ Manchester (5-12) 2:00 PM
Rose-Hulman (6-11) @ Hanover (16-1) 3:00PM

[Jester1390]

Lol we're going all upsets

Really make it screwed up
Bluffton
Defiance
Rose
Mt st joe
Manchester

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Anderson leads by 3 headed to the 4th. As far as Rose is concerned, if Anderson wins then Rose is in with a win and out with a loss.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Anderson wins 53-49 and eliminates MSJ.
Rose fate in solely in their hands now. No need to scoreboard watch.

Transy cruising over Bluffton in the 2nd
Earlham almost doubling up Manchester late in the 2nd.
Defiance-Franklin tied

Anderson: 15/16 scenarios they're in
Bluffton: 14/16
RHIT: 8/16
Defiance: 7/16
Earlham: 4/16

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Some runs at the end of the half for Bluffton and Manchester.
Transy 37-31 on Bluffton at half
Earlham 35-26 on Manchester at half
Franklin 33-31 on Defiance 1 1/2 minutes left in 2nd

Clinch scenarios
Anderson (15): Transy win OR Franklin win OR Earlham win OR Hanover win
Bluffton (14): Bluffton win OR Franklin win OR Hanover win
RHIT (8): Rose win
Defiance (7): win AND (Manchester OR Hanover win)
Earlham (4): Franklin win AND Hanover win
Earlham has no say in their fate... doesn't matter if they win or lose.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Transy up 12 with 6 minutes left
Earlham up 9 with 4 1/2 minutes left
Franklin up 12 late 3rd.

If those scores hold it would be Rose, Anderson, Bluffton if RHIT wins or Anderson, Bluffton, Earlham if Hanover wins.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Transylvania wins 70-56 and takes the 1 seed
Manchester finished on a 16-3 run to force OT against Earlham
Franklin pulling away from Defiance 74-48 midway through 4th.

Looks like Anderson and Bluffton will be in, and either Rose or Earlham will join them depending on the RHIT-Hanover game which Hanover leads 33-25 at halftime

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Hanover wins 71-52.

It's official (not just my thought but HCAC twitter):
#1 Transylvania
#2 Hanover

#3 Franklin vs #6 Earlham
#4 Anderson vs #5 Bluffton

First round Tuesday at Franklin and Anderson.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Interesting how similar the mens and womens seedings are. Same #1, 2 and 3 flipped, 4 and 5 flipped.

Seed    Women      Men
1)    Transy     Transy
2)    Hanover    Franklin
3)    Franklin   Hanover
4)    Anderson   Bluffton
5)    Bluffton   Anderson
6)    Earlham    RHIT

[Baldini]

2 games this evening, Bluffton @ Anderson and Earlham @ Franklin.

I will take Franklin to handle their business at home, but the other game should be a complete tossup type game. I ended up landing on Anderson only because they are the home team, Bluffton seems to be very good at home and not so good on the road. I will probably watch most of this one tonight.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Here's the coaches preseason poll compared to how they did...
1. Transylvania University (8) 90                     (T1st 17-1)
2. Hanover College (1) 88                                (T1st 17-1)

3. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (1) 62  (T7th 6-12)
4. Anderson University 59                                 (T4th 7-11)
5. Franklin College 54                                        (3rd 12-6)
6. Bluffton University 52                                   (T4th 7-11)
7. Defiance College 50                                      (T7th 6-12)

8. Earlham College 39                                       (T4th 7-11)
9. Mount St. Jospeh University 38                     (T7th 6-12)

10. Manchester University 18                            (10th 5-13)

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Final Results
Baldini 4-1     65-22
FCGG 5-0       61-26
Jester 0-5      56-31
Enginerd 0-0   8-7



First round tonight... I'll agree with Baldini and say home teams hold serve.