MBB: Northwest Conference

[pineconefan]

As for the league race this year, I have to agree that L&C and UPS should be the heavy favorites.  Their returning talent alone makes them so.

I think Lunt has much to prove now that he is the full time guy, however.

I look forward to seeing what Hayford has brought in.  I've heard rumors, but know nothing concrete about this incoming group.  Nothing in the local paper or on the Whitworth website yet in the way of a preview.

[NWCer]

Good point about Lunt Pinecone, Bridgeland left crazy expectations there.

Sounds and Logshow, any idea if Lunt is sticking with the "system", or is he going to do his own thing now that its officially his gig?

[dumpdotes]

Pine Cone Fan,
I agree with you to a certain extent. Because of the "relationship" I thought I had with this guy, I defended him to parents the first year my son was there. I once thought he was a great guy.  He charmed us right into thinking so. Last year in Tempe, the kids could have gone to an ASU Stanford game- all he had to do was sigh them up. He did not. Yet on the night they were supposed to have a Team dinner, he left them hanging while he went to a Suns game. Classy act that. I would expect a Linfield coach to afeect kids lves in a positve way. It's not just about winning and losing.  Trust me, this is not  a good guy.

[NWCer]

Up on the NWC conference web page, looks like LC is the team, got all the first place votes.    


Lewis & Clark Unanimous Favorite For 2007-08 NWC Title

2007-08 Men's Basketball Coaches Pre-Season Poll:
School    (1st)    
Lewis & Clark (Ore.)    (9)    
Puget Sound (Wash.)         
Whitworth (Wash.)         
Pacific (Ore.)         
Pacific Lutheran (Wash.)         
Willamette (Ore.)         
George Fox (Ore.)         
Linfield (Ore.)         
Whitman (Wash.)         

[LogShow]

This board sure got busy. I am going to have to start to check it more often.  NWCer, I hope you don't feel like Logs and I are trying to "corner the market"  I like when the board is active with discussion and lots of people are sharing, however that does tend to happen.

Next, I can understand Dumpdotes position, it is tough for any parent to watch their son get critized.  But that is the nature of the beast.  Coaches are your best friend when they recurit, but once you step on the floor you are all theirs...I have heard countless stories of coaches acting like fools and being vulgar and demeening.  I am not taking sides here, just saying this kind of thing happenes a lot more then you might expect.

Pinecone, you are right about Lunt having a lot to prove...and I think he is up to the challenge.  From what I have seen and heard about Lunt he is a very hard worker and expects the same from his team.  I am willing to bet he has a lot better grasp on things this year, and will have this year's UPS squad playing at a high level.  As far as changing things up...I can't see UPS not pressing with the athletes they have (it would be a waste of talent).  It still should be a highpowered offense, the only change I would make (in my humble opinion) would be to the zone offense.  Everyone zones UPS, and even the lady selling pop corn knows that UPS could utilize their talent better then just passing the ball around the primeter and trying to force drives.  This is probably a moot point though since Lunt has probably already addressed this issue with the team.

Lastly, It is good to hear from you SoundLogs!  I think I can, take that, hint...biggie smalls said it best...

[(509)Rat]

in recent years they have seriously struggled to put talented guys on the floor.  And really there's no excuse for it.  They have some of the best sports facilities in the NWC and should be able to recruit players to match.  They have an awesome football team year in and year out, so why should BBall be any different?  

Change the words "Football" and "Basketball" and this quote suddenly turns into a puzzled Wildcat, questioning UPS's football program

With practices just starting I don't know a whole lot about Whitworth (other than what was going on during open gyms).  But I will agree with everyone about LC and UPS being the top 2 teams.  However, I will not be one bit surprised to see Whitworth back in the conference tourney championship game.  The biggest loss was B Williams...while only 2 starters return, 1 was the leading scorer and will have to be double teamed (there is no 1 player in this league that will be able to stop symes).  They have a junior who was the GSL (Greater Spokane League) MVP...Adam Morrison got that honor a few years earlier, so he's in good company.  They have two incoming freshman that will fight for immediate playing time, one of which was the co-mvp of his league down in So.Cal...the other recipient was a 5 start Gonzaga commit.  Anyways, I think Whitworth has the talent, but the experience/leadership will most likely be their problem.  The great thing is they have two tourney's (Redlands, and Tourney of Heroes in NY) and some bad teams (CalTech and UC Santa Cruz) in order to get some good experience against stiff competition and to get some confidence by beating up on the Beavers and Banana Slugs.  

[NWCer]

Logshow, meant that as a compliment, its cool that UPS has two strong supporters on the board.  Its my attempt to draw some more Boxer love to the board, any more out there

[pineconefan]

Only part of the coaches poll I find somewhat surprising is PLU...

I would have figured PLU to be down with Linfield and Whitman, rather than above Willamette and Fox.  I haven't seen anything out of the Lutes over the last couple of years that would indicate they could compete for a NWC tournament spot this season.

Any of the rest of you have insight on that?

[UPSoundLogs]

"Lastly, It is good to hear from you SoundLogs!  I think I can, take that, hint...biggie smalls said it best..."

Logshow-

Thats just awesome, you have no idea how happy that just made me, especially the Biggie part!!!  I'm glad to have you around, I can see we will get along nicely!  Can I be expecting to see you at some Logger home games?

Pinecone-

Good to see you back, I haven't heard anything in regards to PLU except for the coach change.  I was kind of wondering why they would be ranked that high in the coaches pole as well???  Maybe the new coach was able to get some solid transfers or something...who knows

NWCer-

From what I've heard Lunt is going to mainly stick to the UPS "system" with some tweaks to it.  I wouldn't be suprised if they play a little  more conservative because the NWC is figuring out how to handle the press better as the years pass by.  Sometimes the Loggers just end up giving up ways too many easy baskets, it would seem logical to pull the dogs off a little in order to give up less easy points.  They do have a very athletic team right now though, defensively they should be really solid in the press as long as they play hard.  I'm looking forward to seeing how much they are able to improve from last year with an older, more experienced team....Foster and Krauel are gonna be animals this year!!!    

[LogShow]

NWCer, looks like you haven't been able to recruit any other boxer believers yet...wait till they win a few games, i bet there will be some that jump on board.

This years PLU team returns quite a few players, but not ready to make any noise yet.  There a small article on the PLU basketball website about some of their players, sounds like mostly hype.   I think they ended up being 5th kinda of by default.  They are definately not on the level of WW, LC, or UPS, and for that matter even Pacific.  They aren't even head and shoulders above the basement pack, they could honestly finish 5th or 8th.  My guess is the coaches flipped a coin between Fox and PLU. 

The talent gap in this conference seems to be widening...is anyone else with me on that one?

I wouldn't be suprised if they play a little  more conservative because the NWC is figuring out how to handle the press better as the years pass by

UPSoundLogs it is true every team has their own way to attack it...just had a crazy idea and want your opinion.  What if for like 10 maybe 15 mins a game the Logs played regular hard nose half court D?  It might sound crazy, but they are big, long, physical, and can move.  I think teams would have trouble scoring, and then have to adapt when the logs flip the pace back up.

[NWCer]

Looks like everyone's roster is up on websites except Linfield, UPS, and Willamette, anybody have insight on the new names popping up on the other 6?

[LogShow]

Along those lines...

Rat, who is the likely canidate to take over the all important PG role?  He has some big shoes to fill

[UPSoundLogs]

Logshow- 

"What if for like 10 maybe 15 mins a game the Logs played regular hard nose half court D?  It might sound crazy, but they are big, long, physical, and can move.  I think teams would have trouble scoring, and then have to adapt when the logs flip the pace back up."

I think that's a real good idea, or even take it one step further and change the pace so its almost equal full court press to half court defense(time wise).  If Puget Sound changed the pace every 5 minutes or so I think it would throw a lot of teams off.  Of course if one way or the other is creating a distinct advantage over a specific team they should stick with that for the game.  But i think that changing up the pace could be very beneficial to them .  Especially as more teams become accustomed to the 40 minutes of full court madness.  The Loggers really give up too many easy baskets sometimes, it would be nice to pull back into half court to stop the bleeding when another team is getting a bunch of layups. 

[fortyminuteshel]

I agree with the need for the loggers to change things up defensively.  Attending just about every game for the last three years I,ve seen how teams have figured out how to beat the press.  I believe the strategy was to pressure a team so they would put up quick low percentage shots (or turnover).  Now teams are getting easy layups and usually two on one results against one of the smaller guards. Mixing things up would be a good idea and allow the guards to pressure the ball in half court.  This would also allow the bigs to defend under the basket more.

Should be an exciting year to watch the loggers with all five starters returning and a bench that should be much improved.  By the way, this is my first post but monitor the board often to get a feel of what's to come. I think your right on UPSoundlogs.

[LogShow]

40mins...welcome to the board.  Always good to have a logger backer around, you must be a pretty avid fan.   Like the name!  I am going to guess you were a big fan of the Richardson's razorbacks?

NWCer were are the rest of your boxer believers?  Logger nation is growing!