MBB: Northwest Conference

[A Buc Forever]

Enjoy the great competition in the NWC this week in memory of one the the greatest athletes ever to play in the conference. Doug Long, the former Pirate football and basketball star and former Seattle Seahawk passed away this weekend after long battle with brain cancer.  Doug loved playing at Whitworth and had great respect for the league.  He was a truly inspiring player and person and represented what NWC athletics is all about.

[playball]

DOC/Playball:

You are both right, just coming from different generations.  From what I have heard, Ted Wilson's teams were legendary (see DOC's former post, I heard about that team he put together after the suspensions!), Larry Doty's teams have not been.  I think LC and Whitworth are going to go through the same thing as UPS did when Bridgeland left, but there are now NEW coaches at those schools, not a 20 year coach.  So when the program is down, a "DOC" has the right, responsibility to be a little critical of the team/coach.  Linfield has just underachieved the last decade with the quality of players they have had.  So DOC's point is well taken.

Having said that, I am very impressed with the current team.  Their front line ranks up there in the league with Batiuk, Anderson and Lee all being very good players.  Their guards are pretty much invisible with those 3 around, though.  Batiuk is unconscious!  I might even say he is better as a frosh than Playball was (you were very good though)!  They will win games in the second half unless teams realize how much better they are or take them from granted because of their record.  So Playball's point is well taken.

Can't we all just get along?  Ah, screw that!  Blah, Blah, Blah!    DOC, its your turn.  Bring it on!

Good post.  I guess the generation gap is what separates us especially.  From my point of view, it is just frustrating to see first hand how Dotes is treated around the school even.  The students seem to really take to him as he is a very likable person.  However, when it comes to his peers and how he is treated it is a totally different story.  I heard this the other day from a former player at Linfield which pretty well sums up what Dotes has had to deal with:  "He wants us to do so much and then for us not to win, its hard.  And thats why I didn't play."  What a crock.  Disheartening to here. Just trying to provide a glimpse of the Linfield student athlete as of now. 

As for Batuik, he is unreal!  Easy to say he was better than I was!  Has a much better shot than I had and will hopefully lead this team in years to come.  Great kid too.  Makes you wish this Conference would have a rookie of the year award like some others do.  Makes it easier to recognize them nationally

[etule]

I don't  think it is just Linfield! I think in general players today like to play offense but not do the little things that win basketball games. It is almost a situation like they are entitled to something. To be successful at any level in college it takes a ton of hard work! Winning helps the kids buy in but when winning doesn't happen is when players get some attitude!
The important thing is that they are getting a great education and learning life lessons that will help them later in life. They just don't know it yet.
I think is happens on most teams even ones that win. Freshman come in after being the guy on their high school team having trouble when the minutes don't come !
The coaching is very good in the NWC (ask the new WW coach)! Someone is always grumbling wheather it's players or parents! It is all part of coaching.
I think the league is pretty competitive and very little difference this year.

[playball]

Linfield beats the Boxers. Not as close as the score would indicate.  Linfield's post game is solid! Big win for Dotes

[(509)Rat]

Linfield really needed that win. I honestly probably would have picked Pacific (had I realized there was a game yesterday) just because of Linfield's previous weekend. Just because they still seem too inconsistent, I'll be surprised if they finish the season with more than 2 wins... puts em at 4-12 in the conference best case scenario IMO. Nothing to be excited about. But then again, their inconsistencies could also be the reason they ruin somebody's post-season hopes if they can steal one from LC, Whitman, PLU, UPS, or GF.

Since I'll surely forget tomorrow, here's Friday's predictions:

LC over Whitman
I really only watch teams play against the Pirates, and I've seen both. Both teams are who I thought they were. Whitman runs a nice system and forces you to play into it. LC has all the talent, but always finds a way to shoot themselves in the foot. LC can play fast and I think they match up well with Whitman. Just like last time they met, home team squeaks out the W

UPS over Willamette
Still not impressed with Lunt. Still waiting to see him do something with "his" players. Lucky for UPS he could have just about anybody's players and beat Willamette. If it was down in the valley, I'd say Willamette could keep it close. Don't see that happening in Tacoma, though.

Whitworth over GF
Haven't heard anything about Loofburrow's health. Larkin seems to have healed enough to contribute. Lasisi will be able to eliminate one of the GF guards and Freidt should prevent a weak GF frontcourt from doing any damage. Taylor, Sanchez, or Grant will have to go for 25 for GF to win. This game will be tight, GF seems much improved from the last time they played up in Spokane but Whitworth is still the most talented team in the conference and until that changes I won't be picking against them.

PLU over Linfield
I was very impressed with Linfield and if they can slow down the game, be effective inside and play good D on the perimeter, they can beat PLU. I just don't think they can do all of those things in the same night. They are giving up too many points night in and night out to win this one. PLU will give Linfield some high % shots down low, but it won't be enough.

[Bearcat Press]

Lucky for UPS he could have just about anybody's players and beat Willamette.

Wait that's ... no ... come on ....

I got nothing.

(Picks: Whitman, UPS, Whitworth, PLU.)

[Keandre]

Another weekend of great NWC games.

Picks-Whitworth, UPS, PLU, Lewis & Clark

[playball]

Picks- UPS, Whitworth, Whitman (I cant stand L&C), and Linfield.  Lets see!

[(509)Rat]

Whitworth catches fire from 3 in the second half. Wins 85-66. GF's Michael Taylor held to 1 point

[(509)Rat]

PLU 68
Linfield 53


UPS 85
Willamette 64


LC 81
Whitman 74
(I'd like to point out this was a 3 point game with 15 seconds left)

Oh, and BP. When are you going to help to Willamette radio guys with their broadcast skills?? They are terrible, nothing remotely neutral about them and they made up stories about certain individuals' not playing due to academic issues. The latter is uncalled for IMO. If you are going to question a kid's intelligence/work ethic in the classroom you better be pretty damn sure you are right. Guess when nobody listens you can say whatever you want though. At least tell them to hop on the boards every once in awhile to pretend like they've done some research.

[Bearcat Press]

I didn't listen to the game tonight (could only follow live stats), so I can't comment one way or the other on the radio broadcast.  What I will say is this: I know he isn't the most popular guy on these boards - and I've definitely had gripes with the way he calls games before - but Mike is a stand-up guy who does a ton of great things for Willamette athletics, mostly on his own dime/time.  The fact that we have a video feed for our home games is better than half the conference, and the fact that we have home and away radio coverage is pretty cool too.

This has been a brutal, brutal season for everyone who cares about Bearcat Hoop.  By my count, Mike's called 18 straight losses (he calls the women's games too), and 16 of them have been blowouts.  He's frustrated, I'm frustrated, and I hope the folks upstairs in Sparks Center are frustrated too.  For that reason alone, I'm willing to cut him some slack.

Whitworth folks are spoiled by Castle anyway.

[(509)Rat]

You are right BP. Castle is the best in the biz. A one man broadcast team. Guy does play-by-play, color, tweets and probably donates blood all during th broadcast.

Duty calls, so I dont have a ton of time to post anything other than who I think will win (no reasoning/analysis tonight)

Whitworth beats LC
Whitman rebounds to beat GF
UPS over Pacific
PLU over Willamette

[(509)Rat]

Whitworth really dismantled LC in the second half the other night. Pirate D held LC to 19% from the field after the break, 10% from 3. Whitworth shot 66% from the field, 62% from beyond the arc for the game. Only got 6 FT's the entire game but made all of them count (6-6).

Hollins played 27 minutes, scored 7 points. 1-5 from 3, 3-7 from the field. So almost all of his shots were from 3, my bet is they were bad shots (that's what he likes to do). But one of the Pio posters who watched the game (I know the football player was there) could comment.

The rest of the conference:
Whitman  82
GF  62

PLU  89
Willamette  78

UPS  74
Pacific  63

Only surprise is how badly Whitman beat GF. I figured GF could keep pace even though they are missing Grant. Looks like Whitman didn't break the game up until about 7 min left in the second. Went on a 13-0 run to go up by 21 and that was that.

[playball]

Hollins played 27 minutes, scored 7 points. 1-5 from 3, 3-7 from the field. So almost all of his shots were from 3, my bet is they were bad shots (that's what he likes to do). But one of the Pio posters who watched the game (I know the football player was there) could comment.

Only surprise is how badly Whitman beat GF. I figured GF could keep pace even though they are missing Grant. Looks like Whitman didn't break the game up until about 7 min left in the second. Went on a 13-0 run to go up by 21 and that was that.

Rat, I'm glad you and I can see eye to eye on Hollins.  The kid could be really good, if his shot selection wasn't so mind boggling.

As for the Whitman-Fox game, David Michaels having 40?!  Wow!  Good for him!  Whitman is dangerous on any given night from a variety of different players.  Where is Shaw though?  Not much playing time this year, any reason?  Very good player not getting time, tough to see. 

Fox needs a post.  Not even a good one, just someone to actually fill the position who weighs more than 200 lbs.  They have the guard play to win games but the interior is lacking.

If Fox and Linfield could combine... yikes!
 

[Keandre]

Top 4 teams go at it this weekend. It is about to be a war in eastern Washington! What is everyones thoughts?