MBB: Northwest Conference

[TryMeTeam]

I don't know where I got LC outscoring U of O by 10 points in the second half!  Nothing gets by you!

No, I listened to some of the game and looked at the stats.  It would have been a good game to see, though.  I thought it would be a blow out and didn't want to waste the time and money on a Sunday night.

I am thinking about heading up to Tacoma next weekend to see the doubleheaders.  A NWC basketball dream weekend!  But it looks like I might have to work that weekend.  Anyone else making the trip?

[Pio20]

You can actually watch the game on Ducks TV if you go to the link titled "MBB vs Lewis and Clark" near the bottom of the recap. Pios ran a lot of high picks against Oregon's full court press, similar to the way they have responded against UPS's press the past few seasons.

[TryMeTeam]

I saw that, Pio 20, and I started to watch it, but the screen was small, dark and hard to see, so I bailed.  Have you heard anything about this year's team?  If they did that well against Oregon, can they hang with the top teams in the NWC?

[John Gleich]

Whitworth will find out alot about itself with its non-conference schedule.  The Pirates get UWSP (at UPS), a potentially tough Pomona-Pitzer (at WashU), a possible game at WashU, and home games against UW-Stout and UWW.

Read the season preview.  It could be a really fun year.

I can't speak for PP...

But regarding the WIAC teams...  Though they were picked to win the conference and are slated #10 in the country, this UWSP team is kind of a "wait and see" sort of team that has great potential but has to replace 3 4-year starters including their PG and the conference all-time leader in 3 pointers.  They will get better as the year goes on because of their relative youth (just two seniors) and because a key contributor (Jared Jenkins) is having an All-American-type year on the grid iron.  All told, about 50% of Point's scoring is back from last year... but the team needs to figure out who on the floor will put the ball in the basket because they graduated all of their go-to guys AND the guy who distributed the ball for every year since the championship years.

Stout is the bottom feeder in the WIAC.  They won just two games last year and though they return a whole bunch, they were picked last again this year.  They've got 10 newcomers again this year and they're pretty small... don't have a player over 6'5", which is definitely going to hurt you in the WIAC.

Whitewater is picked 2nd in the WIAC this year.  This actually surprizes me... I thought Platteville would be #2, but Pville is actually #4, though they have seven seniors (they also have a new coach, though and lost quite a bit from graduation).  UWW also lost a decent amount from graduation, losing 3/5 starters like Point.  They're historically very athletic with a lot of kids from Milwaukee and they're good year in and year out.  Other than Point, WW has been the top team in the WIAC this decade.

[pineconefan]

Thanks for the insight on the three Wisconsin schools PointSpecial.

Frankly we are just happy to get a chance to see the Pirates play a non-conference game at home (its been a few years) and having two teams from Wisconsin come it is really cool.

As for the Whitworth game with SP, it will be interesting to see how much of an advantage SP will have from playing a game before that weekend in Tacoma.  It is often of great benefit to work out the bugs.

I will get my first look at Whitworth on Friday when they play the alums.  I will report back more after that "game".

[John Gleich]

...it will be interesting to see how much of an advantage SP will have from playing a game before that weekend in Tacoma.  It is often of great benefit to work out the bugs.

I absolutely agree... but I wish it was more of a cupcake.  Point is playing St. John from MN, who I heard was picked #2 (though I haven't seen it posted anywhere) in the MIAC this year behind St. Thomas, I believe. 

Point's got UST on the sked too... along with the rest of the WIAC teams, and Elmhurst, and Lawrence.  UST, Elmhurst, and LU all made the NCAA tournament last year too.  Yikes...

[Pio20]

To be honest, I really have no idea what to expect this season. It is basically a brand new team. Kollasch is the one significant returner, and even he missed a lot of last season. But he is definitely the star and captain. Hollins showed promise last season as a freshman and he should be a bigger part of the team this season. Tsukazaki has seen on and off playing time throughout his four years. Kyle Meeuwsen could be a wild card. Versatile junior who got increased PT late last season and could have a breakout year. Outside of that, I'm not sure what to expect. They definitely looked good in the Oregon game though. 
 

I saw that, Pio 20, and I started to watch it, but the screen was small, dark and hard to see, so I bailed.  Have you heard anything about this year's team?  If they did that well against Oregon, can they hang with the top teams in the NWC?

[Pugetsoundfan]

I understand the Loggers had a scrimmage at home last week against one of the local community colleges.  Did anyone see any of that?  Was wondering how the young team looked early.

[Logsfan]

PSFan I did see part of the scrimmage against Green River CC.  The Loggers backcourt is very fast and skilled. It appeared to me that the team will be deep in the backcourt, and i doubt that the pressing teams in the league will have much fun playing this UPS team. Boyce looked good and there was some very nice long range shooting. It looked to me like up front the team is very much a work in progress.  I left wondering whether the Logs can rebound enough and whether the bigger guys are ready to finish around the hoop.  Give'em one of the skilled bigs from recent years (McVey, Foster, A. Shelton) and I think the team would have an excellent chance to win the NWC.  It's obviously early and the guys are young, but my first look led me to think that maybe UPS is a little light up front.  Time will tell!   

[TryMeTeam]

Just got off the phone with my "biddy", and he said he talked to one of LC players.  He was congratulating the player on the Oregon game and the player said they had a scrimmage with Portland State a couple of weeks ago.  Although the player didn't know the exact score, he said they lost to the DI school by under 10 points.  Apparently PSU used all of their players, but a DI is a DI, even on the bench.  Not bad!

Pio, he had good things to say about Edwards.  Is he related to the Edwards from last year?  Have you heard anything about him?

Nothing else new.  Sounds like UPS and Whitw will have a chance against the Wisc schools if Point is right.

Getting close!!!!! 

[D O.C.]

Well, no games worth watching this year, I guess. Not one pre-season All-American West of Coffeyville among the four teams and honorable mention on the d3 site. A few on the first team West of Washington D.C.

[Tglassman55]

I am way dissapointed in UPS this year.

I wonder if the Logger fans emailed bridgeland and begged him to come back he would.  Did you see Whitman's recruiting class?  Easily the best in the conference.  And yes that is including the D1 transfer to Whitworth and Linfield.  I don't even think it's close. 

We are way young and inexperienced and unfortunatly I think everyone will see how Lunt was living off of Bridgelands outlandishly successful recruiting. 

I think we'll win most of our home games because of the atmosphere, but mark my word, as much as it pains me to say so, I think the Loggers finish 3rd or 4th this season.  We certainly won't be beating the heck out of Whitworth again... 

[Bearcat Press]

BearcatPress,
WU was missing more than Cam in that game.  The guys from the football team haven't switched over to basketball yet.  Schottgen isn't just a great receiver on the FB team, he's a tremendous athlete in basketball as well.  There are others, too, that are still playing football.   That's the beauty of D3 sports -- you can play more than one sport.   Marcus Holmes continues to impress!

I thought it was gutsy to schedule against Boise State, but really didn't expect them to win it, did you?

Of course I didn't expect them to win.  We haven't played D-I teams the last couple of years, and it was interesting to see how we stacked up.  I was impressed we only lost by 39 and by how the offense looked when we were able to run our sets.

Come on, bbaddict - you know that I know better than most just how many of our guys are on the football team!

[Pugetsoundfan]

Geez, Glassman, what did you see that led to this pessimism?  It's a young team and it hasn't played a game yet...

[stag44]

Hey NWCer,

The Claremont Mudd Stags are coming up in week to play George Fox and Willamette. Any color on those two teams? Is Mitchell still hurt for Willamette? Whats the update on Fox?

As a frosh, we went up to Oregon and got pummeled by Fox and then threw away a game to Pacific. It seems like the Stags have a tough time playing after flights. Should be some good games up there though.

Thanks!