MBB: Northwest Conference

[Keandre]

LeMar Anglin has improved since last year, he is putting Pacific on his shoulders. If healthy, Pacific can knock a few teams off.

Kaleb Shelton is the engine that has made UPS go, he will only get better throughout the year and he makes his teammates better by his actions on the floor. He plays so hard and you just can't help but follow his lead.

The skinny guard from Willamette(don't know his name) can go a little bit andf their bigs are tought to guard. I see them giving teams some problems if they show up ready to play.

I think the league is much better than last year and anyone can beat anyone any night, well, Whitworth has to have a pretty bad night for a team to sneak up on them lol.

[A Buc Forever]

What happened to Heyman at UPS?

[Keandre]

Not sure about what happened to him, saw him in stands cheering with UPS crowd.

[nwhoops1903]

Whitworth defeats Whittier in the Whit Bowl 86-65.

[David Collinge]

Whitworth defeats Whittier in the Whit Bowl 86-65.

Making the Pirates the worthier Whit.  
(Okay, so I lost a 't' in there.  Sue me.)

If this is the Whit Bowl, what is it when Whitworth plays Whitman?



How DARE you mess with my smiley?!?

[nwhoops1903]

Whitworth defeats Whittier in the Whit Bowl 86-65.

Making the Pirates the worthier Whit. 
(Okay, so I lost a 't' in there.  Sue me.)

If this is the Whit Bowl, what is it when Whitworth plays Whitman?

Just another Tuesday loss for Whitman.   

[Gregory Sager]

Whitworth defeats Whittier in the Whit Bowl 86-65.

Making the Pirates the worthier Whit. 
(Okay, so I lost a 't' in there.  Sue me.)

If this is the Whit Bowl, what is it when Whitworth plays Whitman?

I don't know, nor do I give one whit what anyone calls it.

[A Buc Forever]

Whitworth looked good this weekend and moved up in the rankings (#6).  Still not sure this team is as good as last year's though.  Last year they started off with some losses, but to good teams (the UW-Point won it all).  This year's schedule is turning out to be pretty weak.  The win over Carthage looks less impressive each week. Carthage has fallen out of the top 25.  No other WW opponent is ranked.  Claremont did beat Azuza and Colorado College beat Air Force, so maybe the next three games might tell us something, but we won't know what this team is made of until the playoffs.

[Keandre]

Whitworth looked good this weekend and moved up in the rankings (#6).  Still not sure this team is as good as last year's though.  Last year they started off with some losses, but to good teams (the UW-Point won it all).  This year's schedule is turning out to be pretty weak.  The win over Carthage looks less impressive each week. Carthage has fallen out of the top 25.  No other WW opponent is ranked.  Claremont did beat Azuza and Colorado College beat Air Force, so maybe the next three games might tell us something, but we won't know what this team is made of until the playoffs.


Playoffs??? We're talking about PLAYOFFS?? HAHAHA, reminded me of the football coach going off!

[Gregory Sager]

Whitworth looked good this weekend and moved up in the rankings (#6).  Still not sure this team is as good as last year's though.  Last year they started off with some losses, but to good teams (the UW-Point won it all).  This year's schedule is turning out to be pretty weak.  The win over Carthage looks less impressive each week. Carthage has fallen out of the top 25.  No other WW opponent is ranked.  Claremont did beat Azuza and Colorado College beat Air Force, so maybe the next three games might tell us something, but we won't know what this team is made of until the playoffs.

CMS has lost its best player to a torn ACL since the Stags defeated Azusa Pacific.

[stag44]

Whitworth looked good this weekend and moved up in the rankings (#6).  Still not sure this team is as good as last year's though.  Last year they started off with some losses, but to good teams (the UW-Point won it all).  This year's schedule is turning out to be pretty weak.  The win over Carthage looks less impressive each week. Carthage has fallen out of the top 25.  No other WW opponent is ranked.  Claremont did beat Azuza and Colorado College beat Air Force, so maybe the next three games might tell us something, but we won't know what this team is made of until the playoffs.

CMS has lost its best player to a torn ACL since the Stags defeated Azusa Pacific.

Chris Blees, preseason All American, will be done for the year. The Stags have been revamping their team now after he went down. They'll still be pesky, but they'll be hard pressed to stop the Pirates.

[etule]

Chris Blees is a really good basketball player! He was player of the year the past two seasons in the SCIAC. Hard to replace. Clairemont is well coached and they play hard on D! Whitworth should be able to handle them!
PLU goes down to play Cal Lutheran and Cal Tech this weekend.

This is shaping up as a fun year in the Northwest Conference with Whitworth again being by far the best team!

If Blees were healthy this would of been a match up of the favorites of both conferences! To bad to see this happen to a great player!

[A Buc Forever]

Whitworth looked good this weekend and moved up in the rankings (#6).  Still not sure this team is as good as last year's though.  Last year they started off with some losses, but to good teams (the UW-Point won it all).  This year's schedule is turning out to be pretty weak.  The win over Carthage looks less impressive each week. Carthage has fallen out of the top 25.  No other WW opponent is ranked.  Claremont did beat Azuza and Colorado College beat Air Force, so maybe the next three games might tell us something, but we won't know what this team is made of until the playoffs.


Playoffs??? We're talking about PLAYOFFS?? HAHAHA, reminded me of the football coach going off!

Not really the same situation as the football coach going off.  Mora went off after a loss.  WW just emptied their bench on the road against what is predicted to be their two toughest league opponents and the games weren't as close as the scores. Linfield scored 14 points in the first half.  It wasn't just cold shooting.  They didn't have any decent looks. With Gebbers x 2 and their cousin on the perimeter, you have to go inside against WW and defensively Felix, Loofburrow, and Michael Taylor (Aspen) are very solid inside.   Wiser couldn't do a thing against them.  Is there a better inside player than Wiser in the league?  Maybe Shelton will be a problem and maybe someone else can go inside enough to free up the perimeter, but unless someone can get inside against them, the only way that anyone from the NWC is going to beat WW is to shoot 50% on NBA threes. 

The problem this team faces is their schedule is too soft.  When the game dates were made, it looked like a great schedule.  It was reasonable to think that Luther, Carthage, Trinity, Claremont, Colorado College, and Ripon would all be top 25 teams--or at least half of them would be. Not one of them is currently ranked and probably shouldn't be.  Last year's team played three tough Wisconsin schools (including Point), Pomona, Montana Tech (which had just beaten Weber State the week before WW played them), and McKendra (ranked #5 in the NAIA at the time). 

I would not be surprised to see WW run the table from here to the playoffs (barring injuries), but I don't think they will be as prepared to battle in the playoffs like last year's team was.  We'll see. 

[(509)Rat]

All fo the Whit starters have played against playoff caliber competition. If this team can continue to play Brewster ball, they will go a round or two farther than years past. Defense wins championships, and this is the best defense Whitworth has had in awhile...

It doesn't hurt to have Michael Taylor either...I've seen Nakamura, Williams and Pecht (although he was more of a forward) play. Taylor is the best guard Whitworth has had, period.

[A Buc Forever]

Michael Taylor is great, but hard to rank those guys.  A lot of people would put Beal at the top, I'd put Taylor at the top if his assist to turnover ratio was half of what Ross' was. Nobody on the list got their hand on the ball as much as Williams.   It all comes down to what you value in a guard.  In Hayford's system, hard to beat Ross IMHO.