MBB: Northwest Conference

[nwhoops1903]

On an unrelated note. I was inches away from ending my own life after listening to the Willamette radio announcer. Unfortunately the video stream would always skip to "live" video and therefore couldn't sync Bob Castle with the video. Not only did this guy call the Pirates "Whitman" on 5 too many occasions, but he also was the single biggest homer I've ever listened to. Every Whitworth basket off a drive was a "travel" and any contact was an obvious "foul" on Whitworth. Capital tv or whatever it was called did a great job of showing some court side replays where it was clear that the announcer was completely wrong.

Long story short. Bob Castle is the best play-by-play guy in the NWC for any sport. Period.

Castle is very good and is the best in the nation I have heard over the last 10 years.  The Willamette (Mr. Travel) guy, not so much.  As Rat stated, WW never really was threatened.  I am desperately looking for some software application that will help me synchronize 2 different media feeds so I can listen to Bob, who broadcasts all home and AWAY games.  Thanks Bob!  

[Bearcat Press]

Considering Willamette often doesn't look like we have any sort of gameplan at all, I was impressed with the way the Bearcats played.  I hope the lack of threes becomes an ongoing trend.  We aren't a three-point shooting team.  Period.

Mike is significantly better at football than he is at basketball.  That said, he calls every NWC game, home and away, did this year's tournament at UMHB, and Willamette's game at Oregon.  I'm grateful for what he does for Bearcat Hoop.


Edit to add: Bob Castle is definitely the NWC's best play-by-play guy right now, though I miss Darrell Aune at Linfield.  He almost made Linfield games worth listening to.  Almost.

[A Buc Forever]

Long story short. Bob Castle is the best play-by-play guy in the NWC for any sport. Period.

Castle is the best radio play by play guy I have ever listened to.  The Bearcat guy wasn't that much of a homer, but the "homer bar" was set pretty low by the Carthage announcer.  Listening to that guy was entertaining.  I liked how he called Loofburrow a goon.

[bbaddict]

Castle is definitely the best announcer in the NWC.   No contest.

I'm surprised to hear Mike (WU's announcer) called a "homer" as when I've listened to him he often puts down the WU players, coaches, etc. usually in a joking way, but totally unnecessary.   Sort of a doofus -- but he is loyal and does show up for everything.   Don't think they pay those guys, so . . .

WU had a pretty game with Whitworth.  For awhile I thought they'd pull it out, but just couldn't step on the gas enough.  Looking forward to some more wins for the Bearcats.   I guess it's a rebuilding year.   Doesn't help to lose Marcus Holmes, either.  He brought a lot of heart to the game.

[Pat Coleman]

I am sure Mike Allegre gets paid. Now, I'm also sure it's not much in the grand scheme of things, but guys working games for commercial outlets almost certainly get paid.

[A Buc Forever]

WU had a pretty game with Whitworth.  For awhile I thought they'd pull it out, but just couldn't step on the gas enough.  Looking forward to some more wins for the Bearcats.   I guess it's a rebuilding year.   Doesn't help to lose Marcus Holmes, either.  He brought a lot of heart to the game.

I never thought WU made a serious challenge in the game.  From what I've seen in the league so far is that some teams can stay with WW for awhile, but they don't have the offensive discipline and team defense to stay with WW the whole game.  Fox got ahead of them, but relying on 20% to 30% 3 point shooters to keep making shots all night is too much. WU's scheme had no plan for dealing with WW's inside game or penetration.  Yes, WW took too many 3's at first, but once they starting going to the hoop more that opened up the outside again and it was game over. I really didn't see WU defending inside very well. WU's offensive game also seemed chaotic.  It seems like everyone in the league is depending on the dribble drive, one pass and shoot. That is not going to work against a highly disciplined defensive team like WW.  The only exception is LC.  They actually have the kind of players that could stay hot all night and they can hit the 3 the consistently. If they get hot and work hard for their shots, they could knock off WW.   It will be interesting to see what Whitman does with WW.  Whitman is always dangerous because they play so hard, but they might be overmatched in this one.

[(509)Rat]

Whitworth's game with LC is at the Fieldhouse. I think UPS @ UPS has a better shot than LC to knock off Whitworth. Bottom line is you are going to have to shoot around 60% from 3 and 50% from the field in order to beat Whitworth if your an NWC team. Nobody in the conference has the talent or defensive ability to stop Whitworth for 40 minutes.

[TryMeTeam]

I saw the LC vs WW game earlier this season, and shutting down WW's offense was not the problem for LC.  With their big man McClough on the sideline with a cast on his hand, WW did not blow LC out inside or out.  

But their defense was excellent.  They totally took Taylor out of the game, the undersized post player was 0 for the night from the field, and Edwards had not yet started playing well.  The 3 point shots they got were from 2 or 3 feet further back and they were rushed.  Gebbers was so all over Taylor I thought Taylor changed his number to 12.  He did a great job of not letting Taylor get one open shot until the game was out of reach.

Once they got the big lead, they did milk the lead, so they would have scored more had they played more normal, but their defense won the game.

And now Hollins is out for the season with a torn ACL (the second player on the team to suffer one), so their hope for an upset in Spokane is just that.  And WW (er, Hayford) knows LC is always dangerous, and they will be prepared for any upset attempt.

Got to see Wiser at PacU this weekend.  Boy was he clutch!  Definite first team NWC with the way he is playing now.

Kea:
Still have your Loggers in the top 3 at the end of the season?  They will have to do well not to end up 2-6 at the turn, probably 3-5 with a win against Fox and a loss to LC.  Either way, a tough road to the playoffs being in 6th right now.  Gittens finally had a good game for you though.  

NWCer:  
Haven't heard from you for a while, not that I blame you.  Too much Pirate Pride on this website .  Been to any Boxer games lately?  They should have beaten Linfield, but looked like a young team, and Wiser just went unconscious! No your boys have to make the EastWash trip, a killer for any team.  Not much hope of a win on that trip.

D.O.C.:
What?

[NWCer]

Hey TMT,

Haven't got out to any games this year, and yeah haven't been on a lot, have been keeping tabs though.  Oldest is in high school now and I'm coaching my youngest in CYO so those 2 have soaked up all my idle hoop time!

A dreaded trip heading to Eastern Washington for sure.....

Sorry to hear about Hollins, that kid could play, he and Edwards are quite a duo, much props to Gaillord and his staff for them continuing to get it done.

[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?

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

Whit Bowl II at 8pm

[(509)Rat]

I saw the LC vs WW game earlier this season, and shutting down WW's offense was not the problem for LC.  With their big man McClough on the sideline with a cast on his hand, WW did not blow LC out inside or out.

Look like Freidt was in fould trouble? I didn't watch the game, just saw the box score. Whitworth shot about their season average in FG% and above their season avg from distance. Meaning LC did nothing more than any other team has been able to do all season. Under Hayford, Whitworth usually prefers to play the game in the half-court. Hayford's system is all about effiiency. I just don't see what LC did (or has done all season) that would make me think they would disrupt that, especially not in Spokane.

Usually teams like Whitman are scary because of their pace. But I don't see Mike Taylor or the Gebbers turning the ball over enough times to keep Whitman in the game. Whitman is going to need quite a few more possesions to win this game since they don't look to be incredibely effective when they aren't running off of turnovers. Should be an exciting game though!

[A Buc Forever]

Whitworth's game with LC is at the Fieldhouse. I think UPS @ UPS has a better shot than LC to knock off Whitworth. Bottom line is you are going to have to shoot around 60% from 3 and 50% from the field in order to beat Whitworth if your an NWC team. Nobody in the conference has the talent or defensive ability to stop Whitworth for 40 minutes.

I'm sticking with LC as the team with best chance to beat WW.  UPS is too out of control and their skill level is too low.  They have some athletes, but they can't shoot.  As the late Dan Fitzgerald always said, shooting is the #1 skill in basketball and UPS is last in shooting percentage. 

LC lost to to WW at home, but they shot 21% from the 3-point line that night.  I'll give 90% of the credit to WW's defense on that, but it was also just a bad night for them.  They make 30% of their 3's and they are in the game. They make 40% and it's down to the wire. 

[nwhoops1903]

What I do know about WW vs LC is that in early Dec, WW went to Portland and won on the road in the conference opener.  That's big and I know WW was concerned about drawing that road trip, at that point in the season (they also beat LF decisively).  So what could have been a real turning point turned into a big confidence boost.  The other M Taylor, filled in big for Freidt who did have foul trouble (4 with 15 minutes to go).  At no time in my opinion was WW seriously threatened at LC.  LC got it a 14 point deficit down to 7 at half and then 3 early.  What happened next?  WW went on a 12-0 run and built a lead to 17 with 11 to play.  WW didn't empty it's bench and won by 17. 

As for UPS, no way they win at home.  They play with pride in spurts but don't have the playmakers.  PLU is more likely to come close in my book.  They have seniors and scorers.

LC is no doubt the 2nd best team in the conference and are getting well deserved votes in the Top 25 poll (#29).  I expect 2 more games between schools and both to be fun to watch.  WW likely wins first at home where they are nearly unbeatable, and then LC will likely play there again with the thought of "tough to beat a team 3x" mentality.  Crazy thing is if they somehow did win in Conf, they would probably end up AT  WW for a fourth game in NCAA's.  

I have seen most of WW's games and opponents have thrown nearly every style attack at WW with no serious, sustained success.  Drive and hope for a foul, drive and kick and make 3's only work for 10-12 minutes or backfire.  Pirates have been able to weather the best shots of teams, sometimes (GF) without flinching.  Whitman with Bridgeland's chaos pressure will be new if they go at it hard.  Interesting to see how many layups are scored in this game.

Go Pirates.

[(509)Rat]

You know Whitman is going press and run in transition, that's Bridgeland's MO. But what happens if Whitworth handles the press and builds a big lead off of uncontested lay ups? At the end of the Bridgland era Whitworth became much more effective against the full court trap they ran at UPS. Lunt has pretty much abandoned it during Whitworth games (which may just be his preference). I think it's the only chance Whitman has but I just can't see it actually working...so then what do you do if you're Whitman?

And I don't think there's a snowball's chance Whitworth loses at UPS, but I think there's even less of a chance of them losing to anyone else in the NWC. Just to clarify.

[A Buc Forever]

I don't think any team in the NW has better than 1:5 odds of beating WW. All I'm saying is LC would be my top pick to beat them.  I agree that WW owned LC in Portland.