MBB: Northwest Conference

etule · March 02, 2012, 11:48:58 AM

Good luck to Whitworth! They have the pieces I hope they play well and do WW and the NWC proud!

Ralph Turner · March 02, 2012, 08:19:38 PM

Final Withworth 90 McMurry 79. It was a Whitworth 2-possession game until the last 2 minutes.

Freidt is outstanding.

(509)Rat · March 02, 2012, 10:22:13 PM

Friedt with 35 tonight...

I don't know if anyone outside of close Whitworth supporters really understands how far Friedt has come since his freshman year. I mean, we are talking about a guy that had a nice touch and used his body well to rebound but traveled constantly and didn't play great with his back to the basket. Amazing to watch him get better every year, huge congrats to him and both coaching staffs. "Impressed" doesn't even begin to describe it...bravo

A Buc Forever · March 02, 2012, 10:40:01 PM

Quote from: (509)Rat on March 02, 2012, 10:22:13 PM
Friedt with 35 tonight...

I don't know if anyone outside of close Whitworth supporters really understands how far Friedt has come since his freshman year. I mean, we are talking about a guy that had a nice touch and used his body well to rebound but traveled constantly and didn't play great with his back to the basket. Amazing to watch him get better every year, huge congrats to him and both coaching staffs. "Impressed" doesn't even begin to describe it...bravo

No truer statement has been made on this blog. So many WW players have made huge strides over the years. None bigger than Felix except for maybe Nate. It will be interesting to see if Logie can keep developing big men the way Hayford did.

(509)Rat · March 02, 2012, 11:21:37 PM

Whitworth gets Trinity tomorrow night!

Looking at this game on paper it shouldn't be close but Trinity seems to be playing their best basketball of the season. Really rolled through a weak conference at the end of the year but continued the streak with some lights out shooting from outside. Looks a lot like Whitworth in terms of how they would prefer to play offensively. Took a lot of high % shots and then knocked down open 3's on the kickouts. UMHB was much more athletic, but like McMurry really struggled shooting the ball. However, UMHB was unable to force many turnovers. Trinity got pounded on the boards. Kitzinger looks like a tough matchup, a 6-7 forward that can shoot from anywhere and. Lambert (6-4 F) led the Tigers in scoring.

Common opponents are GF, Pacific, Willamette, and Southwestern. Whitworth beat all of them badly, while Trinity lost to GF, beat Willamette by 7, Pacific by 20, and Southwestern by 9 and 6. Paper doesn't mean much in the tourney though...

nwhoops1903 · March 03, 2012, 02:55:01 AM

Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 02, 2012, 08:19:38 PM
Final Withworth 90 McMurry 79. It was a Whitworth 2-possession game until the last 2 minutes.

Freidt is outstanding.

Congrats on a good team and good season Ralph. +1 It was fun to see our schools get the matchup.

Go Bucs!!

Ralph Turner · March 03, 2012, 11:48:52 AM

Quote from: nwhoops1903 on March 03, 2012, 02:55:01 AM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 02, 2012, 08:19:38 PM
Final Withworth 90 McMurry 79. It was a Whitworth 2-possession game until the last 2 minutes.

Friedt is outstanding.
Congrats on a good team and good season Ralph. +1 It was fun to see our schools get the matchup.

Go Bucs!!

Thanks for the kind words...

One last thought about Friedt...

If I comment about that tall German kid who is a "scoring machine" with a great outside shot and good free throw shooter to someone in Texas, the other guy will get a puzzled look on his face and remark, "I didn't think that Dirk Knowitzki had any eligibility left!"

Ron Boerger · March 03, 2012, 12:36:38 PM

As the token Trinity supporter on the board, I'll just say that I have no idea how our guys are going to deal with your experienced, talented, and BIG guys but will be there tonight to see how it plays out. Our guys are very young (we started three sophs, a frosh, and one senior - who hit the big three at the end) but they have improved quite a bit since the non-conference losses mentioned above.

Whitworth will come in the decided favorite and it will probably take something like last night's 60% 3-point shooting in the first half for us to stay in it - which is nice if it happens but nothing you can depend on.

etule · March 03, 2012, 03:20:00 PM

Trinity has one of the nicest Sports facilities I have ever seen. Saw them play they are pretty good but WW has loads of weapons. I'm going with WW! I thought they were going to run the table last year but maybe this is the year!
First things first but I worry about the Wisconsin teams the ones I have seen are very good! Hope is also crazy good!

(509)Rat · March 03, 2012, 03:37:55 PM

Ron,

The one thing that scares me about Trinity is their ability to shoot their way out of a hole. In all honesty, I wasn't incredibly worried about McMurry knocking down big shots at the end of the game last night. A 7 point lead seemed like plenty. The only way they were going to get back into it at the end was going to be creating and finishing and1 opportunities. But when you have 4 guys that can come out and shoot the 3 like they did last night...the game will never be out of reach.

I would be surprised to see Trinity in a zone tonight. It would help in terms of defending Friedt but Whitworth shoots over 40% from 3 as a team. Teams who have had success have played man, doubled with a backside defender, and stayed out on the shooters in Friedt's line of sight. McMurry did everything they could on the perimeter to limit Whitworth from outside, and well, we saw what happened inside.

(509)Rat · March 03, 2012, 03:46:15 PM

Dont be surprised if Lasisi picks up a bit of the scoring load tonight. He poses some of the same matchup problems that a couple of the UMHB G/F's did last night for Trinity. Should have a little easier time getting to the hoop tonight and may get a few more open looks if the Tigers decide to give a lot of attention to Friedt.

nwhoops1903 · March 03, 2012, 09:37:01 PM

Quote from: (509)Rat on March 03, 2012, 03:46:15 PM
Dont be surprised if Lasisi picks up a bit of the scoring load tonight. He poses some of the same matchup problems that a couple of the UMHB G/F's did last night for Trinity. Should have a little easier time getting to the hoop tonight and may get a few more open looks if the Tigers decide to give a lot of attention to Friedt.

Good call Rat.

(509)Rat · March 03, 2012, 09:40:41 PM

Whitworth wins. On to the Sweet 16! Again! Looks like the guys will be heading to MN or WI. Time to head over and chat with the Va Wesleyan guys. Hopefully they are as nice as Ralph, Ron, and the rest of the ASC/SCAC posters.

mcmfan · March 03, 2012, 11:08:43 PM

From a McMurry fan, it was great playing you guys even though we lost. I talked to some of our players the next morning and they had nothing but compliments for your team and how well they played. Good luck in the rest of the tournament — we want to be able to say that only the national champions were good enough to beat us!

Ron Boerger · March 03, 2012, 11:27:10 PM

Congrats to the Pirates on the W tonight. Your length kept our three point shooters from getting untracked most of the night, though I did have my hopes when we closed from 21 to 3 down late in the game. Bang, two more quick threes and it was back to double digits and Trinity could never threaten again. Good D all night on your part.

Best wishes for continued success ... this year.

We bring all but one player back next year so maybe we can meet again.