MBB: Northwest Conference

[BluesBrother]

The Blues arrived in Syracuse early this morning and by all accounts seems to be enjoying the journey (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czk9CWk6JzM&feature=youtu.be).

Here's a nice piece on the seniors: http://kogakoalition.org/ben/2019/03/07/blues-savoring-every-moment-as-end-of-road-looms/

Tomorrow should be fun!

[BluesBrother]

Ugh. Whitman didn't play a great game and that's a shame. Too many easy missed baskets. Ugh.

[(509)Rat]

Whitman bows out in the sweet 16. Unlike blackhawks I won't admonish any NWC team who has to travel across the country and play a team playing on a home court or in this case a very familiar one. Congrats on the great season, even if like Whitworth's, it was a disappointing one

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Whitman played poorly, but they battled back.  The inability to execute a decent halfcourt offense in the final minute did them in.  I suspect a lot of the credit goes to Williams' excellent defense - one of the best in the country this year, by just about any measure.  Great season - and 112 wins by one class is going to be pretty tough for anyone to beat.

[D O.C.]

I don't understand these NWC one loss teams flaming out consistently.
Sure, there's the flying way east, but, come on.
I'll never know how good you really are.
Now, the GeoFo women.....

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I don't understand these NWC one loss teams flaming out consistently.
Sure, there's the flying way east, but, come on.
I'll never know how good you really are.
Now, the GeoFo women.....

One loss Nebraska Wesleyan lost ...
Two loss Augustana lost ...

It isn't about NWC ... it's about the fact there are a lot of very good teams in Division III and in the national tournament anything is going to be possible. Whitman got to the second weekend getting past a very good Pomona Pitzer squad. They could have beaten Williams, but they didn't have a great game. Shots didn't fall tonight. I suspect they would win more than they would lose to Williams - just not tonight.

I wouldn't be that critical. Whitman got all the way to the title game a few years ago. Sometimes it comes together and sometimes that one game just pops up at the wrong time.

[D O.C.]

I know.  I know.

[blackhawks4]

McHughs post is dead on.

IMO Whitman ran into the National Champ last night. I'll be surprised if Williams doesn't win it.
Their length was the difference. Period, end of story. The shots that are normally easy shots weren't easy shots. They didn't have had any ball handlers but they could see over top of the pressure. Whitman didn't lose that game or "not play well" or "not execute in the half court" they got beat by an elite team. But they also had the ball down 1 with a minute left and just came up short. Somebody's gotta lose.

Length reminded me of Nebraska Wesleyan last year.

The site/location/travel stuff plays a factor, but nothing's changed about this ever. Fair or not—We all knew this before the season ever started so to bring it up now is pointless. Whitman controlled every variable they could during the season. They came into the ncaa tourney the number one seed, and the pod just worked out how it did.

I thought this year was the year! Graduating an incredible senior class, but will be back with studs like Darne Duckett and Andrew Vickers

Signing off...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The one downside to Whitman's style is that you're rarely going to blow out teams at this level.  It's great for overwhelming lesser foes, but you can be sure, when you get to the second weekend of the tournament (or, for sure, the championship weekend), you'll have opponents who can withstand the pressure and keep calm.  Williams had 29 turnovers.  They also had size and patience.  I'm not sure Williams is the better team, but they did a better job adjusting and combating the strengths of their opponent last night.

As is often said, Whitman "does what we do," which is really good.  But when they needed to run some efficient half-court sets at the end of the game, it didn't work out too well.

That shouldn't be seen as a knock either - one or two extra turnovers from Williams and the whole narrative is flipped.

[AO]

The one downside to Whitman's style is that you're rarely going to blow out teams at this level.  It's great for overwhelming lesser foes, but you can be sure, when you get to the second weekend of the tournament (or, for sure, the championship weekend), you'll have opponents who can withstand the pressure and keep calm.  Williams had 29 turnovers.  They also had size and patience.  I'm not sure Williams is the better team, but they did a better job adjusting and combating the strengths of their opponent last night.

As is often said, Whitman "does what we do," which is really good.  But when they needed to run some efficient half-court sets at the end of the game, it didn't work out too well.

That shouldn't be seen as a knock either - one or two extra turnovers from Williams and the whole narrative is flipped.

I'm sure they remained calm but 29 turnovers means they didn't handle the pressure well.  A terrible shooting night for Whitman and Williams converted when they didn't turn it over.

[blackhawks4]

"The one downside to Whitman's style" alludes to "if they played differently" which is complete bs.

You really want to see whitman slow it down against the 6'8" starting 5 of Williams?!

Darne Duckett killed Williams off the dribble with his mid range game. Do you want to see him running flex? You want to see Austin Butler Down screen to start a little high/low action? Makes no sense.

Whitman does what they do. They forced 29 turnovers!

How about they shoot 15/22 instead off 11/22 from the stripe? Game over

[Gregory Sager]

The one downside to Whitman's style is that you're rarely going to blow out teams at this level.  It's great for overwhelming lesser foes, but you can be sure, when you get to the second weekend of the tournament (or, for sure, the championship weekend), you'll have opponents who can withstand the pressure and keep calm.  Williams had 29 turnovers.  They also had size and patience.  I'm not sure Williams is the better team, but they did a better job adjusting and combating the strengths of their opponent last night.

As is often said, Whitman "does what we do," which is really good.  But when they needed to run some efficient half-court sets at the end of the game, it didn't work out too well.

That shouldn't be seen as a knock either - one or two extra turnovers from Williams and the whole narrative is flipped.

... or one or two converted layups in transition in the first fifteen minutes of the game, and the whole narrative is flipped. The Blues amassed a large number of steals in the opening phase of the game that they couldn't turn into points once they got to the rim on the fast break.

[(509)Rat]

IMO Whitman ran into the National Champ last night. I'll be surprised if Williams doesn't win it.

Well this opinion didn't age well...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

"The one downside to Whitman's style" alludes to "if they played differently" which is complete bs.

You really want to see whitman slow it down against the 6'8" starting 5 of Williams?!

Darne Duckett killed Williams off the dribble with his mid range game. Do you want to see him running flex? You want to see Austin Butler Down screen to start a little high/low action? Makes no sense.

Whitman does what they do. They forced 29 turnovers!

How about they shoot 15/22 instead off 11/22 from the stripe? Game over

I love the style.  I didn't allude to anything.  It's a choice you make.  Every choice has pros and cons.  I think this one, if you do it well, has fewer cons than any other.  One of those happens to be close games against good teams.  Most any coach would be happy with a style where that's the worse that can happen.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

blackhawks, you are reading into Ryan's post in the wrong direction. His points are accurate and fair .. he isn't knocking the way Whitman plays. We have commented and raved about it for years. However, it has some draw backs. Just like a slow-down, half-court, slug it out in the mud team is going to have the draw back of not being able to ratchet things up when they need points fast.

It is all good. There are times Whitman does need to execute in a half-court set more than an up-tempo pace ... I think it isn't as smooth for them. I do wonder if media breaks are their downfall to some degree - but I haven't looked into it as much. It forces the game to be stopped and teams allowed to adjust more than Whitman would want normally. Just a theory.

BTW - the same is true with Westfield State on the women's side. They are more of a "System" team, but because of that when they needed half-court or set-play options to run in the closing seconds of the opening round ... they looked lost. I am not saying Whitman looks lost, but they seem less comfortable that way. They seem more comfortable when they are in the flow of things. That isn't always easy to accomplish or have the ability to do when you need to run a play in a matter of seconds off an inbounds.

But as others pointed out - better FT shooting and a few layups would have flipped this conversation.

Too bad Williams is winning it all.