MBB: Northwest Conference

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

It doesn't seem likely that they will be one of the top couple of West Region teams, no. If it were my committee, I'd be trying to find ways to get games hosted at St. Thomas, St. John's and Nebraska Wesleyan.

From what I gathered today ... I don't think SJU and UST will be hosting ... maybe NWU gets one, but trying to get enough teams to both SJU and UST may be too difficult.

It may happen, but from what I gathered today ... it likely won't happen.

BTW - Same would be true for Benedictine and North Central if they both were to be in position ... mainly because it limits the committee's ability to diversify the brackets (IMO).

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Hmmm, St Paul and Collegeville are easy to get to from Spokane, Lincoln not so much.

It's only an hour from the Omaha airport, pretty straight shot.

[D O.C.]

Congrats Whitman on takin' care of business.
Ah gots the blues....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTQt6lHoMcM

[Greek Tragedy]

Whitman looked pretty good last night. Duckett was unstoppable. It'll be a great game tomorrow night.

[A Buc Forever]

I missed both games last night. Family game online at the same time. From the scores and recaps, it looks like Whitman is out of their slump and that there is quite a distance between the top three teams and the rest of the league.  Hopefully, PLU and LC keep making the strides that Linfield may the last couple years and the league becomes more competitive from top to bottom.

[BluesBrother]

A different path, but the same result in the NWC as Whitman takes the NWC crown and the pool A bid. Guessing Whitworth will be on the wrong side of the bubble, but who knows?

Duckett has been up and down this year, but he showed up huge the last two games. If he, Vickers, and Kirkley are on, the Blues are tough to beat.

Curious to see where Whitman goes for the first weekend...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Whitworth has a win over St. Thomas, so that will bode well for them in Pool C consideration.  They'll also likely be at the table decently early, so the committee will be looking at them for a while.  It's certainly not impossible.

[A Buc Forever]

Congrats to Whitworth!! They got the Pool C bid!!!!

[A Buc Forever]

... and then a NWC team will be in the Sweet Sixteen.  That has been the norm the last few years. We might not get two teams in this year, but we consistently put out a top 16 team every year. The NWC has had a team in the Sweet Sixteen or higher every year since the 2002-03 season with two exceptions when their top team went out in the second round. 

And the streak continues with getting a team into the second round. One more win by WW and we will have a Sweet 16 team when no team from the league was ranked in the top 25 at the end of the year.

Looks like Whitman ran into a tough first-round team. Those Wisconsin DIII state schools are tough to compete with.  A kid can go to those schools for about $8000 a year (in-state tuition). My kids got great educations at NWC schools and had great experiences playing, but I would have loved to pay one fifth of the tuition.

[A Buc Forever]

SWEET SIXTEEN!!!!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

SWEET SIXTEEN!!!!

You coming to Philly next Friday?

[Pat Coleman]

The host sites for the men's Sweet 16 have been released: https://www.d3hoops.com/playoffs/men/2020/bracket and game times: https://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2019-20/ncaa-tournament?date=2020-03-13 and https://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2019-20/ncaa-tournament?date=2020-03-14

[A Buc Forever]

SWEET SIXTEEN!!!!

You coming to Philly next Friday?

Won't be able to make it. My son that used to play at WW is now coaching at Eastern Washington and they are playing in the Big Sky Tournament next week. I Hope to watch Whitworth play Swathmore online.  It would be a great win for the Pirates.

Spokane Basketball is having a great year. Whitworth won the NWC, Eastern Washington won the Big Sky, and Gonzaga won the WCC (not to mention ranked #1 or #2 for a good part of the year). 

Here is a bit of Swathmore basketball trivia.  When I was a medical student and doing my cardiology rotation, the attending physician for the rotation came in one day and showed us a picture of us the JV basketball team when he played at Swathmore. Then he pointed to one of the players and said, "That's Mike Dukakis."

[Gregory Sager]

Swarthmore, not "Swathmore."

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Swarthmore, not "Swathmore."

The R is visibly present in a big way, but nothing more.