MBB: Northwest Conference

Greek Tragedy · December 27, 2006, 10:36:05 PM

I have Whitworth as my team in the d3hoops survivor pool...

bucs77 · December 27, 2006, 10:43:52 PM

good call. What made you pick them?

Warren Thompson · December 28, 2006, 08:13:32 AM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on December 27, 2006, 09:50:36 PM
If I might be allowed to respond before the embargo goes into effect ....

"Embargo"?

Coach C · December 28, 2006, 09:28:15 AM

What a lovely board where everyone talks NWC hoops. I think I like it here!

C

UPSoundLogs · December 28, 2006, 10:29:08 AM

Bucs,

I agree that the NWC is looking to be pretty much a two horse race with UPS and WW. Right now I would also have to say the edge goes to WW, simply because of playing and winning against some better competition. I have a feeling UPS planned a fairly easy pre-conference schedule to allow themselves some room for error early on. The reason being that they are very young and have a new head coach, this was very smart in my opinion.

I'm looking forward to the showdown between Puget Sound and Whitworth coming up soon, it should be a great game!

Gilbert McFinnegan · December 28, 2006, 12:48:22 PM

What can I say? I have a flare for the dramatic. Nothing wrong with a little entertainment here and there, but we have games this weekend so the peace treaty comes at a good time...

Heading in I agree with the two horse race of UPS-WW that we have seen over the past 3 years (with a hint of Willamette for good measure). I am not sure that I would be so quick to give WW the edge as Logs is. It is undeniable that Wheaton victory gives WW the edge in better wins, and that WW has avoided the close calls that UPS has.

The thing troubling me about the WW squad is that they only go 7 players deep. Out of these 7 you have Williams, Young, and either Symes or Jones (sometimes both) playing 40 minutes anytime they get into a relatively close game, with the 7th guy only playing 4-6 mins. Due to the tempo and style, it is difficult to beat UPS with really only a 6 man rotation, especially with only one of those six able to handle the pressure. The season...as well as the UPS pressure could wear on them.

UPS has shown that they can score once again, but it looks like some adjustments are going to need to be made to that defense to make it through conference as opponent field goal %'s at 60+ will not cut it. However, they have shown the ability to find ways to win the close ones and those are the victories that tend to separate teams from the rest.

bucs77 · December 28, 2006, 01:24:23 PM

Thats a very good point Gil. The short rotation has served WW well so far but it will be tough to keep it to 7 men against the UPS pressure. There will be early turnovers but I think the key for WW will be rebounding. They will force three pointers and that will mean tougher rebounds. I think that whoever wins the boards will take home the W. Can't wait for that one myself should be a great mid-season matchup between two top 15 teams.

UPSoundLogs · January 03, 2007, 10:59:28 AM

Congrats to WW sitting pretty at #6, another couple wins and they could easily be top five! With UPS at #13 we could be looking at a possible NWC top ten matchup this season! Good luck to everyone as we head back into league play.

Gilbert McFinnegan · January 03, 2007, 02:05:12 PM

Nice post Logs...looks like it will sit good with the Hall of Famers.

Looks like the board has been pretty dead. Let's try and pick it up a little.

While it is the NWC and any team can win on any given night and all NWC basketball games have big impact on records with only 16 games...cliche, I know....there are not any extraordinary match ups this week.

Game of the Week: LC at Willamette

LC is always dangerous, and Willamette should have all their guys back by now. Correct? With Willamette being at home, and the 0-2 start, this is nearly a "must win" situation if the Cats want a shot at some NWC post season.

pineconefan · January 05, 2007, 12:59:52 AM

So what do you all think of Kyle Born's 53 point performance last night? In any normal circumstance 53 points is an amazing total, but the Missionaries were playing Redlands. So while the Bulldogs are giving up layups to get chances at three pointers, Born is pouring in 25 of 29 shots. He was essentially taking lay up drills all night.

I am not sure I give as much respect to that accomplishment as another player scoring 35-40 against a team that actually plays defense past halfcourt.

pineconefan · January 05, 2007, 01:02:30 AM

Gilbert,

I am interested to see how your Boxers do against WU and UPS this weekend. The Boxers can make a big early step if they want to contend for a playoff spot.

bearcatsfan3 · January 05, 2007, 12:29:03 PM

Willamette is facing what basically amounts to a make or break weekend...

Win both, they are right in the race for third...

Lose both, they are in SERIOUS trouble that they probably won't dig their way out of...

They will not have Erickson or Fife for the rest of the year...Stuvland could be back tonight...

Gilbert McFinnegan · January 05, 2007, 01:58:47 PM

PineCone-

53 and 16 is 53 and 16...You have to give Born credit for a GREAT performance. However, you make a good point in having to keep it in perspective. It was a little over a third of a 149 point outing by Whitman in which they somehow still ended up on the losing end of the contest. Either all the planets were aligned and it was Born's birthday OR your layup assumption was a good one as he was 25-29 from the field. Born has been putting up really good numbers since last year so I do not want to discredit a solid performance from a great player, but I hope he took Warner and Brandal out to dinner afterwards, as they handled the press to combine for 26 assists.

I do not know what to think of the Boxer's this year. They have had some solid performances, like against Cal Lut, but then you have these outings like La Sierra. This is Lowery's first recruiting class so he should get a little slack on the lack of consistency. However, barring last year, Pacific has always made it tough on the Loggers...and the rest of the conference to an extent...at their place. Maybe its the mascot in the middle of the floor? This was actually the other game I was contemplating mentioning...It should be a good one. Good Call PineCone!

Bearcats-
Dissapointing to here about Fife and Erickson, they would have definitely contributed to making the NWC race more interesting.

Pat Coleman · January 05, 2007, 02:01:56 PM

Quote from: Gilbert McFinnegan on January 05, 2007, 01:58:47 PM
Either all the planets were aligned and it was Born's birthday OR your layup assumption was a good one as he was 25-29 from the field.

That's typical when you're playing against a System team like Redlands or Grinnell. IF you can break the press in the backcourt you are in for an easy layup in the frontcourt. This is very, very typical.

UPSoundLogs · January 05, 2007, 02:37:21 PM

BCats-

With matchups against LC and Pacific coming up for WU this weekend I should think you will get a great feel for if your Cats can compete for third in the conference. I think LC and Pac will be right there in the hunt for the third spot, if WU can take care of them both this weekend it gives them a huge advantage in the race for the playoffs. In my opinion your guys are more than capable of winning especially if you have Stuvland back tonight. Also I don't think you will miss the other two players a whole lot because Nugent(I always want to call him Ted) is being very productive. Good luck this weekend!

Gotta agree with Gil on the Borne 53, no matter how you do it 53 is a lot of points. Pat is of course correct about how it is much much much easier to do against Redlands/Grinell but, 53 is 53 in my book.

Gil- why are the boxers so inconsistent this year? Some nights I see they get good wins and other nights they lose to bad/OK teams. Any ideas?