The lone undefeated simmy, Lewis and Clark, fell last night so we're down to five perfect teams left.

Last Night
#22 Sewanee 52   #13 Emory 68
This game was very close for most of the first half until the home team closed out the half on a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 9 at the break.  Sewanee crept a little closer a few times in the second half but they could never quite get back to even and Emory eventually pulled away.  Emory had a big edge in FG% and free throws which will almost always put you in good shape.  Emory and phalla bounce back up the rankings with the win while Sewanee and madpad fall into the twenties after their second loss.

Also considered: #10 Johnson and Wales used a big second half to cruise past Daniel Webster 93-75, #14 Webster had no trouble with Dominican 95-59, #16 Trinity got the home win over Ozarks 70-58, and #24 Whittier won on the road over CSU Eastbay 66-56.

Sim blowout watch: Much to rednu's chagrin, Oberlin easily covered against #6 Wooster 53-83 (Thanks for knocking me down from the RPI top spot Oberlin!) while Bridgewater didn't get nearly as close but still covered vs #12 Emory and Henry 45-103.

ITaLRbHAGotN: I picked a good one this time as Earlham needed extra time to prevail at home over Allegheny 71-67.  It was a close game throughout but nobody could score in the last minute of regulation and we went to overtime tied at 62.  The home team was able to build a small lead in the extra frame and made free throws down the stretch to secure the opening conference win.

GotN
#10 Johnson and Wales (8-3)(spasticity) at #4 W. New England (11-0)(rednu)
Next up is a top ten battle up in the Great Northeast conference featuring the undefeated Golden Bears of WNE welcoming the Spider Monkeys of J-Dub.  Both teams won their conference season openers last night and are currently the only ranked teams in their conference.  This one is listed as an even pick so this should be an exciting battle for cross-divisional bragging rights.

Also considered: #13 Emory at #16 Trinity, Greensboro at #9 Palm Beach Atlantic, Howard Payne at #17 Texas Lutheran, Dennison at #23 Wittenberg, and #24 Whittier at Colorado

Sim blowout watch: The Alfred Saxons are getting 68 points as they go on the road to #15 Vassar and Hampden-Sydney is a 62 point road dog up against #3 Lynchburg.

ITaLRbHAGotN
Hamline (6-5)(foofighter13) at Augsburg (9-2)(Sim AI)
The Pipers of Hamline make an early season trip to take on what looks to be their highest rated simmy foe in the conference this year.  The Augsburg Eagles have a solid RPI in the 50's after a nice run through the non-conference slate.  A victory here would give Hamline an early boost to their post-season resume, they're favored by 2 on the road.

Should have been an exciting battle...in reality it was a glorified ***-kicking of the home team. Always fun to get utterly embarrassed on national television. .

Down to four undefeated teams and ten winless teams.  Oh and Millsaps is still ranked #1.

Last Night
#6 Johnson and Wales 93   #11 W. New England 48
I'd say rednu gave a pretty good rundown on this one, not sure I have much to add.

Also considered: #10 Emory survived a last second shot attempt to edge #24 Trinity 57-55, Greensboro scored the road upset of #17 Palm Beach Atlantic 83-73, #14 Texas Lutheran got a last second pull-up to fall giving them a 82-81 home win over Howard Payne, #15 Wittenberg cruised past Denison 83-56, and #25 Whittier pulled away from Colorado in overtime to win 76-69.

Sim blowout watch: Alfred easily covered against #19 Vassar 61-87 while Hampden-Sydney even finished within single digits while covering at #5 Lynchburg 61-72.

ITaLRbHAGotN: Hamline led by 4 at the half and was able to pull away from Augsburg late for a key 81-68 conference road win.  mmmmmmm ham.

GotN
#13 Webster (10-2)(mschulte24) at Aurora (8-4)(jbra12)
If you think I'm picking this game as the GotN just to give myself another chance to mention Gorloks, well you're probably about 78% right.  Both teams are off to a 2-0 start in conference play and a home upset here would be huge for the Spartans of Aurora.  They've got their work cut out for them, the mighty Gorloks are favored by 12 on the road.  Gorloks.

Also considered: Grove City at #3 Wooster, Southwestern at #10 Emory, #11 W. New England at Sufolk, #15 Wittenberg at Ohio Wesleyan, #17 Palm Beach Atlantic at Oglethorpe, #24 Trinity at Louisiana

Sim blowout watch: Something has to give, winless Bridgewater is getting 83 points as they host undefeated #5 Lynchburg.  Pretty sure I know which something is going to give.

ITaLRbHAGotN
Tufts (8-4)(gabby1234) at Worcester St. (2-10)(kneehouse1)
We go over to the New England conference for a South division meeting of teams with opposite records in conference play.  Tufts won their first two and go on the road looking to continue the streak while Worcester St. looks to turn it around with a big upset at home.  The visitors are favored by 11.

Don't punch nobody, fightin scots

Snowed here this morning so I got to shovel my driveway and sidewalk.  I apologize for making you jealous.

Last Night
#11 Webster 71   Aurora 45
I also apologize for not picking very close games to feature lately.  I'll try harder tonight, promise.  Gorloks.

Also considered: #3 Wooster used a big second half to pull away from Grove City 79-55, a last second tying shot fell short allowing Southwestern to score the road upset over #20 Emory 56-54, #12 W. New England rebounded from their first loss by taking out Sufolk 66-63, #14 Wittenberg cruised past Ohio Wesleyan 72-52, #16 Palm Beach Atlantic handled Oglethorpe 59-47, and #25 Trinity downed Louisiana 87-73.

Sim blowout watch: Bridgewater covered but stayed winless in falling 41-97 to #9 Lynchburg.

ITaLRbHAGotN: Tufts built a 9 point first half lead and held on through the second to down Worcester State 67-56 and stay perfect in conference play.  Both teams shot an identical 5 of 11 from 3pt but the visitors shot about 11% from the floor overall to provide the offensive punch.

GotN
#10 Emory and Henry (12-1)(bclark2021) at #9 Lynchburg (13-0)(googs04)
A massive game in the Old Dominion conference as two top ten divisional rivals meet for the first of two games this season.  Both squads are 3-0 in conference play so the winner here will stake an early claim to the conference title.  googs has a hefty 22-5 series advantage but the visitors are favored in this one by a single point.

Also considered: #25 Trinity at #1 Millsaps, #5 Hardin-Simmons at Austin, #14 Wittenberg at Earlham, and Centenary at #24 Mount St. Mary

Sim blowout watch: Low spreads compared to the usual blowout watch fare but we have Fontbonne and Juniata both getting 34 points at they take on #11 Webster and #19 Susquehanna respectively.  Gorloks.

The ITaLRbHAGotN is taking a night off.

Manchester suffered their first loss last night so we're down to three undefeated teams and nine winless teams.

Last Night
#14 Emory and Henry 56   #8 Lynchburg 59
Told you I'd pick a closer game.  This one was close from start to finish with the home team leading most of the time but never ahead by more than 8 points.  If only Emory and Henry could've made more than half of their 22 free throws or shot more 3ptrs since they went 3 for 3 from long range.  Lynchburg and googs stayed undefeated and moved a game ahead in he divisional standings while Emory and Henry and bclark slip a couple places outside the top ten with their second loss on the season.

Also considered: #1 Millsaps pulled away in the second half to down Trinity 79-61, #4 Hardin-Simmons handled Austin 92-76, #11 Wittenberg cruised past Earlham 86-62, and #19 Mount St. Mary got the home win over Centenary 63-56.

Sim blowout watch: See, this is what happens when there are low spreads.  Both sims were official blowout victims as Fontebonne were completely Gorloked by #12 Webster 53-100 and Juniata was closer but still failed to cover against #23 Susquehanna 46-85

GotN
#9 W. New England (13-1)(rednu) at S. Vermont (9-5)(funngun10)
Another divisional game in the Great Northeast as W. New England look to stay within striking distance of the divisional lead while S. Vermont will be try to turn things around after a couple painfully close losses the last couple games.  funngun has a big 24-4 lead in the series but the visitors are favored by 7.

Also considered: #1 Millsaps at Sewanee, #7 Johnson and Wales at Suffolk, #11 Wittenberg at Grove City, #21 Palm Beach Atlantic at North Carolina Wesleyan, and #24 Greensboro at Oglethorpe

Sim blowout watch: Now this is what I'm talking about, winless Concordia is a hefty 81 point home dog as they welcome #12 Webster to town.

D3 alum of the day: former Yankee and World Series MVP Scott Brosius.  Brosius attended Linfield College where he played baseball before being drafted by the Oakland A's.  Brosius is currently the head baseball coach at Linfield, hopefully they're doing better than the 0-14 Linfield here in Rupp.

Last Night
#17 W. New England 52   S. Vermont 65
I am not doing rednu favors by including his team in the feature game of the night, my apologies.  S. Vermont was able to ride hot shooting to a big 13 point halftime lead and then played the second half to a draw for the win.  WNE and rednu drop out of the top ten after their second loss of the season while S. Vermont and funngun got a nice conference win for their post-season resume.

Also considered: #1 Millsaps kept rolling with a 83-68 win at Sewanee, #5 Johnson and Wales cruised past Suffolk 101-63, #9 Wittenberg handled Grove City 62-51, North Carolina Wesleyan used a tip-in with eleven seconds left to nip Palm Beach Atlantic 65-64, #23 Greensboro got past Oglethorpe 88-82.

Sim blowout watch: Concordia still hasn't won a game but they managed to cover against #13 Webster 41-92.

GotN
#3 Wooster (13-2)(pseudochamp) at #9 Wittenberg (12-3)(darnoc29099)
Oh damn, monster game in the North Coast tonight.  The fierce rivalry between the Ohio W schools gets dialed up a few notches as both teams are ranked in the top ten and have won their first five conference games in dominating fashion.  As an extra bonus, pretend world and real world collide in this one since Wooster is currently ranked #2 in the real world and Wittenberg is ranked #13.  Can it get any bigger?  The odd-makers say no since they have this one as a dead-even pick.

Also considered: #1 Millsaps at #15 Emory, #22 Rivier at #17 W. New England, #10 UMass Dartmouth at E. Connecticut State, #20 Merchant Marines at Stevens Tech, and Dallas at #25 Trinity

Sim blowout watch: Lincoln is getting 53 points as they go on the road to #12 Dickinson and California Lutheran is a 46 point home dog against #16 Whittier.

ITaLRbHAGotN
SUNY Cortland (8-6)(cuck) at Buffalo St. (6-8)(cheesehead20)
Tonight we stop by in the SUNY conference where Cortland is off to a perfect 4-0 start in conference and they travel to take on divisional foe Buffalo State.  It's the Red Dragons vs the Bengals and the odd-makers have the Dragons by 3.  Seems a little conservative to me, unless those are some flying Bengal tigers.  Now if it was Red Dragons vs the Bangles, I'd put that at Bangles by 2 points at home.  Susanna Hoffs can play.

Our student body has been tailgaiting and burning kilts all day long.  We fear no one!

You probably should have feared sim-controlled Loras.

Two winless teams won last night, only seven left.

Last Night
#3 Wooster 75   #13 Wittenberg 59
The visiting Fightin' Scots played pretty much a perfect first half last night.  Wooster shot 62% and held the home team to 28% shooting in the half for a complete offensive/defensive performance leading to a 24 point advantage.  Wooster's head coach was so excited going into the break that he had to be sedated in the locker room.  The Tigers made a valiant effort in the second half to close the gap a little but the first half hole was too deep.  Wooster and a still-tranquilized pseudochamp stayed perfect in conference play and Wittenberg and darnoc slip to just outside the top ten after their first conference loss.

Also considered: #1 Millsaps had their closest game of the season so far but still stayed unbeaten after downing #24 Emory 80-74, #18 Rivier got a layup with two seconds left to edge #25 W. New England 61-59, #9 UMass Darmouth made enough free throws down the stretch to take out E. Connecticut State 69-66, #15 Merchant Marines came back to beat Stevens Tech 70-60, and Dallas pulled away in overtime to upset Trinity 62-53.

Sim blowout watch: Lincoln just barely avoided becoming another blowout victim by scoring just enough to cover against #14 Dickinson 63-113 and California Lutheran also covered vs #19 Whittier 52-84.

ITaLRbHAGotN: Buffalo State launched a barrage of 3ptrs in the last few minutes to make it close but SUNY Cortland was able to hold on for the 90-86 road win.  SUNY Cortland improved to 5-0 in conference with the win while Buffalo State suffered their third loss.

GotN
#18 Rivier (13-3)(jack_duck) at #5 Johnson and Wales (13-3)(spasticity)
Next up is a monster game over in the Great Northeast as two ranked 6-0 teams face off in their annual cross-divisional slugfest.  Both teams have opened up multiple game leads in their divisions and will be looking to keep the conference winning streak alive.  spasticity has a big 31-17 lead in the all-time series and his team is favored by 1 point in this one.

Also considered: #3 Wooster at Denison, #11 Webster at Dominican, Piedmont at #21 Greensboro, and Dallas at #24 Emory

Sim blowout watch: UMass Boston is getting a fat 80 points as they travel to #9 UMass Dartmouth while Franklin and Marshall is a 53 point road dog against #14 Dickinson.

ITaLRbHAGotN
Mt. St. Joseph (11-5)(cokeman) at Thomas More (10-6)(gijar)
We check in on the Heartland conference tonight as the Lions of Mt. St. Joseph look to continue their unbeaten run in conference play as they visit the Saints of Thomas More.  The home team has two conference losses on the season but a big win here will put the division race back into question.  The visitors are favored by 7 points.

Looking forward to the Rivier game.  I think their Zone matches up pretty well with JDub's FB/Press, and I'm curious to see how it plays out.  Rivier has excellent guard Spd/BH, which should handle our Press well enough.  The Zone--especially if it's run with slowdown--largely negates our biggest strength, which is depth/Stamina/drawing fouls.  We lack the elite Per shooting to punish a Zone, and Rivier has a couple snipers to attack our defense.

Should be an interesting clash of styles.  Plus there's also Rivier's Soph guard Stephen Carlson, who spurned JDub's very hefty recruiting efforts to go play up in Nashua.  Kid would look good in a FB/Press..not too late to transfer!

This Millsaps team is a juggernaut!

Posted by spasticity on 12/17/2013 2:14:00 PM (view original):
Looking forward to the Rivier game.  I think their Zone matches up pretty well with JDub's FB/Press, and I'm curious to see how it plays out.  Rivier has excellent guard Spd/BH, which should handle our Press well enough.  The Zone--especially if it's run with slowdown--largely negates our biggest strength, which is depth/Stamina/drawing fouls.  We lack the elite Per shooting to punish a Zone, and Rivier has a couple snipers to attack our defense.

Should be an interesting clash of styles.  Plus there's also Rivier's Soph guard Stephen Carlson, who spurned JDub's very hefty recruiting efforts to go play up in Nashua.  Kid would look good in a FB/Press..not too late to transfer!

Looking forward to seeing the result of this one too, seeing as I dropped games to both teams. I don't think my press is anything to sneeze at and it only picked up 14 turnovers against Riv last night. And I'm still drinking to forget what happened against J-Dub.

Comedian and television host Rosie O'Donnell attended Dickinson College.  She ended up transferring to Boston University before dropping out of college to pursue her entertainment career.

Last Night
#25 Rivier 58   #4 Johnson and Wales 72
The zone defense of Rivier hung close to the pressing J-Dub for a while but eventually the home team was able to sink enough shots to put this one out of reach.  J-Dub led by 8 points at the half and slowly built up the lead in the second half to pull away.  Johnson and Wales and spasticity stayed perfect in conference play with the win and kept on the trail of the top ranked teams.  Rivier and jack_duck lost their first conference game but they still have a two game lead in their division.

Also considered: #3 Wooster used another big first half to cruise past Denison 91-62, #9 Webster had no trouble with Dominican 101-73, #20 Greensboro got the home win over Piedmont 64-59, as did #19 Emory over Dallas 68-60.

Sim blowout watch: UMass Boston cut the spread in half, losing to #10 UMass Darmouth 40-81 and Franklin and Marshall played more like Franklin and Bash in becoming another official blowout victim losing big to #18 Dickinson 56-138.  That is not close.

ITaLRbHAGotN: It was a 3pt shooting clinic as Mt. St. Joseph made 13 of 25 from behind the line and pulled away late for a big 82-67 conference road win over Thomas More.  Mt St. Joseph now has a two game lead in the division.

GotN
Howard Payne (10-7)(aggiegeog) at #5 Hardin-Simmons (16-0)(sublightd)
Over in the American Southwest conference one of our three remaining unbeaten teams hosts a divisional rival who is currently just one game back in the standings.  A road win here and Howard Payne would get a nice boost to their post-season resume and pull into a tie for the division lead, while Hardin-Simmons looks to stay perfect on the season.  sublight has a 24-12 lead in the series and his team is favored by 10 at home.

Also considered: #4 Johnson and Wales at Emmanuel, #8 Lynchburg at Virginia Wesleyan, CSU Eastbay at #16 Whittier, #19 Emory at Hendrix, and Emerson at #22 W. New England

Sim blowout watch: Sad and winless Oberlin is a 64 point road dog as they visit #14 Wittenberg and then we have two spreads in the 50's: Hampden-Sydney getting 56 hosting #13 Emory and Henry and Marietta getting 55 at #6 John Carroll.

ITaLRbHAGotN
St. Lawrence (9-7)(joewhatever) at Rochester (15-2)(SimAI)
We have a nice cross-divisional game in the Upstate conference with 6-0 St. Lawrence visiting 7-0 Rochester.  Both teams have a two game lead in the standings so this might determine who claims the conference bragging rights at the end of the season.  The home team is favored by 7 points.