NAC Conference - Page 14 - Allen

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good stuff KUJ! You have given Becker some bulletin board material though. My Supa-Fly Seniors: James " Polish Wrecking Ball" Orcholski, Byron "Capt. Clutch" Halbert, Curtis "Should've been a SF" Lineberger and Marvin "Toaster Oven" Lisk are under-represented in the list of top seniors. Zero to be exact! Expect the BC Hawks to be ready to swoop when Thomas comes to Donut Fieldhouse this spring!

3/10/2008 12:40 AM

kmfloyd

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LOL...Toaster Oven?

3/10/2008 5:25 AM

mizzou77

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He's almost, but not exactly like,,,, Vinnie, "Micro-wave" Johnson

3/10/2008 10:56 PM

mizzou77

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The NAC should finally reach our goal this season of becomming one of the top-5 conferences in Allen. That being said, hopefully we will continue to do well and actually deserve to stay there once we finally get there. The Centennial made it to #1 last season, but then several of their good teams graduated alot of players and so it looks to be a one and out at the top. Steve, Breum, and one or two others there can allways be counted on to be a top 50 type team. However the others have not been quite as stable.

One of the keys, (as I have ragged on before) is the non-conf schedule. For the most part we have done very well over the last season and start of this one in that area. Those 10-2 nights REALLY help the overall rpi's of the entire conference. If we finish as we have started the Non-conf portion, we will for the first time be in a very-powerful position as a conference. In the past, some of us with decent rpi's after 10 games had to simply watch as our rpi eroded away during the conference portion due to the several 300+ rpi's that we had to play every year. Hopefully that will not be the case this season.

They have made playing road games more important to the RPI. I site-mailed several long-time guys I play each year and offered a Home and Home type deal to them. Everyone but one has said sure,,, no problem,,, only seems fair. If I can get 6 games against the same 5-6 guys each year,,, that's 3 home and 3 away. The other 4 I then held out for mostly away games. Once you get to where your program continually has a winning record, you will be swamped with offers. If you wanna play me.... it's gonna be on your floor unless you can prove to me I want to play you more than once.

The guys who want to play 10 away games will have a hard time getting good teams to schedule em .... someone has to be the home team

Judge your strengths and weakness for next season, if your not sure,,, ask someone else in the NAC to look at your team for you. We sometimes fall in love with a player or two, and can't see the forrest for the trees. Then I like to schedule at least 5 challenging games (ones in which I play an opponent that is either a very good coach with at least 3-4 seniors graduating), they will be in slight disarray at the beginning, but a good coach will pull em together as the season goes on and win alot in their conference portion. (Helping my RPI as he does). Then I look for 3-4 games I am very sure I can win, ones with a new coach, but lots of talent, or just a team that should come into our game at around a 500 overall rating. My goal is to win at least 7 games and have the RPI below 50 by Conference time.

Good luck NAC for the next 5 nights... hope we can keep it up!

3/13/2008 4:44 PM

breum

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looks like its ya'lls turn to dominate...hopefully we can make it a competition next year...

3/17/2008 12:28 AM

kujayhawk

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3/17/2008 4:34 PM

kujayhawk

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Things that surprise me thus far:

Husson is pulling off the five players averaging 10 points or more trick. Castleton State is as well (and has a guy at 9.2). And so is Thomas.

Alex Haskins (Johnson State) has exploded in his senior year. 18.7 points a game and 10.9 rebounds. Last year was 12.4 and 7.4.

Bradley Clark from Elms (36 for 38) is hitting 94.7% of his free throws. But he doesn't lead the NAC since Stephen Webster from MAA is 34 for 34.

Lasell is 3-6. And Michael Lockhart is shooting better from the field (.593) than the free throw line (.591).

Thomas is leading DIII in scoring with 99.9 points per game. And theoretically, Meader, Whitmarsh, and Scott could all end up averaging a double-double a game. In all honesty, I doubt the rebounds are there for any of them to do it.

Salem State is the #1 RPI with their starting shooting guard (who plays 30 minutes a game and takes as many shots as anybody else) shooting .277 from the field and .280 from behind the arc.

UMPI is 7-2. Nicely done!

As good as Haskins has been for Johnson State, Willie Coder probably gets the most improved player award. 11.8 and 7.6 as a sophomore to 19.9 and 12.0 as a junior. I believe we have a frontrunner for next year's conference player of the year. (And he might get it this year as well.)

MMA is winning (7-2, 59 RPI) from the free throw line. They actually aren't shooting much better than their opponents. Opponents are shooting a lights out .757 against them. But MMA is committing just two fouls for every three times they are fouled. It seems like MMA's strategy is to play good defense and make free throws based on the rankings they are best in. And it seems to be working. All of that said, despite Webster's perfect contribution, MMA is only third in the NAC in free throw percentage. Even with all those A+ free shooters, the non-Webster players can't keep up with Elms or Salem State. Elms is the #4 free throw shooting team in DIII, Salem State is #5, and MMA is #6.

Mount Ida has taken four juniors and a freshman to a 5-4 record and 67 RPI.

3/17/2008 8:00 PM

kujayhawk

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3/19/2008 5:11 PM

kujayhawk

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At the end of non-conference play for the #1 RPI rated conference, here's my take.

NT Locks: Salem State and Husson

NT Probables: Lasell and Thomas. Lasell is primed to go on a huge run in conference play and I wouldn't be surprised to see them surpass Salem State for the regular season Conference championship. I'm not sold on my #14 RPI Thomas team. We have 8 underclassmen, none of which are anything special. There's only so much 4 seniors can do, especially when one of them isn't anything special either.

NT Bubble: Elms, Maine MMA, Becker. I don't see both Elms and Becker both making it at this point. Both are good enough to do it, but I think they'll need to see a vast improvement in the non-conference SOS of Johnson State and Castleton State in order for them to avoid slipping in the RPI too much every time they face them. It's probably best if one of them sweeps the other, I don't see the team that does that failing to get into the dance. Personally, I really like MMA's chances of getting a bid. They are good and even if they go on a losing streak, it's going to be against teams with high enough RPI's that it won't kill them.

PI Bound?: Mount Ida, UMF. Considering Mount Ida has zero seniors and UMF has just the single one, I'd think making it to the postseason would be quite the feather in the cap of the coach that could pull off the trick.

Not counting them out of anything at this point: UMPI. I really didn't see them going 8-2 in non-conference play. After that start, I'm not going to bet against them.

3/19/2008 5:19 PM

kujayhawk

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Pretty amazing night of conference play.

In the game of the night, Elms takes a big step toward a NT bid with a half-court buzzer beater to beat Becker. And Becker now needs to regroup after such a hard loss. This was a must-win game for both teams.

Player of the night: Marlon Brojakowski for his half court miracle.

Jerry Giglio puts up 21 and 12 last night and isn't even the best player on his own team as Ernest Harp explodes for 33 on 9-13 shooting and 6-6 behind the arc with 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 0 turnovers.

Jerome Whitmarsh put up 25 and 17 last night and wasn't the best player on his team as Michael Scott made an attempt to rebut Willie Coder's performance the night before with a 31 point and 15 rebound game of his own. Coder laughed as Scott couldn't match the 33 and 20 of the night before.

MMA came within one rebound of having four players go off for double doubles last night. Coder, Bensen, Wessels all put up the double doubles. Ken Cloer came oh so close.

And finally, with 43 seconds in the game last night, Stephen Webster from MMA was fouled while shooting a three. He made the first two free throws but missed the last. Meaning that his streak starting the season by hitting his first 42 free throws came to an end.

3/21/2008 1:34 PM

mizzou77

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KuJ, I'm just too busy right now to keep up much on what's going on in the NAC. Thanks for the read. Keep up the good work.

Husson may show the signs mid-season of their coach being MIA again this season.

3/24/2008 12:53 PM

elmore686

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I would suggest having Jr. do your gameplanning when you can't be around, but you might be better off on autopilot.. :P

I crack myself up

3/24/2008 6:42 PM

mizzou77

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My quick glance to next season seezzz...

South Division

A major power change in the ranks again.

#1 & #2 Thomas/Salem State will probably be in for a rebuild of sorts.

Thomas grads 4 very nice seniors, which will leave a gap and probably a drop back to mere mortality for them. A team without a senior will probably finish in the middle of the pack before rising again the next 2 seasons to vie for the South #1 spot.

Salem State figures to have 12 schollys to fill and thus end super-class #1. Hopefully they will make a deep run in the NT this season and be playing for free as they look to rebuild. Unless they go major juco, any finish above #5 or so would be a great job.

#3. MMA

and maybe not really #3, MMA (should) dominate the South division, and have the tools for a real deep NT run next season. 6 seniors on a good defensive, well coached squad will make them VERY tough to beat next year. BDub is rapidly becomming a force in the NAC.

#4. UMPI

PI, should continue to improve next season, and finish in the middle of the pack,,, maybe #4 again tho as the South will once again be tough sledding for anyone not totally prepared. I then see the next season as their possible run at the top.

#5. Farmington

I predict a return to the fun days of winning for coach Floyd and the Beavers. His (now angry), beavers should jump over several to finish in the #1, or more likely #2 spot in the South. 10 upperclassmen should spell relief for the much maligned head Beaver for the next couple of seasons.

#6. Mount Ida

Ji, has quietly taken his lumps, and things will be looking up next season. The Ida squad may not be #1 or #2 next season, but they get much harder to play, and should again join the top of the South in very short order. They look to be good next season, good the next one and again very good the one after that.

I predict the top 2 may have a little gap between them and the middle.... then the middle will be pretty bloody as all but Lucky (with possibly 10-12 frosh) appear to be able to mount a charge to the 2 or 3 spot.

4/4/2008 12:47 PM

mizzou77

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The NAC North looks like its in for some shaking up as well.

#1. Husson

Husson probably has it's best team in Husson history this season. The only problem is due to the change-over in defensive sets we're not nearly as good defensively (which we have made a living at) as we have been in the past. If we were the same on the defensive end I would look for some real noise, however, we are merely mortal there so it's anyones guess how far this team will go... match-ups will prove very important. As for next season, we will be less talented, but our IQ's should continue to get better so we will probably looking for a #2 or #3 finish.

#2 Lasell

I haven't been sold on Lasell all season. They looked young still to me and proved they just couldn't keep up with the top 20 teams. Next season, however I look for a diffenent story as I believe they will begin to dominate for the next 2 seasons. Lasell and MMA should have a real battle for NAC supremacy (wild guess).

#3. Becker

Becker looks to drop some upperclassmen and thus be maybe a slight bit weaker next season. They do apper to have arrived as a quality opponent in the North and look to remain very tough from here forward.

#4 Elms

Elmo grads 5 pretty decent guys,,,, but still has the tools to be a pest in the North. He should hold his own and in a couple seasons be very tough again to deal with.

#5. Castelton St.

One of the North's whippin boys looks about ready to start whuppin some of his own. C-State should have 9 upperclassmen and be pretty good next season.

#6. Johnson St. looks to be one season away as he will have only one senior next season. After that he may climb back up into the thick of things in the North.

These observations are made only by looking at graduating seniors and returning players numbers. This is more of an excercise in #'s than a prediction of how anyone will really end up.

Good Luck to everyone in the up-comming Husson Invitational, hope you all have fun, and may the best of you win the nice first losers trophy we allways give away. Also, best of luck to the NT and PIT entrants... we look to have alot this year... les go get some cash, and make this a season to remember

4/4/2008 2:07 PM

elmore686

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*aplauds*

4/4/2008 9:29 PM

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