Here are the final standings from season 69 to use in scheduling the CVAC-Heartland Challenge for Season 71:

In season 71 odd numbered Heartland teams will be at home and even numbered teams will be on the road. Here are the rankings for each conference:

Heartland:
1. St. Mary's TX
2. Incarnate Word (National Champ, yet somehow only the 2nd best Heartland RPI???)
3. Valdosta St.
4. Drury
5. St. Edwards
6. W. Alabama
7. Lincoln
8. Oklahoma Panhandle St.
9. Montevallo
10. N. Alabama
11. Rockhurst
12. W. Florida

CVAC:
1. Longwood
2. Queens U. (NC)
3. Belmont Abbey
4. Erskine
5. Limestone
6. Pfeiffer
7. Coker
8. Lees-McRae
9. Mount Olive
10. Barton
11. Anderson
12. St. Andrews Presbyterian

St. Mary's TX and Limestone should be in the Yarnell.  Queens U NC will be in either the Derby City Classic or the Yam Jam (not sure which one).  It looks like we won't have to move around any of the matchups (except for moving Limestone's game to game 10), so here they are:

Game 5
W. Florida @ St. Andrews Presbyterian
Anderson @ Rockhurst

Game 6
N. Alabama @ Barton
Mount Olive @ Montevallo

Game 7
Oklahoma Panhandle St. @ Lees-McRae
Coker @ Lincoln

Game 8
W. Alabama @ Pfeiffer

Game 9
Drury @ Erskine
Belmont Abbey @ Valdosta St.

Game 10
Limestone @ St. Edwards
Incarnate Word @ Queens U. NC
Longwood @ St. Mary's TX

Second best RPI means I get to duck Longwood in what will be a reloading year at IW. Works for me.

i'd still be happy to play you in weeks 1 through 4 dave

bump

W Florida at St Andrews
Anderson at Rockhurst

I'm not seeing either of these games on the schedule. Can anyone refresh my memory?

Anderson was ghost shippped last season, so that's why that game isn't scheduled.

I guess St. Andrews/W. Florida didn't get a game organized either (both have the same coach as last year)

Assuming all the other games are scheduled, it's a 10 game challenge.

N Alabama (3-2) @ Barton (1-4): N Alabama has been up and down this season, riding leading scorer & freshman PG Lawrence Holiday's 18 ppg. Three other scorers reach double digits: the outside stoke of sophs Ted Gilbert & Kyle Hoy, and the post play of Alden Arnold. N Alabama's young guns shoot 41% from deep. Barton is led by the senior trio of Edward Thiess, Rudy Kennedy, and Tim Langley. They combine for more than half of Barton's scoring. Don't be fooled by Barton's record, they have a double OT loss and an OT loss. Oddmakers like Barton by a point.

Mount Olive (4-1) at Montevallo (3-2): Mount Olive boasts D-II's leading scorer, Martin Hatfield and his 29.6 ppg. Hatfield's speed & shooting ability are a tough matchup for any team, we will see how he fairs against Montevallo's zone. The Mont possesses an inside-out attack with seniors Harry Fairbanks & Jerry Snyder combining for over 25 ppg. The Mont by a bucket.

It's not part of the Challenge, but St Marys squares off against Limestone tonight.

Posted by davefilby on 4/10/2014 7:36:00 PM (view original):
N Alabama (3-2) @ Barton (1-4): N Alabama has been up and down this season, riding leading scorer & freshman PG Lawrence Holiday's 18 ppg. Three other scorers reach double digits: the outside stoke of sophs Ted Gilbert & Kyle Hoy, and the post play of Alden Arnold. N Alabama's young guns shoot 41% from deep. Barton is led by the senior trio of Edward Thiess, Rudy Kennedy, and Tim Langley. They combine for more than half of Barton's scoring. Don't be fooled by Barton's record, they have a double OT loss and an OT loss. Oddmakers like Barton by a point.

Mount Olive (4-1) at Montevallo (3-2): Mount Olive boasts D-II's leading scorer, Martin Hatfield and his 29.6 ppg. Hatfield's speed & shooting ability are a tough matchup for any team, we will see how he fairs against Montevallo's zone. The Mont possesses an inside-out attack with seniors Harry Fairbanks & Jerry Snyder combining for over 25 ppg. The Mont by a bucket.

It's not part of the Challenge, but St Marys squares off against Limestone tonight.

Barton 78, N Alabama 65: Barton made a small halftime lead into a big one during the second half, stretching the margin to 18 before calling off the dogs. N Alabama couldn't keep up with Barton's efficient offense. Barton shot 56% from the floor, 50% from deep, and 81% from the charity stripe. Barton's Theiss, Kennedy & Langley combined for 42 of the 78 points. N Alabama's Lawrence Holiday had 25.

Montevallo 80, Mount Olive 54: Montevallo, showing why they were preseason #3, blows out Mount Olive by 26. The Mont had a true team effort, shooting 57% and dishing out 18 assists, and having an advantage in every statistical category. Mount Olive shot 34% and committed 30 fouls, a recipe for disaster. Eleven players scored for Montevallo, led by Kevin Swanson's 14. Mount Olive leading scorer Martin Hatfield was "held" to 16 points on 6 of 18 shooting.

1-1 in the Challenge. In other news, Limestone is really good, beating St Mary's by 18.

Oklahoma Panhandle (3-3) @ Lees-McRae (4-2): Ok Pan leans on the senior leadership of Troy Widowski & Joshua White and their nearly 23 ppg. Lees leans on Patrick Prevatte and his 13.7 ppg. Both teams losses are to quality competition, and the teams are better than the records indicate. It's a pick'em.

#7 Coker (6-0) @ #24 Lincoln (5-1): Coker gets buckets scoring almost 91/game, good for 3rd in D-II. Aaron Johnsen (20.5 ppg) & Bradley Rodgers (18.7 ppg) provide scoring for the starters, while Roland Hill & Wei-Quo Mang provide punch off the bench with nearly 13 points a piece. Lincoln boasts their own quartet of double-digit scorers in Arthur Butler, Kenneth Ray, Alton Miller & Luis Smith. This one should be entertaining as the teams can fill it up. Another pick'em.

Another unofficial Challenge game happens tonight when Pfeiffer travels to Valdosta St.

Posted by davefilby on 4/11/2014 9:53:00 PM (view original):
Oklahoma Panhandle (3-3) @ Lees-McRae (4-2): Ok Pan leans on the senior leadership of Troy Widowski & Joshua White and their nearly 23 ppg. Lees leans on Patrick Prevatte and his 13.7 ppg. Both teams losses are to quality competition, and the teams are better than the records indicate. It's a pick'em.

#7 Coker (6-0) @ #24 Lincoln (5-1): Coker gets buckets scoring almost 91/game, good for 3rd in D-II. Aaron Johnsen (20.5 ppg) & Bradley Rodgers (18.7 ppg) provide scoring for the starters, while Roland Hill & Wei-Quo Mang provide punch off the bench with nearly 13 points a piece. Lincoln boasts their own quartet of double-digit scorers in Arthur Butler, Kenneth Ray, Alton Miller & Luis Smith. This one should be entertaining as the teams can fill it up. Another pick'em.

Another unofficial Challenge game happens tonight when Pfeiffer travels to Valdosta St.

Lees-McRae 72, Oklahoma Panhandle 56: Lees played lockdown defense, Kenneth Gamble had 15 points off the bench, and OK Pan was not OK from the stripe (hitting 44%). Lees PG Frank Dodd was PoG, with 8 pint, 7 assists, & 3 steals. Max Laurie had 13 for OK Pan, but his teammates missed 2 out of every 3 shots they took.

Coker 107, Lincoln 95: I'm tired just typing that. The 4 usual suspects for Coker reached double figures (Rodgers with 24 & Mang with 23), while 5 different Lincoln players tallied double figures, led by Alton Miller's 24. Lincoln was undone by 26 turnovers & 31 fouls. Despite that, they only lost by 12.

CVAC 3, Heartland 1. Pfeiffer beat Valdosta last night too.

#1 Pfeiffer 76, #25 W Alabama 64: The visitors from Alabama came to play, jumping out to a 10-0 lead, stretching the margin to 13 in the first half. Pfeiffer's relentless perimeter attack drew within a point by halftime. Pfeiffer jumped to a second half lead, but W Alabama took a lead with just under 9:00 remaining. Pfeiffer dominated the last 8:30, obscuring what was an ultra-competitive first 30 minutes. Pfeiffer guards rained in 13 treys, led by PoG Dennis Beck's 15 points. W Alabama's Clyde Shelton earned some serious hot tub time, keeping W Alabama in it with 27 points on 10 of 29 shooting.

CVAC 4, Heartland 1

Drury (4-4) @ Erskine (6-2): Drury's balanced attack heads to Erksine led by junior Martin Smith and his 11+ppg. Drury owns an impressive victory over #6 Kennesaw State. Erskine has a trio of scorers: PF Michael DeShields (18.3 ppg), PG Harry Adams (12.1 ppg), and C Stephen Bottorff (11.0 ppg). Erskine is a one-point underdog at home.

Belmont Abbey (4-4) @ #17 Valdosta St (5-3): Belmont Abbey has managed a .500 record against the 2nd ranked SOS including a win over #14 CSU, Stanislaus. They get it done with a trio of juniors: PF Andrew Fletcher (25.3 ppg), SF Roger Tran (10.9 ppg), and PG Douglas Atherton (10.4 ppg). Valdosta's backcourt of Thomas Lacasse (19.6 ppg) and Joshua Adame (10.3 ppg) are a tough matchup for any team. Valdosta is favored by 6.