MIAA Conference Play Week 2

[hoopster]

Washburn 82 @ Fort Hays 89Missouri Southern @ Lincoln
Pitt State @ Lindenwood
Emporia State @ Nebraska-Kearney
Central Ok @ SW Baptist
12.10.2016- Pitt State @ Lincoln
Missouri Southern @ Lindenwood
Northeastern State @ SW Baptist
Emporia State @ Fort Hays State
Washburn @ Nebraska-Kearney
12.11.2016- Central Missouri @ NW Missouri

Bolded games are in my opinion the most interesting this week. Washburn was handed their first loss of the season last night @ Fort Hays in what looked to be a pretty entertaining game between two teams that should be in the top 5 of the conference standings all year. Tonight's matchup between Missouri Southern and Lincoln could get up into the 90s with some of the best guards in the league. Virdure and Smith for Lincoln plus Carr from Southern could really light up the scoreboard in that one. Lastly, UCM makes the trip up to Maryville on Sunday. I'm hoping the 'Cats can get a pretty decent crowd for this one since this is a big time rivalry game, but am a little worried about the turnout considering the entire town of Maryville will be hungover after a night of (celebratory, hopefully) drinking following the National Semifinal football game on Saturday afternoon. All in all the matchup with the Mules should be pretty entertaining as both teams can shoot the crap outta the ball.

Anyways, those are my takes. Would love to hear any other discussion/predictions for the upcoming weekend slate.

[MisterWizard]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

Will comment for now on only who I've seen play thus far.

Pitt State is really hurting with few returnees and most importantly Josiah Gustafson playing very few minutes due to an injury sufffered last season.

Kearney really misses their killer bees. Brozek and Beranek are gone and this team is nowhere near the same in terms of experience. They were really bad on the boards last week in Joplin and lost to the Lions by 18.

Fort Hays - I can't see them being a top 5 team in the MIAA this year, unless the league is down. This year's roster looks nothing like Tigers' teams of the past decade. They had a solid big (JaQuan Smith) and All-MIAA first team returnee Rob Davis is every bit as solid as 99% of the players in the conference. Their overall level of athleticism seems way down.

Southern - easily a biased view here, but feel good about the 2-0, 6-2 start. I'm especially excited about the way they've been winning so many close games thus far - a group that hasn't panicked but instead found ways to get it done. A trio of D1 transfers are solid, including CJ Carr and a pair of rock solid D1 kind of bodies in JJ Cratit and Lawrence Brown. The true freshman Clark is averaging 15 ppg. LJ Ross has a 20 point game already and a 19 rebound performance. And that 6-2 record is against all D2 teams, with losses to 7-0 Drury and 7-1 Missouri S&T.

MSSU - that's CJ, JJ, and LJ, and oh yes, the coaching staff calls Brown "LB".

[MisterWizard]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

Emporia - saw them play a half and two overtimes. Didn't feel like they had a lot of individual firepower.

[MisterWizard]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

Mo Southern takes the highlighted matchup at Lincoln, winning 91-82. 24 for CJ Carr and 20 from the freshman Clark, including 18 in the second half after a 41-41 deadlock at the break.

Pitt falls at Lindenwood.
Emporia loses at Kearney.
Central OK, a sleeper team for a top 6 finish imo, wins at Southwest Baptist.

[bigsig50]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

I love the LU is posting a 9-2 record, with both losses coming to the same team in back to back days (Simon Fraser), but is there a bigger paper Lion right now than the.... Lions... wait.

Looking at the schedule, I seriously maybe have heard of 5 of their opponents. Me thinks most are NAIA. I guess Randall wanted to get things ironed out prior to Conference play so he scheduled light.

It's got our confidence up I'm sure.

Considering our 3 best players heading into the season are scumbag pieces of shiiite that belong in a jail cell, I think LU fans should be happy with whatever kind of success we get. Over 20% of our BB roster are actually football players.... if that tells you anything.

[86Catillac]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

I've only seen NW and MW. MW will be one of the bottom 2-3 teams. They just don't have much. Gotta start wondering how long their coach will be around.

This could be NW's year to make a run at the whole enchilada. There are, imo, two wildcards--Woods and Ndow. When one of those two play well, NW wins most games. When they both play well, NW will be very difficult to beat. We will get a better feel after Sunday's game against UCM how the MIAA is going to stack up. But, so far, so good.

[FightnMulz]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

I've only seen NW and MW. MW will be one of the bottom 2-3 teams. They just don't have much. Gotta start wondering how long their coach will be around.

This could be NW's year to make a run at the whole enchilada. There are, imo, two wildcards--Woods and Ndow. When one of those two play well, NW wins most games. When they both play well, NW will be very difficult to beat. We will get a better feel after Sunday's game against UCM how the MIAA is going to stack up. But, so far, so good.

Central is playing very good team defense right now. It should be a good one on Sunday.

[86Catillac]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

Central is playing very good team defense right now. It should be a good one on Sunday.

Could be a war. Woods has been good off the dribble and finishes well at the rim. Pitts has been less inclined to take a game over and has been trying to distribute more. This might be a game where he has to be more assertive.

[MisterWizard]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

My early season prediction for top four byes to the MIAA tourney:
1 Northwest Missouri
2 Missouri Southern
3 Washburn
4 Central (OK or MO)

And not necessarily in that order

[hoopster]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

My early season prediction for top four byes to the MIAA tourney:
1 Northwest Missouri
2 Missouri Southern
3 Washburn
4 Central (OK or MO)

And not necessarily in that order

I would have agreed before this weekend but Washburn opens up MIAA play with two losses. Didn't look like anyone was injured either.

Bearcats host the Mules today in Maryville and it will be interesting to see what kind of test UCM can give NW

[NWHoops]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

NW up on UCM 48-22 at half. Ndow having a great game and Pitts with a DEEP 3 as time expires for the half.

[MrAugustana]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

I would have agreed before this weekend but Washburn opens up MIAA play with two losses. Didn't look like anyone was injured either.

Bearcats host the Mules today in Maryville and it will be interesting to see what kind of test UCM can give NW

An open book partner test with the teacher's answer sheet sitting in their lap.

[NWFanatic]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

NW beat UCM by 19....they were up 30 til Ben pulled the starters.

[86Catillac]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

This game was essentially over by the 5:00 minute mark.....of the 1st half. When NW (or any team) shoots like they did tonight, there is little the opposing team can do. I don't even think Pitts scored in the second half......and when was the last time that NW was able to pull the starters with 7:00 minutes left in the game. At one point NW had Mosby in the game surrounded by 4 pretty good 3 point shooters in Pitts, Schneider, Ndow and Welty. If they can defend on the other end with a lineup like that, it makes it hard for the opposition to compete unless they are playing nearly flawless ball. Heck, Schneider struggled shooting the rock, but NW did not need him tonight---Ndow celebrated his birthday with a huge game.

NW will hit a bump in the road at some point this season, but I don't see any long term slides in their future. Always good to stick it to the Mules.

[Boog]

Re: MIAA Conference Play Week 2

I would have agreed before this weekend but Washburn opens up MIAA play with two losses. Didn't look like anyone was injured either.

Bearcats host the Mules today in Maryville and it will be interesting to see what kind of test UCM can give NW

Salach was injured the Saturday before but he did play some. Bottom line is you have to guard the three. I think Kearney shot 60+% from beyond the arc(might not be accurate but I thought I'd read that. It sure seemed like they did) and WU blew 16 - 0, 21 - 7, and 27 - 7 leads vs Hays. Pretty tough to win games if you can't protect 20 pts.