2022 Central region Tournament

[Taxman]

Taking nothing away from Bernard. I just saw a 6'7" Wade do some things that I had never seen in the MIAA. Maybe not a better athlete than Bernard but his size might make it more impressive.

Yeah, Wade is the prototype to give NW (or any D2 for that matter) problems.

[NWHoops]

DB is going to be the best athlete on the floor nearly every single night out. I'm more in the camp that NW's athleticism has been underrated over the years. Sure, there is going to be a matchup here and there that is more difficult. Give me athletic basketball players over basketball playing athletes.

Agreed on DB but who are the great athletes NW has had? In the last 5-6 years:
- DB
- Hawkins
- Alexander
- Ndow
- B. Dougherty (underrated for sure)

Even guys like Pitts and Hudgins aren't phenomenal athletes with speed, jumping ability, etc. They are/were smart players who use(d) ballhandling skills, angles, quick first step while setting up defenders. Neither will be the fastest on the court or outjump others of similar size. I'm all about "athletic basketball players over basketball playing athletes" which is what I believe NW has done well. Nobody is confusing Waters, Dreamer, Abreu, Welty, Finley, or Witthus (just to name a few who have played regularly in the last few years) as great athletes but they were all good basketball players. Typically NW has 1-2 high level athletes each year but not the kind of athletes all throughout the team that are no-brainer D1 types.

Compare that to MSSU teams of recent past with Lambert, Clark, Martin, etc. (that team gave us fits)
ESU with Buom, Buchanan, Van Dyke
UCO with Wade, Wells, Givens, Haydon
One outlier is Washburn which I think is just a very similar team to us and have been hard fought wins the last couple of years.

[The Yette]

If you think the UCO PG is emotional then his matchup with Jake Hilmer will be a must watch.

LOL. No cap. Add any of the Duaxes to that statement as well. They can all get under some skin.

[Alfred33]

Agreed on DB but who are the great athletes NW has had? In the last 5-6 years:
- DB
- Hawkins
- Alexander
- Ndow
- B. Dougherty (underrated for sure)

Even guys like Pitts and Hudgins aren't phenomenal athletes with speed, jumping ability, etc. They are/were smart players who use(d) ballhandling skills, angles, quick first step while setting up defenders. Neither will be the fastest on the court or outjump others of similar size. I'm all about "athletic basketball players over basketball playing athletes" which is what I believe NW has done well. Nobody is confusing Waters, Dreamer, Abreu, Welty, Finley, or Witthus (just to name a few who have played regularly in the last few years) as great athletes but they were all good basketball players. Typically NW has 1-2 high level athletes each year but not the kind of athletes all throughout the team that are no-brainer D1 types.

Compare that to MSSU teams of recent past with Lambert, Clark, Martin, etc. (that team gave us fits)
ESU with Buom, Buchanan, Van Dyke
UCO with Wade, Wells, Givens, Haydon
One outlier is Washburn which I think is just a very similar team to us and have been hard fought wins the last couple of years.

I agree... DB is probably more of the exception as far as NW goes... he's freakish, but like you said, I don't think Welty, Withus, Snyder, Waters, Dreamer or several others would wow anyone athletically, but they are very good basketball players. I think Hudgins athleticism probably gets overlooked a little because of how smooth he is. He just makes it look easy but when he turns a corner and gets to the basket, you can see that the explosiveness is there when he needs it to be. He's still not DB athletic though. I feel like Hawkins was probably more athletic than maybe some give him credit for. I guess it depends on how athleticism is measured, but if there was a team combine for all of the MIAA squads, I don't think Northwest would be at the top. Obviously, basketball ability, IQ, work ethic, attitude, etc. is just as, if not more important than just straight up can you run and jump and bench press heavy weights.

[Btech#3]

[Alfred33]

[NWFanatic]

I'm interested to see how the Regional is officiated. The games I got to see NW play over the past few weeks were awful. The games were played closer to FB than basketball. Every team is trying to be uber physical with NW all over the floor the entire game. Freedom of movement has apparently been abandoned for the time being. Fortunately, NW has had a sence of urgency to match the physicality and play just a bit better basketball.

[Btech#3]

[NWFanatic]

[libertybearcat]

Just checked weather.com they're saying 2.1 inches...hope it's more like that or less!

[NSU4LIFE]

Just checked weather.com they're saying 2.1 inches...hope it's more like that or less!

You all are such wimps...haha

[NWFanatic]

[libertybearcat]

You all are such wimps...haha

My oldest daughter and her boyfriend bought a house in the Minneapolis area...when they were doing their inspection, the inspector said, you need to get a snow rake...she called me right after and asked what the hell a snow rake was for...she was none to happy to hear she may see 2 feet or more of snow on her roof... I tried to tell her the further north you go...the worse it gets!!! She thought going from KC to Ames was bad...she ain't seen nothing yet! :)

[Augieholic]

Here are my picks for Saturday:
NWMo over Moorhead - Scorch has a lot of weapons but I'm still taking Hudgins and Bernard over anyone Walthall throws out there
Washburn over UMD - I'm betting on Andrews being out or less than 100%
Augie over SWOSU - SWOSU looks to be small and not strong on the glass, this should be a good practice run to see if Tom has cleansed the demons from the NSIC Tourney
UCO over UIU - Isaiah Wade is a terrible matchup for most teams but especially UIU, this should be a fantastic game

[Btech#3]

I know it is tough to get any info on injuries but does anyone know how bad it looked when Andrews got hurt in the conference semis. I know it is his knee but was he able walk off under is own power or did it look like it was a pretty bad injury.