SPU Upset by D3 Whitworth

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

Whitworth dropped 95 on SPU in the Falcons' season opener. Moffitt led SPU with 30 while Cavell added 19. Shaw Anderson DNP. Whitworth was 13/24 from 3-point land. Rematch Thursday night where we should see the SPU defense we are used to. https://spufalcons.com/news/2021/1/1...irst-game.aspx

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

And Whitworth beats SPU AGAIN!!! 69-65. So the Falcons defense improved, but they also went cold on the other end. Still no Shaw Anderson.

[tsull]

And Whitworth beats SPU AGAIN!!! 69-65. So the Falcons defense improved, but they also went cold on the other end. Still no Shaw Anderson.

Wow, though Whitworth is a great hoops program ... this re-emphasizes my belief that all Northwest schools in all divisions should play each other more.

[lv2hoop]

It’s not an upset. Whitworth and many other D3 programs are good and could beat a lot of teams at any of the levels. For example, this year they would likely beat Idaho. Not a great example because Idaho is so bad.

Some people get caught up in what level a program is. A college hoops program basically comes down to a few things — culture, coaching, the school itself, local caring about the program and most importantly the athletes themselves. If all of those boxes are checked satisfactorily, you’ve got a good program.

[tsull]

It’s not an upset. Whitworth and many other D3 programs are good and could beat a lot of teams at any of the levels. For example, this year they would likely beat Idaho. Not a great example because Idaho is so bad.

Some people get caught up in what level a program is. A college hoops program basically comes down to a few things — culture, coaching, the school itself, local caring about the program and most importantly the athletes themselves. If all of those boxes are checked satisfactorily, you’ve got a good program.

Great post, and being from Moscow, I can attest that Idaho is really bad this year, probably winless. I won't get into details in how they pushed out the winningest coach in history and hired his 3rd assistant, who undermined him behind the scenes ... they stink. Whitworth would beat Idaho.

Speaking of divisions, I thought when they fired the previous Idaho coach they should hired the D3 coach from Whitman, who was going to Elite 8's and Final 4's at a very high academic school. He's now at Redlands, has won at every stop. Whitworth and College of Idaho (NAIA) have two of the best hoop cultures/coaching in the Northwest, any division.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

It’s not an upset. Whitworth and many other D3 programs are good and could beat a lot of teams at any of the levels. For example, this year they would likely beat Idaho. Not a great example because Idaho is so bad.

Some people get caught up in what level a program is. A college hoops program basically comes down to a few things — culture, coaching, the school itself, local caring about the program and most importantly the athletes themselves. If all of those boxes are checked satisfactorily, you’ve got a good program.

If Whitworth defeated CWU or MSU Billings or Simon Fraser, etc then maybe not an upset. But SPU is a regular NCAA DII Tournament attendee and one of the top D2 teams on the West Coast. Certainly an upset.

[lv2hoop]

I maintain my position that although it’s a bit of an eyebrow raiser when you see that Whitworth beat Seattle Pacific,
it’s still not an upset. That they beat them on successive nights makes my point even more valid.

At the end of the day, it is two private schools with excellent programs going at each other. The Division they play in is meaningless.

[tsull]

I maintain my position that although it’s a bit of an eyebrow raiser when you see that Whitworth beat Seattle Pacific,
it’s still not an upset. That they beat them on successive nights makes my point even more valid.

At the end of the day, it is two private schools with excellent programs going at each other. The Division they play in is meaningless.

The big difference is Seattle Pacific is a fully funded scholarship division 2 program versus a very expensive non-scholarship division 3 program. Seattle Pacific in the past have gotten players that Whitworth can only dream of, like Tony Miller.

I get it losing one to Whiteorth, but not two. Again they are a fully funded division 2 scholarship program. Prep players want scholarships.

Also, Northwest Nazarene had their way with Portland State rather easily. Portland State has three Pac-12 transfers on their team and another number of other really good players. I know on a one-game situation anything can happen but really division does matter a lot.

Years ago in Corvallis, Western Oregon beat Oregon State there's a huge discrepancy in money, facilities, talent, division, and everything. Seattle Pacific also beat Arizona in Tucson, I thought it was awesome, but that should probably never happen as the Arizona team had three NBA draft picks on it.

Augustana beat Iowa a couple of years ago, I get the one-game situation I don't get dropping two to a Division 3 School, that is if you are the defending League champ like SPU is. If Concordia had dropped two versus Whitworth I wouldn't have blinked.

[SGAstumpJ]

It's been a long time since APU played a money game like that against a D1 school. The last one I remember was 2008 when we went to UCLA. We lost by 50, but that was against Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook.