Saturday results ... very interesting

[tsull]

After Saturday's games I believe the league could be really good top to bottom. I'm not sure there's a great team, but it appears there's not a bad team.

Simon Fraser wins in OT over WWU in Bellingham, didn't see this coming.

WOU beats UAA for the sweep over the Alaska schools. Being the cynic after the non-conference games, I had the Wolves dropping two. I apologize to the Wolves and give coach Pifer and staff serious props for this turnaround. Second straight game of shooting 55% or better.

SPU won in OT over NNU after barely losing to CWU on Thursday, an 0-2 start for the pre-season favorite would've been tough.

St. Martin's over UAF ... I overrated Fairbanks, thought they'd be great this year. Again, don't have me picking your games.

MSU Billings defeats CWU. Tough road trip for the Wildcats, but after a huge win over SPU on Thursday, there's the letdown in Montana.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

I think what is important to keep in mind, is when you look at the overall standings in the GNAC, the GNAC page conveniently breaks down the league record, overall record, as well as home, away, and neutral sites. A few weeks ago, Anchorage described his team as "seemingly fixing offensive issues"... I think the more likely case is that it is much easier to play at home than it is while traveling. Western Washington has really only played at home and sports a great overall record, but on the road, or neutral sites??? While Anchorage has played a mix of home and away games, they are looking tough at home and much less so on the road. Western Oregon just logged their two first home games and beat the Alaska schools. Might have been really hard starting 100% on the road, but maybe a good way to see what your team is made of? Central and Fairbanks have yet to play at home and Central is up there in the standings, and they even lost a few games to Covid protocols. It really depends on the quality of your opponents too, but I just don't have the time to track all that.

Yes, Tsull, you do jump to conclusions too quickly; I have noticed over the years. It's also easy to overrate your team early if you've been camping out at home playing cream puff games. In this regard, I would put my money on SPU as per usual. They play a brutal preseason schedule and although they usually aren't perfect in conference, they often are better than most other teams. I would agree with the assessment of Fairbanks being really hot and cold, but more cold than hot this season... Not sure what some games at home could do for whatever ails them, but I will say that 2 years ago, I believe they also lost big to WOU the first week of play (maybe I'm wrong though?) and were pretty much a mess to start the year too. So, while I'm not overly impressed with their play at all, I haven't written them off completely yet.

[Anchorage]

[tsull]

The one thing I learned from this weekend is everybody can beat everybody. Not sure if that makes for more than one team to regionals, but it makes for an interesting regular season.

I watched WOU's pre-season games on the internet and the first few were rough, little energy or purpose. I heard they really cranked it up in practice last week and the assist totals were excellent, meaning they're playing team basketball. It's OK to jump to conclusions, we're fans not coaches. The early returns on WOU were not good so I'm pleased with the turnaround and gotta admit shocked at the sweep over the Alaska schools, especially Anchorage.