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UAA Preying on Portland Bible

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  • UAA Preying on Portland Bible

    Seems like everyone loves to prey on little Portland Bible College for some easy wins. Most recently, UAA cruised to a 108-36 win vs. the Arrows. And then they are playing one more game against them?! And this is after they played two games against NAIA Midway to open the season. Those games were not blowouts, but still two fairly easy wins.

    GNAC should not allow teams to play more than one game a season against a certain opponent that is lower than D2, let alone back-to-back games! Unless one game is an exhibition. But that's not fair for some teams to get automatic wins against these inferior little schools while other teams are out playing tournaments against other quality D2 teams.

  • #2
    UAA schedules a Portland Bible or Lincoln Christian every year. I think they got smart and scheduled them after the break this year to prevent that post Christmas game they always seem to play terribly at inevitably. Get some run in after the break to get guys back at it a little bit before GNAC play starts. And if guys are a bit sluggish at first, it’s not going to cause them to drop a big conference game.

    I’ll push back a little bit on NAIA ball, it’s not bad basketball. There are several NAIA teams that would hold their own in the GNAC, hell a few years ago I went to a Westmount game (naia team just north of LA) and their starting center was this 6’8 athletic beast who had dropped down from St John’s. I’m not sure if there is anyone in the GNAC right now that could handle that dude, he was a beast. Former UAA forward Keegan Crosby is at Lewis and Clark St, he’s playing pretty good but his not dominating. It’s a tough league down there. The Masters College in Orange County has a front court of D1 drop downs from Pepperdine and Grand Canyon. I think they would do just fine against GNAC teams.

    Midway had some dudes that could play GNAC ball, they had talent, I’d probably put them overall as an elite D3 or low D2 level team talent wise. They just didn’t have the top end guys of some the GNAC teams, that was the main difference. But they weren’t bad by any stretch.

    NAIA ball isn’t the same as it was 25 years ago, lots of talent at those schools.
    Last edited by Anchorage; 12-30-2022, 05:36 AM.

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    • #3
      Yeah, you are correct that NAIA ball isn't what it was 25 years ago when they boasted the likes of Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman as the poster boys for NAIA greatness at the National Tourney in Kansas City. Here are some former NAIA programs from the past quarter century just to show you how good it once was (and in some ways still is): Grand Canyon, Belmont, David Lipscomb, Oral Roberts, Central Washington, Western Washington, Cal Baptist, & Hawaii Pacific to name a few.

      Today's NAIA has been decimated to a certain degree as most schools that were once NAIA powers have made the move up to D2 and in many cases D1 NCAA ball. I think you were alluding to this, and I'll second your take that the top NAIA schools today (I'm mostly familiar w. the West schools) are no different than D2 teams. A couple of examples out West are AZ Christian, College of Idaho, Montana Tech, Carroll College, and LC State.

      NAIA and D2 schools generally kick the you know what out of D3 basketball for one reason - they award athletic scholarships. There are some exceptions, but D3 ball is almost 100 percent white guys whose parents have lots of cash. Nothing wrong with that, but I laugh when I hear D3 guys talk about how tough D3 ball is. Simply not the same level of athlete in D3.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by gratefuldad View Post
        Yeah, you are correct that NAIA ball isn't what it was 25 years ago when they boasted the likes of Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman as the poster boys for NAIA greatness at the National Tourney in Kansas City. Here are some former NAIA programs from the past quarter century just to show you how good it once was (and in some ways still is): Grand Canyon, Belmont, David Lipscomb, Oral Roberts, Central Washington, Western Washington, Cal Baptist, & Hawaii Pacific to name a few.

        Today's NAIA has been decimated to a certain degree as most schools that were once NAIA powers have made the move up to D2 and in many cases D1 NCAA ball. I think you were alluding to this, and I'll second your take that the top NAIA schools today (I'm mostly familiar w. the West schools) are no different than D2 teams. A couple of examples out West are AZ Christian, College of Idaho, Montana Tech, Carroll College, and LC State.

        NAIA and D2 schools generally kick the you know what out of D3 basketball for one reason - they award athletic scholarships. There are some exceptions, but D3 ball is almost 100 percent white guys whose parents have lots of cash. Nothing wrong with that, but I laugh when I hear D3 guys talk about how tough D3 ball is. Simply not the same level of athlete in D3.
        Pippen and Rodman were different cases. Both those guys grew 6 or 7 inches while in college. No one was recruiting a 6’2 Rodman or 6’0 Pippen.

        I understand what he is saying though because back in the 90s a NAIA school rolled into town, they usually got waxed by 30 or 40 points. A lot of players though like the NAIA route these days so as a whole they are seeing much better talent than they did years ago.

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        • #5
          Well, apparently, preying on Portland Bible AFTER Christmas is the better bet for Alaska teams looking to stay fresh in late December as the Nooks played them BEFORE Christmas and were the uglier of two ugly teams playing tonight in Anchorage. Wow. Either way, playing counting games against Portland Bible will kill your RPI down the stretch, but it doesn't really appear like either Alaska school will be counting on RPI late in the season; they both looked pretty bad tonight to me, but UAA was much more organized.

          Is it just me, or are there an incredible amount of offensive fouls being called this season compared to previous years? Not favoring any teams, but just all the way around, tons of offensive fouls... Was there a subtle rule change that benefits the defense here or is the defensive coaching just keying in on taking charges a lot more now? Anyways, happy new year!

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          • #6
            Definitely appeared that UAF had their post Christmas Break malaise going tonight.

            UAA isn’t terrible, of their 5 losses they were only by a combined 13 points at the end of regulation play. If you turn the ball over they will get out into transition and make you pay. Their 3 wins against D2 teams have been by a combined 43 points running teams off the floor.

            But if you guards limit turnovers and you have semi-competent bigs? You can play half court and pound them inside and on the glass.

            UAF turned the ball over a lot and UAA got out and ran and turned it into a track meet and won big.

            But yeah this is going to be the UAA story all season, they are either going to blow a team out running or lose because they can’t get key stops or rebounds at the end of games. It’s who this team is.

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            • #7
              Well I don't mind a decent NAIA team. But Portland Bible is NCCAA league. Their website allows students to practice with the team. Essentially a team made of all tryout players probably. No GNAC team should be scheduling games against them, let alone two games that both count in the standings.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by CWU Wildcat Nation View Post
                Well I don't mind a decent NAIA team. But Portland Bible is NCCAA league. Their website allows students to practice with the team. Essentially a team made of all tryout players probably. No GNAC team should be scheduling games against them, let alone two games that both count in the standings.
                I mean SPU is out here playing Douglas College of a Canadian basketball conference. Not a ton difference there, both extremely automatic wins. I think most of the GNAC schools have a game or two of win padding on their schedule.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by CWU Wildcat Nation View Post
                  Well I don't mind a decent NAIA team. But Portland Bible is NCCAA league. Their website allows students to practice with the team. Essentially a team made of all tryout players probably. No GNAC team should be scheduling games against them, let alone two games that both count in the standings.
                  You are absolutely right, but the truth is we don't live in a perfect world and Portland Bible is willing to come to Alaska (twice now this season to take a thrashing both times)! The two games in a row is a move from hockey which is often played 2 nights in a row against the same team. I think it's a financial decision. The teams get 2 games, with only one long flight. Yeah, not great at all, but there are more interesting things to talk about now. GNAC schools by and large play way too many cream puff games, Alaska schools included.

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                  • #10
                    After UAA blows out CWU tonight and what they did to UAF last Saturday? I’m going to say everyone should schedule Portland Bible after the break. Apparently it’s the key to success.

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