MBB: Northwest Conference

Started by The Show, March 06, 2005, 08:40:16 PM

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A Buc Forever

Although I have enjoyed WW basketball beating up on Linfield over the last few years and I LOVED it when WW football won the NWC two years in a row, it does make me sad to see the careers of both Doty and Rutschman end poorly.  They both accomplished a lot in their time at Linfield and I had the utmost respect for both of them.  I don't know the details of what happened. However, it may have been a situation where it was time for the programs to move on.  It isn't often that coaches retire in time before they get the hook.  I guess WW's football coach is the latest example of a good coach getting his walking papers despite a long, successful tenure at a school. Hopefully all the Linfield posters can move on from their feud and start supporting all the programs at Linfield and they can start posting about the current basketball team and how they are doing and start answering some important questions like:
      Will this year's seniors from Linfield also get zero wins against WW in their 4 years at Linfield?
      Will Linfield score more than 20 in the first half against WW?
      Will Linfield stop whining about traveling to Spokane and Walla Walla?
       


Andy Jamison - Walla Walla Wildcat

This year the Cats will be okay... Say .500 in NWC play with a surprising win or two, a couple heartbreak losses, and  be a much improved program by year end. In two years they will be playing for the NWC championship and the linguistic dreaded sleeping giant will be awake.. Look out WW... We are coming for your title!

TryMeTeam

Sorry, WWW.  Was at the game tonight, and until GF started to coast near the end, your 'Cats did not look good.  It is hard to imagine that they can be competitive at all this year, even if you give them a half of the year to get established.  GF is a much improved team, and will battle LC and PacU for the best team in OR, but I don't see the 'Cats matching up with these three teams at all, much less the WA schools.   Linfield is in trouble.  I don't see .500 in league.  Tonight their press break was weak, they didn't box out and gave up 13 offensive rebounds, and they missed too many FT's.
 
I also have heard good things about Coach Roseberg, but he has a tough road.  I thought they would be further along than they are right now.  Will have to see what Coach R can do for them. 

playball

Im going to start out my response with saying that Im trying to be as unbiased as possible.

Its tough to gauge where Linfield is in the league after one away game in a place where it is very hostile (shocking, GF fans are brutal) environment against a team who is 6-1 and averaging 95 points a game.  GF, even with a new coach, has a very fast team full of talented guards who have experience.  Remember, the same team that beat WW AT WW... 

With that said, the Cats got thumped last night which wasn't surprising, however far from to the point of expected for me.  They seem to be taking care of the ball well, only 12 TO's last night with 7 of those coming from the Forward and Center positions.  The one thing that is worrying me about this Linfield team is lack of size.  I've said before that size is lacking in the NWC but Linfield's lack of size is astounding.  That will also be remedied Im sure with recruiting.  But, with only having three guys weighing over 200 lbs, and 2 of them hardly seeing the court tells me that Linfield's littles are going to have to be tough to stand a chance this year.  Weight room needed here.  We cant be getting out rebounded by a team that is somewhat comparable in size.

I haven't been able to watch any of the games yet, but I have a question for anyone who has:  What does this team do well enough to set itself apart from everyone else?  Whats their identity as a team?  Also, if other posters on here would like to chime in on what their team's identity is feel free.  I would like to see what A) public perception of a program's style is or B) What similar attributes a team has that allows them to win.

Give these Cats some time.  New coach, new players, new program really.  TMT, just worry about your boys up North, they aren't doing much better. 

A Buc Forever

#5674
Looked over Linfield's record so far and took a look at the roster and it does not look pretty.  A loss to UCSC and a close game with Cal Tech look bad.  The blow out by George Fox can happen, but the record so far does not bode well for the rest of the year.

The roster situation looks worse.  Not only do they lack size like Playball stated, but the first year recruiting class suggests the new coach has no clue what kind of talent is needed to win at this level. He brought a guard with him from his JC team and has started him 4 of 5 games.  He's shooting 27% from the field so far!!!  It's not like this is much of a change from his JC career.  He shot 31% from the field last year at Foothill.  He did bring a kid in from a West Catholic Athletic Team, but the kid was not a real high level player in that league and is shooting 40% from the field.  In the 5 games played so far, 14 of the 25 starting slots are newcomers.  Judging from the stats, only 1 is playing decent--a basketball and baseball player from Oregon--did he get recruited there to play baseball? 

Did this guy think he could bring in average players from high schools and JC's and compete in the NWC?  Maybe he came in too late to bring in decent players, but this is not the kind of talent Linfield had during Playball's career. Some of the new freshmen he's playing might develop.  Still too early to judge, but it doesn't look like this is going to be a fast turn around for Linfield.
   


 

TryMeTeam

#5675
What Buc said!  Except...Rosenberg was an assistant coach at LC for a couple of years, so he should know what it takes to win in this league and what recruits he needs to do that.  He has been away for awhile but its like riding a bicycle, isn't it?

What Playball said!  Except...They didn't seem to take care of the ball.  12 turnovers but several more "almosts" from a mild press.  They just looked a little overwhelmed.  Wait for Whitworth or UPS or Whitman or PacU or LC...  They did look small and thus didn't board real well.  And the defensive press that was a staple of Doty's tenure was missing.  They seemed content to sit back and let the other team come to them.  Just a different look from past years, but that's what a new coach brings.

But I am looking for Linfield to rebound from this loss and hope for better games down the road.  I was just hoping for better for my first look at them.  They did have a stretch in the 2nd half where they hit 3 3's in a row to cut a 22 point lead to 13, but that was as far as that went.

Having seen LC, PacU and GF play, their records are not much better than Linfield's, but their level of play is.  I think they will be alright.  GF is at the top of the league right now.  PacU is doing well after suffering from some heavy injuries.  I am worried about LC's reliance on the 3 (slumps happen), but keep hitting them and they will be okay.  Linfield is a year or two away in my mind.  And Willamette is... scheduled to play games. 

I think nobody has set themselves apart for the pack yet.  It could be a real dogfight this year!  Maybe that will bring some of the UPS and LC posters back.


Gright

Great. Came here to catch up on NWC basketball and was surprised to read that former Linfield Coach Larry Doty is being kept out of the Linfield HOF by of all people Ad Rutschman. The person who posted that comment is wrong. To be considered for the HOF a former player must first be nominated. In most cases it is the family of the nominee but it could be teammates, friends or anyone else who wants to put in the time necessary to put together all the supporting documentation. The supporting documentation is passed out to twenty HOF committe members, coach Rutschman is one, who in turn select a group to be inducted. The process is anonymous, beyond personal influence and designed to be non-political. In recent years the number of nominees is far more than those inducted.
I played for coach Rutschman and was one of Doty's teammates.  As a player he has HOF credentials. Last two times I checked Larry hadn't been nominated.





formercat

Quote from: Gright on December 11, 2013, 12:53:49 AM
The process is anonymous, beyond personal influence and designed to be non-political.

Sorry, but if you know anything about the athletics on Linfield's campus then you know it is not beyond personal influence and is very political. There have been some efforts to get Doty into the Hall of Fame, but they have been shot down.  According to Rutschman, Doty lacks character.


On the topic of the Linfield basketball team I think it is a bit harsh to judge Coach Rosenberg's ability to recruit on the players he currently has.  Rosenberg was not hired until sometime in the middle of May and did not move to McMinnville until the end of June.  Most players are going to have committed by then and it probably does not help that his budget is less than 50,000 dollars.  This year he is also missing Andrew Batiuk, one of the better scorers in the NWC, but he will be back next year.  As for experience in the NWC, as someone else said, he was an assistant coach for LC with one of the better teams to ever play in the NWC.

playball

Last night linfield shot 40 threes out of 52 shots.  I get that one guy went 8/16, but the two other guards shooting 2/10 and 1/7 shows me one of two things: 1) the game plan was to only shoot threes because we are a small team.... Or 2) they don't understand a balanced attack.  I don't really feel comfortable with either conclusion 

TryMeTeam

#5679
Playball:

I think it was more like the first one, except it probably wasn't a game plan as much as it was an evolution.  When you go against a much bigger team (a front line of 6'9" and 6'7") and you are not, going inside is not much of an option.  Fox beat them, but in overtime and put up 37 3's against them (out of 71, so more even), but I think even you would agree Fox is a better team right now.  NW Christian must be more athletic and I can see the 'Cats just "settling" for the easier 3, maybe as the clock was winding down.  Lots of speculation, but it is common for a team to go to the 3 when the rest of the offense doesn't work against a better team.  I've seen it happen a lot.

I wouldn't read too much into one game.  I still think they are on the right track, but it will take a while and recruiting, and getting an all-league player back.

BTW:
Quote from: playball on December 08, 2013, 08:33:15 PM
TMT, just worry about your boys up North, they aren't doing much better. 
Just looked at the standings, and the boys up North are the top three teams (okay LC beat out Whitworth alphabetically).  JMWY :)


A Buc Forever

#5680
Looks like the two Eastern Washington Schools are playing at about the same level and GF, LC, and Pacific seem pretty good.  Should be an exciting league race this year.  I'll be interested to see how WW stands up to UW-Steven's Point.  The losses to Colorado College makes me think they aren't quite up to Top-10 level competition this year.  Hopefully, Colorado College just has their number and we are the type of team that can play with the #1 team in the nation.

I don't think Playball's fears about Linfield are unfounded.  Last night 30 or 47 shots were 3's and they shot the same shooting percentage from inside and outside the arc. It looks like they can't go inside effectively and they are just going to pop out and shoot 3's.  Not winning basketball.  However, they might not have enough players capable of playing at this level to be competitive and this is going to be their style for this year. 

As far as recruiting players for this year, Linfield could have done much better even if the new coach was hired late--especially since he came out of the JC ranks.  I know that Eastern Washington Univ picked up their starting point guard from the JC ranks last June and there were others available.  Another little interesting tidbit about Eastern.  Two of their starting three guards are players that Hayford had recruited to WW. He brought them to Eastern as walk-ons instead of having them go to Whitworth once he got the job there.  Kind of shows you that you can't win at the the Div III level without Div I talent at the guard spots. 

Andy Jamison - Walla Walla Wildcat

I'd prefer to have us avoid going the JUCO route... If this was D1 athletics and the coach was under immediate pressure to win then using a quick fix approach such as transfers and JUCOs would work.  However, I would much rather he build a program by bringing in strong freshmen classes with a sprinkling of JUCO's and transfers.  From what I know Linfield is one of the few local programs with a full JV schedule which should definitely be a factor in player development.


playball

Quote from: Walla Walla Wildcat on December 19, 2013, 11:53:49 AM
I'd prefer to have us avoid going the JUCO route... If this was D1 athletics and the coach was under immediate pressure to win then using a quick fix approach such as transfers and JUCOs would work.  However, I would much rather he build a program by bringing in strong freshmen classes with a sprinkling of JUCO's and transfers.  From what I know Linfield is one of the few local programs with a full JV schedule which should definitely be a factor in player development.

While that would be ideal, it will take a while.  I'm not worried about the recruiting aspect yet, Coach has only been coach for a short period relatively.  I will reserve judgement for that piece for a couple years down the road.  I worry about how he strategically uses the pieces he has now in game situations and game planning.  I don't want to disparage the team and say the cupboard is bare because they are all collegiate athletes.  But, they aren't playing at the competitive level we would like to see.  It's very easy to coach when you have higher caliber players running the floor, and this is why I am interested to see Shannon's coaching style and ability.  I believe we have a good coach with a good resume but I want to KNOW he is what he is cracked up to be.  If there are players looking at this, keep plugging away fellas.

89Pirate

Off to Vegas for the D3Hoops tourney !  GO PIRATES !  ;D

wildcat11

'Cats pick up a guard out of Nevada for next season.

www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/Manogues-James-Sandoval-Commits-to-Linfield-College-237666191.html

James Sandoval is the son of current Nevada Governor, Brian Sandoval.