As far as Knox fans being at the game tonight goes, you can bet your sweet bippy I'd be there, if I didn't have to cover a high school regional final tonight, get tomorrow morning's paper done, and then leave for Champaign for the Illinois-Iowa game.

All said, I'm hoping the Prairie Fire plays its best game of the season and that LU only brings their "C" game .... and it wouldn't hurt if Braier contracted some sort of mysterious disease that would incapacitate him for one night.......

And if GC could also get by Carroll, then my evening would be made!

It's simple — if Knox beats IC and MC, then Beloit has to go at least 4-2 to get in. I don't think Ripon has a prayer of catching the Fire at this point, and Beloit has a tough road. That win at Knox definitely helped the Bucs chances though.
Knox will have a tough time trying to win at either LU or CC, but can they beat GC at Darby? Doubtful, but possible. They should definitely beat IC at home, and they haven't lost to MC at home in at least three years, although the Scots will be out for blood next week.

All-in-all, it's LU, CC, GC, and KC in the playoffs this year.

I haven't had a chance to post in a week or so, but here are a couple of thoughts....

1) Re: the POY, one play Braier made at MC Friday exemplifies why I think he'll get it. With LU up by three and two minutes left, Kroeger misses a 3 but Braier comes from all the way across the lane out of nowhere to get the offensive board. Takes another 45 seconds off the clock that MC really needed.
2) Hinz was amazing against Knox, but seeing him the day after Braier left no comparison in my mind. Beloit didn't win because of Hinz - they won because Knox scored just six points in almost nine minutes as nobody could hit an open shot, inside or outside. Hinz certainly didn't do much to stop Knox when they took an eight point lead after a 16-3 run to start the second half.
3) Am I the only Knox fan on this board?
4) Knox has a tough road to make the playoffs. They didn't play particularly well in either game this weekend (awful against BC), but they still have 3 games they should win at home (LFC, MC, and IC). The question is, can they win against GC, CC, or LU on the road? I sort of doubt it, but I can hope. If not, they finish 9-7. BC would have to go 4-2 or better, while RC would have to finish 5-1 because Knox has the tiebreaker. I don't think RC can do that, and BC will have a tough time - even with four home games.

Hey schwannman....don't you ever work?

I just got the stats on the KC-GC game. Maclin lit it up tonight with 38, including 4 of 10 threes, while Grotberg had 34 for GC. Six players in double figures for the Fire as Zick had 19 and Estergard 15. Ziick also pulled down 10 boards. Jesse Temple, who hasn't seen many minutes this year, was 5-for-5 from the field and Moten was 4-6. The Prairie Fire shot 68.3% to 46.2 for Grinnell. GC took 91 shots in the game compared to only 63 for Knox.

I'll bet Maclin and Reineck are tired. They both played 39 minutes against the system!

Now we'll take SNC and get revenge on Beloit at home this weekend after that brutal opening schedule.

Way to go, Prairie Fire! Although I am surprised that they allowed Grinnell over 100 — Heimann's teams have held them to less than 100 at Knox the last three years.

I said it earlier this week, Knox is a much better team than most people are giving them credit for being. All 3 of their conference losses were on the road, with two of them to Lawrence and Carroll. Now we'll see if they can keep it going, and not have the meltdown they had last year.\

But I don't think they will.

I'm totally ticked off that I won't get to see the KC-GC game tomorrow night - because I have to cover a high school game that's more than likely going to be a blowout...   But GC just might be looking at a loss, I think. KC is playing very, very well right now.

I personally found it a glad, glad day that "they" (KC) beat the Scots at Glennie. And I'm not sure that Rogers' foot wasn't touching the line on the shot at the end of regulation.

Anyway, a great win for Prairie Fire basketball. Now for IC and GC in the next four days........

Jeff, Schwannie — I'll be at the the Monmouth-Grinnell game tonight — come up to press row on the bench side of the gym.  I'd like to meet all of you.  You can't miss me, I'm the bald blonde guy covering the game.

Hello everyone, I used to post here last year and damn near forgot about the site.
I need to let Scottie know that I'm now not only a Knox grad, but I'm the new sports editor for the Monmouth Review Atlas. I'll try to keep you updated on what's going on with them this year.
After the games I saw this weekend, Ripon-MC and Lawrence-KC, I'm thinking that both teams have players they've not been able to replace yet. Maybe by Jan. they'll have it figured out a little, but MC got virtually nothing from Beaird Friday once Ripon figured out that MC didn't have much of an inside threat to replace Miller. And Knox really, really needs someone to replace Helm as a rebounder and defender. They'll survive Kelly's loss, but I think Helm is the loss that hurts that team. We'll see what January brings.