Trinity height wise is not huge, Norris is tall, but not sure if he is a good matchup for Trinity to use against Hood. But Trinity is strong, strength wise at every position.

Hood plays zone a lot from what I have watched, will be interesting to see how Hood handles Davis, Okorougo and McDonald on the offensive boards compared to how many Trinity gives up as well. Okorougo could be the zone killer, if he goes off down low, could see a lot of open threes. Half court set maybe Trinity has the advantage?

On the other end, not sure Trinity has played a team that wants to get up and down as much as Hood has, will be interesting to see who controls the pace of play and does Trinity want to run. Maybe Hood advantage here?

1 game for the weekend, see Trinity giving more minutes to starting 5 and top 7.

Seems Hood doesn't mind giving up turn overs, as they create so many. Trinity all year has feasted on turn overs. In the end, turn overs just might be the determining factor.

Fun weekend at Kolf for the first 2 rounds. Webster came in and really eliminated any kind of rhythm UWO wanted to get into, but Oshkosh was able to get it done. SMU started off hot but WLC ended up being too much for them to handle in the end. On Saturday, Oshkosh got it done in the paint and at the FT line to grab the Sweet 16 spot. Will be interesting to see how this weekend will go. Hopefully Oshkosh can start to click on all cylinders. But now my favorite pastime for the week: Watching film!

Also, anyone else see the yearly mystery as to why officiating changes so much when we get to the NCAAs? Needless to say, some of the crews left a little to be desired.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on Yesterday at 12:37:19 PMAs far as I know, the men's basketball committee is in charge of policing that kind of thing.  There have been censures in the past for comments or blowing off pressers altogether, which happens on occasion.  I think, again, from what I've heard from reliable folks, but not something I'm 100% confident in, they can withhold per diem payments and some of the reimbursement stuff that the NCAA provides, but I'm not sure they can give fines or anything like that.

More often, I suspect, a school will impose some penalty for a coach who behaves in a way they don't like - although those things are rarely public.

If Coach McGuiness received a public reprimand for his comments following the Sweet 16 loss to Platteville, well I would say no better and no worse than what was said in Bloomington.

Quote from: GusD on Yesterday at 03:16:52 PMIf the object is to "make it as neutral an event as possible" why is every other game going to be played on the higher ranked team's home court?
If a school IS hosting a national meet/event or didn't file the necessary papers then it's unavoidable.

You answered your question.

But even on a team's home floor, yes, things such as PA announcements and fan placement can be made more neutral.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on Yesterday at 01:01:54 PM

Quote from: Green Beer on Yesterday at 12:54:43 PMOk. Tinfoil hat on. I'm not a fan of punishing people for what they say. A bit to un-American for me. Yes, I know it's an organization they've agreed to join and follow the rules. But at some point, the NCAA turned into a government, not an organization. Like this round of games at IWU. Now, they dictate where the seating sections are. Hell, the frickin' bank has to move to a different location. The concession prices change I assume because they have their greasy fingers in the pie. I know these are old complains about the NCAA, but I'm an old man who yells at kids to stay off the lawn.

There's a public Host Operation Manual - https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/basketball/d3/men/2025-26D3MBB_HostOpsManual.pdf

 They try to make it as neutral an event as possible - especially in this case, with the lower seeded team hosting.

WHOA! Hold on a minute. With teams as closely ranked as these, having the lower team host doesn't come close to making it a neutral event. Rather, it effectively negates the advantage the higher team has earned by virtue of a better record and actually gives the advantage to the lower ranked team due to all the local support and home court advantage.
If the object is to "make it as neutral an event as possible" why is every other game going to be played on the higher ranked team's home court?
If a school IS hosting a national meet/event or didn't file the necessary papers then it's unavoidable. But absent these situations, the higher ranked team should get the advantage it's earned.

I wrote "Hell, the frickin' bank has to move to a different location." But that should be "band" not "bank." And yes, if the NCAA doesn't dictate concessions, then the greasy fingers are indeed green. Tinfoil hat now off.

Quote from: Patrick Coleman on Yesterday at 01:50:06 PM

Quote from: Green Beer on Yesterday at 12:54:43 PM... this round of games at IWU. Now, they dictate where the seating sections are.

Yep. This is not new. It was the case the last time I was at IWU for the sectionals a few years ago. It's normal.

Indeed. As far back as 2013 the NCAA told us the seating on the main floor had to be equal with 50% of the seats apportioned to each team. The end zones were easy but we had to put streamers down the middle of the sideline seats to delineate home vs visitor seating. The balcony was also supposed to be equally divided and we had streamers up there too, but the home fans wound up occupying somewhere between two-thirds and three-fourths of those seats.

I totally agree with pointlem that Hope has a bright future.  Cargill in his Fr season scored 359 pts, shot 0.362 from 3 (Hope as a team was 0.282, but without Cargill they were 0.251), and 0.863 from the line.  Yant in his So season ( after 3 game sin his Fr year) was 6th all time in FG% for a season at 0.627.  Hovey (HOPEing for a healthy Sr season next year) is 150 pts shy of 1000, and already Top20 all time in career rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals. 

All that being said, it is always hard to see seniors careers end.  Wourman and Mims both brought so much energy - especially defensively - and that will be hard to replace.  Great work ethic from all the seniors.  Despite the loss at UWL, it did bring a smile to my face to see Devin hit that late 3, mostly because his teammates were all so exctied to see it as well. 

I haven't looked closely yet at the quality of opponents that various CCIW teams have played, but statistically it appears that Millikin and Augustana have really jumped out in front of the pack, correlating with their W-L records. Millikin is absolutely killing it on the mound, whereas seven of the nine teams seem to be constantly throwing batting practice to opposing hitters (Augie's 4.03 team ERA looks sparkling by comparison to those seven trailers ... and howzabout that Illinois Wesleyan team ERA of 13.02, with the Titans having already gone eleven games deep into the season?). Preseason favorite North Central is no exception, as the Cardinals pitching staff has been knocked around badly in all five of NCC's games to date, four of which have been losses.

North Park has really not looked good at all in any phase of the game until this past weekend, as the Vikings won all three in the Gorlok Invitational down in Sauget, beating #24 UW-La Crosse, Buena Vista, and host Webster. All three of those teams were in the tourney last season. It is obviously too early to write off the Vikings for 2026, although the bats below the top three in the NPU order really need to pick it up a bit.

Quote from: Flying Dutch Fan on Yesterday at 01:54:49 PM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on Yesterday at 01:01:54 PM

Quote from: Green Beer on Yesterday at 12:54:43 PMOk. Tinfoil hat on. I'm not a fan of punishing people for what they say. A bit to un-American for me. Yes, I know it's an organization they've agreed to join and follow the rules. But at some point, the NCAA turned into a government, not an organization. Like this round of games at IWU. Now, they dictate where the seating sections are. Hell, the frickin' bank has to move to a different location. The concession prices change I assume because they have their greasy fingers in the pie. I know these are old complains about the NCAA, but I'm an old man who yells at kids to stay off the lawn.

There's a public Host Operation Manual - https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/basketball/d3/men/2025-26D3MBB_HostOpsManual.pdf

 They try to make it as neutral an event as possible - especially in this case, with the lower seeded team hosting.

EDITED TO ADD:  The only mention of concessions I can find says prices should not be different than any other event at the facility.

Guess the greasy (or should I say greedy) fingers might be green?? 

Sacre bleu! How can you even suggest such a thing??? 😧