MBB: Midwest Conference

[The Roop]

Following a 3 hour drive I am happy to say that......................

"The Roop" has finally come back to Beloit.

[hjmphelp]

Lu 05 and MWC4life-
Honestly, I agree with you that we don't get much respect and that we deserve more. Since we don't get it though, it should be much more productive to keep proving how good this conference is than to constantly complain about it. I don't think our complaints will foment the change we are after; it may actually cause the eye-rolling there-they-go-again kind of response that helps hold us down.
We can't kick the CCIW and WIAC out of the region and I doubt the MWC will be moving out. Granted, if we were a West Region conference we would be in much better shape. We aren't, so we just have to live with the fact that we play in what is currently one of the toughest situations for an up and coming conference in the country. That means our one auto selection in the tourney has to shine every year. Larry did that 2 years ago, and even though Point blasted everyone last year, Larrys performance still didn't further our rep at all. The know-nothings around the country had nothing to notice. So again, lets prove who we are during the season.

I know little about football, but i know that the BCS REALLY proves my point about how silly pre season rankings are. You talk about not getting a fair shake, that baby screws plently of powerful programs from beginning to end. As long as some damn near arbitrary poll determines seedings, someone gets ripped. Figure out a way to change how it is done and then you have something, IMHO

[d3bbfan]

Ive been out of town for over a week. Any Bucs fan talked to or seen how things are going there? I know theres a big shindig going on this weekend for Coach Degeorge's retirement from football. How's Hinz's hand? Hinz and Briar will be having a great battle for POY this season. Looking forward to see those games.

How is Lake Forest going to be this year? They still have the big fella Beckford in the middle. Did they get any quality freshman this year??

Kohl - Grant...who was better???  They played differnt positions and entirely diffent types of games. grant was an undersized big man who would dominate on the boards while Kohl was a great scoring point guard. I'd take em both to build a team with.

[The Roop]

I don't understand the Kohl-Grant comparison either. It'd be like comparing Mark Smith and Terry Kramer.

[dansand]

First of all, let me say, this is not to bash the MWC, but when talking strength of conferences you can't compare them with the CCIW and WIAC. Those two leagues have produced 14 of the 31 national champions since D3 was established. They've had a total of 24 final four appearances and one of the two has had a representative in the final four in 10 of the last 11 years. Also, it's not just one dominant team in either league. Three WIAC and two CCIW teams have won national titles and four teams from each conference have made final four appearances. I'm not saying this as a CCIW homer (in fact I've made the same point about the CCIW's inability to advance teams deep into the football playoffs in the last 15 years or so), but until they can consistently get teams deep into the tournament, they really can't really complain about lack of respect.

[The Roop]

If the MWC was in a different region (somewhere out east for example) I think there would have been several Final Four teams by now. The conference is highly regarded these days as far as the rating services are concerned but their downfall has always been facing an eventual Final Four team in the 1st or second round.

Lately the MWC entrant has been bracketed in the west, for all practical purposes, and success has followed. That success should only continue with the expanded field. As far as multiple MWC teams getting bids and advancing....................... Seeding will certainly play a major role but the MWC schedule isn't the (Pool C) liability as it once was. So multiple teams will hopefully become the norm in the future.

[the game]

Easy decision to start a team with grant. Question is what player would everyone pick to start a team with from the current crop of MWC talent. Hands down its gotta be hinz. Braier is a close 2nd.

[systemfan86]

Easy decision to start a team with grant. Question is what player would everyone pick to start a team with from the current crop of MWC talent. Hands down its gotta be hinz. Braier is a close 2nd.

Errr, hands down it's Hinz?! I can see that you can make an argument, but if it's hands down between those two, it's probably Braier. He's the one who is a three-time first team player and two time player of the year. Say what you will, Braier has the hardware to back it up.

Oh, and since I'm a systemfan, I don't take either since they haven't shown me they can shoot the trey! LOL. 

[dansand]

Actually, Braier hit 34% and Hinz 35% last year, both better than Grinnell's team percentage of .295.

[The Roop]

Sorry AM but Dans got you there. Just because Hinz doesn't take threes against Grinnell doesn't mean he can't make them. His shooting touch was the first thing I noticed about him.

[Early]

Hinz and Braier?  Braier does it all, score, rebound, defend....Hinz can't do it all.  He can score and is tough to stop, but he can't shut down another team's post. 

Kohl or Grant?  that is just bizarre.  2 completely different players.  No offense steve (all though he would pro'ly be the 1st to back this up), but neither of them liked to play defense.

MWC doesn't get respect.  But we do need to help it out and get some winning in the playoffs.

[hjmphelp]

Those of you (us) who have been discussing pre-season rankings-check out the Oct 27 Daily Dose. the article (and discussion)  is well worth reading.

Since I couldn't find theD3cc.com site, I will congratulate the Grinnell College Men and Women for their victories in the MWC Cross Country Meet this weekend here. The Men ran injured and barely squeaked out the win while the women dominated as usual. A hearty congrats to both teams.

Also couldn't find the D3soccer.com site, so another Congrats to the Grinnell College Women's Soccer team on winning the season and the Tournament Championship of the MWC this weekend. The Championship game against Carroll was one of the most exciting soccer games I have ever witnessed. Unfortunately it ended in a shootout after 2 OTS. Especially sweet win though because GC had to play the last 18 minutes of Regulation and 20 minutes of OT with nine players after one of the GC forwards was red carded. Great win in a very physical game.

[The Roop]

An exciting soccer game. Hmmmm, there's a first.

[the game]

What does LFC and grinnell look like this year.

1st team MWC
hinz (bc)
braier (lu)
beckford (lfc)
mcmullen (rc)
scheper (CC)

only debate is whether mcmullen will allowed to be aggressive enough offensively to attain all MVC status. other four should be locks.

[the game]

POY wide open to any of 1st teamers. early favorites Beckford Hinz and Braier in that order.