MIAA Week 7 Chat

[Predatory Primates]

Watched Pitt women take apart the lopers. Hopefully the Pitt men can break their 4 game skid.

[CatFan88]

Northwest men clinch spot in MIAA tournament and can pretty much wrap up 1 seed this coming week with home wins over SBU and UCM.

[NWHoops]

Northwest men clinch spot in MIAA tournament and can pretty much wrap up 1 seed this coming week with home wins over SBU and UCM.

Up 3 games with 6 to go. 1st seed and hosting regional should be wrapped up at this point unless something catastrophic happens. If it does happen, the tourney seed and whether we host won't matter because whatever happened will prevent us from making any noise in the postseason anyway.

[GrifFan]

UCM and MWSU with wins to move in to the top 10.

[Thepeman]

This really has nothing to do with our region, but did you notice that Bellarmine has lost 3 straight after being ranked #1 in the nation for most of the season.

[Donkeydamus]

UCM and MWSU with wins to move in to the top 10.

That's not very exciting, in fact it's pretty depressing. The Mules hoping to finish 9th or 10th to make the conference tourney....never thought I would see the day.

[Btech#3]

The league race is over. Not mathematically but no one is going to catch the Bearcats. The drama is: will NWMS go thru unscathed? I think it will come down to their last game at Washburn. I think that is their toughest game left.

[CatFan88]

The league race is over. Not mathematically but no one is going to catch the Bearcats. The drama is: will NWMS go thru unscathed? I think it will come down to their last game at Washburn. I think that is their toughest game left.

I would agree that Washburn is the toughest competition left. NW has not done well at UCM historically, but that demon seems to have been exorcised with the departure of KA. I think the important thing is get through rest of regular season without a major injury. Try to get as many guys off the bench as possible to give top 7 a rest and get ready for post-season because it's a grind.

[Hornetfan]

I have to give Lowrance serious props. The guy dislocated his finger on the opening tip and popped it back in place by himself. He came out for like 30 seconds and when he came back in didn't even have the finger taped. Add that to his knee problems and the way he is producing is amazing.

[Kiss My Ass]

I would agree that Washburn is the toughest competition left. NW has not done well at UCM historically, but that demon seems to have been exorcised with the departure of KA. I think the important thing is get through rest of regular season without a major injury. Try to get as many guys off the bench as possible to give top 7 a rest and get ready for post-season because it's a grind.

Northwest had a couple of close wins by 7 or 8 points this season, if you can even call that close. Most of the time the Bearcats don't even break a sweat and blow everybody away by at least 15 to 20 points. I predict the Bearcats will run the table and win the national championship. The only question is, how long before coach Ben McCollum moves up? As much as I admire coach Kim Anderson for what he did at UCM, I would rate Ben McCollum as a better recruiter and coach than Kim Anderson.

[MisterWizard]

I wouldn't mind another crack at Northwest, only on our home floor and with a healthy starting lineup. We let it get away from us in Maryville in the second half with Cam out. He got a high ankle sprain 3 minutes into that game.

The Lions are 12-0 in Joplin this year, and it's been a few years since Northwest swept us. But thanks to the MIAA's unbalanced schedule, we only had one scheduled meeting.

Northwest is really, really good though.

[CatFan88]

Northwest had a couple of close wins by 7 or 8 points this season, if you can even call that close. Most of the time the Bearcats don't even break a sweat and blow everybody away by at least 15 to 20 points. I predict the Bearcats will run the table and win the national championship. The only question is, how long before coach Ben McCollum moves up? As much as I admire coach Kim Anderson for what he did at UCM, I would rate Ben McCollum as a better recruiter and coach than Kim Anderson.

I think Ben could be HC at a mid-major but has to be right place. I think he would be an outstanding assistant at a Power 5 to learn the ropes. If he were to move on, the next best replacement moved over to the ladies side.

[Alfred33]

As much as I admire coach Kim Anderson for what he did at UCM, I would rate Ben McCollum as a better recruiter and coach than Kim Anderson.

We will soon find out... Not to take away from Ben, but I think Austin Meyer played a huge part in the recruiting success for NW. He was always traveling to ballgames and tournaments to watch kids play.... very likeable guy. Of course, he is now the women’s coach. Winning breeds continued recruiting success, so I’m not terribly worried that Ben and Scheider can’t keep it going, but Austin was important to what has happened on the men’s side. Hopefully, he’ll be able to replicate it with the women.

[Predatory Primates]

Pitt really misses Franklin and the Big center. Lozoya is a selfish player, and real double edged sword. Not sure why, but the Coach doesn't seem to have a handle on him.

[Go-Rilla]

Pitt really misses Franklin and the Big center. Lozoya is a selfish player, and real double edged sword. Not sure why, but the Coach doesn't seem to have a handle on him.

I haven't been able to follow too closely the last month or so. Is Franklin out for the year? It's no wonder they've been struggling lately without him.

[Btech#3]

I agree. Franklin seems like more of a team guy and gets his shots and points out of the offense. Lozoya is very talented but very selfish and I thought in our game that he had one of the worst attitudes that I had seen in a while.

[GrifFan]

That's not very exciting, in fact it's pretty depressing. The Mules hoping to finish 9th or 10th to make the conference tourney....never thought I would see the day.

I understand - but when you're picked #DFL, making the tournament would be a pretty big deal for the Griffs.

[Thepeman]

I understand - but when you're picked #DFL, making the tournament would be a pretty big deal for the Griffs.

I think for the Griffs, it is a big deal. For the Mules, kinda sad as someone from UCM stated.

[Randy]

That's not very exciting, in fact it's pretty depressing. The Mules hoping to finish 9th or 10th to make the conference tourney....never thought I would see the day.

This is the 2nd time in 4 seasons. The Mules were the 12th seed in 2016.

[Donkeydamus]

This is the 2nd time in 4 seasons. The Mules were the 12th seed in 2016.

Oh crap, I forgot about 2016.....now I'm really depressed. It's only 9:30 AM here in San Diego, but screw it, I'm going to start drinking and dream of the glory days of Mules basketball. How the hell does our coach keep his job !