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*** 3A State Talk - Pella (21-2) Vs. Cedar Rapids Xavier (16-8) ****
- Thread starter LukeFeddersen
- Start date
Everyone looks at Pella as a prolific scoring machine but year in year out it is their D and athleticism they build from..
Might be a very good game but imo Pella will strangle Xavier out.
Might be a very good game but imo Pella will strangle Xavier out.
The game may change, but Pella looks discombobulated. 19 points in entire half. I thought they were a high scoring team? 29-19 Xavier. I hope Pella can make a run in 2nd, but Xavier looks to be in control so far. And in several games lately Xavier has shot over 75% in the second half..... Saints shot only 50% in the first half, and their usual 100% from the line.
This post was edited on 3/10 9:12 PM by EastIowaHawk
This post was edited on 3/10 9:12 PM by EastIowaHawk
Halftime Stat Leaders
Adam McDermott, Xavier - 15 pts
Isaac Naaktgeboren, Pella - 10 pts
No one else scored over 4 pts
Adam McDermott, Xavier - 15 pts
Isaac Naaktgeboren, Pella - 10 pts
No one else scored over 4 pts
Good first half. Xavier caught a couple of breaks and has been capitalizing with free throws. Neither team really shooting very well. I expect it to open up in the second half. McDermott and Naaktgeboren both playing well.
Anyone here what the Xavier coach said to get that technical?
Anyone here what the Xavier coach said to get that technical?
Pella on a 11-0 run in 3rd. Now trail only by 5 going into the 4th!
This post was edited on 3/10 9:35 PM by EastIowaHawk
This post was edited on 3/10 9:35 PM by EastIowaHawk
Lol, you are killing me.
Xavier up 5 after 3. Teams look very even, the 4th quarter will depend on if Xavier can hold onto the ball. Officials have called the game really tight (lots of fouls), if they swallow their whistles in the 4th it might be trouble for the Saints.
Xavier hangs on by 4. McDermott I think finished 14-15 from the line. Shows how valuable it is when your star player can hit free throws.
Not quite the 20 point beat down you predicted though, right thinkpad? Not too bad of a performance by a team that would be 1 or 2 classes lower than Xavier if the teams played in a different state. If there were a tournament of "True 3A teams" I think Pella vs. Waverly would have been an excellent game.
Sets up for a conference rivalry with Wahlert and Xavier in the semifinals (which most would consider the finals) and a star showdown between two of the best players in Iowa (maybe two of the top ten?) in McDermott and Pemsl.
I don't understand what that has to do with anything. I was making a reference to Xavier and wahlert playing in 3A when In any other state they'd play a class up. I think a ton of people complained last year, as they should. But I wouldn't call it complaining. Just giviping props to two teams that played tough despite being in the rare situation of playing a private school with bigger numbers in postseason play. Only in Iowa!
Just got back from game and had to help kids with homework before I could see what was said on forum. Was a very entertaining game that went from competitive, to an Xavier butt kicking, to a helter skelter Pella run, to a free throw exhibition from McDermott. Was very fun to see in person. Pella didn't come close to playing their best game, but the credit goes to Xavier for making it this way. They play a good zone and kept the Pella 3 point game under control. Pella didn't adjust to the zone soon enough and I'm not sure they ever adjusted well.
Congrats to Xavier. They played a great game and kept Pella off balance for the first 2 1/2 quarters. Pella dug a very deep hole and just couldn't quite get over the hump. Looking forward to seeing the semi's.
Where is Xavier's crowd though? The 1A schools have more people there than Xavier. The same was true in the dome in the football semi's. The student section was good, but I thought more people would travel from Cedar Rapids.
Pella gotcha in football, but Xavier returned the favor in basketball. Here's to future meetings between the two schools in other sports as well. I could see a nice little rivalry building!
Congrats to Xavier. They played a great game and kept Pella off balance for the first 2 1/2 quarters. Pella dug a very deep hole and just couldn't quite get over the hump. Looking forward to seeing the semi's.
Where is Xavier's crowd though? The 1A schools have more people there than Xavier. The same was true in the dome in the football semi's. The student section was good, but I thought more people would travel from Cedar Rapids.
Pella gotcha in football, but Xavier returned the favor in basketball. Here's to future meetings between the two schools in other sports as well. I could see a nice little rivalry building!
Here's what I am hearing:
Fouls were 25-15? Or so? Other games were fairly balanced on fouls played Tuesday, no? Pella guard got popped in the nose early on - didn't help the Dutch's cause.Run by Pella cost them some fouls that left them hanging on at the end w/ guys fouled out?Charge/blocking fouls were not consistent. Charge on Pella vs. Blocking (should of been a charge on CRX) against PellaNo one wanted to take a shot for Pella - hot potato basketball?Pella came out of half like crap, but still made a game of itNot sure why Baugh didn't get as many minutes as someone stated above - any insight?
Fouls were 25-15? Or so? Other games were fairly balanced on fouls played Tuesday, no? Pella guard got popped in the nose early on - didn't help the Dutch's cause.Run by Pella cost them some fouls that left them hanging on at the end w/ guys fouled out?Charge/blocking fouls were not consistent. Charge on Pella vs. Blocking (should of been a charge on CRX) against PellaNo one wanted to take a shot for Pella - hot potato basketball?Pella came out of half like crap, but still made a game of itNot sure why Baugh didn't get as many minutes as someone stated above - any insight?
So the two private schools that play 4A for regular season are beating 3A conference teams, amazing!
State needs to make a rule that if 50%+ of your games are against a higher class, then that is the class you play in for the State run (regardless if private or public).
Oh the whining, crying, blaming, refs this and that, elbows, private vs public is comedy. Suck it up!! Pella got beat by a school who has 108 more students enrolled in it grades 9-12. Maybe they should play some 4A teams to better prepare? I believe thats how you improve. Play up!! The 21-2 weak schedule didn't yield a trip to semi-finals vs the 16-8 tough schedule which exposed holes and developmental areas throughout the year. That challenge yielded a trip back to Des Moines for both Xavier and Wahlert.That game is gonna be a good one.
If everyone played up there wouldn't be a regular schedule now would there? Much like college football, SOS really is skewed as not all teams can play Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, etc.
I have no beef with schools that play up, it is when more than 50% of the games are vs the class above and then when it comes time for State, drop back to their "classification". Regardless if private or public, if you want to play up - stay up. Otherwise you are just whining about "it's our classification"...
The population of Cedar Rapids Metro area is almost 260,000 people. That is Xavier's population base from which it draws its raw 3A school enrollment (Williamsburg is about 3,000, LeMars about 10,000, and Dubuque area about 100,000 counting the tri-state area; or Iowa City with a metro population of about 160,000 vs. Cascade with a "metro" population of about 2200). Pella's population base is not quite 11,000 from which it draws its 3A enrollment. When having to select 5-7 quality "items" (in this case basketball players), selecting from 260,000 vs. 11,000 or 3,000 will more often than not yield better results. The group selecting from 260,000 will always have a natural, INHERENT, advantage to start from through no control or influence of their own; they aren't better selectors. This isn't difficult to understand, and really isn't a debatable issue. A school from Cedar Rapids should almost always perform a school from a town 1/24th its size.
260,000 Catholics though?? 98% of the enrollment at Xavier is Catholic. Please re-run your numbers and only include the Catholic population as a majority of "the Base". Then figure what % of those attend Xavier. Probably more comparable after that. Yes, your math is difficult to understand because it's inaccurate regarding "the Base" and easily debatable. Back it up with the fact that all but 1 of the players on the 2015 Xavier basketball team played together K-12, Mims came over from Prairie.
Like any other game there were "questionable" calls. The blocks and charges seemed to be a bit inconsistent, but that is why it is the toughest call in basketball. Both teams were physical and there was some whining going on from both sides regarding things that were or were not called. The refs didn't decide the game, in my opinion.
Seth Johnson did get popped in nose about 30 seconds into the game and had to play with a plug up his nose, but it didn't seem to affect him much. He's a tough kid and played hard and scrappy, like usual. He would be the last one to look for excuses.
The difference in the game to me was Pella's tentativness on offense through much of the game. Some guys seemed to be a bit afraid to put up shots or to make a play. It got so they were looking to much for Naaktgeboren to make something happen. But again, Xavier's defense contributed to this.
Baugh has been fighting illness off and on this whole season, it seems like. That seemed to limit his minutes this year. I'm sure he'll be back strong next year.
Pella's game is to be scrappy, relentless and make it a frenetic pace. They were able to get that going in the second half, but Xavier did a nice job of keeping composure. Xavier played well and deserved to win.
Wow, bitter much? Maybe their players should 'specialize'.
There is a big difference between the Cedar Rapids Xavier basketball team and the football team that Pella High played at the UNI-Dome in November: completely different players. The Saints’ top six scorers all did not play a lick of football at the varsity level in the fall, and save for Joe Welch, Matt Downey, and Ryan Stulken, Xavier will have mainly “one-trick ponies” taking to the hardwood on Tuesday in Des Moines. Coach Mike Ballenger feels that this should benefit the Little Dutch.
“I think anytime you put a kid under the gun, that’s why I hate to have a kid just specialize in one sport, because they don’t get under the gun enough,” Ballenger says. “I love it when kids play a variety of sports and become better in those sports, see how they perform. I think it’s less boring for the kid, too. I think he becomes a more focused athlete, because he’s focusing in every single sport and he enjoys those sports.”
The Saints also play in one of the most difficult conferences in the state, the Mississippi Valley conference, featuring teams like Dubuque Hempstead, Iowa City, Waterloo, Cedar Falls, and other big town schools. Coach Ballenger also hopes that this plays to Pella’s advantage.
“I hope they’ve learned to lose,” Ballenger stresses. “They had eight losses in their league; we had two losses at the beginning of the year. I’m hoping we’ve learned to win every close game, I’m hoping they’ve learned to lose a few games along the way.”
Coach Phil Hemming tells KNIA/KRLS Sports they’ve had some help during practices last week to get them ready for Xavier.
“I think what really helps the quality of practice for us is just having a really good second unit,” Hemming says. “Actually, some of our JV guys have stuck around to help raise the level of competition in practice. You’re not going to see them in the stat sheet, you’re not even going to see them on the bench in game nights. The fact that they’re willing to give up their time off right now and continue to work hard just really elevates our top guys.”
The Little Dutch and Saints play the finale of the second day of the boys’ state basketball tournament.
This post was edited on 3/11 1:13 PM by EagleHawk
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A couple things: First off, the officials weren't great but they definitely weren't skewed towards one team or another. The pace of game was in Xavier's favor because there were a ton of ticky-tack fouls and free-throws instead of fast paced, but as far as officiating went, I thought it was fairly even.
The big picture though: Xavier does NOT play up during the regular season. They play DOWN during the postseason. Xavier in just about every other state in America would be playing in the same class as Iowa City West, not Pella. Iowa is way behind the times on getting a multiplier for private schools. Xavier is not like amazing for their size of school or anything, they just have the advantage of getting to play down a class from where common sense would place them. So when you say that Pella needs to "play up" that's bull crap. Teams like Pella, DCG, LeMars and Williamsburg play the exact schedule that gets them ready for the 3A tournament.
Xavier doesn't "Get ready" for the 3A tournament by playing big schools. It's not like Xavier is a 300 kid public school that plays against 4A teams in the regular season to "bulk up" for the tournament run. Xavier and Wahlert are simply 4A schools that are allowed to play in the 3A tournament because of some messed up rules. It would be embarrassing if those schools didn't dominate. But at the same time it's unfair to Xavier and Wahlert because even when they win there are haters (like myself) that will point out the unfair playing field, so nobody ever really gives the teams credit for their success.
But I do think it creates a fun tournament to watch because you get these big schools (Assumption is another by the way) that have so many kids to choose from and they should dominate and then they get to play against the best traditional 3A schools. If I were part of the IHSAA association, I would be pushing for a multiplier as soon as possible (would like to see it next year) but it does make for a fun atmosphere.
