Heart of Iowa Conference

[Herdcyclones]

Watcha think about the HOIAC this year? One conference game in the books for everybody, the only one that surprised me was Nevada over CMB. Maybe CMB's run in the football playoffs kept them from practicing their dribbling and shooting?

Roland-Story rolled Saydel. Saydel seemed to have a tough time shooting the ball. Saw them in a scrimmage against St Edmond as well. I figure they are going to be bottom half of the conference. R-S has had a pretty stifling defense. Also showed it in a non-conference win against Iowa Falls-Alden. Though IF-A is no great shakes.

Gilbert rolled North Polk. No surprise there, as I guess my preseason pick for top of conference was Gilbert or CMB. Saw Gilbert in the jamboree at R-S. Really struggled early against Colo-Nesco, but then picked up the pace.

Greene County beat Colfax-Mingo. C-M is just outgunned in this conference. Are they leaving soon to join a conference with more like sized schools?

PCM and South Ham were tied at halftime, but PCM pulled away. I figure SH will struggle with a bunch of new guys and missing Hill for now. I expect them to improve. Is SH in good shape, or is PCM down this year?

With only seeing a few teams, and observing a night or two of scores, and my limited knowledge of returning players, here is my off the top of my head predicted finish order.
Gilbert, CMB, RS, Nevada, PCM, Greene, NP, SH, Saydel, CM. What say you?

 

[VII_Fe]

What is the story with CMB? Following a loss to Nevada they lost to Greene County by 20 and Colo-Nesco by 17... and their Quickstats stats are for only 2 players.

 

[Herdcyclones]

If reports are true, Kemp missed the first 2 CMB games due to a football recruiting trip. Even so, they are the ones that have most underperformed to my expectations.

With 1/3 of the conference season in the books, my preseason picks are not too far off. Here is where it stands now
Gilbert, RS, PCM, Nevada, Greene, NP, CMB, Saydel, SH, CM.

Everybody should have 3 conference games left to make 1 run thru the conference. Not that they will be great games, but some of interest to lock down the standings are:
Saydel vs. South Hamilton who is the 2nd worst team in the conference?
PCM vs Nevada, Gilbert, and Greene. PCM's only game against a top conference team was to R-S, which they lost.
RS vs Greene, NP and CMB. RS has played the top 3, and the bottom 3. Interested to see how they stack up against the middle.
Gilbert vs PCM (as mentioned above) Interested for Gilbert's sake. I think PCM matches up with them well. I think it is possible Gilbert could run the table if PCM doesn't get them. (though of course they play RS and PCM a 2nd time--I don't see anyone but RS or PCM having a decent chance of beating Gilbert this year in conference)

 

[SSG T]

CMB has had three pretty big problems.

Kemp missed basically the whole first week between illness and the E Mich. visit.

Their best option at PG has missed the last 5-6 games with a broken hand.

Everyone on the team forgot how to shoot the first two weeks, and everyone but Nissen seems to have continued that the next two weeks.


The biggest carry over from last season is that they had no one to pick up for Zach Samson. He wasn't their leading rebounder, but he was their best rebounder (he got position better than anyone and used his body and instincts to get boards against much taller opponents) and he was their best interior defender.

 

[Herdcyclones]

Wanted to go back and revisit my preseason picks on the HOIAC. Here they are...
Gilbert, CMB, RS, Nevada, PCM, Greene, NP, SH, Saydel, CM

And here is how it finished...
PCM, Gilbert, RS, Nevada, (3 way tie CMB, NP, Saydel), SH, CM

CMB was my big miss. I really thought they would compete for the championship. Just couldn't seem to get it together tho. Had flashes of brilliance. Had a 5 game run in the middle of the season where they beat Nevada, Roland-Story, North Polk, and PCM. But the rest of the year was just "eh".

Saydel is my overachiever. I thought they would be really bad this year. And they weren't great, but they did get to 8 wins in conference. And my PCM in 5th was my stupid pick. In retrospect, I don't know why I picked them that low. They had some good talent coming back.

And yes, PCM and Gilbert tied with 2 losses each in conference. But PCM beat Gilbert twice, so I am awarding the Mustangs the crown.

Looking at the postseason brackets, seeing PCM, Gilbert, and RS at the Well would not be any huge surprise. Not easy for any of them, but certainly doable.

And I am calling Colfax-Mingo for getting their first win of the year in the first game of the tournament.

 

[ghost80]

Gilbert is "doable" at the Well but IMO still an underdog to make it there. I expect them to beat Perry but do not expect them to win against DCG. Perry has had too many road games where they have played poorly. Gilbert would be a handful for Perry at home but facing them at Ames will be like a road game.

Very smart move for Saydel to move to the smaller HOI conference. Year after year they failed to get much traction in the bigger RRC. The RRC is no powerhouse of a conference (especially with the departure of DCG) but Saydel was probably the smallest member and once they got down it just got too hard to get back up. I don't expect them to be a top player in the HOI (except they normally do well at baseball) but the fresh start in a smaller conference has definitely made them more competitive. Win-win for everyone.

It will be interesting to see if Indianola's conference change can do the same for them.