A new mid-major, the GWAL: An FBCB 2010 dynasty

[collegesportsfanms]

Here's a look at the GWAL Bubble Watch.

Team                 Record         RPI  vs. 1-50  vs. 51-100  vs. 101-200  vs. 200+  SOS  Projected
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Wichita West           17-5   .567 (55)       2-0         5-1          4-2       6-2  166        Out
 Wichita Northwest      15-6   .560 (65)       0-2         3-2          8-2       4-0  144        Out
 Wichita Southeast      13-9   .552 (71)       2-1         3-3          3-5       5-0   76        Out
 Wichita North          13-8  .528 (113)       2-1         1-2          4-1       6-4  162        Out
 Wichita Heights        13-9  .530 (109)       0-1         4-3          4-3       5-2  109        Out
 Bishop Carroll        13-10  .531 (108)       0-1         2-6          5-2       6-1  131        Out
 Wichita South         10-12  .480 (207)       0-1         2-6          1-4       7-1  176        Out
 Wichita East           8-15  .520 (129)       0-4         1-5          3-6       4-0   27        Out
 Kapaun Mt. Carmel      7-14  .478 (214)       0-1         1-5          4-3       2-5   71        Out

Not quite sure how all 9 GWAL teams are projected out. One team has to be in by virtue of an automatic bid. That doesn't say much for our conference when we don't even have 1 at-large candidate.

Hawaii is the only team of our 4 other FOFC teams that is projected in the NCAA Tournament. Lafayette, Georgia State, and surprisingly Creighton are all projected out.

[collegesportsfanms]

The Final GWAL Standings for the season turned into a 3 team race, let's take a look.

TEAM                               CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #18 Wichita Northwest Grizzlies    12   4  .750  25   8  .758   43        63
 Wichita Southeast Buffaloes        11   5  .688  20  11  .645   81        69
 Bishop Carroll Eagles              11   5  .688  21  13  .618   79        58
 Wichita Heights Falcons             8   8  .500  18  13  .581  106        80
 Wichita North Redskins              8   8  .500  18  13  .581   92        64
 Wichita West Pioneers               7   9  .438  19  13  .594   98        59
 Kapaun Mt. Carmel Crusaders         6  10  .375  11  20  .355  219        48
 Wichita South Titans                5  11  .313  14  18  .438  213        58
 Wichita East Blue Aces              4  12  .250   9  22  .290  229        63

Although we'll probably only have 1, maybe 2 teams in the NCAA Tournament, the fact that we have 6 teams with winning records, including 3with over 20 wins, should bode well for conference prestige.

Wichita South (Kuji Chagulia) was just not as good as they needed to be this year. I'm not gonna say they struggled, but really, they did. They did beat Kapaun, East, and West, but had bad losses to Southeast, North, and Bishop Carroll.

Wichita Southeast (Rudy Arellano) had a great February, their only blemishes being to West and Kapaun Mt. Carmel. The loss to Kapaun hurts, and could cost them an NCAA Tournament berth, but the Buffaloes appear to be back.

[collegesportsfanms]

Georgia State (Charlie Woods) -- 14-19, 8-10 CAA, 7th. Ol Charlie pulled out a nice win against Old Dominion to salvage a rocky season. They've definitely accomplished their goal of staying out of last place, but too many bad losses hurt them.

Creighton (Deacon Palmer) -- 22-9, 15-3 MVC, 1st. The Bluejays dominated the MVC in February, sweeping through with a perfect record, and winning the MVC by 3 whole games. They beat Wichita State by 19 and Bradley by 20.

Lafayette (Shane Kormelink) -- 21-10, 9-5 Patriot, 2nd. A nice Februrary for Lafayette, who beat a tough non-conference opponent in Yale, and lost by 2 points to conference winner Holy Cross. This February definitely put them in position for a postseason berth.

Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) -- 19-10, 9-7 WAC, 4th. A good month for B.B. and Hawaii who are tightly on the bubble for an NCAA berth. It could have been better though, but a 3 game losing streak to end the regular season put a damper on things. The one that really hurt was the loss to Fresno State.

[collegesportsfanms]

2016 GWAL First Round

(8) Wichita South beat (9) Wichita East 89-69, ending a dismal season for the Blue Aces.

[collegesportsfanms]

2016 GWAL Quarterfinals

(1) Wichita Northwest beat (8) Wichita South 83-65.
(5) Wichita North got by (4) Wichita Heights 73-69.
(7) Kapaun Mt. Carmel upset (2) Wichita Southeast 84-80. Ouch! Good for Kapaun, bad for Southeast and Rudy.
(3) Bishop Carroll got by (6) Wichita West 67-62 in OT.

[collegesportsfanms]

2016 GWAL Semifinals

(1) Wichita Northwest over (5) Wichita North 81-59.
(3) Bishop Carroll beats (7) Kapaun Mt. Carmel 67-50.

[collegesportsfanms]

2016 GWAL Championship

(1) Wichita Northwest beats (3) Bishop Carroll 73-63 to win the GWAL Championship and get the automatic berth. Congrats to Mitch Linn on a fine season.

I strongly believe that the Grizzlies will be the only GWAL team dancing in March. I think that Carroll and Southeast are destined for the NIT, and Heights, North, and Northwest are all destined for the CBI.

[collegesportsfanms]

CAA Tournament

Georgia State beat (10) William & Mary 80-79 in the first round, then beat (2) VCU 75-58 in the Quarterfinals. In the semifinals they beat (6) Northeastern 56-53, setting up the championship game against (1) Old Dominion. There they saw their cinderella run end as they lost 79-57, ending their season.

MVC Tournament

Creighton was upset 76-71 by (8) Northern Iowa in the Quarterfinals. They are on the bubble for the NCAA, but may be headed to the NIT.

Patriot Tournament

Lafayette beat (7) Colgate 76-55 in the Quarterfinals, then hammered (6) Lehigh 100-64 in the Semifinals. In the championship they met up with (1) Holy Cross and fell 93-77. I'm predicting either the NIT or CBI for them.

WAC Tournament

For the third straight year, Hawaii met (5) Gonzaga in the Quarterfinals. This year they fell 83-71, probably meaning a trip to the NIT.

Other Teams and Coaches of Interest

Clemson (Shane Dreiling) -- Shane's first year at Clemson ended with a 22-11 record, but just 8-8 in an always tough ACC, finishing tied for sixth. In the ACC Tournament, the Tigers beat (10) North Carolina 85-65 in the First Round. In the Quarterfinals they lost to (2) Georgia Tech, 81-72. They should still be NCAA bound.

Oklahoma (Marty Frankamp) -- The Sooners finished 24-8, winning the Big Twelve regular season title with a 13-3 record in Frankamps first season at OU. In the Big Twelve tournament, the Sooners beat (8) Texas Tech 94-65 in the Quarterfinals, then were beaten by a very good (4) Colorado team 60-54 in the semifinals. They are a lock for the Big Dance.

BYU (James Cole) -- The Cougars had a phenomenal year, going 26-6and 13-3 in the MWC to win the regular season title. In the MWC tourney, BYU beat (8) Wyoming 78-61 in the Quarterfinals. Then they were beaten by (5) San Diego St. 68-64 in the Semifinals. They are a lock for the NCAA Tournament.

Arizona (Bryan Chadwick) -- Bryan led Arizona to a 31-2 record and 17-1 in the Pac Ten, easily winning the regular season title. In the Pac Ten tournament, the Wildcats beat (8) Washington St. in the Quarterfinals, then beat (5) Oregon St. 80-73 in the semifinals, and won the Pac Ten Tournament by beating (2) Washington 63-61 in the ship. They should be a #1 seed in the Big Dance.

Arkansas (Ryan Hujing) -- Poor Ryan had a dismal year, as Arkansas was just 7-23, and 3-12 in the SEC, good for last place. In the SEC Tournament, they took (5) Florida to OT, but lost 72-70, ending their season and most likely ending Hujings tenure at Arkansas.

[collegesportsfanms]

2016 Selection Sunday

GWAL

Wichita Northwest gets rewarded with a 9 seed in the NCAA East region and will take on a very beatable (8) Louisiana Tech in the First Round.

Bishop Carroll is the 7th seed in the NIT East Region and will host (1) Gardner-Webb.

Wichita Southeast is the 6th seed in the NIT East Region and will travel to (3) Bradley.

Wichita North is the 16th seed in the CBI and will travel to (1) Binghamton.

Wichita West is the 12th seed in the CBI and will travel to (5) Xavier.

Wichita Heights is the 11th seed in the CBI and will travel to (6) Michigan.

A little dissapointed with our seedings in the NIT and CBI, I guess we're still trying to prove we are a true mid-major conference. Got some chips on our shoulders now. As expected, East, South, and Kapaun are staying home.

Non-GWAL

Arizona is the #1 seed in the NCAA West Region and gets (16) seed South Carolina St.

BYU is the 5th seed in the NCAA West Region and gets (12) Mississippi St.

Clemson is the 3rd seed in the NCAA West Region and gets (14) San Diego St.

Hawaii will be in a play-in game in the NCAA West Region. They'll take on Oregon. Winner gets bragging rights to a NCAA Tournament win, an 11th seed and a date with Texas.

Oklahoma is the 5th seed in the NCAA Midwest Region and will take on 12th seed Wichita St.

Creighton gets snubbed, and is the 2nd seed in the NIT East Region, where they will host the Bishop Carroll/Gardner-Webb Winner in the Second Round. What a match-up that would be, Deacon Palmer's old school vs. his new school.

Lafayette gets the 15th seed in the CBI and will travel to (2) Chattanooga.

Georgia State and Arkansas get no postseason.

[collegesportsfanms]

I am ready to make some changes. I thought about applying to be the AD of another conference, but I'm not ready to do that yet. Then I thought instead of limited conference movement, I'd turn full conference movement on. If I did that, however, there would be massive changes to each conference pretty much every year, and I don't like that idea.

Since I don't feel that any GWAL teams are consistently good enough or consistently bad enough for the game to have them change conferences, I've decided that every 5 years, if no conference movement has come from our league, I will manually add up all the teams records. The team with the best record earns a promotion to a conference with a higher prestige, and the team with the worst record will get booted from the GWAL. Those teams would then be replaced. I think this will shake things up a little bit.

I have some free time this week so I should be able to at least get this done, as well as another season in the books. It will be Monday before I have a chance to do that though. Any thoughts/comments?

[ntndeacon]

I will be interesting to see where all of them end up

[bbgunn]

I'm all for it. I think it adds a little spice to the dynasty.

[korme]

Hey, sorry, didn't follow for a few weeks but I'm back on board. Love the dynasty

[collegesportsfanms]

Welcome back Korme, I was wondering if you were still on board or not. Good to hear from you. As you can tell, I had to fire you from Kapaun, but you picked up a heck of a job in its place, so things worked out for you.

Glad you're enjoying, what are your thoughts on conference movement? Do you like things the way they are? Would you like to see a new team in the mix? Also, if you want another team, since everybody else has 2, you can have another team. Just let me know.

And if anybody knows of anybody who might be interested in interacting with this, making a coach, please let me know. I would gladly take a few more FOFC coaches.

[korme]

I'm ok with conf. movement the way it is. And one coach is fine, also. Keep up the great work

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by collegesportsfanms

2011 postseason wrap-up

In the NCAA tournament, Xavier beat Ohio St. 68-49 in the first semifinal, while Illinois beat Texas, the only #1 seed to advance to the final four, 65-41. Then Illinois handled Xavier 71-55 to win the national championship.

In the NIT Final Four, Miami beat Cincinnati 95-78, then UCLA beat Richmond 93-82. Then in the NIT Championship, Miami beat UCLA 77-74 in a thriller of a game.

The CBI championship series featured 9th seed Boston College and 6th seed Providence. Providence won the first game 79-72, then Boston College came back to win the second game 81-73, and the deciding game was a thriller, won by Boston College 57-55.

The CIT Championship was won by Drexel, who defeated South Dakota 60-51. This is the only tournament that held even close to form, as the top 2 seeds met in the championship game. In this case, Drexel was the (2) seed but they won.

OK, so I'm getting started on reading this a few weeks later than planned, but I'm excited to see Illinois cut down the nets!

Oh, wait. We're focusing on one specific conference. Um, carrying on ...

[hoopsguy]

Also, I'm ready to sign up as a coach (in GWAL) and I'm good with the conference movement that you are suggesting.

I don't have FBCB, so if you just want to swap me in (Chris Prewitt, alma mater Illinois) for one of the assistant coaches brought in to run a team that should be fine. Unless the coaches you are creating are significantly different than those guys ... I don't want to create any kind of weird imbalance with this request.

[collegesportsfanms]

Hoopsguy, the focus is on the one specific fictional conference yes. But, we have several former coaches in the GWAL that I still follow, as well as those FOFCers that have taken teams elsewhere (Hawaii, Georgia State.) I have opened it up a little bit, and I will always focus on all the postseason tournaments.

If you want to run a team outside the GWAL, that is fine too. I don't know if I'm going to be firing any coaches this season or not, I'll have to wait until the season is over. I may be getting rid of a couple, so if you want in the GWAL, I'll get you in ASAP. Otherwise, you can take over another school, and I'll just edit one of the assistant coaches that has a decent prestige level. The call is yours.

Thanks everybody for the good responses, I'm glad I have a few followers on board.

[collegesportsfanms]

NCAA Play-in Game

Oregon beat Hawaii 92-74, ending the season for B.B. Gunn.

NIT First Round

(7) Bishop Carroll beats (10) Gardner-Webb 63-53.

CBI First Round

(16) Wichita North stuns (1) Binghamton 81-74.

(12) Wichita West beats (5) Xavier 83-74.

(15) Lafeyette shocks (2) Chattanooga 84-79.

(6) Michigan gets by (11) Wichita Heights 82-80.

NCAA First Round

(1) Arizona hammers (16) South Carolina St. 81-29.

(5) BYU slaughters (12) Mississippi St. 80-55.

(3) Clemson beats (14) San Diego St. 71-48.

(5) Oklahoma beats (12) Wichita St. 60-47.

(8) Louisiana Tech beats (9) Wichita Northwest 78-66.

[bbgunn]

We lost to the friggin' Ducks?

[collegesportsfanms]

NCAA Second Round

(1) Arizona beat (8) Milwaukee 81-76.

(4) Ohio St. beat (5) BYU 74-54.

(3) Clemson beat (6) Texas 85-52.

(4) UConn hammered (5) Oklahoma 94-59.

NIT Second Round

Deacon Palmer beat his former school, as (2) Creighton beats (7) Bishop Carroll 66-63.

CBI Second Round

(8) Richmond hammers (16) Wichita North 91-68.

(4) Southern Illinois escapes against (12) Wichita West 63-60.

(7) Wright St. beats (15) Lafayette 74-65.

[hoopsguy]

Yep, get me in the GWAL - seems like where the most interesting story lines are within this dynasty so I would certainly want to start there.

[collegesportsfanms]

NCAA Sweet Sixteen

(1) Arizona keeps rolling against (4) Ohio St. 88-58.

(2) Kansas beat (3) Clemson 87-63.

NIT Round of 16

(2) Creighton beat (3) Wichita Southeast 96-64, knocking the GWAL out of the postseason in all tourneys. Seriously Deacon, I'm happy for your success, but could you try not doing it against the GWAL? lol

[collegesportsfanms]

NCAA Elite Eight

(1) Arizona keeps hammering their opponents, beating (2) Kansas 72-48.

NIT Round of Eight

(8) SE Missouri St. stuns (2) Creighton 80-62. C'mon Deacon, you can hammer the GWAL schools, but you can't beat SE Missouri? lol

[collegesportsfanms]

NCAA Final Four

All 4 number 1 seeds made the NCAA Tournament. In the first semifinal, Villanova beat Wake Forest 63-51. In the second semifinal, Arizona beat Tennessee 65-56. And in the championship game, it was a battle off the top 2 ranked teams, a true national championship. Unfortunately, Bryan Chadwick fell just short. Villinova defeated Arizona 85-70.

[collegesportsfanms]

2016 Post-Season Wrap-Up

In the NIT Final Four, (3) New Mexico beat (8) SE Missouri State 74-71, and (4) West Virginia beat (1) George Washington 68-59. The championship game saw West Virginia beat New Mexico 67-58.

The CBI took only 2 games to decide this year, as (6) Michigan swept (4) Southern Illinois, beating them 67-60 in the first game, and 86-60 in the second game.

In the CIT Championship, (7) Ohio beat (13) Hofstra 91-74.

[bbgunn]

Looking for Hawaii to make the Final Four in 2017!

[collegesportsfanms]

Wichita Heights put Joseph Hickson on the All-NCAA First Team. Good for him. And Eddy Borchers from Wichita Southeast made the all-league third team. Here are the GWAL Awards.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player of the Year:

JR PG Joseph Hickson  Wichita Heights  19.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 6.0 APG 1.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG

Freshman of the Year:
FR SF John Gomez  Wichita Southeast  13.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.4 APG 0.5 SPG, 0.3 BPG

Coach of the Year:
Mitch Linn  Wichita Northwest  25 - 9 (12 - 4) 

All-league 1st Team:
C  SR Eddy Borchers  Wichita Southeast  12.1 PPG, 11.6 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.5 SPG, 2.9 BPG
PF SR Richard Estes  Wichita Northwest  7.8 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.5 SPG, 2.5 BPG
SF SR Jon Groce  Wichita North  23.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SG SR David Miller  Wichita West  17.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.9 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.2 BPG
PG JR Joseph Hickson  Wichita Heights  19.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 6.0 APG, 1.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG

All-league 2nd Team:
C  JR Cristobal Gutierrez  Wichita Northwest  16.1 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.9 BPG
PF SR Jordon Johnson  Wichita Southeast  14.2 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.3 SPG, 1.5 BPG
SF JR Eric Evenson  Bishop Carroll  17.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 2.5 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SG JR Del Burkhart  Wichita Northwest  15.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 4.8 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG SR Rick Fillmore  Wichita West  13.6 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.4 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.2 BPG

All-freshman Team:
C  FR Corey Owen  Bishop Carroll  6.2 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.4 BPG
PF     
SF FR John Gomez  Wichita Southeast  13.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.4 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SG FR Rod Jones  Wichita North  6.4 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 2.0 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.2 BPG
PG FR Truman Brittain  Wichita East  0.8 PPG, 0.3 RPG, 0.1 APG, 0.1 SPG, 0.0 BPG

In the CAA, Larry Mitchell from Georgia State made the All-CAA 2nd team.

Deacon Palmer was Coach of the Year in the MVC, as Creighton had numerous awards. Daniel Fletcher was MVC Player of the Year and All-MVC First Team. Silas Dabbs and Edward Redman made all-MVC First Team as well. Unfortunately for Deacon, none of those players are back next year. Walter Overturf and Alfred Dunkle, both freshmen, were on the All-MVC Third Team. Overturf was MVC Frosh of the Year.

Lee Cook was Patriot League POTY, and All-Patriot First Team. Also receiving awards for Lafayette were Douglas Rivera and Erik Cranford (First Team) and William Brown (Second Team).

Tony Hayes and Yannick Florquin were All-WAC First Team for Hawaii. On the All-WAC Second Team was James Holmes.

[collegesportsfanms]

     # Team                 Conference           Best Player   Rtg  5*  4*  3*  2*  1*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    19. Kapaun Mt. Carmel          GWAL        SG Wade Dalton   ***   0   0   5   0   3
    31. Wichita North              GWAL       PF Vico Pezzuti  ****   0   1   3   0   0
    45. Wichita Northwest          GWAL       SF Reed Robeson  ****   0   1   1   1   0
    60. Wichita West               GWAL  SG Sebastian Meadows   ***   0   0   2   1   0
   118. Bishop Carroll             GWAL     PG Arthur McMahan   ***   0   0   1   2   0
   329. Wichita South              GWAL      C  Daniel Wicker     *   0   0   0   0   2
   354. Wichita East               GWAL                               0   0   0   0   0
   355. Wichita Heights            GWAL                               0   0   0   0   0
   356. Wichita Southeast          GWAL                               0   0   0   0   0

The good is Kapaun. 19th best recruiting class in the nation after several years of not signing a recruit. The bad obviously is East, Heights, Southeast. Second straight year for Heights not getting a recruit. This doesn't bode well for East or Heights, especially since neither made postseason.

Georgia State had the 83rd best recruiting class, second best in the CAA.

Creighton had the 9th best recruiting class in the nation, with two 5 star recruits. They'll be solid again next season.

Lafayette had the 136rd best recruiting class, good for second in the Patriot.

Hawaii looks to improve, as they had the 59th best recruiting class, a record high for them. This is good for second best in the WAC.

[collegesportsfanms]

2016 GWAL Coach Evaluations

FOFC Coaches

Kuji Chagulia (Wichita South) -- Kuji missed the postseason against last year, and the administration at South is urging me to make a change, but I have a heart for FOFC coaches. He's getting 1 more year, but he is on the hotseat. It's postseason or bust.

Rudy Arellano (Wichita Southeast) -- The good is that Southeast did make the postseason last year. The bad is that it ended with a 32 point loss (thanks Deacon). Nevertheless, postseason the last 2 years is good enough to keep Rudy in a safe position.


GWAL Coaches on the Hotseat

Reggie Taylor (Wichita West) -- I said it was postseason or bust for Reggie, and he made the CBI, and even won a game. Unfortunately, I'm getting huge pressure from the administration at West to let him go. Apparently athletics are very important to them. But I run this conference, not them. I'm keeping Reggie right where he is, but he knows that he MUST keep having a run of postseason apperances to get off the hotseat.

[collegesportsfanms]

There was no conference movement again this season, so this is where I make my own. At least 1 team is leaving the GWAL, possibly 2. Let's evaluate the teams over the first 6 years in D1 basketball.

Bishop Carroll -- 105-87 record, 1 NCAA Apperance with a 2-1 record and a Sweet Sixteen apperance. 2 NIT trips with a 1-2 record. Starting prestige was 63, current prestige 59

Kapaun Mt. Carmel -- 69-120 overall record, 1 NIT trip with 1-1 record. Starting prestige was 67, current prestige is 47.

Wichita East -- 100-94 overall record, 1 NCAA Trip, 1-1 record. 2 NIT trips, 0-2 record, 1 CBI trip, 0-1 record. Starting prestige 74, current prestige 57.

Wichita Heights -- 136-58 record, 4 NCAA Appearances, 3-4 record, 1Sweet Sixteen apperance. 1 CBI trip, 0-1 record. Starting prestige 89, current prestige 75.

Wichita North -- 118-80 record, 3 NIT Apperances with 5-4 record and 2 CBI Appearances with 2-2 record. Starting prestige 68, current prestige 63.

Wichita Northwest -- 116-78 record, 2 NCAA Appearances, 1-2 record. 3 NIT Appearances, 2-3 record. Starting prestige 71, current prestige 65.

Wichita South -- 99-94 record, 2 NIT Appearances, 3-2 Record. Starting prestige 66, current prestige 54.

Wichita Southeast -- 119-78 record, 1 NCAA Appearance, 1-1 Record, 2 NIT trips, 2-2 record, 2 CBI appearances, 1-2 record. Starting prestige 79, current prestige 69.

Wichita West -- 106-87 record, 2 NIT appearances, 5-2 record, 1 CBI appearances, 1-1 record. Starting prestige 70, current prestige 57.

Well no team will be moving up to a power conference, that's for sure. Every team in the conference has dropped prestige. Kapaun has the biggest drop with 20, making them the prime target for demotion. But, West and South are both on my ass about finding a different conference, one that they might compete better in. Then we have East and Heights. East has a 17 prestige drop, and Heights has a 14. Southeast is right behind them with 10. However, East, Heights, and Southeast all have great postseason resumes.

I have created a poll, so I would appreciate if all readers would vote, thanks.

[bigmexmma]

Dude this stuff is awesome. i've never been involved in anything like this before and it's cool. i'm glad i'm still doing good and that u haven't fired me yet. lol. i'm all for conference movement. i don't think we need it every year, or not as much as we got in football and stuff. i think it's way too much for real. but changing 1 or 2 schools in the gwal every few years would be fine. it doesn't seem like the FBCB game is too big on conference movement, u either have to be really good or really bad.

i'm not gonna take a new team at this point dude, i'm hardly ever on anyways. got to get my own computer. but i do like that ur focusing only on the fofc and gwal coaches. i don't mind seeing about forming gwal coaches that started with the league, but not every month. at the end of the year is good.

good stuff dude, keep it up. hopefully i can check in more. see you soon dude.

[collegesportsfanms]

Guys, as soon as I hear from Korme and ntndeacon about who they think should be demoted, I will try to jump back on this. I may not get to this much until after the holidays. Starting tomorrow I go on holiday schedule at 1 of my jobs, and they are talking 12 hours a day straight through until Christmas. So it may be a while before I'm able to jump back on this.

I have narrowed it down to about 4 to 6 schools to offer an invite into the GWAL. I actually manually edited the conference prestiges of the MVC and the Horizon League down to 3, because I am looking at bringing in Milwaukee, Creighton, and Wichita State.

I am also looking at bringing in Kent State from the MAC, which is an actual prestige 3 conference, and also IUPUI and Western Kentucky. Those are the 6 schools I'm looking at bringing in right now.

As I said, as soon as I hear back from Korme and ntndeacon, I will try to get going on this again. Thanks, glad you all are enjoying.

[ntndeacon]

it has gotta be Kapaun that is demoted

[korme]

Agreed.

[collegesportsfanms]

korme and deacon, you both have said that Kapaun should go. What are your second choices? In the poll you get 2 choices. Either way, that would give Kapaun 4 votes, so they are gone. If you guys can vote for a second choice that would be great.

[ntndeacon]

Witchita South

[collegesportsfanms]

Just so that everybody knows, I have not abandoned this project. I've been working in excess of 80 hours a week between 3 jobs, and have had little free time in December. Things should get back to normal starting next week, so I should have a few posts next week. Hope you all will still read.

[hoopsguy]

I was concerned that I had somehow jinxed the thread by signing on to coach

[collegesportsfanms]

Well the conference movement is scrapped for this upcoming season. Unfortunately, last time I played, I must have accidently clicked on conference movement, so now I can't make changes. So on we go with the same 9 teams. Kapaun and Wichita South have new life... for now.

[collegesportsfanms]

Head Coach Movement

I knew that I would be losing Mitch Linn after this season, as he got several job offers. I'm only going to be mentioning the ones he was considering: Wake Forest, Memphis, and UConn.

After talking with him about it, I told him I thought Memphis was the best choice. Wake has been up and down, and the AD would want Mitch to reach the Final Four in his first year there. Memphis just wanted him to win the conference championship and reach the postseason, while UConn was expecting a Sweet Sixteen run. I told Mitch he was a great coach and I didn't doubt his ability to get the job done, but I thought those demands for a first year coach were a bit much. So he agreed with me, and he will be going to Memphis!

I have hired Chris Prewitt to take over at Wichita Northwest. Chris has been the coaching assistant at Syracuse for the past 2 years, and has perfect ratings in offense and defense coaching. I'll be trusting him to hire the best recruiting coordinator he can get, as his recruting is only 35. Here's a look at his coach card.

 Chris Prewitt - Head Coach - Wichita Northwest
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Age:             34
 High School:     Wabash High School
 Hometown:        Wabash, IN
 Alma Mater:      Illinois
 
 Current Level:   11
 Career Record:   0 - 0
 
 Recruiting:      35
 Scouting:        85
 Offense:         100
 Defense:         100

 
 Coaching History:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season Team                     Position      W   L  CW  CL  Postseason
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2015   Syracuse                 Assistant    27  12  12   6  Loss in NCAA Elite Eight
 2014   Syracuse                 Assistant    20  15  11   7  Loss in NIT Round 3
 
 Awards & Achievements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          No awards won.
 
 Job Movement:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Move
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2016     Hired by Wichita Northwest (Head Coach)
 2016     Quit job with Syracuse
 2014     Hired by Syracuse (Assistant Coach)

[collegesportsfanms]

No other coaches got job offers, so on we go.

For the first time since I took over, I am not giving any preseason expectations to any of my coaches. What's going to happen is at the end of the season, I will make judgements based on performance, of who to fire and who to keep. The reason is, there should be conference movement next year, whether the NCAA does it or I do it. We already know that Kapaun and South dodged the bullet this year. South and West want me to either hire new coaches for their programs, or they want out. Heights and East have gone from NCAA contenders to just, well not even GWAL contenders.

[collegesportsfanms]

2016 Preseason Tournaments

Wichita West is the 5th seed in the Anaheim Invitational, taking on Iowa first round.

Wichita South and Creighton are both in the Coaches Invitational. Creighton is the 4th seed and will take on DePaul, while South is the 12th seed and gets Oklahoma St. first round.

Wichita East is the 6th seed in the GDS Classic, taking on Murray St. in the first round.

Bishop Carroll is the 5th seed in the Las Vegas Challenge and gets UAB in the first round.

Kapaun gets an in-season tourney invite this year, and they will be the 11th seed in the Las Vegas Shootout, taking on New Mexico State in the first round.

Wichita Northwest is the 8th seed in the Preseason NIT, and will face Minnesota in the first round.

Wichita Southeast and Hawaii will meet in the first round of the San Juan Classic. Southeast is the third seed, Hawaii is the sixth seed.

Wichita North is the second seed in the Top of the Globe Invitational, and will take on Evansville in the first round.

Wichita Heights, Lafayette, and Georgia State were not invited to a season tournament.

[collegesportsfanms]

Nov. 2016 Tournament Wrap-Up

2016 Anaheim Invitational

Wichita West opened up with a loss to (4) Iowa 73-62, then beat (8) Southern Utah 77-68 in overtime in the consolation semifinals. Then they lost the 5th place game to (3) Marquette, 66-65.

2016 Coaches Invitational

Creighton opened up by beating (13) DePaul 89-62, while Wichita South lost to (4) Oklahoma State 78-66. Then in the quarterfinals, Creighton lost to Oklahoma State 69-65.

2016 GDS Classic

Wichita East opened up with an 80-69 victory over (11) Murray State, 80-69. Then in the quarterfinals, the Blue Aces beat (3) New Mexico 72-63. Their run came to an end in the semifinals, as they were upset by (10) Chattanooga 90-76.

2016 Las Vegas Classic

Bishop Carroll beat (4) UAB in the first round, 87-80. In the semifinals, they lost a tough game to (1) Notre Dame, 58-51. Then they dropped a heartbreaker to (3) Texas A&M 59-56 in the third place game.

2016 Preseason NIT

Wichita Northwest beat (9) Minnesota 93-84 in the first round, then beat (1) Vanderbilt 70-68 in the Quarterfinals. In the semifinals, they kept the upsets going by beating (5) Wake Forest 71-58. Their run came to an end in the championship, as they lost to (2) Texas 66-58. A great run for the Grizzlies.

2016 Top of the Globe Invitational

Wichita North opened up by smashing (7) Evansville 76-57, but then lost a tough one to (3) Green Bay in the semifinals, 77-75. In the third place game, they beat a surprising (8) Hartford 87-75. A good run for them as well.

[collegesportsfanms]

Here are the GWAL standings after November 2016.

TEAM                           CW  CL   Pct  W  L    Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Wichita North Redskins          0   0  .000  6  1   .857   58        63
 Kapaun Mt. Carmel Crusaders     0   0  .000  5  0  1.000   89        47
 Wichita Northwest Grizzlies     0   0  .000  4  1   .800    3        65
 Wichita Southeast Buffaloes     0   0  .000  4  0  1.000   76        69
 Wichita East Blue Aces          0   0  .000  2  4   .333   36        57
 Wichita Heights Falcons         0   0  .000  2  2   .500  132        75
 Wichita West Pioneers           0   0  .000  2  4   .333  153        57
 Wichita South Titans            0   0  .000  1  2   .333   83        54
 Bishop Carroll Eagles           0   0  .000  1  3   .250  143        59

The top 4 of the GWAL look great after a month, but the bottom 5 is terrible. I just hope that those top 4 can keep it up, and that Bishop Carroll can get it together. It would be nice to see all the bottom dwellers step it up a notch.

Georgia State (Charlie Woods) is just 1-3 right now, with 3 losses to middle of the pack small conference teams. Hopefully they will pick it up in December.

Creighton (Deacon Palmer) hasn't played anybody really tough except for Okie State. They did lose their second game of the season to Wichita Heights. Glad to see one of my GWAL teams can beat Deacon!

Lafayette (Shane Kormelink) is 4-1 right now, with their only loss to George Mason. Unfortunately, their 4 wins aren't exactly stunning: Fairfield, Columbia, NJIT, and St. Francis-NY.

Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) lost 2 tough games to Hampton and Rider. Not games they want to be losing if they wish to go back to the NCAA Tournament. They did have a quality win against Ole Miss though.

Here are the top 25 polls after the first month of the season, and quite frankly, they are sickening.

#  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1.  Texas                    (50)     5-0    1778    2
   2.  Florida                  (22)     3-0    1699    1
   3.  Seton Hall                        5-0    1603    4
   4.  Arizona                           5-1    1564   12
   5.  Oklahoma State                    4-1    1517    3
   6.  Duke                              5-2    1362   11
   7.  Mississippi State                 5-1    1309   10
   8.  Villanova                         5-2    1237   18
   9.  UCLA                              6-0    1227    6
  10.  Kansas                            6-1    1177   14
  11.  North Carolina                    5-0    1084   13
  12.  Oklahoma                          5-0    1066   16
  13.  Miami                             4-1     960    7
  14.  Connecticut                       4-1     885    9
  15.  Wisconsin                         4-1     756   19
  16.  Illinois                          3-2     661    8
  17.  Maryland                          5-1     650   25
  18.  Clemson                           6-0     600   NR
  19.  Pittsburgh                        4-1     410    5
  20.  Vanderbilt                        1-2     316   15
  21.  Ohio State                        4-2     314   NR
  22.  Auburn                            5-0     283   NR
  23.  Memphis                           5-1     276   NR
  24.  Washington                        4-0     260   23
  25.  Tennessee                         2-1     186   21
                                                         
     Others Receiving Votes:                             
     Green Bay                           5-0     143     
     Kapaun Mt. Carmel                   5-0      34     
     Georgetown                          3-1      25     
     Central Florida                     4-0      11     
     Dayton                              3-1       6     
     Syracuse                            5-1       1     

While I'm happy for Kapaun receiving 34 votes, where the heck are North and Northwest? The Grizzlies beat Vandy and Wake Forest both in the NIT and don't even receive a frikkin vote? WTF do we gotta do to get some respect? Don't answer that, I know. Win a few postseason tournaments.

[collegesportsfanms]

Dec. 2016 Wrap-Up

There are 2 tournaments to talk about this month, so let's start with those.

2016 Las Vegas Shootout

Kapaun Mt. Carmel opened the tournament by upsetting (6) New Mexico State 69-51, then in the quarterfinals they beat (14) Pacific 58-40. Their run came to an end in the semifinals, as they lost a tough one to (2) Tulsa, 62-60.

2016 San Juan Classic

Wichita Southeast hammered Hawaii 79-50 in the first round. In the semifinals, Southeast lost to (2) Kentucky 68-54, and in the consolation semifinals, Hawaii beat (7) Fairfield 83-75. Southeast then hammered (4) Dayton 83-65, while Hawaii lost the 5th place game to (5) Kansas State, 72-64.

Here are the GWAL standings through December.

TEAM                           CW  CL    Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Wichita North Redskins          2   0  1.000  12   1  .923  144        63
 Wichita Southeast Buffaloes     2   0  1.000  11   2  .846   25        69
 Kapaun Mt. Carmel Crusaders     1   0  1.000  10   3  .769   70        47
 Wichita Northwest Grizzlies     1   1   .500   8   6  .571   11        65
 Wichita South Titans            1   1   .500   7   6  .538   71        54
 Wichita East Blue Aces          1   1   .500   4  10  .286  154        57
 Bishop Carroll Eagles           0   2   .000   4  10  .286  127        59
 Wichita West Pioneers           0   1   .000   4   9  .308  273        57
 Wichita Heights Falcons         0   2   .000   4   9  .308  333        75

North, Southeast, and a surprising Kapaun are the class of the GWAL right now. At one point, both North and Southeast were ranked. Northwest has fallen off a little.

Wichita Northwest (Chris Prewitt) had a tough December, losing to Oklahoma State, Texas, and Wichita North, all very good teams. I think they will be alright now that the GWAL conference season is in full force.

Wichita South (Kuji Chagulia) was up and down in December. They had no bad losses, but had no quality wins either. Their biggest miss was a 7 point loss to a 9-4 Nebraska team that would have qualified as a quality win.

Wichita Southeast (Rudy Arellano) could be on the verge of a big time season. With their only blemishes being a strong Kentucky team, and a Wright State team that is 9-3. Look for their matchups against North to be explosive.

[collegesportsfanms]

Georgia State (Charlie Woods) -- 3-9, 1-1 CAA. It hasn't been a great season for Georgia State so far, but they did start off conference play with a 30 point waxing of Drexel.

Creighton (Deacon Palmer) -- 10-3, 3-1 MVC. The Bluejays haven't played a particularly tough schedule, and they had their 8 game losing streak stopped by Missouri State, but they look to be in control of their own destiny. I would expect another 20+ win season for Deacon Palmer.

Lafayette (Shane Kormelink) -- 11-4, 0-0 Patriot. 2 really bad losses, the first to Cornell, who has only that lone win so far this season, and another bad loss to St. Peters, will probably keep Lafayette out of the NCAA Tournament, unless they win the Patriot League.

Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) -- 4-8, 0-0 WAC. It hasn't been easy for Hawaii and B.B. this season either. They've missed a couple chances for more quality wins. A narrow loss to an Ohio team that has an RPI of 34 right now would have been a great win. They also lost by 2 to Baylor. Both would have been good wins.

Top 25

    #  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1.  Texas                    (51)    14-0    1779    2
   2.  Florida                  (21)    14-0    1749    1
   3.  Seton Hall                       11-1    1641    3
   4.  Oklahoma                         13-0    1560    6
   5.  Miami                            13-1    1551    5
   6.  North Carolina                   13-1    1426   14
   7.  Green Bay                        14-0    1317   12
   8.  UCLA                             12-1    1286    9
   9.  Auburn                           12-1    1207   10
  10.  Duke                             12-2    1155    8
  11.  Louisiana State                  13-2    1095   11
  12.  Arizona                          11-3    1019    4
  13.  Oregon                           10-1     973   16
  14.  Ohio State                       10-3     793   15
  15.  Memphis                          12-2     788    7
  16.  Illinois                         11-3     698   21
  17.  Texas A&M                        11-1     667   NR
  18.  Villanova                        11-2     520   17
  19.  Rhode Island                     11-1     506   19
  20.  Oklahoma State                   11-2     448   23
  21.  Michigan State                   11-2     364   NR
  22.  Wisconsin                        12-3     352   13
  23.  Wake Forest                      11-1     219   20
  24.  Northeastern                     10-3      92   NR
  25.  Notre Dame                        9-3      78   25
                                                         
     Others Receiving Votes:                             
     Connecticut                         8-4      73     
     Georgetown                          9-2      23     
     Virginia Tech                      11-1       7     
     Seattle                            11-3       7     
     Wichita North                      12-1       7     

[collegesportsfanms]

Here are the standings through January, and it's been a little wild.

 TEAM                           CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #14 Wichita North Redskins      8   1  .889  19   2  .905   52        63
 Wichita Northwest Grizzlies     6   3  .667  13   9  .591   27        65
 Wichita Southeast Buffaloes     5   4  .556  16   6  .727   42        69
 Bishop Carroll Eagles           5   4  .556  10  12  .455  103        59
 Kapaun Mt. Carmel Crusaders     4   4  .500  14   7  .667   51        47
 Wichita South Titans            4   5  .444  10  11  .476  119        54
 Wichita East Blue Aces          4   5  .444   7  15  .318  135        57
 Wichita West Pioneers           3   6  .333   7  14  .333  195        57
 Wichita Heights Falcons         1   8  .111   6  15  .286  305        75

How the mighty have fallen. I guess I made the wrong choice in hiring Ralph Snowden to keep Heights on top. My choice to hire Mike Brown at East is turning out to be a flop too. On the flip side, Kapaun is holding their own, and Chris Prewitt is having a decent first season at Northwest. Chris Porter is doing an outstanding job at North.

Wichita Northwest (Chris Prewitt) had another chance for a marquee win in January, but lost by 5 to a top 5 Oregon team. They did beat both Southeast and Kapaun in conference play though.

Wichita South (Kuji Chagulia) had big wins against Kapaun and North in conference play. To this point they are the only GWAL team to beat North this season. But they also lost by 31 to West and had a bad OOC loss to Arkansas State.

Wichita Southeast (Rudy Arellano) lost by 4 to Heights, a bad loss. Also they lost to Kapaun. Not a terrible loss considering Kapaun is decent this year, but top of the line conference teams don't lose to just decent teams. However, they had the conferences best OOC win in January, beating then #2 Oklahoma.

[collegesportsfanms]

Georgia State (Charlie Woods) -- 6-14, 4-6 CAA, 9th. The biggest conference win for Georgia State so far is over Northeastern, but they have been hammered by Old Dominion and James Madison. The CAA is always tough, as VCU is ranked 17th at the moment. Georgia State gets their chance at them in February.

Creighton (Deacon Palmer) -- 14-7, 6-5 MVC, 4th. Right now Creighton is struggling a bit in the MVC, and needs to get it figured out. The MVC is also tough, but losing to Wichita State, who has a losing record, and Bradley, who has a .500 record, won't get it done.

Lafayette (Shane Kormelink) -- 18-4, 7-0 Patriot, 1st. Shane may not be at Lafayette much longer if he keeps up these performances. He ran through the first half of conference play untouched, winning by an average of 12 points a game. I see no reason why they can't run the table.

Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) -- 9-11, 4-3 WAC, T-2nd. Right now Hawaii is in a 4 way tie for second, 2 games behind conference leader Fresno State. The biggest blemish on the conference schedule so far has been the loss to Boise State, a 7 game winner so far this season.

Top 25

    #  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1.  Texas                    (72)    21-1    1800    1
   2.  Florida                          21-2    1728    3
   3.  Miami                            19-2    1656    2
   4.  Green Bay                        22-1    1578    6
   5.  Seton Hall                       18-2    1518    4
   6.  North Carolina                   19-3    1424    5
   7.  Oklahoma                         18-3    1343    8
   8.  Ohio State                       18-3    1320    7
   9.  Oregon                           17-2    1220    9
  10.  UCLA                             17-3    1173   10
  11.  Rhode Island                     18-2    1063   12
  12.  Georgetown                       16-3    1023   15
  13.  Memphis                          17-3     938   14
  14.  Wichita North                    19-2     861   16
  15.  Duke                             16-5     782   21
  16.  Texas A&M                        16-4     699   11
  17.  VCU                              18-3     562   20
  18.  Connecticut                      15-5     508   23
  19.  Kansas                           17-5     491   25
  20.  Clemson                          16-4     486   18
  21.  Maryland                         16-5     477   17
  22.  New Mexico                       17-3     241   24
  23.  Mississippi State                17-5     195   19
  24.  Villanova                        15-6     159   NR
  25.  Brigham Young                    15-5     153   NR
                                                         
     Others Receiving Votes:                             
     Temple                             16-4       2     

[hoopsguy]

Good to see a ranked team in the conference. Not so good to see the highest prestige team languishing at the bottom of the standings.

I would love to see Northwest take a run at North this season, but looking at the standings I'm guessing finishing 2nd with all the parity in the middle of conference is a more realistic goal.