The System: A Retrospective and a Preview

I don't normally write a preview-type piece for an individual game, especially for a non-conference game. But I feel like in advance of tonight's men's game against Greenville, I need to write a little something. But it's not a preview in the traditional sense. I also need to take a look back at five years that were a hell of a lot of fun.

A good primer in advance of reading this piece is this 2017 piece from D3Hoops.com. There are some good quotes included from former North Central coaches Michelle Roof and Doug Porter as well.

COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 11

We're onto Week 11 of the NFL season, and the coalition continues to chug along in our quest to pick games against the spread!

I mentioned last week that it wasn't ideal for Adam or I. Adam rebounded, I didn't; he swept our six disputed games and now has a season-high six game lead. I'm still holding onto second place, but not by a ton. At this point, I'm all but counting on a second straight Thanksgiving heater.

Meanwhile, Adam made another mistake this past week, but it worked out kind of in our favor. He picked the Steelers over the Rams in the column, but picked the Rams on ESPN. This counteracts one of his two screwups from the week before, so he now only has one more point on ESPN than he should. You can view correct standings, as well as how we've picked in relation to each other, here.

As I attempt to get back on track, Adam and I disagree on just three games out of 14. Let's see if I can climb back into the race!

Game Notes: (MBK) UW-Oshkosh @ North Central College (11/12/19)

Final Score
UW-Oshkosh 76, NCC 66

Game Summary
The first few minutes were a microcosm of the contest as the Titans (2-0) punched the Cardinals in the mouth by opening on a 9-2 run, forcing a Todd Raridon timeout. The Cardinals (0-1) were able to rally, getting it back to a one possession game once before the Titans got hot, pushing the lead as high as 13 before settling into the break with a 45-33 lead. The Cardinals came out strong to start the second half, dropping the deficit to seven before a Titan heat check got the lead back up to 13, but the Cardinals refused to go away, pulling back within six with just over seven minutes to play. But in a key sequence late, after the Cardinals were down seven, missed two open threes to cut it to four, and a jumper-stop-dagger three sequence put the game away.

Key Players

• Eric Peterson (UWO): 7-11 FG (2-3 3PT), 2-5 FT; 18 pts, 12 reb (1 off), 5 ast. On a night where Oshkosh's bigs struggled, the Titans needed their perimeter guys to step up... and step up they did. Peterson was able to get to the basket with relative ease tonight, hit a couple key threes, and dominated the glass amongst the trees. The Batavia native posted career highs in each of the aforementioned categories.
• Adam Fravert (UWO): 6-13 FG (3-6 3PT), 0-2 FT; 15 pts, 8 reb (1 off), 2 blk, 2 stl. Similar thing here for Fravert. He got some easy looks at the basket and hit a few key threes as well. It was Fravert's triple in that late sequence that served as the dagger.
• Will Clausel (NCC): 6-9 FG (0-3 3PT), 2-3 FT; 14 pts, 3 reb (1 off), 1 ast, 1 blk. On a night where the stars struggled some offensively, the Cardinals needed a spark off the bench, and Will stepped up. While he struggled from deep, he was able to take advantage of drives to the basket. Additionally, his post defense against Oshkosh's bigs who had a major size advantage on him was phenomenal and helped keep the Cardinals in the game.

Key Stats

• NCC: 6-23 3PT (26.1%). Sometimes it's the simple things. On a night where Oshkosh was hot from deep, the Cardinals couldn't match. They'll shoot better as the year goes on, I'm sure; Cap won't go 1-6 every night, and Mike Pollack won't miss four straight after making his first.
• UWO: 6-10 3PT in the first half (60.0%). It's pretty much this simple. The Titans got hot early and that helped them build the lead. In a game where a lot of other things were even (Oshkosh won the rebounding battle 40-39 and had 40 points in the paint to NCC's 38), things like this make the difference.

Final Thoughts

Oshkosh is the defending champion, and despite losing a couple key pieces from their title team, they still brought back a significant chunk of last year's core, and it showed. This team is elite, and they played up to it in a tough environment. They have a legitimate shot at repeating this March.

From North Central's perspective, the other big problem was they committed a few dumb turnovers. While they only resulted in nine Titan points, it set a bad tone. I think this team will clean it up though. Big picture wise, getting a tough test like this to open the year will be good for them. Oshkosh will be regionally ranked come February, and a regionally ranked loss is still a good resume builder. This team should be fine.

It was great to see Aiden Chang return to the floor last night. I put a little extra into introducing him, and I even choked up a bit when I got to him. He played fairly well in his first game back, and I'm sure getting that first one out of the way helps.

The Cardinals have a couple days to reset, but they're going to have to be ready. Greenville comes to town on Friday, and North Central will have to be ready to run against a System team. There's going to be well over 300 points scored on Friday and I can't wait.

2019-20 NCC Men's Basketball Preview

Friday we checked in on the women. Today, we flip on over to North Central's men's team. They get a little bit later of a start to their season, and were extremely late in posting the official team roster, so I partially wanted to hold off for that.

But the anticipation for this group is really high, as are the expectations. Let's see what the outlook for the season is.

2019-20 NCC Women's Basketball Preview

With the calendar now flipped to November, the weather getting colder, and the time change meaning it's dark way earlier than it's supposed to be, that means it's about time for me to get back to one of my favorite times of year: basketball season!

The season officially tips off this weekend; the women get things started before the men do, so I'll do my first of two season previews and take a look at what the North Central College women's basketball team has on tap for the next few months!

2019 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 10

As we move onto the second half of the 2019 NFL season, the coalition chugs on in its quest to successfully pick games against the spread!

Last week was... less than ideal for our group. Adam and I were both due for clunkers, and while I took two of our three disputed games to tie Adam once again, our lead on the rest of the group has shrunk to just two games.

You will notice that the standings in the link I just provided will differ from what's on our tracker as well as the official standings at the end of this post. Aiden forgot to pick almost every game a few weeks back, but Adam was able to get me his retroactive picks where he went 5-9 and has a more respectable record. But it wouldn't be a Pigskin Pick 'Em contest without Adam accidentally picking the wrong team on ESPN. He informed me early on Sunday that when he originally filled his picks out he took the Chiefs over the Vikings before changing his mind for the column and forgetting to change it back on ESPN. I also noticed when numbers didn't add up that he accidentally took the Broncos on ESPN instead of the Browns. Unfortunately, these didn't cancel each other out, which would have been great; instead Adam has two more wins than he does in reality because the column is the official pick.

Anyway, onto this week. Adam and I disagree on six games out of 13. Let's get to it!

2019 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 9

During the noon slate on Sunday, we will officially hit the halfway point of the 2019 NFL season. But with a little over half the season to go, the race is starting to heat up a little bit as the coalition continues its quest to pick NFL games!

I'd have to go back and look, but I think collectively this was the best week we've ever had as a group; going 4-0 in consensus games probably for the first time ever helps with that. But the tiers are starting to look a little closer together even though Adam and I still have a decent lead on the rest of the group. You can view how we've all picked in relation to each other here. Remember that Aiden forgot to get some picks in on ESPN, but we credited him with five extra wins from that week since he didn't know what had happened.

There is no longer a tie atop the group though, as Adam took three of the five disputed games last week and Geoffy took two of three to win the week; this gives Adam a one game lead again and Geoffy has a one game lead on Jim for third place, but he's five back of me for second.

This week, Adam and I disagree on just three games out of 14. Let's get to it!