Anyone else gonna catch the Grinnell v. Beloit game tonight on ESPN2? I gotta see what all the fuss is about -- Grinnell runs a "hockey on hardwood" offense. It's fast-paced, tons of shooting -- the coach substitutes all five players at once, as often as possible. Should be fun to watch.

Link to S.I. story.

for the curious, Grinnell and Beloit are two terrific small liberal arts colleges in the Midwest -- Grinnell in Iowa, Beloit in Wisconsin. I just read that the very first college football and baseball games west of the Mississippi were played at Grinnell.

[ February 03, 2005, 08:43 AM: Message edited by: DCBucky ]

Thanks for the tip, DCBucky, when I saw them advertising last night during the Wake Forest-Duke game (have I mentioned that Wake beat Duke in a great game?) I was excited that they were showing a DIII game, I am sure some viewers will compare it to high school, but being a former DIII'er myself, I greatly respect the players who will never even dream of the NBA, are not on scholarship, and play because they love it. I hope lots of people tune in and watch.

And the Grinnell system will be fascinating to see. Problem is that this year's team has a bad record, last year's team with lots of seniors won 18 games. I wish ESPN would show more DII and DIII games instead of poker and billiards and other such "sports".

This is a good week for DIII basketball, I hope everyone saw the 94 foot shot by the Guilford College player to beat Randolph-Macon at the buzzer [see "Jock Talk" for today, but the spelling police gives a citation to Cyd and/or Jim for their spelling of "Guileford"].

it's all about ratings, rob. poker is bringin the ratings in big time nowadays. i like the idea of showin' some DIII ball, but doubt it'll do too well. with the high school games at least there's the prospect of seeing an up and coming star.

as a total aside, i wish they'd show more table tennis on espn...at least it's a real sport.

Watching this now.....too bad Grinells not making their shots. Everyone seems a bit nervous.

I've been screaming at the TV all night... "MAKE THE EFFIN LAYUP!!!" on all those damn offensive rebounds :mad: eek! :mad: Fundimentals!!

and I did see that 92 footer by Guilford.....I practiced that shot many times over on a court, a backyard...whatever....still haven't sank one!

The Guilford player was asked by a local TV station to reenact the shot. It took him 15 tries to make it.

I watched some of that game tonight and it just seemed way too sloppy. The linked article at the start of this thread compared them to Loyola-Marymount but to me the quality of play was much lower. And the constant substitutions don't seem to be helping that.

of course they're sloppier than loyola marymount...this IS DIII after all. but still it was fun to see that style of play utilized again.

referees that call the game very tightly can certainly crimp that kind of defensive style.

gotta think that the constant substitutions throw off the opposition. It must be hard to get a feel for each individual player's tendencies when you only see them on the court for a minute or so and then bam! Substitution! and a whole new quintet hits the floor.

I know we didn't see the system at its best, but you have to wonder what it would be like with some talented club that has a deep bench and a ton of sharpshooters.

You can watch a video of that Guilford lucky shot online.

http://www.guilford.edu/athletics/index.cfm?ID=a001385