Sports By Joward

Dec 7, 2014

High-flying Spokane tops initial men's rankings

NWAC Men's Basketball

I make the preseason speech every year: This first set of rankings is more of a starting place than anything else, and things are likely to be completely upside down by the end of the year. However, the eventual league champion has been ranked in every initial set of rankings since the system's inception. Example: In the first-ever set of rankings, Tacoma was ranked 6th. They won a title that year. The next season, Chemeketa was ranked first initially and finished as champions. Last season, there was one set of rankings that had Portland ranked sixth before they came in as a cinderella team and won it all. Just food for thought.

Also edible: Only two currently ranked teams actually placed at last years tournament: Clark and Chemeketa. Three ranked teams didn't make the tournament at all in 2014.

In other housekeeping news, the NWAACC has rebranded to become the Northwest Athletic Conference, or NWAC. They have a fancy new logo to go along with the new acronym, both of which I like. It's slick, it's shiny and it looks like a preview of the future for the league. Two questions for you higher-uppers: When will the championships move into a smaller, more-appropriate and less expensive venue, and when will the championships move to a larger metro area like Portland or Seattle?

The first set of coaches rankings were published on Dec. 11. They can be found here.

And with that, chomp away. The NWAC season is in full swing. The next set of rankings will publish on Dec. 21 as a preview for the holiday tournaments.

1. Spokane (6-2, 0-0 East)
No. 1 Coaches
2014 finish: Did not place

There's one thing that speaks pretty loudly when starting the conversation about Spokane basketball: They've outscored NWAC opponents* by an average of 23 points through their first seven contests, their only loss being a close one to No. 4 Lower Columbia. That game is an interesting cross-section of the league's highest-scoring team. Spokane freshman guard Jacob DeVries went OFF from beyond the arc and nailed seven of ten attempts from distance. The Sasquatch are one of the few teams for whom it is actually a better idea to take a three-pointer than a two pointer: they're shooting 45% as a team and lead the NWAC in three-pointers made and three-point field goal percentage. Whether it's the offensive system or the recruiting system at Spokane, the Sasquatch have a roster chalk-full of freshman — 12, in fact — who can really shoot. Freshman Martin Race leads the team with just over 23 points per game... and is shooting 73% from beyond the arc.

*Ranking before 84-80 loss to N. Idaho Sunday evening

2. Bellevue (6-1, 0-0 North)
No. 2 Coaches
2014 finish: Did not place

The season-opening overtime loss to Clark will sting, but the longer Bellevue spends "recovering" from it, the better they'll do. The Bulldogs held a six-point lead on No. 5 Clark at halftime and watched it slip away by one measly point. Ever since then they've been perfect, winning their last five contests by almost 10 points per game. In four of those games, they held their opponent under 70 points. It's one of the better marks in the league, and unlike "good" defensive teams in the past the Bulldogs do it fundamentally. They don't rack up a ton of steals or blocks, and are top-10 in total fouls. Meaning? They play stand-up 'D. In their last four games, they've held opponents under their average by nearly 10 points. I'm starting to sense a pattern here.

3. Wenatchee Valley (5-1, 0-0 East)
No. 6 Coaches
2014 finish: No tournament berth

And speaking of patterns, the numbers between Bellevue and Wenatchee are almost exactly the same. Bellevue shoots a little better, Wenatchee moves the ball a little better and both are among the top defensive teams in the league. The difference? Wenatchee takes far better care of the rock. The only thing dropping the Knights, who have won their last four contests, is a lack of a signature victory early in the preseason. Their only loss was a second-half collapse to Portland in the Skagit Valley tournament in late November, and should they keep their defensive number where they're at, it'll be a fascinating game when they travel to No. 2 Bellevue on Dec. 12 and host No. 1 Spokane on Jan. 10 in a few contests which should help iron things out considerably.

4. Lower Columbia (4-2, 0-0 West)
No. 7 Coaches (tie)

2014 finish: Did not place

You can go ahead and cue the haters on this one, especially for a team who has lost their last two games to unranked opponents. Still, their 84-81 defeat of top-ranked Spokane on Nov. 29 speaks volumes. The only big difference was on the boards. The Red Devils got five extra freebes off the offensive glass, allowing them the extra scratch to hand Spokane their only loss this season. The only major concern for Lower Columbia was their Dec. 6 loss to Everett in which they held the Trojans to just 36% shooting and still dropped the game. They're among the league's best in assists with 18, and they have 6-foot-4 freshman Throstur Kristinsson from Menntaskolinni Kopavogi secondary school in Iceland. That's a win, right there.

5. Clark (3-1, 0-0 West)
No. 3 Coaches

2014 finish: 5th Place

It's been a few seasons now since Alex Kirk was hired to take over an "underachieving" Penguin basketball program that had finished the season with the No. 1 coaches ranking the season before, and we're beginning to see the fruits of his success at Clark College. Fruit No. 1: Clark trailed 29-23 at halftime to Bellevue AT Bellevue, and managed to outscore the home team by six to force overtime and win it 73-72 in one of the most impressive victories of the young season. The win is what is keeping the Penguins in the top-10 at the moment, but they're — pardon this pun, if you would — on thin ice. In the very next game, Clark was out-boarded, out-defended and out-shot in a nine-point loss to No. 8 Chemeketa. Since then, they've picked apart unranked Shoreline and unranked Clackamas and don't have another win to back up their opener. A chance arrives on Dec. 18, when they'll visit No. 1 Spokane and attempt to make a statement.

6. Umpqua (5-0, 0-0 South)
Unranked Coaches

2014 finish: No tournament berth

Ranked sixth, you say? But Umpqua is undefeated! Yeah, but look at who they've played. Props, Riverhawks, on running the table through the first five games. They're the only team to have done it, and that's great, but their opponents are virtual unknowns. They've beaten the JV squads from Simpson, Willamette, Concordia and Multnomah and topped New Hope Christian but have yet to face any NWAC competition. They'll have S. Puget Sound (1-4) on Dec. 12, and then things get quite a bit more difficult: No. 3 Wenatchee on Dec. 19 and then a visit to Portland to start Southern Region play on Jan. 10. All that said, the Riverhawks have put up some impressive and telling numbers. They play almost all of their game inside the three-point line. The Riverhawks are dead last in three-pointers attempted at 12.6 per game, lead the league in rebounding at 51 boards per contest and yet are second in scoring at 91 points per game. Those numbers are likely to change, but it's a solid start.

7. Green River (5-2, 0-0 West)
Unranked Coaches

2014 finish: No tournament berth

While Green River has two losses on their schedule, they likely have the strongest two losses of any team in the league. It's difficult to call a loss "good" but looking at the pair of miscues for the Gators, the only one you can really feel badly about is the 106-62 debacle (box) at the hands of No. 1 Spokane. It's an example of what happens when you allow an opponent to hit 15 three-pointers and shoot just 39% yourself. The other slip-up isn't quite so bad. Green River leapt on a sloppy performance by No. 2 Bellevue, outscoring the second-ranked Bulldogs in the second half but falling just two points short. Green River managed to capitalize in a big way on 25 turnovers from Bellevue and huge performances from Glenn Brooks (26-4) and Trevante Williams (27-8). If they can get a little help from the rest of the squad, they have a chance to reach the tournament for the first time since 2010 and possibly compete for their best finish since 2003, when the Gators won the Western league title.

8. Chemeketa (5-3, 0-0 South)
No. 7 Coaches (tie)

2014 finish: 8th place

Clark is one of the unknown teams we tend to see every year with a schedule similar to No. 6 Umpqua. They've played a bunch of non-NWAC teams, and it's difficult to figure out where they stand with those results muddying the water. What we do know is, Chemeketa has a history of good big men and pure shooters. We also know Chemeketa went and bulldozed No. 5 Clark, breaking open a tight game to win by nine at 91-82 (box). In fact, the Storm are undefeated in their three NWAC games, winning a nail-biter on the road at Treasure Valley by a point and putting up 98 points in a win over Centralia. It's difficult to say exactly where Chemeketa might finish, but expect them to be in the mix of things in the Southern Region by the time the season is over.

Feb 28, 2014

Clark men heavy favorites at NWAACC tourney

NWAACC Men's Basketball

The biggest shame of this years' tournament is that big-time scorers Brendan Westendorf and Kyle Impero, who have traded off the scoring title all season long and both average just under 30 points per game, are on opposite sides of the bracket. It's unlikely that both will make the finals, so we won't get the marquee match up between the two young stars. We will, however, get a handful of good contests in the first round, headlined by the early game when No. 3 Pierce and No. 7 SW Oregon will face off in a battle between defense and offense.

Also, it's always fun to look at the preseason rankings, which are generally off the wall. This year, though, seven of the eight initial teams made the post season, including Clackamas, Treasure Valley and Portland, who qualified for the tournament this season for the first time in program history.

I will be in attendance writing game recaps for the league, as well as handing social media throughout the event, beginning on Sunday. Most tweets will be via the league twitter account, @NWAACC, but you can also follow me @JowardHoward for additional news and notes. Feel free to send me an email, leave a comment or drop in to say hello.

The Coaches Poll, released on Feb. 25, are in italics below each team's ranking. Here are the top eight men's teams as we enter the season's final stages:

1. Clark (24-1, 16-0 West)
No. 1 Coaches
Last set: No. 1, No. 1 Coaches

I'm tempted to simply write "22-game winning streak" and leave Clark's entry at that, but there is far more to talk about than can be summed up in four words. They don't score the most points, and they don't shoot the best percentage, but they have something far more valuable. The Penguins remain the only team in the league to allow less than 70 points per game, and as things start to slow down in the latter stages of the tournament, that will come in handy. One thought provoking statistic is that Clark collects just under eight steals a game, and for a defensive team, that's particularly interesting. The Penguins don't play defense like the old Golden State Warriors (a favorite of my NBA punching-bags), where they frustrate the offense by jumping in passing lanes. In addition, they've committed the fewest fowls per game of any team in the league and are tied for second in the NWAACC in blocks with just over four swats per contest. All that boiled down? They can keep offensive players in front of them, don't make stupid mistakes if they let somebody get by, and they know how to block a shot without fouling players underneath. Here's the fascinating part: it's the NWAACC version of this year's super bowl. The league's top defense (79 ppg), and the league's top offense (97.5 ppg) will kick off round one.

No. 1 Clark will face off with unranked Chemeketa at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening.

2. Clackamas (16-11, 10-4 South)
Unranked Coaches
Last set: No. 4, Unranked Coaches

Let's hope, for my pride, that the last few weeks from Clackamas haven't been a fluke. And even if the recent hot streak won't carry over into the playoffs, what a streak it has been. They won six games in a row from mid-January into the beginning of February, lost 109-108 to Chemeketa [box] in an absolute barn burner, and polished off their season by winning three games by a combined six points. The only playoff-bound team that Clackamas didn't beat during that stretch was Chemeketa, in fact, as the Cougars topped Portland by 18 points, and No. 7 SW Oregon 93-90 [box]. It was an incredible comeback from Clackamas in order to make the tournament for a record 14th consecutive year, especially as there are five teams from the south within a game of one another. Sophomore guard Grant Sitton has come up big in the last three games, averaging nearly 23 points per game over that stretch, but the Cougars have seven players who have scored at least 18 points at least one time this season. The offense can come from anywhere, and the Cougars have been feeding their magic beans.

No. 2 Clackamas will take on unranked Highline to start off their tournament at noon on Saturday.

3. Pierce (20-6, 13-3 West)
No. 4 Coaches
Last set: No. 2, No. 5 coaches

It's pretty easy to excuse losing to a team whose won 22 games in a row, honestly. Although I think "excuse" might not be the term the Pierce coaches would use, Clark looks like they're on a mission right now, and it's not a huge surprise that Pierce simply didn't have the firepower to keep up. It's a little easier to accept that, and because Clark made for two thirds of the Raiders' losses since early in the month of December, there is plenty to feel good about. They've been rolling on teams all year long, cleaning up by an average of 13.5 points per contest, a league best. They are also in the upper echelon in three-point percentage, lead the league in assists and lead the league in steals. Unfortunately for Pierce, they have a difficult game right out of the gun with No. 7 SW Oregon in the first game on the men's court at 8 a.m. sharp. The Lakers' high-octane offense will definitely put Pierce to the test, as they score over 92 points a game and are one of the best teams in the league at taking care of the basketball.

No. 3 Pierce will play No. 7 SW Oregon at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning.

4. Big Bend (21-7, 10-4 East)
No. 5 coaches

Last set: No. 7, Unranked coaches

It's fairly unusual for a team to take second place in their region but get a better ranking than the region champion, but it's difficult to place the Runnin' Viks any lower. They've won their last six games, following a little mid-season bump in the road, and finished just one game out of a tie for first place with No. 6 Treasure Valley. Sophomore Brendan Westendorf was one of the highlight players from last year's tournament, and would have been playing for a league title if not for a phantom 22-point-comeback-in-seven-minutes performance from eventual champion Chemeketa in the semifinals. Westendorf has regained the scoring lead over fellow scoring sensation Kyle Impero at nearly 30 points per game, but they'll need some backup if they hope to make it into the championship game: they've got No. 1 Clark on their side of the bracket, which seems to be the easier side with that one glaring exception.

No. 4 Big Bend will face No. 8 Bellevue, the third seed from the Northern Region, at 10 p.m. to close Saturday's slate of games.

5. Whatcom (18-6, 11-3 North)
No. 3 Coaches

Last set: No. 6, No. 3 coaches

The Northern Region isn't quiiiite as messed up as the south, but it's a close second, and one that Whatcom managed to squeeze out of with a region title on tiebreakers. An 87-85 loss [box] to Everett on Feb 19 was the only thing that kept the Orcas from clinching the region championship outright, and that game came down to offensive rebounds and second chance points. Everett was able to out-gain Whatcom by nine on the offensive glass, and netted 21 second-chance points to the Orcas' three. Even in that game, Whatcom got another standout performance from their star scoring talent, sophomore guard Kyle Impero, who averages 29.74 points per game, good for a narrow second in the league. Whatcom, though they're a 'low volume' squad from beyond the arc, is among the league's best in three-point shooting. They're incredibly efficient with the shots they take, and given that they're one of the top (or bottom) teams in turnovers, it becomes difficult to pick up easy points off of miscues or long rebounds.

No. 5 Whatcom will play unranked Spokane at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

6. Treasure Valley (18-8, 11-3 East)
No. 2 Coaches

Last set: Unranked, No. 3 Coaches

This is one of those rankings where I'll get weird looks, but something just doesn't have me convinced. The coaches certainly love the Chukars, but their four-game winning streak to end the season is a little lackluster when you consider the teams they beat. Columbia Basin looks to be the most notable of those victories, but the Hawks lost four of their final five games in a freefall to close out the regular season. The other three didn't make the playoffs, and if you look before the mini-streak, there are a pair of losses to unranked Spokane and No. 4 Big Bend, who finished second in the region standings. That said, Treasure Valley has had a great year. They're one of the best in field goal percentage, and they shoot well from three-point range. They're second in the league in assists, and as a slower-paced team with just 66 shot attempts per game, that's an impressive stat. They average 20 assists per contest on 30 made field goals. Kindergarten teachers drool over that kind of sharing.

No. 6 Treasure Valley will face unranked Edmonds from the Northern Region at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning.

7. SW Oregon (21-7, 10-4 South)
No. 7 Coaches

Last set: Unranked, Unranked coaches

Choosing between about five teams that have nearly identical in-region records isn't a simple task, and the Lakers were one of two teams that popped out, much of the reason being what makes them dangerous to No. 3 Pierce, as mentioned in the entry above. (You didn't read it? For shame.) Simply put, the SW Oregon offense is fast and effective, but not the cleanest offensive machine at the state fair. The Lakers are second in the league in scoring with just over 92 points per game, but they don't shoot with the best, down to 41 percent by the end of the regular season. They also don't throw many assists, as they are last among the ranked teams, but they seem to make up for their deficiencies at the free throw line, where they lead the league in total makes. A system with few mistakes has treated them well so far, as they cough up the ball only 11.46 times in a game on average, and so there aren't many ways to take advantage. Just be sure to keep both hands up in the air and your feet planted when defending inside the key, and hope for a (relatively likely) miss.

No. 7 SW Oregon will match up with No. 3 Pierce in the tournament opener at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning.

8. Bellevue (17-10, 11-3 North)
Unranked Coaches

Last set: Unranked, Unranked coaches

Like the Southern Region, there just had to be somebody plucked from the North. Whatcom, with Kyle Impero at the controls, was the easy first choice. Then it fell to Bellevue and Skagit Valley. Looking at the stats, the Cardinals seemed like the better team across the board, but Bellevue gets the nod for one reason and one reason only: one point. They beat Skagit Valley 73-72 [box] in the penultimate game of the season, knocking the Cardinals from their position of fighting for a league title, and thrusting themselves into the mix of things. The offense surrounds 6-foot-four sophomore forward Austin O'Keefe, but other than him, the Bulldog roster is chalk full of role players who take turns to step up. Only O'Keefe averages more than 10 points per game, but eight Bulldogs have scored 16 points or more at least once, meaning that Bellevue can keep opponents guessing.

No. 8 Bellevue will see No. 4 Big Bend in the first round's closer, with tip scheduled for 10 p.m. on Saturday night.