CUC with two tight - one a miracle- wins last week keep them in the playoff hunt. I guess the close wins balance out the "argh" losses to Lakeland, Benedictine, and Dominican.

Quote from: Captain_Joe08 on January 04, 2025, 07:23:19 PMNACC Standings after 1/4

St. Norbert 9-3 (5-0)
Wisconsin Lutheran 11-1 (4-1)
Marian 11-1 (4-1)
Rockford 8-4 (3-2)
MSOE 7-5 (3-2)
Concordia Chicago 5-6 (3-3)
Aurora 4-8 (2-3)
Benedictine 3-9 (2-3)
Illinois Tech 3-9 (2-3)
Lakeland 3-9 (2-3)
Concordia Wisconsin 4-7 (2-4)
Edgewood 3-10 (2-4)
Dominican 3-9 (0-5)

Non-Con Record: 42-47 (.471)

WLC and Marion are doing some incredible heavy lifting to bring the conference up to near .500 in non-conference play.

This is so sad for Fred's family, his teammates and the Trine community. I pray for peace and healing for them all.

Marian's opponents' cumulative record is 10-26 with no opponent being .500 or better at this point. A single digit loss to a D-1 program is impressive, but let's see what conference play brings.

Interesting it was. I think the System is a little "gimmicky" but there is a certain amount of discipline that one would need to play within it and it certainly requires athleticism and the ability to shoot!

I was glad to see CUC come away with the win; I think they were a little shell-shocked in the first ten minutes but they recovered nicely in the middle half of the game. I DO think think they took too many threes as I think that plays into the hands of a System team.

I had heard a lot about the System, so when I saw that RF was playing Greenville I had to check out the video.

Verdict: I was exhausted at the 10 minute mark just watching it! It's frenetic, fast, and furious and I can't imagine how you would even practice against it. At first I was going to say that it looks fun but it's not basketball, but that takes away from the discipline and athleticism that you must have to play  within the System.

I agree with the above comment that this system would take a bit of time for new players to get acclimated, and I think Greenville will improve greatly over the next month. I thought that they shot the ball well overall. I also thought that CUC took too many threes. (Isn't that a no-no against System teams?)

Quote from: Gregory Sager on November 12, 2023, 09:00:43 PM

I don't care what they call it, it's not in Chicago. It's perfectly reasonable to refer to it as Concordia (IL) ... as distinguished from Concordia (WI), Concordia (MI), Concordia (NE), Concordia (NY), etc.

Greg - your're pretty much on target on all accounts. However, sadly, but not unexpected, Concordia (NY) (and Concordia OR) have closed in the past few years.

Quote from: GU1999 on March 02, 2023, 01:11:36 PM
Thank you Ralph. 

My perception is that the Cougars had a great off-season and are gelled as a team.  How that plays out on the field will be fun to watch.  They leave tomorrow, weather permitting, for 7 games in 8 days.  I am hopeful that they can build on their positive start last weekend, going 2-1 in Indy. 

Yes, CUC's slate of competition in their Florida trip looks like some traditionally strong D3 teams. Good luck to them and your son.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on February 15, 2023, 06:39:20 PM
CUC Twitter is telling fans to come out to the women's game tonight to celebrate the men's seniors. Ben Gordos, Tavaras Williams, Brent Hatten and Jordan Matthews are all pictured. I assume none of them are applying for a waiver to get an extra year because of the unfortunate circumstances involving their team this season.

https://twitter.com/cuc_menhoops/status/1625929352935243798?t=MvhjqF6LU412kPoffQrs3Q&s=19

It's interesting that Hatten didn't play in either of the California games before the infamous practice even happened and he didn't play at CIT either. This was Matthews 5th year already; even if he's not playing basketball he's still paying for school this year and it's tough for anybody to fork out tuition for six years. Actually this is true for any DIII players. Paying for that extra year - COVID or for whatever reason - is a big ask for any student and their family.

I am thinking along these lines, but I am also wondering if there is some legal advice affecting this as well.

The conference website notes next to the 0-0 conference record "excluded from NACC standings due to violations of conference policy". Kind of curious - but not curious enough to snoop out - exactly what the policy is for CUC to earn this.

CUC postpones another game. I am really wondering what is going on.

Quote from: Second Wind on December 30, 2022, 12:08:27 AM
Whittier 87, CUC 83, Cougars now 8-2.

I believe the above is correct. Trying to follow the Cal Lutheran broadcast of this neutral site game was extremely aggravating. No video at all, live stats had CUC names listed as Whittier players and vice versa.

As for on the floor, no Brent Hatten or Jordan Matthews tonight. Cougars were 9-29 on threes and missed some free throws down the stretch too.

Hoping the Cougars get healthy and can work through their difficulties as they return to conference play next week.

I must have been up too late because I was trying to figure out why CUC was playing some of their usual bench guys as much as they were; I totally missed the fact that Matthews was not on the floor. Also, besides Hatten not playing, Elijah White did not appear in tonight's game either.

Guys like Kieren Heller did an admirable job filling in minutes, but Whittier, a team that takes a LOT of threes (The Poets average 30 treys a game.) went 12-26 from deep - a 46% average (where they usually average 31%). It just seemed that Concordia had to really work for their points and Whittier found a lot of holes in Concordia's zone defense (which they went to quite a bit). Also, yeah, free throws.

By the way, the video was there but was found under the day's previous game - the Cal Lutheran-Luther contest (although I did not discover this until halftime).

Not a great showing in California for the Cougars. I just don't think they are a truly deep team, and missing one starter - much less two - is a tough hill for them to climb. Hopefully they can get healthy by the time conference play resumes.

Quote from: Next Man Up on December 28, 2022, 11:21:17 PM
The Cardinals survived the onslaught of Edgewood's 6'7" 300 pound Jake "The Student Body" Schroeckenthaler who hit the Redbirds with a monstrous double-double of 29 points, and 14 rebounds.

Apparently Schroeckenthaler was a good golfer in high school. I'll bet he can crush a drive.

When I watched him against Concordia earlier in the year I thought he was pretty nimble on his feet for such a big guy. My first thought: quality offensive tackle.

Quote from: Second Wind on December 28, 2022, 09:45:33 PM
at Cal Lutheran 79, CUC 61, Cougars now 8-1.

On paper, a ninth straight win for CUC looked favorable, but the Cougars were sub-par in a few key areas in suffering their first loss.

The Kingsmen won on the glass 37-26. Fourteen of those boards were on the offensive end, resulting in 19 second-chance points. The Cougars lost the turnover battle 15-12, with the Kingsmen holding an 18-12 advantage in points off TOs. Finally, Cougars shot a chilling 6-26 from long range.

Jacob Collicott was only Cougar in double figures with 14 points while Jordan Matthews had a quiet night with seven points. Normal starter Brent Hatten did not play tonight, and the Cougars missed his 12.0 points and 3.8 rebounds.

The Cougars will try to start a new winning streak tomorrow night when they play Whittier College.

CUC doesn't really have a "post player" in their starting line-up, but Hatten comes the closest to what a post player will do. He's solidly built and usually takes the opponent's post-up guy (if they have one) on defense and does have some post-up ability of his own although he is primarily a perimeter player with a good three-point shot. I thought Cal Lutheran did a really nice job of using their post player both as a scoring option, a kick-out/assist guy, and an offensive rebounder. CUC got hammered on the boards - the 37-26 margin was much worse through through the first 30 minutes and I'm not sure Hatten changes that. At that point Cal Lutheran started hitting their threes and it was all she wrote for the Cougars win streak.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair, but when Matthews went out with a leg issue Cal Lutheran grabbed the lead which they held at half at three. He was noticably limping in the second half.

Cal Lutheran really took advantage of their second chances - I was impressed with them overall but especially on the glass. CUC looked like team that didn't have answers to their opponent's defense and was frustrated. If CUC's threes aren't falling they are in trouble.
 

Quote from: Second Wind on December 17, 2022, 10:49:26 PM
CUC 87 at Benedictine 74, Cougars now 8-0, 5-0 NACC, they tie the 1978-79 team for best start out of the gates.

Next up for Cougars is two game trip to California to take on Cal Lutheran and Whittier Dec. 28-29. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all of you! Enjoy your fill of holiday tournaments!

By the way, after that 8-0 start, the 78-79 team was slightly under .500 for the remainder of the year.