Quote from: USee on December 31, 2010, 06:58:10 PM
Wheaton leads Husson by a bundle at the half. should close out with a win and enter conf play at 9-2.

My impression has been that WC has averaged around 80% at the free throw line the  last few years and this year it is hovering around 70%.  For a team that it is rebuilding and developing young players to complement their established players that could be a a make it or break it  factor in these close intense league games.  Congrats to the Thunder to stay focused enough over a holiday break to defeat 2 beatable foes in preparation for a  no holds barred CCIW season.  They will break some hearts while fighting for  the fourth  spot in the conference tournament.  With some maturity they appear ready to do some damage in that context. I  would caution against ruling them out as a  top four finisher in the league, and as there rookies mature  they may be tough to beat at season's end. What say all you CCIW gurus?

final from the Shirk--Wheaton 65   IWU 59

RE: playing surfaces--was anyone at NCC's hangar when the Harlem Globetrotters played there back in the 60's on the dirt itself?  Pretty crazy.
Question:  Former WC forward Michael Fiddler had a little brother (Garrett, 6'9") who played for Yale the last 2 years.  On their website this year he is not on the roster.  Anybody know why?  If I were Mike Schauer I might give him a call.

RE: Wheaton players in the NFL--Kansas City's team website reports that OLB Mike Vrabel is hurt and Andrew Studebaker will replace him vs. Oakland this Sunday.  4 PM EST on CBS.

Pretty tough to watch the Thunder tonight--great defensive effort, but they were incredibly tight offensively.  Some of that goes to Wash U's defense, but I think what we saw was summed up in the first half when McCrary had 2 free throws and was so tense that he barely reached the front of the rim with both of them. (I assume it was a technical foul or flagrant foul but I was just tuning in)  The Thunder's young players tonight exhibited the fruit of one of the negative sides of Bill Harris' coaching philosophy, which applies to all but his star players. It is fear-of-failure/fear of punishment based, and although I don't believe that fear is ever a good motivator to allow one to freely play their best, this especially applies to big games.   Offensively Wheaton stunk up their own gym tonight.  They have relied all season on their standout freshmen to make big contributions, and tonight they were not given "permission" to work through a few moments of tightness into a point where they could contribute.  Wheaton was thus reduced to essentially a 6 man rotation, and that just doesn't cut it with a team of Wash U's quality.  It is interesting that his other team that had National Champion potential (in '95 or '96, a one loss team that had my nephew by marriage, Aaron Messner playing for it) had a similar performance in a second round game--they all tensed up and had a horrendous shooting night, I suspect for similar reasons.  I'm sure all the CCIW experts remember who they were playing, but was it Wash U then as well?

Final from King Arena--St. Thomas 86  University of Puget Sound 69.

STU led at half, 46-38, going on a 13-3 run in the last 2 minutes.  Now with 14 minutes left, STU is up by 14.

A few thoughts, now that my nausea from watching Wheaton almost give it away at the end of regulation is gone:
  Very similar to the Carthage game at King when the Thunder gave it away from poor FT shooting.
  I know it was the first game of the season and Bradley probably looked at it as an exhibition game, but UW-Platteville beat the Braves, a team that finished with a winning record in the MVC, in Peoria.  This was a GOOD team.
  Maybe he was standing on his tiptoes for the team picture, (and the whole game tonight ), but if Wiele and the other UW-P big guys are 6'8", Mr. Stremp is more like 7' than 6'10".  And yes, his foot speed is a little slow, which limits his defensive abilities, but his footwork is pretty good and he has a very soft touch even from outside and from the line, so he can do more than just lay it in. He's not an NBA player, but if he wants to he'll play professionally somewhere, e.g. Europe or Asia.
  An advantage for WC as other tournament teams scout them is the way that someone other than Raymond and Wiele usually steps up as a game changer each game.  Panner, McCrary, Pflederer, and Jahns seem to disappear just often enough that teams may overlook them in their preparation, and then one of them takes their turn making the other team pay.  Any team can have a bad game, but they are playing with such balance right now and not so totally dependent on their All-Americans that I like their chances--no great insight there of course.

Final from King Arena:  WC  70   NCC  60   WC with virtually no scoring from the outside but made their free throws and scored inside enough to win.  NCC at times seemed to be able to score inside pretty easily--nice passing, cuts to the hoop, etc., and shot pretty well from the outside in the first half, but obviously not enough to win this time.

WC 86  IWU 60   Final from the Shirk. Scary.

A caliper is a fine instrument used to very precisely measure or compare small distances
RE: the HS skills translating or evolving during the college years--I think it depends highly on what the college coach is asking or expecting of the player.  Players that have multiple skills that could all be developed and utilized in the HS setting are usually asked to fill a more specific role in college. Even if they gain in strength, speed, quickness, etc. with a more mature body, they can actually lose skills they had in high school if they are not asked, or given permission, to use them in college.  I saw this first hand with one of my sons that played for Bill Harris.  In high school he played alot of point guard.  At 6'5" he had good handles (behind the back dribbles at full speed, bringing the ball up against a press, etc) and could knock down the 3 in the 35-40% range. At WC he was defined as a post player and was basically told not to dribble or shoot outside of 6-8 feet.  Being the obedient child that I raised him to be , he complied with this and clearly lost not only confidence, which of course is important too, but also skills.  By his junior year, had I been his coach, I also would have been telling him not to dribble or shoot the 3. Practice is crucial, but also what you don't use in a game setting, you tend to lose.  So my opinion from afar, having never seen the Mr. Zimmer in question on the court, is that his role and performance will be significantly affected by his coach's expectations of him.

Final from King.  WC 85  NPU  62.  Vikings watched the first half, played pretty well in the second.

What I really haven't seen written yet by those of us lucky enough to watch the CC-WC game on the internet (I was able to catch the second half at my office after a long day) is the fact that WC did everything they needed to do--intense defense, decent rebounding, adequate shooting, demonstrating that Andy Wiele is virtually unstoppable inside with his size, quickness, and facility with either hand--to win this game in a convincing fashion except.... make free throws.  They really did not lose because they had a letdown, or even (not to take away from a superb effort) the play of Carthage in the second half. I agree that they were depending on the inside game almost exclusively in the second half, but I did not see many open looks on the perimeter, and the inside game was working very effectively--why go away from it?  No loss is pleasant or positive, but I would think they would actually come away from the game with their confidence unshaken and their determination ramped up.  The only thing that may frustrate them is the fact that they didn't  have a letdown and still lost on the basis of a part of their game that they probably take for granted.  You can bet no one is leaving practice without making 20 in a row[/b]

Wheaton shoots 11-24 from the line.  Final--CC by one.

Interesting to read the B-ball mad midwest (especially the CCIW) perspective on your game facilities.  Oregon's largest university, and probably their top D1 program this year (coached by Ken Bone, formerly of Seattle Pacific) is Portland State University. Their "arena" for home games seats 1500. Before Wheaton's Centennial Gym was built, they could seat around 1400 at Alumni Gym, and in the late '50's (according to Lee Pfund, who lives down the hall from my dad) they sold tickets for each half of the game. They cleared the gym of fans at half time. When we moved to Wheaton in 1961, I often had a hard time finding a seat in the top row of the bleachers, which held 3400.  I guess with local TV from WETN, they virtually never fill up King Arena with its 2700-2800 seats.  Maybe if they get a playoff game there this year...