MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

It's the only time I've ever seen someone older than toddler age sleep through a CCIW basketball game.

Considering all the cracks posters have made over the year's about the Titan fan bus, did you actually mean "older than toddler age or younger than the average Titan fan"?

[devildog29]

Sager, just as an fyi, Wayne Messmer actually sang the national anthem at the very first basketball game ever held at the Shirk.  I believe we played Aurora that night if memory serves me correctly.  I don't know if he has ever sang at any other games, but he did sing that night.

[Titan Q]

IWU/SXU boxscore...

http://www.iwu.edu/~iwunews/sports/mbb2006/miwu4.htm

* Zach Freeman: 17 pts (6-8 FG), 12 reb
* Keelan Amelianovich: 26 pts, 5 reb
* Chris Jones: 14 pts (5-6 FG), 5 reb
* Adam Dauksas: 13 pts, 6 assists/1 T.O.

IWU FG% = .500
SXU FG% = .364

Rebounds: IWU 41 SXU 30


IWU won convincingly over a very good basketball team tonight.  With or without J. Saunders, St. Xavier is as good as any other team in the CCIW, so this one was impressive.  In the end, IWU just physically dominated the Cougars.  SXU is big, but IWU is much stronger and more athletic.  Zach Freeman, Chris Jones, and Cory Jones dominated the game down low on both ends of the floor.

In Dauksas, Amelianovich, and Freeman IWU has 3 deadly weapons, all at different positions.  It makes this team very hard to defend.  And when the other guys - Jason Fisher, Mike McGraw, Cory Jones, Chris Jones, and Steve Schweer - step up and play as well as they did tonight, you're looking at a team that can do big things this year.

[David Collinge]

Greg, if you're friends with Wayne Messmer, would you please tell him that the last word in (the first verse of) "The Star-Spangled Banner" is not "breeve?"  Thanks in advance.   

[Gregory Sager]

Greg, if you're friends with Wayne Messmer, would you please tell him that the last word in (the first verse of) "The Star-Spangled Banner" is not "breeve?" Thanks in advance.

Messmer places that vowel farther back than other singers, DC, but it's hardly "breeve" that he's singing. That concluding "brave" in the national anthem is sort of his trademark.

Devil, I was told that he'd never sang before a game at his alma mater. I'm happy to discover that he has. It'd irritate me if Nancy Faust was playing the organ for some other CCIW school besides NPU, even though I'm not a White Sox fan. 

[devildog29]

Sager, it was quite impressive to see him sing that night because at the time (1995) he was just getting over his accident where he had been carjacked and shot in the throat.  There had been some wonder if he would ever sing again.  But lo and behold, he came back as good as ever.  That night may have been one of his first public singing appearances after the incident, or I may be totally full of it, but it seems to me it was one of the first ones.  I remember he gave a talk on campus that day about how his faith, etc. had helped him through his recovery and then he sang that night for the first game at Shirk.  Packed house, Wayne Messmer singing the national anthem, and Mark Aubry hit a shot at the end of the game to beat Aurora.  It was quite an opening night.  Again, that's what I seem to remember.  If any other Titans have a better memory than me, I can always use help.

[John Gleich]

Q,
Did St. Xavier look tired in tonight's game?  This was their 5th game in 7 days, and they haven't been playing ALL pushovers (UIC and Huntington).  I COMPLETELY forgot that the game was tonight... I turned on the webcast at about 9:15, and the game was already over, so I wasn't able to hear any of the action live.

There are some rather tell-tale stats that might be attributed to exhaustion (not, by any means, to downplay IWU's play or dominance this evening) 

SXU's shooting percentage:  36%
3 pt %: 31%
FT %: 61.9%
8 assists to 13 turnovers

Looking back at the box scores from the Huntington and UIC games, they were MUCH more proficient in both those games than this one tonight, shooting at least 56% from the floor and 47% from deep in both games, compared to 36% and 31%, respectively.

Now, this very easily could be accounted for by IWU's defense instead of tired legs on the part of SXU (after all, SXU had a great shooting night on Saturday, playing their 6th game in 9 days), but, like I said, it may have been an attributing factor.

[Gregory Sager]

That does sound like quite an occasion at the Shirk, Devil, and a big part of my admiration of Wayne Messmer is for the way that he recovered from that horrific assault and came back stronger than ever.

His first post-recovery public singing appearance was at a Chicago Wolves game on October 14, 1994, six months after he was shot.

[Titan Q]

Today's Pantagraph artice on IWU - "Stingy defense carries IWU"...

http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/112905/spo_20051129046.shtml


Point, I'm sure St. Xavier was a little tired - that's a lot of basketball.  Overall though, I'd say IWU played really solid man-to-man defense - probably the best I've seen this group play.  Also, the Titans are just bigger, stronger, and more athletic than St. Xavier (especially without Saunders).

[Gregory Sager]

New poll is out. Elmhurst drops from #15 to #22, but Augie breaks into the charmed circle at #25.

[cardinalpride]

good win for IWU and the CCIW!  Congrats to Augie as well for cracking the top 25!  With 3 teams in the top 25, the CCIW is making a strong case for top conference in the country.  I believe our top 5 teams are better than any other conferences top 5.  Anyone disagree?

[iwumichigander]

Nice win by IWU last night.  Good defense in both man to man and zone.  Titans had three very nice runs in the game to distance themselves from a tough St Xavier team. Very nice to see Chris Jones put 14 points on the board.  Great outing by Amelianovich, Zack Freeman and Adam Dauksas.

[iwumichigander]

Congratulations to Augustana, Elmhurst and IWU being in the Top 25 this week.  NCAC folks probably won't agree with IWU getting all 25 1st place votes; particularly with Wooster @ #2 (moving up from #3) and Wittenberg @ #3 (moving up from #10).

[martin]

I listened to the entire webcast of the IWU/SXU game last night.  I will try to see IWU this Saturday in Hyde Park.  Listening to the broadcast, I got the impression that IWU is a much different team this year than I thought it would be.

With all the talent IWU has, I thought of them as a very skilled and athletic team.  Led by Amelianovich, Dauksas, et al, I thought they were like the showtime Lakers of the 1980's.  Listening to the game last night, I got the impression that this years Titans are a group that imposes its will on you - ala the 1970's Bulls. led by Norm Van Lier and Jerry Sloan.

Q talked about how the players hit the weight room and had gotten much stronger.  They are also a bit older - a 21 year old is stronger than an 18 year old.  The game did not seem to flow that much - except for the 13-0 run IWU had in the first half.  IWU is capable of the showtime game.  But for most of the game, it seemed they were imposong their will on SXU.

SXU does have some excuses - fifth game in seven days, limited physical presence without Jabari Saunders, a young team (starters were 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores and a senior).  Even with fresh legs and Saunders, I still think IWU would have controlled the game, maybe to a lesser extent but IWU would still have dictated what kind of game was to be played.

If this is true, IWU is much scarier than originally thought.  UWSP was very talented and tough but IWU may have gone beyond that level.  They obviously have the talent to be a very good team.  They may also have the strength and toughness to be a great one.

Of course payback is a bitch.  When IWU goes to play at SXU next year, most of that strength, experience and toughness will be gone for IWU.  And with another year under their belt, SXU may look a lot like the 2005-06 Titans.

[Knightstalker]

Augie was a previous owner of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Augie is the present coach of the Carthage baseball team.

Augie is a doggie, along with doggie daddy.