MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin 101, Indiana-Northwest 57

Korte Long, 22 pts, 9 rebs
Mike Gavic, 15 pts
John Harmsen, 10 pts

Every year I ask the same question: Why does Indiana-Northwest, a team that Millikin annually drubs by anywhere from thirty to fifty points, keep coming back on the Big Blue sked every season like a bad penny? Considering that IUN was 1-11 entering Tuesday evening's game, it was obvious that this year wasn't going to prove any different.

[Pioneerbacker]

CCIWers-

Any thoughts on tonight's matchup with Elmhurst and UW-P?  Pionners play well at home and are starting to come together, but they have yet to find that consistency.  My guess is they will come out pretty strong and build off a nice win over Loras, but I think it will be a one or two possession game at the end. 

[Knightstalker]

Uriah Rice, is he any relation to Uriah Heap?   

[iwumichigander]

  But I'd dearly love to see a neutral court IWU/Wittenberg game.   

David - I think the Titan Nation would like to see that game too - neutral court or not.  Maybe the two teams will get an opportunity in the post season!

[augiedad]

Pioneerbacker:

I'm not sure what to make of Elmhurst yet, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they do at Platteville tonight.  The problem is, I'm not sure what to make of Platteville either.  The Pioneers have two losses already - a 6 pt home loss to Robert Morris is nothing to be ashamed of (Robert Morris won by 8 at Hanover), but a loss to Dubuque??  Dubuque lost at home to Coe by 28 last night.

As a CCIW fan, I'd like to see Elmhurst win fairly convincingly at Platteville.  If the Bluejays are a real challenger to IWU, this is a game they should win.

[augiedad]

Another interesting game tonight is Augustana hosting NAIA D2 #15 St. Ambrose, a quad cities rival.  Some scores to consider:

Olivet Nazarene 83
St. Ambrose 64
(at St. A)

St. Xavier 81
St. Ambrose 58
(at St. A)

IWU 87
Olivet Nazarene 68
(at IWU)

IWU 81
St. Xavier 61
(at IWU)


Playing the comparing scores games is always a bit misleading, but if IWU pounded the teams that pounded St. Ambrose at their place, I'm hope the Vikings come out and blow the doors off the Fighting Bees. 

(Augie won at St. Ambrose last year and lost at home in 2003/04.)

[augie_superfan]

Over the past few years, Augie has always seemed to be the better of the two teams, even the year they lost at home.  If my memory serves me correctly, Augie seemed to always be about 10-15 points better than St. Ambrose over the past 4 years I spent there.  Since Augie has been a very good home team since Giovanne took over the team, I think Augie should win this game by 15 points tonight.  It can be a heated rivalry at times though which is always perfect for a close hard fought game like the one they experienced last time these two met at the Carver Center.

[Pioneerbacker]

Pioneerbacker:

I'm not sure what to make of Elmhurst yet, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they do at Platteville tonight.  The problem is, I'm not sure what to make of Platteville either.  The Pioneers have two losses already - a 6 pt home loss to Robert Morris is nothing to be ashamed of (Robert Morris won by 8 at Hanover), but a loss to Dubuque??  Dubuque lost at home to Coe by 28 last night.

As a CCIW fan, I'd like to see Elmhurst win fairly convincingly at Platteville.  If the Bluejays are a real challenger to IWU, this is a game they should win.

Yeah the Dubuque loss has a lot of people scratching their heads, but it was just one of those games.  We've all seen them.  Platteville responded well and ripped Loras the following night, so it's hard tell.  Like I said, I expect a close game, especially since it's at Platteville. 

[Gregory Sager]

It actually took NPU three minutes to lose the lead after the break, not 25 seconds (although Judson did score five points before anyone could even blink at the start of the second half), but Dennis's point is generally accurate. The starting backcourt for the Vikings could not take care of the ball (Jason Gordon in particular), and Brenegan's decision to keep them on the bench and to stick with the seldom-used Reynolds and Berg down the stretch to both overtake the Eagles late and then win the seesaw final minute and a half was what won the game.

It brings up an interesting point, however, about coaching methodology. Remember that coaches really have two different roles, especially when they have a young team: Teacher and game manager. Jason Gordon is a phenomenal talent with first-team All-CCIW potential in the long term, but right now his judgment isn't nearly on a par with his ability; he made more bad passes that resulted in turnovers in the first twelve minutes of the second half than most starting guards make in three or four entire games. His backcourt mate Eric Allen didn't distinguish himself, either. Since Gordon and Allen and not Reynolds and Berg are the long-term future of NPU's backcourt, do you play them in that tight end-game situation in order to give them the experience they're going to need in those situations down the road ... or do you go with what you suspect you're going to need to win this particular game, which is the steadier hand of Steve Reynolds and Bjorn Berg?

Given how badly NPU needed this win for the sake of the team's confidence, I think that Brenegan did the right thing. But sooner or later Gordon and Allen will have to be thrown into those pressure situations so that they can prove themselves and progress as players.

All of which is just a roundabout way of saying that the teaching and game-management roles exist in tension for a head basketball coach.

I'm not sure what to make of Elmhurst yet, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they do at Platteville tonight.  The problem is, I'm not sure what to make of Platteville either.  The Pioneers have two losses already - a 6 pt home loss to Robert Morris is nothing to be ashamed of (Robert Morris won by 8 at Hanover), but a loss to Dubuque??  Dubuque lost at home to Coe by 28 last night.

As a CCIW fan, I'd like to see Elmhurst win fairly convincingly at Platteville.  If the Bluejays are a real challenger to IWU, this is a game they should win.

Consistency is apparently a problem for both teams right now, although the Dubuque loss makes me suspect that it's a more acute problem for UWP. Elmhurst has always tended to be one of the best defensive teams in the CCIW under Mark Scherer, and in the first half against UWP in Faganel Hall last season the 'jays played possibly the best 20 minutes of defense I have ever seen in a D3 game ... yes, ever. However, the defense seemed to come and go in their game against Simpson last Saturday, and the Storm is not on the same level as UWP.

Should be a great game. Scherer deserves kudos for toughening Elmhurst's non-conference schedule in order to get his veteran team up to CCIW-level speed by the onset of the conference slate in early January.

[Titan Q]

I too am interested in the Elmhurst/Platteville game.  Stuff one can find by clicking around...

Probable Starters...

UW-Platteville (3-2)
G Josh Langenfeld (5-11/185, Fr) - 4.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.2 apg
G Mike Jamerson (5-10/175, Jr) - 13.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg
F LeVon Crawford (6-3/185, Sr) - 11.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg
F Mark Gossens (6-6/220, Jr) - 14.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg
C Jeff Skemp (6-10/235, So) - 10.6 ppg, 7.4 rpg


Elmhurst (2-1)
G Brian Lee (5-10/185, Jr) - 8.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 5.0 apg
G Chris Ihlenfeldt (6-1/185, Sr) - 9.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg
F Chris Martin (6-6/210, Sr) - 25.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg
F Andrew Mohney (6-7/210, Sr) - 3.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg
C Nick Michael (6-10/230, Jr) - 13.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg


Platteville is shooting a very impressive .544 from the field and holding opponents to .376.  The Pioneers are very good from beyond the arc - .424.

Elmhurst is also shooting a great percentage (.509), but Bluejay opponents are .444 from the field.  Elmhurst finished last season with less assists (307) than turnovers (372)...a .83 A: TO ratio.  Through 3 games in 2005-06, the 'jays again have an A:TO ratio below 1.0 (.78).  I think as the season goes on, Elmhurst will have to find a way to run their stuff better to get to the next level.

The 8:00pm game can be heard on the net here...

http://www.uwplatt.edu/athletics/basketball/mens/05-06/elmhurst_pre.html

[Titan Q]

Per Mapquest "Elmhurst, IL to Platteville, WI" is 204.63 miles.  Anyone know for sure if the official mileage is under 200, and thus an "in-region" game? 

(D3hoops.com lists the game as "in-region" on the Elmhurst and Platteville pages.)

[Elmhurst_Mom]

Can't get the radio station on the Elmhurst v Platteville game....can anybody post what they know?

[gordonmann]

TitanQ:

Pat has another program (MS Streets?) that charts the shortest route between schools.  It's a little more accurate than MapQuest apparently.

With that said, it's possible this is a mistake either on our end or whichever school posted the game.

[augiefan]

High scorers for Augie tonight were Harrigan with 24, McAdams-Thornton with 20 and Dain Swatella with 13. Dain also had 11 boards. The full stats are now posted on the Augie website. A good win for Augie in a big Quad Cities rivalry game. It also looks like Swatellas were great additionsto Augie's program, as both are starting and contributing.

[Titan Q]

North Central crushed Benedictine tonight, 84-58.  NCC was up 25 at the half and up as much as 33 in the 2nd.

NCC/BU Boxscore

Here's the Augie/St. Ambrose box.

And Wheaton 68, Chicago 57 (boxscore)


Elmhurst is down 5 with 5:00 to play @ Platteville.