MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

You are correct - in the early years of Player of the Week - in the early eighties (when as conference SID I began the award) - Elmhurst nominated an offensive guard from their football team - who won the award.  Probably, to this day, the only offensive lineman to win the award as offensive player of the week.

Good guess, Dennis, but he's not the football POTW that I'm thinking of.

Greg I always had the impression that CUW was a superior school to CURF athletically, is that not true?  I'm at least assuming its not true for men's basketball this season, unless I missed something.

It's quite true that CUW is usually better at everything than CURF, at least as far as I can tell. This season, however, the basketball teams of the two sister Missouri Synod Lutheran institutions have reversed their usual status, with the Illinoisians from the NIIC clearly being better than the Wisconsinites of the LMC.

[augiedad]

Q, I love the difference in the intro. between the Titan reserve and the All-American:


"I want to start by thanking Mr. Quillman for allowing me to do this."
- Mike McGraw

"Alright Titan fans, B Quiz has asked that we continue our player journals again this year."
- Adam Dauksas



http://www.iwuhoops.com/JOURN06.HTM

[Titan Q]

CCIW/MIAA Challenge from Hope, on the net tonight...

Carthage vs Calvin - WRJN
(on now - 36-33 Carthage at halftime)


Wheaton vs Hope, 7:00pm CST, WETN

[Titan Q]

Tomorrow is a chance for Chicago area D3 fans to see 3 ranked teams play.  At 3:00pm, #1 IWU plays at U. of Chicago, and at 7:30pm #22 Elmhurst hosts #8 Hanover.  I'm making the double dip - hoping to see IWU move to 5-0 and then really looking forward to that Elmhurst/Hanover game. 

My gut feeling is that Elmhurst is underrated at #22 and Hanover a bit overrated at #8.  I think the Bluejays are the clear favorite in that game.  Hanover lost three key guys from that great 2004-05 team - Matt Moore, Tommy Dennis, and Ryan Lanning (Moore and Dennis were really the heart and soul of the team, along with reserve Ben Lye).  The Panthers just squeaked by SLIAC schools Webster (71-68 in OT) and Maryville (80-73), then came home and won a close one vs Wabash (62-59) before falling to NAIA D1 power Robert Morris, 87-79.  In their last game Hanover beat Mount Union 54-46, which if a football score would be reason to throw a party on campus.

I'm sure Coach Beitzel, one of the best in Division III, has plenty of new talent stepping into those roles, but it is just very hard to replace guys as good as Moore, Dennis, and Lanning.  They were tough, hard-nosed players.

Elmhurst's frontcourt is much bigger than Hanover's...

F Chris Martin (6-6/210, Sr)
F Andrew Mohney (6-7/210, Sr)
C Nick Michael (6-10/230, Jr)

F Brian Chrin (6-3/199, Sr)
F Ben Lye (6-4/198, Sr)
C Robby Brown (6-7/221, So)

But with Hanover, you can't look at those Chrin/Lye height numbers and think they're small - I made that mistake before I ever saw these guys play two years ago.  The Hanover kids play much, much bigger than whatever they're listed at - "sneaky big" as I think I said on another board.  They get great position, know how to use their bodies, and they all seem to have great footwork.  Kind of like a bunch of Brent Niebrugge's, for anyone who remembers the 1998 CCIW M.O.P. from IWU.

Elmhurst vs Hanover may end up being 50-49, but it will be fun to watch.

[Mr. Ypsi]

The Vikings don't know how to play from in front.

Well (duh!), how often do they get to practice it?!

(My humblest apologies, Greg and all other NPUers, but that was such an OBVIOUS straight line, I just had to do it, since no one else seems to have picked up on it.  Question: does that indicate my superior eye for detail, or everyone else's superior sense of discretion? )

[Gregory Sager]

Question: does that indicate my superior eye for detail, or everyone else's superior sense of discretion? )

Pretty much the latter, Chuck, since last night I typed, "The Vikings don't know how to play from in front. And it's not because they haven't had any practice at it this season" -- and then thought better of it and erased the second sentence, because I was already being hard on the Vikings and I didn't want to go over the top into blatant meanness.

It gives me no small sense of satisfaction that I am far from being the cruelest regular on Posting Up. 

Hey, Martin, if you're going to be at the Ratner Center tomorrow afternoon, send me an e-mail.

The MIAA board is reporting a final score of Calvin 82, Carthage 78, and a sizeable Hope lead over Wheaton in the nightcap.

[sac]

Hope 93 Wheaton 67

Close early, Hope blew it open in the second.  Wheaton just undermanned against a very good Hope team.

[Gregory Sager]

The Wheaton @ Hope game went about as I expected (although I'm surprised to learn that Wheaton actually outrebounded the Windmills & Tulips Gang -- must've been a premium night for long boards off of missed trey attempts). The Carthage loss to Calvin was something of a surprise to me, though. Calvin's looked down thus far due to graduations and injuries, and with Carthage's experience and the stiff challenges that they had faced in the Aloha State last week I really pictured the Red Men winning this game.

I hate to say this, but I have a sinking suspicion that the CCIW is going to pull an 0-fer in Holland this weekend.

[cardinalpride]

The Wheaton @ Hope game went about as I expected (although I'm surprised to learn that Wheaton actually outrebounded the Windmills & Tulips Gang -- must've been a premium night for long boards off of missed trey attempts). The Carthage loss to Calvin was something of a surprise to me, though. Calvin's looked down thus far due to graduations and injuries, and with Carthage's experience and the stiff challenges that they had faced in the Aloha State last week I really pictured the Red Men winning this game.

I hate to say this, but I have a sinking suspicion that the CCIW is going to pull an 0-fer in Holland this weekend.

Greg, It doesn't surprise me.  Hope is probably the top team in the MIAA this year playing at home and Calvin should finish 2 or 3 in that league.  Wheaton and Carthage, in my opinion, will finish 5 and/or 6 in our league respectively.

[augiedad]

"I have a sinking suspicion that the CCIW is going to pull an 0-fer in Holland this weekend."


Guys, we sent our 5th and 6th best teams.  What did you expect?

[augiedad]

Wheaton had 6 assists to 26 turnovers last night vs Hope.  That is as bad of a A/TO ratio as I can ever remember!  Hope took 17 more shots than Wheaton.

http://www.wheaton.edu/Athletics/mbasketball/stats/mwhe4.htm

[petemcb]

Today's Chicagoland doubleheader sounds very appealing.  Unfortunately, I can only make tonight's Elmhurst game.  Who else is in?

[sac]

augiedad---Its what Hope does......its the second game I've seen where they took a double-digit shot  advantage over an opponent.  They managed almost 30 more shots vs Cornerstone last weekend.

Hope pressures the ball at certain spots on the floor and really cover passing lanes.  Its takes good 1 on 1 moves to score on Hope.

Wheaton had its fair share of bad turnovers, but they had few fast break points and again most of their points HAD to come off individual effort.

[Titan Q]

Illinois Wesleyan is 2-3 in its last 5 games at U. of Chicago. 

2003-04: IWU 73 Chicago 48
2002-03: Chicago 77 IWU 69
2000-01: IWU 77 Chicago 68 (NCAA Elite Eight game)
2000-01: Chicago 77 IWU 76
1998-99: Chicago 61 IWU 59

The Chicago teams that defeated IWU in 1998-99 and 2000-01 were national powers though and the 2002-03 team had one of the best players in the nation, Derek Reich.  Mike McGrath's teams have always played IWU tough, with the exception of the 2003-04 game which was Chicago's first game in the Ratner Center.  I expect the Maroons to play good defense today, try to slow the Titans down and keep the game in the 60s if possible, and play very hard.


Pantagraph: Off guard tandem a hit for IWU

Radio - WJBC2.com webcast, 2:45pm pregame

Live stats via Chicago.edu

[Gregory Sager]

Guys, we sent our 5th and 6th best teams.  What did you expect?

That hasn't been established yet. Howzabout we play fourteen games apiece in January and February before we start declaring who the fifth- and sixth-best teams are in the CCIW?

I don't think anyone genuinely thought that Wheaton or Carthage would beat Hope in DeVos this season (well, I'm sure that the Red Men faithful are at least more confident that they have a crack at an upset than were their Wheatie counterparts). The Dutch are a serious national power this season, and with the possible exception of Illinois Wesleyan (note: I said possible) I don't think that the Dutch would be underdogs to anyone in their new digs this year.

Calvin's another story, though. As I said before, they lost a lot to graduation (and to just plain ol' non-returnees, a la Wheaton's Raymond, Bennett, et. al.). And Josh Meckes, their only established inside player, had been hurt; last night was his first game back.

Don't make the mistake of assuming a direct rung-to-rung correlation between the CCIW and the MIAA. Even as loyal an MIAA stalwart as Sac says that the CCIW is stronger on a team-for-team basis. If Calvin is the third-best team in the MIAA this season -- something that is no more established at this point than is the proposition that Carthage and Wheaton are the fifth- and sixth-best teams in the 2006 edition of the CCIW -- it doesn't necessarily put them on a par with the CCIW's third-place team. It might mean that they're on a par with the CCIW's fifth- or sixth-place team, for all we know.

What I'm trying to say is that: a) conference standings are pure conjecture at this point; b) there is no established and assumed rung-to-rung correspondence between the standings of these two conferences; and c) give the MIAA representatives credit, because even though Wheaton is struggling this season Carthage isn't exactly chopped liver. Just ask Concordia (CA) about that.

I expect the Maroons to play good defense today, try to slow the Titans down and keep the game in the 60s if possible, and play very hard.

Nice try, Lou.

We all know what Chicago is going to try to do, Bob. And it won't make one iota of difference upon the game. As I said on Wednesday night after the Chicago @ Wheaton game, if the Maroons are within twenty of the Titans at halftime today it'll be a sign of the apocalypse. Wesleyan wins this one, 89-59, and you'll have plenty of chances to say the words "Gant" and "Nussbaum" over the air during the last ten minutes of it.