MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Brick]

I for one am not worried about Dain going down with an ankle injury...both Rose and Caricato had minutes last season and I think this is going to be a good chance for them to show Grey that they deserve the minutes...Both guys look very strong last night I hope to see more out of them in the future

[Gregory Sager]

A very entertaining Saturday doubleheader brought my marathon ten-games-in-nine-days stretch of D3 ball to a close (and I thought that this was going to be a hard year for me to get out to a lot of games!). I certainly owe Chicago an apology. As horrible as they looked on Wednesday at Wheaton, they completely reversed themselves and looked very good against Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday. One could write it off to playing to the level of the competition, but that's not the case. The effort was certainly there against Wheaton; they simply executed very poorly. Their execution took a 180-degree turn in three days.

The Maroons did an outstanding job of shooting in the first half, hitting five of their first six trey attempts and continually beating Wesleyan's forwards on the blocks by getting them up in the air with fakes (McGrath must've seen something in scouting Wesleyan, because he had his players doing that down low all afternoon.) The rotating-post offense Chicago ran really seemed to have Wesleyan baffled. They took Keelan Amelianovich out of the game completely; the first time I saw him even touch the ball was seven minutes into the game, and he didn't have a shot attempt until there was eleven minutes and change left in the half. And the Maroons certainly played with more energy than Wesleyan; when star big man Clay Carmody went out with his second foul eight minutes into the game, I thought, "That's it. Here's where Wesleyan makes their big run and puts the game out of reach." Didn't happen. Chicago just wouldn't back down for a moment.

The reasons why Wesleyan caught up with Chicago at the end of the first half and then enjoyed a lead all thoughout the second stanza -- although they obviously never put the Maroons away -- were threefold. First, the Titans extended their defense from about eighteen feet out to about twenty feet out midway through the first half. Thus, the 20-footers that Brandon Woodhead and Jesse Meyer had been knocking down at will became 23-footers, and Chicago would only go a more modest 4-14 from downtown from that point. Second, Chicago's forwards failed to recognize that Wesleyan always releases a big man early in transition -- or they recognized it but failed or were unable to do anything about it -- and Zach Freeman began scoring a lot of cripple points on runouts. Third, Adam Dauksas decided he'd had enough of this nonsense and really took the game in hand in the second half.

Still, it required money shooting from the line in the last minute for Wesleyan to pull it out. And, as I said on Wednesday night, Chicago has a big problem in that they don't finish well when they get to the basket. On Saturday they missed a whole pile of layups in the middle of the second half, confirming that; the only guy who seemed to be able to convert every time that he got to the rim was their sophomore from Wauconda, Matt Corning. I really like his game. If Chicago had been more successful in that department, it might've been a different story.

Wesleyan did what it had to do to win. But it was hardly a showcase game for them.

Greg, you already believe your boyz over at the Park will be cellar dwellars in the CCIW.  So, you haven't exactly shyed away from your predictions either.

I never said any such thing, Cardinal Pride.

[Gregory Sager]

The second game was just as entertaining. It was played at Hanover's pace and with Hanover's style -- slow and ugly, in other words -- but Elmhurst managed to prevail in spite of an off night by stars Chris Martin and Nick Michael, mostly because their bench did an amazing job. Hanover really plays phenomenal defense: Sound footwork, tons of hustle, lots of physicality that recognizes and adjusts to what the refs are giving them that night, great recognition, everyone knows his role. They collapsed on Martin every time that he got the ball; no surprise there, as a lot of teams are going to do that this year against the 'jays, but they covered it so well that the Elmhurst star could not use his passing ability to convert it into an easy assist. And the Panthers did a terrific job of getting back on defense, taking away Martin's amazing abilities in the open court.

Elmhurst, by contrast, was off-and-on on defense. They didn't cover the weakside shooter in the corner throughout the entire first half. Hanover, on the other hand, was ice-cold from beyond the arc all night (4-21); it was almost comical to watch them swing or skip it over to a man (usually guard Clint Parker) who didn't have a Bluejay within eight feet of him, only to watch him bounce a bomb harmlessly off of the rim. The 'jays did tighten up their D in the second half, particularly during the stretch in which they held the Panthers scoreless for five minutes, turning a 52-47 Hanover lead in a game I was pretty sure Elmhurst was going to lose into a 61-52 Elmhurst lead in a game that I was certain the 'jays would win.

Freshmen Brent Ruch and Robert Strzemp played that entire stretch, with upperclassmen Nick Michael and Andrew Mohney cooling their heels on the bench, and that might've been the most remarkable aspect of the entire evening. Although I thought Evan Patchett was Elmhurst's MVP for the day, Ruch and Strzemp both did a fantastic job under extreme pressure circumstances. They're both going to be very strong players in this league, and they've got me convinced that the 'jays could be a very powerful force in the CCIW for the foreseeable future.

Incidentally, I didn't see the Millikin score reported anywhere on CCIW Chat. The Big Blue won at Webster, 73-52.

[augiedad]

My wife and I attended the IWU/UC game yesterday.  I had to agree to 3 hours of pregame shopping on Michigan Ave. to get it done, but at least I got to see a game!

My take on the Titan performance is much different thanGregory's who called it "hardly a showcase game."  I thought it was a "showcase game" of sorts just from a standpoint that IWU demonstrated why they are going to be incredibly difficult to beat this year.  IWU ran into a team that was playing really, really hard and a team that was making a ton of difficult shots.  When you are rated number 1, you are always going to get everyone's best shot, and IWU took Chicago's absolutely best shot.  Still, IWU played with a ton of poise down the stretch and you never felt at any point like the Titans were going to lose the game.  Afterall IWU led by 7-9 most of the way down the stretch.  You also felt that as long as IWU had Adam Dauksas on the floor, there was no way they were losing.   This seemed like the kind of game IWU will face time and time again in the league this year, where the opposition has you scouted and they're playing like it is the biggest game of the year.

I also disagree with Gregory's description of Zach Freeman's performance as "scoring a lot of cripple points on runouts."  Freeman hit a number of tough shots in the post, heavily guarded, where he initially missed the shot but kept going back after his own miss.  Actually, I'm not sure he even scored on a runout.  I think he missed shots on the couple of fastbreak situations he had.  Now he had a 2 monster dunks off offensive rebounds, but not off easy fast breaks as Gregory is suggesting.  The Freeman kid is scary talented.  I'd say the most physically talented player in the CCIW.

I left thinking that if Zach Freeman and Keelan Amelianovich played with the chip on their shoulder that Adam Dauksas does, IWU would be unbeatable by Division 3 teams.  Freeman and Amelianovich are "too nice" out there.  They need to get nastier.  This Titan team has so much talent it is ridiculous.  I think 14-0 in the CCIW is possible.

[Ralph Turner]

Augie dad, I gave you a karma point for the 3 hours of Michigan Avenue shopping.  It was a tough job, but someone had to do it!

[veterancciwfan]

Never underestimate the desire and energy an IWU opponent will have to knock of the #1 D3 team in the nation. IWU will be challenged in the league, certainly in every road game. The U. of Chicago kids played before their largest home crowd of the season, and 75% were IWU fans. Cory Jones and Mike McGraw both hit baseline shots in the final 10 minutes that were huge. IWU is more than Freeman, Dauksas, & Amel'vich, although those 3 are among the best in the nation in D3. Steve Schweer also contributed with his energy and defense. Nice win against a team that is well coached, has a lot of size, and 2 guards in Meyer and Woodhead who, if they play every game like they did Sat., would be all-conference CCIW 2nd or 3rd team players. 5-0 with 3 games left before Matt Arnold returns to add even more experience and ball handling ability. One of the Chicago fans held up a sign that said: Where's Matt?

[cardinalpride]

A very entertaining Saturday doubleheader brought my marathon ten-games-in-nine-days stretch of D3 ball to a close (and I thought that this was going to be a hard year for me to get out to a lot of games!). I certainly owe Chicago an apology. As horrible as they looked on Wednesday at Wheaton, they completely reversed themselves and looked very good against Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday. One could write it off to playing to the level of the competition, but that's not the case. The effort was certainly there against Wheaton; they simply executed very poorly. Their execution took a 180-degree turn in three days.

The Maroons did an outstanding job of shooting in the first half, hitting five of their first six trey attempts and continually beating Wesleyan's forwards on the blocks by getting them up in the air with fakes (McGrath must've seen something in scouting Wesleyan, because he had his players doing that down low all afternoon.) The rotating-post offense Chicago ran really seemed to have Wesleyan baffled. They took Keelan Amelianovich out of the game completely; the first time I saw him even touch the ball was seven minutes into the game, and he didn't have a shot attempt until there was eleven minutes and change left in the half. And the Maroons certainly played with more energy than Wesleyan; when star big man Clay Carmody went out with his second foul eight minutes into the game, I thought, "That's it. Here's where Wesleyan makes their big run and puts the game out of reach." Didn't happen. Chicago just wouldn't back down for a moment.

The reasons why Wesleyan caught up with Chicago at the end of the first half and then enjoyed a lead all thoughout the second stanza -- although they obviously never put the Maroons away -- were threefold. First, the Titans extended their defense from about eighteen feet out to about twenty feet out midway through the first half. Thus, the 20-footers that Brandon Woodhead and Jesse Meyer had been knocking down at will became 23-footers, and Chicago would only go a more modest 4-14 from downtown from that point. Second, Chicago's forwards failed to recognize that Wesleyan always releases a big man early in transition -- or they recognized it but failed or were unable to do anything about it -- and Zach Freeman began scoring a lot of cripple points on runouts. Third, Adam Dauksas decided he'd had enough of this nonsense and really took the game in hand in the second half.

Still, it required money shooting from the line in the last minute for Wesleyan to pull it out. And, as I said on Wednesday night, Chicago has a big problem in that they don't finish well when they get to the basket. On Saturday they missed a whole pile of layups in the middle of the second half, confirming that; the only guy who seemed to be able to convert every time that he got to the rim was their sophomore from Wauconda, Matt Corning. I really like his game. If Chicago had been more successful in that department, it might've been a different story.

Wesleyan did what it had to do to win. But it was hardly a showcase game for them.

Greg, you already believe your boyz over at the Park will be cellar dwellars in the CCIW.  So, you haven't exactly shyed away from your predictions either.

I never said any such thing, Cardinal Pride.

My bad!  Maybe it was my perception of some of your earlier posts on NP..

[Gregory Sager]

My take on the Titan performance is much different thanGregory's who called it "hardly a showcase game."  I thought it was a "showcase game" of sorts just from a standpoint that IWU demonstrated why they are going to be incredibly difficult to beat this year.  IWU ran into a team that was playing really, really hard and a team that was making a ton of difficult shots.

That's my point, Augiedad. Chicago played just as hard on Wednesday night as they did on Saturday afternoon. The difference was in the execution, not the effort.

I also disagree with Gregory's description of Zach Freeman's performance as "scoring a lot of cripple points on runouts."  Freeman hit a number of tough shots in the post, heavily guarded, where he initially missed the shot but kept going back after his own miss.  Actually, I'm not sure he even scored on a runout.  I think he missed shots on the couple of fastbreak situations he had.  Now he had a 2 monster dunks off offensive rebounds, but not off easy fast breaks as Gregory is suggesting.  The Freeman kid is scary talented.  I'd say the most physically talented player in the CCIW.

Most of the baskets Freeman scored were as a result of transition. "Transition" does not necessarily mean a fast break. It also means beating your man down the floor and getting the ball in position before the other team has a chance to set up, and Freeman did a lot of that. That's what I meant by "cripple points" -- Freeman got the ball in the blocks and got off his shot before the Maroons were able to get in position to offer weakside help.

[Gregory Sager]

One of the Chicago fans held up a sign that said: Where's Matt?

The much funnier sign held up by a Chicago student was the one that read, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas".

Speaking of student fans, Elmhurst has a newly-organized group called the Faganel Fanatics. They're a fairly large and noisy bunch, and it looks as though they may eclipse the memory of the short-lived Dirty Corner that spiced up Elmhurst games a half-dozen years ago. The Fanatics have got to work on their creativity, though; the most that they offered aside from good healthy lungpower, besides a chant of "Howdy-Doody!" aimed at one of the redheaded Hanover players, was the traditional barnyard epithet after a call went against the Bluejays. Nothing impresses me less in a student section than the BS chant. The Bluejays are raising their game; their student section needs to raise theirs as well.

[bluejaybacker1]

Mr. Sager,

I would definately have to agree with you on the originality of their chants. This is the first year the group has banned together in Faganel Hall maybe and hopefully they will warm up come conference time.

Not a fan of the BS chant either.

[Gregory Sager]

CCIW overall record: 24- 13 (.649)
... vs. NAIA-1: 3-2
... vs. NAIA-2: 3-0
... vs. USCAA: 1-0
... vs. D3: 17-11 (.607)
...... vs. D3 non-regional: 2-3
...... vs. D3 200-mile teams: 3-3
...... vs. D3 Midwest Region: 12-5 (.706)
......... vs. HCAC: 1-0
......... vs. LMC: 2-0
......... vs. MWC: 2-1
......... vs. NIIC: 2-4
......... vs. SLIAC: 3-0
......... vs. UAA 2-0

[Pat Coleman]

banned together

I think that is what happened to the Dirty Corner. If they were not banned together, then most assuredly they were all banned separately.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

CCIW overall record: 24- 13 (.649)
... vs. NAIA-1: 3-2
... vs. NAIA-2: 3-0
... vs. USCAA: 1-0
... vs. D3: 17-11 (.607)
...... vs. D3 non-regional: 2-3
...... vs. D3 200-mile teams: 3-3
...... vs. D3 Midwest Region: 12-5 (.706)
......... vs. HCAC: 1-0
......... vs. LMC: 2-0
......... vs. MWC: 2-1
......... vs. NIIC: 2-4
......... vs. SLIAC: 3-0
......... vs. UAA 2-0

and
......... vs. MIAA 0-5   

[Gregory Sager]

I only track Midwest Region games by league, FDF, although some of those games between your league and mine fall under the "200-mile" category. Nevertheless, I hasten to point out that the games against the MIAA are somewhat skewed by a minor detail, which is that all five to date have been played in DeVos Fieldhouse. 

I think that the CCIW was the underdog in four of those five games, and if you check the CCIW pick'em room you'll see that I'm not alone in that assessment. The only real surprise I've seen in those five games to date was Calvin's win over Carthage. Not that the pick'em room is any sort of proven barometer, but twelve of the sixteen participants picked the Red Men to win that game. In the other four games, the majority of the participants -- all but a couple of whom are CCIW fans -- picked the MIAA team to win.

There are two more CCIW vs. MIAA games coming up this week, and it's noteworthy that both of them will be on your side of the lake as well: Elmhurst @ Kalamazoo and North Central @ Adrian. My gut feeling is that these games will not be so readily picked to favor the home team in the CCIW pick'em room, though. The other two possible matchups between CCIW and MIAA teams are in tournaments; Elmhurst and Olivet could meet in the Elmhurst Bluejay Classic on Dec. 17 (Elmhurst plays Marian (WI) and Olivet plays Buena Vista in the opening round games), and Elmhurst could meet Albion in the Albion Holiday Inn Tournament on Dec. 29 (the Bluejays face Wisconsin-Superior in the first round, while the Britons square off against Concordia (MI)).

Let's see what happens next season when all of these home-and-away contracts, and the CCIW/MIAA Challenge as well, are played on the windward side of Lake Michigan. 

Frankly, I'm a lot more concerned about how the CCIW is faring against the NIIC than I am about the games against the MIAA.

[True Basketball Fan]

Although true, Flying Dutcher, I believe all 5 losses have come via the De Vos.  2 of those are hardly neutral also, with Calvin being down the road, and Hope fans rooting for Calvin (I don't know, I'm guessing that they might of).