MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[bluejaybacker1]

Yea, when the Jays hit the road you never know what team is going to show up. Elmhurst beat Benedicitne in a scrimmage by a combined 20 points for both halves and Kalamazoo takes them to 2OT's I don't get it. This is the difference between good teams and great teams, going into games you are supposed to win and taking care of business. Granted you will have off nights, but Elmhurst did this last year blowing a 20 point lead to K-Zoo at home and losing a game at Alma. I can only hope Elmhurst can keep it together until the Christmas tourney at Albion. The only game I am not sure about is Buena Vista, I know they were good last year and lost some guys to grad. so I have no idea how they are this year. 

[augiedad]

Elmhurst/K-zoo boxscore...

http://www.kzoo.edu/sports/mb/mb05-06/mbstats05-06/1207kzec.htm

33 for Martin - he took 20 shots from the field and attempted 20 FT's!

15 pts and 16 reb for N. Michael

12 & 5 for freshman Ruch

[augiedad]

Final -

Benedictine 69
Wheaton 68


This is the BU team North Central beat by 26.  How far the Thunder has fallen.  Mercy.

[augiefan]

Augie 72 Coe 59. A really good win for Augie on the road. It looks like Augiedad was right. Glad he was.

[augie_superfan]

Great win for Augie tonight on the road...I'm too tired to type out the stats bu Harrigan scored 27 and McAdams-Thornton had 19

One question for anyone that knows, after Shaun Rose's great game on Monday, why do I not see him in the boxscore?

[augiefan]

Harrigan 27 points and McAdams Thornton 19 points led the Vikings. No one else in double figures. Dane Swetella did not play. Caricato started at center in his place and got 6 points and 7 rebs.

[kenoshamark]

Carthage wins 72-69 over Beloit in overtime.   Carthage had a 20 point lead with under 10 minutes to go and was down by 2 with under 10 seconds to go when they pressed Beloit and stole the ball for a layup with 6 seconds left.   More to follow....

[Jim Matson]

Yes, we've fallen and we can't...you know line follows that one!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Yes, we've fallen and we can't...you know line follows that one!

Yeah, when you graduate 4 starters, then have a likely future POY quit (plus two other likely starters leave), it can get bleak!

There are still quite a few games before we try to predict the CCIW finish, but I'd have to say I will probably place you 7th.  But I would not be at all dismayed if you made it up to 5th or 4th - I'll be rooting for you in your 'annus horribillis'!

[kenoshamark]

Notes from the Carthage game.....

Starting five tonight was Trey Bowens, Keena Johnson, Malik Imani, Mark Morrison and Kyle Jeffery.

Mike Hart off the bench led the team with 17 points and 9 boards.  Bowens had 16, Jeffery with 15 and Morrison with 10.

Bosko shortened up the rotation compared to Monday against Carroll but it still doesn't seem like he has figured out what group is going to give him the best minutes together. 

As mentioned, Carthage blew a 20 point lead when they only scored 2 points in a 12 minute stretch.  These strings of bad minutes have been a consistent problem this year.  There were a number of missed (front end) free throws that hurt along with two to three footers that just wouldn't go in that might have been enough to change the momentum. 

The defense looked very good at times tonight (much better than last year) as they rotated well on drives and off the screens but they lost some of that aggressiveness down the stretch and got burned badly on two in-bounds plays.

Schlemm was still in street clothes tonight so hard to tell when he will be back although he seemed to be walking around fine.

[kenoshamark]

Bob,  Glad you pulled those past articles out regarding some of the top players in this senior class.  You inadvertently forgot to add Brian Schlemm to your list of CCIW players from the article. 

Also, in reference to questions on Bosko's recruiting, there were two other players on those lists who started out at Carthage.   Bryan Smaha from Maine South whom I seem to remember left the squad just before the season started and Derrick Clanton who saw some good minutes his freshman year and then transferred out.  Although they didn't stay at Carthage it does prove that Bosko was continuing to recruit some talented players since the Final Four team.

[kenoshamark]

Here is the boxscore from tonight:

http://www2.carthage.edu/athletics/mens/basketball/beloit.htm

[dansand]

Some familiar names on these old recruiting pieces from the spring of 2002, when the current CCIW seniors were seniors in high school...

"Perfect Player - Shooting"

David Gershenzon (Elmhurst)
Mike McGraw (IWU)
Rick Harrigan (Augustana)
Keelan Amelianovich (IWU)

"Perfect Player - Scoring"

Harrigan
Adam Dauksas (IWU)

"Perfect Player - Dribbling"

Dauksas
Adam Teising (North Central)

"Perfect Player - Passing"

Dauksas

"Perfect Player - Leadership"

Dauksas

Jay McAdams-Thornton was also listed on high school elite's "Perfect Player-Leadership" list. If memory serves me, he and Jeremy Cartwright (formerly at Augie, now at Aurora) were also on the "Perfect Player-Defense" list.

[True Basketball Fan]

Kmark-guy,

Sorry to hurt your feelings by my earlier comments, I didn't realize you were in denial about SOME players at Carthage.  Before you go into another tantrum, let's just wait and see what happens.  Then, when I'm wrong you can strike me down all you want. 

[Gregory Sager]

How did it take 2OT for Elmhurst to defeat Kalamazoo??  Here were K-zoo's 4 losses to date:

L @ Wooster 66-84
L vs St. Thomas 47-70
L @ Aquinas 59-64
L @ Benedictine 43-62


Benedictine is horrible - lost by 26 to North Central! 

Sounds like the same ole Elmhurst - never know what you're going to get.

Wait a minute. Aren't you the one who was going on yesterday about what had happened to Iowa and Indiana in "road games against supposedly inferior opponents" as anecdotal proof that Augie had something to worry about in their game against Coe?

Strange stuff happens on the road. Elmhurst is not as consistent as they ought to be, given their amount of talent, but it's still early December. This game against Kalamazoo is hardly a reason to indict them, especially since they found a way to win the game.

As for Benedictine, you're getting way too caught up in comparative-scores syndrome. As Q said on Saturday after Illinois Wesleyan had beaten Chicago by a much narrower margin than had Wheaton three days earlier, comparing scores disregards the human element of the game. Teams perform at varying levels from one contest to the next, for a hundred different reasons. This is true even of consistently good teams, and consistently bad teams as well. It's certainly true of Benedictine. I tend to think that overall they're a little below where they were last season in terms of offensive weapons (especially on the inside), but it's not a team without talent. They are not "horrible". Alan Fudge would be a star in the CCIW, and Matt Harrison and Tim Swanson are outstanding perimeter shooters (although the first two did not post good numbers against the Wheaties tonight).

Wheaton will struggle this season, but not because they lost to a team that lost to North Central by 26. That makes no more sense than saying that they'll be very good because they beat a team by eleven going away that Wesleyan only managed to beat by four in a narrow contest that came down to free throws in the last half-minute. The Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance will struggle this season, but for reasons independent of all that comparative-scores jazz.

I'll tell you who else might struggle this season if it turns out that Anthony Simmons has indeed left the premises: North Central. Simmons is one of the best big men in the entire Midwest Region, and he's a huge building block for what Raridon aspires to achieve this year in the hangar. If he really is gone, he leaves a giant-sized hole behind him on the Cardinals' roster.