MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Scream]

I think the gym was kind of dark and the gold didn't pop as much as it should have.

My guess too.

[79jaybird]

Wow what a win for North Park, congrats to the Vikings!  I knew NPU was/is going to surprise many teams this year.  That is a spunky group.

Also very spunky and intense is Millikin's young group.  Marc Smith has a good group of youngsters that if they can grow, in 2-3 years they should be very strong.

For Elmhurst, the positive is that they shared the wealth well, with 7-8 players getting involved.  Burks had a game high 31 which is a PR for Ryan.    Another positive was hardly any fouls and turnovers in the first half.

Millikin cut the lead down to 10 in the second half as their 3-point shooting started heating up, and the Bluejays had a few more turnovers in the second half.

All in all, a typical CCIW game.  While broadcasting, we were keeping an eye on the Wheaton/Carthage game,  was it Carthage playing extremely well, or Wheaton just not playing well?  Going into the game, I thought this would have been all Wheaton, but good for Carthage to nearly sneak out an upset.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Question from the North Park-Augie game:  If Augustana has such superior size, did they attempt to run any offense out of the post?  With such a low FG percentage, it would seem as though they either did not, or it was just very inefficient. 

If they did, who from North Park was responsible for the defensive presence inside?

Augustana really punished North Park inside - and controlled their offensive boards until the final three minutes.  The few times Augustana worked the ball inside to Swaitella he laid it in.  I'd estimate that about 40 of Augie's 58 points came on shots of under two feet.

The Vikings really collapsed their zone inside the paint in the 2nd half - and other than Wessels, no one on the Augie team even looked for an outside shot, though many were passed up.  #32 for Augie had two or three jumpers off penetration at the free throw line in the 2nd half and Wessels took quite a few outside shots - but NPU was just not going to let their other guards penetrate and dish the ball off to the big men for layups.  Driving the baseline was a life-threatening experience on several occasions.

Nick Williams wound up guarding Swaitella and the other big men several times down low, with Jay Alexander covering either #45 Collins or #40 (who really out-muscled him on a couple of occasions on the offensive boards).  But in the last three minutes Augie got almost no second shots.  Augustana looked so quick in warmups, I was really surprised North Park was able to neutralize that quickness.

It was not a game for the faint of heart or of physical endurance, or those who didn't like contact.  A lot of times finesse took a back seat to brawn and guts for both teams.

DoS

[cawcdad]

I took the picture. The numbers were yellow. The gym wasn't that dark and I didn't use a flash. However, I looked at some of the other pictures and 25's seemed darker in almost every picture, while most were obviously yellow. Back to the regular discussion. Congrats to NPU on a big win.

[Late nite]

IF Carthage shoots the ball the way they did last night, they will be a tough matchup for everyone---They were really tough for Wheaton to guard throughout most of the game when they were sharing the ball---But, as the game grew closer, they relied more on the two-man (or freshman vs All-American) game---They became much more predictable and Wheaton won those smaller battles

Wow what a win for North Park, congrats to the Vikings!  I knew NPU was/is going to surprise many teams this year.  That is a spunky group.

Also very spunky and intense is Millikin's young group.  Marc Smith has a good group of youngsters that if they can grow, in 2-3 years they should be very strong.

For Elmhurst, the positive is that they shared the wealth well, with 7-8 players getting involved.  Burks had a game high 31 which is a PR for Ryan.    Another positive was hardly any fouls and turnovers in the first half.

Millikin cut the lead down to 10 in the second half as their 3-point shooting started heating up, and the Bluejays had a few more turnovers in the second half.

All in all, a typical CCIW game.  While broadcasting, we were keeping an eye on the Wheaton/Carthage game,  was it Carthage playing extremely well, or Wheaton just not playing well?  Going into the game, I thought this would have been all Wheaton, but good for Carthage to nearly sneak out an upset.

[OurHouse]

TQ---

As you said, many of the NCC 3 point misses were indeed the result of good defense on the part of the Titans. However, as far as the Wesleyan misses that you refer to possibly making the final margin around 20, I think it can be said that those misses were the result of an effective zone defense on the part of the Cards.

To their credit, the Cards didn't throw in the towel after falling behind by a wide margin initially, and battled back, outscoring the Titans by 5 in the second stanza.
That non quit attitude can only result in positives as they enter future battles in what will unquestionably be several close encounters during the tough, and quite likely fairly well balanced CCIW season.

AndOne:

So far, I have seen all of the IWU games - I have to agree with your statement of touph defense but I really believe the Titans will get killed inside once they face REAL big post players - the freshman big guys are light and Gant is the only notable semi-big guy who can (when he wants to) jump through the roof.

Anyway, NCC was NOT a good team last night - a good High School team could of beat them. We will see how really good IWU is when they face Carthage, Augie, NPU and Wheaton - oh, I forgot about Ruch   

jmho~

(modified by GS for formatting)

[bbjunkie]

If you stand on teh perimeter and shoot 3's you won't get free throw attempts.  In the first half they went inside to their center and got some production out of him.

Numer 24 & 10 for Carthage did a very good job guarding Raymonds at differnt times during the game.  Too bad for Carthage that number 4 for Carthage let Panner shoot open 3 after open 3.

The turning point of game I think was when Wheaton went to the press.  It seemed to take Carthage out of the rhythem.

[tjcummingsfan]

I can't believe I missed this NP game, I was getting texts from my fiancee throughout the second half, and was sitting on the edge of my seat here in New Orleans.  Not a bad way for things to be shaken up at the beginning of the CCIW season.  I can't wait to be back and see the game next Wednesday against North Central, then travel (hopefully with a huge crowd) to Wheaton a week from Saturday!  Man I love this.

[tjcummingsfan]

Out of curoisity...


Who won the Augie vs. NPU JV game?

Similarly, did Brian Nuss play in the IWU JV game, if so, how did he look?

[robberki]

Out of curoisity...


Who won the Augie vs. NPU JV game?

Similarly, did Brian Nuss play in the IWU JV game, if so, how did he look?

there was no augie - NPU jv game.

[Titan Q]

I think that North Park's commitment to pack it inside - stick with their zone - and make Augie beat them from the outside (which they could not do) - and the fact that they did not panic when they went down by eight in the 2nd half was the difference.

With Jordan Delp out, I think Augustana is going to see a whole bunch of zone thrown at them.  It just seems like an obvious thing to try against them. 

The Vikings have just two starters now who are 3-point threats and neither is shooting a high %:

Brett Wessels: 14-48 (.292)
Matt Pelton: 6-22 (.273)

Last year Augie shot an incredible .440 from 3 on the season.  This year vs UW-Oshkosh, UW-Stevens Point, and North Park - the best 3 teams they have played since Delp's injury - they are 16-54 (.296).

Based on Augie's 3-point struggles and their impressive size/strength (as noted by the NPU posters), it just seems logical to zone them.  (While that sounds good on paper, you still have to have the personnel and scheme to play the zone effectively.)

I wonder if at some point Augie will be tempted to start another 3-point threat (Avallone?) and bring Washington off the bench.

[79jaybird]

The "glue" for Augie last year was Delp who made clutch 3 pointers and big shots throughout the season last year.  I specifically remember the Augie/EC regular season game @Augie.  Anytime Elmhurst came close, Delp was there to hit the big shot.

[markerickson]

Avilone had good form and looked like a good shooter.  He seemed to have confidence and scored approx. 10 points last night.  Wessels has a very high arc to his trey shot - perhaps the highest I've ever seen.  I commented to my friend that Avilone looked to be Augie's best pure shooter. 

[Late nite]

The "glue" for Augie last season was Drew Wessels who continually broke down defenses and created open 3's for Delp, Brusven, Nate Swetalla and Pelton to the tune of 44%---He also had the ability to penetrate seams in a zone---The Vikes would lick their chops when they faced a zone---Augie does not have a guard that can break down defenses on a consistent basis---How about Jeff Becker?---Did he play?---He was the leading scorer on the JV team last season and a very good shooter---With the shooting percentages that Q has mentioned, I'm surprised that he isn't seeing a lot of minutes

The "glue" for Augie last year was Delp who made clutch 3 pointers and big shots throughout the season last year.  I specifically remember the Augie/EC regular season game @Augie.  Anytime Elmhurst came close, Delp was there to hit the big shot.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Out of curoisity...


Who won the Augie vs. NPU JV game?

Similarly, did Brian Nuss play in the IWU JV game, if so, how did he look?

Brian suffered a sprained ankle in practice this week and was not able to dress for the varsity game.
NCC cancelled the JV game with IWU.

The basketball gods can be cruel and capricious.  When I saw Brian play as a freshman, I was certain he would be at least 3rd-team all-CCIW by his junior year, and perhaps even in the running for MOP in his senior year.  Due to repeated injuries, his entire varsity career, half-way thru his senior season, has amounted to 32 minutes, 9 points.

This is not a tragedy (what happened to Bluffton's baseball team or to Doug Schmied is tragic), but it is certanly sad when a promising player loses out on essentially his entire college career.