MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

Naperick · January 27, 2008, 12:15:51 AM

I was at the R.A.F. tonight for the Wheaton victory over Elmhurst, 79-75. It was a great game. Lots of runs by both teams. The Bluejays had an early 11 point lead. Wheaton made a nice run to only trail by 6 at the half, 35-29. The Thunder seemed to want it more in the 2nd half and had a 58-48 lead with about 8 minutes to go. The 'Jays outscored Wheaton, 15-5, to end regulation at a 63 tie. Raymond had the last shot from beyond the arc but missed. EC scored first and Wheaton responded in the OT. Same thing again and then the Bluejays had some bad possessions. Wheaton kept scoring and Elmhurst was never able to recover.

The right team won. It seemed like Wheaton knew they had to have this game and played like it. Elmhurst looked a bit slow on defense.

This is the 2nd time I have seen Raymond play and he is amazing. I watched him score 37 at NCC two weeks ago and 33 tonight. He really does play within the offense and keeps his teammates involved. He is a very smart player. I thought Harris coached a great game tonight. The Thunder really shut down Burks. Elmhurst had a bad lineup for about 4-5 minutes and Wheaton went on an amazing run. I estimate it was like a 20-6 run with Raymond and Painter? hitting a few threes. It seemed like Elmhurst was content to just let it happen. Burks and Ruch were not on the floor for most of that run.

Again, Wheaton deserved the win and Raymond is an amazing player. He really plays a lot of minutes.

Ruch impressed me too. It was the first time I had seem Elmhurst play this year. He passes better than I expected and gets a few steals, too. He has improved a lot from last year.

I think it will be very hard for the Bluejays to win the conference title. You can't lose two games at home and expect to win the CCIW. They will play 4 of their next 5 on the road.

It is very important to stay in the top 4 and qualify for the CCIW tourney this season. It's gonna be very hard for the CCIW to send 3 teams to the D3 tourney. It may be hard to get two teams in. Having a shot at the CCIW tourney title means everything this year for the teams that don't win the regular season conference title.

robberki · January 27, 2008, 12:24:12 AM

I have to give it up to Greg Sager, before the game even started he looked at the officating crew and said that Mau Cason shouldn't be allowed to ref a NPU game, his comments carried an odd sense of foreboding and low and behold it played out just like sager envisioned.
I'm still too angry to talk much about the garbage I witnessed tonight.

NPC-Alum · January 27, 2008, 12:32:02 AM

Titan Hammer - you're not the guy who sent Mulkerin back to Chicago with a back that looked like it'd been worked over by a cat o' 9 tails are you?

titanhammer · January 27, 2008, 12:42:45 AM

Quote from: NPC-Alum on January 27, 2008, 12:32:02 AM
Titan Hammer - you're not the guy who sent Mulkerin back to Chicago with a back that looked like it'd been worked over by a cat o' 9 tails are you?

I played two years in the CCIW and carried the bags for two All-Americans: Jeff Kuehl and David Caldwell. Don't think I ever committed a foul....

NPC-Alum · January 27, 2008, 12:48:45 AM

OK, that'd be later than what I was taling about. You're forgiven:)

Talk to any player from NP from the 70s through the 80s and IWU was the toughest place they ever played - for a variety of reasons.

spencer44 · January 27, 2008, 12:52:03 AM

The lane violation on Gant was a lane violation. I'm not sure about the offensive foul but it only helped North Park. The ref was right when he indicated that the made shot was after the buzzer. If they don't call the foul, North Park has no chance to win as time expired before they got their last shot off.

NPC-Alum · January 27, 2008, 12:55:37 AM

I thought that Williams got the shot off, as the buzzer didn't sound until the ball was going through the net. Maybe you had a better view.

devildog29 · January 27, 2008, 01:02:31 AM

Unfortunately, no comment about the final call in the Pantagraph article. I'd be interested to hear Coach Rose's take. I'm sure Q has Coach's take on it, but is it on the record or off the record?

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/01/26/usports/doc479c0c52ef89b114706830.txt

tjcummingsfan · January 27, 2008, 01:05:21 AM

Quote from: spencer44 on January 27, 2008, 12:52:03 AM
The lane violation on Gant was a lane violation. I'm not sure about the offensive foul but it only helped North Park. The ref was right when he indicated that the made shot was after the buzzer. If they don't call the foul, North Park has no chance to win as time expired before they got their last shot off.

The shot absolutely went through before the buzzer.

Mr. Ypsi · January 27, 2008, 01:07:57 AM

Quote from: NPC-Alum on January 27, 2008, 12:48:45 AM
OK, that'd be later than what I was taling about. You're forgiven:)

Talk to any player from NP from the 70s through the 80s and IWU was the toughest place they ever played - for a variety of reasons.

I trust that the 'variety' includes that 4 of the 5 national champion teams lost in B'town.

[In fairness, they won all five in Chicago.

]

Naperick · January 27, 2008, 01:09:29 AM

The officiating at the Wheaton-Elmhurst game was decent but two bad calls went the Bluejays way. By the way, I'm an Elmhurst fan.

Naperick · January 27, 2008, 01:11:51 AM

devildog 29, thanks for the Pantagraph link regarding the NPU-IWU game.

spencer44 · January 27, 2008, 01:14:07 AM

Quote from: tjcummingsfan on January 27, 2008, 01:05:21 AM
Quote from: spencer44 on January 27, 2008, 12:52:03 AM
The lane violation on Gant was a lane violation. I'm not sure about the offensive foul but it only helped North Park. The ref was right when he indicated that the made shot was after the buzzer. If they don't call the foul, North Park has no chance to win as time expired before they got their last shot off.

The shot absolutely went through before the buzzer.

We can agree to disagree on that one. It was a hard played game on both sides.

Naperick · January 27, 2008, 01:18:03 AM

I wish I went to the north side to see the NPU-IWU game tonight. That must have been something to see.

Titan Q · January 27, 2008, 01:20:34 AM

Quote from: Gregory Sager on January 26, 2008, 11:41:31 PM
I've watched basketball my whole life, and the last time that I saw something like this happen was the '72 Olympics.

I'll be honest. I'm both completely shocked and disappointed to hear all of the comments about the officiating. The '72 Olympics?!

Here are the facts:

* Illinois Wesleyan led for the final 18:19 of the game.

* IWU freshmen scored 35 points tonight at North Park.

* IWU's average 2nd half lead was about 5 points (2 possessions).

* With :15 left, up 2, IWU went to the FT line to end the game. On a made FT by Sean Johnson, Darius Gant fell into the lane and his hand touched the paint, giving NPU a complete gift possession.

* With :08 left, Jay Alexander stood at the FT line with a chance to tie the game. He made the first and missed the second, which led to the ensuing scrum. The officials didn't make Jay miss his FT, did they?

* There is no way in the world that final shot was taken within 8 legimate seconds. Anyone notice when the clock started running? About 3 seconds after the FT was missed. No comments about the hometown shotclock operation?

* No North Park fan saw the no-brainer over-the-back foul (that was called) that allowed NPU to shoot the final shot? Come on.

Here is a thought for the NPU fans:

Play better the first 39 minutes and 52 seconds - at home - so you don't have to whine about a wild 8 second flurry at the end of the game.

The better team, and the team that played better tonight, won the game.