MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwumichigander]

Strzemp
Hintzsche
Childs
Burks
Ryder
starting 5 for Elmhurst.  Coach Scherrer is going with Ruch off the bench.  Very surprising and we will see how this works out for EC.

Likely trying to use save Ruch minutes for Sat @ IWU >?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Guess my evening is set (unless the wife still holds out for dinner in Frankenmuth with friends, but they got 10 inches yesterday, so maybe it can be cancelled, er, postponed! ): Q's voice and three sets of livestats!

The only thing better would be Q's broadcast and FOUR sets of livestats (since I usually can only listen with less than one ear, livestats on IWU are always a plus)!  Anyone think there is a chance that, whether by league rule or public pressure, by next season all conference schools will provide livestats?

Chuck, you can make your check out to:

North Park University
Dept. of Athletics
3225 W. Foster Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625

Be sure to put "livestats equipment purchase" in the memo line.

Greg, once you send me the "Got Yo' Back" check for the "cancelled, er, postponed! ", I will forward it to the address specified!

More seriously, if it is just NCC and NPU without livestats, I hope some solution can be found soon - they're great for us distant fans!

[79jaybird]

IWU Michigander,  I am/was shocked to hear that Elmhurst did not start Ruch.  The only thing I can think is that perhaps Mark Scherrer is trying to shake things up a bit, light a fire under his guys because both Ruch and Burks have been so inconsistent, along with not playing as well as we all know they can.
Ruch has about 9 points already in the first half off the bench, hitting a couple of 3 pointers.  I think EC/MU are in the midst of a span of 7 straight 3 pointers between the 2 schools.

Don't worry,  I know Ruch will be ready and eager to play in Bloomington (close to his hometown of Farmer City) on Saturday. 

[Gregory Sager]

Greg, once you send me the "Got Yo' Back" check for the "cancelled, er, postponed! ", I will forward it to the address specified!

Good comeback, Chuck.

More seriously, if it is just NCC and NPU without livestats, I hope some solution can be found soon - they're great for us distant fans!

Us not-so-distant fans, too. I use them all the time on nights when NPU isn't playing at home or in Chicagoland. I'd love to see North Park get livestats. But the software may not be a top priority for schools that have tight athletic budgets (e.g., NPU).

[iwumichigander]

IWU Michigander,  I am/was shocked to hear that Elmhurst did not start Ruch.  The only thing I can think is that perhaps Mark Scherrer is trying to shake things up a bit, light a fire under his guys because both Ruch and Burks have been so inconsistent, along with not playing as well as we all know they can.
Ruch has about 9 points already in the first half off the bench, hitting a couple of 3 pointers.  I think EC/MU are in the midst of a span of 7 straight 3 pointers between the 2 schools.

Don't worry,  I know Ruch will be ready and eager to play in Bloomington (close to his hometown of Farmer City) on Saturday. 

Ruch always seems to have a good game at the Shirk;

[79jaybird]

Yes he does and he will tell you he loves to play down there.  He always has a large attendance of family and friends present.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Ruch has so far played 21 of the 34 minutes (and scored 16 points), so if it was a ploy, it was brief and it worked!

[iwumichigander]

Ruch has so far played 21 of the 34 minutes (and scored 16 points), so if it was a ploy, it was brief and it worked!

Likely out of necessity - with 4:19 remaining in 2nd Millikin has outscored Elmhurst 39-31 and the margin was higher

[Gregory Sager]

First final in: From Kenosha, it's Wheaton 71, Carthage 54.

Raymond, 26 pts
Wiele, 22 pts, 14 rebs

Djurickovic, 18 pts (15 in second half)
Bowens, 14 pts

[iwumichigander]

Final IWU 81 - NCC 67

Sean Johnson had 24 points to lead all scorers in the game.
Darius Gant put up another double-double 13 pts on 5-6 FGA, 14 boards and 3-4 from the charity stripe (way to go Darius!)
Travis Rosenkranz had 13 pts Doug Sexauer contributed 10 pts
IWU was 16-20 FT-FTA for 80.0%

With wins by Augustana, IWU, Wheaton and Elmhurst, the CCIW looks like this:
Augustana    7-2
IWU      6-3
Carthage                   5-4
Elmhurst                   5-4
Wheaton                   5-4
North Park   3-6
North Central   3-6
Millikin                   2-7

A big game in Bloomington for the Titans against Elmhurst Saturday; and Carthage at Augie should be an interesting one if Carthage can overcome the shooting funk they had tonight.

[Gregory Sager]

Augie 72, NPU 61

Nick Williams, 20 pts
Ed Whitaker, 14 pts (career high)
Clayton Cahill, 7 pts (first varsity appearance)

Brett Wessels, 21 pts
Dain Swetalla, 9 pts
Alex Washington, 9 pts
Justin Bertrand, 8 pts

Credit this one to Augie's defense. The Rock Islanders really put the clamps on NPU (only 35% from the field), particularly the two top North Park scorers; Nick Williams and Jason Gordon went a combined 11-29 from the field. Augie also had a healthy rebounding edge -- no surprise there -- at a 38-29 clip. Augie turned the ball over 17 times to NPU's 13.

North Park couldn't throw the ball into the Mississippi for the first thirty minutes of the game, as Augie, which led by 14 at the half, cruised to a 22-point lead in the last ten minutes. NPU then went to a smaller, quicker lineup that featured Whitaker and Cahill alongside Chris Brown, forcing a fistful of Augie turnovers and a run by the Park to halve the lead. But NPU never got the lead down to single digits.

Tough loss for the Park, but that's what happens when you run into a good defensive team like Augie that's capable of taking your two best players out of their game.

[Mr. Ypsi]

All finals:

Elmhurst over Millikin, 87-72 (actually livestats froze w/ 2 seconds left, but ...)
Wheaton over Carthage, 71-54
Augie over NPU, 72-62
IWU over NCC 81-67.

Juxt a couple of weeks ago, we were marveling over a six total point margin in the four games.  I wonder how long it has been since all four games were decided by double digits?!

[Gregory Sager]

Three boxes thus far:

http://www.augustana.edu/athletics/mbasketball/stats/2007-08/08mbb20.htm

http://www.carthage.edu/athleticspages/mens/basketball/wc2.htm

http://www.northcentralcollege.edu/athletics/stats/basketball_m/07-08/NCCM-IWU.HTM

[Gregory Sager]

I wonder if tonight's performance signals the emergence of freshman guard Clayton Cahill as a member of the NPU rotation. He's been dominant on the JV level this season; I keep score for the North Park junior varsity, so I can tell you that over the past six home games he's averaged over 21 ppg.

Cahill's obviously an explosive scorer -- he has the quicks, the ballhandling skills, and he can shoot. He's an off-guard by trade who has been forced to play the point for the first time ever this year because of the lack of a natural PG on the NPU junior varsity team. I think that that's been a good experience for him; it's enabled him to learn how to see the floor better, make good decisions, and understand the offense. He could turn out to be a pretty nice player down the road for the Vikings.

[iwumichigander]

Elmhurst should feel lucky to get out of Decatur with a win.  Millikin out scored the Blue Jays 46 - 42 in the second half,  got the Elmhurst lead down to 5 points before Elmhurst stepped up and pulled away with energy from Ruchs & Burks.

Elmhurst in the first half committed only 4 turnovers, 3 PF and led by 19 points 45-26. Neither team made it to the charity stripe in the 1st half.

Different story for the Blue Jays in the 2nd half - 10 turnovers 9 PF and gets out scored by 4.  From the box, Millikin seems to have almost pulled of an upset ? Elmhurst finished the contest with 14 TO's and 12 PF's.