MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

The guy back at the studio on WETN just called the game a "preseason" game. Haha...

Whee! Welcome back everyone and good luck to the Thunder tomorrow against some real competition.

You're getting that excited over a pre-season game?

[thundermike11]

Overall a solid game tonight for Wheaton. Andy Wiele had 22 points and 13 boards, Kent Raymond put in 25, and Ben Panner had 19-- which doesn't really speak for the all-around great game that BP had tonight. He was all over the place deflecting passes and playing outstanding defense.

The offense didn't seem to flow very well tonight for Wheaton, which I suppose is not all bad since they put up 87 points. Ohio Wesleyan should provide some more resistance tomorrow night.

A ton of students at the game tonight. The crowd moved throughout the day, going from the women's bball game, to the women's soccer game, and then back to King for the men's game.

8 players saw double-digit minutes tonight, and Coach Harris went 9 deep before the game got out of hand.

[iwumichigander]

Q,

As bad as Taylor-Fort Wayne is, should we be at all concerned about the defense that allowed them 70 points?  Or just comfort ourselves that it was their seventh game, our first, yet we still won by 20?

Interested in Q's thoughts.  I take comfort that no Titan played more than 29 minutes; 24 assists v. 9 T/O; we shot FG Ok; 4 guys in double figure but hum - 57.1% FTM not a good way to start out.

[AndOne]

All 16 players who dressed for North Central saw action and 14 scored as the Cardinals opened the 08-09 season by obliterating MacMurray 107-68 in Naperville. Elmhurst had previously beaten MacMurray by 26.

The Cards were led in scoring by Reid Barringer who hit 5/9 treys and finished with 19 points. Chris Drennan had his usual stellar game connecting on 7/8 shots and adding 2/2 FTs to total 16. The Highlanders were already reeling when Coach Todd Raridon sent in senior Dominique King to administer the coup de grace. Running the floor except for a brief stop to drop a 3 bomb, King hit 5/6 shots and added 2 FTs to register 13 points in only 14 minutes of action. Senior reserve center Josh Corso filled the role as the evening's fan favorite, and earned several rounds of cheers for his hustling play. Diving on the floor for lose balls, leaping to intercept a lob pass, collecting some tough boards, swating away 2 layup attempts, and officially registering 4 steals (I counted 6), Corso at times, seemed to be everywhere. In addition to his outstanding defensive effort, Josh hit 2/3 shots and dropped in 5/6 FTs   

Make no mistake, the Highlanders are not a good team, but the Cards help defense generated 30 TOs,a number that looks good even against lesser opposition. The Cards, largely due to the presence of 6 seniors, are definitely ahead of the game on the defensive end compared to where they were at this point last year. Another encouraging sign was that each of the Cards 4 freshmen who made their collegiate debuts seemed to know both their defensive and offensive assignments, and for the most part played well within themselves and the flow of the game.

The Cards will definitely face much stiffer competition when they go up against the  scholarship boys from NAIA Mt Vernon Nazarene tomorrow night.

[Titan Q]

IWU 90
Taylor-FW 70

* Jordan Zimmer: 17 pts (5-6 3-pt)
* Doug Sexauer: 14 pts, 5 reb (7-10 FG)
* Duncan Lawson: 12 pts, 7 reb (5-8 FG)
* John Koschnitzky: 11 pts, 7 reb (4-6 FG)
* 3 starting guards: 20 assists, 1 T.O.


The Titans looked like a team playing its first game for about the first 25 minutes of action last night vs Taylor-Fort Wayne but then settled in and started to execute as the 2nd half played out.

First, regarding T-FW, the Falcons have two very impressive players in 6-2 guard Ryan Woods (21 pts) and 6-5/235 center Matt Stine (24 pts, 11 reb).  IWU guard Sean Dwyer is considered one of the best perimeter defenders in the CCIW and he had trouble handling Woods most of the game.  Stine, no relation to Coach Stein, is a linebacker-looking post player with good low post skills...he gave the Titans trouble all night long.  The Falcons have a third good player in 6-4 Rokas Niparavicius (10 pts, 9 reb), whose name would look right at home on the typical Carthage roster.  T-FW's problem is that they only have 7 players and that is just not enough depth to compete with a good team, or even an average team that plays the usual 9 or 10 guys.  Manchester head coach Brad Nadborne warned me, "It is impossible to look good in beating these guys," and he was referring to their helter skelter style.  They just do a lot of different things - like breaking out into 4 corners on occassion to slow the game down, but then will run and shoot quick for a few possessions.  Just a weird team to play and a very different style game than D3 fans are used to.

IWU led the entire game, but was up just 6 points at the 9:00 mark in the 2nd.  The Titans pulled away for good behind an 18-2 run over the span of just 2 minutes and 35 seconds.  During that flurry, the Titans really passed the ball well and played with a lot of energy. 6-5 freshman G/F Jordan Zimmer, who had a great first college game (17 pts, 5-6 3-pt), knocked down two 3's during the run. 

I'd have a hard time coming up with detailed analysis of this game (what the Titans did well, what they didn't, etc) because of how strange the opponent was...just not your typical game.  From a very high-level standpoint though, some observations...

1) IWU has incredible depth this year.   The Titans started 6-0 Rosenkranz (So), 5-10 Dwyer (Jr), 6-1 Johnson (So), 6-7 Lawson (So), and 6-7 Sexauer (So) - 3 starters from the team that went 9-5 in the CCIW last year, with Lawson replacing Darius Gant and Sexauer for the injured Chamernik.  The "next 5", though, seems to be every bit as good as the starting unit.  The Titans don't lose anything when they start subbing with 6-5 Zimmer (Fr), 6-6 Koschnitzky (Fr), 6-7 O'Callaghan (So), 6-3 Morris (Sr), and 6-4 Schick (So).  And again, Chamernik really isn't even in the mix yet.  I got to thinking during the game last night that I can't envision a scenario when this IWU team will be in foul trouble - at every position, the 2nd guy on the depth chart is just about as good as the first (is some cases better in my opinion).

2) Defense and rebounding will be the big question mark for this young IWU team.  This Titan team will be great offensively - there is no question in my mind about that.  But can they defend and rebound.  We'll see.

3. This team will be a "work in progress", as coaches like to say.  It is going to take a while for Ron Rose and staff to sort out who should be starting, how the rotation should be setup, etc..  Having tremendous depth is a great thing, but it also means you have to really work hard to put all of the pieces together.  I don't think IWU could beat #1 Wash U, #2 Augustana, or #3 Wheaton today, but I think there is a chance this team could be very good by the time the CCIW schedule starts.


After not catching a single scrimmage or practice in the preseason, it was good to see the Titans play.  Glad I made the trip.

[Titan Q]

Manchester (2-1 with wins over Alma and Kalamazoo...loss @ D1 Eastern Illinois) will provide a much more "traditional" D3 test for Illinois Wesleyan today (3:00pm EST).  Brad Nadborne is in the process of building a nice team, but like IWU, they are primarily sophomores and freshmen.  Manchester's rotation is...

G Tyler Delauder (So), 6-1
G Nathan Ferth (So), 6-3
G Mitch Schaefer (So), 6-4
F Tyler Henn (So), 6-5
C Jason Spindler (Fr), 6-10

Bench: Jordan Moss (Fr, 6-4), Adam Miller (Fr, 6-7),  Jeff Grabowski (Sr, 6-6), Joe Smith (Jr, 6-0), Logan Smith (Jr, 6-2)


Spindler is going to be one of the best big men in the Midwest region down the road - I'm interested to see how IWU handles him, with the Titans giving up a lot of height with whoever guards him.  The Spartans, like IWU, have a lot of depth but not a clear-cut superstar at this point.

If the Titans are ready to play with the big boys in Division III, they'll beat Manchester convincingly today...but I think IWU is such a long way from a finished product that I have no idea what to expect.

[Titan Q]

Can tournament schedules like IWU's and Wheaton's actually hurt your tournament resume with the selection committee?  Both tournaments mock the strength of schedule clause. 

Remember, IWU's game vs Taylor-Fort Wayne and Wheaton's vs Staten Island don't count at all for purposes of the Division III tournament - neither game was an in-region D3 contest.  Today's IWU/Manchester game is "in-region" for both teams, while Wheaton vs Ohio Wesleyan is another non-factor game.

Both IWU and Wheaton have plenty of strong, in-region non-conference tests on the schedule.

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/schedules.asp?path=mbball

http://www.iwuhoops.com/sch08-09.htm

[Mugsy]

The guy back at the studio on WETN just called the game a "preseason" game. Haha...

Whee! Welcome back everyone and good luck to the Thunder tomorrow against some real competition.

Hmm... does USee have a "moonlight" job in broadcasting?

[Gregory Sager]

If you look at the number of players on all CCIW teams over the past 10 years, I can understand how one could think that Coach Scherer has underachieved (EC has had a stud for the better part of the last decade with three of the best CCIW players in the last 10 years in Ruch (2x 1st team), Martin (3x first team, 1x 2nd) and Knuppel (2001 MOP, 2x 2nd team), but he has finished in the top 4, 6 of the last 8 seasons.   In fact, Coach Scherer has finished in the top 4 during his tenure at EC as  many times as they had the prior 40+ years.
EC has advanced to the conference tournament the past three seasons and has been a perennial bubble team for the last four years, and as 2001 shows us, he can win a CCIW title and advance in the NCAA tournament.  If you are to ask any EC follower, Coach Scherer is the most successful coach in the schools history, by far.  Sure Trost and Whitesell may have had a higher ceiling, but Scherer put the BlueJays on the map and is the reason why EC basketball is discussed year in and year out. 
When I was in school 00-04, virtually no one even on campus talked hoops, students didn't care and I'd seen the same alums/community supporters since I started going to games in the late 80's.  That has changed a ton in the past few years, what is that they say, "if you keep winning they will come".
I would venture to say that the vast majority of D3 schools would love a coach with the track record of Coach Scherer, a perennial top 25 team on the cusp of reaching the NCAA tournament.  Also, considering EC's facilities, its a minor miracle that he can get the talent that he can. 
EC should stay competitive as long as Scherer or Baines are patrolling the sidelines, the school has the ability to keep the Chicago kids and Scherer and Baines have the connections to keep reeling in those downstate Class A studs. 

Well said, ecdubb.

[Gregory Sager]

The Falcons have a third good player in 6-4 Rokas Niparavicius (10 pts, 9 reb), whose name would look right at home on the typical Carthage roster.

Niparavicius, you say? Bosko's pulled them in from all over during his coaching career, but he's never coached a Lithuanian before. That's surprising, actually, since Lithuania is such a basketball hotbed. They're as proud of their basketball there as they are of their beer (that's an inside joke for all of you WIAC fans ).

Millikin beat Concordia (IL) tonight.

I was at the game in Dominican's Igini Sports Forum last night. (It's a strange sensation for me to have seen nine different teams already, with the only two CCIW teams among them being Augustana and Millikin.) Millikin won by a dozen, but was never able to pull away from a very talent-challenged Concordia (IL) team that appears to be on its way to another 20-loss season. I think that we can pretty much expect the same thing from the Big Blue that we saw last season. MU is a bit quicker this year than last, but not as deep -- and the lack of another big man on the roster besides Joscar Demby will really hurt. I must say that I really like Charles Warren as a role player -- he is all attitude on the defensive end. I wouldn't be surprised if assistant coach Anthony Figueroa turns out to be instrumental in making Big Blue players better defenders.

[Gregory Sager]

I feel that I ought to apologize to Nick Williams for judging his performance last weekend so harshly without realizing that he was under the weather. He needed an IV after the Wash U game, and he was apparently still quite sick the next day against LaVerne but tried to play through it. Here's hoping that he's fully healthy for tonight's Vikings contest against Carroll up in Waukesha.

I have the misfortune of reporting that NPU's injury situation has grown dire. Two more key players are now down for the count. Phil Schniedermeier broke his hand and is out for the remainder of the semester. Even more ominous is the development regarding Clayton Cahill's nagging groin injury. While he played through the pain last weekend against Wash U and LaVerne, it's grown steadily worse. The speculation now is that he has a hernia that may require surgery. If he goes under the knife, that could mean up to six weeks of inactivity -- and who knows how long after that until he's able to perform at full speed.

That makes four members of the North Park rotation that have been knocked out by injury until the beginning of January at the earliest, with one of them out for the year and no guarantees for the other three. The ER at Swedish Covenant Hospital must be on standby every time that the Vikings hold a practice. Add the two academic casualties on top of that, and it's understandable why Paul Brenegan has had to cancel NPU's early JV games -- his JV team now constitutes the bulk of the varsity. There's only five non-freshmen left to suit up: Nick Williams, Stephano Jones, Lewis Wilson, Sean McNamee, and Mike Ventura.

I'm looking desperately for a silver lining here, and if there is one it's that the NPU freshmen are going to get a leg up on their CCIW peers as far as their varsity careers are concerned. Very few CCIW freshmen are getting the chance to face live bullets at this point, and North Park has six of them that are: Ro Russell, Issa Avery, Ryan Beigie, Joel Benson, D.J. Cooper, and Emmanuel Crosby (and I wouldn't be surprised if Clint Mixon becomes the seventh). It could make an already-talented freshman class even better down the road. Meanwhile, however, it appears that NPU is going to have to endure a very trying November and December.

[petemcb]

Greg, I don't know much about hernia recoveries, but out at the Lee Pfund last night I learned that Jake Carwell was back in uniform and playing starter's minutes four weeks after a hernia operation.  Is that approaching an additional silver lining for you? 

[mwunder]

Carthage won their opener tonight 72-60.

Here is a link to the Redlands box score:

http://www.goredlands.com/sports/mbkb/2008-09/stats/carth-ur.htm


Steve D had 27, Fendley had 24.

[iwu70]

IWU women take down two top ten teams this weekend.  Go Titans.  Good start for IWU -- men and women -- this weekend.

[mr_b]

From the Carroll College website: Carroll 95, North Park 82.  Roshown Russell and Nick Williams each scored 19 for the Vikings.