MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[usee]

Wheaton played great team defense tonight in their game. That has been a hallmark of the team this season compared to last year. Holding Millikin to 47 pts in Decatur, Ogunleye to 9 and out rebounding them by 27-10. Panner with 18, McCrary with 14 and Pflederer with 10 to lead the Thunder.

[Titan Q]

That seems like a real impressive showing by Wheaton tonight...especially considering the situation.  They kind of have to find a new identity in a hurry, and it looks like they succeeded bigtime in their first test.

[mr_b]

Final from the Crackerbox: Carthage 73, North Park 65

The Redmen were led by Djurikovic (27) and Fendley, while Phil Schiedermeier was the high scorer for the Vikings with 22.  North Park trailed by 15 points late but battled back to within 7 to make the last two minutes exciting.

[markerickson]

North Park loses by eight with Carthage's guards accounting for too many points.  This was a winnable game for NP, no doubt.  However, NP has not been able to defend the three point shot all year.  I can't explain the scheme; numerous players look lost on defense.  Offensively, I repeat myself when I post that four guys hanging around the trey line is not an offense (that will qualify the team for the CCIW tourney).  Does the coaching staff have more years at Foster and Kedzie?

[usee]

That seems like a real impressive showing by Wheaton tonight...especially considering the situation.  They kind of have to find a new identity in a hurry, and it looks like they succeeded bigtime in their first test.

Agreed. Harris mentioned on the post game radio how emotionally draining it was for the coaches and the team to lose Kent after getting Wiele. He also said the training staff had given him a limit of 20 min for Wiele tonight and he only had to play him for 16. The young kids stepped up huge. Jahns played 39 minutes and panner 33. Harris said he was incredibly proud of how his kids responded.

The problem, as we have all seen time and time again, is consistency with freshman. Can Pflederer and McCrary keep it up with the schedule getting tough now (carthage, elmhurst, @NCC). A big stretch for the Thunder.

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage 73, North Park 65

(I'm not quite sure why NPU doesn't have the box score up from either tonight or last Wednesday, but at least Steve Marovich was on the ball and got it up quickly on the CC site.)

Tonight was a reprise of Wednesday's game; for 34 minutes the Vikings were buried, and over the last six minutes they put together a furious charge that was doomed because they were in too deep a hole. With 7:10 to go Carthage was up 60-41, and it was looking like the Red Men were going to humiliate NPU on its home floor in the exact same way that Wheaton did last Saturday night. But then the Vikes turned up the juice and got the lead down to six in the final minute. However, they didn't have enough time to get any closer than that.

The M*A*S*H unit woes continued for NPU tonight, as Clayton Cahill (deep thigh bruise) and Sean McNamee (shin splints) didn't suit up. Nor should they have, as they were both shuffling around the gym like old men on their way to the pill station in a nursing home. The Vikings definitely missed them, as the key to the game was the respective performances of the two teams from behind the arc -- Carthage shot 11-24 (.458) while North Park shot 5-23 (.217). Without Cahill and McNamee the spacing just looked wrong all night, and Ro Russell, Nick Williams, and Kendall Greer all ended up forcing shots that would've been much easier if the Red Men defense had had to honor the presence of McNamee and (especially) Cahill.

But North Park really lost this game at the defensive end, not because they didn't make enough treys. The young Vikings are finding that the CCIW game just moves a little too fast for them at this point, and they get caught half a step behind on defense with rotations, recoveries, and following cuts off of the ball. It's certainly not an athleticism thing, it's a mental thing. They'll catch up to it eventually, but right now they just don't have the ability to stop an offense for more than twenty seconds or so.

Sean Fendley, who moved better without the ball tonight than I've ever seen him, took full advantage and got a whole bunch of good looks at the basket. He made good use of them, too, going 6-10 from downtown. Steve Djurickovic showed a better outside stroke than I'm used to seeing as well, canning three of four from beyond the arc. The rest of the Carthage team, whom NPU should've been forcing to shoot all of those shots, went only 2-10 in trey attempts. Fendley's 24 was far too many points to give up in complement to Djurickovic's 27. The other Carthage player who really impressed me tonight was freshman Max Cary, who scored 8 points and made a number of good hustle plays.

NPU was paced by Phil Schniedermeier's 22 points and 5 boards, and he was as dominant as he needed to be against Carthage's size-challenged interior defense. If anything, the Vikings should've put the ball in his hands even more. Nick Williams had a solid 15 and 11, sparking the late comeback by scoring 12 of his 15 in the last six minutes of the game. Kendall Greer (9 pts and 8 boards) also played well, and while Ro Russell was forcing too many shots tonight (9 pts on 4-13 shooting), he did play a good floor game (3 assists, no turnovers). NPU won the rebounding battle, 38-31, and turned the ball over a comparatively low seven times (although CC only turned it over thrice).

Steve D. was ... well, Steve D. If you're not a Carthage fan, he drives you crazy with his uncanny ability to coax foul calls out of the ref against his opponent while getting away with hooks and armbars himself on his drives. I swear that referee Rich Driscoll is going to show up at Steve's dorm at Carthage tonight and tuck him in and read him a bedtime story. But Steve knows how to play the game inside the game better than anyone in the league now that Kent Raymond is out, and if you're Paul Brenegan you had to know that this was coming. We've all seen this movie before. Steve Djurickovic is a great athlete and an intensely hard worker, but it's his basketball IQ that sets him apart from everybody else in this league except for Raymond.

(It was fun, though, to sit in a section full of older NPU staff and alumni who've known Steve since he was born who were nevertheless screaming for his head. There's no room for sentimentality if you bleed royal blue and gold. )

The best Carlson Crazies chant of the night came when Steve D. was at the line: "You like Nickelback! [clap, clap, clap-clap-clap] You like Nickelback! [clap, clap, clap-clap-clap]" Steve's ensuing free throw drew iron, clanking off the front of the rim.

Not many answers at this point for NPU. The Vikings just have to get all of their people healthy, keep plugging away, and stay positive. Sooner or later they'll break through. I'd just rather it be sooner than later.

[Gregory Sager]

So when I write "briefs" compared to your "disortations" (sp)  it's a cafeine issue.  At least I have someone to blame it on 

Hey! You're a coffee achiever! You're writing quick posts! You're in the mix! You're getting things done!

I know Harris really was upset about his leaving and to suggest that he didn't give it a second thought to allowing him to rejoin the team is hinting at the character of Harris.  That is one aspect of Harris that you apparently don't understand or don't see.

Oh, brother ... 

"THere you go with all the negative waves
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuStsFW4EmQ

"To a New Yorker like you, a hero is some type of weird sandwich, not some nut who takes on three Tigers."

I always knew that there was something I liked about you, Bully, and quoting one of the greatest movies ever filmed must be it.

Crap Game was the peak of Don Rickles acting career. 

"Try making a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"A deal deal. Maybe he's a Republican. You know, business is business."

[usee]

Augie 80 NCC 63. the cards went out to 7-0, Coach Grey called timeout to stomp the pennyloafers and yell, the vikings went on a 15-0 run to lead 15-7 and it was over. Barringer was held to 2-7, ncc turned it over 17x and they shot 47% from the ft line.

[dansand]

A nice (and important) win for Augie tonight. They can't afford to let Wheaton (or North Central or Carthage) create any more separation and obviously need to protect the home court as well.

This was easily the Vikings' best performance since league play started. The Cardinals jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Augie had even gotten off a shot, but the Vikes then held them scoreless for almost 6 1/2 minutes and went on a 15-0 run to take the lead for good. The lead was 14 at the half and never got below 13 in the second half.

Nice contributions from everybody in Augie's 10-man rotation. They shot .545, hit 26-of-32 from the line and had four guys in double figures (Washington and Wessels with 12, Delp & Collins with 10). Chandlor also had four blocks (all of the volleyball spike variety) and four steals. Voiles and Nelson both had nice games off the bench with Justin Bertrand out in the second half with a foot injury (hopefully nothing too serious).

Matt Rogers really carried the Cardinals for most of the night with 18 points in 18 minutes, but he struggled from the line, going 2-of-9, and eventually fouled out. Although he and Drennan had some success inside, Augie's perimeter defense was outstanding. Reid Barringer, who was guarded by Wessels and Delp most of the night, hit a three on the Cardinals' first possession and only had one other bucket the rest of the night. He sat much of the second half with foul trouble. Mitch Raridon had the 6-7 Collins or the 6-8 Voiles in his face all night and also finished with just five points. Both he and Barringer scored all of their points in the game's first 13 minutes.

Overall, a really nice win over a good North Central team that came in playing very well.

[Thunder Dutch]

definitely a good day for wheaton, after some not-so-happy days only talking about Kent's injury, for a couple of reasons...

They played very well against Millikin, while not a great team, still beating a solid team away, without Kent Raymond. Their defense was very good (if they play that kind of defense, can they beat Carthage?). This will be a huge confidence booster for the team, which is good because we have two home games coming up, against two good teams.

Multiple people stepped up, especially Panner and the freshmen McCrary and Pflederer. Wiele didn't even need to play that much, getting more game action to get back into it while not having to over-extend himself. This will undoubtedly raise everyone's level of play, making Wheaton even stronger if and when Kent returns at full strength. And it didn't seem Berntsen played, so we have someone else coming back soon (anyone know when?)

Lastly, since Augie beat NCC, we're now a game ahead of everyone else, and two ahead of Elmhurst and Augie. That's as good a cushion as we could hope for at this point. In fact, if we beat Carthage next, and NCC loses at Elmhurst (both feasible), we'll have no losses while everyone else has at least two. Being in that position is great as we wait for Raymond to get back. A cushion is great, we have some room for error. In fact, if everyone in the CCIW keeps beating up on each other, and Raymond comes back before the conference tournament, we'll be in great position. Maybe even the #1 seed, if the beating up of each other is severe and Raymond comes back sooner and better than people may expect.

Speaking of, anyone have details on how bad it is? Timeframe? Will he back at full capacity this season? I'm guessing they're keeping it relatively hush-hush.

[Thunder Dutch]

Just looking at the schedule:
Wheaton has home against carthage/elmhurst coming up, then away at ncc and augie
but after that home vs. millikin and north park
so if we can get through those first 4 with a win or two, we'll be in good shape imo, cause np/mu at home are definitely winnables. which would leave us at 8-2 or 7-3, both very acceptable records, and that would be 3 and a half weeks after kent's injury, so we'll be able to see where we're at then...


ps. were any cciw-chat-ers at the wheaton-millikin game? a recap or breakdown would be sweet, all most of us are able to learn is through the boxscore.

[andrewmp]

Wheaton played great team defense tonight in their game. That has been a hallmark of the team this season compared to last year. Holding Millikin to 47 pts in Decatur, Ogunleye to 9 and out rebounding them by 27-17. Panner with 18, McCrary with 14 and Pflederer with 10 to lead the Thunder.

Although Wiele's offensive game may be a little off still, he has certainly made an immediate impact on the rebounding portion of the game.  Against IWU, Wheaton was demonlished on the boards, which was a main reason why IWU had a chance to win that game.  Wheaton has been playing great team defense, and with Wiele back, it makes the hard defense that they play more rewarding, because it is less likely that the other team will get a second chance.  Millikin had only 3 offensive boards tonight.  
Wheaton will have to continue playing this type of defense.  Wiele will have to score a bit for Wheaton to hold off Carthage on Wednesday.

[Titan Q]

Last February I posted the following:

Agreed.  IWU is in year #1 of what is basically a complete rebuilding process.  (I don't really consider last year the first year of the process since Ron Rose was hired in May 2006 and had absolutely no chance to recruit anybody for his first season.) 

The Titans have a great freshman class, led by point-guard Travis Rosenkranz, shooting-guard Sean Johnson, and power forward Doug Sexauer.  Matt Schick has played well in his varsity minutes all season long, as has Duncan Lawson the last two games when thrown in there.  There are also several other freshmen who have a chance to be good, and Sean Dwyer is just a sophomore.

That said, they will miss Darius Gant very much next year -- he has been great in the league.  And when you look at who everyone returns in the CCIW, I don't see IWU's sophomore-dominated team as the favorite by any stretch in 2008-09.  As I have looked at this IWU rebuilding situation realistically, I have been thinking that 2009-10 is the year the Titans will really be a power again.  And hopefully thereafter, the Titans are back to where the program always was - a CCIW contender/Top 25 team every year via consistent recruiting of quality student-athletes.

IWU will add some good recruits this year that will have an impact next year, but I don't see the Titans quite "back" until 2009-10.  If it happens sooner, that's great.

At the beginning of this season, I was hoping the Titans would turn the corner this year.  As the non-conference played out though, it was clear that this team is terribly inconsistent - like most young teams are. 

Add to that the 2009 CCIW race is loaded with senior-led teams.  The Titans just cannot seem to handle Kent Raymond and Wheaton, Chris Drennan/Matt Rogers and North Central, Brent Ruch/Ryan Burks and Elmhurst...Augie will be huge trouble as well.  IWU desperately needs an upperclass star to lead the way vs these teams (which Darius Gant turned out to be last year for them), but that player is just simply not on the roster.

I still think IWU can turn it around and complete for that #4 spot in the conference tournament, so I'll still enjoy following the Titans very much every Wednesday and Saturday.  Realistically though, now, this season seems to be about getting older and ready for next season.     

[wheatonfanaddict]

I agree, Wheaton overall strength thus far has been in team defense and as McCrary and Pflederer continue to fit into Harris' program this squad will continue to compete, with and without their All-American's. And woe to you when Jahns finds his range again. I just dont think we can comment enough about the Thunder freshman class and the energy and discipline they bring to this team.

[titan2000]

Was the Wheaton team moniker the "Thunder" in the late 80's into the early 90's?   Or was this one of those Indian name change schools 

We used to compete with them in college and I don't remember much except for the young lady I met from there who, well, struggled with the cloistered Wheaton campus and enjoyed some freedom at my place.  But I digress.