MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

North Central 65, Augustana 62

Carthage 72, Millikin 69

Elmhurst 88, North Park 69

Wheaton 86, Illinois Wesleyan 60

[usee]

A surprisingly dominant performance by the Thunder at the Shirk tonight. Wheaton led by 8 at the half, went on an 8-0 run to start the second half and were never threatened after that. They held a potent Titan offense to 60 pts and 47% shooting while scoring 86 and shooting 63% from the field. Raymond had 28 (17 in second half), Wiele with 17 (7 rebounds), McCrary with 14. For the Titans Sexauer had 12, Johnson and Chamerink with 10. IWU outrebounded the Thunder 28-24. IWU turned it over 19x and the Thunder took them out of their offensive rythm for most of the game. Wheaton is hitting on all cylinders right now. Ron Rose was very classy on the post game. He is a great coach and great CCIW representative. He gave a lot of praise to the Thunder players. I have always liked the way he represents himself and the school and its after tough losses that you find out alot about people. He is a class act.

[wheels81]

So I don't think Coach Harris was critical of Andy shooting a 3 at the end of the half?  Was it a desperation or did he have a good look?  
I know in pre-season radio interview he was not thinking Harris would approve of such a thing in the regular flow of the offense.
Good solid win for Wheaton tonight, with Raymond putting on a clinic and Wiele doing it well inside.  
Carwell again with 4 steals and filling up all the important categories as well which is indicitive of nose for the ball.  At least looks like he got some scoring done as well.  nothing double digits but his presence was surely felt tonight.

[wheels81]

Any Augie posters who will be in Naperville tonight------

I'll be between the 2 main sets of doors on the north side of the gym behind the folding chairs at halftime, and look forward to meeting any of you in attendance.

anyone take him up on this sounds ominous

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst pasted NPU in yet another defense-challenged game for the Park, 88-69. EC superstars Ryan Burks and Brent Ruch were unstoppable for the visitors, scoring 25 and 23 apiece, as the 'jays shot a torrid 65% for the game against the inept Vikings defense. Zach Boyd led Elmhurst in rebounding with five caroms. NPU was led by Nick Williams, who had 19 points and five boards (sharing rebounding honors with Mike Ventura), while Roshawn Russell scored 15 and had six assists to only one turnover. Kendall Greer added 10 points and played a pretty good hustle game. In stark contrast to Elmhurst, the Vikings couldn't get anything to go down: Layups, treys, and everything in between, the Vikings were missing them all throughout the entire evening. NPU shot only 38% from the field, and it isn't as though Elmhurst was playing sparkling defense, either.

In a season filled with youngsters getting lost on the floor and failing to keep track of their man, whether on switches or off of basic crosscourt cutting, tonight might've been the nadir for North Park. Elmhurst had runs of 8-0 (the game-opening stretch, no less) and 13-0 in the first half, and 9-1 and 9-0 in the second half. NPU made a few fitful attempts to get into the game, cutting the lead to 11 at one point early in the second half and making me wonder if the Vikes had another second-half blitzkrieg in them similar to Wednesday's comeback against IWU. They didn't, because: a) IWU didn't have Ryan Burks and Brent Ruch; and b) unlike Wednesday night, the Vikings never had any stretch in this game in which they played even halfway-decent defense. It was basically 40 minutes of letting Elmhurst do whatever it wanted on the offensive end, and Elmhurst is not the kind of team that'll bungle an opportunity like that.

Lest I spend the entire post saying nothing but negative things about the Vikings, I'll add that I was impressed with the way that freshman center Emmanuel Crosby stood up to Ruch tonight. He didn't stop Ruch -- far from it -- but he was aggressive at both ends of the floor. Probably too aggressive at times, but it's good to see that he wasn't intimidated by going up against a senior whose only question at this point is which level of the d3hoops.com All-American team he's going to end up making. Between Crosby and Phil Schniedermeier, NPU's got a couple of promising young centers.

Elmhurst ran a very crisp halfcourt offense, but it's easy to do that when: a) you have two players as good as Ruch and Burks whom the opponent can't even manage to slow down; and b) you're playing a young and physically unimposing team filled with players that continually lose their men off switches and can't fight through screens. Toss in a bad shooting night, and it's another dreary recipe for disaster for NPU.

[titanhammer]

So I don't think Coach Harris was critical of Andy shooting a 3 at the end of the half?  Was it a desperation or did he have a good look?  
I know in pre-season radio interview he was not thinking Harris would approve of such a thing in the regular flow of the offense.
Good solid win for Wheaton tonight, with Raymond putting on a clinic and Wiele doing it well inside.  
Carwell again with 4 steals and filling up all the important categories as well which is indicitive of nose for the ball.  At least looks like he got some scoring done as well.  nothing double digits but his presence was surely felt tonight.

It was at the end of the half.

[titanhammer]

I thought Wheaton was a "good" team the first half.  I thought they were a "playoff" team the second half.

[titanhammer]

So I don't think Coach Harris was critical of Andy shooting a 3 at the end of the half?  Was it a desperation or did he have a good look?  
I know in pre-season radio interview he was not thinking Harris would approve of such a thing in the regular flow of the offense.
Good solid win for Wheaton tonight, with Raymond putting on a clinic and Wiele doing it well inside.  
Carwell again with 4 steals and filling up all the important categories as well which is indicitive of nose for the ball.  At least looks like he got some scoring done as well.  nothing double digits but his presence was surely felt tonight.

It was at the end of the half.

It looked like the Titans had played good defence...until AW made the shot.

[voxelmhurst]

Lest I spend the entire post saying nothing but negative things about the Vikings, I'll add that I was impressed with the way that freshman center Emmanuel Crosby stood up to Ruch tonight. He didn't stop Ruch -- far from it -- but he was aggressive at both ends of the floor. Probably too aggressive at times, but it's good to see that he wasn't intimidated by going up against a senior whose only question at this point is which level of the d3hoops.com All-American team he's going to end up making. Between Crosby and Phil Schniedermeier, NPU's got a couple of promising young centers.

My friend and I saw this as well tonight....especially from Emmanuel Crosby.

Aside from that, it was great to see the Jays get back to winning ways and hopefully recharge themselves to make a final push.

[Thunder Dutch]

It's interesting to note that the first half was pretty close throughout, and the difference was a couple of Raymond threes to give Wheaton the lead or answer a titan basket and Wiele's three (which was with like 4 seconds on the shot clock, maybe 10 secs before the half. the defender sagged a bit and Wiele nailed it). While Wheaton was up 8 at half, it didn't feel like a huge lead or anything. In the first half, IWU outrebounded Wheaton 18-7 (7-0 offensive boards). So Wheaton was getting beat badly on the boards, and this attributed to the closeness.
In the second half, where Wheaton outscored IWU 49-31, we outrebounded IWU 17-10 (only 3 off. reb. for IWU). This undoubtedly contributed to Wheaton pulling away.

Phil Carr played a really solid game coming off the bench, as did most of the bench players. This is really good for Wheaton because if he works his way into Harris' rotation, we'll have 9 solid players Harris plays instead of 8 earlier this season, which can be a big difference in a deep playoff run.

Was it just me, or were there a lot of ticky-tacky fouls called in the game? Not favoring any one team, but there were a lot of calls that could/should have been no-calls...

North Central, though still having to play Elmhurst and Wheaton, is in pretty good shape. They could still grab the #1 seed, and control their own destiny since they own the tiebreaker with Wheaton. (Elmhurst, too, could be #1, with help from either NCC or Carthage). Still a crazy conference, two games seperating the top five teams with two games to go. Maybe Wednesday's huge games (1 Wheaton @ 5 Carthage, but especially 2 EC @ 3 NCC) will clear up the picture. maybe they'll just confuse it. who knows?

what's amazing is that all the teams in this conference except NPU will have winning overall records this season, regardless of how the rest of the season plays out.

[andrewmp]

What I am happy to see (and I am sure NCC and Elmhurst fans are happy to see as well) is that Augustana will not be hosting, and it will come down to one of these three teams, all of which are close together. 
Based on facilities alone, it is my humble opinion that Wheaton would be the best place for this.  There are, of course, other reasons why I want Wheaton to host...my second choice would be Elmhurst, but that is because we have a lot more success there than NCC.
I am quite confident though that Wheaton will close this season out winning each game.  They have played very good ball over the last few weeks, and each of the last four games has seen an absolutely dominating half. 
Carthage could be an interesting game, but I think Wheaton has way too much for Carthage to keep up with.  I expect another win like the last four games; a game that will not be close.
Now, the game with NCC to end the season, that is a game that I expect to be a close, hard fought game.  It could determine who hosts.  Unless Wheaton figures out a way to slow down Rogers and Drennan, it will be a long night for the Thunder.  They may still win, but it will be difficult.  However, if they are able to shut them down like they did Ruch, then it won't be close.  However, to limit either one to 6 points seems to be a tall order.

One more note...CCIW scoring for Wheaton, first three games (with Raymond)=74, 93, 79
Next three games without Raymond = 61, 54, 57
First two games with Raymond back (he scores less than 20) - 66, 64
Last four games with Raymond going for 20+ = 72, 85, 79, 86

I didn't need to post these numbers to see how dynamic Raymond makes the Wheaton offense become.  I wonder if Wheaton would be undefeated at this point had it not been for his injury.  But that is speculation, and Wheaton still has a great chance to finish the season at 24-3 before the national tournament, by far their best season in a long time.

Anyway, the Thunder still need to take care of business, starting Wednesday.  I am looking forward to that game, getting even from a game we should have won earlier this season.

[voxelmhurst]

What I am happy to see (and I am sure NCC and Elmhurst fans are happy to see as well) is that Augustana will not be hosting, and it will come down to one of these three teams, all of which are close together. 

Yes...though my fellow EC alumni friends and I have made our own tradition in Rock Island the last three years, it will be nice to have a change of venue, which is going to be a LOT closer to home for most of the teams involved.

I remember the Elmhurst victory over Wheaton in the 2007 tournament being played in front of very few fans, which was a shame since the schools split two great battles in the regular season.

That sort of thing won't happen this year.

[petemcb]

Titan Q,
            You list 4 players that could be first team, if Wiele is on there why not Rogers ? His numbers are right up there with Wiele but he is shooting better .525 FG and ppg 14.3

Cardinalfan----

I think some people will hold against Matt the fact that he has not started a majority of the Cardinals games this season. Those short-sighted folks may take the attitude of "how can someone be all conference first team when he doesn't even start." For such minded people, I would point out that Matt ranks 6th in scoring, tied for 18th in rebounding, 12th in FG percentage, and 13th in FT percentage. The fact of the matter is that Matt is certainly a "starter" in terms of ability, but that NCC Coach Raridon chooses to play Matt in the role of 6th man in order to bolster bench scoring and provide continued scoring/rebounding/high percentage shooting when one of the players who does actually start needs a break for whatever reason.
While Matt may not been seen by those that do the voting as a first team all-conference player, to even suggest he will not be a member of the all-conference team would be both laughable and a travesty.    

I assume you are referring to Rogers' omission from the 2008 All-CCIW team...

1st
Raymond – 22.9 ppg, 3.4 apg
Djurickovic – 23.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 4.8 apg
Wessels - 15.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg
Ruch – 15.9 ppg, 8.4 ppg, .571 FG
Gant – 12.9 ppg, 11.1 rpg, .551 FG

2nd
Burks – 17.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg
Williams – 15.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg
Wiele – 14.6 ppg, 9.9 rpg, .559 FG
Swetalla – 10.0 ppg, 5.9 rpg, .481
Drennan – 17.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg, .533

3rd
Pelton – 7.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.8 apg
Panner – 13.7 ppg
Bowens – 14.9 ppg
Ogunleye – 15.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg
Johnson – 12.9 ppg

Matt Rogers – 16.9 ppg, .500 FG


Whether right or wrong in practice, he was the victim of a tough North Central season:

Augustana 11-3
Ill. Wesleyan 9-5
Wheaton 9-5
Elmhurst 8-6
Carthage 7-7
North Park 6-8
North Central 4-10
Millikin 2-12

Matt Pelton is the guy whose stats stick out the most above, but I'm sure the reasoning was that he did a lot of things to help Augustana win an outright CCIW title.  Stats definitely don't tell the whole story - Pelton certainly is one of those "intangible" guys.

Not saying I agree or disagree with the way the process works, but the fact is that the standings impact the voting significantly.  But either way, yes, Rogers belonged somewhere.

Actually, I believe Matt Rogers belonged on the 2nd team last season in place of (in oder) Swetalla, Wiele, or Williams. One of those players should have been pushed down to the 3rd team replacing, in my opinion, Wesleyan's Johnson who scored more than Pelton, but lacked his all-around game and the "intangibles" that you referred to. This season, I'll take Johnson over Pelton

AndOne, I'd agree completely with your post except that, for me, it would clearly be Swetalla who would be moved to the third team.  From any games I saw and from the statlines, I'd have him below Wiele and Williams.

[petemcb]

What I am happy to see (and I am sure NCC and Elmhurst fans are happy to see as well) is that Augustana will not be hosting, and it will come down to one of these three teams, all of which are close together. 

Yes...though my fellow EC alumni friends and I have made our own tradition in Rock Island the last three years, it will be nice to have a change of venue, which is going to be a LOT closer to home for most of the teams involved.

.....and for most fans! This is shaping up to be a great tournament, hopefully with larger crowds for both nights, with the liklihood of three local teams involved.  If Carthage could get a win over Elmhurst, I was told Carthage owns the tiebreaker with Augie, it could be a very local tournament......What a finish this is going to be!

[Titan Q]

What I am happy to see (and I am sure NCC and Elmhurst fans are happy to see as well) is that Augustana will not be hosting, and it will come down to one of these three teams, all of which are close together. 

Yes...though my fellow EC alumni friends and I have made our own tradition in Rock Island the last three years, it will be nice to have a change of venue, which is going to be a LOT closer to home for most of the teams involved.

.....and for most fans! This is shaping up to be a great tournament, hopefully with larger crowds for both nights, with the liklihood of three local teams involved.  If Carthage could get a win over Elmhurst, I was told Carthage owns the tiebreaker with Augie, it could be a very local tournament......What a finish this is going to be!

Carthage would own the 8-6 tie-breaker over Augustana - head-to-head is a split, but the Red Men have a W over Wheaton, whereas Augie was swept.

That said, Carthage still has Wheaton (in Kenosha) and then @ Elmhurst.  The Red Men are pretty significant underdogs in both games, in my eyes...they would need to win one.  And to fall to 8-6, Augie would have to lose at IWU Saturday...with as badly as the Titans were beaten last night vs Wheaton, it is hard for me to imagine that veteran Augie team losing to IWU with their backs absolutely to the wall.