MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

Augustana is down 40-32 at half vs Simpson.  Links to live stats and Dan Sand's broadcast...

http://www.augustana.edu/athletics/mbasketball/xlive.htm

http://www.hearitfromhome.com/new_stream.php?stream=stream1


Simpson was 7-18 last season, and 3-13 in the IIAC.  I think we'll see Augie quickly tie the game and pull away for a double digit win.

[Gregory Sager]

Augie 58
Simpson 53

After falling behind by 11 early in the second half, Augie held the Storm to only one point over a span of almost twelve minutes, then held on to win a nailbiter.

[augiefan]

Augie outrebounded Simpson 28-10 in the second half, but went something like 2-16 on 3 pointers. Sounds a little like last year's team. Kyle Nelson and Desimone need to do more in future games.

Next up is another home game Wednesday against Beloit College, one of the worst teams in DIII basketball. Should be a good chance to correct some of tonight's shortcomings.

[Gregory Sager]

I haven't spoken to anyone connected to the team yet about North Park's Sunday afternoon debacle in Milwaukee, but a glimpse at the box score indicates that the twin bugaboos that made last season such a nightmare -- a matador defense and an abandonment of the halfcourt offense in favor of excessive freelancing -- reared their ugly heads again. After outshooting MSOE from the field .480 to .379 in the first half en route to a six-point halftime lead, the Vikings self-destructed on both ends of the floor: MSOE shot an unholy .643 in the second stanza to only .324 for NPU, an almost 2-to-1 difference in shooting percentages. MSOE racked up twenty assists, a good indication that the Vikings were napping in the off-ball-defense department. NPU's free-throw shooting was ugly as well (13-23, .565).

There's probably undoubtedly a lot of blame to go around, but one thing I know for sure is that if Nick Williams scores eight points on ten shots and picks up only one rebound, the way he did on Sunday, NPU is going to lose the basketball game. MSOE is a decent enough team -- the Raiders are picked by the NAthC coaches to finish second in that league's South Division, behind Benedictine -- but a first-division CCIW team ought to be able to beat MSOE, even in Milwaukee. This shows me that North Park has a long way to go before it can be seriously considered to be a contender for the first division, especially given the way that the Vikings utterly collapsed in the second half.

Starting small forward Kendall Greer didn't play on Sunday. Not sure why.

[AndOne]

I haven't spoken to anyone connected to the team yet about North Park's Sunday afternoon debacle in Milwaukee, but a glimpse at the box score indicates that the twin bugaboos that made last season such a nightmare -- a matador defense and an abandonment of the halfcourt offense in favor of excessive freelancing -- reared their ugly heads again. After outshooting MSOE from the field .480 to .379 in the first half en route to a six-point halftime lead, the Vikings self-destructed on both ends of the floor: MSOE shot an unholy .643 in the second stanza to only .324 for NPU, an almost 2-to-1 difference in shooting percentages. MSOE racked up twenty assists, a good indication that the Vikings were napping in the off-ball-defense department. NPU's free-throw shooting was ugly as well (13-23, .565).

There's probably undoubtedly a lot of blame to go around, but one thing I know for sure is that if Nick Williams scores eight points on ten shots and picks up only one rebound, the way he did on Sunday, NPU is going to lose the basketball game.

Greg---

Exactly. Here is something I posted about NPU in general and Williams in particular
back on 10/16. Among the corrections needed, I still think Williams may be the main key to whatever degree of success they have this year.

NPU is the dark horse here folks. If they can translate their athleticism and quickness into a strong defensive presence they could go a long way. They also need one other ingredient to be as successful as they might become. That is strong leadership from Nick Williams who should be one of the league's, if not the region's, premier players. I don't recall if grades or injury caused him some difficulty at one point last season. However, when he returned to action, he seemed almost disinterested. His mind didn't seem to be on the game. The look on his face told the story of a terrific player whose thoughts were elsewhere. If he has come out of last season's funk, and plays like he is capable of, NPU could take a giant step up from last season's debacle.

[markerickson]

If I once again see a porous perimeter defense and an offensive scheme that has four guys hanging around the trey line, I will attend fewer and fewer games at Foster and Kedzie.

[The Roop]

Does Augie have an audio broadcast of their game against the Washington Generals (aka Beloit College) tonight ?? If so I haven't been able to find a link for it. Could somebody please hook me up.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

If I once again see a porous perimeter defense and an offensive scheme that has four guys hanging around the trey line, I will attend fewer and fewer games at Foster and Kedzie.

welcome to the disinterested - Mark.  I'll be there Wednesday night for my 45 consecutive North Park home opener - but I doubt if I will attend a lot.

If the team is not interested in playing better, and the administration is not interested in having a competitive team, and the students could care less about either of the other two, then why should I make the 25 mile drive from the northwest suburbs to sit in a near empty gym, hoping for a miracle or a revelation that never comes.  There was a good reason they were picked last in the pre-season poll - maybe the other coaches know more about basketball....

[dansand]

Does Augie have an audio broadcast of their game against the Washington Generals (aka Beloit College) tonight ?? If so I haven't been able to find a link for it. Could somebody please hook me up.

Actually it's tomorrow, but here it is:

http://www.hearitfromhome.com

[Gregory Sager]

Lest I be accused of pointing the finger solely at Nick Williams when it is apparent that it took a collective effort to screw up so badly against MSOE on Sunday, let me be the first to congratulate Nick upon joining North Park's Thousand Point Club on Sunday. He's the twelfth Viking to score over 1,000 points in his NPU career, and the first to do so since Lamar Townsend reached that milestone four and a half years ago.

[iwumichigander]

Lest I be accused of pointing the finger solely at Nick Williams when it is apparent that it took a collective effort to screw up so badly against MSOE on Sunday, let me be the first to congratulate Nick upon joining North Park's Thousand Point Club on Sunday. He's the twelfth Viking to score over 1,000 points in his NPU career, and the first to do so since Lamar Townsend reached that milestone four and a half years ago.

Oh  --- at least you're not going to get fined $250,000 on this board!

[petemcb]

Lest I be accused of pointing the finger solely at Nick Williams when it is apparent that it took a collective effort to screw up so badly against MSOE on Sunday, let me be the first to congratulate Nick upon joining North Park's Thousand Point Club on Sunday. He's the twelfth Viking to score over 1,000 points in his NPU career, and the first to do so since Lamar Townsend reached that milestone four and a half years ago.

Oh  --- at least you're not going to get fined $250,000 on this board!

Wrong finger, I assume........ Greg?

[Gregory Sager]

One of the better things about confining one's comments to an Internet board is that nobody else knows which finger is doing what.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU is going to offer free live webcasts of all twelve home games this season. The webcasts will be archived as well, which means that everybody will be able to drive Mugsy crazy by screaming, "Look at the tape!" on CCIW Chat if there's a controversial call in a North Park game. Yours truly and Rob Berki will be the blithering idiots broadcasters for all twelve games. Tonight's 7:30 contest against Carroll will be the debut of this terrific new service for NPU and CCIW fans. Should be interesting. Click here for access.

[dansand]

Greg,

Welcome aboard. You'll have fun with it. I'm definitely going to be checking out the archives. ASO was the same outfit we used our first year. They do a great job.