MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[WUPHF]

Is it too early to start talking about one the biggest games of the weekend (if not the month and season)?

I wish Augustana could have pulled off the upset on Wednesday night for the selfish reason that I think it would have energized the student body.  Everyone would have wanted to watch the team that beat a ranked Gonzaga.  I am sure we would have set attendance records.

I know little about Augustana, but I have to think that they are concerned about getting good shots very early in the game.  An obvious point, but I have to think that fatigue (mental and physical) could be a factor after three long days on the road, not to mention the five hour bus ride.

It sounds like the Wheaton game might have been very good preparation for the Augustana defense. 

The local television station featured Aaron Thompson recently (http://tiny.cc/thompson302/) and in the interview, he makes reference to how gets going after the first couple of shots start to fall.  I had read that one of the take aways from the Gonzaga game was how well the Vikings guarded the perimeter.  Will the shots fall early against Augie?  This should be one of the obvious stories of the evening regardless of who wins.

[Titan Q]

Is it too early to start talking about one the biggest games of the weekend (if not the month and season)?

I wish Augustana could have pulled off the upset on Wednesday night for the selfish reason that I think it would have energized the student body.  Everyone would have wanted to watch the team that beat a ranked Gonzaga.  I am sure we would have set attendance records.

I know little about Augustana, but I have to think that they are concerned about getting good shots very early in the game.  An obvious point, but I have to think that fatigue (mental and physical) could be a factor after three long days on the road, not to mention the five hour bus ride.

It sounds like the Wheaton game might have been very good preparation for the Augustana defense.  

The local television station featured Aaron Thompson recently (http://tiny.cc/thompson302/) and in the interview, he makes reference to how gets going after the first couple of shots start to fall.  I had read that one of the take aways from the Gonzaga game was how well the Vikings guarded the perimeter.  Will the shots fall early against Augie?  This should be one of the obvious stories of the evening regardless of who wins.

For me, the biggest question is whether or not Augie will make enough 3's and other perimeter shots to stay with the Bears.  I've only seen Augie twice on video/TV (vs Knox and Gonzaga...wow are those different opponents), but my impression is that this Augie team lacks perimeter firepower.  The Vikings have a ridiculous amount of size, albeit many of those post players are freshmen, but it seems there are very few pure perimeter shooters.  Wash U is pretty good at containing the low post.

Against IWU, a team that is strong in the low post, Wash U worked to take away 6-7 Doug Sexauer, but gave up a lot of good perimeter looks to the Titans.  IWU, which is shooting the ball poorly from beyond the arc for some reason this year, went just 6-23 from 3.  Good 3-point shooters Sean Johnson and Jordan Zimmer combined to go 2-11 (most of the 11 being great looks), in a game IWU lost by 5 points.

Augie will play tremendous defense vs Wash U, just like Wheaton did, but I'm not sure the Vikings will score enough points.  We'll see.

[CCIWFAN3]

WUH,  I'm not trying to take anything away from Augie, I think it's great for the CCIW, but to think they slowed down Gonzaga from anything...come on!  Gonzaga avgs only 15 3 point shot attempts a game, they shot 14 against Augie. Gonzaga played their starters 24, 18, 15, 14 and 11 minutes during that game. Gonzaga did whatever they wanted to do against Augie.   Gonzaga avgs 30 fta/game and they shot that many against Augie.  Augie's guards cannot contain Gray, Bouldin or Goodson.  Impossible.  Stopping WashU's guards is a lot easier task than stopping Gonzaga's guards.

[CCIWFAN3]

I guess you could say that several of Augie's starters played less than 20 mintues also....but that happens all the time with Augie even in close games:) 

[WUPHF]

WUH,  I'm not trying to take anything away from Augie, I think it's great for the CCIW, but to think they slowed down Gonzaga from anything...come on!

I understand your point for sure.  I was only echoing a point from the Augustana blog that documented the trip to Spokane.  Here is a quote from the locker room notes:

Another positive Coach Giovanine pointed out in the locker room after the game was that the Vikings held the Bulldogs to 4-14 on 3-point shooting. Gonzaga normally shoots very well from the outside.

Maybe it was a stretch on the part of the coach.  Maybe he had to find something as a take away.  And, then again, maybe it was the blogger editorializing.  Or maybe the coach is right.

[CCIWFAN3]

You're probably right it might have been Coach G. finding something positive to bring back.  But 5-15 is what they normally shoot.

[CCIWFAN3]

Does anyone know exactly why Augie played Gonzaga?  Road Trip money?  I really don't know what else they would gain from doing it.  It doesn't count in RPI.  I don't get it.  Publicity?  Close to finals even?

[Gregory Sager]

Does anyone know exactly why Augie played Gonzaga?  Road Trip money?  I really don't know what else they would gain from doing it.  It doesn't count in RPI.  I don't get it.  Publicity?  Close to finals even?

In no particular order:

1. Money
2. Reward to current players
3. Recruiting incentive to prospects
4. Sharpen skills of current players
5. Publicity for school

[CCIWFAN3]

Other than the money, I don't see how any of the others you listed are a positive.

[Titan Q]

Other than the money, I don't see how any of the others you listed are a positive.

I see all 5 as pretty obvious positives. 

The IWU game vs the Illini to start 2005-06 (the year Illinois was coming off the national championship game loss to North Carolina) was an exhibition, and not a real game, but nonetheless, I think IWU benefited in most of the ways Greg noted above.

[CCIWFAN3]

But Titan this was a regular season game, and didn't the games count in RPI back in 2005?

[Titan Q]

But Titan this was a regular season game, and didn't the games count in RPI back in 2005?

Right.  As I said, the IWU/Illinois game was an exhibition...but that doesn't mean IWU did not benefit in most of the areas Greg outlined:

1. Money
2. Reward to current players
3. Recruiting incentive to prospects
4. Sharpen skills of current players
5. Publicity for school

As far as if the game counted in U of I's RPI...no, it did not. 

[WUPHF]

I have never played or coached college level basketball, but higher education is my profession and I know that the publicity is always good.  That is a definite.  I agree with the others as well.

The other question, though not as relevant to this thread, is why would Gonzaga play (and pay) Augustana?  They had nothing to gain and a lot to lose, though the risk was minimal.

At least Augustana is on the quarter system so finals were not an issue.  Midterm exams, maybe, but not finals.

[AndOne]

WUH--

Not sure its the answer here, but often when a D1 hosts a DIII in a regular season game, its often because there is some type of connection between members of the 2 school's staffs.

When I was at Nebraska Wesleyan, we played a D1 because our coach and the D1 coach were old buddies. We also played an in-state D1, but I think that was just because the D1 wanted another win.

In the case of Augie/Gonzaga, the Augie AD, Mike Zapolski, formerly worked at Pepperdine, a West Coast Conference member along with Gonzaga. Perhaps there is some connection between Mr. Polski and a member of the Gonzaga staff?

[Gregory Sager]

The other question, though not as relevant to this thread, is why would Gonzaga play (and pay) Augustana?  They had nothing to gain and a lot to lose, though the risk was minimal.

Zags head coach Mark Few had a date to fill, and no D1 opponent that was willing or able to go to Spokane and fill it. So he had to reach into the non-D1 ranks to fill that home date, and because of a friendship developed in the coaching ranks, he turned to Augie coach Grey Giovanine to fill that date for him.