MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[petemcb]

Regarding Wheaton's time change, is there any chance that there is another event happening on campus tonight where it and the mens game would have been a draw on each other's crowd?

[sac]

Regarding Wheaton's time change, is there any chance that there is another event happening on campus tonight where it and the mens game would have been a draw on each other's crowd?

a dance maybe?

[AndOne]

Regarding Wheaton's time change, is there any chance that there is another event happening on campus tonight where it and the mens game would have been a draw on each other's crowd?

a dance maybe?

Blasphemy! 

[AndOne]

Have any Wheaton or Carthage fans timed the drive to each other's schools?  The lure of seeing both a game in the "I" and a game in the "W" of the CCIW is almost getting me.

Pete--

Its about 2 hours from NCC to Carthage. Its 20 mins from NCC to Wheaton.
That makes 1 hr, 40 mins, but add 10-15 mins to get from WC to the Interstate. Should be no more than about 2 hrs.

[AndOne]

Looking down the road at the all-conference team, I believe there are 4 very safe picks for the 1st team...

Steve Djurickovic, Carthage (6-3 Jr.) – 25.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 8.1 apg (lock for M.O.P.)
Tim McCrary, Wheaton (6-6 So.) -  22.0 ppg, 9.9 rpg, .546 FG
Derek Raridon, North Central (6-6 Fr.) – 21.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg
Doug Sexauer, Illinois Wesleyan (6-7 Jr.) -  18.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg, .709 FG

The top candidates for the final spot are probably...

Sean Johnson, Illinois Wesleyan (6-1 Jr.) – 17.3 ppg, 3.6 apg
David Twyman, North Central (6-3 Sr.) – 17.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, .573 FG
Kyle Nelson, Augustana (6-9 Jr.) – 16.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg, .660 FG
Ben Panner, Wheaton (6-3 Sr.) – 15.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg


The final 5 games, and how the standings end up, will help sort out that last spot.

My vote would go to either Twyman for the nice job he's done at both ends of the floor every time I've seen him this season or to Kyle Nelson for just some very impressive numbers this season and for the growth in his game.  Having said that, my sample size on Nelson is pretty small  -  like one game.   

Twyman is:
6th in scoring
12th in rebounding
7th in FG percentage
9th in assists
8th in steals
Tied 4th in off. rebounds

As Pete said, Twyman is a multi-dimensional player who excels at both ends of the court. On top of it, he prob is among the league leaders, if not the leader, in dunks!

[John Gleich]

I haven't seen anyone suggest a gimmick like a box and 1 or a triangle and 2.

Coebb suggested using a gimmick defense against Djurickovic:

I left the Wheaton game really disappointed in the creativity of Wheaton's coaching efforts.  First, no attempt was made to press Carthage except for a possession or two at the end of the game.  The Redmen's ball-handling ability as a team was never challenged.  Second, Wheaton rarely, if ever, used a zone to force Carthage into a perimeter game.  Two options come immediately to mind.  First, why not a box and one, or better yet a tight diamond and one?

... you're right, I stopped reading after I saw a press.  

As an aside, talking about the press... there are very few teams who can effectively run a press and even fewer still who are able to do it well just throwing it in before one game.  That doesn't even begin to answer the question as to if they have the athletes to do it or if it would even work... I tend to believe SD is a good enough ball handler to bypass a trap or at the very least pass out of it to an open man, and then you've got 3-2, 2-1 etc situations.

The thing that's interesting to me is that we aren't talking about an undefeated Carthage team and we weren't talking about an undefeated Wheaton team (actually, maybe we were... with the exception of the Wash U game, the 3 in a row Wheaton lost were without Raymond or in his first game back, if I remember correctly).  So... we're not talking about an undefeated Carthage team.  Teams HAVE beaten them... how have they done it?

[AndOne]

You're right USEE NCC loss and all you hear is Crickets from +1

Wheels---

I 'm sure you (and Usee also) just can't get enough info about NCC. Being such huge fans, you hang on every word. You crave every minute detail. As I aim to please, here is a brief synopsis of the NCC-IWU game--which you don't really have to be to intelligent or even know much about basketball to figure out.

IWU's home win over NCC Wed was largely reflective of the difference in size between the teams. The Cardinals were hard pressed to mount much of a defense against Wesleyan star Doug Sexauer and his sub, The Student Body Connolly. Sexauer operated freely inside with a series of nice moves to deposit a career high 27 points. Connolly, in 13 minutes of relief work, was a perfect 4 for 4, all layups,  against the considerably shorter and thinner Cardinals. However, due to both conditioning issues and the fact the Cards, when on offense, were able to blow by him before he could barely move, Ron Rose realized any points the big fellow scored would quickly be countered by the much quicker visitors, so he didn't see any late game action. Another factor in the Wesleyan win was the contribution of their bench wh outscored the Cardinal subs by a 22-2 count. 11 players saw action for Wesleyan.
Despite having to go almost all the way with its starters, NCC stayed right with with the Titans for the vast majority of the game. Finally, after a 3 pointer by Johnson, another layup by Sexauer, and a nice tip-in by Duncan Lawson, the Titans built their lead to 11 with 4:50 left. From that point on it became a free throw exibition as the Cardinals were forced to foul. Wesleyan responded by scoring their final 14 points of the game on free throws, going 14 for 16 over the final 4:50, with Rosenkranz and Johnson each a perfect 6 for 6.

As far as an analysis of the Titans, I think it can be said that this is a gifted offensive team with nice depth. They have a great 1-2 punch in Sexauer & Johnson. However, their Achilles heel is unquestionably defense. North Central's Raridon, Barringer, and Twyman continually went around and over the Titans to the tune of 28,26, and 19 points respectively. It was as if the Titans feet were glued to the floor. They seem to have too many players who either can't play defense of don't care to. I think playing Dwyer more in defensive situations toward the end of the game would be beneficial. He also won't hurt you much offensively.

This story is dedicated to Wheels and Usee in the hopes of helping to alleviate their never ending craving for all things NCC.          

[Dennis_Prikkel]

CCIWFAN3, very nice KarmaKomeback.  Dennis, are you sneaking on in the middle of the night to counter the Hall-of-Fame co-conspirators?  

i am able to sleep at night, now that i dont read cciw chat afer 9 pm

[petemcb]

CCIWFAN3, very nice KarmaKomeback.  Dennis, are you sneaking on in the middle of the night to counter the Hall-of-Fame co-conspirators?  

i am able to sleep at night, now that i dont read cciw chat afer 9 pm

For me, it was eliminating the caffeine-laden Dr. Pepper from dinnertime.  Will you be at Wheaton tonight?

[petemcb]

I'm hearing rumors of a bus departing from Foster and Kedzie some time soon.  I wonder if we'll see Braveheart II.........

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Naperville:

NCC 71
Millikin 69

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Wheaton:

Wheaton 67
North Park 48

Stick a fork in the Vikings. They're done.

[Gregory Sager]

* Nick Williams: 14 pts
* Jorge Gonzalez: 9 pts, 10 rebs

* Ben Panner: 22 pts
* Tim McCrary: 19 pts, 5 asts
* Jake Carwell: 7 rebs

The play that summed up this game in a nutshell came with 4:08 left. Jorge Gonzalez picked Jake Carwell's pocket out on the perimeter, sped down the floor all by his lonesome for a breakaway basket -- and couldn't decide whether to dunk or lay it up, and as a result he bounced it off the rim and out and NPU came away with no points. NPU played an absolutely awful game, while Wheaton showed up and looked like a team that knew it had to execute in order to stay in the CCIW tournament race.

In the first half Wheaton extended its defense in order to force North Park's guards to drive longer to the basket and to take away the high screens by Emanuel Crosby and Nick Williams. It was very effective, and Wheaton pulled out into a double-digit lead, although NPU brought it back to within six at halftime, 30-24. But Wheaton opened up the second half absolutely on fire from all over the court, especially Ben Panner -- he was knocking down shots from everywhere. Meanwhile, at the other end of the floor, the Vikings offense sputtered and stopped. They couldn't knock down anything from long range (1-11 on the night), in spite of plenty of good looks, and the entry passes into the low post were made from so far out that Wheaton had plenty of time to get weak-side help in to counter Crosby and Williams whenever they got the ball into their hands. Ben Panner, who was very much the best player on the floor today, did a terrific job of neutralizing Ro Russell, and nobody else except for Gonzalez and his activity on the boards really contributed anything for NPU. The Vikings played the second half like a team that couldn't wait to get back on the bus and get out of DuPage County.

Wheaton thoroughly outplayed NPU. The hosts showed lots of patience in their motion, scoring a lot of their points deep into the shot clock; I think that they knew that the Vikings would only counter them for twenty seconds or so per possession, and it seemed as though whenever the opening came up Wheaton found it and exploited it. The Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance was especially good at using the skip pass to find the opening on the opposite side of the floor.

North Park is strictly playing for pride from this point on, but I'd like to see the Vikings make use of these last four games by tightening up their defense and exhibiting more patience on the offensive end. It's a very young team, and they're still very much in learning mode.

Still, it would've been nice if they'd showed up today and demonstrated that they actually had something to play for.

[Gregory Sager]

Great job by the Carlson Crazies and their cohorts, by the way. In spite of the time change, the NPU student section was in the house and large and loud and proud. Wheaton AD Tony Ladd could move this game to six o'clock in the morning, and the Crazies would still be there.

[Gregory Sager]

The MU @ NCC game went right down to the wire, with Rodney Clark's trey miss with :02 left preserving the narrow victory for the homestanding Redbirds. Derek Raridon had a tremendous game for North Central, scoring 33, while David Twyman had a 15 and 13 double-double and Reid Barringer contributed ten points. Millikin was led by Joscar Demby's 26 points and Clark's ten.