MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

We're heading to UW-Stevens Point.

[Titan Q]

The way the bracket was constructed - with Stevens Point and Wash U on opposite sides of the Sectional pairing - it seems clear Stevens Point is a higher seed than Carthage.  That is why the Pointers get the nod.

Hard to believe I've never been to Stevens Point somewhere along the way...and that IWU has not faced the Pointers in the 20+ years I've been following the Titans.

[usee]

A special thank you to Ben Panner and Jake Carwell who finished their careers last night in Texas. Kind of appropriate for BP to finish where it began for him. Below is an excerpt from the Wheaton website including a quote from Coach Schauer on BP.


Panner closes out his career in 12th place on Wheaton's all-time scoring list with 1,499 career points. He is also seventh in school history with 179 career three-pointers and ninth on Wheaton's all-time assists list with 282. Schauer noted of the four-year starter who played in every game through his Thunder career, "Ben is a special player. I believe that Ben is on a very small list of guys that have played at Wheaton that combine a fierce competitiveness with a truly humble spirit. He may do that better than any player I have coached."

Schauer concludes his first season as head coach of his alma mater with 19 victories, the most ever by a first-year head coach for the school's men's basketball program.

[REDMENFAN]

Two articles about the Carthage/Anderson game. The racine journal times one has a good quote from Anderson's coach about Steve, saying they should check his DNA because he seems like superman's son and not Bosko's.

http://journaltimes.com/sports/article_27cd733e-29a9-11df-8ef1-001cc4c03286.html

http://www.kenoshanews.com/sports/carthage_doubly_sweet_7496613.html

[WUPHF]

Incidentally, I figured I could watch the scrimmage because I lack the basketball IQ to pass on any details.

"Yeah, Coach Edwards, they shoot the three well, and the big guys seems quite good.  That is all I got."

Unfortunately, it looks like my super-detailed scouting report was dead-on. [Insert yellow smiley-faced, I mean, sad yellow, crying face here]

The Titans were indeed here for basketball.

I am one of those my team, right or wrong fans, who is completely biased, and sometimes I will even clap when the other coach gets a technical foul (I can't imagine that technical last night was deserved though).  I even blame referees for losses, on occasion, but even I have to admit that the better team won last night.  I do not think the Titans could have played a better game.  Absolutely brilliant.

Good luck Titans!

Thanks CCIW fans for letting me troll around on this thread all season long.  You may see me again when the Washington University ladies roll in to town.

[Titan Q]

Congratulations to the Titans and Redmen. To think we werte only 2pts from 3 CCIW teams in the sweet 16 in a "down year". It reminds me of how fortunate we are to watch such quality bball night after night. I am really impressed witht the Titan win in St Louis. Since Sean Johnson's ofer vs the thunder in bloomington he has looked great.

Sean Johnson's last 5 games (all on the road)...

vs Wash U - 24 pts, 6 reb, 3 assists
vs Central - 24 pts, 4 assists
vs Carthage - 17 pts
vs Wheaton - 12 pts, 2 reb, 2 assists
vs North Park - 24 pts


He's been great.  The kid just has a lot of guts.

[Titan Q]

Johnny Koschnitzky with a little frontpage time on NCAA.com...

http://www.ncaa.com/

[Gray Fox]

Attended the game between the Thunder and UT-Dallas tonight in Richardson, TX.  The Thunder played hard, but they could not stop the barrage of back door layups by UTD.  They had a real shot to win the game because they were hitting threes, but they got very little going inside against the UTD big bodies.  What killed the Thunder at the end of the game was very poor ball handling and sloppy passing....resulting in turnover after turnover.  Disappointing loss, but the Thunder gave it their best shot.  There appears to be quite a drop off in talent after the first three or four guys and the Panner kid will be missed.  Was big number 40 injured?  The Thunder sure could have used a big body like his in this game.

I have been going to a number of HS games here in DFW this season.  This game reminded me that the DIII guys play for the love of the game.  There are certainly some HS teams here that would beat either of these teams.  They have D1 recruits on their HS teams who would dominate with their quickness, explosiveness, lights out shooting, athleticism and size.   But it is just fun to watch teams play the game with discipline, effort and without the "attitudes".  

I was at the game and that is a pretty good observation.  I have to disagree on the HS opinion.  When I looked at the background of some of the guys on the roster, I was reminded that most of these guys were all league in high school.  When you add three or four years of maturity, it would be a rare HS team that could play at this level.

[Titan Q]

Ron Rose will be on Hoopsville tonight at about 7:15pm CST.  Link on the frontpage of course.

[John Gleich]

The way the bracket was constructed - with Stevens Point and Wash U on opposite sides of the Sectional pairing - it seems clear Stevens Point is a higher seed than Carthage.  That is why the Pointers get the nod.

Hard to believe I've never been to Stevens Point somewhere along the way...and that IWU has not faced the Pointers in the 20+ years I've been following the Titans.

Point and IWU have only met twice.  Per the Point records from their media guide, the first meeting was in 1971.  I'm not sure when the second one was.

As an aside, that media guide might be good to peruse in terms of restaurants and hotels (in addition to my POST on the WIAC board concerning Hotels that I'll also repost here):

     Airports nearby are CWA (20 minutes north of Point - served by Delta, United and American), ATW (Appleton - about an hour away - larger and served by a couple more airlines), MSN (Madison- about 1 hr 45 minutes away - still larger and served by more airlines) and GRB (Green Bay - about 1 hr 45 minutes away- and served by a number or airlines).

     As for lodging, there is a fairly new Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Fairfield Inn, Country Inn and Suites, Comfort Inn and Suites, Ramada (the last 3 basically within walking distance to the Quandt), Sleep Inn, Hampton Inn and a number of others.  Hope this helps.

My parents always stayed at the Country Inn and Suites and loved it.  There's also a La Quinta on Highway 10 66 (recently changed names), right by Hilltop Pub (which is what should be suggested for pre-post game meals!).

I've stayed at the Comfort Inn & Suites for the last couple of alumni weekends the past few years and that's newly remodeled and very nice too.  The Ramada (formerly the Country Springs Hotel, formerly the Holiday Inn, aka the "old Holiday Inn") is where we had our wedding reception 3.5 years ago and they were in the midst of a remodel then it was sold and switched names 2 years ago.  I should think that they're done with that remodel now... didn't appear they were working on it the last time I was in town.

The Ramada, Comfort Suites and Ramada are all within a quarter mile of each other and about a half mile north of campus.  The La Quinta is maybe about a mile to a mile and a half east of campus.  There's also a Best Western across the street from the La Quinta.  I've never been in there, but I think it's pretty old... I've never heard of anyone who's stayed there.  The Holiday Inn (newly built about 4 years ago) and Holiday Inn Express (built perhaps a year earlier) are maybe 1.5 miles farther west on Highway 10, which is the same road as 66 now, just on the other side of I-39.  There's also a Fairfield Inn on Hwy 10, just east of 39 that I don't know much about.

There's also a Comfort Inn in Plover, just south of Stevens Point (3 or 4 miles) and about 3 exits south at Highway B.  If for some reason these are booked, or if you're looking for a bigger block of rooms than the others can accommodate, try there, it's about 8 years old and very nice as well. 

[Titan Q]

A look at the projected starters for the four teams at Stevens Point...

http://www.iwuhoops.com/notes10.htm

[pistol]

Attended the game between the Thunder and UT-Dallas tonight in Richardson, TX.  The Thunder played hard, but they could not stop the barrage of back door layups by UTD.  They had a real shot to win the game because they were hitting threes, but they got very little going inside against the UTD big bodies.  What killed the Thunder at the end of the game was very poor ball handling and sloppy passing....resulting in turnover after turnover.  Disappointing loss, but the Thunder gave it their best shot.  There appears to be quite a drop off in talent after the first three or four guys and the Panner kid will be missed.  Was big number 40 injured?  The Thunder sure could have used a big body like his in this game.

I have been going to a number of HS games here in DFW this season.  This game reminded me that the DIII guys play for the love of the game.  There are certainly some HS teams here that would beat either of these teams.  They have D1 recruits on their HS teams who would dominate with their quickness, explosiveness, lights out shooting, athleticism and size.   But it is just fun to watch teams play the game with discipline, effort and without the "attitudes".  

I was at the game and that is a pretty good observation.  I have to disagree on the HS opinion.  When I looked at the background of some of the guys on the roster, I was reminded that most of these guys were all league in high school.  When you add three or four years of maturity, it would be a rare HS team that could play at this level.

[iwu70]

Congrats to IWU and Carthage . . . too bad CCIW teams have to meet so early in the bracket.   All good teams now.   

Congrats to Wheaton and Wash U on great seasons -- wonderful careers of many senior players.  I especially enjoyed watching the Wash U seniors these past few years.  Good luck to all.

Go Titans!!!

[iwu70]

Just a few comments on the development of the Titans in the latter part of the season:  (Congrats to Ron Rose and the team for the great work so far!!!)

Having seen some games and followed the play of the Titans closely all year, I truly believe it has been key to move Kochinsky back into the starting line-up and keep Jordan Zimmer there.  I said early on that the line-up with O'Callahan starting would not be the strongest.  Zimmer, in addition to being a great trey range shooter, has clearly learned to put the ball on the floor, challenge defenses from many locations with mobility and getting to the basket/FT line as well as shooting long-range. (shades of Keelan).  Sean and Travis have matured, learned their teammates better and become more consistent, with less TOs, as the season has gone on.  Sean is fearless.  Clear improvement.  Sexauer is tough to guard, a "load" as Q would say -- when he truly comes to play.  As he goes, so go the Titans in my view, as all the teams now have good bigs.  Doug has to match the other teams' bigs.   Nice to see him hit the key FTs at Wash U and go into the sectional with confidence.  I think the biggest surprise has been the positive and consistent bench play of Connolly and now Duncan Lawson.  Gotta have a good, tough back-up big for this run -- a la Steve Schweer, Jones.  And, gotta have a mobile big man who can play the wing, swing out and shoot the 3, as well as rebound.  Earlier in the season, I didn't think Lawson was the man, as he seemed out of shape and timid, but he has proven me wrong in the last 5-6 games of the season and has played, as Q has mentioned, a very key role.  And, what can you say about Dwyer -- a tough, team-oriented guy that lays his body out there every night.  Not the greatest 3 point shooter, but will be after every loose ball, defending every tough match-up as needed.  He will be greatly missed next year.

Finally, in the next few games, defensive intensity, getting key stops, making a few big plays defensively at key moments, will make the difference.  Q and others, is it reasonable to say now that this year's Titans have become "defensive-minded" at least, if not a really strong defensive team?  It's so clear that if they get to 70, 73, 75 points, they are usually going to win.  But, I'd like to see them win more games when they only score in the 50s or 60s.   Then we'll have an answer to my question above. 

Good luck to the Titans.  A great year, 20+ wins, but more important work to do.  Let's keep it rolling . . . and congrats on a truly great win at Wash U . . . as has been documented here, in a great tradition of beating Wash U on their home floor.

[pgkevin]

Paging Dr. OurHouse, paging Dr. OurHouse. 

Just curious to see thoughts on how the Sweet 16 trip will be/has been screwed up.