MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

Deerfield/Joy Of The Game Summer League playoffs

For CCIW teams:

Augie was absent due, of course, to their current China trip.
IWU was represented by some of their incoming freshmen along with some spare players who played with the Wesleyan contingent in a majority of their games this summer. As I previously reported, Wesleyan had trouble fielding a complete team in at least half their games this year despite a large percentage of the roster being from the Chicago suburban area. 

In 1st round action on Tues 8/10, Loras, with 13 players present, beat the North Central (2) rookie team by 6, Carthage lost to (independent) Run's House, North Park beat the Wesleyan rookies, Elmhurst downed Lake Forest, and North Central 1 took down Wash U.   

In last night's quarter finals, North Park lost to (independent) Old Gold. Elmhurst, who was supposed to play Loras, called during the day and indicated they would be unable to field a team for the game. As such, Lake Forest, which had lost to EC in the opening round, was brought back as EC's "replacement" and downed Loras. However, since Lake Forest had lost in the 1st round, Loras was allowed to go on to the semi finals. North Central defeated Lawrence WI in the other quarter final game of the evening.

Moving on to the semi finals, Old Gold, undefeated in league play, emerged from the 2nd bracket as expected, and the North Central Cardinals, in downing Loras, won their 3rd playoff game, and will face Old Gold in next Thursday's championship game at 8:00. 

[AndOne]

North Central

* Porta Harris (6-3 SG, Prosser H.S.) - ?   new
* Vince Kmiec (6-4 SG, Sandburg H.S.) - ?   new

Porta Harris--17.0 ppg
Vince Kmiec--16.5 ppg, 4 rpg, 2.5 spg

[dansand]

Augie suffers its first loss in China, 53-52 to the junior national team. Sounds like coach G was very pleased with how the team played against pretty stiff competition.

http://www.augustana.edu/x21671.xml

[iwu70]

Looks like some great basketball going down early in China and Italy.  Should be wonderful trips for both Augie and the Titans.  A big hello and shout - out to Norm Moline, the faculty advisor, travelling with the Augie team in China.  Norm, hope all goes well on the "far side."  Good luck with Tsinghua. 

Yipsi, glad to hear you are coming to Homecoming.  Yes, I must be getting senile as alot of classmates have told me they are coming and I seem to forget . . . guess I am really older and wiser than the rest of  you guys.  Do register soon -- all online now.  Especially, register for the Saturday night "decade dinner" which is really our class dinner.  Lots of other good events this year.  Check out the full brochure and program in the IWU mag this past time -- all online too.

IWU campus coming alive now -- footballers and international students in yesterday, and lots of prospective students with parents in tow, touring around the campus today.  Large tours into Ames Library about every 20 minutes or so.  All returning students are back on campus by this coming weekend. . .   let the games begin!!!  (and classes too!).  Chuck, see you in October for sure.  MLS

[Titan Q]

6-9 center Ryan Connolly (18 pts) led the Titans to victory in game 2 of the Italy trip, in what sounds like quite an interesting game...

http://www.iwusports.com/sports/2010/8/9/MBB_0809102117.aspx?id=143

[dansand]

Augie closes out the basketball portion of its China trip with a win, finishing 4-1:

After loss to China's National Junior Team, Vikings rebound (literally) to defeat Tsinghai 86-68 to end trip with 4-1 record

BEIJING, China – One day after losing a one point (53-52) decision to the Chinese National Junior (18-21 year olds) Team, Augustana rebounded, literally, in impressive fashion. The Vikings defeated Tsinghai University by a score of 86-68 to finish up the 2010 China Tour with a 4-1 overall record.

"We go 4-1 on this trip and the only loss was by one point to the National Junior Team of China that was playing with players who were the same age as our guys," said Augustana veteran head coach Grey Giovanine. "I could not be prouder of the way our team competed and matured on this trip. We have been extremely happy with the way they represented Augustana and the United States throughout this entire tour. This should serve not only as a priceless learning experience but also as a springboard to the 2010-11 season."

It was on the backboards where this game was won as Augustana pulled down an astonishing 29 offensive rebounds.

After trailing 19-16 after the first quarter, the Vikings outscored Tsinghai 31-18 in the second quarter to take a 47-37 lead at halftime. Luke Scarlata (Morton HS, Berwyn, Ill.) scored 19 points and pulled down five rebounds. Bryant Voiles (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) added 13 points and four rebounds and Kyle Nelson (Deerfield HS, Deerfield, Ill.) put up 12 points and five rebounds. George Dexter (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa) and Kameron Norton (Downers Grove North HS, Downers Grove, Ill.) each had six rebounds.

The Vikings had 18 steals and five blocked shots to add to the offensive problems that Tsinghai had in handling the Augustana pressure.

Tsinghai is a university of 40,000 students located on 800 plus acres in the middle of Beijing. The school has an academic reputation that is on par with Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tsinghai has a game scheduled in the United States with Washington University this year.

[Titan Q]

The Titans closed out their trip to Itlay with a win...

http://www.iwusports.com/sports/2010/8/9/MBB_0809102117.aspx?path=mbball

[iwu70]

Sounds like a great time for the Titans in Italy.  Enjoyed Sean's blog and updates, reports, and pictures.  Lots of good memories from my own time travelling in Italy in summer, '68 and also several times subsequently.  What a great experience for the Titans . . .

What is going on with Tyler?  Sean mentions he won't be playing competitive basketball again later? 

Hope all CCIW chatsters are enjoying the last few days of August . . . all the 622 freshmen and their families have appeared today on the IWU campus, "move-in" day,  so let the games (and the classes) begin.  Fall semester classes begin on Monday . . . so all returning students due in this weekend.  Fall football weather will soon be upon us. . .

[AndOne]

Sounds like a great time for the Titans in Italy.  Enjoyed Sean's blog and updates, reports, and pictures.  Lots of good memories from my own time travelling in Italy in summer, '68 and also several times subsequently.  What a great experience for the Titans . . .

What is going on with Tyler?  Sean mentions he won't be playing competitive basketball again later? 

Hope all CCIW chatsters are enjoying the last few days of August . . . all the 622 freshmen and their families have appeared today on the IWU campus, "move-in" day,  so let the games (and the classes) begin.  Fall semester classes begin on Monday . . . so all returning students due in this weekend.  Fall football weather will soon be upon us. . .

Amen IWU. Can't happen soon enough. I am sick of these 90 degree and/or 90 percent humidity days!

[dansand]

There was some discussion a while back about what Augie's lineup might look like in 2010-11.

My big concern for the coming year will be our guard play.  Will we have the experience and skill at the guard positions to compete at a high level.  Our bigs will good, but with the loss of Pelton, who will step up and play the shooting guard???
Any chance of moving Anderson to the #2, or is he a #3?  

The Vikings will be very good if they can find some consistent perimeter shooting.  Voiles will be back, right?  That should help.  I won't be 100% sold on the shooting at the 1 and 2 spots until I see who ends up in the mix though.  Maybe one of the freshmen guards will be the answer, or maybe returning players have improved.

I'm not sure if Chris Anderson can play the 2 (he seems like a 3/4 to me), but if he can it would make Augie one of the biggest D3 teams in the country:

G DeSimone, 6-2
G Anderson, 6-4
F Voiles, 6-9
F Kunz, 6-7
C Nelson, 6-9

That's bigger than most Missouri Valley teams.  Anderson was Augie's best 3-point shooter last season (26-60, .433).

Augie was 115-363 (.317) from beyond the arc in 2009-10.  If the Vikings can just shoot .350 or so, they'll be very tough with all that size (and depth) down low.

I talked to Coach G this weekend and he said they got playing time for all 16 players who made the China trip and while they experimented with a lot of combinations, the starting lineup consisted of:

1-DeSimone
2-Anderson
3-Voiles
4-either Dexter, Kunz or Norton
5-Nelson

Overall, he sounded very pleased with how they played, especially defensively. Obviously, he's really excited about getting Voiles back. He's just capable of doing so many things on both ends. Sounds like perimeter scoring is still a question mark. Grey said, "It's a big deal when we make a three." But Anderson is 44% for his career and Voiles is almost 49%, so there's hope. Clearly, this is a team that won't be taking a lot of three's, but they'll need to be more efficient when they do. Not many questions up front, though. If everyone stays healthy (knock on wood), they'll be awfully good and deeper in the front court than any Augie team I can remember.

[CaptJ]

Someone educate me please.  With the limitations on practice in the off-season, how is it that teams get to travel overseas and compete?  Surely there are practices to prepare them for the games, and surely it is a huge advantage for the upcoming season for the team to play together like that.  What gives? 

[dansand]

Someone educate me please.  With the limitations on practice in the off-season, how is it that teams get to travel overseas and compete?  Surely there are practices to prepare them for the games, and surely it is a huge advantage for the upcoming season for the team to play together like that.  What gives?  

The NCAA allows a trip every three years and you get an extra 10 days of practice in preparation. Incoming freshman are ineligible. Coach Giovanine has taken his Augustana teams overseas in 2001 (Belgium, Holland and France), 2004 (Ireland), 2007 (China) and returned to China this year. So every player in the last decade that has stayed with the program has had the opportunity to go on a foreign trip. It's a great experience for everyone involved and also has a ton of value from a team-building standpoint.

[Viking Mike]

Dan,

Thanks for the update.  I was thinking this would be a strong starting five for the Vikes. (per my earlier post)   I don't remember seeing Anderson handle the ball much last year, however.  Can he drive to the basket and create his own shots?  Can he handle any pressure if teams force the ball out of DiSimone's hands?

It seems like our weakness may be guard play and outside shooting.  Outside of DiSimone, experience at the guard position seems thin.  I know Avallone has a lot of shooting potential, but we have not always seen it in games.  Croegaert seems solid with the ball, but does not seem to be a scorer.  Can we expect some offense out of Safranski?
I think these 3 guys may dictate how good Augie can be this year. 

I'm already looking forward to this year's season and football hasn't even started yet!!!

[CaptJ]

Someone educate me please.  With the limitations on practice in the off-season, how is it that teams get to travel overseas and compete?  Surely there are practices to prepare them for the games, and surely it is a huge advantage for the upcoming season for the team to play together like that.  What gives?  

The NCAA allows a trip every three years and you get an extra 10 days of practice in preparation. Incoming freshman are ineligible. Coach Giovanine has taken his Augustana teams overseas in 2001 (Belgium, Holland and France), 2004 (Ireland), 2007 (China) and returned to China this year. So every player in the last decade that has stayed with the program has had the opportunity to go on a foreign trip. It's a great experience for everyone involved and also has a ton of value from a team-building standpoint.

Thanks for the info, dansand.  Valuable for team-building, indeed.  What a great experience for everyone involved.  The players at Augustana must look forward to their turn to go abroad as basketball ambassadors.  I wish my Captains would start a program like that, but as a state school there might be problems with doing so.  Good luck to the Augies in 2010-11.

[Mr. Ypsi]

An off-season discussion question.  Who is the greatest player ever at each conference school?

A handful are obvious.  At Millikin, 'Gobo' may hold all the CCIW scoring records, but no one who ever saw him would say anyone other than Jesse Price.  IWU has had a number of truly great players, but I don't think I'll get any dissent saying Jack Sikma.  I'm guessing Steve Djurickovic has already done enough to quell any dissent at Carthage.  Wheaton obviously had some great players (Mel Peterson, etc.) when they were so dominant in the late 50s that they were asked to leave the conference, but would anyone dissent that Kent Raymond passed them all?  At North Park it would obviously be someone from their 5 national champions - while Michael Thomas was superb, I'm guessing the consensus would be Michael Harper.  But I'm drawing a blank on the other three schools.

Comments on them (or dissent from any of the five schools I mentioned)?