MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

Dan Schouten was the leading scorer in IWU's Green/White scrimmage tonight, with 23 points.

The Titans open Monday @ Benedictine.

I think Wesleyan's best lineup would feature Schouten starting in place of the injured Koschnitzky. Reed may be a better rebounder, but I think Schouten rates the edge in outside shooting, ballhandling, passing, and quickness.

[AndOne]

North Central faced off in a scrimmage this evening against (Others Receiving Votes) Univ of Chicago in Naperville. After the first 2 halves, the Cardinals defeated the Maroons by 14, 68-54. The Cards won the first half 34-30, and took the 2nd half by a 34-24 score. Chicago got out to a 20-10 lead in the 2nd stanza only to see NCC catch fire and go on a  24-4 run to close out the period. The Maroons won the 3rd (JV) half by 1 point.

Stats were kept only for the first 2 halves and showed that NCC was not unexpectedly led by pre-season 3rd team All American, 6'6" soph Derek Raridon with 19 (8/16, 1/2, 2/5). The Cards new center, 6'6" freshman Landon Gamble from Lockport, was next with 11. Gamble's backup, 6'6" freshman Jack Burchett out of Providence Catholic HS, was widely considered the night's first star after banking 8 points (3/5 & 2/2), and pulling down a game high 11 boards. Another frosh, 6'5" Charlie Rosenberg from Fremd HS came off the bench to join starting PG Kevin Gillespie in registering 6 points. Rosenberg also contributed 3 rebounds and 4 assists.

For the evening, North Central shot 48.1% (25/52),and Chicago ended at 35.1% (20/57).
The Cards won the battle of the boards by just 1, 36-35.

NCC opens the 2010-11 season next Friday evening 11/19, facing Bluffton (OH) in the Holiday Inn Select Tip-Off Tourney in the "hanger" in Naperville at 7:30.    

[petemcb]

Dan Schouten was the leading scorer in IWU's Green/White scrimmage tonight, with 23 points.

The Titans open Monday @ Benedictine.

I think Wesleyan's best lineup would feature Schouten starting in place of the injured Koschnitzky. Reed may be a better rebounder, but I think Schouten rates the edge in outside shooting, ballhandling, passing, and quickness.

Not so fast on that report card, AndOne.  I'm not sure how much of Reed's play you've had a chance to watch, but I'm not so sure on the ballhandling and passing part of that comparison.  Maybe even the quickness factor.  Maybe we'll get a better chance to evaluate the two of them out at Benedictine on Monday night, but I wouldn't be too quick to hand all those edges to Schouten just yet.

[Titan Q]

Millikin plays the D1 Akron Zips tonight at 7:30pm ET...

http://www.gozips.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=47192&SPID=4338&DB_OEM_ID=10800&ATCLID=205028957

Akron beat D3 preseason #18 John Carroll 111-48 last week.  I'm not sure how much worse any team could do than lose by 63, but I have to believe the Big Blue would lose by a bunch to John Carroll.  So this could be really ugly.

The strange thing is that the game is Akron's regular season opener (it's a real game), but it's listed as an "exhibtion" for Millikin (and the Big Blue do have 11 non-conference games scheduled)...


https://www.millikin.edu/sites/athletics/Pages/SportSchedule.aspx?TeamID=Men's%20Basketball


Doesn't it seem strange that a game can be an "exhibition" for one team and not the other?

[Titan Q]

Dan Schouten was the leading scorer in IWU's Green/White scrimmage tonight, with 23 points.

The Titans open Monday @ Benedictine.

I think Wesleyan's best lineup would feature Schouten starting in place of the injured Koschnitzky. Reed may be a better rebounder, but I think Schouten rates the edge in outside shooting, ballhandling, passing, and quickness.

Not so fast on that report card, AndOne.  I'm not sure how much of Reed's play you've had a chance to watch, but I'm not so sure on the ballhandling and passing part of that comparison.  Maybe even the quickness factor.  Maybe we'll get a better chance to evaluate the two of them out at Benedictine on Monday night, but I wouldn't be too quick to hand all those edges to Schouten just yet.

Two very different options.  6-7 Kevin Reed is a pure "4" - he is primarily a low-post player, but he can also step out to 17 feet or so.  6-5 Dan Schouten is a 3/4 combo who is nowhere near as good around the basket as Reed, but can shoot the 3 pretty well.

So I'm not sure it is matter of who is "better"...just depends on what Ron Rose is looking for out of the matchup.  And this is a pretty good example of IWU's depth -- to have a couple guys this solid ready to step in after two big injuries is quite a luxury.

[Titan Q]

There might be a pretty good crowd at that IWU/Benedictine game in Lisle Monday night.  Per the following video, BU is "opening" their newly renovated gym...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmCU3LPg4YA&feature=player_embedded


Some mention of playing IWU near the end.

[Gregory Sager]

There might be a pretty good crowd at that IWU/Benedictine game in Lisle Monday night.  Per the following video, BU is "opening" their newly renovated gym...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmCU3LPg4YA&feature=player_embedded


Some mention of playing IWU near the end.

I'm looking forward to seeing BU's transformed gym at some point, perhaps this season ... and I'm especially looking forward to not having to see games played on that wretched playing surface that the Rice Center used to have.

Doesn't it seem strange that a game can be an "exhibition" for one team and not the other?

Chalk that one up to the infinite wisdom of the NCAA.

[Titan Q]

Millikin/Akron live stats (6:30 Central tip)...

http://www.gozips.com/newLiveStats/Basketball/index.html?GAME_STAT_ID=519044&db_oem_id=10800


The Big Blue starters:

G Justin Thompson, 5-10 Sr
G Rodney Clark, 6-0 So
F Kelvin Jacobs, 6-4 So
F Nikko Robertson, 6-4 So
C Kyle Taylor, 6-6 Sr

[Hardwood]

The D3 preseason All-American team has been posted. Steve D. is on the first team (natch), McCrary's on the second team, Raridon and Sexauer are on the third team, and Nelson's on the fifth team.

It's a prestigious recognition, but the expiration date on its value is coming up in five days.

My only issue with these selections are where Raridon and Nelson were placed -- I think they deserved to be flipped.  Kyle Nelson's stats were very comparable to Doug Sexauer's last year - but Sexauer's played a intregral role in IWU advancing deep into the tourney.  With that said, Kyle Nelson played a leading role in getting Augustana into the CCIW tourney, while Raridon and NC didn't advance.  Also, at the completion of last year Nelson was voted to the CCIW first team and Raridon to the second team.  Titan Q, can you shed some light on the voting process?

[cardinalpride]

Hardwood, could it be that Raridon and Nelson play different positions? Raridon is a perimeter player and Nelson is a post player!

[Hardwood]

Cardinal pride -- not sure why that matters, they're both listed at the "F" position on the D3 list.

[Titan Q]

My only issue with these selections are where Raridon and Nelson were placed -- I think they deserved to be flipped.  Kyle Nelson's stats were very comparable to Doug Sexauer's last year - but Sexauer's played a intregral role in IWU advancing deep into the tourney.  With that said, Kyle Nelson played a leading role in getting Augustana into the CCIW tourney, while Raridon and NC didn't advance.  Also, at the completion of last year Nelson was voted to the CCIW first team and Raridon to the second team.  Titan Q, can you shed some light on the voting process?

I am not involved in the All-American team selection at all, but I can tell you it is not a vote.  I think Pat Coleman has a few trusted advisors that help him pick the teams.

One important clarification...

* The D3hoops.com All-American team does not take team success into account (like the CCIW all-conference awards typically do).  So where IWU or Augustana is expected to finish relative to North Central is a complete non-factor.

[Titan Q]

Cardinal pride -- not sure why that matters, they're both listed at the "F" position on the D3 list.

For the most part, I think Pat's crew tries to identify players at the following positions for each team...

* A point guard
* A shooting guard
* A "wing" player
* 2 low-post players

I like this approach.  It acknowledges the contributions of each position.

Doug Sexauer and Kyle Nelson are evaluated vs other F/C-type players.  A player like Derek Raridon can be evaluated vs wings or 4's...just like in real life, he can play either the 3 or 4 on the All-American team.

[Titan Q]

I think IWU's Sean Johnson is going to make a strong case at one of the All-American guard spots at the end of the season.  Here is how his 2009-10 offensive numbers stack up vs the preseason team guards...

Sean Johnson (Illinois Wesleyan) - 17.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.1 apg, 75-181 3-pt (.414), 103-127 FT (.811) 1.25 A:TO

1st Team
Steve Djurickovic (Carthage) - 24.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 7.3 rpg, 41-100 3-pt (.410), 228-260 FT (.877), 2.9 A:TO
Ian Franks (Wooster) - 17.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.3 apg, 38-93 3-pt (.409), 143-185 FT (.773), 1.4 A:TO

2nd Team
James Wang (Williams) - 17.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 4.4 apg, 69-136 3-pt (.507), 105-122 (.861) FT, 1.8 A:TO
Jeffrey Robinson (WPI) - 19.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.4 apg, 54-133 3-pt (.406), 109-130 FT (.838), 0.80 A:TO

3rd Team
Scott Gillespie (Ripon) - 22.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 7.3 ppg, 5-15 3-pt (.333), 114-158 FT (.722), 2.0 A:TO
Jared Jenkins (UW-Stevens Point) - 11.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.2 apg, 24-62 3-pt (.387), 77-104 (.740), 1.37 A:TO

4th Team
Alex Franz (St. Mary's) - 13.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 5.9 apg, 47-102 3-pt (.333), 66-99 FT (.667)
Tony Mane (UW-LaCrosse) - 22.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.9 apg, 64-160 3-pt (.400), 75-82 FT (.915), 1.1 A:TO

Honorable Mention
Peter Bunn (Hope) - 16.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.2 apg, 36-69 3-pt (.522), 127-145 FT (.876), 1.1 A:TO
Tyler White (Wilmington) - 17.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.2 apg, 13-53 3-pt (.245), 116-181 FT (.641), 0.4 A:TO


I think Johnson is right there relative to some of these guys.  I believe it's fair to say that in the NCAA tournament last year, he was as good as any guard in Division III...

vs Central - 24 pts
vs Wash U - 24 pts
vs Carthage - 26 pts, 12 reb
vs UW-Stevens Point - 32 pts

[AndOne]

Doesn't it seem strange that a game can be an "exhibition" for one team and not the other?

Chalk that one up to the infinite wisdom of the NCAA.

"Wisdom"