MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

I for one am looking forward to another season long song of "CCIW bias" from our friend out west, OxyBob.

Aren't we all? I mean, that never gets old, right?

As an aside, I really don't have any emotional investment whatsoever in whether or not the SCIAC admits Chapman as its ninth member. But I'm kinda hoping that the league does vote in favor of having Chapman join, because the sound of OxyBob's head exploding will be audible here in Chicago, two time zones away.

I'm with ya on that one!  Chapman may be the only thing OB hates more than the CCIW!

[Titan Q]

Manchester 78
Wheaton 60

Manchester led the majority of the game and looked like the better team, by a pretty substantial margin.  Manchester is experienced, balanced, and deep – they have a chance to make some noise this year.

Wheaton's defense kept them in the game in the first half – after Manchester jumped out to an early lead, the Thunder clawed back and, I think, actually led by a point or two at the half.  Jeremy Pflederer and Andrew Jahns seemed to be the only consistent offensive threats in the 1st half (they both scored some points tonight).  Like every Wheaton team I've ever seen, the Thunder really played solid defense though in that 1st half and made it hard on the Spartans.

Manchester did a tremendous job on Tim McCrary.  They doubled him most times he touched it and just harassed him all night.  The Thunder, however, were not able to make them pay by consistently knocking down open shots.  In watching just one game, I have no idea who Wheaton's second best offensive player is, but I know that there is a huge gap between McCrary and whoever that is.  (I haven't seen any stats, but I just don't remember that many McCrary FG's in this game...at least while it was close.)

The Spartans took control of the game for good about midway through the 2nd half.  Manchester's 6-10 center, Spindler, caused problems for Wheaton, as did Manchester's dribble penetration.  The Spartans seem to always have 4 6-4 guys on the floor at all times who can all shoot the 3, and all get to the basket.

As forecasted, Wheaton has very little depth in the low post.  The Thunder got nothing out of Schultze, Haynes, and whoever else was in there - it was hard to follow since the student broadcasters a) were kind of out of control and b) didn't know the Wheaton players.  Wheaton's lack of depth seemed to play a big factor- the Thunder seemed to be gassed as MC pulled away.

Wheaton will get better, and will beat CCIW contenders this year. But I don't think they deserve those Top 25 votes, and they don't look like a CCIW top 3 team.  Lots of holes.

[Gregory Sager]

Manchester 78
Wheaton 60

I didn't tune in to the Manchester radio call until it was late in the game, but it sounds like the Spartans blew what had been a close game at intermission wide open in the second half.

[Titan Q]

CCIW basketball on my 50 inch plasma 2 nights in a row.  Nice.

[Gregory Sager]

Jahns had 20, McCrary and Pflederer had 14 apiece. Wheaton only shot 25% from the field in the second half.

[Mr. Ypsi]

CCIW basketball on my 50 inch plasma 2 nights in a row.  Nice.

Oh, man.  My 14 inch monitor (in an area where I'm not allowed decent sound if anyone else is around) is 'sounding' pretty pathetic.

Would you be willing to adopt me?

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Kenosha:

Carthage 74
Calumet St. Joseph 33

No, CCSJ's final tally is not a typo.

[Gregory Sager]

It was only 29-18 at the half, but whatever energy drinks were served in the Carthage locker room during intermission apparently did the trick. The Red Men outscored Calumet St. Joseph by a ridiculous 45-15 score in the second half.

Steve D. tied the Carthage single-game assists record that he set last January against Elmhurst by dishing out 13 dimes. He didn't shoot that well (3-11 from the field, 12 points), but he didn't have to. He also flirted with a triple-double by pulling down 8 boards.

Malcom Kelly had 15, Mitch Thompson 13, and Tyler Pierce 10 for the Red Men, but what really sticks out like a sore thumb are CCSJ's awful numbers. Not one single member of the Crimson Wave scored more than six points. All five CCSJ starters took more shots from the field than they scored points, which is something I don't think I've ever seen in a box score before. They shot 26% (14-54) from the field, 9% (1-11) from downtown, and 29% (4-14) from the FT line. Man, that's some warthog-ugly shooting. And the Crimson Wave turned the ball over 23 times. Oddly enough, they outrebounded Carthage, 41-40.

Here's the thing: I didn't see the game, so I can't say this for certain, but the evidence prior to tonight indicated that CCSJ wasn't a terrible team. The Crimson Wave came into tonight with a 3-3 record; the only bad loss they'd had was a 15-point defeat at the hands of St.Xavier (4-0), and even in that game St. Xavier was never able to get the lead up over 19 points. And you always have to figure that an NAIA team gets something of an edge if it's the opponent in a D3 team's first game of the season -- especially when that NAIA team's played as many games already as had the Crimson Wave. So my impression is that this was at least a marginally competent CCSJ team that Carthage carved up like a Yankee pot roast in the Toolshed tonight.

[Gregory Sager]

Overtime final from Mt. Vernon, IA:

Cornell 75
Elmhurst 70

[Gregory Sager]

Zack Boyd had a nice night for the Bluejays (20 and 14), which went with the familiar four-guards-and-a-small-forward starting lineup of last year. In spite of that, EC won the battle of the boards, 36-30. Aaron Schroeder chipped in 15 points for the 'jays, who were led in rebounding by Sean Fendley (?!), who collected five caroms.

Neither Fendley nor Steve "Red Badge of Courage" Crane started tonight. In fact, Crane fouled out with a grand total of four points and one rebound to his credit.

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Indianola, IA:

Augustana 85
Simpson 66

Kyle Nelson led the way for Augie with 22 points.

[dansand]

Nice win for Augie at Simpson tonight--85-66. Vikes shot .667 from the field to .400 for the Storm and outrebounded them 35-14. The only negative offensively was 24 TO's. Augie's four bigs (Nelson, Scarlata, Dexter & Kunz--Norton is injured and didn't play) were a combined 18-of-22 from the field. Vikes even made 17 of 19 free throws. Nelson had 22 points and six boards in just 20 minutes. Anderson had 14, Dexter 11 & 7, and Voiles, Rorer and Scarlata had nine each.

The only reason the score stayed as close as it did early was that Augie put the Storm in the bonus with 15 minutes left in the first half and the double bonus with about 11 minutes left. Simpson hit 18-of 20 free throws in the opening half. Dexter, Kunz and Scarlata all had three fouls and Nelson two at halftime.  

The defense was much better and Augie totally dominated the second half. They outshot Simpson .778 to .333 from the field and outrebounded them 18-5. The Storm only had two offensive rebounds in the entire game. Simpson's not too good, but I came away feeling pretty good about this game. The competition takes a big step up Monday with Wash U.

JV's won big also. 90-60 with just seven guys. Austin Lusson had 18, Kevin Schlitter had 17 and 12, Kevin Waibel 16 and 15, P.J. Killean 16 (4-6 3's) and Sam Calcagno 11.

[Titan Q]

Two big in-region losses last night (Elmhurst to Cornell and Wheaton to Manchester). 

We need to get the "in-region win" train rolling - it seems early, but in terms of strength of schedule, every CCIW non-conference, in-region game is very important.

Need a North Park win tonight.

[Gregory Sager]

Need a North Park win tonight.

... and the Vikings would love to oblige this sentiment. Rob and I will be on the call for tonight's Concordia (IL) @ NPU webcast. It'll be a 7:30 pm tipoff, but we'll be on the "air" (so to speak) at 7 pm for our CCIW preview show.

At halftime, we're hoping to have a live interview with North Park men's soccer coach John Born to talk about NPU's CCIW tourney win and NCAA run. If Coach Born turns out to be unavailable, we'll be running part one of my preseason interview of NPU men's basketball coach Paul Brenegan.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Good news, guys.  Eva Longoria is back in circulation!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/basketball/nba/11/17/parker.longoria.divorce.ap/index.html?eref=sihp

How dare those frogs try to steal a national treasure?!

[Don't worry - Mrs. Y never reads this site. ]