MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[bopol]

Carthage beat Bethany Lutheran tonight 108-92. Crazy up and down game with a ton of fouls, both teams with probably around 30 for the game.  Close throughout the first half with Carthage trailing most of the half but took the lead going into halftime. Steve D. finishes with 35 points and 7 assists to set up a top 20 match up with John Carroll tomorrow.

I hope they have different refs tomorrow.  Physical play, yes, but some of the fouls were a bit ridiculous.  I hate games like that.

[usee]

Wheaton wins their home opener 77-40 over Covenant in the opening tilt of the Lee Pfund Classic. UWW beat Defiance 95-91 in the early game to set up a Wheaton/UWW final tomorrow night at 8pm at King arena. McCrary had 10 and 8 in 19 minutes of play. Spencer Shultze was the leading scorer w 15.

[usee]

IWU 78 Aurora 76 in Btown. Sexauer scored w 5.8 seconds left for the margin of victory. He finished w 18 and 11. IWU v Ripon in the ship tomorrow night

[Titan Q]

IWU 78
Aurora 76

* Doug Sexauer: 18 pts, 11 reb
* Sean Johnson: 14 pts, 8 reb
* Ryan Connolly: 11 pts, 5 reb

* Ryan Crow: 24 pts, 7 reb
* Skyler Ormsbene: 16 pts 14 reb

http://www.iwusports.com/custompages/MBB/MBB2011/HTML/tip2.htm

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/article_1f4d23cc-f45f-11df-9b17-001cc4c03286.html



I did not listen to any of this game or talk to anyone, yet, who was there.  I just know, per above, that IWU trailed the entire 1st (by as much as 15 late in the 1st half), came back and took in lead early in the 2nd, but had to made one final comeback in the final minute.  Doug Sexauer scored the winning basket in the final seconds.

The last Aurora @ IWU game (2004-05 season) was much of the same.  It was another IWU come-from-behind victory for a 2-point win, with Keelan Amelianovich scoring the winning basket...

http://www.iwu.edu/~iwunews/sports/mbb2005/trny2.htm

[Titan Q]

Bluffton 61
North Central 56

http://northcentralcardinals.com/custompages/MBK/mbk1011/tipoffm2.htm


Bluffton was 2-23 last year.

[Titan Q]

Nebraska Wesleyan 74
Millikin 51


https://www.millikin.edu/SITES/ATHLETICS/MBASKETBALL/Pages/2010-11MillikinStatistics.aspx


Rough, rough start for the league!

[Hoosier Titan]

The IWU win was a true team effort.  The contributions of Ryan Connolly show up on the score sheet--and he was immense--but some others do not.  Much of the comeback happened when the "second" team of Eliud Gonzalez, Duncan Lawson, and Connolly were on the floor.  Gonzalez plays the best pressure defense and caused several turnovers by himself.  Connolly played terrific defense on Ormsbee, who is a very good player indeed.  Several times it looked as if the Titan comeback wasn't going to happen (at one point Ron Rose turned around and said "we can't do three good things in a row," and he was right).  But with the clock running down he diagrammed a play which the Titans ran perfectly.  Sean Johnson received a pass that drew the defense, and he passed off to Sexauer for the winning shot.  Matt Schick, Steven Rudnicki, and Dan Schouten also had strong contributions for the Titans, while Ryan Crow led Aurora with 24 points.

[dansand]

Bluffton 61
North Central 56

http://northcentralcardinals.com/custompages/MBK/mbk1011/tipoffm2.htm


Bluffton was 2-23 last year.

Nebraska Wesleyan 74
Millikin 51


https://www.millikin.edu/SITES/ATHLETICS/MBASKETBALL/Pages/2010-11MillikinStatistics.aspx


Rough, rough start for the league!

A good news/bad news evening for AndOne.

[Titan Q]

CCIW in-region Report...


Augustana (10)
11/16, @ Simpson  W
11/22, vs Washington U
11/27, vs Anderson
12/1, @ Monmouth
12/11, vs Buena Vista
12/15, vs UW-Whitewater
12/20, @ MacMurray
12/29, vs UW-Stout, at St. Norbert
12/30, @ St. Norbert or vs Lakeland, at St. Norbert
1/2, vs Chicago

Out of region:
12/8, vs St. Ambrose

Carthage (4)
11/19, vs Bethany Lutheran  W
11/24, vs Whitworth (in Hawaii)
11/26, vs Pacific (in Hawaii)
1,2, @ Transylvania

Out of region:
11,16, vs Calumet-St. Joseph
11/20, vs John Carroll
12,3 vs Hope
12/4, vs Calvin
12/7, vs Silver Lake
12/11, vs Albion
12/12, vs Cardinal Stritch

Elmhurst (11)
11/16, @ Cornell  L
11/20, vs Hamline
11/23, @ St. Norbert
12/1, @ Olivet
12/5, @ Westminster (Mo)
12/9, vs Kalamazoo
12/11, vs Loras
12/20, vs Aurora, in Las Vegas
12/21, vs UW-Oshkosh, in Las Vegas
12/29, vs DePauw
12/30, vs Calvin or Benedictine

Illinois Wesleyan (9 or 10)
11/15, @ Benedictine  W
11/19, vs Aurora  W
11/20, vs Ripon
11/23, @ Monmouth
11/27, vs Dominican
11/29, @ Webster
12/4, vs Chicago
12/11, vs MacMurray
12/18, @ Washington U
(12/30, @ Cal Lutheran)

Out of region:

12/29, vs Gettysburg, at Cal Lutheran
(12/30, vs Hobart, at Cal Lutheran)

Millikin (6 or 7)
11/19, vs Nebraska Wesleyan  L
11/23, vs Franklin
11/28, @ Rose-Hulman
12/4, @ Aurora
12/20, @ Transyvania
12/29, @ St. Mary's (MN)
(12/30, @ Illinois College)

Out of region:
12/1, vs Robert Morris-Springfield
12/8, @ Indianapolis
12/18, @ Adrian
12/21, vs Piedmont (GA) or Westminster (PA), at Transylvania
(12/30, vs Clarke at Illinois College)

North Central (8)
11/19, vs Bluffton L
11/20 vs Edgewood
11/23, vs Aurora
11/27, @ Illinois College
11/28, @ Manchester
12/7, vs Lake Forest
12/22, @ Benedictine
12/27, @ Rockford

Out of region:
12/1, vs Albion
12/17, @ Hawaii-Hilo
12/30, @ Adrian

North Park (9)
11/17, vs Concordia  L
11/23, vs Edgewood
11/27, @ Fontbonne
11/30, @ Carroll
12/4, vs Trine
12/11, @ Spalding
12/30, vs Milwaukee Engineering
12/19, @ Coe
12/20, @ Loras

Out of region:
12/28, vs Williams, at Salem State
12/29, vs Regis, at Salem State

Wheaton (6)
11/16, vs Manchester  L
11/19, vs UW-Whitewater
11,23, vs Loras
12/1, vs Chicago
12/4, vs Hope
12/11, vs Washington U

Out of region:
11/19, vs Covenant
12/3, vs Calvin
12/9, vs Trinity Intl
12/30, vs Messiah, in Phoenix
12/31, vs Husson, in Phoenix


CCIW non-conference totals (88 games)
In-region games: 65 (74%)
Out-of-region games: 23 (26%)

(Assumes the IWU and MU TBD games end up in-region)


CCIW in-region, non-conference record (through 11/19)
4-5


Today's in-region games
Elmhurst vs Hamline
IWU vs Ripon
North Central vs Edgewood
Wheaton vs UW-Whitewater

[Titan Q]

D3's first top 25 vs top 25 matchup, as #5 Carthage hosts #18 John Carroll at 3:00pm.

[petemcb]

Ryan Connolly with 11 pts, 5 rebs, and 2 assists in 8 minutes of action?!  If he can get his conditioning up, he could pull a 55 pt, 25 rebs, 10 assist triple-double dwarfed only by himself at that rate! 

[Titan Q]

Wheaton has suffered a couple injuries at the guard position that will really hurt its depth moving forward.  Stephen Pierotti (who started at PG vs Manchester but was injured in the 1st half) and Nate Serenius are now both out...both perhaps for a long time.

We all knew Wheaton would be extremely thin in the low post this season, but it seemed the Thunder had quite a few "varsity ready" guards.  But after losing projected starters Aaron Garriott and Michael Kvam before practice even started, and now Pierotti and Serenius, it appears Wheaton is every bit as thin at the perimeter as they are in the post.

[Titan Q]

Ryan Connolly with 11 pts, 5 rebs, and 2 assists in 8 minutes of action?!  If he can get his conditioning up, he could pull a 55 pt, 25 rebs, 10 assist triple-double dwarfed only by himself at that rate! 

Everything I've heard is that Connolly is in much better shape and capable of playing 20 minutes if needed.  His limited minutes through the first two games (10 vs BU, 8 vs AU), I think, are more a function of matchups.  So far he's just been used as a straight sub for Doug Sexauer at the 5, because playing both Connolly and Sexauer together would tough defensively vs smaller, more perimeter-oriented teams like Benedictine and Aurora.  But when IWU plays teams with a traditional "4" and "5" together, I think we'll see Connolly play a lot more. 

The lineup with Connolly and Sexauer playing together was the difference in IWU's NCAA win over Carthage last year at Stevens Point.  It's very hard to defend both of them.

[Hoosier Titan]

Everything I've heard is that Connolly is in much better shape and capable of playing 20 minutes if needed.  His limited minutes through the first two games (10 vs BU, 8 vs AU), I think, are more a function of matchups.  So far he's just been used as a straight sub for Doug Sexauer at the 5, because playing both Connolly and Sexauer together would tough defensively vs smaller, more perimeter-oriented teams like Benedictine and Aurora.  But when IWU plays teams with a traditional "4" and "5" together, I think we'll see Connolly play a lot more. 

The lineup with Connolly and Sexauer playing together was the difference in IWU's NCAA win over Carthage last year at Stevens Point.  It's very hard to defend both of them.

Yes, Connolly looks to be in very good shape this year.  He's a big boy, but he moves easily and his soft touch around the basket and with free throws is impressive.  He was in and out for Sexauer, except (I believe) for the final play, when they were both on the court.  He looked to be able go a lot longer if needed. 

[AndOne]

Bluffton 61
North Central 56

http://northcentralcardinals.com/custompages/MBK/mbk1011/tipoffm2.htm


Bluffton was 2-23 last year.

Nebraska Wesleyan 74
Millikin 51


https://www.millikin.edu/SITES/ATHLETICS/MBASKETBALL/Pages/2010-11MillikinStatistics.aspx


Rough, rough start for the league!

A good news/bad news evening for AndOne.

Yep. My old team beat our expected CCIW bottom feeders, but the NCC Cardinals went down to a certainly unexpected defeat to the Bluffton Beavers who are surely not a 2-23 team this year, but thats still no excuse for uninspired play.
Observations on the game:

*The Cards shot horrendously despite many open looks. 37 percent just won't cut it. And 12% on threes--why bother? As far as the 47 percent on FTs--Hell, I'd have a shot at duplicating that.
*Derek Raridon was 5/18 in what had to be about the worst night he has had. On the bright side, Derek's talent should allow for last evening's showing to be an isolated incident.
*Freshman starter Landon Gamble showed some nice interior moves in what could well be a preview of an all conference performer in the future.
*As we became accustomed to last year 6'3" Brian Evans was the game high rebounder with 11. For an added bonus, he was also game high assist man with 4.
*One of the Cardinal's most glaring deficiencies the last couple of years has been a lack of height. That was addressed this year with the addition of several players 6'5" and over. Despite this, the Cards were out rebounded by a 40-37 margin. Along with their height, the new young, tall Cards need to develop some both physical and mental toughness and the attitude that when the ball hits rim and/or glass, "its mine."
Frosh Jack Burchett shows signs of a healthy development in this phase of the game.
*NCC played 11 last night. Yes, 11! I love it! And, they all scored. However, 7 of the 11 were freshman who, as can be expected with freshmen, will need some time to develop the chemistry needed to blend into a cohesive unit. The encouraging news is that I think the talent to do so is there, last night's exhibition not withstanding.
*Time to toughen up boys. You've stepped up a level. No more coasting. Who wants it more? Play tough. Play confidently.