MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[bopol]

Bosko pretty much said they aren't playing good after the game.  Basically, they were rated #5 and there was talk about national championship contenders and good players coming back and they haven't played anywhere near that level and the team can go one of two ways. 

There is a lot of inconsistant play.  Max Cary was in foul trouble the whole game.  There are times when he plays great and times he doesn't play very well and tonight was the latter.  Thompson gets himself out of position going for blocks a lot, which hurts Carthage on the boards.  Especially when Pierce doesn't pick up the slack.  There don't have the guard defender at all (like Cody Hilton last year).  And, honestly, Pierce and Guzman are not really in good shape and that hurts because they don't have a 4th big man to cover it if they are out.  And their rebounding still stinks.

As usual, there was some weird play calling or choices down the stretch.  Twice, Kladis jacked up threes on good looks in the last two minutes and he missed both.  I like Kladis, but I would have prefer Steve driving as the ref's whistles were pretty loose by then.  Carthage didn't get a good look with the last shot in regulation, which I blame on taking a timeout with just 8 seconds left (they don't have time to set a good play). 

Oh, well.  Hopefully, they'll figure it out...

[pgkevin]

Looks like IWU staff has some free time on their hands...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmXfrb01xFc&feature=player_embedded

In all seriousness, actually pretty cool

[Gregory Sager]

Augie pulls out a close one in Rock Island against Buena Vista, 71-63.

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton, too, pulls out a nailbiter, 56-55. Pflederer missed the front end of a one-and-one with twenty-two seconds left, but the Bears were unable to get off a good final shot. Gay airballed a twelve-footer from the baseline, and the hosts snuck away with a win at King Arena.

[Gregory Sager]

Wesleyan won a laugher over MacMurray, 94-65, in Bloomington. None of the Titans played over twenty minutes, and Ron Rose somehow got 17 players into the game.

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst beat Loras at Faganal Hall, 76-68. The 'jays are now 3-4 and have won three in a row.

[Titan Q]

Wheaton, too, pulls out a nailbiter, 56-55. Pflederer missed the front end of a one-and-one with twenty-two seconds left, but the Bears were unable to get off a good final shot. Gay airballed a twelve-footer from the baseline, and the hosts snuck away with a win at King Arena.

I watched the entire Wheaton/Wash U game on WETN.  Very exciting basketball game, and a nice comeback by the Thunder in the 2nd half.

[Gregory Sager]

It was a 5-1 day for the CCIW. Lots of unpretty basketball played in various venues, but, aside from Carthage's collapse against Albion, it all turned out well in the end.

[Titan Q]

Wesleyan won a laugher over MacMurray, 94-65, in Bloomington. None of the Titans played over twenty minutes, and Ron Rose somehow got 17 players into the game.

* Ryan Connolly: 16 pts, 5 reb (12 min)
* Sean Johnson: 11 pts, 4 reb (19 min)
* Duncan Lawson: 11 pts (10 min)
* Victor Davis: 10 pts, 2 reb (7 min)
* Matt Schick: 7 assists (19 min)


The Titans had their first game without any drama.  Matt Schick got his first start and John Koschnitzky played his first minutes.  Koschnitzky played 10 of his 13 minutes in the 1st half and was IWU's leading scoring at the break with 8.

Of note is that Ron Rose inserted freshman Eric Dortch, a 6-4 forward, into the game in the first half.  I'd heard Dortch might start getting minutes due to his defensive abilities.

Since I was watching Wheaton/Wash U, I only followed the live stats...so not much more detail to provide here.

IWU plays @ Wash U next Saturday.

[Gregory Sager]

Now that the box is posted on the NPU website, I feel a little better about the Vikings' win this afternoon. Even though Ro Russell's 15 and Jorge Gonzalez's 14 represented the only Vikings in double figures, it looks like the Park got a lot of nice contributions from various people. Christian Alsing and Phil Schniedermeier, for example, came off the bench in a game in which Emanuel Crosby never really got going and chipped in 15 points and 6 rebounds between them in 31 minutes of play. The Vikings shot .578 (26-45) from the field and .538 (7-13) from long range, both season highs, and the .733 performance from the line (22-30) was well above the season average as well, as Russell canned all eight of his free throws and Gonzalez canned all six of his. The Vikes also won the rebounding battle by ten.

The most gratifying thing about this game was the closing kick by the Vikings. On two different occasions, once in the first half and once in the middle of the second, NPU had put together double-digit leads, only to see them fade away. After a three-point-play by Spalding's DeWhon McAfee -- whom I know from last season is a very, very difficult guard to stop -- brought the Golden Eagles to within one point at 66-65 with 3:32 to go, North Park went on a 15-0 run to put the game away, with Spalding scoring two meaningless buckets in the last ten seconds of the game. Five different Vikings scored during that stretch.

Monday evening promises to be a sterner test for the Vikings, as Milwaukee Engineering (7-1) comes to town. The Raiders have one of the best D3 players in the area in 6'4, 210 senior forward Austin Meier. He's averaging 15.0 ppg and 12.3 rpg, and also grabs 3.6 steals per game.  He's very tough to stop.

[Titan Q]

CCIW in-region report (through 12/11)...

(records below are in-region only...not overall)

Augustana (5-0) - 10 scheduled
11/16, @ Simpson  W
11/22, vs Washington U W
11/27, vs Anderson  W
12/1, @ Monmouth  W
12/11, vs Buena Vista  W
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  W

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

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

Elmhurst (3-4) - 11 scheduled
11/16, @ Cornell  L
11/20, vs Hamline L
11/23, @ St. Norbert  L
12/1, @ Olivet  L
12/5, @ Westminster (Mo)  W
12/9, vs Kalamazoo  W
12/11, vs Loras  W
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 (7-1) -  9 or 10 scheduled
11/15, @ Benedictine  W
11/19, vs Aurora  W
11/20, vs Ripon  W
11/23, @ Monmouth  W
11/27, vs Dominican W
11/29, @ Webster  W
12/4, vs Chicago L
12/11, vs MacMurray  W
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 (0-4) -  6 or 7 scheduled
11/19, vs Nebraska Wesleyan  L
11/23, vs Franklin L
11/28, @ Rose-Hulman L
12/4, @ Aurora  L
12/20, @ Transyvania
12/29, @ St. Mary's (MN)
(12/30, @ Illinois College)

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

North Central (2-4) - 8 scheduled
11/19, vs Bluffton L
11/20 vs Edgewood  L
11/23, vs Aurora  L
11/27, @ Illinois College  L
11/28, @ Manchester W
12/7, vs Lake Forest  W
12/22, @ Benedictine
12/27, @ Rockford

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

North Park (4-2) - 9 scheduled
11/17, vs Concordia  L
11/23, vs Edgewood  W
11/27, @ Fontbonne  W
11/30, @ Carroll W
12/4, vs Trine L
12/11, @ Spalding  W
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 (4-2) -  6 scheduled
11/16, vs Manchester  L
11/19, vs UW-Whitewater  W
11,23, vs Loras  W
12/1, @ Chicago  W
12/4, vs Hope L
12/11, vs Washington U  W

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

CCIW non-conference totals (88 games)
In-region games: 64 (73%)
Out-of-region games: 24 (27%)

(Assumes 1 of the 2 TBD games end up in-region)

CCIW in-region, non-conference record (through 12/11)
27-18 (.600)

Q's Projected Final in-region, non-conference record
36-28 (.563)

[Titan Q]

Big in-region wins by North Park (@ Spalding), Elmhurst (vs Loras), and Wheaton (vs Wash U) today...those were kind of "swing games."

[Gregory Sager]

Big in-region wins by North Park (@ Spalding), Elmhurst (vs Loras), and Wheaton (vs Wash U) today...those were kind of "swing games."

Actually, I thought that NPU was a pretty comfortable favorite against Spalding, in spite of the five-hour busride. That's why I was irritated at first by the game report of how the Golden Eagles had managed to keep it close until the Vikings pulled away down the stretch. I did not expect North Park to have much of a problem with Spalding.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Looks like IWU staff has some free time on their hands...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmXfrb01xFc&feature=player_embedded

In all seriousness, actually pretty cool

I'm not positive (camera never came in close enough) but I think that is poster IWU70 just to the left of the stage (from the audience view).  Mark, confirm or deny.

[iwu70]

Nice video.  President Wilson has some moves.  Nope, Chuck, I'm in Hong Kong and it is already Sunday noontime here.  That person to whom you refer is I think Steve Seibring from the Development office.  Oh I wish I was as young and thin and my old friend Steve still appears to be, his lovely white hair notwithstanding.  I'm afraid I look much more like Saint Nicholas now and don't really have those good dancing moves.  Too much knee surgery from my well-enjoyed 45+ years of pickup basketball at IWU, then Hawaii and here in Hong Kong for many many years.  I retired from bball when the young players started calling me "Sir." -- and when I broke a bone in my foot, after the two knee scope jobs.  I'm happily retired now from basketball and dancing. 

Good wins for the Titans -- men and women on Saturday.  Good to see K-man back.

More soon -- happy holidays and happy dancing to all.  MLS