MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Different topic:  I'm setting the over/under for attendance at the Elmhust @ Millikin game next Tuesday at 35.  Anyone else?

smallest crowds i ever saw at college basketball games:

2 - North Park vs St. Mary's at Beloit Tournament in Dec. 1968

7 - Wheaton at Washington University in Dec. 1969 (crowd also included two large afghan dogs which howled throughout the playing of the national anthem - than dashed across the court with their owner in pursuit.

Smallest crowd I ever saw at college football game:

2- North Park at carthage homecoming football game in 1981

[augie22]

I am not to sure who is on the IWU JV team, BUT you guys better bring your lunch!  Those guys might score 150 against a JV team.  Good luck.

Good luck to Augie tonight!

[Titan Q]

IWU's JV's beat the old guys 97-86.  I believe they finished the year 16-2, with losses @ Lincoln College and Parkland (both JUCO's).

[Titan Q]

Final:

Carthage 55
Millikin 53

Millikin had the ball, game tied, with about :15 to play.  Max Cary stole the ball with about :05, drove the length and missed, but John Cieski tipped it in with :01 on the clock.

I'm not sure what is crazier -- Carthage having to come from behind in the final minutes at home vs the Big Blue, or Steve Djurickovic going without a field goal.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

carthage wins 53-51, on a tip-in with .2 seconds left.  Millikin had the ball and played for a final shot, but cary stole the ball with six seconds left.  His layup attempt rolled out and zeske tipped it in.

[bopol]

Carthage played poorly on offense most of the game, and Millikin played very well in the first half to grab a 9 point lead at the half.  In the second half, Carthage really clamped down on defense and hacked slowly back into it, where Millikin was outscored 25-11 from 18 minutes left in the 2nd half until 4 minutes left.  A lot of foul shooting at the end and neither team could pull away and then the ending, which was pretty awesome for a Redman fan.

Millikin played well for the most part (D was good throughout; O good in the 1st half, not so much in the 2nd half). I honestly am surprised that they were 1-22 as this was the first game I watched.

Now, go North Park and/or Elmhurst.

[iwu70]

Congrats to IWU's JV on a great season, 16-2.  Did Andrew Gilmore really play?  And how did the "old guys" look?  Pant, pant, pant . . .

The future of IWU basketball looks pretty good to me.  A Zimmer on each wing, Connolly, Davis, Kman and Johnson on the block.  Key will be a scoring PG . . . tougher defense and rebounding.  I like the future at IWU. 

Good luck to the varsity for the next two, important games.  Seniors, two more Ws at home. 

IWU women win their fourth consecutive CCIW regular season crown.  Keep it rolling Titans.  A Shirk Final Four awaits. 

[A Lover of the Game]

Congrats to IWU's JV on a great season, 16-2.  Did Andrew Gilmore really play?  And how did the "old guys" look?  Pant, pant, pant . . .

The future of IWU basketball looks pretty good to me.  A Zimmer on each wing, Connolly, Davis, Kman and Johnson on the block.  Key will be a scoring PG . . . tougher defense and rebounding.  I like the future at IWU. 

Good luck to the varsity for the next two, important games.  Seniors, two more Ws at home. 

IWU women win their fourth consecutive CCIW regular season crown.  Keep it rolling Titans.  A Shirk Final Four awaits. 

Wish I could have been there today. I'll be present for the IWU/Augie game.

GO TITANS!

[Gregory Sager]

The other amusing moment came in the JV game. The Carthage bus was an hour late getting to the crackerbox, so the JV game ran very late -- in spite of the fact that its halftime was cut to only three minutes. When regulation ended 55-55, the coaches agreed to do something I've never seen in a basketball game before: Sudden death. First team to score wins. Carthage won the tip, couldn't score, and when NPU came down the floor with the ball the Carthage JV coach blew a gasket because the shot clock was turned off. Well, of course the shot clock was turned off -- there was no game clock, since it was sudden death, therefore there was no shot clock. Sitting there at the scorer's table keeping the book, I just looked over at the Carthage coach and said, "Old-time basketball, coach."

(NPU's Stephawn Woodley ended up getting fouled in the act of shooting and made the second FT to win the JV game for the Park.)

Greg----

You are scaring me a bit. Perhaps in sitting next to me at the NCC-NPU game in Naperville a few weeks ago, you absorbed some of the symptoms of my Mad Cow, which has begun to effect your otherwise impeccable memory.
Although the memory evidently escaped you momentarily, you have previously borne witness to a game decided by sudden death. Let me refresh your memory......................
I take you back 2 years ago to another JV game. This one featuring NPU and NCC.
The game actually went to a THIRD OT. I believe the 1st OT was the normal 5 minutes, and, by coaches agreement, the 2nd OT was cut to 4 minutes. When the score was still tied after the 2nd OT, the coaches agreed that the matter would be settled by means of sudden death. I'm not sure if NCC got the tip or not, but they did end up scoring the winning points in the 3rd, sudden death, OT. I believe Brett Hulett of NCC may have hit the winning basket.
Is it coming back now?    

I remember multiple overtimes in an NCC @ NPU junior varsity game a few years ago, with truncated overtimes. But I don't remember the sudden-death aspect. I'm not saying that it didn't happen; I just don't remember it. Then again, JV games rarely stand out in my mind.

By the way, NPU's junior varsity team finished the year 12-3, I believe. Not bad, considering that the team was down to six players in its final game against Carthage on Wednesday.

[Gregory Sager]

Final:

Carthage 55
Millikin 53

Millikin had the ball, game tied, with about :15 to play.  Max Cary stole the ball with about :05, drove the length and missed, but John Cieski tipped it in with :01 on the clock.

I'm not sure what is crazier -- Carthage having to come from behind in the final minutes at home vs the Big Blue, or Steve Djurickovic going without a field goal.

Both leave me absolutely speechless. This is an utterly improbable result.

Carthage played poorly on offense most of the game, and Millikin played very well in the first half to grab a 9 point lead at the half.  In the second half, Carthage really clamped down on defense and hacked slowly back into it, where Millikin was outscored 25-11 from 18 minutes left in the 2nd half until 4 minutes left.  A lot of foul shooting at the end and neither team could pull away and then the ending, which was pretty awesome for a Redman fan.

Millikin played well for the most part (D was good throughout; O good in the 1st half, not so much in the 2nd half). I honestly am surprised that they were 1-22 as this was the first game I watched.

You're probably the only one, then, as there's no big secret as to why Millikin is 1-22 and one loss away from finishing with the worst overall record in the 65-year history of the CCIW. It's a terrible team. Carthage must've absolutely stunk up the joint this afternoon. On Wednesday I told Bosko, Twan, and Cory, "You three plus Roehl and President Campbell could probably suit up and beat Millikin on Saturday." And none of them disagreed with me.

[mwunder]

Apathetic is the "cleanest" word I can use to describe the first half of the Carthage game tonight.  Sitting there watching Carthage chuck up 3 after 3, not rebound, not hustle on D, etc wasn't worth the $6 I paid o get in the front door.  It was quite possibly the worst display of Red Men hoops I can remember since I was a student there in the early 90s.  22 points at the half...terrible.

Milikin played out of their minds in the first half, hitting shot after shot, banking a 3 in as the shot clock expired, etc, but it was pretty obvious who wanted it more. 

I think this is one they have to forget rather quickly as they wait for a road win here in the last few games of the season.

[bopol]

Well, like I said, this was the only game of Millikin I saw and Kyle Taylor had a very good game and Nikko Robertson had an excellent first half.  Now, Carthage has had a habit of making good players look great this year (especially big men), so maybe it was the Carthage D that made Taylor look good.  There was the problem of Thompson letting the inlet pass get to his man way too deep to defend him.

Whatever it was, they won.  So, in North Park can play as well as you claim, then I have something to watch next weekend.  So far, it's not looking good.

[Gregory Sager]

Well, like I said, this was the only game of Millikin I saw and Kyle Taylor had a very good game and Nikko Robertson had an excellent first half.  Now, Carthage has had a habit of making good players look great this year (especially big men), so maybe it was the Carthage D that made Taylor look good.  There was the problem of Thompson letting the inlet pass get to his man way too deep to defend him.

Whatever it was, they won.  So, in North Park can play as well as you claim, then I have something to watch next weekend.  So far, it's not looking good.

I make no claims on behalf of the Vikings. NPU is going to finish with a record below .500 this season, and deservedly so. If you're banking on North Park to win a must-game for you, then you're betting on the wrong horse.

[bopol]

Well, NPU is hanging in there.  So maybe I'll get lucky, even if you say they aren't good.

Anyway, there's still Augustana/IWU.

[Gregory Sager]

Well, NPU is hanging in there.  So maybe I'll get lucky, even if you say they are good.

Walid Mouzaoui seems to be very hard for the Titans to handle tonight.

Who knew?