MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwumichigander]

Nice win Augustana; not surprising

[iwu70]

Congrats to Augie . . . keep it rolling CCIW.  Some great games shaping up in the coming rounds (especially in the women's side).  IWU women won tonight at the Shirk, too, face Wisconsin Lutheran tomorrow for a place in the Sweet Sixteen.  Glad to see W-Whitewater go down.  Mount Union must be good.  Wash U took out undefeated Dennison.  The war-tested, cream programs rising to the top.

[sac]

Congrats to Augie . . . keep it rolling CCIW.  Some great games shaping up in the coming rounds (especially in the women's side).  IWU women won tonight at the Shirk, too, face Wisconsin Lutheran tomorrow for a place in the Sweet Sixteen.  Glad to see W-Whitewater go down.  Mount Union must be good.  Wash U took out undefeated Dennison.  The war-tested, cream programs rising to the top.

My family ties to Denison University, (grandfather, 2 uncles and aunt) requires me to point out Denison is spelled with one 'n'.  

[mactitan]

The Augie game wasn't as close as the score indicated. Webster was simply overmatched.  I guess they would finish seventh if they played a full CCIW sched.  They played hard though, and had Grey a little testy in first half after a mini-run pulled them within 10-12.  Then Augie flexed their muscles, went up 20 at the half and went on to an easy win. 

Tomorrow might be interesting. The Hope crowd may take over Carver.  Its spring break, and I saw more Hope students roaming around the gym then Vikings.

[iwu70]

Please forgive.  Denison had a superb season. 

[Titan Q]

IWU 83
UW-River Falls 76

* Sean Johnson: 20 pts
* Jordan Zimmer: 15 pts (5-9 3-pt)
* Doug Sexauer: 13 pts, 7 reb, 6 assists
* John Koscnitzky: 12 pts, 6 reb
* Eliud Gonzalez: 10 pts


In the Denver airport waiting for my flight back to Lincoln, NE.

I was able to watch the IWU/UW-River Falls game yesterday from Palm Springs.  Really a great win for the Titans.  Besides the first 7 or 8 minutes of the game, when I thought IWU was sloppy on both ends of the floor, I thought the Titans looked very good overall.  A few observations...

* It is always great, after 16 grueling conference games, to go play someone who doesn't know you.  In league play, every team knows your players so incredibly well, and knows your system.  It makes it such a grind.  When you get to the tournament, teams have all kinds of tape of you...but that just isn't the same.  Last night I saw a River Falls team that really did not know what some of IWU's players were capable of, and just did not know how to defend IWU.

* RF doubled Doug Sexauer the entire 1st half.  The Titans took 7-8 minutes to figure it out, but once they did they found open shot after open shot.  Sexauer found Eliud Gonzalez twice for easy layups, and the Jordan Zimmer caught fire and made 5 1st half 3's.  Leaving Zimmer open is an example of what I mentioned above -- no CCIW team would ever leave Zimmer, but River Falls did several times.  (Zimmer is 48-110, .436, from 3 on the season - that is elite 3-pt FG % territory for that many attempts.)

* In the 2nd half, UW-RF drastically adjusted their defense, having a guy all over Zimmer everywhere he went.  But that helped free the low post for Sexauer, and it also created numerous situations where Sean Johnson was wide open on the perimeter.  

* I thought IWU did a tremendous job controlling the tempo of the game.  Without question, that game was played at IWU's pace.  

* Ron Rose used 6-5 freshman forward Victor Davis for 8 minutes last night...I suspect because of how quick and athletic RF was at the forward spots.  Davis did a nice job on the boards while in there.

* The game was very much still in reach for River Falls when IWU got sent to the FT line down the stretch.  The Titans made 10 of 11 FT's in the final 1:44 and really looked like a veteran team in doing so.

* As I have said many times, when IWU gets a big game out of Jordan Zimmer or John Koschnitzky, they are hard to beat.  Last night Zimmer had 15 pts (5-9 3-pt) and Koschnitzky 12 pts and 6 rebounds.  These two carried IWU in the 1st half, with Johnson and Sexauer taking over in the 2nd.

* Doug Sexauer was outstanding down the stretch.  The "and one" basket he scored with 1:44 to play, to put IWU up 6, was just a senior knowing it was his time to make a big play.


Tonight's IWU/St. Thomas game will be very interesting.  Everyone knows IWU wants to get the ball and run.  Last night, the Tommies turned the Northwestern game around by pressing and pushing the tempo.  If St. Thomas wants to run with the Titans, I'd welcome that...much better for IWU than a grind-it-out, halfcourt kind of game.

The Tommies will have a huge, hostile crowd there, but CCIW play has prepared IWU well for tough environments.  Should be a great game.

[iwumichigander]

I'll add to Q's comments

• Ron Rose - outstanding job of game, time and resource management; I know Ron would give credit where due - players that delivered makes a coach look really , good yet that coach has to get the right 5 guys on the floor
• Bench - outstanding contributions; team win supporting great individual effort

St. Thomas - a little surprised at the STU vs. NWU game tempo last night; Titans do need to control it and get out in transition;

[Dennis_Prikkel]

As a North Park fan I am happy to see the CCIW get two teams in and especially to see them both win in the first round against local opponents.  Speaks volumes for the overall strength of the league and bodes well for getting multiple teams in the playoffs in future years (and prayerfully one might be North Park).

[iwu70]

Q, thanks for the good assessment of the IWU-WRF game.  I did not watch it, only looked at the live stats and the box later on. 

Let's hope the Titans play a good all'round team game again tonight vs. the Tommies.  Should be a great game with a huge and active home crowd.  Lot's of my Yale and Carleton friends in the MSP area are there, mostly cheering for the Tommies.  Hope the Titans can silence them and take the crowd out of the game.

Good to see Victor Davis back and healthy.  Wish Travis was having this chance. 

Keep it rolling TITANS.

[A Lover of the Game]

BC seems to have found his groove again. GO BC!!!

GO TITANS!!!!

[TitansIWU]

Tough loss for the Titan men.

Thanks for a great season!

[Mugsy]

Final in Rock Island.  Augie pulls away in OT and wins 88-80.  Augie led by 10 at half, Hope stormed back in 2nd half.  All Augie in OT.

Augie with 39 free throw attempts in the game to Hope's 13.

[iwumichigander]

Thanks for a good season Titans.  This just was not your night.

Congratulations to Augustana Men and also to IWU Women's team

[iwu70]

Tough loss for the Titans, just couldn't get over the hump tonight against a very fine Tommies team.  Congrats to them.  And, congrats to Augie for making it, barely in OT, into he Sweet Sixteen against a tough Hope foe.

And, warm congrats to Coach Rose and all the Titans on a superb season, kicking and scratching all the way to the end.  Working through injuries and disruptions to the rotation all year, still coming out with a 20 win season.  Congrats and thanks . . . and warm good wishes especially to the departing seniors for all their dedication and good work over the years of their IWU basketball careers.  Wishing them all best wishes for future endeavors.

IWU men's basketball has a very bright future . . . with all the returning players coming up.

Thanks again for a great season.

[armywife]

Next week my daughter's school, The University of Mary Hardin Baylor, will play Augie in Rock Island. UMHB is about 3 minutes down the road from my house in Belton, Texas. It's going to be very hard  to root against either of them for me. Congratulations to both schools for advancing to the Sweet 16.

Tough loss for IWU tonight. I'm sorry that they did not advance.