MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

The funny thing is, Pete, you spelled Kendell Greer's first name right and Dennis spelled it incorrectly. His vowels only come in one flavor: They're all e's.

If it makes you feel any better, though, I skipped right over the fact that you referred to him as "Kendell Gill" as I was reading your NPU scrimmage review. I don't know if my not blinking an eye at reading the name "Kendell Gill" in a current-player context is an indication of my rusty proofreading skills or of my advancing age.

[URockets]

IWU's scrimmages are...

Nov 2 - vs Olivet Nazarene (Shirk Center) - 6:00pm
Nov 6 - Green/White game (Shirk Center) - 3:00pm
Nov 10 - @ Loras - 7:00pm

Any other festivities surrounding the scrimmage on Nov. 6th?  3 point, dunk contest, etc.?

[augiefan]

Valpo 38 Augie 27 at the half in tonight's exhibition game. The usual good D by Augie, but also the same marginal 3 pt and FT shooting from last 2 years.

[augie_superfan]

Anyone have word on why Chris Anderson is not playing tonight?

[petemcb]

Does anybody have an account of the game or at least a final score?

[Hardwood]

Augie losses at Valpo -- 74 - 65

[petemcb]

That's a really respectable score against a historically respectable program. 

[augiefan]

The game really wasn't that close. Augie was down 73-50 with a little over 5 minutes to go. They outscored the Valpo reserves 15-1 from that point to make it respectable.

Voiles was great with 25 points, 6 boards asnd 6 steals. Kunz had 10 points and 4 bds, while Rorer had 8 points and 10 bds. No idea why Anderson did not play, but DeSimone had a poor game with only 2 points, 3 assists and 3 TOs.

[augiefan]

The only Augie freshman to play was G Danielius Jurgutis of Downers Grove, who scored 6 points and had 2 assists in 12 minutes of playing time. D.J. is probably in the mix because Augie's weakness if any is at the guard position. Of course, Anderson would have helped had he played. Hopefully nothing serious that will keep him off the court during the regular season. Dansand probably has the scoop on Chris A.

[Titan Q]

Any other festivities surrounding the scrimmage on Nov. 6th?  3 point, dunk contest, etc.?

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/iwu-sets-basketball-fan-fest-for-sunday/article_dec82034-0698-11e1-9845-001cc4c03286.html

[augiefan]

Chris Anderson sat out last night's game because of a hamstring injury. Sounds like he might be back for the opening games, but one never knows with hammies.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

The funny thing is, Pete, you spelled Kendell Greer's first name right and Dennis spelled it incorrectly. His vowels only come in one flavor: They're all e's.

If it makes you feel any better, though, I skipped right over the fact that you referred to him as "Kendell Gill" as I was reading your NPU scrimmage review. I don't know if my not blinking an eye at reading the name "Kendell Gill" in a current-player context is an indication of my rusty proofreading skills or of my advancing age.

Dotage

[URockets]

Any other festivities surrounding the scrimmage on Nov. 6th?  3 point, dunk contest, etc.?

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/iwu-sets-basketball-fan-fest-for-sunday/article_dec82034-0698-11e1-9845-001cc4c03286.html

Look for Freshman Forward Brandon Heyen should make a good showing in the slam dumk contest.  H.S. slam dunk video link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evlaKbWexUQ

[AndOne]

NCC will scrimmage with Concordia tomorrow night @ Concordia @ 7 PM.

This scrimmage, plus the one next Thursday vs. U of Chicago, will go a long way in determining the starters at 3 positions, the remaining regular rotation (8-10 total?), the remainder of the varsity roster, and the JV starters and rotation.

Mark, is that NCC/U of C scrimmage on the southside or in Naperville?

It was originally listed as being in Naper, but I've heard talk that its NCC that will actually be doing the traveling. I'll have to confirm with those in the know.

7:00 next Thurs., 11/10 in Chitown

*Possibly old news, but former North Park player Issa Avery now on the roster of Concordia in River Forest, and likely CU's best player.

[iwu70]

Q has earlier given the scores and his impressions (by long distance) of the IWU-ONU scrimmage.  I was in attendance and will give a bit more perspective.  IMHO.  I agree that ONU was rather weak, surprisingly weak, with only a few quick slashing guards, who could not hit treys consistently.  Their bigs were not strong offensively or defensively and were dominated by the Titan bigs, pretty much all night. 

While I share most of what Q outlined earlier, I don't agree entirely.  Here are my impressions from the first two 20 minute sessions.  I didn't stay to see the JV crew play. 

*  The Titans are indeed more athletic, more defensively oriented than in the past.  It seems Ron Rose has their attention on this bigtime and you could feel the chemistry and the defensive intensity right away.  I was impressed, esp. in the first dominating 20 minutes, with the Titans footspeed, fitness, and overall flow and fluidity, rebounding and exceptional running of the floor.  They looked awfully good for this early, surely better than the more experienced group I saw last year at this time. 

*  Most impressive to me were the performances of Gonzales and Davis.  Both Eliud and Rudnicki played with poise, intensity and the experience of seniors, with a greater look and attention to their offensive contributions.  Both seniors had good nights, shooting, slashing and with a ton of assists, seeing the floor and finding teammates open and often. 

*  Yes, Victor Davis is bigger, stronger, but the key thing is that all about being a freshman is gone.  He's poised, confident, looking to rebound, run the floor, shoot well, esp. FTs, and also surprisingly good passing.  He found many teammates open with excellent interior passing and good passing from up on the top of the key.  I was very impressed -- he's improved his overall game and his vision of the floor, of the system, to a good degree.  I would expect, actually, for Zimmer and Davis to be the top two scorers this year, perhaps not Zimmer and Kman.  (sorry about this nickname, as I can't spell his name and don't want to click to the IWU roster each time -- so I'll use Kman.  If his name were rendered in Chinese, I could handle it better!). 

*  Jordan Zimmer, well what can you say!  He's quicker, stronger, and, as we all know, when he finds his stroke, squares it up, plants his feet, you pretty much know the result.  Trey time, from almost anywhere on the floor.  He hit 5-6  of them and looked very relaxed and very confident with very good shot selection, not pressing, not taking bad shots, making all good decisions.  I think he's set for a bigtime year, esp. against teams that in any way lose him, lose sight of him.  He will make them pay, and teammates were finding him well.  Really too bad that his younger brother is injured, as I was hoping for this double wing, double Zimmer look, but, sadly, Brady Zimmer with the bad shoulder was in street clothes. 

*  I was pretty impressed with the night that Kevin Reed had.  Good rebounding, some good hussle plays on D, a pretty much staying within himself and the system.  If he plays this well, could contribute 8-10 pts. / game, and rebound, play D with a nasty edge, he would be a great asset to the Titans this year.  Yo me, one of the keys to a very successful Titan season is for all the Titan bigs to play nasty, play very aggressively on D and in rebouding, to play with that edge we had with Schweer, the Jones twins, Zach Freeman etc.  If we have that esp. from Davis, Anderson, Zeimnick, and Reed, a kind of Dennis Rodman attitude, this team could be awfully good.

*  Kman was very athletic, very much  hitting the boards, running the floor very well, but didn't have a good night shooting, esp. FTs.  He had several very athletic drives, and a good dunk.  Perhaps he'll have better nights.   

* Eric Dortch played very well, also some good slashing moves, some short/intermediate range jumpers, and good rebounding.  He runs the floor best of all the "bigs" though he plays wing too.  Given his rebouding and quickness, I personally feel he deserves more minutes, esp. against the proper match-ups where his strength and hops cause match-up problems on D.  He just jumped right over a few of the ONU "bigs" making them look rather small and week.  Dortch can also guard 2s, and handles the ball pretty well.   

*  Was less impressed this time with Zeimnick and Anderson.  Both seemed a bit less relaxed and poised in the current system, with some issues of injury or fitness still to be resolved.  Anderson had a number of good put backs, one monster block, and played very hard, but always seemed a little like he wasn't sure where all his arms and legs were going. Time will tell, it seems to me.  Obviously, both of these guys are going to be valuable and get alot of minutes.  I'll give further impressions after the Fan Fest/ Green/White Scrimmage this Sunday.

*  Yes, Molinari did play well, making good decisions, handling the ball quite well, making a few mid-range jumpers, with good D and hussle.  However, I don't share the view that Q posted earlier, and don't feel he will be pressing Gonzales as the starting point guard.  He's good, surely for a freshman, but not the second coming of Korey Coon.  Both Rudnicki and Gonzales overall played better. 

*  The few freshmen I saw play at the latter end of the second 20 minutes played, well, like Freshmen.  They entered, made mistakes, committed turnovers, and proved quickly that the speed of varsity play is very different from high school or JV play.  No doubt, IWU has a good crop of newbies, but I have no particularly insightful things to say -- perhaps more later after we see more of them in the Green/White game and in JV action early in the season. 

*  Overall, the most impressive performances were from Gonzales and Davis . . . Gonzales ran the team, was a total pest on D, was looking to slash and score as well as piling up a lot of assists.  Excellent vision and passing.   In terms of toughness, athleticism and potential scoring, I would say that Dortch and Davis impressed me most.  We need Kman to be a truly a consistent scorer this year -- not just a big game here and there. 

I'm overall very excited about what I saw -- with lots of talent, many questions re: rotations and matchups, but a team with alot of talent, great speed, pretty good shooting, and a very nice chemistry and temperament displayed on the court, amongst the large number of teammates.  Good depth.  Let's hope the injury bug doesn't bite too too much. 

I'll stick with my #2 prediction in the CCIW, even though I know Greg will still fall off his chair. 

More impressions after the G/W game this Sunday.  So far, it looks very good in Bloomington. 

Good luck to the Wheaties this week vs. NCC.  Hope NPU gets a win, finally, and I surely hope my Titans have a happy journey to Kenosha. 

Have a good weekend everyone -- yes, we can all watch the "Game of the Century" -- LSU vs. Alabama -- but wasn't there just a game of the century a few years ago?

Indian Summer still in Bloomington this weekend -- sunny and mid-60s.  Absolutely lovely.  Hope it holds for the final home football game vs. Augie on Nov. 12th.

IWU 70