MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

(Greg, I'm happily enscounced here on the IWU campus, so no whispering in Rose's ear, though I sure could, right?).

Yes, UUUUGGGLY, lucky and a bit bizarre.  What can you say?

IWU 71-Tufts 62, with two flagrants, two technicals and an ejection against the Tufts coach, and a thoroughly ugly performance by the Titans to get the win, uuugly & luckily, IMHO.

Zimmer 15
Overstreet 11
Zman 10
Dortch 8
Anderson 7

More frustration in the second half, with bobbles, no Titan steals, many many missed FTs, probably shooting about 30% from the line up until the last run of FTs caused by the flagrants and the two techs on the Tufts coach.  Early second half, Tufts goes on a 15-8 run, Titans only get back to even with about 3 minutes to go.  Several more TOs, stepping on the baseline, many missed FTs, esp. on the front of the 1-1,  . . .  just bad.  Davis all out of sorts, bobblng the ball as he drives for an easy layup, goes up for a shot, gets knocked to the floor, hitting his head, and is removed from the game not to return at about the 7 minute mark.  Yes, another no points outing for him.  Luckily, many other Titans "stepped up," continued to struggle, played ugly but got the points, got the win, esp. thanks to the extra possessions on the flagrants and the extra FTs (by Overstreet and Zimmer) on the technicals down the stretch.  The Tufts coach has every right to be royally pissed, IMHO.  Not sure either flagrant was really a flagrant . . . and then two technicals and his immediate and kind departure from the arena.  Can't say  anyone on the Titans played really well . . . though they kept at it, played tough on D, hit the glass, but no real outstanding performances.  I guess Zimmer finally got enough scoring and Dortch made some good plays, both on D and O.  Reed, as always, had a consistent game on the glass, moving the ball, scoring.  I truly don't think Tufts is all that good, but we sure made an anguished and frustrating effort tonight to get one UGLY, lucky, and bizarre win.  I guess we'll take it.  Strange.

If the Titans play like this tomorrow night, presumably vs. Wash U, it could really be ugly . . . and I don't mean nice ugly either.  Maybe this is a team that just wins ugly and may never "get it together," in the normal way we think of "getting it together."

You can continue to call me silly, but I think one truly has to think seriously about what's going on with Davis, and think about others in the starting line-up.  Guess others did start tonight . . . Anderson and Zimmer, not Dortch?  Not sure.  Anyway, my starting line-up from what I've seen would be Musselman, Zman, Dortch (at the 3), Zimmer and Overstreet.  Dolan played quite a few minutes tonight, but wasn't terribly effective. 

The Titans, as yet, just aren't playing with alot of confidence or flow . . . and so so many silly errors, TOs, not finishing around the rim, throw-aways, and poor FT shooting tonight, esp. in the second half in key moments when they were trying to mount a comeback. 

I hope Davis is not hurt, from the fall after driving to the basket, getting knocked to the floor along the baseline, with about 7 minutes to go.

There always another day . . . another day to win ugly again.  Gracious me.  This is clearly not a "normal" kind of Titan basketball team.

But then again, what do they say, "a win is a win." 

IWU70

[iwu70]

Add to my post,

Kevin Reed -- 12 and 9 RBs.  A pretty strong game, all things considered, given what else was going on around him!

IWU70

[iwu70]

By the way, the ejected Tuft's Coach Bob Sheldon is no relation of mine . . . though he's probably some long lost deranged and angry cousin from the Sheldon clan in the Northeast . . . as we Sheldon's came originally from the Motherland, Isle of Wight, then to Connecticut. near Tufts in Medford, MA.  So perhaps he's a long lost cousin four times removed.  Just say'in.  Two flagrants and two technicals, quite a bit of work for one evening. 

IWU70

[unanimous22]

Who on earth is Zman?

[iwu70]

Sorry, unanimous, I refer to Andrew Ziemnik of the Titans as "Zman."  Yes, lost in translation . . .

Titans had a rough one tonight in St. Louis, but continue to win "ugly," indeed.

IWU70

[iwu70]

Wash U-Wilmington 37 all Halftime in St. Louis.

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

Wheaton had no trouble with Calvin tonight, winning 54-37 in a game that was not that close!  It took Calvin over 12 minutes in the second half to get their 6th point.

[iwu70]

Wash U up 12 with less than a minute to go.

So Wash U vs. IWU tomorrow night at 8 p.m. for the tourney championship.

Wilmington will play Tufts for third place at 6 p.m.

Should be another tough game for the Titans, as Wash U has a better offensive flow, good sets in the half court.  Hope the Titans can play better than they did tonight vs. Tufts. 

IWU70

[mwunder]

To add insult to injury for Carthage,  "Steve Jaskulske injured a knee midway through the first half and did not return.  Marlon Senior injured an ankle in the first period and also did not return."

[AndOne]

Who on earth is Zman?

Unanimous----

Either you're not much of an IWU fan, don't read this board much, don't give iwu70 enough credit,
or all of the above.

Even we fans of other teams know to whom 70 is referring when he mentions the Z-man. After all, it was 70 who previously gave us K-man.

By the way, Z-man had a rather distinctive moniker during his high school career. 

[AndOne]

Wheaton's live stats conked out at the end, but sac's reporting over on the MIAA board that Hope beat Carthage, 82-70. It wasn't that close; Hope was up by 16 to 20 points for most of the second half, but Carthage tightened it a bit in the last couple of minutes when the Hope starters were no longer in the game. Reese Herth led the Red Men with 25, while Donte Logan contributed 18 (I think) before fouling out and Luke Johnson had 11. Johnson, all 6'9, 230 of him, had as many trey attempts (five) as he had rebounds. And Tyler Pierce's only points in about 16 or 17 minutes of game time came on a trey.

And the bold portion of the above post is surprising to you?     
There is a preponderance of historical documentation of the fact that perhaps the greatest deficiencies in Johnson's game are 1) that he believes he is a 2 guard disguised in a 6'9" 230 pound body, and 2) that he plays soft, disdaining the thought of taking up residence anywhere near the basket for more than a few, brief moments, if at all during the course of a game. This history, particularly the part pertaining to his dislike of contact, dates back to his high school days at Wheaton Academy.

[und63]

And so it goes, in the chase to a National Crown, a plethora of D3 Academic All-Americans appear in the transfer list.

[Titan Q]

IWU 71
Tufts 62

http://bearsports.wustl.edu/Stats/TeamStats/basketball-mens/2012-2013/lopata1.htm

Another winnin' ugly, grind-it-out affair for the Titans.  Right now IWU is definitely a team that's trying to put the pieces together.  After seeing the team play in person for the first time I believe they absolutely have the talent to become a very good team, but right now everything is just out of whack.

The addition of Brady Zimmer to the lineup (he started for the first time yesterday and played 26 minutes is huge for IWU.  He was the best player on the floor yesterday.  Brady is a very different player than Jordan, who of course was an unbelievable 3-point shoooter with range.  Brady can shoot it too (now 5-9 from 3 on the season), but he's really more of a slasher and penetrator.  He has really good handles and can just do a little of different things with the basketball in his hands.  Zimmer has a chance to have a big year for the Titans.

Victor Davis is pressing big-time.  You can see that clearly just in watching him.  At some point he is going to get a couple of those half hook shots in the lane to go early in the ballgame and play with confidence (he was off to a great start vs Whitewater but then had to leave the game with 2 fouls).  Again, I think Ron Rose just needs to keep trotting him out and waiting for him to play better. 

I feels to me like IWU is close to figuring things out...there are stretches where you say, "OK, that's what I thought this team could be."  We'll see if they can start playing consistently for 40 minutes.

[Titan Q]

The IWU/Wash U game tonight should be a great game in a great atmosphere.  In terms of overall talent, these two teams are fairly even -- but they are also very different teams. 

I think IWU's physicality will give Wash U problems - the Bears have been bigger and stronger than everyone they've played so far.  That won't be the case tonight.  IWU is by a significant margin the more physical team of the two.

Wash U's machine-like offensive will give IWU fits.  The Bears remind me of a Dennie Bridges IWU team - just so precise on offense.  They have good players who execute what Mark Edwards wants to do perfectly.

Two very talented Midwest region teams -- huge in-region game.

[petemcb]

While we're on the topic of big in-region games......I know this comes up every year but is Hope an in-region game for either Carthage or Wheaton? Is it road miles or "as the crow flies"?