MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

Not exactly a news flash but, fortunately for North Central, both halves of a game still count. Otherwise, rather shockingly, the Cardinals lose to Kalamazoo who outscored them 33-32 in the 2nd half yesterday. We have all heard that games can be won in the 1st half as well as the 2nd, and thats exactly what happened in the NCC/Kalamazoo game yesterday in Michigan.
NCC led by 16 at the half, and I, frankly, was expecting a repeat performance in the 2nd half of the game. Silly me!
This was a game where I envisioned every player on the team seeing at least 5 minutes of action. NOT!
I'm not sure what transpired at halftime, but the Cardinals seemed to forget to bring their defense with them when they came out of the locker room for the 2nd half. Concepts such as don't reach, move your feet, weak side help, and get your hands up appeared to evaporate. While its not an excuse, it must be said that the officials weren't exactly on their game either. At one point, they seemed intent on disqualifying each of NCC's "bigs." They partially succeeded in that mission as Jack Burchett amassed 5 fouls in only 9 minutes, while Charlie Rosenberg was given an extra minute to accomplish the same result. Aaron Tiknis, Landon Gamble, and Derek Raridon all finished the game with 4 fouls. But, while the refs called, lets say, an uneven game, they certainly weren't the Cardinals primary problem by any means. Instead it was the facts that the Cards quit playing defense in the 2nd half, particularly on the interior, and they often seemed to lack any semblance of a cohesive offensive flow or pattern. These are problems I'm sure will be addressed in the coming days.

The Cards were led in scoring yesterday by Vince Kmiec with 19, followed by Landon Gamble with 15, 13 of which were registed in the opening stanza. They were the only players in double figures for NCC. Aaron Tiknis led the way on the boards with a game high 7. And, while Aaron had an uncharacteristically poor shooting night (1 for 9), he still contributed greatly to the win by rejecting 6 blocks and dishing out 10 assists. The 6 blocks are an all-time single game record at NCC, while the 10 assists tied the all-time mark. The Cardinals totaled 10 blocks for the afternoon, an all time single game record. 
With 9 points, Derek Raridon moved into 7th place in career scoring at North Central. His 1,315 points put him just ahead of recent standouts Dan Walton (1,307) and Anthony Simmins (1,301) Derek should finish his career in 3rd or 4th place.

[AndOne]

Wash U at Wheaton on Saturday......   wheaton entertains Westmin midweek, Wash U goes to Webster..... unless one of my SLIAC teams throws a monkeywrench into the picture, we'll have a battle of the undefeateds on Saturday....

Wife is working Saturday and Sunday... a roadtrip from St Louis may be in order... Sager, will you make it over from the North Park game?

Heck, maybe I should come up early and see North Park vs Trine in person!!!!!

Yep, wife definitely thinks I'm nuts

Repeat after me. "Yes dear, of course you're right, I love you. May I go to the game(s) please?"          

[WUPHF]

Wife is working Saturday and Sunday... a roadtrip from St Louis may be in order...

The wife and I were thinking about driving up on Saturday if you needed a ride.  The plan would be to stay in Oak Park.

I am lucky that my wife loves basketball as much as I do though maybe not entirely for the same reasons.  I know this because every so often I hear a "wow, those uniforms are terrible (Fontbonne)" or more commonly, "wow, that player is cute..."

[iwu70]

Congrats to Kevin Reed and Mike Mayberger for making the All-Tournament team in St. Louis this past weekend.  Two players from Wash U made it, too, and one other.  No sure who they were.

Kevin and Mike have had good performances all season so far, in the Titans' first seven games.

IWU70

[cardinalpride]

New D3Hoops poll has been released:
3 CCIW teams in the top 25 with Augie at 26th!!!
http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2012-13/week2

[iwu70]

Yup, new poll out:

Va. Wesleyan #1
WI-Whitewater #2

NCC #4
(Wash U #6)
IWU #17
WC #22
AC #26

Not really sure yet if the CCIW is really this strong, though time will tell.  I thought WW would have been #1.  And, I think the #17 for the Titans is a bit high, but there it is.  The experts who follow these things carefully have spoken and I appreciate and respect their work.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Lisle:

NPU 75
Benedictine 57

Mark Holmes: 21 pts, 7 rebs
Aaron Weaver: 20 pts
Zach Cassita: 13 pts, 5 asts
Chris Benjamin: 11 pts, 9 rebs

[Titan Q]

Greg, is Mike Gabriel out for the season?

[Gregory Sager]

Wife is working Saturday and Sunday... a roadtrip from St Louis may be in order... Sager, will you make it over from the North Park game?

Perhaps. I can't say for sure yet.

Heck, maybe I should come up early and see North Park vs Trine in person!!!!!

Sure, why not? You've never been in the crackerbox, have you?

[Gregory Sager]

Greg, is Mike Gabriel out for the season?

I don't think it's a 100% lock just yet, but I highly doubt that he'll play this season.

[Gregory Sager]

First of all, congrats to the reigning CCIW Player of the Week, Mark Holmes!

He and Aaron Weaver were able to do whatever they wanted tonight against a significantly less athletic Benedictine squad, whether it was off the dribble, in the low post, or from downtown. Zach Cassita had a nice floor game as well, although his shooting from beyond the arc was off tonight, and Chris Benjamin continues to get better. The Vikings shot well, outrebounded the bigger Eagles by 39-30, generally made good decisions with the ball, and I love the a:to ratio (20:10). The only complaint I really have about NPU's performance tonight was that the free throw shooting really slacked off in the second half. The defense was OK, not great, but the Bennies didn't shoot well enough when they did get open shots for it to make any difference.

It's good to get back to .500. Benedictine's not exactly a powerhouse opponent this season, but the Park will take what it can get.

[Pat Coleman]

Wife is working Saturday and Sunday... a roadtrip from St Louis may be in order... Sager, will you make it over from the North Park game?

Perhaps. I can't say for sure yet.

Heck, maybe I should come up early and see North Park vs Trine in person!!!!!

Sure, why not? You've never been in the crackerbox, have you?

Careful -- last guy who did that got put on the air to do color.

[hopefan]

Wife is working Saturday and Sunday... a roadtrip from St Louis may be in order... Sager, will you make it over from the North Park game?

Perhaps. I can't say for sure yet.

Heck, maybe I should come up early and see North Park vs Trine in person!!!!!

Sure, why not? You've never been in the crackerbox, have you?

Careful -- last guy who did that got put on the air to do color.

There had better be SLIAC teams playing or I'd be at a loss!!! 

[Gregory Sager]

Wife is working Saturday and Sunday... a roadtrip from St Louis may be in order... Sager, will you make it over from the North Park game?

Perhaps. I can't say for sure yet.

Heck, maybe I should come up early and see North Park vs Trine in person!!!!!

Sure, why not? You've never been in the crackerbox, have you?

Careful -- last guy who did that got put on the air to do color.

... and, oddly enough, Trine was NPU's opponent the night that Pat was our guest commentator.

There had better be SLIAC teams playing or I'd be at a loss!!! 

Sorry, can't help you with that, although NPU is hosting Eureka tomorrow night.

[Pat Coleman]

Yep, that was not as random a comment as it sounded.