MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[robertgoulet]

New No. 1, in yet another close vote:
http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2012-13/week5

Great achievement for the Cards! VERY close vote!

[Titan Q]

My wife and I are in Florida visiting her parents for a week.  74 and sunny today and just finished 18 holes.  It definitely doesn't feel like IWU @ Wheaton day.  I associate that with some really cold late-January Saturday.  I'm trying to get my head in the game here -- huge game tonight.

Some thoughts...

* I think this should be a very good game -- I'll be shocked if it's lopsided.  I can't remember many blowout IWU @ Wheaton games in the last 15 years or so...they all seem to be thrillers.

* These are two extremely different basketball teams.  Wheaton is a perimeter-oriented team with a superstar player leading the way.  IWU is a big, strong, bruising frontcourt-oriented team with no superstar, and a bunch of equal parts.

* I'm pretty sure IWU will be the most physical team Wheaton has faced this year by a pretty good margin.  Wash U is tall, but IWU is just way more phsycial that the Bears.  I'm interested to see how that factor plays out. 

* I have no idea how IWU will contain Tyler Peters.  I think Ron Rose will need defensive specialist Eric Dortch on him quite a bit.  Peters is just a bad matchup for the Titans.

* I'm not quite sure how ready he is, but IWU could really use Brady Zimmer tonight on the perimeter.  Zimmer (concussion) played just 3 minutes @ Franklin.  This is a kid good enough to be one of IWU's top 2-3 scorers in CCIW play if healthy...the Titans really need his perimeter offense.  I hope he's ready to play 15 minutes or so.

* As an IWU fan, I like the Andrew Ziemnik/Victor Davis matchups in this one.  There can't be too many D3 teams with starting forwards as physical as these two -- I think they'll give Wheaton some trouble on both ends of the floor.  Ziemnik, with his long hair and his power forward build at the small forward spot, sure doesn't look like your typical IWU player...but he can play.  He really gets it.

* IWU needs good play out of its perimeter players - Overstreet and Sodemann in particular have to have really good games for the Titans to win.

* Turnovers and FTs -- these are two huge IWU problems.  I think we're past the point of saying, "IWU needs to turn the ball over less and shoot FTs better."  The fact is, IWU is a team that is going to turn it over more than average and a pretty poor FT shooting team.  IWU will have to overcome these by out-rebounding the heck out of Wheaton.


I'm glad I'm in Florida, but would love to be @ King Arena for a couple hours tonight.  For those lucky enough to be there, enjoy.

Go Titans.

[Gregory Sager]

Many people have asked me about the availability of NCC games on video. A couple of weeks ago I spoke with NCC SID Clark Teuscher who advised plans were in the works to hopefully make this a reality.

I can now report that all NCC home basketball games will be available on video as NCC has partnered with the local Naperville cable TV outlet (NCTV) to broadcast NCC basketball and wrestling.

http://www.northcentralcardinals.com/news/2013/1/2/MBB_0102135305.aspx

This is great news. If I'm not mistaken, all eight CCIW teams now have video capability, which means that all 56 CCIW games over the next two months should be available for online viewing.

[AndOne]

New No. 1, in yet another close vote:
http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2012-13/week5

Great achievement for the Cards! VERY close vote!

http://www.northcentralcardinals.com/news/2013/1/2/MBB_0102131617.aspx

[Gregory Sager]

We're on the threshold of what Ken Massey's HAL 9000 supercomputer predicts will be a 90-59 horsewhipping of North Park by Augustana in Rock Island tonight. Meanwhile, I'm past the point of wondering whether NPU will sort it all out and put together a semi-respectable CCIW performance in January and February. It's pretty clear that the prospects for the Vikings are dismal. The results of their final non-conference game far outweigh the results of the penultimate game against UW-LaCrosse, and indicate to me that this is going to be the two-month basketball equivalent of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. NPU simply does not have the size, the depth, the experienced low-post players, or the experienced point guards that would make this team competitive.

What I am hoping to see is a basic upward curve in terms of the competence of the Vikings, whether it's reflected in the performance on the scoreboard or not, especially in terms of how NPU fares in the second round-robin as opposed to the first. And recruits. Lots of recruits. Lots of 'em at every game. Lots of invited young males sitting in the stands in the crackerbox watching the Vikings and sorting out whether they would like to wear royal blue and gold in 2013-14. It's patently obvious that Tom Slyder, Cordell Henry, and Kevin Holmes are going to have to recruit their way out of the program's current predicament, because the CCIW-level talent simply isn't there right now in terms of both numbers and specific types of players.

[NCF]

New No. 1, in yet another close vote:
http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2012-13/week5

Great achievement for the Cards! VERY close vote!

Great job by the Cardinals-keep it up!!

[BlueJay21]

Up in King Arena for tonights huge matchup between IWU and Wheaton. Just received word that Nathan Haynes is sick and I don't see him warming up with the Thunder on the court.

Obviously this would be a HUGE blow to the Thunder, especially considering how physical Wesleyan is. With that said, Go Thunder!

[iwu70]

Q, enjoy the warmth and the golf.  Lucky guy.  It is bone-chilling cold here, about 16 degrees tonight, so you are right about the time of year for WC vs. IWU at King Arena.

Pretty much agree with Q's assessment, and hope Zimmer and Mayberger contribute a few treys, freeing things up for a good game from the IWU bigs, especially Davis and Zman.  Zman is playing with good confidence right now, this week's CCIW most outstanding player.  Sodemann and Overstreet need to play well, with fewer TOs.  I, too, have little hope that the FT percentage situation will improve very much.

GO Titans!  Should be a good one.

Congrats to NCC on their national #1 ranking this week by D3hoops.com poll.

IWU70

[izzy stradlin]

Up in King Arena for tonights huge matchup between IWU and Wheaton. Just received word that Nathan Haynes is sick and I don't see him warming up with the Thunder on the court.

Obviously this would be a HUGE blow to the Thunder, especially considering how physical Wesleyan is. With that said, Go Thunder!

Ouch!!!    They are saying the flu, with several other players recently ill as well.  No flu shots on the Wheaton Campus??

[Naperick]

Congrats to the Cardinals of their #1 ranking!

[Gregory Sager]

Looks like Haynes isn't the only crucial CCIW big man who is MIA tonight. No sign of Luke Johnson again for Carthage down in Decatur tonight, and thus far (deep into the first half) the Red Men are trailing without him.

[iwu70]

IWU up 45-26 at the half.  WC having real problems with IWU's size, post area domination.  All Titans playing well.  Full 10-11 man rotation healthy. 

Keep it going TITANS!

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana 89
NPU 54

Beyond ugly.

[Gregory Sager]

Wesleyan managed to hold off a late Wheaton comeback, 83-80. The Titans outrebounded the Haynes-less Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance by 50-32.

[Mr. Ypsi]

My kudos to Wheaton on a great comeback - looked like a laugher for a while.  Fortunately for us, it was not QUITE enough of a comeback!