MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[thunder38]

Well there's the answer to your previously posed question Greg. We've got ourselves a Millikin poster. Anyone remember the last time we've had more Millikin posters than Augustana posters? 

[augie77]

Well, I'm an Augustana fan, as the handle implies.  Living in Lansing, Michigan, my insight on the CCIW comes almost entirely from this page so I don't have a lot to contribute.  I do like the youth on this year's Augie team and think the future is bright.

[augie77]

I am encouraged that Augustana's attendance seems to be perking up.  Some games are over 1000.  It's been a long time since that's been commonplace.  I do recall back in the early 1980's Augustana led the nation in D-III attendance, something over 3000.  I don't expect we'll see that again anytime soon.

[iwu70]

Glad to see Spencer Seibring committing to IWU.  He's a great kid with some pretty good skills.  Has that long lanky basketball type body and can stroke the three.  Needs to strengthen up, play better D, get quicker, of course, though he has done well on the front of a half court press I saw in the All-city tourney here.  He hasn't had as strong a caste of characters around him this year as in earlier years.  Hope Ron Rose is also after the Seibrings of the other branch of this strongly IWU-connected family, that would be 6'8" power forward, center Trevor Seibring (from another Normal school), and his younger brother, side-kick, wing player, Tyler.  Trevor has a big upside as a possible IWU big and Tyler, perhaps the best shooter of them all, is a 6'5", trey shooting wing, but I think only a HS sophomore now.  Very big upside as he's starting already, getting lots of experience playing with big bro.  He can really light it up when he gets on a shooting streak.  Hope Ron Rose is putting in the good word for a lineup in future that has three Seibrings on the Shirk floor at once!  IMHO.
  Lots and lots of playing experience in game situations at Shirk already.  They'd all be comfortable playing there.

Looking forward to IWU vs. Augie tonight . . . should be a real battle, strength vs. strength, but with the Titans having greater experience and (basketball) wisdom, it would appear.  We'll see.  Will jackets be flying tonight?  Seems this would be a game, with the students/band back, for a huge turnout at the Shirk tonight.

Sorry to see Molinari drop out, but the injuries took their toll and the body language with coaches and fellow teammates was never really there, to be honest.  Perhaps he'll find a new home and still pursue his basketball dreams using his considerable talents.

IWU70

[wheels81]

Additionally, its been a resounding thud as the rookies have crashed back to the norm as the season has worn on.

After eight games, Michael Berg was averaging 6.8 ppg and 3.3 rpg, and his scoring totals had gone up for four straight games, peaking with a 15-point performance against Wash U. He was shooting 19-50 (.380) from the field, 8-21 (.381) from beyond the arc, and 8-10 (.800) from the foul line.

Michael Berg's last five games:

Dec. 12 vs. Cornell	19 min	2 pts, 1 reb (1-6 FG)
Dec. 14: @ Northwestern	11 min	0 pts, 1 reb (0-4 FG, 0-1 trey, 0-2 FT)
Dec. 15: @ North Central (MN)	5 min	0 pts, 1 reb (0-4 FG, 0-1 trey)
Jan. 2: vs. Illinois Wesleyan	18 min	6 pts, 3 rebs (2-4 FG, 2-2 trey, fouled out)
Jan. 5: @ North Central (IL)	5 min	0 pts, 3 rebs (0-1 FG)

I was at the Wheaton/Cornell game, and of course witnessed his limited engagement against NCC. It was very quickly evident that Berg has a touch of "Johnson Syndrome" in that he really isn't fond of more than a minimal degree of physical contact. His domicile of preference on the basketball court appears to be the right corner, and he would much rather sit out there and pop threes rather than to try to drive the baseline. I see that against IWU, he hit 2 threes. Very understandable as I doubt if he wanted any part of meeting Reed, Davis, or Ziemnik inside.

Berg definitely has talent. However, that talent won't be cultivated to its fullest potential until he develops more of a taste for a little bumping and grinding in the paint. This would also allow him to collect a few more boards which, at 6'6" he should be able to get done. In his freshman campaign, he is undoubtedly still adjusting to competition at the college level where he is encountering obstacles that weren't present last year.

+1
that's about the 3rd time you picked on Berg for his domicile of preference for the right corner and the 2nd time you mentioned his "johnson syndrome"  Lay off the harping and talk more about players you know something about other than the stat sheets.  minus karma for that , jk

[robertgoulet]

As a Big Blue fan around Decatur, it has been awesome to see what Coach Nadelhoffer has been able to accomplish. I don't have any special insight that hasn't already been discussed in previous pages, but I am anxious to see what they do against Elmhurst tonight. It's a matchup that could be telling on how relevant Millikin can be this year. Win at home and show you're worthy of some early conference season recognition, or lose and let people dismiss you. Can't be anything but pleasantly surprised with the results these freshmen have created so far.

Welcome. Nice to have another mustache on board.

[Gregory Sager]

As a Big Blue fan around Decatur, it has been awesome to see what Coach Nadelhoffer has been able to accomplish. I don't have any special insight that hasn't already been discussed in previous pages, but I am anxious to see what they do against Elmhurst tonight. It's a matchup that could be telling on how relevant Millikin can be this year. Win at home and show you're worthy of some early conference season recognition, or lose and let people dismiss you. Can't be anything but pleasantly surprised with the results these freshmen have created so far.

Welcome, although it's gonna be strange to see that name associated with a Millikin poster rather than an NPU poster. A lurker and infrequent poster here who goes by NPC-Alum (and whom several people who post here know personally) is actually named Ron Swanson in real life, and he is already having to come to grips with the fact that there's a breakout character on a prime-time sitcom who has the same name. Seeing a Millikin fan using his name is just gonna plain weird him out even further.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU is going to add several spring-semester transfers to the roster. I'm not yet sure exactly how many additions there will ultimately be, but there could be as many as four or five. One of them is now listed on the online roster and is thus a possible candidate to see some playing time tonight for the Vikings at Wheaton. He's Cameron Burnett, a diminutive (5'5, 135) freshman point guard from Bolingbrook HS who spent fall semester at Ashford University, an NAIA school in eastern Iowa. He appeared briefly in Ashford's second game of the season before deciding to leave the team and transfer to NPU at the end of the semester.

[RonSwanson]

He should be proud to share his name with such a great American!

Thanks for the warm welcome. Can anyone give me a little insight on Elmhurst for tonight? Other than Sanford, I'm not very familiar with their squad. Anyone that can give me a quick scouting report?

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst is big. The 'jays have a truckload of guys who are in the 6'7 to 6'9 range, and their roster contains more size than any of the other seven CCIW teams. However, they're not effectively big. EC has exactly the same number of rebounds this season as its opponents, and the 'jays are -3 in the rebounding department for their first two CCIW contests. Not one of the super-sized 'jays has yet shown himself to be a consistently effective CCIW-level player this season. Nick Sanford, who at 6'5, 210 is comparatively small, is by far the best inside player Elmhurst has. He's the team's leading rebounder by a wide margin, having led the team in that category in every game but one this year, and he's scored almost twice as many points as has anybody else on the team -- and all of his points come either at the FT line or within ten feet of the basket. Sanford is quick and heady and a relentlessly hard worker on the boards. Any team in this league would love to have him. It's gotta be tough for Decaturites to watch hometowner Sanford playing in the Griz while wearing a uniform that doesn't say "Millikin" on it.

Taylor Baxter, a 6'5 junior, is the big name on the perimeter. He was much ballyhooed in this room as a high-school senior, when several CCIW schools were recruiting him and he ended up taking a scholie to play for D1 North Dakota State. Now he's at Elmhurst and starting at small forward, where he's done most of his shooting from the perimeter. He's good out there, if not great (.395 from beyond the arc), but at 9.8 ppg he hasn't really overwhelmed anybody. He's scored in single digits in his last four games, and I suspect that the Elmhurst coaches are expecting more out of him than they've gotten so far. D'Ante Foster is a slightly below league-average PG. He's quick and he's experienced, but he doesn't shoot well and his a:to ratio isn't very good (although a lot of that is on his teammates rather than on him). Bryant Ackerman is a promising freshman shooting guard who is having a nice first year in an Elmhurst uni, but the box scores show that he was perhaps a little overmatched in his first two CCIW games (no surprise there, as his first two CCIW games were against North Central and Illinois Wesleyan). The first three non-bigs that Mark Scherer brings in off of his bench are all young -- freshmen Kenny Payonk and Kyle Wuest, and sophomore Michael Jerkovich -- which will help counteract Millikin's comparative lack of experience.

I've only seen Elmhurst play once this year, but I was not impressed at all by the Bluejays. The program has lost its footing ever since the great class of '09 graduated, and this year's team appears to be a mixture of inexperienced youth, ability-challenged bigs, and a couple of guys who are not really living up to their billing, as well as one certain All-CCIW pick in Nick Sanford. I predict a 72-58 Millikin win tonight.

[USee]

Well, I'm an Augustana fan, as the handle implies.  Living in Lansing, Michigan, my insight on the CCIW comes almost entirely from this page so I don't have a lot to contribute.  I do like the youth on this year's Augie team and think the future is bright.

Don't let location hold you back.  Ypsi hasn't seen more than a small handful of CCIW sporting events in several decades but that hasn't stopped him from regularly contributing nothing for the past 8+ years on these boards. 

[Gregory Sager]

Well, I'm an Augustana fan, as the handle implies.  Living in Lansing, Michigan, my insight on the CCIW comes almost entirely from this page so I don't have a lot to contribute.  I do like the youth on this year's Augie team and think the future is bright.

Don't let location hold you back.  Ypsi hasn't seen more than a small handful of CCIW sporting events in several decades but that hasn't stopped him from regularly contributing nothing for the past 8+ years on these boards.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Well, I'm an Augustana fan, as the handle implies.  Living in Lansing, Michigan, my insight on the CCIW comes almost entirely from this page so I don't have a lot to contribute.  I do like the youth on this year's Augie team and think the future is bright.

Don't let location hold you back.  Ypsi hasn't seen more than a small handful of CCIW sporting events in several decades but that hasn't stopped him from regularly contributing nothing for the past 8+ years on these boards.

+k!

I may have no insider knowledge, but I do have a good self-mocking sense of humor.

(The situation is even worse than you described.  I have seen a number of CCIW teams in various sports (esp. bball) at various locales, but the ONLY conference contests I've seen since 1970 were at the 2010 IWU Homecoming: IWU vs. NPU in football, and IWU vs. NCC in women's soccer.  And, truth be told, neither could really be described as a  contest. )

[Gregory Sager]

After an injury and drama-filled season and a half, sophomore PG David Molinari has left the IWU basketball team.  He's no longer listed on the roster.

He could always transfer to Western Illinois, as I'd bet that his dad would welcome him as a walk-on. The 12-3 Leathernecks appear to have finally turned it around this season.

[Titan Q]

Probable starters and top reserves for the Augustana @ IWU game...

IWU (10-3, 2-0)
G - Dylan Overstreet, 6-3/180 So (8.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 3.5 apg)
G - Pat Sodemann, 6-3/190 So (13.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.3 apg)
F - Andrew Ziemnik, 6-4/230 Jr (10.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg)
F - Victor Davis, 6-5/235 Jr (6.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg)
F - Kevin Reed, 6-6/230 Sr (9.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg)

G - Brady Zimmer, 6-4/180 Jr (9.9 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 1.4 apg)
F - Mike Mayberger, 6-6/220 Jr (8.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg)
C - Nick Anderson, 6-9/220 Jr (3.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg)

Augustana (12-1, 2-0)
G - Danielius Jurgutis, 6-0/201 So (11.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.8 apg)
G - Brandon Thompson, 6-1/177 So (9.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.0 apg)
F - Ben Ryan, 6-5/208 Fr (12.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg)
F - Tayvian Johnson, 6-6/193 Fr (6.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg)
C - Brandon Kunz, 6-7/205 Sr (12.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg)

G - Mark Roth, 6-0/164 So (6.0 ppg, 1.0 apg)
G - Griffin Pils, 6-4/207 Fr (5.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.2 apg)
F - Nic Hoepfner, 6-6/232 So (3.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg)


Pantagraph: http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-wesleyan/iwu-men-vs-augustana-preview/article_f023bd14-5a04-11e2-92e7-0019bb2963f4.html

Video/live stats: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/iwu.portal#

WJBC: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wjbc.portal#

Augie radio: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/augustana.portal#