MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[mactitan]

I've only been to one game this year, and boy did I pick the wrong one.  I have not seen a game that bad since IWU snapped its home winning streak against Benedictine about 15 years ago.  I felt like Augie came out with a great defensive game plan in the first half.  They were mixing up their looks with every possession.  Some 3-2 zone, some 1-3-1 trap, some tight man-to-man.  Sometimes they would trap in the backcourt, then switch to man once the Titans crossed the half court line.  IWU looked confused on offense.  It seemed like every trip down the court they were confused for the first 15 seconds, then just settled for a 3.  So I give huge credit to the Augie D in the first half.  In the second half though, I don't know what happened.  They did a much better job getting the ball into the post and attacking the basket, but missed a ton of short shots.  On defense they had trouble grabbing rebounds.  It looked like they were trying to rebound an oiled beach ball.  And at least twice an Augie guard hit a 3 immediately after an offensive rebound.

Side note, in the first half Tayvian Johnson injured his shoulder - which already had a brace on it.  He was in obvious pain, and was not moving his arm.  Then the trainer came out and popped it back into place.  It was pretty gross to see.  Then the kid goes to the bench for about five minutes, and returned to play the rest of the game.  With the exception of a couple of free throws, I never saw him raise his right arm above his head the rest of the way.  Pretty tough, but I don't know that he was helping his team after the injury.

[Titan Q]

Hoping the sun comes up this morning, but I'm too far west to know yet.  Any reports from Illinois?

Waking up with big loss hangover (which doesn't involve any alcohol) is never fun.

[Rafi]

It has truly been a rollercoaster season for at least this Titan fan.  With their graduation losses, when the season began I figured to be reasonably happy if they even made the conference tourney.  I gradually gained confidence as the season went on, and when they made it to 13-0 in the conference, I figured Salem was a pretty sure bet and Atlanta was not out of the question.  Now I think they could go anywhere from 1-1 (first game should be a 'gimme' opponent) to 6-0.  It should be entertaining!

Hopefully, they have now gotten the total stinker out of their system.

Side note: it has now been 40 seasons since anyone ran the conference table.  Anyone recall if any team in that time has previously made it to 13-0?

I know that NCC went 15-0 in the 89-90 season before IWU beat them in Naperville in the last game of the regular season.  Then returned to Naperville and beat NCC for the 2nd time in a week in the national tournament.

[augiefan]

Augie would probably not win one game out of ten against IWU at the Shirk this season, but fortunately for them the one out of ten occurred in a CCIW tournament game. Sure the game was ugly, but that is how a less talented team generally pulls off an upset. When you compare the home court advntage and the superior offensive skills and experience of IWU to the offensively challenged, injury ridden and inexperienced Augie squad, Coach G's reliance on a defense game plan was the only way to pull off the upset.

Of course, you sill have to score a few points to win even an ugly game, so thanks to you Ben Ryan for a great game and a great freshman year. CCIW freshman of the year in my book.

The loss does little to hurt IWU, as they are a lock for the tourney and a good seeding. I felt all along one loss going into the post season would be good for the Titans going into the NCAA tourney, as it relieves some of the pressure of maintaining a long winning streak through the iNCAA tournament. I think the Titans will be fine in the big tourney, especially if Zimmer is close to 100% by the second weekend.

It is hard to imagine Augie pulling off a second upset this evening, particularly if T. Johnson and M. Roth cannot play or are playing at less than 100%. Accordingly I suggest that NCC rest all of their starters tonight to give the CCIW a shot at 4 qualifiers for the NCAA tourney.

If Augie does catch lightning in a bottle again tonight, is it realistic to think all 4 of the CCIW tourney teams go to the NCAA tourney? Seems improbable, but I bet Titan Q has an answer.

Good luck to Augie tonight, and good luck to all 4 teams come selection Sunday/Monday. We are all fortunate to have such a great DIII basketball conference to follow.

[markerickson]

I do not believe the CCIW will have four teams selected.  The teams that qualified for the CCIW tourney feasted on the bottom three.

[Titan Q]

I do not believe the CCIW will have four teams selected.  The teams that qualified for the CCIW tourney feasted on the bottom three.

None of what you just said is part of the criteria used to select and seed the teams.

Here are the numbers - http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.msg1498433#msg1498433

If Augie wins tonight, 4 are getting in.  Of the group of North Central, IWU, and Wheaton, none would even be considered bubble teams.

[iwumichigander]

Chuck not kidding I saw it also

Boy, you guys are gullible.  Can't wait for my next April Fool's post.  If D Mac can get you going like this, wait until you learn Coach Stein has taken the job at Albertus Magnus.

Better make it before or after that date - I'm not nearly as gullible ON April 1st!

I saw it ...did not believe it

[iwumichigander]

A tough loss and an ugly loss - yes.  You have to give credit to the Augie team who overcame difficult odds to walk out with a "W".  I don't think Augie will have the same luck tonight but anything can happen on a given night in this conference.

Tayvian Johnson played a terrific game for Augie - bum shoulder or not.  He made some good stops defensively in the 2nd half.

The Titans did not take the ball to the hoop often enough when the treys and jumpers were not falling.  I did not understand why not as it certainly seemed to me the Titans were having success in the paint either scoring or getting to the free throw line.

I do see the CCIW getting 4 teams in if Augie wins the AQ.

[Titan Q]

14 games for Pool C bubble teams to follow today - http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.msg1498484#msg1498484

[Kovo]

Augie would probably not win one game out of ten against IWU at the Shirk this season, but fortunately for them the one out of ten occurred in a CCIW tournament game. Sure the game was ugly, but that is how a less talented team generally pulls off an upset. When you compare the home court advntage and the superior offensive skills and experience of IWU to the offensively challenged, injury ridden and inexperienced Augie squad, Coach G's reliance on a defense game plan was the only way to pull off the upset.

Of course, you sill have to score a few points to win even an ugly game, so thanks to you Ben Ryan for a great game and a great freshman year. CCIW freshman of the year in my book.

The loss does little to hurt IWU, as they are a lock for the tourney and a good seeding. I felt all along one loss going into the post season would be good for the Titans going into the NCAA tourney, as it relieves some of the pressure of maintaining a long winning streak through the iNCAA tournament. I think the Titans will be fine in the big tourney, especially if Zimmer is close to 100% by the second weekend.

It is hard to imagine Augie pulling off a second upset this evening, particularly if T. Johnson and M. Roth cannot play or are playing at less than 100%. Accordingly I suggest that NCC rest all of their starters tonight to give the CCIW a shot at 4 qualifiers for the NCAA tourney.

If Augie does catch lightning in a bottle again tonight, is it realistic to think all 4 of the CCIW tourney teams go to the NCAA tourney? Seems improbable, but I bet Titan Q has an answer.

Good luck to Augie tonight, and good luck to all 4 teams come selection Sunday/Monday. We are all fortunate to have such a great DIII basketball conference to follow.

Actually Augie scares the heck out of me in this game.  Was last night an ugly win?  I guess---but I still own a 1983 White Sox Winning Ugly t-shirt.  So, I'm never certain how a win is ugly.  What I saw was a team desperately playing their hearts out not to have their season come to an end, and finding a way to win in a hostile environment against a team that (arguably) should have taken it to them.  If Augie plays with the same guts, heart and determination, the Cards had better bring their A game.

[D-3 watcher]

Augie took it to the Titans, they seemed to get every loose ball, just outplayed them. No excuses, get 8 days off, try and regroup. Congrats to Augie

Good win for NCC as well, as mentioned, huge game for Jack Burnett. The last foul on Landon Gamble was a joke, maybe the fourth one as well.
Aaron Tiknis, limped thru some big time pain and made some huge shots late. Don't know his availability for tonight's game, but if he can't go, Jack's confidence should be high.
I've questioned Coach Raridon in the past, but as others have already said, going zone was a game saver. Great move Coach.

As a IWU fan, have to hope Augie wins tonight, otherwise NCC could leap past both Wheaton and IWU in the region rankings. Q or somebody might know the numbers if that happens.

[John Gleich]

I do not believe the CCIW will have four teams selected.  The teams that qualified for the CCIW tourney feasted on the bottom three.

None of what you just said is part of the criteria used to select and seed the teams.

Here are the numbers - http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.msg1498433#msg1498433

If Augie wins tonight, 4 are getting in.  Of the group of North Central, IWU, and Wheaton, none would even be considered bubble teams.

There is potentially a way that 4 might not get in with an Augie win... If Wheaton gets bumped below Transylvania in the (unposted) regional rankings for some reason and then Transy doesn't get selected until later, then it could bump Wheaton off.

I don't think that's going to happen... but everyone has been looking at the selections based off of the pure numbers, not selecting teams in the way that the committee will do that (i.e. looking at the top regionally ranked team from each region).

... Unless I'm wrong (which it looks like I may be) because the selections do seem to be down the regional rankings, with the exception of Wash U and IWU... though after IWU's 0-2 week, you may be projecting that Wash U will hop over them.

[D-3 watcher]

Kovo,

Not really a hostile crowd, it was such an ugly game, I thought it was kinda quiet. Except for about 15 out of control students. Augie took the crowd out of it.
I was surprised by the size of the crowd, thought the place would be packed, no students from any of the visiting teams, not very many from the home team.
The first game had a father of a NCC player have a running conversation with Tyler Peters, those two and all the coaches made the most noise all night. And the refs whistles.

[Kovo]

Kovo,

Not really a hostile crowd, it was such an ugly game, I thought it was kinda quiet. Except for about 15 out of control students. Augie took the crowd out of it.
I was surprised by the size of the crowd, thought the place would be packed, no students from any of the visiting teams, not very many from the home team.
The first game had a father of a NCC player have a running conversation with Tyler Peters, those two and all the coaches made the most noise all night. And the refs whistles.

I to was a bit surprised by the crowd.  Although, the student section appeared to be fired up and ready to break loose.  But, it is often difficult to gage the atmosphere on the net.  With had said, I think that it is a tall task to beat IWU at home even if there isn't a fan in the building.  I certainly wasn't looking forward to NC playing IWU at home, or (worse yet), during the NCAA tournament if that occurred.  Hats off to Augie for hanging tough, so I don't take them for granted.

A parent should never spend the game yelling at a kid (unless it is his own  ).

[AndOne]

Augie took it to the Titans, they seemed to get every loose ball, just outplayed them. No excuses, get 8 days off, try and regroup. Congrats to Augie

Good win for NCC as well, as mentioned, huge game for Jack Burnett. The last foul on Landon Gamble was a joke, maybe the fourth one as well.
Aaron Tiknis, limped thru some big time pain and made some huge shots late. Don't know his availability for tonight's game, but if he can't go, Jack's confidence should be high.
I've questioned Coach Raridon in the past, but as others have already said, going zone was a game saver. Great move Coach.

As a IWU fan, have to hope Augie wins tonight, otherwise NCC could leap past both Wheaton and IWU in the region rankings. Q or somebody might know the numbers if that happens.

Jack BURCHETT, not Burnett. Sounds like something those aforementioned student announcers might say. But, yes, a common mistake. 

Don't forget, Todd Raridon has been a head coach for many years and has over 400 victories. Teams he has coached have been to the Final Four FOUR times. He generally knows what he is doing. 

As fans, I think we all question certain moves by opposing coaches. Occasionally, even one or two made by our coach.