MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Iwufan]

Mayberger has the 12. Z 11.

[titanfan]

Titans win...94-81

[Naperick]

Titans win...94-81

Impressive!

[iwu70]

Way to go Titans, beating DII Winona State 91-84.

Zman with 27, Mayberger with 24. 

Great job guys! 

More on the IWU sports website write-up =  iwu.edu go to "atheletics"  ms

IWU70

[iwu70]

Sorry, correction:  94-81 TITANS over Wenona State.

As I've said many times, Mayberger may be the most useful sixth man, sub or rotational player in DIII.

IWU70

[AndOne]

Congrats to the Green Weenies on their nice win over those scholarship D2 boys. 

[iwu70]

Congrats to Coach Rose and the Titans on a nice win over DII Winona State in MN.  Many players played well, lots of guys in the rotation getting minutes.  A very good outing, shooting 50% overall.  This Titan team is going to be tough -- in the paint and also from treyball land.  Would love to see Victor Davis get off to a fast, strong start this year.  Zman and Mayberger really put up some points.  Rossi from the wing, from the corner, is going to be a deadly weapon.  Can't wait until everyone gets healthy, with Zimmer and Nelson in the mix too.

A great start.  Official tip-off now less than two weeks away.  Manchester @The Shirk, November 15th -- 8 p.m.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

There is no doubt Bosko is a very accomplished coach and has probably forgotten more about basketball than I'll ever know. However, I think he's blowing a little smoke in this instance. Maybe he has taken to inhaling. 
I'm just not sure the new rules will benefit Carthage that much. Here is my perspective. Bosko certainly will have a finesse-oriented squad as opposed to one possessing a great deal of physicality. Based on what I saw this summer, Carthage will also be a very quick team---quick feet, quick hands. However, I think quick, finesse-oriented teams usually play defense with their feet and hands as opposed to doing so with their bodies as is the usual modus operandi for a power team. Given this I go back to the little demonstration the ref gave us at the NCC scrimmage Tues night. Based on what I witnessed, many of the new rules concern themselves with use of the hands which quick, finesse teams usually have moving, reaching, and grabbing. And, under the new rules this could be cause for concern as any attempt to impede ther offensive players progress is very likely to result in an infraction. Use even a slight arm bar to slow a driver down--foul. Put a hand on the ball handler? Quickly take it off and you should be OK. But, leave it on a forearm, chest, shoulder more than a couple seconds-foul. Rough physical play with excessive bumping, holding, etc, will usually be a foul. But, under the new points of emphasis, a lot of defensive actions typically employed by quick, finesse teams will be whistled. Thats why I'm not too sure finesse teams will have much of an advantage, if any, under the new rules.

Well, you've seen firsthand how refs are being told to call the game and Bosko most likely hasn't. So I suppose that we're all just going to have to wait and see.

Yes, Greg, I'm gonna have to disagree with you--at least to a point. I do agree that the college game on the D3 level has gotten a little physical. As a fan, its not enjoyable to see a football game break out during action on the hardwood. However, basketball IS a rough, contact sport. I love a creative game with good passing, lots of assists, and a nice flow. However, I would hate to see it reduced to a something on the order of a square dancing exhibition. Just as I think some degree of fighting is part of the fabric of a good hockey game, I believe some bumping and grinding is part of a good basketball game. Maybe my fondness for a game with a bit of an edge to it stems from my association with the North Central team I follow. The last 2-3 years they have been a very physical team that plays tough in your face defense. With their personnel, this has been a style which has served them well, and, from a fan's standpoint, has been very enjoyable. What is wrong is when a player practically gets tackled and no foul is called. We've all seen this repeatedly over the last several years. However, its even worse when about all you have to do to be whistled for a foul is to breathe too heavily on your man. At that point, you might as well just head to the ballet.    

Given the size, athleticism, and musculature of college basketball players today, even on the D3 level, some physicality is almost inevitable, especially in the paint. But the pushing, shoving, hooking, arm-barring, and wrestling has gotten way out of hand. It's ruining the aesthetics of the game and making it less fun to watch -- and harder for the refs to call.

[Titan Q]

IWU 94
Winona State 81

http://www.winonastatewarriors.com/documents/2013/11/2/Winona_State_81,_Illinois_Wesleyan_94.pdf?id=1967

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/ziemnik-leads-way-as-iwu-passes-exhibition-test/article_5a2c58aa-441b-11e3-830b-001a4bcf887a.html

On Demand replay - http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/winona.portal#

* Andrew Ziemnik: 27 pts, 14 reb
* Mike Mayberger: 24 pts, 2 reb
* Dylan Overstreet: 7 pts, 6 reb, 2 assists
* Bryce Dolan: 6 pts, 4 assists

The Titans shot 50% from the field and out-rebounded the D2 Warriors 41-36.

IWU led by 7 at halftime and Winona State never got closer than 5 in the 2nd.  Really impressive performance by the Titans today up in Minnesota.


The Titans have a new uni design for the first time in, well, who knows...ever?

Here is the road version - http://www.winonadailynews.com/sports/college/wsu/collection_65e5708c-43fd-11e3-8e03-001a4bcf887a.html#0

[Titan Q]

I wasn't able to watch the IWU/Winona State game live (had some people in town for the Northwestern/Nebraska football game), but I watched the on-demand last night.  Some takeaways...

* The Titans are big and strong.  IWU has some men on the floor -- frontcourt guys like 6-5 Victor Davis, 6-10 Nick Anderson, 6-5 Andrew Ziemnik, 6-3 Eric Dortch, and 6-6 Mike Mayberger have Division I bodies now, as seniors.  Even some of the perimeter guys, like Pat Sodemann and Dylan Overstreet, look noticeably stronger.  At no point in that game did IWU look like the "smaller" team overall.

* IWU came out of the gates looking like the extremely experienced team they are.  The Titans made plenty of mistakes yesterday, but overall, they played like it was late-February.  The way they closed this game out down the stretch was impressive.  Just so much chemistry between every combination Ron Rose puts out there.

* 6-5 junior wing Alex Rossi is going to be a great player at some point.  He had a pretty quite 8 point performance yesterday, in 25 minutes, but his skill set is impressive.  Watching Rossi run the floor, move without the ball on offense, handle the ball, and defend made me really excited about his upside as a Titan.  Rossi is the one guy on the team who can get his own shot at any time, and who needs zero daylight to get a perimeter shot off. He is going to be an enormous addition to this team -- he gives the Titans something they did not have last year.

* When Mike Mayberger is your 7th man (or whatever number he is on the depth chart), you are a really good Division III team.  Mayberger is a 6-6 wing who can handle the ball and shoot the heck out of it.  He is quite a weapon to bring off the bench. 

* 6-5 PF Victor Davis had a quiet game offensively (just 1-4 FG), but this was a game where every guy guarding him was 2-3 inches taller and equally as strong - when he'd get the ball down low, there just wasn't much there for him.  I'm pretty sure Victor is going to have some big games this year in the low post vs normal-sized D3 PFs.


Plenty from that game for Ron Rose to work with his team on in practice this week, but that was an impressive showing against a good, Division II scholarship program...with a D1 transfer post player.  The Titans are a very good team.

[Titan Q]

Augustana travels to Iowa City today to face the Big Ten Iowa Hawkeyes at 3:30.  Should be able to watch this game online...

http://qctimes.com/sports/college/augustana/article_509a85ba-a8b5-5087-b963-c5901f8df2fa.html#.UnaRn1sKnn4.twitter

http://www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/110113aab.html

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


It will be interesting to see what Augie's rotation looks like.  The Vikings should be very good this year.


Millikin scrimmages Wash U today - would love to know how that turns out.  The Bears should be great again.

[Titan Q]

Millikin video heading into 2013-14...

http://vimeo.com/78417330

[iwu70]

Watched the first half of the Titan-Winona State game, and pretty much share Q's points above.  Titans can be very tough in the post (Davis, Zman, Anderson, Dortch, Coyle, Seibring -- perhaps later on with Marietti -- but also can be very very tough on the perimeter with treyball shooters -- Sodemann, Rossi, Dolan, Mayberberger, -- even some big men shoot the three pretty well -- Zman and Davis.  I agree that Rossi is going to be the real deal -- on both sides of the ball -- as the season progresses.  Still would like to see Victor Davis come out of the box more strongly and quickly this season and make some noise early -- this hasn't been his MO in recent seasons.  Sure will be interesting to see what happens when/if Zimmer and Nelson get healthy, come into the mix as well.  Gotta work on FT shooting.  Some games will come down to that.  Liked the overall D effort yesterday, from what I saw.  Gotta love the scoring and rebounding of Zman and the great contribution of Mayberger. 

Winona State will be good too, but they have much more to sort out with their younger players. 

A promising start for the Titans, showing the variety, the depth and the experience of this group.

IWU70

[toooldtohoop]

Maybe I missed it but, other than the two upcoming NPU exhibitions, are there any other CCIW-related exhibitions in the next week or so?  Gettin' kinda itchy here.

Wheaton played Benedictine at home Friday night.  Overshadowed by the men's soccer game the same time.

  They play in Rockford on Friday the 8th.

[Titan Q]

Iowa 87
Augustana 65

* Daniellus Jurgutis: 15 pts
* Mark Roth: 11 pts
* Jawan Straughter: 9 pts
* Kevin Schlitter: 9 pts, 3 reb
* Ben Ryan: 8 pts, 13 reb, 3 assists


It's hard to take much at all from this one because of the huge disparity in size (height, strength, length).  The entire game, from an Augie perspective, was just completely distorted for 40 minutes -- the Vikings weren't able to play their game, on either end of the floor, in this one.  No surprise there.  Augie played hard and battled the entire game.  Iowa is not just a Big Ten team, but a Big Ten expected to be pretty good this year.

Augustana's rotation was something like this: 

G - Hunter Hill, 5-9 So (Danielius Jurgutis, 6-0 Jr)
G - Mark Roth, 6-1 Jr (Jawan Straughter, 6-1 So)
F - Tayvian Johnson, 6-6 So (Grifin Pils, 6-4 So)
F - Ben Ryan, 6-5 So (Jake Gylten, 6-6 So) (Brandon Motzel, 6-7 So)
C - Kevin Schlitter, 6-8 Sr (Nic Hoepfner, 6-6 Jr) (Alex Dziagwa, 6-9 Jr)

None of the six freshmen factored into the rotation as far as I saw.

Augie is deep and has a bunch of big dudes.  (No big news story there I suppose.)

If the officials really do commit to this new emphasis thing, it could impact Coach G's team.  Obviously Augie really gets out on you defensively and uses a lot of hands -- if they call that hand check foul this season, the Vikings will have to adjust.