MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AppletonRocks]

why did IWU call their team the Beer Nuts?  Is that a corporate sponsorship deal? 

the cataclysmic loss on the hardwood today by The Most Awesome Team Ever to a Loras outfit that lost last week to Millikin and Rockford (Rockford!) has champagne corks a-poppin' this evening

The men from IWU have long been affectionally referred to on the boards as the "Green Weenies". In an effort to freshen things up a bit, I recently borrowed the reference "Beer Nuts" which was provided me by knowledgeable poster WUH.

"Beer Nuts" is actually a fitting moniker due to the fact that the IWU athletic facility, the Shirk Center, was funded by the Shirk family, owners of the Beer Nuts Company. Thus the Beer Nuts play in the Shirk Center. 

However, celebrated poster Greg Sager may have come up with another fitting description specifically applicable to this year's IWU basketball team, given all the hype which has recently been promulgated by our many Green posters. 
Namely, "The Most Awesome Team Ever," as was actually introduced yesterday by Mr. Sager in a posting in the CCIW football room. A copy of part of that post appears above. 

Thanks for the clarification on the Beer Nuts moniker.   Is that celebrated poster Greg Sager knowledgeable, or just trying to stir the pot, or both?

[Hoosier Titan]

Augie beat Simpson 87-54 today in Platteville to go to 3-1. Simpson lost to Platteville by only 3 last night, and Augie was beaten by Platteville a few days ago proving comparative scores mean nothing.

I think we all have to be stunned at how poorly the CCIw teams have done so far. Almost unbelievable to see Loras beat the conference's two best teams.

I was surprised to see how much Loras has improved.  They are not a bunch of stiffs running around.  They run their stuff well, they share the ball, they hit shots, and they make FTs. 
Granted, they have some curious losses as well.  But they deserve some props!

I agree with toooldtohoop.  I can't speak for Wheaton or North Central, but IWU has played really well except for ten minutes down the stretch last night.  Loras is a very solid team and they made shots when they needed to.  They earned that win.  And remember...Buddy Sodemann knows the Titans as well as anyone.

[Gregory Sager]

Dinah Washington's 1959 Top 10 hit describes the IWU of Friday night compared to Saturday night in frigid Iowa-"What a Difference A Day Makes."

Excellent and elegantly-used reference, Lanny! Kudos.

Loras has considerably improved its offense since Asst. Coach Buddy Sodemann arrived in Dubuque last year following a 2-year stint at IWU. So credit Ron Rose, Buddy and mainly the Loras coach, Greg Gorton (in his 7th season), for the improvement.

Ah, I see. So ... if Ron Rose's former assistant at Illinois Wesleyan is now an assistant for the team that just beat Illinois Wesleyan, then that means that Ron Rose gets partial credit for the win by the Duhawks ... which means that Illinois Wesleyan won after all! What a relief, folks!

why did IWU call their team the Beer Nuts?  Is that a corporate sponsorship deal? 

the cataclysmic loss on the hardwood today by The Most Awesome Team Ever to a Loras outfit that lost last week to Millikin and Rockford (Rockford!) has champagne corks a-poppin' this evening

The men from IWU have long been affectionally referred to on the boards as the "Green Weenies". In an effort to freshen things up a bit, I recently borrowed the reference "Beer Nuts" which was provided me by knowledgeable poster WUH.

"Beer Nuts" is actually a fitting moniker due to the fact that the IWU athletic facility, the Shirk Center, was funded by the Shirk family, owners of the Beer Nuts Company. Thus the Beer Nuts play in the Shirk Center. 

However, celebrated poster Greg Sager may have come up with another fitting description specifically applicable to this year's IWU basketball team, given all the hype which has recently been promulgated by our many Green posters. 
Namely, "The Most Awesome Team Ever," as was actually introduced yesterday by Mr. Sager in a posting in the CCIW football room. A copy of part of that post appears above. 

Well, I could've gone with "Boy Beauties", but I doubt that many would get the reference.

It's not about the Titans per se as it is about the aforementioned hype. The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana wasn't ballyhooed half as much as the 2013-14 Titans have been in this room on a daily basis over the past few months. It's gotten so completely over-the-top that even Lanny's noticed it and made reference to it while singing one of his paeans to the Titans:

Aurora has a lot of talent and will win their league. In regards to overall talent level, IWU's is incredible. Rossi can do it all-run the court, aggressive defender who has quick feet, can leap, a great open-shot marksman, and exploded twice to the hoop in the 1st half for lay-ups. Overstreet had a career-best 21 points and his point-guard skills are improved-so athletic. I'll quit as I know some posters get tired of IWU fans lauding this current IWU team.

What Mark edited out from my football-board quote, however, was that the champagne corks were popping in his house. I don't know if there was any champagne being poured in Dubuque last night by the Loras faithful (I suspect that having their soccer team reach the Final Four by winning their sectional this weekend was actually a bigger deal for Duhawks fans than the basketball win over IWU), but if there was, we now know that Ron Rose was entitled to at least a sip of it. Right, Lanny?

[AndOne]

why did IWU call their team the Beer Nuts?  Is that a corporate sponsorship deal? 

the cataclysmic loss on the hardwood today by The Most Awesome Team Ever to a Loras outfit that lost last week to Millikin and Rockford (Rockford!) has champagne corks a-poppin' this evening

The men from IWU have long been affectionally referred to on the boards as the "Green Weenies". In an effort to freshen things up a bit, I recently borrowed the reference "Beer Nuts" which was provided me by knowledgeable poster WUH.

"Beer Nuts" is actually a fitting moniker due to the fact that the IWU athletic facility, the Shirk Center, was funded by the Shirk family, owners of the Beer Nuts Company. Thus the Beer Nuts play in the Shirk Center. 

However, celebrated poster Greg Sager may have come up with another fitting description specifically applicable to this year's IWU basketball team, given all the hype which has recently been promulgated by our many Green posters. 
Namely, "The Most Awesome Team Ever," as was actually introduced yesterday by Mr. Sager in a posting in the CCIW football room. A copy of part of that post appears above. 

Thanks for the clarification on the Beer Nuts moniker.   Is that celebrated poster Greg Sager knowledgeable, or just trying to stir the pot, or both?

LOL Appleton. I won't presume to answer for GS, but my opinion is that the answer to your question would always be both.

[Gregory Sager]

I'm just Diogenes with a lamp, searching the streets and byways for a big man who can score with his back to the basket and rebound and is willing to do it in a royal blue and gold uni.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'm just Diogenes with a lamp, searching the streets and byways for a big man who can score with his back to the basket and rebound and is willing to do it in a royal blue and gold uni.

But would that make him an honest man?

[AndOne]

I'm just Diogenes with a lamp, searching the streets and byways for a big man who can score with his back to the basket and rebound and is willing to do it in a royal blue and gold uni.

But would that make him an honest man?

I just wanna know if Sager has started sleeping in a large ceramic jar?     

[wheels81]

The fact Loras lost to Rockford at home makes their win over the Wheaties even that much more remarkable.
According to the play by play, Tyler Peters turned the ball over with 35 seconds left and Wheaton up by 1. Nate Haynes then committed a foul with 8 seconds left. Loras' Nathaniel Smith converted both shots for the 74-73 win. Tyler Peter then missed a layup at the buzzer.

The jury is still out---way out---on Berg.

Here we go again   If you were on the jury it would be over.  You must have a thing for him

(modified by GS for formatting)

Wheaton/Wooster boxscore - http://wooster.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/2013-14/boxscores/20131123_9e3k.xml

Wheaton basically just plays two guys off the bench - guards Tad Fisher and Michael Kvam.  Wheaton is so thin at the 4/5 spots that Nate Haynes had to play 39 minutes.

Michael Berg quiet again from the 4 spot - 2 pts, 2 reb.

WHEELS81---

Please take notice.
I'm sure you'll be quite amazed to find I'm not the only one who, at times, observes and reports on Berg's all to frequent lack of production. 
Sorry TQ.   

+won,
I just don't understand the interest in him (not a key player) by posters other than Thunder fans. Why not the same obsession with an upperclassman starter on the team who averages 10 more minutes a game this year w/almost identical stats. http://athletics.wheaton.edu/custompages/mbball/mbbstats/teamcume.html He only played 12 minutes in the game at Wooster so that could explain his 2 pts, 2 rebounds.(averaged out to full game would be close to 8 and 8)  He is a sophomore and he has had his moments last year as a freshman (he had a great game vs. Wash U)which may have raised some of the expectations.  The the Thunder have a thin bench and they need to plug in bodies maybe a little prematurely as a result so I can't be too hard on him.

[AndOne]

Wheels81---

* My interest stems from the mile high pile of hype he received coming into Wheaton even though he played at a smaller HS. From what was written, I was expecting a future D3 All-American. Naturally, I'm interested in players  of this alleged stature, and like to follow them. Perhaps a little over hype by the WC media moguls?
* Please remember I'm not the only one who has noticed the same results and commented on them.
* You said he only played 12 minutes at Wooster. You need to ask yourself why a starter is playing only 12 minutes.
* I thought this subject had been exhausted, and hadn't planned further comment. Its just that you brought it up again. *
* I hope Mr. Berg has a nice career, and does well except when he plays against NCC, which I'm sure you can understand.
* By the way---when I clicked on the link you provided, I got an error message saying it can't be found.

[WUPHF]

Loras has considerably improved its offense since Asst. Coach Buddy Sodemann arrived in Dubuque last year following a 2-year stint at IWU. So credit Ron Rose, Buddy and mainly the Loras coach, Greg Gorton (in his 7th season), for the improvement.

Buddy Sodemann was an assistant at Washington University for a year before making the move up Highway 55.  His father, the retired high school coach, is a Washington University alum.  Let's make sure we give credit where credit is clearly due: it goes Washington University, Mark Edwards, and so on, so forth...well, and mainly the Loras coach. 

[wheels81]

Wheels81---

* My interest stems from the mile high pile of hype he received coming into Wheaton even though he played at a smaller HS. From what was written, I was expecting a future D3 All-American. Naturally, I'm interested in players  of this alleged stature, and like to follow them. Perhaps a little over hype by the WC media moguls?
* Please remember I'm not the only one who has noticed the same results and commented on them.
* You said he only played 12 minutes at Wooster. You need to ask yourself why a starter is playing only 12 minutes.
* I thought this subject had been exhausted, and hadn't planned further comment. Its just that you brought it up again. *
* I hope Mr. Berg has a nice career, and does well except when he plays against NCC, which I'm sure you can understand.
* By the way---when I clicked on the link you provided, I got an error message saying it can't be found.

Andone,
you and Cue brought it up again that's what prompted it.  Sheesh!!
I didn't see any hype unless you consider the following paragraph hype: From 2012/13 Season preview:
Six freshmen join the program this season. Forward Michael Berg (Manito, Ill./Midwest Central) earned two Illinois All-State nods as a prep player. Schauer comments of the six-foot-six-inch newcomer, "Berg has been about what I expected he would be. He is a very, very talented forward and he will eventually be a very good to potentially great CCIW-caliber player. He has had great enthusiasm and practice habits early on in practice. He does have some things to learn, but I anticipate that he is going to get some minutes as a freshman."

[USee]

I also don't remember any hype about Berg coming in. Doesn't mean it didn't happen, but I never saw it.

[Gregory Sager]

I'm just Diogenes with a lamp, searching the streets and byways for a big man who can score with his back to the basket and rebound and is willing to do it in a royal blue and gold uni.

But would that make him an honest man?

Unlike the original Diogenes of Sinope, I would consider it to be a bonus.

I just wanna know if Sager has started sleeping in a large ceramic jar?     

I heard it's good for your back.

Loras has considerably improved its offense since Asst. Coach Buddy Sodemann arrived in Dubuque last year following a 2-year stint at IWU. So credit Ron Rose, Buddy and mainly the Loras coach, Greg Gorton (in his 7th season), for the improvement.

Buddy Sodemann was an assistant at Washington University for a year before making the move up Highway 55.  His father, the retired high school coach, is a Washington University alum.  Let's make sure we give credit where credit is clearly due: it goes Washington University, Mark Edwards, and so on, so forth...well, and mainly the Loras coach. 

Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan.

I also don't remember any hype about Berg coming in. Doesn't mean it didn't happen, but I never saw it.

I think that the hype to which Mark keeps referring sprang mainly from Berg's high-school coach, former Bluejay Ryan Burks, who posts here on occasion. Personally, I think that Ryan should be applauded for touting his former player in that way; I wish that more high-school coaches took such an avid interest in their players after they leave the coach's charge.

I'm indifferent to both that hype and to its fallout (i.e., Mark's badgering comments about Berg's lack of production for Wheaton), because it's old news. Michael Berg is a sophomore now, so whatever was said or wasn't said about him last year holds no water anymore. He has a track record as a collegian, which makes his high-school experience, and the hype thereof, irrelevant. To me, this all kind of skirts around the more pertinent subject, which is whether or not Mike Schauer is getting the level of play he needs from forwards whose last name isn't Haynes.

[sac]

Tracked down the origin of Michael Berg on this page.  Much of the "hype" seems to stem from this article http://www.pekintimes.com/article/20120322/NEWS/303229992?zc_p=0 posted by Q in early April of 2012.  Q only posted the link to the article and provided no commentary.   

side note:  Those are some pretty impressive high school stats.

A few days later Ryan Burks weighs in with a pretty simple few sentence paragraph about how he's excited for Berg and will be rooting for him to do well at Wheaton.  That was about it.



I really have not found any evidence of pumping him up to be anything more than a potentially good recruit for Wheaton but then I didn't read 400 pages of archives either.  In summary I think AndOne has carried this a bit too far.

[Gregory Sager]

I really have not found any evidence of pumping him up to be anything more than a potentially good recruit for Wheaton but then I didn't read 400 pages of archives either.

Slacker.