MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

Updated Massey:

#3 Illinois Wesleyan
#12 Wheaton
#25 Augustana
#37 Carthage
#89 North Central
#90 Elmhurst
#202 Millikin
#320 North Park

http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cb2014&sub=11620

Augie has lost 4 in a row, and was was stomped harder last night than the floor gets pounded when Giovanine dances the stomp, stomp, stomp dance down the sideline. They certainly don't appear to currently be the #25 team in the country. It appears Massey's crystal ball needs polishing. 

* I think Augie misses Dan Jurjutis. They're really starting 2 shooting guards, both of which have a shoot first mentality.

* Griffin Pils starting against IWU last night? Pils is a wing which basically gave Augie a 3 guard starting lineup. I think they would have been better served starting Brandon Motzel. They needed more inside play and rebounding against IWU last night rather than another shooter, especially considering that both Hill and Roth are bombers. Pils presents little, if any, inside presence.

* Has Ben Ryan been suffering from a sophomore slump? He is still rebounding well, but his shooting and scoring percentages are down from last year. His malaise seems deeper than that however, in that it doesn't appear that he is playing as aggressively as he did last year. He seems out of sync with Augie's offensive flow, and really appears to lack the level of energy he continuously displayed last year. 

* An interesting sideline to last night's game was the ongoing running dialogue that developed between Augie's Jawan Straughter and former IWU player Parker Musselman who was seated in the Wesleyan student section.
Not sure what was said, but the announcers commented on it several times.

[Mugsy]

Highlights from Wheaton/Carthage game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gKEqXoAm8o#t=21

Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam!

[AndOne]

Didn't see the Carthage - Wheaton game but just saw the box score.  Remember reading earlier in the week that Kelly was up watching film to see where his "easy" buckets against Wheaton were going to come from.  Guess the film sessions weren't very beneficial. 

IWU70 spoke of the Titans containment of Hill - only saw the first 10 minutes but major kudos to Rose for his ball screen strategy against Hill.  Top of the floor ball screens were trapped hard in an attempt to make him give up the ball and side pick and rolls were iced.  Did not see that the first time the teams met .

Yes, Gramps replied to a (joking) post of mine that without classes the next day, he was up studying Wheaton film to indeed see from what spots on the floor he could pick up some "easy" baskets. The spots he saw must have been mirages. Or, maybe he was concentrating on the video game more than the game film playing in the background?   

[D-3 watcher]

Mr. Kelly, he talked the talk, he just couldn't walk the walk

[AppletonRocks]

Mr. Kelly, he talked the talk, he just couldn't walk the walk

Don't awake the sleeping giant. 

[D-3 watcher]

You're right, at his age, he might be taking his afternoon nap.

[havej]

Just viewed the highlights provided by Mugsy - at least Kelly was very visible there. 

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst 99
North Park 93

Aaron Weaver: 35 pts, 15 rebs
Juwan Henry: 27 pts
Garrett Gatz: 16 pts
JayQuan Lee: 4:0 a:to

Nick Sanford: 22 pts, 13 rebs
Pat "the Administrator" Coleman: 17 pts
Nathan Rogers: 15 pts
Kyle Wuest: 11 pts, 7:6 a:to
Taylor Baxter: 10 pts, 4:1 a:to
Erik Crittendon: 10 pts

I got to watch the end of this one on a laptop from up in the booth in the crackerbox following the conclusion of the EC @ NPU women's game, and it was agonizing. NPU was right there down the stretch, but Elmhurst capped off an absolutely remarkable night from the free-throw line by going 8-8 in the final forty seconds to stave off the Vikings and seal the win. Elmhurst, which came into the game shooting a pretty solid 75.8% from the line as a team, went off for 28-33 -- almost 85% -- on a night in which NPU went a pretty decent 30-39 (77%) itself from the charity stripe. It's tough to lose a game when you make 30 free throws, but NPU somehow managed to do it.

Elmhurst absolutely clobbered North Park on the boards to the tune of 51-27, including an 18-7 bulge in offensive rebounds, although the 'jays did turn the ball over eight more times than did the Vikings. A rebounding advantage that huge is almost insurmountable. And yet the Vikings somehow almost managed to surmount it, thanks to their two superstars. For all of the hullabaloo over the other two games last night, nobody on CCIW Chat seems to have noticed that Aaron Weaver finally had the epic night he'd always been a threat to have. His 35 points were very efficient ones: 11-20 shooting from the field (including a trey) and 12-15 from the line. But his fifteen rebounds, which included five offensive boards, were pretty darned remarkable for a guy who is essentially a wing that is forced to crash the boards because of a lack of presence underneath the basket for NPU. And he played all 40 minutes. I would absolutely hate to see his performance go unnoticed, because you just don't see guys go 35 and 15 in this league all that often.

Juwan Henry was his usual Juwan Henry self last night as well, as his 27 points indicate. It's just a shame that there's really not much of a supporting cast for those two remarkable players; Garrett Gatz did step up and score 16, but it seems as though NPU's three or four shooters take turns having big nights while the others are quiet. Nick Sanford, whom I still insist is the best CCIW player that nobody ever talks about, capped his double-double with four money free-throws at the end of the game. And I continue to be impressed by the job that John Baines is doing with a team that I didn't think was all that good at the start of the CCIW season; he's rejiggered his lineup over the past few games, demoting Bryant Ackerman and cutting back on Kenny Payonk's minutes, while promoting JV players Nathan Rogers and Erik Crittendon to varsity rotation status. As you can see by the numbers, both enjoyed big nights last night. A lot of coaches wouldn't still be tinkering with their lineups that drastically this late in the season, but I give Baines kudos for doing anything that he can to seek an edge.

Another tough-luck loss for the Vikings, on a night when two great performances were wasted.

[bopol]

I wouldn't necessarily bank on Wheaton moving in just because of their performance last night. They still only had seven votes and they beat a team that wasn't on the ORV radar. That win might not carry as much weight in the big-picture as it does to us CCIW folk. Also remember that the "Once ranked, always ranked" principle does not apply this year so Carthage and especially Augie are going to need to the chips to fall right in the final rankings for the regional rankings. Wheaton has seemingly moved itself off the bubble with their play the last two weeks, but a slip up prior to the IWU game would put them right back on it.

Wheaton should be in, but you're right, they don't want to be an 8 loss team on Selection Day.  But they are a very good team that has played and defeated very good teams.  Maybe the CCIW should take a cue from the NE Smalls and schedule a weak nonconference schedule to get the great record.

[veterancciwfan]

The CCIW is the power conferece in the Midwest Region and will get at the minimum 2 teams in the tournament, 3 if Carthage wins the CCIW tournament. IMHO, IWU and Wheaton are among the top 15 D3 teams at the present. Wheaton has 6 losses but has played a murderous schedule, especially on the road.

[veterancciwfan]

Ignore the underlining! My bad. I blame my cat, Remus.

[Gregory Sager]

Maybe the CCIW should take a cue from the NE Smalls and schedule a weak nonconference schedule to get the great record.

You mean be a conference in name only, as far as I'm concerned. If you're only playing a single round-robin, as the NESCAC does, then you're an entirely different animal than all of the other conferences in D3, which either play full double round-robins (as ours does) or modified double round-robins, in which you only play one game against one or two conference foes (as a few of the supersized conferences do).

Yes, the NESCAC plays a postseason tournament, but that hardly makes up for only having to play one league game against all of your league foes.

I watched the game online and listened and I didn't realize the Thunder have former assistant coach and alum Nate Frank on color for the broadcasts.  He is awesome.  One of the best commentators I have listened to at any level.  Insightful, with a great cadence, and very entertaining.

All of the Wheaton games I've seen this season have either been road games or games in which I've had the sound turned down because I was watching a second game. I didn't realize that Nate was doing color for Wheaton games. I'm sure that he does a great job.

Grey Giovanine pointed to lack of experience after the loss Saturday to Wheaton:

"When you look at what has happened to us in the last couple of games, we're seeing seniors step up and beat us," Augustana coach Grey Giovanine said. "They're playing like seniors and it's something we can't match because we don't have any seniors. It's something we have to fight through."

http://qctimes.com/sports/college/augustana/wheaton-hands-augie-men-third-straight-loss/article_edab4694-1541-5d95-b701-d477ef6658a8.html

I think it's a lot more than that - Augie is just out of whack both offensively and defensively for whatever reason.

Giovanine's explanation sounds like a cop-out to me. He's playing essentially the exact same lineup that he was playing last season, minus the injured Danielius Jurgutis (who was still active when the current losing streak started), the graduated Brandon Kunz, the exiled Brandon Thompson, and a George Dexter who was a lot less important as a senior than he had been in previous seasons. Last year's Augie team had a losing streak in CCIW play, too, but it was only three games long, not four like the current streak, and it was early in the CCIW campaign -- exactly when you'd expect a team laced with freshmen and sophomores to lose. Augustana righted the ship from a 2-3 CCIW start and made it to the CCIW tourney. In fact, it beat top seed Illinois Wesleyan at Shirk and advanced to the tourney finals, where it gave eventual Final Four finisher North Central a good game before succumbing.

In other words, his 2013-14 team may be relatively young, but it's experienced -- both in overall terms and in big-game terms. The "oh, but we're a bunch of young guys playing senior-laden teams" thing just doesn't wash with me. Yeah, seniors bring something special to the table, but an experienced outfit like Augie shouldn't be leaning on that as an excuse.

* I think Augie misses Dan Jurjutis. They're really starting 2 shooting guards, both of which have a shoot first mentality.

* Griffin Pils starting against IWU last night? Pils is a wing which basically gave Augie a 3 guard starting lineup. I think they would have been better served starting Brandon Motzel. They needed more inside play and rebounding against IWU last night rather than another shooter, especially considering that both Hill and Roth are bombers. Pils presents little, if any, inside presence.

I agree with both thoughts.

* Has Ben Ryan been suffering from a sophomore slump? He is still rebounding well, but his shooting and scoring percentages are down from last year. His malaise seems deeper than that however, in that it doesn't appear that he is playing as aggressively as he did last year. He seems out of sync with Augie's offensive flow, and really appears to lack the level of energy he continuously displayed last year.

I watched Saturday's Wheaton @ Augustana game, and by the end of it I was wondering if Ryan is suffering from some sort of undisclosed injury or illness. He did have a double-double, but he got his 12 points on 6-15 shooting -- and he never took a shot more than eight feet from the basket. He had a couple of good spurts in the second half, but for most of the game he looked listless at both ends of the floor. Over Augie's last five games Ryan is 14-59 (24%) from the field -- alarmingly bad shooting numbers for a power forward -- and is averaging a little more than six points per game. Given how high he set the bar for himself last season, one can't help but wonder if something is physically wrong with him.

* An interesting sideline to last night's game was the ongoing running dialogue that developed between Augie's Jawan Straughter and former IWU player Parker Musselman who was seated in the Wesleyan student section.
Not sure what was said, but the announcers commented on it several times.

It seems like Giovanine's Augie teams often feature a guy who wears the black hat, a chippy guy who runs his mouth and plays with a nasty attitude. Last year it was Brandon Thompson. This year it's clearly Jawan Straughter. When he wasn't bullying Juwan Henry in the NPU @ AC game a few weeks ago, he was yapping in his ear. I think Straughter falls into that "you love him if he's on your team, you hate him if he's on somebody else's team" category.

[AppletonRocks]

Today is Reagan's birthday.   

[Gregory Sager]

North Central hangs on to beat Millikin in the Griz, 64-60, in another one of those everyone's-wearing-hip-waders defensive struggles. T.J. Griffin was a scratch yet again tonight for the Big Blue.

[Mr. Ypsi]

NCC 64, Millikin 60 - final.  That moves NCC to 4-6.  IF Elmhurst loses at IWU (highly likely) and IF Augie loses in Kenosha (my prediction) and IF NCC wins at NPU (again, quite likely), a Battle Royale is shaping up for the 4th conference tournament slot: Elmhurst would be 5-5, NCC and Augie each 5-6!  (As long as Carthage wins at home against Augie on Saturday, I'd say IWU, Wheaton, and Carthage are all pretty well locks for the tourney, with the tourney's location quite possibly coming town to the final day game of IWU @ Wheaton.)