MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

From what I have seen, Augustana vs Wash U is about a toss up.  Two incredibly different teams, but put them on the floor on a neutral court and it's a pick 'em.

[Gregory Sager]

North Central had an easy time of it in the conso of the Juniata tournament, beating PSU-York (a USCAA D2 school), 87-67.

Millikin put the hurt on Cornell College and its head coach, former NCC assistant Chad Murray, with a 73-47 win at the Griz.

Wheaton leads by two at the half at Alma, and Elmhurst and Dubuque are currently in overtime at Faganel.

UPDATE: Elmhurst wins in overtime, 98-93, behind a 31-point effort from Kyle Wuest.

Elmhurst has added a replay feature to its webcasts. Gotta like that.

[Titan Q]

Ron Rose's WJBC postgame interview - http://www.stationcaster.com/player_skinned.php?s=711&c=3911&f=3746923

[toooldtohoop]

Wheaton pulls away in the second half at Alma to win by 20.  The Thunder really needed this one.

[Gregory Sager]

Whatever Mike Schauer said in the locker room at halftime, he should bottle it and sell over the counter as Schauer's Patent Halftime Medicine. Wheaton, which was only up by a deuce at the half, absolutely throttled Alma in the second half and came away with an 85-65 win on the road.

[Gregory Sager]

The CCIW is now 46-19 (.708) on the season.

[AndOne]

Looking forward to watching the IWU-WUISL game.
I want to see how good Wash U is.
I know how good the Green Team is.

Naturally, the thing that obviously stood out was the overall play of WU's Fatoki. Not only did he have 28 points, but also 9 assists, and 7 rebounds. Looking a bit deeper, I saw a very good all around team with lots of weapons as evidenced by WU having 5 guys in double figures. Another thing I was impressed with was WU's movement---both players moving without the ball to become better targets for passes, and ball movement/reversal by means of passing to get the ball to the open man. This is something I've always thought IWU does well so against them it was easy to spot.
WU also played tight defense, and rebounded well, limiting the Green's 2nd chance opportunities.

[USee]

Now that Wheaton and IWU have both played Chicago and Wash U, I can't say I see much difference between the two. And if Augie and WashU is a toss up on a neutral court, then I think Wheaton's ability to compete for a CCIW championship has to be better than decent based on common results. Against WashU, Wheaton shot the ball about their season average and was outrebounded by 7 boards and lost by 4 at home in a game that was one possesion game into the final minute. The Thunder need to play tough D but I think they could make a serious run at the CCIW title and I would expect them to be in the conference tournament.

They play two games in Texas over Christmas break (against Trinity 0-7, and TX Lutheran 2-5). If they enter CCIW play at 7-3 they would have to likely be no worse than 10-4/11-3 to make the NCAA tournament?

[iwu70]

Yes, a pretty good thump'in by Wash U over my Titans.  Rebounding surely an issue, as Coach Rose indicated.  To some degree, TOs too.  Titans can learn a lot from this game, especially about tighter defence and more physical inside play.  Getting Marietti back will surely be helpful down the road.  A lot of basketball still to be played, to say the least. 

We have to admit that several key Titans haven't played all that well so far -- so still plenty of upside for this Titan squad to improve further when facing the challenges of CCIW play starting in a few weeks now in early January.  From what we've seen so far, looks like a tough CCIW race upcoming, with perhaps AC, NCC and the Titans most ready to challenge for the CCIW crown.

From what I've seen so far, I'd rate the CCIW race as follows:  AC, NCC, IWU, WC, EC, NPU, MU and CC.  What say you, gentlemen?  About 1/3 of the season gone and we know a lot more now, have a lot of stats to go on, but still more to learn about all these teams.  Should be a great CCIW race.  As in some years, perhaps an 11-3 or even 10-4 champion.  Whoever emerges from the CCIW race will likely see Wash U again down the road.  They look to be one of the better Mark Edwards teams.

IWU70

[jaybird44]

Agree with the post-mortem analyses.

Styczinski was tremendous last night.  Career high in points with 14, with 7 offensive rebounds...most aggressive performance from him that I have seen to date.  I think that caught everyone by surprise.  His energy was hard to match among those in the paint. Nick Burt may have caught the Titans off-guard a bit, with his better scoring touch this season.

I thought that 3-point shooting would be pivotal, if Wash-U could be efficient and match or exceed its season average of 44%, and if the Bears could defend the arc and force IWU into a lower percentage than its season average.  I thought the inside duel would be a stalemate, so shooting treys well and keeping the opponent from doing likewise would be an important area to watch.  Wash-U shot 54%, which limited long rebounds from a lot of misses...and IWU's 31% performance gave Wash-U several extra rebounding opportunities, of which it took full advantage.

Sodemann should have received more opportunities from the arc...he had the hot hand, with 3-3 from 3-point range.

I believe that two of the top point guards in the country were on display.  Fatoki has quickly blossomed into one of the best, and Overstreet has been sensational for quite some time.  If there are any better point guards than the two I saw last night, I'd like to meet them and see some stats and game video.  It's too bad that Overstreet had to take on too many duties last night...he was needed as a creator, scorer, rebounder, and defender.  Hard to lead the team in all of those categories and carry the team for a whole game.

Going forward, I wouldn't be surprised to see Joel Pennington get more time at PG for a few minutes at a time, and let Overstreet create scoring chances for himself by moving without the ball.  Sometimes the basketball can be a ball-and-chain if you have to be a primary scorer at the point.

As I mentioned late in the broadcast, Wash-U played a near-perfect game on both ends of the court.  Very good fundamental positional defense, efficient offense, robust rebounding, and good free-throw shooting.  Six or seven players are picking up the slack very well from the graduated trio of Alan Aboona, Tim Cooney, and Chris Klimek.  If that continues, the Bears will be tough to beat.

And, the Titans will be better, especially if Marietti comes back soon.  He could've helped offset the advantage Wash-U had inside the paint.

[WUPHF]

Wash U was also a lot more physical than IWU, which surprised me. In fact, Jay Murry, who calls an honest game, mentioned several times on the air that Wash U was getting away with pushes and over-the-backs, and I think that he was right.

It is just my biased opinion, of course, but I did not see it that way.

IWU was plenty physical...you could see it, for example, on Coyle-Burt match-up and anyone assigned to Palucki (e.g. Sodemann).  Lots of no-calls, if you will, on both sides.

As far as the over-the-backs are concerned, I noticed two by Palucki.  I was 15 feet away from the first, just behind the basket.  It looked clean.  The second one was called.  Styczynski seemed to have great position on most of his tip-ins.  This team does not get called for the over-the back foul.

Maybe I'll go back and watch the video.

[WUPHF]

From the silver lining department:  the last three times WashU and IWU met in the playoffs, the Bears won all three regular season games, the Titans won all three tourney games.   If I have to choose just one, I'll take the tourney game!

Not sure if you follow Women's Basketball, but the Washington University Women can make exactly the same claim: three wins in the postseason after three defeats (or maybe two) in the regular season.  So, Washington University fans can relate.

I need to look this up, but I believe the Bears even knocked them off just before the Final Four or maybe in the Final Four when the Final Four was at Shirk.

[Mr. Ypsi]

From the silver lining department:  the last three times WashU and IWU met in the playoffs, the Bears won all three regular season games, the Titans won all three tourney games.   If I have to choose just one, I'll take the tourney game!

Not sure if you follow Women's Basketball, but the Washington University Women can make exactly the same claim: three wins in the postseason after three defeats (or maybe two) in the regular season.  So, Washington University fans can relate.

I need to look this up, but I believe the Bears even knocked them off just before the Final Four or maybe in the Final Four when the Final Four was at Shirk.

IWU hosted the women's final four in 2010 and 2011.  In 2010, my Titans were upset by UWSP before we were able to host.  In 2011, we did indeed beat you (at DePauw) in the regular season, then you beat us on our own court in the semis.

On a brighter note, we finally won it all in 2012 up in Holland.

[WUPHF]

I love the Washington University-Illinois Wesleyan rivalry.  Basketball, soccer, golf...no matter the sport, the games are going to be good.  Except maybe football...

[Greek Tragedy]

Where's all that talk about Washington University possibly not being the best team...in St. Louis?  (Webster)