MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

If Juwan Henry isn't first team all-conference, there should be an investigation. He has a unique game. If he were 4 inches taller, he would get a D2 scholarship and perhaps a low D1 offer as well.

Same thing holds true for Colin Lake. Toledo's Tod Kowalczyk loved Lake's game, but couldn't see the sense in awarding a scholie to a 5'7, 145 player.

I thought NPU was very well coached, stuck to their offensive game plan and competed to a high degree. Tom Slyder joins the ranks of excellent CCIW coaches. If he could find two talented post players in this year's HS senior class, NPU could be a legitimate force next year.

The NPU coaching staff believes it already has a talented post player in Corey Griffin, who is sitting out this season due to a leg injury incurred back in September. I agree that it will take at least one more CCIW-grade post player for North Park to compete in 2015-16, although it's highly unlikely that it will be a current high school senior that fills that bill. CCIW-grade big men, as Bob said, are hard to find, and it's extraordinarily rare to find one who can excel in this league as a freshman. Bigs typically need more time to develop than do perimeter players. My gut feeling is that Tom Slyder, Cordell Henry, and Greg Modzelewski are going to get next year's low-post newbie(s) from the same source they got Corey Griffin, via transfer.

Their post play is nonexistent.

Gee, no kidding. Why didn't I think to post that observation on CCIW Chat before?

Just shows how tough a league this is. Record wise, the worst team in the league at 0-4 comes to the Shirk Center and gives the Titans a scare. NPU was down 7 with about 5 minutes to play

Actually, the Vikings were down by six with a minute and a half to go. Jordan Robinson missed a trey at 1:45 that would've cut the IWU lead to three.

North Park has a really impressive nucleus to build around in sophomore Juwan Henry and freshmen Jordan Robinson and Colin Lake.  Henry is a threat to score anywhere on the floor and is just a very difficult matchup...he's a great player.  Robinson brings a really nice inside/outside game to the floor.

What I like about Robinson is that he seeks out contact before attempting his shot, thus trying to coax an and-one situation out of the refs. Steve Djurickovic was the acknowledged master at this, but you don't see too many other players who have that style. (Corey Griffin's supposed to be another player who likes contact while shooting, but I never got the chance to see him in open gym before he got hurt.) The problem is that Robinson will sometimes pass up an open midrange shot in order to dribble in closer and draw that contact, and when you're playing what's tantamount to power forward at 6'3, 185, you're gonna have a tough time keeping your shooter's balance while bumping up against a much bigger player, which was the problem that he had on Saturday night. He'll be a much better player when NPU's personnel situation allows him to play his natural position of small forward.

And Lake, who is tiny, can really shoot the basketball.

He's more than just a shooter. He's a tremendous pickpocket with really quick hands, as his 31 steals on the season demonstrate. Some of the bigger and more experienced CCIW guards have thus far held him at bay, but as he grows older he'll get better at pressuring them defensively. He's really doing a remarkable job thus far this season, considering that he came out of the small-school classification in Michigan where he was a volume scorer, while his collegiate point guard responsibilities have been totally different.

If the Vikings can find some good players at the 4 and 5 spots the next two years (big "if", because everyone is looking for those same guys), they could be very good.

As I said earlier, the NPU coaches believe that they have one of those players already sitting at the end of the bench every night in a warmup suit in Corey Griffin. But, yeah, they're going to need more than just Griffin in order to establish a legit inside game in 2015-16.

[Gregory Sager]

Very quietly, Overstreet is one of the best point guards IWU has had in the 25 years or so I've been following the program.  He is just such strong competitor and a fantastic leader, and he does so many things well on the floor.

The one knock that I have on Overstreet, aside from the fact that he's not a great outside shooter, is that he's turnover-prone. But he did an excellent job of taking care of the ball on Saturday night against some pretty persistent ball pressure from the NPU backcourt.

Nothing would surprise me the rest of the way. This league is full of good players, coaches and teams.

I actually think that this is a fairly mediocre year for the league in terms of quality. Augie appears to be the standout team, but I don't think Augie's a world-beater, either. North Central looks like it could be the second-best team, but things get dicey for the Cardinals unless Rosenberg and Burchett are on their games. The CCIW did have a good non-conference season, but I think that the general leveling-out tendency that d3boards.com regulars have talked about on the national boards (and which have been the source of a lot of throw-their-hands-up-in-the-air griping by d3hoops.com pollsters Pat Coleman and Dave McHugh) has allowed the CCIW to post a better record than perhaps it would have in a year in which everyone out there in D3 Land wasn't gravitating to some sort of golden mean.

Augie barely beats Elmhurst in Rock Island by 2, Wheaton comes within a 3-point shot with 7 seconds left of beating Augie at Carver and without Michael Berg, Norh Park is behind IWU at Shirk by 6 with 2:34 left, Carthage beats Elmhurst there, Millikin beats a 9-2 North Park team in Chicago in the opener. Anything is possible. I have quit trying to comprehend the results. Augie appears to be in the driver's seat, but it is entirely possible that they could lose 4 of the remaining 9. Or win all 9.

It's extremely unlikely that Augustana is going to lose four of those nine remaining games. Three losses might happen, but I just don't see four. Augie is doing what championship teams are supposed to do, which is find a way to win even when the 'A' game isn't there, Saturday's nailbiter over Wheaton being a prime example.

I remember Mark (AndOne) making a fuss about Augie's mere four-point win over Albion in the season opener. Well, don't look now, but Augustana is 15-1 in spite of the fact that the Doggies have added three more tight victories over significantly inferior teams to their resume, with MacMurray, Coe, and Wheaton joining Albion in that category. The Grey Brigade is doing exactly what it needs to do on a nightly basis, regardless of whether or not it's pretty and/or easy.

I will say this: I was happy to see Wheaton come within an eyelash of pulling off that upset in Rock Island while playing without Michael Berg. It grated on my nerves that Wheaton beat NPU at King last week without Berg, but WC's apparently capable of overcoming adversity and playing a high level of ball without him.

After Elmhurst's win at North Central (and how tough the Bluejays played at Augie), that home loss to Carthage becomes even more puzzling. I have no idea how that happened.

Bosko seems to be performing one of his best coaching jobs in recent memory. His Red Men are 3-2 in league play, and they're doing it with smoke and mirrors.

  What is the tie-breaker system for hosting the conference tournament?

Here you go. Bookmark this for future reference.

[iwu70]

Congratulations to Mssr. Lenscrafter for CCIW Player of the Week.  I wonder if he celebrated in his dorm room when he heard the news!?

GO TITANS -- @ Carver.

IWU70-

[veterancciwfan]

Overstreet is IWU's steals leader with 23 with Joel Pennington 2nd with 13. Overstreet has 75 As and 46 TOs. Two years ago at Augustana, Overstreet as a sophomore was crucial to IWU's win as he repeatedly took his man to the basket for layups. Augie had no one who could contain that part of his game. A year ago, Augie decided that they would not let Overstreet repeat his sophomore performance  in Carver and to phrase it mildly, applied extreme pressure on him starting at halfcourt (notice I refrained from using the overworked word "manhandled"). The result was an 81-73 Viking victory. I expect the same defensive strategy on Wednesday.

[veterancciwfan]

Regarding Augie not fitting the definition of a "world-beater," I saw them against Whitewater and Augie certainly fit that definition that December night at Carver. I saw Wash. U later that week and in my opinion, they were the top 3 D3 teams in the country in mid December. My guess is they still are.

[iwu70]

Big game at Carver, esp. if IWU can steal one on the road.

Keys to the game for IWU:

Win/tie the rebounding battle
Not turn it over much, esp. given the defensive pressures one can expect from Augie  (Vet's comment very much on target).
Shoot a decent percentage overall, and especially from treyland, using IWU's depth on the perimeter.
Prevent Hunter Hill from going off for 25 or more in the game, as he has a number of times this season, and previously vs. IWU.
IWU bigs have to really step up, play tougher than usual in this game, have outstanding games against Augie's bigs.

Looking forward to the battle, always a great game with a big crowd at Carver.  I'm sure both teams know the importance of this game for the CCIW race and for post-season rankings, tourney bids.

IWU70

[iwu70]

New poll, CCIW still with three teams in the top 25 -- Augie #1, NCC and Elmhurst there as well.  IWU slipping back in ORV, tied for 28th.

'70

[GoPerry]

Big game at Carver, esp. if IWU can steal one on the road.

Keys to the game for IWU:

Win/tie the rebounding battle
Not turn it over much, esp. given the defensive pressures one can expect from Augie  (Vet's comment very much on target).
Shoot a decent percentage overall, and especially from treyland, using IWU's depth on the perimeter.
Prevent Hunter Hill from going off for 25 or more in the game, as he has a number of times this season, and previously vs. IWU.
IWU bigs have to really step up, play tougher than usual in this game, have outstanding games against Augie's bigs.

Looking forward to the battle, always a great game with a big crowd at Carver.  I'm sure both teams know the importance of this game for the CCIW race and for post-season rankings, tourney bids.

IWU70

No skin in this game really.  But in my view, for IWU one thing I will look for is their 3 point shooting.  As noted before, they shoot more and thus rely on treys more than any in the league.  So if they can maintain their average of about 40% or better, then I think they'll be right there.  If they are a bit off and shoot low 30s% (which is only a matter of going 7/23 vs 9/23)or worse, ruh-roh.

[Titan Q]

IWU A.D. Dennie Bridges announced his retirement today...

http://www.iwusports.com/news/2015/1/20/GEN_0120155539.aspx

[79jaybird]

Class act and one of the best ambassadors for the NCAA (ever).  Wish Dennie many years of health and happiness.  I recall some great chats with him a few times prior to EC/IWU football games. 

[Naperick]

He always treated me well in my WRSE-FM days at Elmhurst.  It doesn't seem real that he won't be there in a few months.

[79jaybird]

Naperick- Dennie came up to talk to us a few times in the pressbox at IWU during halftime and/or before the game on the radio.  He always had something positive to say no matter who was winning or losing (which unfortunately all too often was us LOL,  but was great radio chatter).   

[Naperick]

Any idea who could be next?  Would Norm Eash be a possibility?

[Gregory Sager]

Regarding Augie not fitting the definition of a "world-beater," I saw them against Whitewater and Augie certainly fit that definition that December night at Carver. I saw Wash. U later that week and in my opinion, they were the top 3 D3 teams in the country in mid December. My guess is they still are.

I saw that UWW @ AC game, too. I wouldn't call Augustana a world-beater based upon that game, which the navy blue and gold won largely because Hunter Hill had an out-of-his-mind kind of night and carried the team on his back. While he's a superb player who is certainly capable of going off like he did in that game against UWW -- a fact of which you're well aware, since he lit up your Titans to the tune of 29 points last season at Carver -- it's not something that he can simply turn on and off at will. Very few players can step into the phonebooth and come out wearing a superhero costume any time that they like. (The only two CCIW players in recent seasons who really had that ability were Steve Djurickovic and Kent Raymond.)

Augustana appears to me to be the class of the league this season. As I said yesterday, the Doggies are doing what championship teams do; they're finding ways to win even when they're not playing anywhere near their acme capability. But, with a few exceptions, they're not dominating people this season. Now, because of Augie's defense-first style, you don't tend to see as many dominant Augie performances in which the Grey Brigade wins by 20+ as often as you'll see them from top-level programs that play a different style (e.g., the two that you mentioned, UWW and Wash U). But Augie has nevertheless had an uncharacteristically high number of close games against markedly inferior competition than you'd expect to see in a team that I'd classify as a world-beater. The Doggies beat Albion (8-7) by four, MacMurray (6-9) by five, Coe (9-6) by five, and a Berg-less Wheaton (8-8) by four (in Carver, no less). They've also lost by 11 to a pedestrian 9-6 Central team.

So is Augie a legit Top 5 team? Certainly. For all intents and purposes, Augie appears to be right up there in D3's highest echelon this season. But that doesn't mean that Augie's a world-beater; it means that, in keeping with the consensus that's been stated on the national boards this season ad infinitum, this year's edition of D3 men's basketball just doesn't have that killer team or two that really sticks out and makes you take notice.

[Gregory Sager]

Prevent Hunter Hill from going off for 25 or more in the game, as he has a number of times this season

Hunter Hill has only topped 25 points once this season, in the aforementioned double overtime win over UWW in which he scored 41. His next-highest scoring total was the 22 he put up against Wheaton last Saturday.

He's only topped 25 twice in his career, and I mentioned both of those occurrences in my last post.

Hill's averaging 14.9 ppg this season. As I said, he's a dangerous player who can really go off when he gets into a groove. But try not to exaggerate his accomplishments.