MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Greg,

It's fair to state that Carthage has its obsatacles with recruiting, but then Bosko shouldn't have made the comment he did - "we have to have an exceptional recruting class this year and I have no doubt we will." 

I get it, what else is going to say...still, a bold statement after what he did this past year.

Maybe he's holding some feet to the fire with that statement ... including his own (and his son's).

Regarding Wheaton next year, I'm not as pessimistic as others.  I basically see them as I saw them coming into this season before their injuries hit them: about the middle of the pack, vying for that 4th spot.

I dunno. I don't see anybody filling Brayden Teuscher's shoes on that team next season. Berg and Dillard will, I think, be excellent CCIW players in 2015-16, but the loss of Teuscher seems to leave a gaping hole.

I wasn't all-in on the idea of Juwan Henry winning the MOP earlier this year, but I don't think that there's any doubt about it now. His sophomore status and the fact that his team only finished fifth shouldn't matter at all. There is no player in this league who was more outstanding this year than Juwan Henry; not simply because he won the scoring title by a full three points per game over Brayden Teuscher (the biggest gap between #1 and #2 since 2010-11, Stevie D.'s final year), but because there was nobody else in the league who could and would single-handedly take over a game on a regular basis the way that he did -- not just with scoring but with steals, blocks, rebounds, assists, the whole deal.

Look, I respect Dylan Overstreet as much as the next guy who doesn't have a closet filled with green-colored clothing. He had a very fine senior CCIW season, and his team finished higher in the standings than did Juwan Henry's. But the sophomore from Bogan High is the most outstanding player in the CCIW, bar none, so the coaches ought to give him the title and the trophy that goes along with it.

Those are pretty bold statements considering the high level of talent in this league.  And as you saw, and called, more NPU games than anyone else on this board, I can respect your opinion.

I don’t think Juwan Henry is a runaway MOP.  I think Hunter Hill has a pretty strong case as does Dylan Overstreet and Charlie Rosenberg, all players on deeper and more talented teams where it’s more difficult and indeed not as necessary to stand out.  (Even TJ Sims is pretty impressive on a last place Millikin team but he’s not really in the conversation).

Well, that's two sides of the same coin, isn't it? After all, "stand out" and "outstanding" are the same word with the syllables flipped. If you're one talented player on a team that's filled with talented players, you may not stick out as much. But if you're a talented player on a team that has a lesser amount of talent around you, by necessity you're gonna have to stand out -- be outstanding -- in order for your team to have a chance to win.

I agree that T.J. Sims is pretty impressive. I'd throw your own Brayden Teuscher into that group as well. Teuscher was a terrific player who strived mightily to carry his team this season. But neither Sims nor Teuscher was able to make any headway in that category, while Henry was able to lead his team to playoff contention right down to the final few minutes of the regular season. So he meets the double-edged criteria of being individually dominant while spearheading a team that, unlike Millikin and Wheaton, was actually playing for something.

Juwan Henry is an excellent player, he meant a lot to his team and yes, he did lead the league in scoring( but he also shot the ball much more than anyone else in the league).  He may very well win it and if he does he would be deserving and I’d have no problem with it.  But in my opinion, I think it’ll be a tougher coaches vote to call. 

It wasn't simply his scoring. He also made the CCIW leaderboards in assists, free throw percentage, steals (2nd in the league in that category), and trey percentage. Significantly, he also made the leaders lists in rebounding and blocked shots; while it's not unprecedented for a 5'10 player to be among the league's leaders in rebounds (his 5'10 teammate T.J. Cobbs averaged even more rebounds per game than did Henry), the fact that he finished in the top fifteen in blocked shots is absolutely astounding.

Simply put, there isn't another player in the league who placed in as many different statistical categories as did Juwan Henry. He's a lot more than just a scorer.

As for how the vote will actually turn out (as opposed to how I think it ought to turn out), I'm wise enough to the ways of human nature to realize that not everybody sees things the same way as I do. (Pity, that. ) I don't think that the coaches will find it an open-and-shut case that Juwan Henry should get the MOP; the mere fact that he's only a sophomore might hold him back. But I'm certainly convinced that he's earned it -- and, to go back to the original post to which I had responded, I think that Chuck's dismissal of Henry's chances:

Juwan Henry was absolutely amazing tonight, but he couldn't do it ALL by himself, and seemed to finally run out of gas in the last couple of minutes.  He had 34 points on the night (15 of 20 until the very end), but missed his last two 3s and his last FTs.

Sophomores have to be either utterly beyond the crowd and/or play for the winning team, so I doubt Juwan has any chance at MOP THIS year - but he is my early front-runner for the next two years!  (Greg, are you holding out any hope that he can pull an Ernie Banks and win MVP from a non-contending team?)

... was completely groundless.

North Park and Alma had similar seasons, and have similar background stories (minus the 5 NCAA titles up North)

They played a heck of a game earlier this year that North Park won 72-71, pretty interesting.
http://miaa.org/mbb/stats/1415/1203npam.htm

Yes, when I saw this post of yours on the MIAA page:

Its nice that Olivet and Alma want to beat themselves up by playing tough schedules but it really doesn't help them or their conference by going to such an extreme.  Its better to schedule mediocre games on the road you can possibly win.

... my first thought was, "I think that Sam Hargraves probably set up the two-year contract with North Park with the thought that he would be playing a mediocre team he could possibly beat."

[iwu70]

Looks to me like a number of the CCIW programs should start thinking about "hoarding players" -- to get some further depth and have some extra bodies around when folks depart of suffer injury.  One can criticize IWU for having a robust roster, but depth has always played a part in IWU's success over the years.  Lovely evening with all the Bridges' players back for the Inauguration of the Dennie Bridges Court at The Shirk. 

Congrats again to Augie on their championship season and to NPU on making a good run, a great improvement this year.  I share many of Greg's assessments of the changes in the NPU program.  Glad to see them making something of a return to near or in the top tier.  Bright future for NPU.

Should be a great CCIW tournament -- I think the best four teams got in.  Save for Wheaton's drop, pretty much what many of us felt would be the line-up by season's end.  Let's hope the CCIW gets 3 teams in come March. 

Good luck to all the graduating seniors for future endeavors. 

Looking forward to the games this weekend.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Save for Wheaton's drop, pretty much what many of us felt would be the line-up by season's end.

Oh, really? Two games deep into the CCIW season, here's what one poster had to say about what he felt would be the lineup by season's end:

All thought CC would finish in the basement, though looking more and more like it might be NPU this year.   Again.   As Deng Xiaoping would always say, "best to seek truth from facts."

[AndOne]

Since North Park's season is done, I think it's time for me to summarize my thoughts about the 2014-15 Vikings and then step aside to let the discourse about the CCIW tourney begin.

This was a very special year for North Park basketball. On the face of it, the season really doesn't seem very special at all. A 15-10 overall record is nice, but it's not earth-shaking. No D3 program that has any aspirations of big-time success should ever be satisfied with 15-10. And a 6-8 league record is nothing more than mediocre. So anyone looking at NPU's season in the abstract isn't likely to be impressed by it.

But seasons don't simply exist by themselves. They exist within the larger context of the program. And North Park's men's basketball program was seriously broken. It lost its footing 21 years ago when Bosko Djurickovic was let go, fell down completely under Keith Peterson, and never really regained its footing under Rees Johnson. For all his good qualities, Paul Brenegan couldn't keep North Park basketball from sliding even further backwards, and the one-year interregnum of Dylan Howard only served to give the impression that the program was floundering. Tom Slyder inherited a mess: Two good players in Mark Holmes and Mike Gabriel and not much else, and Gabriel went down to a season-ending injury a couple of days into Tom's first preseason as NPU's coach. Needless to say, his first two seasons at Foster & Kedzie were more of the same-old, same-old, as Tom and his staff struggled to get a feel for the league and for the school and tried to figure out what it was going to take to turn things around.

Which brings us back to this year, which I don't really consider to be a turnaround at all. I consider it to be the start of a turnaround. Earlier today, I posted that I felt as though last night's loss was the end of chapter one. NPU reached the point this year in which the rest of the CCIW finally had to take the Vikings seriously, for the first time since the likewise-mediocre '09-'10 team of Nick Williams, Ro Russell, and Emanuel Crosby. Beating everybody in the league except Elmhurst, including three ranked teams, earned that kind of respect. But there's a difference between being taken seriously and being an actual contender -- and North Park's not at that latter point yet. So I'm not posting about a finished product. There's still a ways to go.

But the raw material -- or most of it -- is there. NPU has an absolutely electrifying player who deserves All-American consideration in sophomore Juwan Henry, and another very solid 5'10 sophomore in T.J. Cobbs who is equal parts talent and tenacity. Jordan Robinson is one of the most talented freshmen that this league has seen in a while, and his fellow plebe Colin Lake is a heady, dynamic player who did a lot of great things this year while facing the difficulty of revamping his high-school game. Those four underclassmen are a very solid core, and they all still have plenty of upside. Other guys who filled in around the edges, in particular blue-collar forward Michael Hutchinson, contributed their fair share as well, but it was those four guys who opened some eyes in November and December with that 9-2 non-conference start, and then opened some more after the Vikings picked themselves up off the mat following their 0-6 CCIW start by winning six of their last eight games.

Their handicaps -- youth, lack of size, lack of CCIW-level depth -- were pretty apparent. But they played with surprising poise, great energy, and a lot of heart. After awhile, instead of moaning that Corey Griffin was out for the year with an injury and Mike Gabriel was over in the library (or wherever he's spent his last winter as a North Park undergraduate), I just learned to accept the team for what it was, and I grew to appreciate it. They don't really pass the eye test in the layup line, but when the opening jump gets tossed up they really earn your admiration.

This winter's been great fun for me, thanks to these guys, and it feels like it's only the beginning of something really special. So I want to thank each and every member of the 2014-15 Vikings for bringing me along on a great ride.

With all due respect Greg, I think this post was the end of Chapter 1. Your earlier scribe was just the Forward. 

With regard to Juwan Henry winning POY---I don't know if he is the POY, but to me, he is the MAP. By that, I mean he is the most amazing player I think I saw this year. I say that because he was the player who seemed to be able to do things that I was surprised he was able to do more often than any other player (I hope that is clear enough). The facet of his game I was most impressed with was his ability to score inside as opposed to solely replying on outside shooting.

If he doesn't win, I think there are other very viable candidates besides the player who seems to have drawn the most ink on these pages to date. If he does win, nobody can bitch. 

[veterancciwfan]

Please indulge me in a little history regarding Dennie Bridges retirement. He coached 36 years and won 17 CCIW championships (including co-championships) and finished 2nd (including ties) in the league 8 times. He had many great teams, but a few facts regarding the 1976-77 season, Jack Sikma's senior year, which finished 25-6 and 15-1 in the CCIW (Augustana beat IWU in Rock Island-yes it was a great league then also). Of the remaining 5 losses, 4 were away at Division 1 schools (Jacksonville, Florida, Bradley & DePaul and all were close except the DePaul game) and the other loss was in the quarterfinals of the NAIA tournament to a Henderson St. (Ark.) team that gave 15 scholarships (coached by Don Dwyer who later moved to Central Ark. where he recruited Scottie Pippin). Compare that schedule to the typical D3 schedule now. How would the best D3 team in the country today do in the current season with that kind of brutal schedule? Bridges did it because he wanted pro scouts to see Sikma perform against the best competition possible. And it paid off as Sikma was the 8th pick by the now defunct Seattle Supersonics in the 1977 NBA draft. Dennie: Thanks for the memories.

[AndOne]

In addition to POY, we will soon be regaled with the name of the Coach of the Year. Unless things have changed, I believe the CCIW basketball COY is automatically the coach of the conference winning team.

However, wouldn't it be nice if things did change? Specifically, if the basketball Coach of the Year was determined by a vote of the head coaches? This is the way the football COY is determined.

I don't think anyone's team exceeded expectations any more than NPU's Tom Slyder. Isn't this the standard by which the COY should be measured?

And I must add that Coach Slyder appears to be the newest challenger to Grey Giovanine's title as most animated coach. Last night he was truly a wild man with his gestures, yelling, and invasion of the playing court on several occasions. In voicing his disagreement with one particular call, he ventured at least 10 feet out on to the court and was absolutely vocally blasting two of the refs for close to a minute. It was a miracle he didn't draw a T. A performance worthy of Stomper Giovanine for sure. 

[AndOne]

Voting for the all-conference team will take place on TUESDAY. Any candidates or predictions?

[AndOne]

North Central 82, North Park 72

Juwan Henry: 34 pts (15-22 FG), 3 stls
Jordan Robinson: 6 rebs
T.J. Cobbs: 5:0 a:to

Jack Burchett: 21 pts, 14 rebs
Kevin Honn: 20 pts, 7 rebs
Brandon White: 11 pts
David Fuller: 11 pts
Charlie Rosenberg: 7 rebs, 4 blks

As several posters have already said, NPU simply ran out of gas last night. It has happened a time or two this season, but never like it did last night. Usually when North Park has lost it's been because the Vikings haven't executed well, or because they came out without any energy from the get-go, or because they were simply overwhelmed by an opponent's talent. But last night the Vikings were just plain exhausted going down the stretch of a close game, to the point where they really weren't able to keep it close enough to remain within striking distance over the course of the last couple of minutes.

It's no secret that the Vikings really don't have much in the way of depth, and that the heavy minutes played by Juwan Henry, Colin Lake, and Jordan Robinson have seriously added up over the course of the season. I think that the accumulated wear-and-tear might've finally caught up with them. But the other problem was that they didn't pace themselves. Those who have watched the Vikings more than once this year know that there are always large stretches in the first twelve to fifteen minutes of the second half in which North Park will hold the ball up top on every possession, or employ a weave, until there are about ten seconds left on the shot clock. This is where they conserve their energy for the stretch run late in the second half. It disrupts their flow, and it makes them dependent upon the creativity of (usually) Juwan Henry to make something happen with the shot clock running down, but it has almost always saved their legs for the end of the game.

Last night, however, they didn't do this. I only remember one possession in the second half in which they held the ball; in fact, part of their problem was injudicious shot selection in which they shot the ball so early in the possession that they didn't have time to take a breather even if that had been the plan. That, more than anything, is what I think wore them down.

The other side to that, of course, is that North Central goes deeper than does North Park, and the Cardinals were able to take advantage of that. Todd Raridon went nine deep to Tom Slyder's seven, and the Cards favored a more deliberate halfcourt pace that allowed them to use their size advantage to grind down the Vikings. One of the misconceptions people have about basketball is that in order to wear out an opponent you have to make them run up and down the floor. That's not necessarily true. You can wear them out even more with body contact, especially if you're a bigger team, and that's what the Cardinals did. And once they saw that the Vikings were starting to lose their legs, with about eight or nine minutes to go, the Cardinals started kicking the ball out more -- from that point onward NPU was noticeably late closing out, and the Cards' perimeter shooters made them pay for it -- and they started using Burchett and Rosenberg off of the dribble more. While it took a lot out of the Vikings physically to defend the much bigger NCC posts when they were stationary down low, it was even harder to handle the body contact late in the game when those bigger bodies were moving at them. Raridon employed a very good game plan last night.

The other big problem for North Park was the lack of scoring distribution. It wasn't Juwan Henry's fault, either. While he was making the crowd ooh and ahh over his uncanny Allen Iverson imitation -- the NCC student section booed lustily every time that he touched the ball, which is the best compliment I've seen a CCIW student section give to an opposing player in decades -- he was clearly looking to pass the ball off in the second half whenever the defense collapsed upon him. But the other Vikings just weren't able to get anything going. He'd stop his dribble when surrounded, shovel a pass to an open player underneath, and that teammate would be a heartbeat slow in getting the shot off, allowing North Central to either block or redirect the shot. Jordan Robinson had a really poor night, in large part because the NCC bigs did a great job of bottling him up, but also because I think that he was letting his frustration get the better of him. (The fact that he took a major shot to the groin in the first half that had him doubled over for several minutes didn't help matters, I'm sure.) But neither Colin Lake nor T.J. Cobbs were able to help bail out Juwan, either, although Cobbs did play a really solid floor game and defended well. Plus, the free-throw shooting, as Mark Erickson pointed out, was absymal for the Vikes (9-20, 45%). These things all put together are why it pretty much devolved into The Juwan Henry Show for NPU, while by contrast NCC really spread around its scoring well.

Now that the desired (by NCC) results are in, I can share some information with regard to the Cardinals game plan for last night's contest. On the surface, it might have seemed to be a bit risky, but in actuality it was a very solid plan that centered on 3 primary factors:

* Part A was being comfortable with Juwan Henry netting as many as 40 points, and being able to limit each of NPU's other players.
* Part B was to double Jordan Robinson as quickly as possible almost every time he touched the ball thus piling on the pressure with the objective of either forcing him to shoot under intense pressure or to make an ill-advised pass out of the double team. Obviously this worked to perfection as Robinson went 1 for 9, including 0 of 5 from three.
* Part C was being comfortable with the level of defense they could employ against the other NPU players either when doubling Robinson or not. Evidence that this part of the game plan was also solid comes in two parts. First, no other NPU player besides Mr. Henry scored in double figures. Secondly, even with his 15 for 22 factored in, NPU was limited to 45.3% from the field.
Lake, Robinson, and Cobbs, went a combined 7 for 26 which is just 26.9%.

Things looked a bit dicey when NPU very quickly got out to an 11-2 lead.

Jack Burchett, the CCIW's leading rebounder, had just a fabulous all around game with 21 points, 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

With the Cardinals trailing 56-50, Kevin Honn went off. He scored the game's next 8 points, including 2 three-pointers in a 46 second span, prompting a NPU time out. For the night Kevin had his 2nd best effort of the year with 20 points on 7 for 9 from the field, including 2 of 3 on threes, and 4 of 6 from the line. Kevin also pulled down 7 rebounds to go with his 20 points.       

After the NPU time out, David Fuller and Brandon White took up the attack. David hit a big 3, and continually drove the lane drawing fouls, and Brandon slithered inside to score a couple of short jumpers and 3 FTs. Both Fuller and White had their best games of the year, each scoring 11 points. Their alternating defensive coverage of Juwan Henry during most of the 2nd half, was largely responsible for Henry's scoring only 4 of his 37 points over the last 12 minutes of the contest. 

Jayme Moten, playing at far less than 100%, knocked down 2 three pointers to run his school record for a single season total to 74.
Charlie Rosenberg, NCC's leading scorer, had just 6 points. However, the CCIW's leader in blocks was very actively involved on the defensive end of the floor, pulling down 7 rebounds, and adding 4 authoritative blocks.                                                 

[iwu70]

Greg, NPU surely over-performed, over-achieved this year and we were all cheering for your guys.  'Dems da facts and I'm stick'n to them!

My TITANS are in the CCIW tournament and I'm happy about that too!  Sure would be nice to just go get the AQ and not have any selection Sunday anxiety later on.

IWU70

[WUPHF]

[...] Tim Calderwood for Elmhurst, John Weiser for Carthage, and the Chris Ford / Dan Sand team for Augustana, who are totally professional, well-prepared, and give an honest call. Those guys are a real pleasure to hear call a game, and among other local broadcasters I'd add Jay Murry of Wash U to that list.

For what it is worth, John Weiser and the Carthage broadcast is one of my favorites. 

I know they are not exactly local, but I love the broadcasts coming out of Case Western Reserve and Stevens Point for both the quality of the broadcast and the quality of the announcers.

[joehakes]

This is a side topic to be sure, but I have to believe that iwu70 is the overwhelming leader among d3boards.com posters in sentences that begin with the word "Should."  It has to be a ratio of at least one such sentence per post.  This would also contribute to a lofty standing in the category of percentage of sentences that are incomplete among posters, although that may need to be differentiated between intentional and non-intentional incompletions.

Perhaps Pat or Dave have the stats on this.  Should be interesting.  (I am now approximately 10K "Should" sentences behind.)

[iwu70]

Joe, should be interesting.  I await the figures, the analysis.

I guess it's a slow week.

IWU70

[badgerwarhawk]

Joe, should be interesting.  I await the figures, the analysis.

I guess it's a slow week.

IWU70

This one doesn't count. 

[CCIW >]

If Henry doesn't win Player of the Year I would be really surprised. I can't think of anyone that should even be considered besides him.


When Hunter Hill comes to town, I am not worried about him single handedly winning the game for his team (I am actually more worried about other players to be honest)... When Overstreet comes to town, I am not worried about him single handedly winning the game for his team (Once again I am much more worried about the bigs controlling the game or Nelson having 20-25 points)... If anything, Touscher from Wheaton is more impressive and important then either of those guys. 

I hate how "Best player on the best team" is even a factor.  Henry is in a league of his own this year.. Anyone who watched the NCC vs NPU game Saturday not only got to see his scoring ability, but also his defense.  Steal after steal and made Kennell, and even Moten, from NCC look very very bad several times.  NPU wins that game if he doesn't pick up his 4th foul early.. Changed the whole energy of the game (and it was a very lame call)

[CCIW >]

Just went and looked at the past few POTY's ... 

I don't see how Hunter Hill or Dylan Overstreet belong in the same sentence as Kent Raymond, Stevie D, McCrary, Raridon, and Peters.