MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[kiko]

Since nobody has posted this yet... Aurora pushed past North Central yesterday, 95-92.

From the box score, it was a game of momentum shifts:

- Aurora led 25-17 midway through the first half, but

- North Central went on a 16-0 run to take a 33-25 lead, and ran out to a sixteen point advantage at halftime.  The Cards shot 56% from the field and 60% from beyond the arc and carried a 51-35 edge into the locker room.

-  The Cardinals briefly extended the lead to 17 points early in the second half, before a 19-4 run pulled the Spartans to within two at 61-59 with twelve minutes left.

- From there, the Cardinals clung to a slim lead for the next nine minutes -- Aurora pulled to within a point on three separate occasions and briefly tied the game once, but never took the lead until a Kalmon Stokes trey with 3:17 remaining gave the Spartans an 82-81 lead.

- The Cards recaptured the lead, but Ty Carlson's tip in following an offensive rebound with 0:33 remaining gave Aurora the lead for good at 91-90.  The Spartans hit their free throws in the remaining time, and held on as North Central could not convert in the final possession.

Kalmon had 28 and Tyler Hall had 25 for Aurora.

Alex Sorenson paced the Cards with 21, while Connor Raridon had 20 and 10.

[sac]

Is the CCIW is 0-4 against the NACC?

[Gregory Sager]

Yes, it is, and that's not good. A mitigating factor is the identity of the two NACC teams that have put the CCIW in that 0-4 hole; both Aurora and Benedictine are really strong teams this year.

Nobody should be happy with the CCIW going 0-4 against the NACC, but it's better in the long run for the league to schedule teams like Aurora and Benedictine than to pick up easy wins against the middle and the bottom of the NACC.

Millikin had a rough weekend down in Memphis. The Big Blue lost to Wittenberg yesterday, 79-64, and to host Rhodes today, 85-67.

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst nipped Alma, 71-69, at Faganel, as Erik Crittenden tipped in a Will Nixon miss as the buzzer went off,

Fun game to watch. I thought that Alma outplayed Elmhurst down the stretch, but perhaps the Scots made a mistake by not going 2-for-1 when they had the ball with about fifty seconds left.

Alma's only 1-3, but the Scots are a tough outfit. NPU is going to have its hands full on Wednesday night when the Vikings travel to the middle of the mitten to face Alma.

[veterancciwfan]

Several observations on the IWU/OWU game: 1) IWU came in shooting .793 from the line and went 15/26 including numerous misses on the first of one and  bonus. If IWU shot 75% from line, it's a 2 or 3 point crunch time game in the last minute. 2) OWU is very similar to last year's Stevens Pt. championship team. Both teams could shoot it and limit turnovers. OWU had an amazingly low 4 TOs to IWU's usually acceptable 12. That's 8 extra possessions. 3) Stemple and Bonnett had very productive games and are improving, a good sign for CCIW play. 4) OWU's closest game before Sat. was a 80-75 win over Otterbein. 5) Titan Q is correct about defensive problems, but my guess is that OWU provides very tough matchup problems against all opponents. The have exceptional athleticism and quickness. I see OWU as a legitimate Final 4 team.  IWU now 0-3 against OWU. Not many D3 teams can match that. IWU was 0-4 vs. Henderson St. in the NAIA/Sikma eara.

[Gregory Sager]

4) OWU's closest game before Sat. was a 80-75 win over Otterbein.

It still is OWU's closest game, Lanny.

Interesting stat of the weekend:

T.J. Sims played twenty minutes in yesterday's 85-67 Big Blue loss to Rhodes down in Memphis ... and he didn't score a single point. He went 0-2 from the field, 0-1 from beyond the arc. Keep in mind that he was averaging 28.3 ppg going into the contest.

Congrats to NPU sophomore point guard Colin Lake upon winning his first CCIW Player of the Week award. Adrian is the closest D3 school to his house (about 30 miles); while that's no big deal in terms of driving for his parents, who are at every NPU game in spite of their distance from Chicago, it certainly helped enlarge his entourage. When I asked him yesterday if any of his friends from high school were at Saturday's game, he smiled and said, "Yeah, there were a few of them there."

This year the Vikings played at Trine and Adrian, and they'll play two games at Defiance over the holidays. Next year the Vikings will be traveling to Albion. I'd like to see this scheduling trend continue for North Park, with the thought that it might help draw more recruits like Lake from the Toledo/Detroit area. He's certainly proving to be a boon for NPU, and I'm looking forward to seeing his game develop even more this season and the following two.

[Titan Q]

I realize North Park won its game and IWU lost, but pretty tough snub for IWU's Bryce Dolan...

- 11-16 FG
- 8-10 3-point
- 7-7 FT
- 5 rebounds
- 2 assists
- 37 points

[Gregory Sager]

I would've been tempted to give it to Dolan, too, if it had been up to me. But the CCIW poobahs tend to be pretty adamant about giving the award to a player from a winning team. Of course, Millikin  lost a game the week that Sims won it, but the Big Blue did go 2-1 that week.

As it stands, though, I don't get a vote, and I'm pretty sure that neither NPU nor Colin Lake are going to give back the award.

[Gregory Sager]

A rough week for the league brings down the CCIW's record to 21-12 (.636).

This week's games:

Tuesday
Carthage (3-1) @ Illinois Tech (0-5)
(A loss to Todd Kelly's Scarlet Hawks at Keating would be a disaster for Bosko's Boys, who have not looked all that good thus far in spite of their record.)

Wednesday
North Park (2-1) @ Alma (1-3)
(This game scares me, 1-3 opponent or not. Aside from the five-hour ride from hell just to get there, Alma has a strong and balanced team. The Scots could very well have left Faganel Hall yesterday with a win.)

Adrian (5-1) @ Elmhurst (4-1)
(NPU and EC swap their most recent opponents. The Bulldogs are quick and athletic, but it remains to be seen whether or not they can counter Crittenden and Nixon on the inside.)

Chicago (4-2) @ Wheaton (3-1)
(After a weekend trip to the Pacific Northwest, the Maroons return to the Chill to resume their CCIW pre-Christmas tour. King Arena or not, I see Wheaton coming up about ten points short in this one.)

Earlham (0-2) @ Millikin (3-4)
(A competitive Quakers team? Oh, you know it's true! Not. Millikin will win this one in a walk.)

Augustana (2-0) @ UW-Whitewater (3-1)
(The two marquee matchups in the CCIW this week are Augie's back-to-backers against the two WIAC behemoths. This game will be hard-pressed to match last year's double-overtime 96-94 win for Augie at Carver for sheer excitement and excellence of play.)

Thursday
North Central (1-2) @ UW-Platteville (4-2)
(The Pioneers are always competitive, and this year appears to be no exception. This would be a sterling road win for Team Raridon if they can pick it up.)

Friday
Carthage vs. Calvin (2-3) @ Hope
(The Knights appear to be down a bit this season from their usual high standards. That's no consolation for a Carthage program that is really struggling and will probably take it on the chin from both sets of Michiganders this weekend.)

Wheaton @ Hope (3-1)
(This is the last go-round of the CCIW/MIAA Challenge in its current incarnation. Hope is supposed to be one of the best D3 teams in the land this year. Wheaton? Not so much. Hope will win this game comfortably.)

Saturday
Illinois Tech @ North Park
(The best thing about this game should be my halftime interview with Illinois Tech AD Joe Hakes. I promise that there will be no Dennis Prikkel chin jokes. )

Albion (3-0) @ Elmhurst
(The other Saturday afternoon game should be another interesting chapter in the ongoing CCIW vs. MIAA saga. We may be setting a new record this year for most iterations in the annual Battle of Lake Michigan.)

UW-Stevens Point (3-1) @ Augustana
(Anyone who thinks that UWSP is going to fall way off after that awesome defense-oriented run to the Big Doorstop last year needs his head examined. To quote the old cliche, the Pointers don't rebuild, they reload. UWSP @ Augie might be the best game in all of D3 next Saturday.)

Washington MO (5-0) @ Illinois Wesleyan (3-2)
(Early reports of the Bears' demise seem to be exaggerated. They're off to a surprisingly good start, and I expect this to be the solid contest between two good teams that it's almost always been.)

Carthage @ Hope
(I sure hope that there's a dogtrack or horse racing facility near Holland to make this trip worth Bosko's while. I predict that Hope coach Greg Mitchell will give the end of his bench some decent minutes in this one.)

Wheaton vs. Calvin @ Hope
(I think that this will be the most competitive game of the CCIW/MIAA Challenge this year, and the CCIW's best chance for a win.)

Sunday
North Central @ Alma
(Team Raridon gets to follow in NPU's ruts in the track on the busride from hell. The Scots are actually playing four straight games against CCIW foes, as they'll travel to DuPage County to take on Wheaton on December 12.)

[Mr. Ypsi]

While I haven't checked for sure, I almost hope that WashU beats us on Saturday.   I remember several occasions where WashU won the regular season game, only for IWU to turn the tables when they met up in the tourney!  (My recollection is that for both the men and the women, this has been the case at least three times.)

[Gregory Sager]

Chuck, you are the most superstitious person I know. Does your wife have to check your pockets for four-leaf clovers or a rabbit's foot before she does your laundry?

[Titan Q]

While I haven't checked for sure, I almost hope that WashU beats us on Saturday.   I remember several occasions where WashU won the regular season game, only for IWU to turn the tables when they met up in the tourney!  (My recollection is that for both the men and the women, this has been the case at least three times.)

Another non-conference loss and there might not be NCAA tournament games for IWU.

Don't think, Chuck - it can only hurt the ball club.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg and Q, please note that I said 'almost' - surely you don't think I would ever actually root against the Titans!

(And Greg, I do my own laundry, thank you very much! )

[Titan Q]

New poll...

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2015-16/week1

[WUPHF]

While I haven't checked for sure, I almost hope that WashU beats us on Saturday.   I remember several occasions where WashU won the regular season game, only for IWU to turn the tables when they met up in the tourney!  (My recollection is that for both the men and the women, this has been the case at least three times.)

I believe it happened twice for the men as you describe, but I would need to check that.

Admittedly, I could be wrong, but I think you might be wrong about the women.  DePauw has a few postseason wins over Washington University, but I do not think IWU can make that claim.  On the other hand, the Bears did knock out a particularly tough Titans team that seemed destined to bring home the championship in front of the home crowd.  I am sorry, but I like to remind you guys of that.

The game on Saturday should be good.  Washington University is only bringing one starter from last season in Luke Silverman-Lloyd.  The only others players to see significant minutes on the road against Top 100 teams were Matt Highsmith and Michael Bregman who averaged 15 and 12 minutes.  Kevin Kucera played very limited minutes in close games averaging 5 minutes overall.  The team has played very well so far, but the only test was Johns Hopkins at home.