MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Flying Dutch Fan]

#5 Hope 88
Wheaton 83  (2OT)

Also hard to process what I saw from Hope last night.  After watching the Dutchmen play Aquinas and Cornerstone, I felt like Hope was dead even with #1 Augustana.  But Hope just did not look like the same team from the weekend before.  I guess I will just assume it was a horrible shooting game (3-24 3-point) and that Wheaton played great.  And most importantly, Hope found a way to win -- made huge plays down 6 with 1:20 in regulation and then in both overtime periods.  I still think Hope is on the short list of favorites to win the national championship - I'd favor Augustana by 3 points on a neutral court.

Pretty significant factor for Hope that I'm sure you were unaware of. The mother of one of the Hope players passed away early this week (after a 5 year battle with cancer). The funeral was on Thursday with the entire team in attendance. Pretty emotionally tough week for Hope.

[oldknight]

#5 Hope 88
Wheaton 83  (2OT)

Wheaton played incredibly well last night.  6-3 sophomore guard Ricky Samuelson (23 points, 5-8 3-point) hit some big-time shots in clutch moments, including what looked to be a game winner - a 3 from the right corner to put Wheaton up 74-72 with 0:11 to play in regulation.  He is now 16-34 (.471) from 3-point range on the season and looks to be one of the elite shooters in the CCIW.

6-6/235 senior Joel Smith (14 points, 5 rebounds) was also great for the Thunder.  He took, and made, some huge shots down the stretch.

Wheaton led 69-63 with 1:20 to go...and I thought it was over.  And then 71-66 with 0:41 to play...and I again thought it was over.  Two huge turnovers by the Thunder in that final 1:20 that let the Dutchmen back in the door.  Wheaton had 21 turnovers last night - almost shocking they went to double overtime with the #5 team in the country with that total.  (Hope shot the ball ten more times than Wheaton - 74 FGA vs 64 FGA.)

Hard to process Wheaton's last two games - a 25-point home loss to U. of Chicago (a really good Maroons team), and a 2OT loss to #5 Hope.  That said, the Wheaton team from last night - especially with Murad Dillard and Michael Berg playing normal minutes - is dangerous.  Plenty of talent and shooters there you have to account for.

Also hard to process what I saw from Hope last night.  After watching the Dutchmen play Aquinas and Cornerstone, I felt like Hope was dead even with #1 Augustana.  But Hope just did not look like the same team from the weekend before.  I guess I will just assume it was a horrible shooting game (3-24 3-point) and that Wheaton played great.  And most importantly, Hope found a way to win -- made huge plays down 6 with 1:20 in regulation and then in both overtime periods.  I still think Hope is on the short list of favorites to win the national championship - I'd favor Augustana by 3 points on a neutral court.

Well written with good analysis. Since I paid $7 for my courtside seat, let me add my 2 cents.

Samuelson is a terrific player with a beautiful shooting stroke. He will bedevil and stretch CCIW defenses for three seasons. As I mentioned in the MIAA board, Wheaton seemed to deserve a better fate but I give Hope credit (as difficult as that is for me to do) for digging deep and winning a game against a good opponent when the Dutchmen weren't clicking on all cylinders. The difference in shooting from the three was the biggest difference and its a different game if Hope shoots 33% from the arc, not 12.5% as they did. A lesser club would have cashed in their chips earlier but Hope's constant defensive pressure drained the Thunder--both physically and mentally.

Will be interesting to see how well Wheaton recovers after a tough loss, a very long game, and early start this afternoon. If they play anything like last night, a shorthanded Calvin team will have their hands full just to try and stay in the game.

[Gregory Sager]

#5 Hope 88
Wheaton 83  (2OT)

Also hard to process what I saw from Hope last night.  After watching the Dutchmen play Aquinas and Cornerstone, I felt like Hope was dead even with #1 Augustana.  But Hope just did not look like the same team from the weekend before.  I guess I will just assume it was a horrible shooting game (3-24 3-point) and that Wheaton played great.  And most importantly, Hope found a way to win -- made huge plays down 6 with 1:20 in regulation and then in both overtime periods.  I still think Hope is on the short list of favorites to win the national championship - I'd favor Augustana by 3 points on a neutral court.

Pretty significant factor for Hope that I'm sure you were unaware of. The mother of one of the Hope players passed away early this week (after a 5 year battle with cancer). The funeral was on Thursday with the entire team in attendance. Pretty emotionally tough week for Hope.

Sorry, FDF, but I don't buy that as an excuse. The sort of tragedy that you describe can just as easily work the other way, with the team bonding emotionally and working out their grief together with an inspired performance on the court. I've seen that happen plenty of times.

It's better to just give huge underdog Wheaton the credit it deserves for taking the Dutchmen to the wire and beyond like that, and thank your lucky stars that your team managed to survive it and get the W. In the end, that's the only thing that matters.

Nobody's mentioned it yet, but Carthage performed creditably against Calvin last night, losing by 12. The Red Men got the lead down to seven on several occasions in the second half, and kept the heavily favored Knights from pulling away. Kedrowski had 22 and Stevenson had 18 for the Red Men.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU hosts Illinois Tech this afternoon at 3 pm. For those of you who need an added incentive to tune in and watch, I'll be interviewing Illinois Tech AD and frequent CCIW Chat contributor Joe Hakes at halftime.

http://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/2015/11/12/MBB_1112152320.aspx?tab=basketball&path=mbball

[GoPerry]

Calvin 79
Wheaton 66

Wheaton dropped their 3rd straight and 2nd in as many days in the Midwest Challenge(formerly MiAA-CCIW) in Holland.  The Thunder came out in pretty good form and defended Calvin pretty well to lead most of the first part of the game.  But then they finished the half with several turnovers and generally poor shot selection to let Calvin storm back on an 18-5 run to go into halftime down by 8.   Calvin played a pretty consistent game throughout the contest and once they had the lead, kept Wheaton from making any sort of a run at them for the whole second half.

Once again Wheaton was -4 rebounding(-4 offensive) and -7 on turnovers (17-10).  It'll be tough going if Berg is the only guy sweeping the glass every night.  Joel Smith had 5 boards vs Hope but none today.  Dillard played a few minutes in the 1st but sat out the 2nd.  Same with Riley Teuscher who might've aggravated his knee last night?

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 81
Illinois Tech 69

Juwan Henry: 22 pts, 10 rebs, 4:1 a:to
Jordan Robinson: 20 pts, 13 rebs, 4:1 a:to, 3 blks
Colin Lake: 19 pts, 3:0 a:to

Not a good outing at all for NPU today in the crackerbox, but a win's a win. The Vikings settled for far too many trey attempts against the IIT zone, and they didn't shoot well enough from downtown (6-24) to make them pay for it. When they did get the ball into the high post to Robinson, they actually did a great job of carving up that zone, leading to the very nice team a:to of 17:6.

The Vikes are going to have to step it up next week against Coe, though, after finals week is over. Coe is going to be a much, much tougher customer than the Scarlet Hawks were.

[AndOne]

North Central 82
Platteville      52

The Cardinals played great defense holding UWP to 19 first half points to lead by 20 at the break before outscoring the hosts by another 10 in the second stanza to take a 30 point win in Wisconsin. NCC Coach Todd Raridon emptied the bench with 6:22 to play.
Platteville had no answer for the Cards' Alex Sorenson who tallied 25 points. Jayme Moten had 16, and Aiden Chang 9. Connor Raridon had 9 boards and Kevin Honn 8. Moton, Raridon, and Jagger Anderson all had 4 assists. The Cardinals had only 7 TOs. UWP's starting lineup was held to a total of 23 points.
A very nice road win indeed for the Cardinals.

The highlight play of this game occurs from 1:26:14--1:26:27

http://portal.stretchinternet.com/neoPlayer.htm?eventId=256438&streamType=video

[Titan Q]

I believe IWU 6-8 senior F Rob Mahlke will make his first career start tonight.  The Titans are still without 6-6 starting F Ryan Coyle (ankle), and now his backup 6-6 F Alec Bausch also has an ankle - he might play limited minutes, not sure.

6-8 senior F Mike Marietti (knee) should get first time tonight - maybe 6 minutes per half or something like that.

A lot of injuries and moving parts in IWU's post rotation.

[WUPHF]

I believe IWU 6-8 senior F Rob Mahlke will make his first career start tonight.  The Titans are still without 6-6 starting F Ryan Coyle (ankle), and now his backup 6-6 F Alec Bausch also has an ankle - he might play limited minutes, not sure.

6-8 senior F Mike Marietti (knee) should get first time tonight - maybe 6 minutes per half or something like that.

A lot of injuries and moving parts in IWU's post rotation.

This should still be a very good test for Washington University. 

The Bears have a 5-0 record of course, but the record is against teams that before today had a combined record of 7-18.  Only Pomona Pitzer has more than one win and they were terrible. 

I like what I have seen so far from the team that returned one starter and two players that averaged more than 10 minutes per game a season ago, but so far, we only know that this team can execute and score against comparably weak teams.

Incidentally, the last time Washington University won in Bloomington-Normal, the starters included Cameron Smith, Sean Wallis, Caleb Knepper, and Aaron Thompson who set a scored a season high (and possibly career high) almost entirely on two point field goals.

[wiz]

#5 Hope 88
Wheaton 83  (2OT)

Also hard to process what I saw from Hope last night.  After watching the Dutchmen play Aquinas and Cornerstone, I felt like Hope was dead even with #1 Augustana.  But Hope just did not look like the same team from the weekend before.  I guess I will just assume it was a horrible shooting game (3-24 3-point) and that Wheaton played great.  And most importantly, Hope found a way to win -- made huge plays down 6 with 1:20 in regulation and then in both overtime periods.  I still think Hope is on the short list of favorites to win the national championship - I'd favor Augustana by 3 points on a neutral court.

Pretty significant factor for Hope that I'm sure you were unaware of. The mother of one of the Hope players passed away early this week (after a 5 year battle with cancer). The funeral was on Thursday with the entire team in attendance. Pretty emotionally tough week for Hope.

Sorry, FDF, but I don't buy that as an excuse. The sort of tragedy that you describe can just as easily work the other way, with the team bonding emotionally and working out their grief together with an inspired performance on the court. I've seen that happen plenty of times.

It's better to just give huge underdog Wheaton the credit it deserves for taking the Dutchmen to the wire and beyond like that, and thank your lucky stars that your team managed to survive it and get the W. In the end, that's the only thing that matters.

Nobody's mentioned it yet, but Carthage performed creditably against Calvin last night, losing by 12. The Red Men got the lead down to seven on several occasions in the second half, and kept the heavily favored Knights from pulling away. Kedrowski had 22 and Stevenson had 18 for the Red Men.

Heavily favored Knights?

[Gregory Sager]

Calvin was picked to finish third in the MIAA this season, wiz, with one first-place vote. Carthage? The Red Men were picked to finish dead last in the CCIW.

The term "heavily favored" is more than appropriate to describe the Knights versus Carthage.

[Gregory Sager]

Other scores from this afternoon:

Elmhurst 77
Albion 54

Hope 93
Carthage 83

[WUPHF]

You guys might need to ship more alumni to Hong Kong.

[WUPHF]

Washington University and Illinois Wesleyan are tied 21-21 at the half.

Ugly, ugly basketball.

[AppletonRocks]

#5 Hope 88
Wheaton 83  (2OT)

The loss stinks but Wheaton made progress with this very young team.
The outlook looks a little brighter for Wheaton.

Out of region right?