MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[4samuy]

Embarrasing effort by Augie.

[lmitzel]

Good, hard-fought game in Naperville. 19 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists for Connor Raridon, 17, 13, and 5 for Erwin Henry, and 25 and 5 for Sorenson. The flopper Seibring had 16 and 6 for the Titans, Brady Rose scored 13, and Nick Coleman added 11 off the bench.

Hard fought game, a bit chippy.  Can't say I admire the officiating.  Titans played poorly in the last 3 minutes, and NCC took advantage well, coming on strong down the stretch.  To be honest, I was not that impressed with NCC.  I think they are beatable and without much depth.  Had Sorensen or Raridon fouled out, it would have been different.  But, they played well enough to get the home win tonight.  Brady Rose fouled out with about 3 minutes to go on a very questionable call.  Both coaches in a constant heated dialogue with the crew all evening.  Haven't seen the stats, but can't say either team was at the top of their game.

NPU up next, another challenge.  Congrats to them on taking down Augie.

IWU70

I think the officiating was pretty bad both ways. Some questionable fouls each way, some missed traveling calls. I think it probably all evened out. I do credit the officials for their patience with both Ron Rose and Todd Raridon.

Can definitely agree on NCC being beatable. They stepped up late, but were struggling for much of this one.

[iwu70]

Key issue tonight for the Titans was playing more at the NCC type pace and not enough at the normal IWU type pace.  Also way too many points in the paint, nothing in the way of fast break points.  Perhaps this was due to good NCC defense, but more to the point of IWU not seemingly pressing the pace very much when rebounding, which they did pretty well, overall.  Sorenson played much better in the second half and the Titans had that little point of lapse, missed shots at about the 3-4 minute mark, and that was the game.  I think the return match at the Shirk could be a different outcome.

Well, still a very entertaining game -- along with the  Titan women's OT win earlier, 118-113.  Good basketball all round, all things considered.

NPU will be very tough, even playing at home at The Shirk.

IWU70

[Titan Q]

The significance of the North Park win at Augustana can't be overstated.  NCC's win over IWU was certainly important, but the Cardinals simply held serve at home (NCC was favored to win that game and did).  NPU, however, picked up a road win vs a contender -- those are huge.

I guess the other side of that is true as well -- Augustana losing at home was huge.  Hard to win the league without protecting your home court.

[Titan Q]

I watched some of the Wheaton win at Elmhurst.  Wheaton is a lot better than I expected them to be.  The Thunder have some extremely talented perimeter players who are really tough matchups -- especially 6-1 G Aston Francis and 6-5 wing Kobe Eichelberger.  Francis is a 1st Team all-CCIW caliber player who can really score it and pass it.  Wheaton doesn't have the inside game, or the depth, to win the league but they're going to give teams trouble.

On the other hand, Elmhurst looked awful.  Since losing their stud freshman PG it seems like the Bluejays have major issues at the point.

[markerickson]

Jordan Robinson shot 8-9 with a career high 12 assists on the road against Augie, and also scored 25 pts in a win against Alma?  Seems like another POW is coming his way.

[Gregory Sager]

The significance of the North Park win at Augustana can't be overstated.  NCC's win over IWU was certainly important, but the Cardinals simply held serve at home (NCC was favored to win that game and did).  NPU, however, picked up a road win vs a contender -- those are huge.

I guess the other side of that is true as well -- Augustana losing at home was huge.  Hard to win the league without protecting your home court.

That was essentially the same thing that Dave Wrath said to me tonight at Carver after the game. Defending home court is priority #1 in this league if you want to hunt with the big dogs, but beating those big dogs on their own floors is how you win titles. NPU has gotten more and more adept at defending the crackerbox against first-division teams over the past two seasons, but this was the first CCIW road win over a team picked to finish in the league's upper half that I can remember during the Slyder era. The Vikes have gotten agonizingly close on several occasions (including last season's overtime loss at Carver), but tonight they finally got over the hump -- and they did it convincingly, if not overwhelmingly, as the Park led for the final 30 minutes of the game and had that lead in double digits for most of the second half, including by as many as 16.

The Vikings are playing very solid ball right now. They may be small, but they're making a habit out of beating teams that have four or five inches on them at every position.

Jordan Robinson shot 8-9 with a career high 12 assists on the road against Augie, and also scored 25 pts in a win against Alma?  Seems like another POW is coming his way.

It's either him or Wheaton's Aston Francis, who is the other recipient of that award this year. They both deserve it for this week's body of work.

[AndOne]

T. Seibring got the foul on NC's big man, and the refs believed it.  LOL.  Too bad.

He was also the leading scorer in the first half. Just say'in.

IWU70

Seibring was indeed the game's leading scorer in the first half with 10 compared to Sorenson's 9.

But alas, in the modern era, we play TWO halves and Seibring, noticeably both heavier and slower this season than last, faded in the second half, being outscored by Sorensen 16 to 6, to finish with 25 compared to Seibring's 16. Just say'in! 

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to Jordan Robinson upon becoming the 15th member of North Park's Thousand Points Club tonight. He's now sitting at 1,021 for his career.

[lmitzel]

I was talking with a coulpe others at the table last night about the North Park-Augie game and we were a little surprised, I think more so about NPU being on fire from deep and winning despite Juwan Henry not scoring as much until he was icing the game late. I figured they'd be good this year, but to go into Rock Island and leave with a pretty convincing win says something.

[iwu70]

AO, you are right, several of the Titans looked a bit tired in the second half.  I'm sure all will bounce back.  Sorensen had a much stronger second half and luckily for NCC did not foul out, both he and Raridon playing with 4.  A pretty good battle, with the Titans just having that lapse, a few poor possessions at the 3-4 minute mark, doing the dirt.  There will be a re-match at The Shirk.  Must say though, that NCC did not really impress me that much last evening, in a slower grind out sort of game.  If they are the top of the CCIW this year, then I don't think the league overall is super strong.  Perhaps NPU will show us the way, surely with their big win at Augie, they are off to a good conference season start.  Time will tell . . .

I'm off to Asia tomorrow, so all my CCIW watching will be morning time from here on in.

Enjoy the winter.    LOL

IWU70

[WUPHF]

North Park is No. 4 in the Massey Ratings!
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¹For entertainment purposes only. Including all the usual Massey Ratings disclaimers here, so no need to explain how the ratings are useless this time of year.

[Gregory Sager]

I was talking with a coulpe others at the table last night about the North Park-Augie game and we were a little surprised, I think more so about NPU being on fire from deep and winning despite Juwan Henry not scoring as much until he was icing the game late.

That three-point shooting doesn't surprise anybody who has followed the Vikings game-by-game. To wit:

@ Chicago	12-24	.500
@ Dubuque	9-17	.529
Adrian	7-14	.500
Alma	4-24	.167
@ Augustana	11-17	.647
TOTAL	43-96	.448

NPU leads the league by a wide margin in trey shooting percentage. The next-best team, Wheaton, is at .396.

The Vikings are seriously good long-distance shooters -- and, as I told Mark Erickson a few days ago, that's not just restricted to what the Augie broadcasters call "the three-headed monster," either. Jordan Robinson's at .500, Colin Lake's at .448, and Juwan Henry's at .421, but Billy Kirby is 4-7 (.571) and Joe Biko is 4-8 (.500) as well. Jarvis Cannon is only 1-4 (.250), but he can stroke it, too; he simply hasn't had enough opportunities yet.

As for Juwan's late scoring last night, he always gets his points. Sometimes he gets 'em early, sometimes he gets 'em late, sometimes he spread 'em out, but he always gets 'em. The fact that he scored so many points towards the end of last night's game is actually pretty impressive, when you think about it. He was very active and was attacking off the dribble with abandon during the game's last three or four minutes, which is how he got to the line; it wasn't simply a matter of his happening to have the ball in his hands when Augie went into must-foul mode.

People keep thinking that NPU is going to wear down because the main guns are on the floor for anywhere from 34 to 39 minutes a game. But if you've watched Lake, Henry,and Robinson at the ends of ballgames over the past two-plus seasons, you realize that that simply doesn't happen.

I figured they'd be good this year, but to go into Rock Island and leave with a pretty convincing win says something.

Well, in preseason we were told by another North Central poster who shall remain nameless that NPU wasn't going to be underestimated by anybody, so your comment surprises me. Seriously, though, I get it: North Park doesn't look like a contender because of its lack of size, so how could it be one? That's the wonderful thing about basketball, though; games aren't decided by a pregame eyeball test.

North Park is No. 4 in the Massey Ratings!

Rock and roll!

__________
¹For entertainment purposes only. Including all the usual Massey Ratings disclaimers here, so no need to explain how the ratings are useless this time of year.

Yes, yes, of course. Harrumph, harrumph.

[voxelmhurst]

Wheaton 82
Elmhurst 69

Francis 24 pts, 6 reb, 6 asst
Eichelberger 18 pts,
Samuelson 17 pts
Jones 10 pts, 10 rebs

Mowry 17 pts
Tennant 13 pts
Loving 9 pts 7 rebs
Plunk 11 rebs

Very solid road win for the Thunder.  Kobe Eichelberger had a terrific game, using his quickness to aggressively drive the lane on the offensive end and getting to the line.  I think teams will confront a very agile and athletic Wheaton squad that played very confidently today.  I think they are on an improving trajectory and it's fun to watch.  Big test @ Augie coming up on Wed.

Expecting several players back from the football team.

I think this game had more traveling than a Friday afternoon at O'Hare.

This was my first look at this very young and inexperienced Elmhurst team. It's going to take some time for Baines to bring this team around and learn to play together. Not many players, even veterans like Loving, Rogers, Harlan and Mowry have gotten consistent significant minutes due injuries and how deep the Elmhurst core was the last 2 seasons. I was most impressed with how the freshman Devin Tennant played yesterday (13 pts off the bench on 6/7 shooting). Too bad freshman Jake Rhode is out already as he scored 29 in his freshman debut vs Loras and looks like he could have big potential. Interested to see how this team can develop.

[AndOne]

After laying a turd Tuesday night against Platteville, the NCC Cardinals produced a much brighter product last night in downing a previously undefeated IWU team by an 84-75 score. Victory was achieved primarily through NCC's (1) defense, and (2) interior domination.

Defensively, Cardinal defenders held Green Team starters Andy Stempel (10 pts), Jaylen Beasley (3 pts), Colin Bonnett (10 pts) and Brady Rose (13 pts) and subs Austin Amann (2), Tyler Burdine (2), and the very inappropriate Alec Bausch (8), all below their scoring averages. Only Trevor Seibring (16), IWU's usually excellent center man, and sub Nick Coleman (11) exceeded their averages. Coleman, 4 of 6, including 3 of 5 from distance with 2 assists and a steal, favorably impressed NCC players, staff, and fans.
Cardinals Jaquan "JQ" Phipps, a stalwart defender, and Aiden Chang did an especially nice job in slowing IWU's Brady Rose, who fouled out, and Andy Stempel to help control the pace of the game.
Rose looked a bit both frustrated and tired in the 2nd half before his disqualification.
The Cardinals out rebounded Wesleyan 38-30, and controlled the interior, outscoring the visitors 42-26 in the paint and banking 15 second chance points compared with the visitors 9.

NCC was led in scoring by Alex Sorenson with 25.
Connor Raridon had 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists.
Erwin Henry had an all around excellent game, registering a double-double with 17 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists.
Jagger Anderson gave the Cards what they needed off the bench with 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals.

As another poster previously stated, the game was rather chippy, and the officiating, especially the short guy, was below the level I frequently see at high school games.

The lowlight of the game occurred with the outcome already assured, and with only 4 seconds remaining when the frustrated Alec Bausch, who had been acting strangely since pre-game warmups, threw the Cardinals Erwin Henry to the floor. Bausch, who received a T for his actions, then allegedly referred to Mr. Henry in feline terms. Meow! 😼 😊