MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwumichigander]

I also don't think Rose was "sour grapes" about the T called on Seibring.  It was, after all, a double T, called on the poor little "mofo" from Middlebury too.   So their must have been blame to go around on both sides.  I'd expect Rose to defend his senior captain and top player.  Sure, it was unfortunate and ill-advised for Trevor to get that call and be out of the game, though the key block making possible the tie at 75-75 was made, I believe, by Trev's backup, Tyler Burdine.  Anyway, what's done is done and the Titans can move on now to the rest of the CCIW season.  I agree with Q that this is a very good, balanced and deep IWU squad, with every chance to win the CCIW and be there at the end of the season in the CCIW Tournament, competing for the AQ.  11-2 the rest of the way would be nice.  Now comes the tough grind against many very good, and some fast improving teams, esp. MU and CC.

Good win for young Augie.  Great game by NPU's Robinson, which I also watched.  Seems MU and CC are improving quickly now.  WC and Carroll not so much.

Already 2017 in HK.  Happy New Year all.

IWU'70

Yeah IWU'70,  I was probably a little harsh as it relates to "sour grapes". Rose was just protecting his player.  I just have a "next man up" philosophy and if someone goes down the story line shouldn't be who you lost, but who stepped up.  My bad.

You will rarely hear Ron Rose comment about officiating privately - even behind closed doors -  let alone publicly.  However, he was responding to a question for the WJBC radio guys about a key moment in the game.  I confess to being a little surprised about the response.  But, I can not find fault with defending your player.
But IMHO, that officiating crew called nickel and dime calls most of the game outside the perimeter for hand checking and arm bars on both teams but allowed a brawl underneath the basket with bodies flying and falling to the floor.  The officials let the game get out of hand until the last five or so minutes when they changed the way the game was called and started to make calls under the basket while ignoring calls they had made up to the five minute remaining mark.  Just not a consistent nor good job by that officiating crew.

[Gregory Sager]

Manchester's leading ppg and apg player, Tyler Alexander, impressed me.  He's a lefty who knows how to use a pivot foot and pump fake.  He hit some treys as well.  G Adrian Johnson showed speed and flashes of talent (15 pts), but sat too much due to foul trouble.  I thought he got jobbed on ticky-tack calls as did others.  This game and the loss to Carroll had different refereeing crews, but their MO was the same, and that is not a compliment.  NP benefited this time as Robinson and Henry went 23-26 from the charity stripe in contrast to their .500 performance against Carroll.  Robinson shot "only" 50% (3-6) from downtown.

All of the Vikings knew beforehand that Alexander and Johnson were the guys to stop. As I've mentioned before, Johnson was last season's d3hoops.com Great Lakes Region FOY, and Tyler Alexander (who played for Manchester's conference rival Defiance last season) was the HCAC MVP and an NABC All-District and d3hoops.com All-Region selection. Forget about what a poor season the Spartans have had to date; those two guys would be major additions to any CCIW roster, regardless. Johnson got his points, scoring right at his season average, but he didn't have a good night against NPU; he had trouble staying in front of Juwan Henry, and he turned the ball over five times. Alexander, however, was a monster, which made me wonder why he's been so ordinary all season. Aside from his 23 and 11 @ Hanover and his 25 and 9 @ Defiance, he had been totally nondescript until Friday night.

But the guy who really hurt NPU was G/F Evan Romie. In spite of the fact that he'd started each of Man U's nine previous games, Romie came into Friday night averaging only 3.4 ppg, and, while he was a 42% shooter from downtown, he'd only taken 19 trey attempts in those nine games. Against North Park he scored 14 and went 4-5 from beyond the arc. He was the big reason why the Spartans were able to hang around the entire game, because he made the Vikings pay for pinching down to neutralize Alexander in the low post.

It wasn't a good game for NPU, but it was a win. However, I suspect that the Spartans will be an even tougher out when the two teams meet in North Manchester for the rematch later this month.

[4samuy]

New D3.com top 25 poll is out. Congrats to NPU moving to #10, the only CCIW squad to be ranked.

[Titan Q]

Massey has 3 CCIW teams in the top 25:

#10 - North Park
#16 - Illinois Wesleyan
#20 - Augustana

http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cb2017&sub=11620

[kiko]

New D3.com top 25 poll is out. Congrats to NPU moving to #10, the only CCIW squad to be ranked.

Recognizing that they are knocking on the door as the top ORV team, Illinois Wesleyan should be ranked.  I can't really make a case for anyone else in the conference, but IMO the Titans should be somewhere in the 20ish range.

Now, let me go wipe this green stuff off my glasses before it permanently stains them... 

[AndOne]

New D3.com top 25 poll is out. Congrats to NPU moving to #10, the only CCIW squad to be ranked.

Recognizing that they are knocking on the door as the top ORV team, Illinois Wesleyan should be ranked.  I can't really make a case for anyone else in the conference, but IMO the Titans should be somewhere in the 20ish range.

Now, let me go wipe this green stuff off my glasses before it permanently stains them... 

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=keep+knockin+but+you+can't+come+in&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[Gregory Sager]

Well played, Mark!

[Gregory Sager]

New D3.com top 25 poll is out. Congrats to NPU moving to #10, the only CCIW squad to be ranked.

Recognizing that they are knocking on the door as the top ORV team, Illinois Wesleyan should be ranked.  I can't really make a case for anyone else in the conference, but IMO the Titans should be somewhere in the 20ish range.

As Bob said in the Top 25 room, there's absolutely no good reason why Wash U should be ahead of IWU in the poll.

Now, let me go wipe this green stuff off my glasses before it permanently stains them... 

Uh, oh. Looks like it's there for good, Kiko ...

[iwu70]

Kiko, a very wise man.

Does seem strange that Wash U is ranked over IWU, having lost to them and having a worse record.  Titans now 9-3.  I can understand Middlebury coming into the top 25.  A very good team, very quick.  Oh well, doesn't mean all that much at this point.  Gotta get Ws, keep building the resume, get to the CCIW tourney, and compete for the AQ.  Would love to see the Titans go 11-2 or 10-3 the rest of the way.  With the tourney, 13-2 or 12-3.  A tough road. 

Congrats to NPU for making the top 10 this week. 

IWU70

[WUPHF]

Does seem strange that Wash U is ranked over IWU, having lost to them and having a worse record.  Titans now 9-3. 

Worse in that Illinois Wesleyan has nine wins while Washington University only has eight.  Both teams have three losses.  Washington University against a slightly better strength of schedule.

I was surprised to see Washington University hold on to the final Top 25 ranking of December.  Within a matter of a few days, the Bears will play a road game against ORV and Massey No. 31 Chicago, so while Washington University may be the only reason IWU is on the outside looking in, that should become open to debate should they win on Saturday, especially with teams such as St. Norbert below both in Massey.

[Gregory Sager]

... and, of course, SNC's Massey is not likely to improve, now that the Green Knights are riding off into the barren wasteland of a MWC in which only two of the other nine teams have winning records. (And those two teams, Ripon and Grinnell, each have only one win over an opponent that currently sports a winning record.)

SNC might end up being the biggest anomaly between the d3hoops.com poll and Massey when it's all said and done, since the only team above the Knights in the poll that's lower than them in Massey is Tufts, and Tufts is going to certainly skyrocket on Massey if the Circus Elephants can manage to prosper in what is an absolutely loaded NESCAC this year.

[Gregory Sager]

Filling out Bob's Massey list from last night:

  10. North Park
  15. Illinois Wesleyan
  20. Augustana
  34. North Central
  39. Carthage
106. Wheaton
133. Elmhurst
141. Carroll
276. Millikin

Massey sez:

@ Wheaton 74, Carroll 69 (WC 67%, CU 33%)
@ Illinois Wesleyan 77, Millikin 53 (IWU 97%, MU 3%)
Augustana 73, @ North Central 72 (AC 53%, NCC 47%)
@ North Park 84, Carthage 78 (NPU 72%, CC 28%)

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to Jordan Robinson upon winning his third POY award of the season.

[kiko]

Congrats to Jordan Robinson upon winning his third POY award of the season.

While he'll almost certainly be at or near the top of the list, you'll understand if the rest of us withhold our POY ballots for a few weeks... 

[Gregory Sager]

Oops! I think you can chalk that up to the basketball version of a Freudian slip.