MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 64, Carroll 53

T.J. Cobbs: 19 pts, 7 rebs, 3 stls
Colin Lake: 19 pts
Jordan Robinson: 15 pts, 7 rebs

Tyler Ingebrigtsen: 16 pts
Kyle Keranen: 12 pts
Ben Widdes: 11 pts

I'm going to have to reserve judgment until I see this one on demand, as what little I got to see of it during stops in the action of the women's game here in the crackerbox showed a constant double-team of Jordan Robinson. It obviously didn't succeed, as even though Robinson had a statistically undistinguished game by his standards, T.J. Cobbs and Colin Lake stepped it up for NPU.

The Vikings are now back in a situation in which they have some control over their fortunes. Carroll is going to need a lot of help in terms of getting that fourth slot now.

[GoPerry]

Wheaton 81
IWU  67

2nd straight terrific win by the Wheaton Thunder.  When the Titans went up by 11 pts early in the 1st half, the Wheaton team of a month ago might have folded quickly.  But the total team effort, and the way they stuck with a very good and experienced Wesleyan team, was pretty impressive for a young team compared to where they were earlier in the season.  If they can somehow win 2 road games @ Carroll and @ Carthage, they'll finish 10-6 in conference and possibly squeak into the CCIW tourney which seemed a bridge way too far just weeks ago.  It will be interesting to see how the team responds as they will really be playing for something now.

Once again, the primary scoring load was ably handled by Aston Francis (31 pts, 11-26 for 42%, 7-14 from 3).  But the Thunder got a huge performance by freshman Jay Spencer with a double/double 19 pts (9/10 FT) and 11 rebs.  In addition, more unsung performances by freshman Jake Mlagan (14 pts, 7 rebs, 10/10 FT) and Luke Peters(13 rebs) contributed all the hustle plays that factored in equally to the victory.  Probably the most telling stat is the pretty shocking +17 rebound advantage to the home team.  No doubt, the Titans definitely didn't shoot the way they wanted to, especially when they went ice cold trying to come back late in the 2nd.  But the Thunder played some very solid defense through the middle of the game as well when IWU had several leads.

Brady Rose led the Titans with 19 pts, 5 rebs, 4 assts.  Colin Bonnett was hot early and ended up with 14 pts while Trevor Seibring had 12 pts, 5 rebs.

Thanks to all the students who really came out on a weeknight to support the team.  It makes a difference for sure.

[iwumichigander]

Tough loss for the Titans.  I thought Wheaton played an outstanding game.  The incredible rebounding margin was clearly the difference in the game, but I believe most of that was the result of all of the attention IWU had to pay to Aston Francis.  When you have 2 guys 25 feet from the basket chasing Francis around, and a 3rd guy running at him, I think it puts you in really bad rebounding position.

Aston Francis is just an unbelievable player.  The shots he makes are pretty crazy.

IWU now has to win out - vs NCC and vs Augustana.

Agree - it was a game the Titna needed - no, had to win - and led by 11 with 5:45 remaining in the first half - from there pretty much the Aston France's show with help from his friends.  The Titans got out hustled , out rebounded, forced out of a game plan and out scored 33-10 bench points with all 33 Wheaton points coming from two, count'em 2 bench players hacked to death by IWU to make 19 of 20 free throws by themselves.  Yes, France's was unbelievable and poised but those 19 made free throws from the bench madethe difference in the game IMHO.
With some early success going down low, the Titans got away from the paint and jacked 3's until their arms had be tired - because they certainly were not hitting the boards

And you read it hear - next season Wheaton is going to be really good - and in  two more seasons - outstanding.

[iwumichigander]

Although he is a pain in the opponents backside - nice to see Juwan Henry back even if for on,y four minutes.

[4samuy]

Wow.  With Carthage winning four of its last five in OT, looks to me that the tournament is either going to Rock Island or Kenosha.

[Gregory Sager]

Don't count out North Park just yet. If the Vikes beat Augie in the crackerbox on Saturday and then finish up with a home win over Millikin next Tuesday, they can claim a share of first place with an IWU win over Augie in Shirk on Tuesday. The fly in the ointment is Carthage, which is tied with NPU and owns the tiebreaker over the Vikings and the three-way tiebreaker between themselves, NPU, and Augie. However, the Red Men don't have a cakewalk ahead of them, either; while they do have the benefit of a home game against Millikin on Saturday, they'll have to end the regular season with a contest against a white-hot Wheaton team in Tarble next Tuesday, a game which could mean life or death for the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance.

So NPU still has a shot at hosting. First things first, though -- the Vikes have to take care of business on Saturday night.

[blue_jays]

Aston Francis = POY!

You misspelled Jordan Robinson's name, USee.

Robinson is still front runner for POY and is the more complete player, but Francis is coming on strong on his heels with every 25-30 point night he puts up. His NBA range bends the entire defense and it seems like the rest of the team is taking advantage of it, as opposed to just watching him do his thing like earlier in the season. The shots he takes reminds me of Matt Roth in terms of depth, with slightly more panache.

[blue_jays]

Related note: Francis is 8th in the NCAA as of Feb. 14 in three-pointers made per game. Could end up with 100 this year if they make CCIW tourney.

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst eviscerated Millikin at Faganel in the other game, 85-48. Matt Nadelhoffer used 15 players, and none of them scored more than seven points.

Fun fact: If Wheaton and Carroll each win at least one more game -- they play each other in Van Male on Saturday, then the Pioneers close out the regular season at Faganel on Tuesday against Elmhurst while Wheaton finishes at Carthage -- the CCIW will have seven teams record winning seasons for 2016-17. That's only happened twice before in the nine-team era of the CCIW, in 1970-71 and 1978-79.

[petemcb]

Aston Francis = POY!

You misspelled Jordan Robinson's name, USee.

Robinson is still front runner for POY and is the more complete player, but Francis is coming on strong on his heels with every 25-30 point night he puts up. His NBA range bends the entire defense and it seems like the rest of the team is taking advantage of it, as opposed to just watching him do his thing like earlier in the season. The shots he takes reminds me of Matt Roth in terms of depth, with slightly more panache.

Phew! For a minute there I thought you were dragging us back into the insult of a Meadowlark Lemon comparison! 😉

[USee]

Francis gets my vote for POY.

[AppletonRocks]

Don't count out North Park just yet. If the Vikes beat Augie in the crackerbox on Saturday and then finish up with a home win over Millikin next Tuesday, they can claim a share of first place with an IWU win over Augie in Shirk on Tuesday. The fly in the ointment is Carthage, which is tied with NPU and owns the tiebreaker over the Vikings and the three-way tiebreaker between themselves, NPU, and Augie. However, the Red Men don't have a cakewalk ahead of them, either; while they do have the benefit of a home game against Millikin on Saturday, they'll have to end the regular season with a contest against a white-hot Wheaton team in Tarble next Tuesday, a game which could mean life or death for the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance.

So NPU still has a shot at hosting. First things first, though -- the Vikes have to take care of business on Saturday night.

I recall you all thought little of Carthage?  I advised they would be a pest, you brought up the ointment.

[lmitzel]

Francis gets my vote for POY.

For the sake of argument, here are their stats (CCIW only):

PPG
Francis: 25.6 (1st)
Robinson: 21.4 (2nd)

RPG
Francis: 3.2 (well outside the top 20)
Robinson: 8.9 (2nd)

FG%
Francis: .474 (15th)
Robinson: .540 (5th)

Assists
Francis: 3.07 (8th)
Robinson: 4.43 (1st)

FT%
Francis: .839 (8th)
Robinson: .608 (well outside the top 15)

Steals
Francis: 2.14 (1st)
Robinson: 1.00 (T-11th)

3P%
Francis: .426 (6th)
Robinson: .425 (7th)
*Francis has 54 more attempts

A/TO Ratio
Francis: 1.05 (9th)
Robinson: 1.63 (4th)

It's closer than I thought before I looked at all the numbers, but I don't see an objective argument based purely on the stats to say Francis deserves it more than Robinson. You could maybe make the argument that Francis is doing more with less, and dragging Wheaton into contention compared to what Robinson has around him to get the Vikings to their first CCIW Tournament (barring a complete collapse on Saturday and Tuesday). Francis has the more eye-popping scoring stats, but as stated yesterday, Robinson is the more complete player, and the stats back this up. If Francis is not a unanimous First Team All-CCIW, I'll be shocked, and I'm sure he'll get some MOP votes, but Robinson has been the best player in the conference this year and I'll be shocked if he doesn't win the award.

[USee]

3pt FG's

Francis: 87
Next closest player: 57

That's really an amazing stat and considering many of those three's are fadeaway, NBA range, contested 3s, there isn't a player in the league that is even close to that level of shooting ability and that's the reason Wheaton has a shooters chance at the CCIW tourney and why I would vote for Francis.

[blue_jays]

The 3-shot sequence by Francis here shows the absolute confidence he has in his shot: https://youtu.be/GLCXFrIUxIQ?t=126

And two more for good measure: https://youtu.be/GLCXFrIUxIQ?t=206

His offensive hubris makes for a very entertaining watch. Glad I don't have to guard him.