MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[markerickson]

Approximately 10 years ago, after the pastor who presided at my wedding passed away, his son brought me to his Dad's house and let me take a few keepsake items.  I took a few books in English, and also some 100+ year old books in Swedish.  I also took a 94" long x 12" high wooden sign that the pastor kept after his Rockford IL church closed.  When it was founded by Swedish immigrants, the church was called, as painted on the sign, "Mission Tabernacle Chapel."  When the church changed names, the other side got painted and reads, "South Park Covenant Church."  I have it propped up in my dining room.  Yes, I am a huge South Park fan!

[USee]

Really impressive win by Wheaton tonight in Bloomington. With wins @IWU, @Augie and @Whitworth along with a home win vs Baldwin Wallace, I am not sure any other team in the country has those quality of wins

[Titan Q]

Wheaton 107
IWU 95

* Aston Francis: 36 pts, 5 reb, 2 assists
* Ricky Samuelson: 17 pts, 6 reb, 3 assists
* Luke Peters: 17 pts, 7 reb, 2 assists
* Koby Eichelberger: 16 pts, 7 reb, 2 assists
* Jay Spencer: 13 pts, 4 reb

* Brady Rose: 27 pts, 4 reb, 2 assists
* Alex O'Neill: 14 pts, 4 reb
* Colin Bonnett: 13 pts, 5 reb, 2 assists
* Grant Wolfe: 13 pts
* Jason Gregoire: 12 pts

IWU certainly did not play well tonight...but, for me, this was sort of a tip your cap and move on game.  Wheaton played incredibly well.  Aston Francis set the tone early, hitting his usual assortment of crazy shots...but the Thunder got huge contributions from a bunch of guys.  Wheaton was going to beat about anyone in the country tonight - they were just incredibly sharp on both ends of the floor.

That said, IWU's defense was pretty awful.  Wheaton did a great job attacking the basket and taking advantage of quickness mismatches at most positions on the floor.  Giving up 107 is pretty crazy...especially at home.

The Titans are still solo 1st in the CCIW. 

[izzy stradlin]

Really impressive win by Wheaton tonight in Bloomington. With wins @IWU, @Augie and @Whitworth along with a home win vs Baldwin Wallace, I am not sure any other team in the country has those quality of wins

Nice to win in Bloomington in hoops to maybe take just a little sting off the rare Titan win at McCully a few months ago.

[mwunder]

The Carthage yo-yo drops again in Waukesha....73-69 loss to Carroll.

[iwumichigander]

In short, Wheaton came ready to play, shot 60% FG in the first half, out hustled IWU most, if not the entire, game. But even when Wheaton had a 28 point lead at 11:58 in the second half, you were waiting for a run from IWU.  Despite that lead, Wheaton out scored IWU by just 3 in the second half.

Wheaton made some incredible shots through out the contest and not just Mr Francis.  It was a very good team effort by Wheaton.

IWU needs to put this game in the archives, clear their minds and get focused on the next game.  This is a good team that needs a killer instinct to put opponents away early.

[GoPerry]

Congrats to Wheaton on yet another big road win, this time at the Shirk.  A big night for Aston Francis who found his shooting touch and another solid game from Ricky Samuelson.  But then a huge performance from Luke Peters with 17 pts, 7 rebs, 3-5 from the line.  Kobe Eichelberger with 16 and 7 and Jay Spencer getting untracked with 13 pts.  With Trevor Gunter missing his 2nd straight game, it's been important for the other forwards to play the extra minutes well.  Would not have expected Wheaton to win the board battle +5 but I guess everything was working for the blue team tonight.

With Augie's win over NCC the Thunder are now in a 3 way tie (in the loss column) for 2nd and with the Carthage loss, a game plus the tiebreaker lead on the Redmen.  They have to keep winning though and can't have any letdown at NPU this Saturday like they did 10 days ago @ Millikin.   Park has tested every contender at home this year with IWU and NCC lucky to get out with 1 pt wins.  Keep the pedal down.

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton was going to beat about anyone in the country tonight - they were just incredibly sharp on both ends of the floor.

You saw the game and I didn't, so all I can go by is the box score ... but when I see that a team gave up 95 points on 50% shooting from the field by its opponent, the words "incredibly sharp" don't leap to mind in terms of that team's defense.

I'm just curious as to why you used that term to describe Wheaton's defense. Wheaton gave up 18 points more than its season points-against average tonight -- and this is a Wheaton team that wasn't scintillating on D to begin with (the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance is 8th in overall points allowed, and was 7th -- and is now 8th -- in CCIW points allowed). And, since IWU only turned the ball over six times tonight, it doesn't seem like this was a great exhibition of ballhawking by WC, either.

I'm sure that Mike Schauer is ecstatic to come home from BloNo with a rare Shirk win in his back pocket, but I'm dying to ask him on Saturday in the crackerbox whether or not he thinks that his team's defense was "incredibly sharp" on Wednesday night.

[kiko]

Just please -- please -- don't give us the "if the Cards only had Erwin Henry ..." sob story if and when NCC loses a game.

Well, if he does, just point out that Jordan Robinson's 28 points would have been enough to overcome Erwin Henry's efforts.   

[Gregory Sager]

Augie beat North Central in the airplane hangar, 71-65. Kudos to the Cards for making it interesting at the end after trailing by mid-teens margins for most of the game, but Augie managed to stave off the late NCC run.

Augie and NCC are now a half-game behind Illinois Wesleyan, with Wheaton a half-game behind Augie and NCC. Carthage sits a full game behind Wheaton after losing to white-hot Carroll tonight.

[thunder38]

An impressive note from the Wheaton game recap about tonight's win: The 107 points allowed by the Titans are the most by a "non-system" team since the Shirk Center opened in 1994 and the most allowed in a regulation by a "non-system" team since Tampa scored 112 against the Titans in 1988.

It's also the most points allowed by the Titans to "non-system" team under Ron Rose.

Obviously the qualifier for those two stats being the 117 points scored by Greenville last year at the Shirk in a loss to IWU.

[izzy stradlin]

Wheaton was going to beat about anyone in the country tonight - they were just incredibly sharp on both ends of the floor.

You saw the game and I didn't, so all I can go by is the box score ... but when I see that a team gave up 95 points on 50% shooting from the field by its opponent, the words "incredibly sharp" don't leap to mind in terms of that team's defense.

I'm just curious as to why you used that term to describe Wheaton's defense. Wheaton gave up 18 points more than its season points-against average tonight -- and this is a Wheaton team that wasn't scintillating on D to begin with (the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance is 8th in overall points allowed, and was 7th -- and is now 8th -- in CCIW points allowed). And, since IWU only turned the ball over six times tonight, it doesn't seem like this was a great exhibition of ballhawking by WC, either.

I'm sure that Mike Schauer is ecstatic to come home from BloNo with a rare Shirk win in his back pocket, but I'm dying to ask him on Saturday in the crackerbox whether or not he thinks that his team's defense was "incredibly sharp" on Wednesday night.

Cut him a little slack, Greg.  He's giving an opponent some credit.   Something that fans don't do all that often in general on message boards.     

Although allowing your opponent to shoot 50% isn't great, I do think you have to evaluate Wheaton's defense more in terms of points per possession given they play a kind of Golden State Warriors style of basketball these days with Francis.   IWU added a bunch of possessions to the game in the second half also, trying to come back from being down 20+.

[Gregory Sager]

Cut him a little slack, Greg.  He's giving an opponent some credit.   Something that fans don't do all that often in general on message boards.   

Bob always gives IWU opponents credit when deserved, which is to his great credit. And he was full of praise for Wheaton tonight, which, given what thunder38 just posted, seems to be very well-deserved praise for the most part. But praising Wheaton's defense just seemed a little ... much.

Although allowing your opponent to shoot 50% isn't great, I do think you have to evaluate Wheaton's defense more in terms of points per possession given they play a kind of Golden State Warriors style of basketball these days with Francis.   IWU added a bunch of possessions to the game in the second half also, trying to come back from being down 20+.

Is that a fancy way of saying that they didn't get back on defense?

[izzy stradlin]

Cut him a little slack, Greg.  He's giving an opponent some credit.   Something that fans don't do all that often in general on message boards.   

Bob always gives IWU opponents credit when deserved, which is to his great credit. And he was full of praise for Wheaton tonight, which, given what thunder38 just posted, seems to be very well-deserved praise for the most part. But praising Wheaton's defense just seemed a little ... much.

Well, I am just happy to hear good things about Wheaton basketball these days and have winter CCIW games to pay attention to again for some entertainment until golf season starts.

[USee]

Just please -- please -- don't give us the "if the Cards only had Erwin Henry ..." sob story if and when NCC loses a game.

Well, if he does, just point out that Jordan Robinson's 28 points would have been enough to overcome Erwin Henry's efforts.   

You don't have to be concerned as AndOne won't be posting anything of the kind, he not only doesn't make excuses when his team loses, he just flat out doesn't post until they win again and that's not until next Wednesdday. It's going to be a long week.