MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

An F-bomb? 💥
Other than "fast" and "food," I wasn't aware that any Wheaton student-athletes knew any four letter words beginning with F. 🧛‍♂️

They're human, too, Mark.

It's nothing to dwell upon. He got his T, Marek made the free throws, and that's good enough for me.

I would've been more annoyed by Eichelberger banging the table if I had been working it. There's nothing I hate more than someone jiggling the table while I'm trying to write in the scorebook.

[GoPerry]

An F-bomb? 💥
Other than "fast" and "food," I wasn't aware that any Wheaton student-athletes knew any four letter words beginning with F. 🧛‍♂️

They're human, too, Mark.

It's nothing to dwell upon. He got his T, Marek made the free throws, and that's good enough for me.

I would've been more annoyed by Eichelberger banging the table if I had been working it. There's nothing I hate more than someone jiggling the table while I'm trying to write in the scorebook.

First, Wheaton students seldom jiggle.

Second, thanks for the game description which I didn't see and won't bother watching. 

Third, your Francis shot selection observation is accurate.  Probably a third of his shots on any one night are "unusual" choices.  The ones that go in leave the crowd cheering while the ones that don't can lead to some serious head scratching.  Over half of his career FG attempts are from beyond the arc which you rarely see  from non-system guards who play lots of minutes and put up lots of attempts (non 3 point specialists).  Two full seasons plus 7 games, I and many others have just accepted that this is simply part and parcel to Aston's game.  I'd say he's delivered more than disappointed.  But once in a while you get stinkers like yesterday.  32 pts going 12/32 (37.5%) and 5/21 (24%) from three is not scoring a lot – that's shooting a lot.  On nights where he's not shooting well he's typically successful in driving and getting to the line which didn't happen last night.  Further confirmation of the effective defense that NPU and Sanders put on him.

[AndOne]

Opinions.......?

Are those missed shots by Francis, that result in the Wheaton fan's head scratching, shots that could have been better taken by another team member who perhaps had a more open look?
Among Wheaton's starters, Francis has the lowest shooting percentage.

Theres the theory that you shoot yourself out of a slump, but with a 5 for 24, doesn't that suggest it might be time to think pass first, or at least drive, rather than continue to shoot from Cook or Will County?

[Gregory Sager]

Opinions.......?

Are those missed shots by Francis, that result in the Wheaton fan's head scratching, shots that could have been better taken by another team member who perhaps had a more open look?
Among Wheaton's starters, Francis has the lowest shooting percentage.

That goes back to what I call the four-man-stand-around offense that Wheaton sometimes goes into on nights when Francis is hoisting 'em up like nobody's business. That includes last night, in which he took 32 of WC's 65 field goal attempts. When a player knows he's unlikely to get the ball, he sometimes stops moving unless he's called upon to set a screen. If you're not moving as much, you're easier to defend and you're not going to have that more open look.

With 22 seconds left in last night's game and NPU leading 68-63, Peters brought the ball down the floor and Francis popped out on the wing in front of the Wheaton bench to shoot another one of those 180-degree-midair-spin catch-and-shoots. It seemed like half of the Vikings moved towards the Wheaton bench to impede him. So, instead, Peters rifled a pass down the lane to a wide-open Anajuwon Spencer underneath the basket -- who was apparently so shocked to receive the ball that he blew a dunk.

I've dogged Francis in the past about his defense, his shot selection, his mercurial attitude -- but when all is said and done he is nevertheless one of the two most prolific offensive players that this league has seen since the days of Leon Gobczynski. But the question has always been, "How do you best fit a player like that into a team format? How can you maximize the value and minimize the risk of utilizing a player who is capable of either carrying your team on his back to victory or of shooting them out of a game?" I'm not sure that Mike Schauer has ever solved that dilemma. I suspect that Mike must sometimes feel like a rodeo bronco buster. It's gotta be tough to strike a balance. In Wheaton's rout at the hands of Chicago on Thursday Francis arguably didn't shoot enough (only 12 FG attempts out of Wheaton's total of 56). Last night he clearly shot too much.

Theres the theory that you shoot yourself out of a slump, but with a 5 for 24, doesn't that suggest it might be time to think pass first, or at least drive, rather than continue to shoot from Cook or Will County?

That was my point, though. Izaiah Sanders took away Francis's ability to drive, making the Wheaton star much more one-dimensional ... which is why I said that Sanders was the unsung hero of the game.

[AmherstRules]

North Park 68
Wheaton 65

Toby Marek: 28 pts, 8 rebs, 4:1 a:to
Cardell Simmons: 12 pts
Veggie Tangen: 12 pts
Matt Szuba: 12 rebs, 4 blks, 6:1 a:to
Kindrel Morris: 6 rebs

Aston Francis: 32 pts (12-32 FG, 5-21 trey), 8 rebs
Kobe Eichelberger: 15 pts, 6 rebs, 3:0 a:to
Anajuwon Spencer: 9 rebs
Tyson Cruikshank: 7 rebs
Luke Peters: 5:0 a:to

Wow. I can't remember a more improbable Vikings victory. The Vikings played with tremendous energy and heart, and more than a little more competence than we've seen from them thus far. Toby Marek was a man possessed; I didn't know he had this kind of a game in him.

Wheaton was flat, in a game in which I thought the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance would come out rarin' to go after their humiliation by Chicago earlier this week. Way too much of the four-man-stand-around offense from WC, too, as Aston Francis's poor shooting really put Wheaton in a bind.

It was a magnificent, if not particularly masterful, evening of basketball. I blew out my voice in a good cause.

After watching the streams of Oshkosh vs both these teams, this result is nearly inexplicable.  No offense to NPU, but they were mutilated by the Titans while the Oshkosh struggled in a road loss at Wheaton.  I guess that is why they play the games. 

[Gregory Sager]

The question that every North Park fan is now asking is whether the Vikings can repeat last night's performance, or if this was just some sort of one-off occurrence that won't come around again this season. The broader sweep of the season to date would seem to indicate the latter, although the relative youth of the team might mean that the former is true, because it's possible that the Vikings are simply finding their footing now.

My heart tells me one thing, but my head remains skeptical. The Vikes don't scare anybody on paper, and, like most of NPU's squads in the Slyder era, they don't pass the eye test as they walk onto the floor for the opening tip, either. Not every opponent is Wheaton, and not every opponent is nationally ranked, so the extra motivation has to come from someplace else from now on. And every opponent NPU faces from this point forward will be much more wary of the Vikings, as it's clear that North Park isn't a win you that can take for granted before the game is even played.

As much as it is clear that I underestimated Toby Marek -- as did every other person who is not named Toby Marek -- I don't think that he's capable of ringing up 28-8-4 nights every time out. Then again, he doesn't necessarily have to; the Vikings have gotten a 25-point game out of Kindrel Morris this season and a 24-point game out of Matt Szuba. In fact, the Vikings won last night in spite of the fact that Szuba (their leading scorer this season) shot an atrocious 2-14 from the field and 1-9 from downtown (which he more than made up for in every other phase of the game, as he pulled in 12 rebounds, dished out six assists, blocked four shots, and played terrific low-post defense). The fact that the Vikings won with their most reliable offensive weapon having such an off-night is encouraging.

The Vikings won last night because they proved that their whole can be greater than the sum of their parts. They played with full-out energy for all forty minutes, and while they were far from perfect they did collectively execute much better at both ends of the floor than they had against any reputable opponent (i.e., not Waynesburg).

So I'm still a skeptic. But I'm more than open to having the Vikings prove me wrong.

[AndOne]

For obvious reasons, I won't take much credit for this astute analysis. But it seems that, at some point, a key for the Chicago brand of Vikings might be to have TWO players put together "one of those nights." 

[Gregory Sager]

... and if you had the formula for how to make that happen, Mark, you'd be standing in an Armani suit on an arena sideline on national television.

[AndOne]

Alas, but I gave away all my Armani suits when I retired. 

[GoPerry]

Opinions.......?

Are those missed shots by Francis, that result in the Wheaton fan's head scratching, shots that could have been better taken by another team member who perhaps had a more open look?
Among Wheaton's starters, Francis has the lowest shooting percentage.

That goes back to what I call the four-man-stand-around offense that Wheaton sometimes goes into on nights when Francis is hoisting 'em up like nobody's business. That includes last night, in which he took 32 of WC's 65 field goal attempts. When a player knows he's unlikely to get the ball, he sometimes stops moving unless he's called upon to set a screen. If you're not moving as much, you're easier to defend and you're not going to have that more open look.

With 22 seconds left in last night's game and NPU leading 68-63, Peters brought the ball down the floor and Francis popped out on the wing in front of the Wheaton bench to shoot another one of those 180-degree-midair-spin catch-and-shoots. It seemed like half of the Vikings moved towards the Wheaton bench to impede him. So, instead, Peters rifled a pass down the lane to a wide-open Anajuwon Spencer underneath the basket -- who was apparently so shocked to receive the ball that he blew a dunk.

I've dogged Francis in the past about his defense, his shot selection, his mercurial attitude -- but when all is said and done he is nevertheless one of the two most prolific offensive players that this league has seen since the days of Leon Gobczynski. But the question has always been, "How do you best fit a player like that into a team format? How can you maximize the value and minimize the risk of utilizing a player who is capable of either carrying your team on his back to victory or of shooting them out of a game?" I'm not sure that Mike Schauer has ever solved that dilemma. I suspect that Mike must sometimes feel like a rodeo bronco buster. It's gotta be tough to strike a balance. In Wheaton's rout at the hands of Chicago on Thursday Francis arguably didn't shoot enough (only 12 FG attempts out of Wheaton's total of 56). Last night he clearly shot too much.

What's rather surprising, even confusing, to me is how many more shots Francis is taking so far this season – way more.  Averaging a little over 26 shots in the 7 games so far (28/g if you throw out the Chicago game of only 12 attempts) vs the 20.5/game of last season or the 18.5/game his first year in the league.  Same with 3FGA – 13.7/g this season vs 12.7 and 9.6.  And I consider the rest of the Wheaton lineup to be at least as capable offensively and maybe even more so than last year (despite the last 2 games).  But 28 shots will definitely get you into the four guys looking at one situation.   

Opinions.......?

Are those missed shots by Francis, that result in the Wheaton fan's head scratching, shots that could have been better taken by another team member who perhaps had a more open look?
Among Wheaton's starters, Francis has the lowest shooting percentage.

An example of this.  It's not uncommon in transition that he'll pull up from 5 ft beyond the arc and shoot a trey with 25 secs left on the shot clock.  If he makes 4 out of 10 you'll probably be mostly ok with that.  But the other 6 are still pretty questionable, or certainly wouldn't be termed good shots by normal standards.

[Gregory Sager]

Opinions.......?

Are those missed shots by Francis, that result in the Wheaton fan's head scratching, shots that could have been better taken by another team member who perhaps had a more open look?
Among Wheaton's starters, Francis has the lowest shooting percentage.

That goes back to what I call the four-man-stand-around offense that Wheaton sometimes goes into on nights when Francis is hoisting 'em up like nobody's business. That includes last night, in which he took 32 of WC's 65 field goal attempts. When a player knows he's unlikely to get the ball, he sometimes stops moving unless he's called upon to set a screen. If you're not moving as much, you're easier to defend and you're not going to have that more open look.

With 22 seconds left in last night's game and NPU leading 68-63, Peters brought the ball down the floor and Francis popped out on the wing in front of the Wheaton bench to shoot another one of those 180-degree-midair-spin catch-and-shoots. It seemed like half of the Vikings moved towards the Wheaton bench to impede him. So, instead, Peters rifled a pass down the lane to a wide-open Anajuwon Spencer underneath the basket -- who was apparently so shocked to receive the ball that he blew a dunk.

I've dogged Francis in the past about his defense, his shot selection, his mercurial attitude -- but when all is said and done he is nevertheless one of the two most prolific offensive players that this league has seen since the days of Leon Gobczynski. But the question has always been, "How do you best fit a player like that into a team format? How can you maximize the value and minimize the risk of utilizing a player who is capable of either carrying your team on his back to victory or of shooting them out of a game?" I'm not sure that Mike Schauer has ever solved that dilemma. I suspect that Mike must sometimes feel like a rodeo bronco buster. It's gotta be tough to strike a balance. In Wheaton's rout at the hands of Chicago on Thursday Francis arguably didn't shoot enough (only 12 FG attempts out of Wheaton's total of 56). Last night he clearly shot too much.

What's rather surprising, even confusing, to me is how many more shots Francis is taking so far this season – way more.  Averaging a little over 26 shots in the 7 games so far (28/g if you throw out the Chicago game of only 12 attempts) vs the 20.5/game of last season or the 18.5/game his first year in the league.  Same with 3FGA – 13.7/g this season vs 12.7 and 9.6.  And I consider the rest of the Wheaton lineup to be at least as capable offensively and maybe even more so than last year (despite the last 2 games).  But 28 shots will definitely get you into the four guys looking at one situation.

Might this be a reaction to the loss of Ricky Samuelson? After all, the rest of the team is shooting 14-59 (.237) from beyond the arc this year. Perhaps Francis feels that he has to make up for the lack of an alternative trey shooter, without waiting around to see if one could develop in a younger guard such as Cruickshank or Adom. Even so, I think that Wheaton's best option is to get the ball into Kobe Eichelberger's hands more. He's the most talented and dynamic player that Wheaton has, aside from Francis.

I was also very surprised how seldom Wheaton looked to station Luke Peters down in the low post and let him back in 5'5, 135 Kindrel Morris. Peters is very skilled at posting up smaller guards (as his older brother was), and an opponent as tiny as Morris is an open invitation for a post-up. I even mentioned it on the air last night. But, as far as I could tell, Wheaton only went with that once.

[GoPerry]

[
What's rather surprising, even confusing, to me is how many more shots Francis is taking so far this season – way more.  Averaging a little over 26 shots in the 7 games so far (28/g if you throw out the Chicago game of only 12 attempts) vs the 20.5/game of last season or the 18.5/game his first year in the league.  Same with 3FGA – 13.7/g this season vs 12.7 and 9.6.  And I consider the rest of the Wheaton lineup to be at least as capable offensively and maybe even more so than last year (despite the last 2 games).  But 28 shots will definitely get you into the four guys looking at one situation.

Might this be a reaction to the loss of Ricky Samuelson? After all, the rest of the team is shooting 14-59 (.237) from beyond the arc this year. Perhaps Francis feels that he has to make up for the lack of an alternative trey shooter, without waiting around to see if one could develop in a younger guard such as Cruickshank or Adom. Even so, I think that Wheaton's best option is to get the ball into Kobe Eichelberger's hands more. He's the most talented and dynamic player that Wheaton has, aside from Francis.

I was also very surprised how seldom Wheaton looked to station Luke Peters down in the low post and let him back in 5'5, 135 Kindrel Morris. Peters is very skilled at posting up smaller guards (as his older brother was), and an opponent as tiny as Morris is an open invitation for a post-up. I even mentioned it on the air last night. But, as far as I could tell, Wheaton only went with that once.

I did think about the loss of Samuelson and that certainly might have something to do with it.  The obvious question which you already posed surrounds how much of that output one person, even a skilled player, can or should replace vs spreading it around more in the team flow. 8 more shots/game sounds like a lot to me - not because #1 can't handle it, but the potential underutilization of the whole.  The others have to step up and take that load however and not just wait for Francis to defer. Only 7 games in, but Eichelberger is actually averaging less pts/game than last year ( injured in the Calvin game and not sure fully recovered).

I was surprised to see that Luke only took 3 shots because his posting up has been an effective and more frequent weapon this season.  Against Chicago he did the same except those close in shots just weren't going in(contagious).  I hope that didn't make him gun shy because the team needs those out of him.

[lmitzel]

Aston Francis' streak of CCIW Player of the Week awards ends at two, with Connor Raridon getting the honors this week.

[iwu70]

Augie at #3, IWU up to #8, NCC enters at #20, Wheaton drops out, to ORVs. --- in the new D3 week #2 poll.

IWU'70

Bye bye.

[Titan Q]

#8-Illinois Wesleyan (7-0) vs Wheaton (5-2), 7pm...

Titans (7-0)
G - Brady Rose, 6-3/185 Sr.  21.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 3.9 apg
G - Colin Bonnett, 6-4/190 Sr.  10.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.7 apg
G - Jason Gregoire, 6-4/205 Sr.  11.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.7 apg
F - Charlie Bair, 6-7/205 So.  9.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg
C - Alex O'Neill, 6-9/245 Jr.  6.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg

Thunder (5-2)
G - Luke Peters, 6-4/185 Sr.  6.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 4.6 apg
G - Aston Francis, 6-1/195 Sr.  31.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.3 apg
F - Kobe Eichelberger, 6-5/200 Sr.  10.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 0.7 apg
F - Trevor Gunter, 6-6/210 Sr. 5.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg
F - Anajuwon Spencer, 6-8/195 Jr.  5.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg


Pantagraph - https://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/iwu-has-healthy-outlook-against-wheaton/article_87f63547-3589-5648-a8bf-de4a6936a9c2.html

Video/Stats - https://portal.stretchinternet.com/iwu/

WEXG Radio - http://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/WWHP