MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[kiko]

I don't know if the Conference names a Player of the Week over the holidays, but since the last POTW was named, Elmhurst's Jake Rhode has had games of 37 and 33 points. He was named MVP of the Desert Invitational after last night's win over UW-La Crosse. I'm sure Rhode will be on the top line (maybe more) of every CCIW opponent's bulletin board from here on out.

Rhode was indeed named the CCIW POTW on Monday, making him the third non-Francis player to win the award this season alongside Devante Harrell and Connor Raridon. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that:

The more I watch Rhode, the more he impresses me. IWU and Augie fans will no doubt scream bloody murder about this, but I think that Rhode belongs in the conversation with Brady Rose and Nolan Ebel if you're talking about the best guard in this league who doesn't wear a jersey with an orange #1 on it.

Looks like other people are beginning to pick up on that as well.

Watched Rhode for the first time tonight, and I can't say I disagree with this assessment.  He's going to be a handful for the next 2.5 seasons.

[voxelmhurst]

Elmhurst played up to their strengths in the first half and went into halftime with a 43-30 lead, punctuated by a Jake Rhode three pointer from just inside half court at the buzzer. Nearly everything went wrong for Elmhurst in the second half, and it was simply not meant to be their night. 

[kiko]

It seemed like there were two games at the Hangar this evening.  Elmhurst was in command for most of the first half, shooting 57% from the floor and 53% from deep while building a 13-point lead.  (The final three of these came on a buzzer-beater that Jake Rhode launched from somewhere near Aurora.)  North Central was out of sorts and had difficulty getting good looks in the flow of their offense thanks in part to some good aggressive defense by the Jays.  Todd Raridon went a little deeper than usual into his bench in the first half but couldn't find a combination that really clicked.  The Sons of Warden shot just 1-for-9 from deep in the first half.

The second half was a different story.  The Jays cooled off considerably (31% from the floor and 1-of-8 from deep), and by six minutes into the half, the Cardinals had pulled level before slowly pulling away.

North Central has big guards but really doesn't have much size down low.  It felt like the Cardinals sort of duct-taped the win together tonight, and I suspect that is not the last time we'll see that approach.

I'll let AndOne provide more detail, but the Cards got significant scoring from some unusual sources tonight:

Elmhurst
Jake Rhode - 25 pts
Jeremy Ireland - 12 pts

North Central
Connor Raridon - 17 pts, 9:2 A:TO
Aaron Jones - 16 pts
Tommy Koth - 14 pts
Will Clausel - 14 pts
Blaise Meredith - 10 pts
Matt Cappeletti - 12 boards

Koth and Clausel both had career-high scoring nights, and Jones was two points off his high water mark in his first year with the program.

[GoPerry]

I don't know if the Conference names a Player of the Week over the holidays, but since the last POTW was named, Elmhurst's Jake Rhode has had games of 37 and 33 points. He was named MVP of the Desert Invitational after last night's win over UW-La Crosse. I'm sure Rhode will be on the top line (maybe more) of every CCIW opponent's bulletin board from here on out.

Rhode was indeed named the CCIW POTW on Monday, making him the third non-Francis player to win the award this season alongside Devante Harrell and Connor Raridon. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that:

The more I watch Rhode, the more he impresses me. IWU and Augie fans will no doubt scream bloody murder about this, but I think that Rhode belongs in the conversation with Brady Rose and Nolan Ebel if you're talking about the best guard in this league who doesn't wear a jersey with an orange #1 on it.

Looks like other people are beginning to pick up on that as well.

Watched Rhode for the first time tonight, and I can't say I disagree with this assessment.  He's going to be a handful for the next 2.5 seasons.

When I first saw Rhode a year ago, Wheaton @ Elmhurst, I posted this:

"Speaking of Rhode, as good as Francis was, Rhode was equally dominant.  His quickness, ball handling and passing just make him a ton to guard.  Plus he can shoot and score.  The latter part of the 2nd half and the OTs, Coach Baines pretty much ran everything through him and it worked to bring the 'Jays back into the game.  If he wasn't making long 3s he was driving and dishing for easy layups or and-ones."

In my mind, no question Rhode's among the 3 or 4 guards in a league full of them.  A nightmare to guard and whoever is assigned to him will likely have a subpar offensive night simply from fatigue.

[lmitzel]

It seemed like there were two games at the Hangar this evening.  Elmhurst was in command for most of the first half, shooting 57% from the floor and 53% from deep while building a 13-point lead.  (The final three of these came on a buzzer-beater that Jake Rhode launched from somewhere near Aurora.)  North Central was out of sorts and had difficulty getting good looks in the flow of their offense thanks in part to some good aggressive defense by the Jays.  Todd Raridon went a little deeper than usual into his bench in the first half but couldn't find a combination that really clicked.  The Sons of Warden shot just 1-for-9 from deep in the first half.

Even in the first half on kind of a micro level it seemed like there were multiple games. Elmhurst had  jumped out to the early 22-9 lead, but North Central fought back to get within two at 26-24. Then they committed a dumb five second turnover and momentum totally changed for the rest of the half. You would have figured Rhode's 40 footer would have turned momentum all towards the Jays for the second half, but instead the Cardinals got the fear of God put into them and turned it around. I made the comment at the table that said 40 footer used up all of Elmhurst's good juju for the night.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The holidays are over and for many Division III basketball teams, the conference schedules are already in full swing. It doesn't take much time before a casual break ramps up into high-pressure games.

Hoopsville is also back from it's holiday "break" on Sunday evening. Dave tries to get caught up after a couple of weeks of action and wild results. Who impressed during the holidays? Who (re)started conference play with a bang? What does the final two months of the regular season have in store? What will the new year's first Top 25 ballots look like?

Plus, there is a new wins leader in Division III women's basketball. It's not Mike Strong. It's Andy Yosinoff of Emmanuel. We chat with the all-time winningest coach in DIII history.

Sunday's episode of Hoopsville has guests primarily from the Atlantic, Central Northeast, and South Regions, but we try and talk about anything news worthy.

Hoopsville is presented by D3hoops.com and airs from the WBCA/NABC Studio. Sunday's edition hits the air LIVE starting at 7:00 p.m. ET. Just click here: http://bit.ly/2SDjtqh

If you have questions about Division III basketball, feel free to send them and we will answer them on a the show. Email them to hoopsville@d3hoops.com or use any of the social media options below.

Guests Schedule (order subject to change):
- Andy Yosinoff, Emmanuel women's coach
- Greg Mason, Centre men's coach
- Greg Giovanine, No. 3 Augustana men's coach
- Ryan Scott, D3hoops.com columnist

If you enjoy the show via the podcasts, choose your favorite avenue to listen and/or subscribe via the the following four avenues (click on the images when necessary):
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[AndOne]

It seemed like there were two games at the Hangar this evening.  Elmhurst was in command for most of the first half, shooting 57% from the floor and 53% from deep while building a 13-point lead.  (The final three of these came on a buzzer-beater that Jake Rhode launched from somewhere near Aurora.)  North Central was out of sorts and had difficulty getting good looks in the flow of their offense thanks in part to some good aggressive defense by the Jays.  Todd Raridon went a little deeper than usual into his bench in the first half but couldn't find a combination that really clicked.  The Sons of Warden shot just 1-for-9 from deep in the first half.

Even in the first half on kind of a micro level it seemed like there were multiple games. Elmhurst had  jumped out to the early 22-9 lead, but North Central fought back to get within two at 26-24. Then they committed a dumb five second turnover and momentum totally changed for the rest of the half. You would have figured Rhode's 40 footer would have turned momentum all towards the Jays for the second half, but instead the Cardinals got the fear of God put into them and turned it around. I made the comment at the table that said 40 footer used up all of Elmhurst's good juju for the night.

North Central 82
Elmhurst       70

I've been attending NCC games for a few years now, and last night's comeback win by the Cardinals was one of the best come from behind efforts I've seen. After Elmhurst closed the first half with a 45 foot bomb by Jake Rhode, you could feel a sense of "what can we do" hanging over the Hangar confines. Contributing to the general feeling of helplessness was the fact that after being down 22-9, the Cards were able to whittle the deficit to just two only to see the Jsys finish with a 17-6 flurry culminated by Rhode's magical cast to end the half. After catching an uplifting breeze when the score was 22-9, the resulting Elmhurst surge took the wind out of the Cardinals sails for a second time resulting in that helpless feeling wafting over the crowd.

* Not an excuse, but I think the Cards are still adjusting to playing without senior starters Aiden Chang and Jack Bronec both of whom recently sustained season and career ending injuries.

* The red birds must have gotten an ear full at halftime.

* NCC turned the game upside down in the 2nd half for 2 reasons. First, they knuckled down and played superior defense. They held Elmhurst to only 27 points on 31.0% overall shooting and 12.5% from three after allowing 56.7% and 53.8% respectively in the first half. Second, they got everyone involved on the offensive end which resulted in their scoring 52 points. They had 17 assists on 27 made baskets. Conference assist leader Connor Raridon handed out 9 (2 TOs) of those. As detailed by poster kiko previously, five Cardinals scored in double figures. Matt Cappelletti was not one of the 5, but he pulled down a game high 12 rebounds as NCC won the board battle 41-34. The Cardinals were the aggressors. This got them to the line where they sank more FTs (21) than EC attempted (17).
Overall, just a damn good half of basketball.

[kiko]

* Not an excuse, but I think the Cards are still adjusting to playing without senior starters Aiden Chang and Jack Bronec both of whom recently sustained season and career ending injuries.

I'll add to this... Chang is not just a senior starter.  He's a three-year starter who saw meaningful minutes for four years:

2015-16 - 27 games / 0 starts / 17.9 mpg
2016-17 - 29 games / 28 starts / 36.5 mpg
2017-18 - 28 games / 28 starts / 32.7 mpg
2018-19 - 9 games / 9 starts / 28.2 mpg

He never scored much, and so didn't get a ton of headlines, but his value came in different ways -- particularly on the defensive end, where Chang did a lot of the nasty but necessary work against the stronger guards in the conference.  He has a lot to do in particular with the fact that Aston Francis has struggled against North Central the past couple of years.

I think AndOne is absolutely correct that the Sons of Warden are still figuring out how to play without him.  (And Bronec, who was the only pure big body on the roster.)  Jones has filled in nicely and brings his own set of strengths, but Chang's puzzle piece looked a bit different than anyone else on the roster.

[AndOne]

To further emphasize Aiden's value to the team, consider that at last season's annual men's basketball banquet he was presented with the Defensive POY Award. This award is voted by the players.
And, don't be surprised if we haven't seen the last of Aiden Chang. 😏

[duckfan41]

Congratulations to Aston Francis for being named Player of the Week for the 5th time this season after averaging 29.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in two wins over Carthage and Carroll last week!

[duckfan41]

Also have been encouraged through my following of Aiden's twitter updates of his recovery process. He's a fighter for sure and I'm happy to see him making positive strides in what will be a long and difficult road to recovery.

[Gregory Sager]

Congratulations to Aston Francis for being named Player of the Week

In other news, the sun came up today.

[duckfan41]

Congratulations to Aston Francis for being named Player of the Week

In other news, the sun came up today.

Fair enough 😂

[AndOne]

Congratulations to Aston Francis for being named Player of the Week

In other news, the sun came up today.

Fair enough 😂

Do we have a new entry for the gold medal in the category of grandiloquent promotion?
Is a new orange - green rivalry emerging for the top spot? 

[AndOne]

Also have been encouraged through my following of Aiden's twitter updates of his recovery process. He's a fighter for sure and I'm happy to see him making positive strides in what will be a long and difficult road to recovery.

Duck,

Another factor in Aiden's recovery process has been his very positive attitude since the onset.
I know for a fact that he deeply appreciates the awesome support, physical, emotional, and spiritual that he received from Wheaton staff and fans. They were the majority present at the time of the injury, and their prayerful thoughts and support surely helped Aiden in his darkest moments, and continue to do so.