MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[GoPerry]

Bracket is hot off of the presses! Now downloadable from d3hoops.com

Augustana and North Central both hosting, Wheaton sent off to Wooster, Ohio. North Central with a tough second round assuming no upsets take place in Naperville on Friday evening as they would be faced with the task of Loras. Augie hosting Aurora on Friday and will face the winner of Capital and UW Platteville. Wheaton will face Hanover on Friday, which is interesting because Hanover was not ranked in the Great Lakes Region, but made it into the tourney via the AQ from their conference.

CCIW with three teams in the tourney and the dancing kicks off on Friday!

I attached the .pdf of the bracket below if any of you haven't downloaded it for yourself yet.

I must admit a little panic on my part when I saw Ramapo - full red-alert when I saw UW-LaCrosse ( I'm wondering if the Eagles were even gathered to watch the show?).  Plus having to wait till the 2nd to last bracket was brutal.

I'm glad Francis will get to play the NCAA post-season before he graduates (not that 64 teams would've cared).  All good now - let's go Thunder!

[duckfan41]

Or go to the page and vote in the survey and click around on D3hoops.com a bit:
https://www.d3hoops.com/playoffs/men/2019/mens-bracket-announced

That's the second time I've done that to you... Sorry!

[Pat Coleman]

Or go to the page and vote in the survey and click around on D3hoops.com a bit:
https://www.d3hoops.com/playoffs/men/2019/mens-bracket-announced

That's the second time I've done that to you... Sorry!

That's OK -- we just really want people to visit the website!

[thunder38]

Looks like a very favorable draw for Wheaton given where they could have ended up. This is a Wheaton team that provides a ton of issues for teams in a one-off format like the NCAA Tournament. It's impossible to prep for a player like Aston Francis unless you've played him before. Elmhurst rolled the dice with the quarky 1-3 box-and-one because they had nothing to lose. Is a team really going to put its season on the line by trying something it's never done before and get away from what likely got them there in the first place?

Also exciting for Luke Peters to get to play in his backyard once again.

Can't say enough about this senior class sticking together and bringing Wheaton back to the tournament after going 5-20 as freshmen. This group deserves the opportunity to play on the big stage and hopefully they can make some noise.

[AndOne]

Looks like a very favorable draw for Wheaton given where they could have ended up. This is a Wheaton team that provides a ton of issues for teams in a one-off format like the NCAA Tournament. It's impossible to prep for a player like Aston Francis unless you've played him before. Elmhurst rolled the dice with the quarky 1-3 box-and-one because they had nothing to lose. Is a team really going to put its season on the line by trying something it's never done before and get away from what likely got them there in the first place?

Also exciting for Luke Peters to get to play in his backyard once again.

Can't say enough about this senior class sticking together and bringing Wheaton back to the tournament after going 5-20 as freshmen. This group deserves the opportunity to play on the big stage and hopefully they can make some noise.

38,

I think "group" is a key word. Wheaton gets a break for exactly what you said about the difficulty in preparing for Francis if you're not familiar with him. However, he is one guy, and as hard as it is to believe, there is only so much he can do. On the selection show they said "as goes Francis, so goes Wheaton." This is exactly what the GROUP must avoid. The Thunder needs a strong game from whoever emerges as their #2 scorer in a particular game. If Aston scores 49 like when he obliterated NCC, then the supporting cast just needs to do enough to avoid losing the game. But if he hits for his average of 32 or so, WC needs someone to get 20, and probably someone else to get 10. I think a strong candidate for that #2 scorer might be Luke Anthony. He has really provided an important addition. Peterson (with his improved shooting from three) and Spencer need to hit some shots as well. GROUP will be a strong determinant of Wheaton's fortunes. No real surprise as this, of course, applies to many if not most teams. It just seems like this might be more of a challenge for a team like Wheaton where one guy so often dominates the action.

[Gregory Sager]

Looks like a very favorable draw for Wheaton given where they could have ended up. This is a Wheaton team that provides a ton of issues for teams in a one-off format like the NCAA Tournament. It's impossible to prep for a player like Aston Francis unless you've played him before. Elmhurst rolled the dice with the quarky 1-3 box-and-one because they had nothing to lose. Is a team really going to put its season on the line by trying something it's never done before and get away from what likely got them there in the first place?

Francis is hardly infallible. He can be guarded. For instance, his first and third games against North Central this season were inefficient in terms of points per FGA. But the Cardinals had had the major advantage of seeing Francis repeatedly throughout his career, and even at that their margin for error against him was thin; when Blaise Meredith got into foul trouble in the second WC vs. NCC matchup, Francis went crazy to the tune of 49 points, as he basically put his team on his back down the stretch and led them to victory. And even in Friday's game he finally got going late by eschewing the circus shots from the parking lot and by just driving hard and fast to the hoop against a tiring Meredith. But Hanover will have a difficult time managing that thin margin for error against Francis, considering that the Panthers have never seen him before.

It certainly would help their cause if the Panthers had a good offensive option that they could force Francis to guard, based upon the principle that one of the best ways to limit a superstar opponent is to force him to expend more energy than usual at the defensive end of the floor. But they don't. Their best guard, Cam Fails, will undoubtedly by guarded by Luke Peters. Their second-leading scorer, Isaac Hibbard, will be guarded by Nyameye Adom, Luke Anthony, and Tyson ("Don't Call Me Tyler") Cruickshank. That leaves part-timer Blake Robertson and his backup who sees about the same amount of time, Carlos Garcia, neither of whom is any kind of a scorer. I don't foresee Francis having to work a whole lot at the defensive end on Friday in guarding that two-headed-not-really-a-monster, unless Hanover deliberately bangs him into screens just to take energy out of him that he'd otherwise use at the offensive end.

Also exciting for Luke Peters to get to play in his backyard once again.

Peters is a big key to the game. Hanover's best offensive player is 5'11 senior Cam Fails, who averages 21.2 ppg. I've only watched Hanover once (yesterday's HCAC tourney title win over Transylvania), so I don't claim to be an expert on Cam Fails, but the kid is fast and a decent shooter. Peters will have his work cut out for him.

[AndOne]

Bracket is hot off of the presses! Now downloadable from d3hoops.com

Augustana and North Central both hosting, Wheaton sent off to Wooster, Ohio. North Central with a tough second round assuming no upsets take place in Naperville on Friday evening as they would be faced with the task of Loras. Augie hosting Aurora on Friday and will face the winner of Capital and UW Platteville. Wheaton will face Hanover on Friday, which is interesting because Hanover was not ranked in the Great Lakes Region, but made it into the tourney via the AQ from their conference.

CCIW with three teams in the tourney and the dancing kicks off on Friday!

I attached the .pdf of the bracket below if any of you haven't downloaded it for yourself yet.

I must admit a little panic on my part when I saw Ramapo - full red-alert when I saw UW-LaCrosse ( I'm wondering if the Eagles were even gathered to watch the show?).  Plus having to wait till the 2nd to last bracket was brutal.

I'm glad Francis will get to play the NCAA post-season before he graduates (not that 64 teams would've cared).  All good now - let's go Thunder!

GoP,

There IS actually a second chance for Francis to shine in post-season play.
Perhaps you have forgotten about the D3 All-Star game held in conjunction with the Final Four. This is the game that NCC's Alex Sorenson played in last year. It would seem Francis should have an excellent chance to be selected to play in that game this year! 

* Your obvious retort is saying you agree his chance for selection seems high, but that he will be unable to participate as he'll be playing for the national championship later that evening. 

[Gregory Sager]

Bracket is hot off of the presses! Now downloadable from d3hoops.com

Augustana and North Central both hosting, Wheaton sent off to Wooster, Ohio. North Central with a tough second round assuming no upsets take place in Naperville on Friday evening as they would be faced with the task of Loras. Augie hosting Aurora on Friday and will face the winner of Capital and UW Platteville. Wheaton will face Hanover on Friday, which is interesting because Hanover was not ranked in the Great Lakes Region, but made it into the tourney via the AQ from their conference.

CCIW with three teams in the tourney and the dancing kicks off on Friday!

I attached the .pdf of the bracket below if any of you haven't downloaded it for yourself yet.

I must admit a little panic on my part when I saw Ramapo - full red-alert when I saw UW-LaCrosse ( I'm wondering if the Eagles were even gathered to watch the show?).  Plus having to wait till the 2nd to last bracket was brutal.

I'm glad Francis will get to play the NCAA post-season before he graduates (not that 64 teams would've cared).  All good now - let's go Thunder!

GoP,

There IS actually a second chance for Francis to shine in post-season play.
Perhaps you have forgotten about the D3 All-Star game held in conjunction with the Final Four. This is the game that NCC's Alex Sorenson played in last year.

... and in which NPU's Juwan Henry played the year before.

The participation of Francis in the D3 All-Star game is a foregone conclusion, should Wheaton fail to reach the Final Four. It's interesting to speculate as to whether Nolan Ebel or Chrishawn Orange will get the same nod should Augie fall short of Fort Wayne. And it's worth wondering whether Brady Rose will get that call as well.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Bracket is hot off of the presses! Now downloadable from d3hoops.com

Augustana and North Central both hosting, Wheaton sent off to Wooster, Ohio. North Central with a tough second round assuming no upsets take place in Naperville on Friday evening as they would be faced with the task of Loras. Augie hosting Aurora on Friday and will face the winner of Capital and UW Platteville. Wheaton will face Hanover on Friday, which is interesting because Hanover was not ranked in the Great Lakes Region, but made it into the tourney via the AQ from their conference.

CCIW with three teams in the tourney and the dancing kicks off on Friday!

I attached the .pdf of the bracket below if any of you haven't downloaded it for yourself yet.

I must admit a little panic on my part when I saw Ramapo - full red-alert when I saw UW-LaCrosse ( I'm wondering if the Eagles were even gathered to watch the show?).  Plus having to wait till the 2nd to last bracket was brutal.

I'm glad Francis will get to play the NCAA post-season before he graduates (not that 64 teams would've cared).  All good now - let's go Thunder!

GoP,

There IS actually a second chance for Francis to shine in post-season play.
Perhaps you have forgotten about the D3 All-Star game held in conjunction with the Final Four. This is the game that NCC's Alex Sorenson played in last year.

... and in which NPU's Juwan Henry played the year before.

The participation of Francis in the D3 All-Star game is a foregone conclusion, should Wheaton fail to reach the Final Four. It's interesting to speculate as to whether Nolan Ebel or Chrishawn Orange will get the same nod should Augie fall short of Fort Wayne. And it's worth wondering whether Brady Rose will get that call as well.

Usually the NABC picks two seniors from each region - with two additional players getting voted in by the fans.

[GoPerry]

Bracket is hot off of the presses! Now downloadable from d3hoops.com

Augustana and North Central both hosting, Wheaton sent off to Wooster, Ohio. North Central with a tough second round assuming no upsets take place in Naperville on Friday evening as they would be faced with the task of Loras. Augie hosting Aurora on Friday and will face the winner of Capital and UW Platteville. Wheaton will face Hanover on Friday, which is interesting because Hanover was not ranked in the Great Lakes Region, but made it into the tourney via the AQ from their conference.

CCIW with three teams in the tourney and the dancing kicks off on Friday!

I attached the .pdf of the bracket below if any of you haven't downloaded it for yourself yet.

I must admit a little panic on my part when I saw Ramapo - full red-alert when I saw UW-LaCrosse ( I'm wondering if the Eagles were even gathered to watch the show?).  Plus having to wait till the 2nd to last bracket was brutal.

I'm glad Francis will get to play the NCAA post-season before he graduates (not that 64 teams would've cared).  All good now - let's go Thunder!

GoP,

There IS actually a second chance for Francis to shine in post-season play.
Perhaps you have forgotten about the D3 All-Star game held in conjunction with the Final Four. This is the game that NCC's Alex Sorenson played in last year. It would seem Francis should have an excellent chance to be selected to play in that game this year! 

* Your obvious retort is saying you agree his chance for selection seems high, but that he will be unable to participate as he'll be playing for the national championship later that evening. 

Admittedly I wasn't thinking about the All-Star game at all since it's not the "post-season" I was thinking about.  But of course, that would be a nice honor to be selected.  I'm not typically enamored with individual awards either but I've assumed that Wheaton making the NCAA tourney field will strengthen his chances for POY. 

[Titan Q]

Pretty cool NCC guys are using the Jordan Nelson 3-pointer celebration nowadays...

https://northcentralcardinals.com/news/2019/2/25/mens-basketball-ncaa-tournament-coming-to-naperville.aspx

AndOne, do you like it now? Pretty fun right?!

[duckfan41]

If we see Chang this weekend I would be shocked. I don't think it's a good idea to try and come back this early, but you never know. Praise God that his recovery has been going so well so far. Telling that after a few mins his tweets were deleted and the link to the tweet deleted from this board.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

If we see Chang this weekend I would be shocked. I don't think it's a good idea to try and come back this early, but you never know. Praise God that his recovery has been going so well so far. Telling that after a few mins his tweets were deleted and the link to the tweet deleted from this board.

Maybe some garbage time minutes to finish out his career on the home court standing upright?  I imagine even the emotional value of him being cleared to play and on the bench, ready, would be a positive for NCC.  It's a great conclusion to the story however it works out and however much he's able to play or not play.

[duckfan41]

If we see Chang this weekend I would be shocked. I don't think it's a good idea to try and come back this early, but you never know. Praise God that his recovery has been going so well so far. Telling that after a few mins his tweets were deleted and the link to the tweet deleted from this board.

Maybe some garbage time minutes to finish out his career on the home court standing upright?  I imagine even the emotional value of him being cleared to play and on the bench, ready, would be a positive for NCC.  It's a great conclusion to the story however it works out and however much he's able to play or not play.

Agreed. Would hate to see his rapid and positive progress be cancelled out for a Rudy moment, but it would also be cool if he was able to play and maybe even contribute. Nonetheless, the element of surprise is gone if he actually does suit up this weekend.

[Titan Q]

I think the draws are very good for each of the 3 CCIW teams.  Should be a great tournament.