MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[lmitzel]

... aaaaand now a Cardinal who has played all of 22 minutes on varsity this season has just been assessed a T-bone for yapping at the officials from the end of the bench.

This is wild.

Certainly one of the crazier games I've ever done. It was chippy, but not to a "the officials are going to lose control of this game" type of chippy.

Elmhurst 71
North Central 60

Bluejays just wanted this one more. They played with a lot more fire than the Cardinals did.

Jake Rhode (25 and 7) was the man tonight. Connor Raridon (18-10-6:1) did what he could, but it wasn't nearly enough.

I'll agree with that platitude. Just three weeks after getting completely shut down on offense, the Jays really fed off their fans to go on that run in the second half to take total control. I honestly felt like I was announcing a road game.

[Titan Q]

Elmhurst 71
North Central 60

Bluejays just wanted this one more. They played with a lot more fire than the Cardinals did.

Jake Rhode (25 and 7) was the man tonight. Connor Raridon (18-10-6:1) did what he could, but it wasn't nearly enough.

It's hard to beat a good team 3 times.

[lmitzel]

Elmhurst 71
North Central 60

Bluejays just wanted this one more. They played with a lot more fire than the Cardinals did.

Jake Rhode (25 and 7) was the man tonight. Connor Raridon (18-10-6:1) did what he could, but it wasn't nearly enough.

It's hard to beat a good team 3 times.

[iwumichigander]

Elmhurst energy was electric coming out of the locker room at half time.  The Bluejays plucked the Cardinals tail feathers in those first five minutes and NCC just seemed to struggle the last 15 minutes.

Bluejays had a 15 point lead at 4:40 remaining.  Just too much to overcome as the Bluejays got to the charity stripe making 14-16 in 2nd half while Cardinals made 5-5. 

Each Bluejay should be able to tell you what type of gum each Cardinal was chewing.

[AndOne]

The Cardinals looked like they were wearing cement shoes this evening. They were a step slow on both ends of the floor, and thus the result was not surprising.
Offensively, they were tentative with no movement, no flow, no sense of urgency. Defensively, they were back on their heels. The intensity that was the primary factor in many of this season's victories was missing, and the resulting performance this evening bore little, if any, resemblance to their usual strong efforts this season which led to a 14-2 record, and a well earned conference championship. Tonight EC set the tempo, and earned the W.

[AndOne]

... aaaaand now a Cardinal who has played all of 22 minutes on varsity this season has just been assessed a T-bone for yapping at the officials from the end of the bench.

This is wild.

The personification of the overall ineptitude of this evening's officiating.
The T was actually NOT on a Cardinal who has played a total of 22 minutes this season, but instead on one who has played 25, and who has a number only one fifth as large as the player who was identified as the culprit who dared to utter the disparaging words "Are you shi__in me"? The refs heard a comment from the bench and rather than issue a general warning, they determined the game action needed to be stopped and an investigation be launched to determined the culprit. One ref pointed at the played named in the box score and bellowed "he said it." But they had no clue and wound up assigning the T (after making who they thought was the guilty party lift up his warmup so they could see his jersey number) to the wrong player when, in actuality, the true offender was seated a couple of chairs away. 🥴
It appeared they were just determined to call a T. So much so that it didn't even matter if they identified the proper player or not. Anyone on the Cardinal bench would do.  👎

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst 71
North Central 60

Bluejays just wanted this one more. They played with a lot more fire than the Cardinals did.

Jake Rhode (25 and 7) was the man tonight. Connor Raridon (18-10-6:1) did what he could, but it wasn't nearly enough.

It's hard to beat a good team 3 times.

Well, he's right, you know. I have no bone to pick with the cliché if it includes the adjective "good" when referring to the opponent. In fact, that one extra word takes it beyond a simple cliché and makes it an aphorism. It's just speaking plain truth. Heck, it's hard to beat a good team one time. That's why it's a good team in the first place.

It's only when the cliché gets quoted without the word "good" in it that I'm roused from my slumber here in stately Wayne Manor by the flashing of the Bat-Signal in the sky.

[Gregory Sager]

North Central wore their new cement shoes this evening and the result was what you might expect.
They were a step slow, a step behind Elmhurst, both on offense and defense all evening. Offensively, they were tentative with no movement, no flow, no sense of urgency. Defensively, they were back on their heels. The intensity that was the primary factor in many of this season's victories was left in the locker room. The performance this evening bore little, if any, resemblance to their usual strong efforts this season which led to a 14-2 record, and a conference championship. Tonight EC set the tempo on both ends of the floor.

North Central didn't play terribly. This game was more about Elmhurst catching fire, and Elmhurst winning, than it was about North Central wearing cement shoes, and North Central losing.

... aaaaand now a Cardinal who has played all of 22 minutes on varsity this season has just been assessed a T-bone for yapping at the officials from the end of the bench.

This is wild.

The personification of the overall ineptitude of this evening's officiating.
The T was actually NOT on a Cardinal who has played a total of 22 minutes this season, but instead on one who has played 25, and who has a number only one fifth as large as the player who was identified as the culprit who dared to utter the disparaging words "Are you shi__in me"? The refs heard a comment from the bench and rather than issue a general warning, they determined the game action needed to be stopped and an investigation be launched to determined the culprit. One ref pointed at the played named in the box score and bellowed "he said it." But they had no clue and wound up assigning the T (after making who they thought was the guilty party lift up his warmup so they could see his jersey number) to the wrong player when, in actuality, the true offender was seated a couple of chairs away. 😞

Well, you were there, so you know who said it. But, really, aside from you and Barak Diehl's parents, is there anyone else who really cares whether the T was dealt to Diehl or to Shea Cupples? Neither one of them was going to get into the game, so it's not as though hanging the Twentieth Letter on the wrong end-of-the-bench guy really mattered. The point is that nobody on the Cardinals bench should've called out, "Are you sh!++ing me?" at a ref. And you can't fall back on the "just give him a warning" excuse, 'cause that kind of talk when directed at a ref gets T'ed up all of the time.

[AndOne]

Still, if a ref is going to call a T you would expect him to know who the true guilty party was, and call it on the correct player.

[Gregory Sager]

Well, yeah, of course. But if they lined up all of the guys at the end of the bench and made them say, "Are you sh!++ing me?", one by one, until they figured out which one it sounded like, that would take up even more time, wouldn't it?

[iwu70]

But a great idea, Greg . . . a kind of "Are you sh**ting me" line-up.  An acoustic technical.  That might be a first! LOL

'70

[Greek Tragedy]

Couldn't you just give a technical foul to the bench?

[lmitzel]

Couldn't you just give a technical foul to the bench?

I thought that's what they were going to do at first because it probably would have been easier and also to some degree by the book. But I get making sure they assessed it to a player (even if it ended up being the wrong one).

Well, yeah, of course. But if they lined up all of the guys at the end of the bench and made them say, "Are you sh!++ing me?", one by one, until they figured out which one it sounded like, that would take up even more time, wouldn't it?

...this would have been hilarious had it not been a CCIW semifinal and not involved my own team. But there's a tiny part of me that's a little surprised they didn't do this.

[Titan Q]

Illinois Wesleyan (19-8, 11-5) vs Elmhurst (22-5, 11-5), Saturday 2/29, 7pm at NCC...

Illinois Wesleyan (19-8, 11-5)
G - Pete Lambesis, 6-4/195 So.  12.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.3 apg
G - Keondre Schumacher, 5-11/175 So.  12.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 1.9 apg
G - Cory Noe, 6-2/175 So.  8.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.7 apg
F - Doug Wallen, 6-5/210 Jr.  10.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg
F - Matt Leritz, 6-7/235 So.   10.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg


Elmhurst (22-5, 11-5)
G - Jake Rhode, 5-11/160 Jr.  20.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 4.2 apg
G - Dominic Genco, 6-3/180 Jr.  7.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.9 apg
F - Derek Dotlich, 6-3/215 Sr.  15.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg
F - Jay Millitello, 6-4/215 Jr.  8.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg
F - Lavon Thomas, 6-5/260 Jr. 13.3 ppg, 8.1 rpg


Links
IWU Notes - https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/iwusports.com/documents/2020/2/26/Game26_CCIWsemis_Augustana.pdf

Video - https://northcentralcardinals.com/watch/?Live=78&type=Live

WEXG Radio - https://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/index.cfm?stationCallSign=WWHP

Live stats - https://northcentralcardinals.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary

[bbfan44]

Well, yeah, of course. But if they lined up all of the guys at the end of the bench and made them say, "Are you sh!++ing me?", one by one, until they figured out which one it sounded like, that would take up even more time, wouldn't it?

I am Spartacus...