MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

I was very impressed by what I saw of Carroll at Carver tonight. The Pioneers did a great job of mixing their defenses and keeping the Rock Islanders off-balance, and they held the best three-point shooter in the league, Nick Gilberto, to only two shots from the field tonight while messing with Daniel Carr enough via double teams to hold him to a relatively inefficient 13 points on 13 field goal attempts. Augie, which trailed almost the entire game, did make a late run in the final two minutes and put itself in position to send the game into overtime by hitting a trey with 14 seconds left, but Luke Johnson front-rimmed the attempt.

Justin Steinike, who has the best motor in the CCIW, paced the Pios with 14 points and three steals, while Justin Gruber added 11 and both Aaron Wafford and Paradisio Dante chipped in with 10. Augie was led by Johnson's 17 points and 4:1 floor game, while Carr had a 13 and 20 double-double (the most rebounds grabbed by an Augie player in 13 seasons, according to Dan Sand) and Matt Hawkins scored a dozen off of the bench before fouling out. Matt Hanushewsky had a nice 6:2 floor game himself.

[Ultimate Titan Fan]

Oh-tee final from Shirk:

Concordia (IL) 81
Illinois Wesleyan 75

Wow. Congrats, RFMichigan. Signature win for your Cougars!

Thank you. That may have been the best win in the history of the program.

And from what I heard from coach Ron Rose in the postgame interview, the Titans were just too overtired mentally and physically from playing too many games at once without enough time to rest and practice.

Sorry, but I ain't buying what he's selling. I have a great deal of respect for Ron Rose, but the fact of the matter is that everybody is overtired mentally and physically right now from playing too many games at once without enough time to rest and practice. His team is far from the only one that's found itself with a backlogged schedule due to Covid postponements and rearrangements.

Plus, he and Cougars coach Steve Kollar scheduled this game ... what, a week ago? He did it so that his Titans could get in their allotted 25. It wasn't necessary to add this game at the last minute. It wasn't a league game. Nobody put a gun to his head and forced him to add this contest.

Eric Stock called it a shocking win. It's  not shocking when a better team beats us. And they weren't better on "this night". They're better. Much more athletic,  faster, crisper passing, tenacious defense. The Titan height advantage didn't count much for rebounding either.

[USee]

I think the Titans will be able to handle "the much dreaded five guard offense," if that is what is is tonight. 

IWU'70

This didn't age well

[lmitzel]

Oh-tee final from Shirk:

Concordia (IL) 81
Illinois Wesleyan 75

Wow. Congrats, RFMichigan. Signature win for your Cougars!

Thank you. That may have been the best win in the history of the program.

And from what I heard from coach Ron Rose in the postgame interview, the Titans were just too overtired mentally and physically from playing too many games at once without enough time to rest and practice.

Sorry, but I ain't buying what he's selling. I have a great deal of respect for Ron Rose, but the fact of the matter is that everybody is overtired mentally and physically right now from playing too many games at once without enough time to rest and practice. His team is far from the only one that's found itself with a backlogged schedule due to Covid postponements and rearrangements.

I definitely think it came into play at the hangar last night. Most notable was late in the second half and Blaise Meredith went to the line for a pair of free throws. He barely grazed front iron on both of them.

Ended up being a really good game all things considered. Wheaton just made a couple more plays at the end to walk away with a big road win.

[Gregory Sager]

I definitely think it came into play at the hangar last night. Most notable was late in the second half and Blaise Meredith went to the line for a pair of free throws. He barely grazed front iron on both of them.

Ended up being a really good game all things considered. Wheaton just made a couple more plays at the end to walk away with a big road win.

The way that North Park completely fell apart in the game's final eleven minutes yesterday afternoon looked a lot like fatigue -- both physical and mental -- as well.

Having so many games pushed forward from November, December, and early January into late January and February is a recipe for fewer practices, limited game prep, sloppy basketball, and players wearing down more than usual for this time of year. And the fact that a lot of players have been sick this winter isn't helping things, either. But it is what it is. It's affecting everybody. Some teams are pushing through it better than others. While I didn't see the Wheaton @ North Central game, the CCIW teams that really looked like they're weathering the storm well yesterday were Elmhurst and Carroll.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Oh-tee final from Shirk:

Concordia (IL) 81
Illinois Wesleyan 75

Wow. Congrats, RFMichigan. Signature win for your Cougars!

Thank you. That may have been the best win in the history of the program.

And from what I heard from coach Ron Rose in the postgame interview, the Titans were just too overtired mentally and physically from playing too many games at once without enough time to rest and practice.

Sorry, but I ain't buying what he's selling. I have a great deal of respect for Ron Rose, but the fact of the matter is that everybody is overtired mentally and physically right now from playing too many games at once without enough time to rest and practice. His team is far from the only one that's found itself with a backlogged schedule due to Covid postponements and rearrangements.

Plus, he and Cougars coach Steve Kollar scheduled this game ... what, a week ago? He did it so that his Titans could get in their allotted 25. It wasn't necessary to add this game at the last minute. It wasn't a league game. Nobody put a gun to his head and forced him to add this contest.

When I talked to Ron this week he called it a "rescheduled" game.  I don't know if he misspoke or if it was supposed to be played last year or what, but I made special note of that word.

[iwu70]

I tip my hat to Concordia of Chicago, they played smart and had a very good plan to take IWU out of its normal offensive game.  They played a very effective extended 1-3-1 half court zone and got into all the normal passing lanes further away from the basket.  It befuddled the Titans somewhat and let Concordia stay in the game . . .  Plus, they shot the three very well, esp. #10 -- the Concordia team making 14 in all.  Both teams had chances in regulation to win the game . . .  and the great block on the play by Cory Noe was a very unfortunate foul call.  It looked like a great play, a clean block from where I was sitting with a very good angle and view on the play. Concordia made key FTs down the stretch and in OT.   Anyway, Concordia played better in OT and you just have to tip your hat to their effort and strategy and move on.   Excellent coaching.  I think all the teams are tired and fatigued at this point in the bumpy and schedule-disrupted season.  No doubt the Titans are too, esp. after some 3-games in five days stints, long travel away to Wisconsin twice etc.  You just gotta suck it up and do the best you can.  Coach Rose had to go smaller last night to deal with Concordia's quickness, and that kept Cody Mitchell out more minutes, thereby hurting IWU's rebounding as well.  To get outrebounded in this game, by a smaller team, was a big factor in this unexpected loss.

Move on, get ready for the next one . . . only six games to go, all key and more consequential to the conference race and CCIW tournament seeding.  So put this one behind and move to the next challenge.  NPU and WC at home will be big ones.  No easy nights left . . .

IWU '70

[Gregory Sager]

Oh-tee final from Shirk:

Concordia (IL) 81
Illinois Wesleyan 75

Wow. Congrats, RFMichigan. Signature win for your Cougars!

Thank you. That may have been the best win in the history of the program.

And from what I heard from coach Ron Rose in the postgame interview, the Titans were just too overtired mentally and physically from playing too many games at once without enough time to rest and practice.

Sorry, but I ain't buying what he's selling. I have a great deal of respect for Ron Rose, but the fact of the matter is that everybody is overtired mentally and physically right now from playing too many games at once without enough time to rest and practice. His team is far from the only one that's found itself with a backlogged schedule due to Covid postponements and rearrangements.

Plus, he and Cougars coach Steve Kollar scheduled this game ... what, a week ago? He did it so that his Titans could get in their allotted 25. It wasn't necessary to add this game at the last minute. It wasn't a league game. Nobody put a gun to his head and forced him to add this contest.

When I talked to Ron this week he called it a "rescheduled" game.  I don't know if he misspoke or if it was supposed to be played last year or what, but I made special note of that word.

I don't know about the context from his point of view, but the context from Steve Kollar's point of view is that, as Concordia (IL) alumnus RFMichigan mentioned here yesterday:

This game was only scheduled a few weeks ago after the 70th(!!) annual Concordia Invitational Tournament was cancelled again this year. Concordia was looking for a replacement game to take the place of the two they would have been playing otherwise this weekend. (Gee, Illinois Wesleyan was the only team you could find? Yikes.)

... the annual Concordia Invitational Tournament -- which involves Concordia (IL), Concordia (WI), Concordia (MI), and Concordia (NE) every season -- got called off earlier this month, leaving Kollar's Cougars with two dates to fill on short notice. So it wasn't a rescheduled game as far as Concordia (IL) was concerned, it was a replacement game. That may have been what Ron Rose meant; he may have simply used the word "rescheduled" without being more precise. But the bottom line is that the Cougars and Titans weren't originally scheduled to play each other in 2021-22. Steve Kollar could've added a game against anybody who was willing to play his Cougars on short notice ... it just happened to be Illinois Wesleyan who took him up on it (to RFMichigan's initial horror and eventual elation ).

[Next Man Up]

Oh-tee final from Shirk:

Concordia (IL) 81
Illinois Wesleyan 75

Wow. Congrats, RFMichigan. Signature win for your Cougars!

Thank you. That may have been the best win in the history of the program.

And from what I heard from coach Ron Rose in the postgame interview, the Titans were just too overtired mentally and physically from playing too many games at once without enough time to rest and practice.

Sorry, but I ain't buying what he's selling. I have a great deal of respect for Ron Rose, but the fact of the matter is that everybody is overtired mentally and physically right now from playing too many games at once without enough time to rest and practice. His team is far from the only one that's found itself with a backlogged schedule due to Covid postponements and rearrangements.

I definitely think it came into play at the hangar last night. Most notable was late in the second half and Blaise Meredith went to the line for a pair of free throws. He barely grazed front iron on both of them.

Ended up being a really good game all things considered. Wheaton just made a couple more plays at the end to walk away with a big road win.

Being physically taxed due to the recent schedule reshuffling certainly was a factor in last night's NCC loss to Wheaton. Those familiar with the level of physicality many of the Cardinals are usually capable of could easily discern that several squad members seemed in need of a fuel additive at various stages of the struggle. However, even playing with a fairly large percentage of the tank drained should not prevent making open/easy layups. And, while playing at a lower than usual physical level, the Cardinals compounded that problem with some damaging mental lapses. A deadly combination when going up against quality opponent. And, things won't get any easier with two more games coming up in the next three days.
It was nice to not hear any of the Cardinals use tiredness as an excuse.

[Next Man Up]

I can't believe that I'm typing these words, but ... Concordia (IL) and Illinois Wesleyan are going to overtime at Shirk.

If you couldn't believe what you typed above, what did you think when you typed...............

Oh-tee final from Shirk:

Concordia (IL) 81
Illinois Wesleyan 75

[Next Man Up]

Oh-tee final from Shirk:

Concordia (IL) 81
Illinois Wesleyan 75

Wow. Congrats, RFMichigan. Signature win for your Cougars!

Thank you. That may have been the best win in the history of the program.

And from what I heard from coach Ron Rose in the postgame interview, the Titans were just too overtired mentally and physically from playing too many games at once without enough time to rest and practice.

Sorry, but I ain't buying what he's selling. I have a great deal of respect for Ron Rose, but the fact of the matter is that everybody is overtired mentally and physically right now from playing too many games at once without enough time to rest and practice. His team is far from the only one that's found itself with a backlogged schedule due to Covid postponements and rearrangements.

Plus, he and Cougars coach Steve Kollar scheduled this game ... what, a week ago? He did it so that his Titans could get in their allotted 25. It wasn't necessary to add this game at the last minute. It wasn't a league game. Nobody put a gun to his head and forced him to add this contest.

When Ron Rose scheduled this game he probably figured it would be little more than exercise for his team, and a game in which the last man on the bench would almost assuredly see some PT.

[Next Man Up]

Interesting questions arising from the Illinois Wesleyan loss to Concordia-Chicago-River Forest;

1. D3Hoops calls the result "perhaps the biggest upset of the year in NCAA Division III men's basketball."
Perhaps?  Seems to be little doubt it's the upset of the year. How about the upset of the last several years?

2. It's interesting that we've not yet received a usual post game summary/analysis from IWU Chief D3Hoops Correspondent Titan Q who always constantly provides us with a seemingly unending flood of information, sometimes welcome and sometimes unendurable, concerning all things Wesleyan.

3. It will be interesting to see what position IWU occupies in the next Top 25 poll as a result such an unexpected loss.

[WUPHF]

1. D3Hoops calls the result "perhaps the biggest upset of the year in NCAA Division III men's basketball."
Perhaps?  Seems to be little doubt it's the upset of the year. How about the upset of the last several years?

I'll field this one.

The perhaps comes from the fact that Webster beat Washington University in the first week of the season. I think people realize that the inability to practice and play did disproportionately affect the schools that shut down basketball for 600+ days.

I might be on board with the Ron Rose comments, given the number of games they played.  That extra Monday game that both IWU and North Central played is an anomaly this time of year.

[Gregory Sager]

I can't believe that I'm typing these words, but ... Concordia (IL) and Illinois Wesleyan are going to overtime at Shirk.

If you couldn't believe what you typed above, what did you think when you typed...............

Oh-tee final from Shirk:

Concordia (IL) 81
Illinois Wesleyan 75

I thought to myself, "The Wesleyan fans are going to retire that five-guard-offense running gag of theirs for good now."

[WUPHF]

Also, I think we need to cut Concordia River Forest some slack. 

They are as close to Chicago as you can get.  2-3 miles from the Austin Blvd and a quick walk to the Green Line. 

They are closer than Saint Xaiver which is technically located in the city limits.

Unfortunately, Concordia cannot fully capitalize on their proximity to Chicago given the tragic history of racism and the development of the Austin neighborhood.