MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Baldini]

Greg, thanks for your significant and articulate contribution over the years to a topic we all love: D3 basketball specifically and D3 sports in general. It is much appreciated.

And for the rest of us, here is a nice article I stumbled across this morning:  https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/greg-sager-north-park-universitys-voice-of-the-vikings-broadcasts-with-never-miss-a-play-commitment-to-objectivity/

Very nice article can put a face to the voice now.

If I knew you better Greg, I would come in with a 'face for radio' zinger, but since I've never meet you, I won't push my limits here. 

[kiko]

Very nice writeup!

[kiko]

Elmhurst topped North Central 86-67 today in a matinee at Faganel.  The Jays led by one in a first half that was mostly contested from beyond the arc, then took control in the second half.

The Jays outrebounded the Cardinals 46-25 overall, including a 16-5 advantage in offensive rebounds that mostly came in the second half; this helped lead to a 36-20 advantage in points in the paint.

Elmhurst:
Jake Rhode - 18 pts
Wesley Hooker - 16 pts
Lavon Thomas - 14 and 12
Ocean Johnson - 10 pts

North Central:
Blaise Meredith - 25 and 8
Matt Helwig - 14 pts
Ethan Helwig - 12 pts

[GoPerry]

Greg, thanks for your significant and articulate contribution over the years to a topic we all love: D3 basketball specifically and D3 sports in general. It is much appreciated.

And for the rest of us, here is a nice article I stumbled across this morning:  https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/greg-sager-north-park-universitys-voice-of-the-vikings-broadcasts-with-never-miss-a-play-commitment-to-objectivity/

Excellent tribute Gregory!  Congrats!

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks, everybody. Yes, it was a nice writeup. I have only one complaint: he got my age wrong. Yes, I've reached that stage in life where that matters.

Greg, thanks for your significant and articulate contribution over the years to a topic we all love: D3 basketball specifically and D3 sports in general. It is much appreciated.

And for the rest of us, here is a nice article I stumbled across this morning:  https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/greg-sager-north-park-universitys-voice-of-the-vikings-broadcasts-with-never-miss-a-play-commitment-to-objectivity/

Very nice article can put a face to the voice now.

If I knew you better Greg, I would come in with a 'face for radio' zinger, but since I've never meet you, I won't push my limits here. 

What can I say, except that the truth hurts?

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana 91
North Park 60

Jalen Boyd: 16 pts
Izaiah Sanders: 12 pts, 3 stls
Gabe Johnson: 6 rebs, 3 stls

Luke Johnson: 28 pts (10-13 FG, 4-5 trey), 7 rebs, 4 stls
Daniel Carr: 16 pts, 18 rebs
Anthony Cooper: 11 pts (3-3 trey)
Mikey Hamilton: 6 rebs

Nothing to say about this one, other than to state the blindingly obvious fact that the wheels have completely come off for NPU.

Augie has a very good freshman class, pretty comparable to Carthage's.

[WUPHF]

Perhaps Farmingdale relieved both IWU and Washington University of their biggest upset loss badges.

[Gregory Sager]

I kinda doubt it. Granted, I don't know enough about the Rams (other than their 14-7 record and their middling Massey status) to say anything definitive, but what I do know is that Yeshiva, despite all of the hoopla surrounding their game against Illinois Wesleyan, is the equivalent of a third- or fourth-place CCIW team. I've seen them enough to feel comfortable saying that. The Maccabees certainly wouldn't be bossing the UAA, either, and that goes in spades for the WIAC.

Yeshiva keeps hanging around in the top ten of the d3hoops.com poll despite the fact that the Maccabees had a Massey SOS of 380 (out of 417 teams in D3) coming into tonight. (Farmingdale State, for what it's worth, was ranked #211, so that's not going to help Yeshiva's SOS all that much.) I'm a little disappointed in the poll voters who keep promoting the Maccabees, or who at least keep them at status quo, out of sheer inertia.

Let Yeshiva beat somebody halfway decent, and then I'll start giving the upsets they suffer more credibility.

[WUPHF]

I kinda doubt it. Granted, I don't know enough about the Rams (other than their 14-7 record and their middling Massey status) to say anything definitive, but what I do know is that Yeshiva, despite all of the hoopla surrounding their game against Illinois Wesleyan, is the equivalent of a third- or fourth-place CCIW team. I've seen them enough to feel comfortable saying that. The Maccabees certainly wouldn't be bossing the UAA, either, and that goes in spades for the WIAC.

Yeshiva keeps hanging around in the top ten of the d3hoops.com poll despite the fact that the Maccabees had a Massey SOS of 380 (out of 417 teams in D3) coming into tonight. (Farmingdale State, for what it's worth, was ranked #211, so that's not going to help Yeshiva's SOS all that much.) I'm a little disappointed in the poll voters who keep promoting the Maccabees, or who at least keep them at status quo, out of sheer inertia.

Let Yeshiva beat somebody halfway decent, and then I'll start giving the upsets they suffer more credibility.

I agree with this.

I was just playing around, bringing that prior conversation up.

Yeshiva did handle Farmingdale earlier as did NYU so hey, maybe they will beat St. Joes and give us something to talk about.

[lmitzel]

With a couple weeks left, probably good to get a good look at standings.

x-	Illinois Wesleyan	9-2
x-	Wheaton	9-3
	Elmhurst	8-4
	North Central	8-4
	Millikin	7-4
	Augustana	5-8
	North Park	3-8
	Carthage	2-10
	Carroll	2-10

Wesleyan and Wheaton have both clinched conference tourney bids, and Elmhurst and NCC can both clinch with wins tomorrow (NCC home against Millikin, Elmhurst at Carroll).

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Farmingdale is almost all freshmen and sophomores, so they're definitely improving as the season goes along, but Yeshiva continues to look tighter and tighter as the pressure mounts. They've got to get back to the freedom they had when nobody believed in them. Maybe all of this overrated talk will help with that?

[iwu70]

Congrats on the nice write-up, Greg.  Very deserved.  25,000 posts is quite something!  Amazing over the years.  Keep going, keep posting.  I've learned to put up with you, yes, even appreciate you!    LOL

In the game at The Shirk last night, perhaps tighter than it should have been. IWU played pretty good defense and Carthage doubled Leritz aggressively, forcing him to find outlet passes and shooters.  The Titans led by 11-12 in the second half and withstood a short surge by CC, winning the game by nine.

For CC:

Bulatovic 12 and 9, sitting good portions of the first half with two fouls.  Lambesis again chased him everywhere, doing a pretty good job on him.
Cook 10

For IWU:
Mitchell 14
Leritz 13 and 14
Lambesis 11 (worth his weight in gold, defensively)
Noe 10
Roper, a very nice first half, 10

The Titans keep it rolling, with NPU on Monday night, then @Millikin on Wednesday, and the big home game vs. Wheaton looming on Saturday, the 12th.  Could be the decisive game in the CCIW regular season race. 

A nice crowd at The Shirk, the Titan band always a joy, doing their thing to keep the atmosphere lively.  I greatly appreciate them. 

IWU'70

[HAMBO]

Augustana 91
North Park 60

Jalen Boyd: 16 pts
Izaiah Sanders: 12 pts, 3 stls
Gabe Johnson: 6 rebs, 3 stls

Luke Johnson: 28 pts (10-13 FG, 4-5 trey), 7 rebs, 4 stls
Daniel Carr: 16 pts, 18 rebs
Anthony Cooper: 11 pts (3-3 trey)
Mikey Hamilton: 6 rebs

Nothing to say about this one, other than to state the blindingly obvious fact that the wheels have completely come off for NPU.

Augie has a very good freshman class, pretty comparable to Carthage's.

Good point about the freshmen at both Augie and Carthage.  There are many good young players in the CCIW this year.  I believe Carroll has young talent and Millikin started 3 freshmen, 1 sophomore and 1 senior against Carroll.  The balance within the conference may last a while.

[Gregory Sager]

Two friends of mine, former North Park soccer player Chris Sitowski and former North Park basketball player and assistant coach Mark Pytel, run a podcast called The Sit and Py Show that also airs as a video livestream on Facebook. They interview various Illinois sports legends -- high school, collegiate, and professional -- and they've just released their latest edition, which is an interview with one of the CCIW's all-time greatest players, 1983 CCIW Most Outstanding Player Wayne Dunning of Millikin. Better known as Stunning Wayne Dunning, he was one of the most dominant figures I've ever seen at the D3 level. He was so good that during my student days, back when the North Park student section was a pack of hundreds of rabid wolves, Dunning actually caused us to start spontaneously chanting, "Transfer here! Transfer here!", because he simply tore up an outstanding Vikings team practically all by himself.

The interview is by turns funny, informative, and inspirational, and I think that any and every CCIW fan can appreciate it. (It's worth watching just to get a laugh out of hearing how Illinois Wesleyan used to cheat back in the days when the Titans played in Fred Young Fieldhouse. ) You'll get a real appreciation not just for Stunning Wayne Dunning, the Big Blue superstar of the early '80s, but for Bishop Wayne Dunning, pastor of the Faith Fellowship Christian Church and a leader in the Decatur community in meeting material needs and providing services to the less fortunate. And I'm sure that you'll also get some of the flavor of what Sit and Py bring to the table in their sports podcasts.

https://www.facebook.com/chris.sitowski.5/videos/1085783405321228

[markerickson]

Yesterday's NYT printed a glowing article on Ryan Turell and Yeshiva hoops.  Did anyone besides Titan Q watch the Titan beat-down of the Maccabees? Turell scored 22 and grabbed only five rebounds.  Not a great game for the NBA wannabe; he will play pro ball in Israel next year.  According to Coach Ron Rose, "Yeshiva is legit. I saw all the rhetoric about their strength of schedule. I don't buy it. There is no question they can compete at the highest level."