MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[USee]

And 16%-20% improvement certainly qualifies for the adjective "much".

No comment   

[WUPHF]

Yeah, earache or not, that remark cracked me up. Whereas some teams in that situation would waste time, energy, and advantage by prematurely celebrating, Wheaton, to its credit, got back on defense quickly and was all business in the wake of Cruickshank's decisive trey from the right corner. There was no need at all to call them out to calm down. Whether he did so consciously or not, the Wheaton color commentator was either trying to talk down his partner from his amplified bliss, or talk himself down from Cloud Nine in the midst of what was still a game that was up for grabs.

The more complete and astute version of the story, for sure.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park men's basketball back in the national conversation.

Of course, this is still a rather tentative assertion. I get the feeling that at this point one bad loss will make people forget about the Vikings all over again. The only way to avoid it for NPU is to keep on winning.

[Pat Coleman]

Cool story -- I think the eight coaches and eight SIDs who vote would be surprised to learn they vote in "the media poll," however!

[Next Man Up]

In Platteville:

UW Platteville 65, North Central 55

Platteville:
Ben Probst with 23
Logan Pearson with 13
Brad Nies with 10

North Central:
Matt Helwig with 18
Mitch Lewis with 10 in his Cardinal debut

This was a tale of two halves.  North Central led by 5 at the break.

Shooting in the first half:
North Central 45% and 33% from three
Platteville 39% and 37% from three

Shooting in the second half:
North Central 30% and 26%
Platteville 54% and 30%

North Central is definitely a hot-and-cold shooting team this year; absent a change in this, they will (and have) lose some games they should win and may punch up a time or two as well.

As noted above, Mitch Lewis made his debut tonight and he will be a nice piece for the Sons of Warden this year.  I presume from his knee brace that his earlier absence was due to injury.  He's got a decent shooting touch and from my POV, his game is best described as Old Man At The YMCA, which is honestly not a bad game to have.

Following the 2016-2017 season, Mitch Lewis was named suburban Basketball Player of The Year. However, he elected to play D1 football at Miami of Ohio. He redshirted in 2017-2018, and played in 2 games in 2018-2019. In 2019-2020, he transferred home to Illinois State where he played in 12 games. With Covid, no football was played in fall 2020, and he missed the spring 2021 season with an injury. In fall 2021 he played in the first five games before suffering a season ending injury. He then enrolled at NCC this fall.

While his previous knee injury (thus the current brace) was still somewhat of a problem when school first started, and shortly thereafter, (he was unable to participate in open gym) he has been medically cleared to play for some weeks now. Rather, the delay was due to the NCAA dragging it's feet and taking an inordinate length of time to review the documents they had requested that pertained to Mitch's eligibility status. These documents had been provided several weeks ago, but were evidently not a high priority on the NCAA's to do list. With the recently completed eligibility review of course finding no irregularities, Mitch was finally cleared to begin yesterday.

[npbaseball40]

Cool story -- I think the eight coaches and eight SIDs who vote would be surprised to learn they vote in "the media poll," however!

Whoops, good time for me to stop by and see this. Corrected.

Also, my two cents before I fade into the abyss again... As someone that sees NPU teams nearly every day, this is the most energized, passionate, and talented men's basketball team I've seen in six seasons. They're going to ruffle some feathers for sure - if not for the wins and losses - for the way they play with a chip on their shoulder and don't bow down to teams that expect them to wave the white flag before warmups conclude.

Dare I say, they're "much improved"...

Best of luck to everyone and specific kudos to all of you spreading the good news, as it comes out, about NPU hoops.

[sac]

North Park led at Hope by 2 with 7:45 to play before a sort of poor stretch at both ends cost them a chance at that win, otherwise North Park could pretty easily be 7-0.

[USee]

Having seen NPU play this season count me among the believers that this team is CCIW tourney bound at least, barring unforeseen injuries. They have been impressive.

[Gregory Sager]

Last night Elmhurst traveled over to the other side of the lake and snapped its two-game losing skid by pulling away in the second half to an 81-61 win over Kalamazoo. Wesley Hooker, Ocean Johnson, and John Ittounas all scored in double figures with 22, 17, and 13, respectively, while Jonathan Zapinski dominated the paint with 11 rebounds and 5 blocks.

In the other midweek non-con game, Augustana fell at Dubuque by a 65-59 score. Dan Carr got his usual double-double (22 and 12 this time), while Tyler Knuth contributed 13 points.

This Saturday:

Augustana (2-6, 1-1) @ North Park (6-1, 2-0), 4:15 pm
Carthage (5-1, 1-0) @ Millikin (6-3, 0-2), 4:15 pm
Carroll (2-7) @ UW-River Falls (3-5), 6 pm
North Central (4-4, 1-1) @ Illinois Wesleyan (4-3, 2-0), 7:15 pm
Elmhurst (6-2, 0-2) @ Wheaton (7-1, 1-0), 7:15 pm

[Gregory Sager]

Massey sez:

North Park 73, Augustana 72 (NPU 50%, AC 50%)
Millikin 72, Carthage 70 (MU 53%, CC 47%)
Illinois Wesleyan 74, North Central 68 (IWU 68%, NCC 32%)
Wheaton 75, Elmhurst 72 (WC 57%, EU 43%)

Massey's current CCIW ratings:

    7. Wheaton (SOS #73)
  22. Elmhurst (SOS #98)
  23. Illinois Wesleyan (SOS #2)
  38. North Park (SOS #38)
  54. Carthage (SOS #129)
  66. North Central (SOS #27)
  77. Millikin (SOS #117)
118. Augustana (SOS #13)
222. Carroll (SOS #115)

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Massey sez:

North Park 73, Augustana 72 (NPU 50%, AC 50%)
Millikin 72, Carthage 70 (MU 53%, CC 47%)
Illinois Wesleyan 74, North Central 68 (IWU 68%, NCC 32%)
Wheaton 75, Elmhurst 72 (WC 57%, EU 43%)

Massey's current CCIW ratings:

    7. Wheaton (SOS #73)
  22. Elmhurst (SOS #98)
  23. Illinois Wesleyan (SOS #2)
  38. North Park (SOS #38)
  54. Carthage (SOS #129)
  66. North Central (SOS #27)
  77. Millikin (SOS #117)
118. Augustana (SOS #13)
222. Carroll (SOS #115)

It's a 100% certainty that these predictions are wrong... SUBSTANTIALLY wrong.

[petemcb]

OK, are we getting schnookered or is the tweet of Aiden Chang announcing himself as the new president of NCC a legit thing?! I feel like we were all lamenting his tragic injury and remarkable comeback just a few years ago so he does have a history of unbelievable accomplishments, but this?

[Gregory Sager]

OK, are we getting schnookered or is the tweet of Aiden Chang announcing himself as the new president of NCC a legit thing?! I feel like we were all lamenting his tragic injury and remarkable comeback just a few years ago so he does have a history of unbelievable accomplishments, but this?

I think it's plain that one body part Aiden Chang never injured was his funnybone. Anyone who thinks otherwise clearly does not order pizza from the Naperville Domino's.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

OK, are we getting schnookered or is the tweet of Aiden Chang announcing himself as the new president of NCC a legit thing?! I feel like we were all lamenting his tragic injury and remarkable comeback just a few years ago so he does have a history of unbelievable accomplishments, but this?

He isn't of the correct gender to satisfy NCC's diversity push.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 70
Augustana 59

Kolden Vanlandingham: 30 pts
Shamar Pumphrey: 12 pts, 5:2 a:to, 4 stls
Jalen Boyd: 12 pts
Jordan Boyd: 10 pts, 6 rebs, 4 stls, 3 blks

Dan Carr: 25 pts, 17 rebs

This was a toothache of a game for thirty minutes, as Augie dictated the pace. Their slowing down North Park's preferred tempo led to a lot of rushed shots for Sean's boys that didn't go in, even at the rim, as North Park fruitlessly tried to speed up the game. But the fact that NPU still led by a point at intermission was testimony to how tough the Park defends.

It remained a see-saw game well into the second half until NPU's drive-and-kick game got going, with Vanlandingham dropping bombs from the right corner and Jordan Boyd taking interior dishes and finishing effectively at the rim.

NPU goes into the new year 3-0 in CCIW play, and that's alright by me.