MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

When North Park beat Marian up in Fondue Lack during Thanksgiving week, Marquise Jackson scored 40 points on 18-25 shooting, making the only two treys he shot and two of the three FTs he attempted. I'm sure that all, or nearly all, of the other 16 shots he made were layups. Watching 'quise play against Marian was like watching a Roadrunner cartoon.

Trying to figure out if you purposely did that or the predictive text did that. Either way, hilarious.

The former. The residents of the lower Lake Winnebago basin clearly don't go in for Swiss hot-pot-dipping cuisine.

[kiko]

I noted it yesterday and thought 'What? they have plenty of cheese up there!'

And then I remembered that what is made in the fine communities surrounding Lake Winnebago is actually Kaukauna, which I would classify as "cheese" and which would most likely cause an international incident if used in a melting pot in Savoie, so, yeah.  Fondue Lack is pretty on point.

[Gregory Sager]

I really like the way that Elmhurst does Senior Night. John Baines takes the P.A. mic and says a few words about each senior, both as a player and person, as that senior walks onto the floor. It's a really nice way to personalize the event and emphasizes the value of each student-athlete.

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton holds off a couple of second-half runs by Elmhurst and defeats the 'jays at Faganel, 77-70, behind a huge game from TJ Askew. Wheaton thus clinches the championship outright and the #1 seed in the league tourney with it.

Illinois Wesleyan's Senior Night turned into yet another hang-around-but-fade-at-the-end performance by the Titans, as Carthage prevailed, 69-67, to clinch sole possession of third place.

Meanwhile, in a battle of also-rans, Carroll won its Senior Night, as Kobe Simpson's free throw with two seconds left in overtime proved the difference in an 81-80 win over Millikin. The Pioneers and the Big Blue thus finish in a tie for eighth.

[iwu70]

Carthage over IWU at The Shirk in another game the Titans should have won.  They are what they are . . .  mistakes in key moments, poor shooting (even around the rim) and not finishing out the game.   IWU finishes 12-13, perhaps the only losing regular season for Ron Rose in quite a few years.  I'm sure he's aged five years in this one year.   IWU I think goes up to Kenosha to play Carthage again for the first round CCIW tournament game Tuesday night.   Maybe they can finally get over the hump and finish out a game and get to Wheaton for the weekend.  My wishful thinking . . .

CC:
Nesbitt 18
Campbell 15
Johnson 14
Bulatovic 10

For IWU:
Mitchell, a great senior day performance, 23 and 11
Heflen 15
Wilmsen 9
Sroka 8 and 10

Nice to honor all the band members, cheerleaders and dance team seniors too. . . and say thanks and farewell at home to Seniors, Lucas Heflen and Cody Mitchell.  They've both been key parts of some pretty special moments in recent Titan basketball successes, just not so much this year. 

Perhaps we'll have "redemption" in the CCIW tournament.   

IWU'70

[kiko]

Wheaton holds off a couple of second-half runs by Elmhurst and defeats the 'jays at Faganel, 77-70, behind a huge game from TJ Askew. Wheaton thus clinches the championship outright and the #1 seed in the league tourney with it.

Illinois Wesleyan's Senior Night turned into yet another hang-around-but-fade-at-the-end performance by the Titans, as Carthage prevailed, 69-67, to clinch sole possession of third place.

Meanwhile, in a battle of also-rans, Carroll won its Senior Night, as Kobe Simpson's free throw with two seconds left in overtime proved the difference in an 81-80 win over Millikin. The Pioneers and the Big Blue thus finish in a tie for eighth.

So if I am doing the math right -- never a guarantee -- we will be seeing this:

1. Wheaton 14-2
2. North Park 12-3 plus tonight's result
3. Carthage 9-7
4. Elmhurst 8-8 (split with North Central; highest ranked win over Wheaton)
5. North Central 8-8
6. Illinois Wesleyan 7-9
-----
7. Augustana 5-10 plus tonight's result
8. Millikin 4-12 (split with Carroll; highest ranked win over NPU)
9. Carroll 4-12

[GoPerry]

Wheaton over Elmhurst at RA Faganel, 77-70

Congratulations to Coach Schauer and the Wheaton Thunder on the outright regular season CCIW title, their first in 14 years since the 2008-09 team.

Once again it was anyone's game with a tie score 5 mins left although not in the conventional way.  Wheaton led by as many as 13 points before Elmhurst, to their huge credit, chipped away and came all the way back.  You expect nothing less in this league.  But as in so many close contests this year, the Thunder were able to make the right plays and make the key basket – the Cruickshank trey with a minute left was a dagger.  Solid foul shooting down the stretch sealed it.

Cruickshank got into foul trouble early 7 mins into the game and set out the rest of the half.  But everybody stepped up to fill in including TJ Askew (28 pts, 7rebs, 3 blks) who had quite the game.  8/11 shooting and 5/7 from three.  Considine, Wiliams and Schiavello all ended up with double figures as did Cruickshank, 14pts in 23 mins of play.  Schnyders, Sock, and Braun all contributed very solid minutes.

Ocean Johnson led the Bluejays with 16 pts .  Ittounas had a very quiet 13, while Zapinski had 12 pts, 13 rebs and 3 blocks.

[Gregory Sager]

So if I am doing the math right -- never a guarantee -- we will be seeing this:

1. Wheaton 14-2
2. North Park 12-3 plus tonight's result
3. Carthage 9-7
4. Elmhurst 8-8 (split with North Central; highest ranked win over Wheaton)
5. North Central 8-8
6. Illinois Wesleyan 7-9
-----
7. Augustana 5-10 plus tonight's result
8. Millikin 4-12 (split with Carroll; highest ranked win over NPU)
9. Carroll 4-12

That's exactly right. The CCIW tourney will look like this:

Tuesday (@ higher seeds)
#6 Illinois Wesleyan @ #3 Carthage
#5 North Central @ #4 Elmhurst

Friday @ King Arena
highest remaining 3-6 seed vs. #2 North Park
lowest remaining 3-6 seed @ #1 Wheaton

Saturday @ King Arena
championship game

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 73
Augustana 65

Quillin Dixon: 19 pts (3-3 trey, 10-11 FT), 4 stls
Jalen Boyd: 15 pts (3-5 trey), 4 stls
Shamar Pumphrey: 4:2 a:to, 3 stls
Jordan Boyd: 3 stls, 3 blks
Marquise Jackson: 4 stls

Tyler Knuth: 19 pts (6-7 FT)
Anthony Cooper: 15 pts
Dan Carr: 14 rebs
Matt Hanushewsky: 4 stls

Another night of chaos ball, of course, but this time the chaos was often self-inflicted by North Park, as the Vikings were a lot sloppier than usual with the ball. The game thus ended up being closer than it should've been, given Augustana's talent deficit. But the Park did get one of their patented spurts to flip a 48-45 deficit into a 55-48 lead in the space of three minutes in the middle of the second half, and, although Augie did cut the margin back down to five a couple of times, NPU kept the lead safely in the 8-to-13 range from the seven-minute mark down to the final buzzer.

The Vikings finish the regular season 20-5, which is a pretty big deal; the program hasn't seen a 20-win season since Ronald Reagan was in the White House. And that stretch includes some very good North Park College teams in the late '80s and early '90s towards the end of the Bosko era that always flirted with 20 wins but never quite got there, as well as the Henry/Robinson/Lake/Cobbs CCIW co-champs in 2016-17, who only reached 18 wins that year before bowing out in the CCIW tourney semifinals and failing to make the D3 tourney field.

But the whole point of getting to 20 wins is to then move on to win #21, and the Vikings will now have the luxury of not having to play again until Friday in order to rest up and prepare to climb that next mountain.

Augustana? AC color commentator Dan Sand was brutally honest on tonight's broadcast about the fact that Augie just doesn't have the personnel to compete in this league right now, and that Tom Jessee ought to think about combing through the transfer portal list pretty thoroughly in the off-season. Augie gave a good accounting of itself tonight by staying competitive throughout most of the game, but "staying competitive throughout most of the game" is a far cry from what the Rock Islanders were doing to people in the Giovanine era, especially at Carver P.E. Center.

[GoPerry]

North Park 73
Augustana 65

Quillin Dixon: 19 pts (3-3 trey, 10-11 FT), 4 stls
Jalen Boyd: 15 pts (3-5 trey), 4 stls
Shamar Pumphrey: 4:2 a:to, 3 stls
Jordan Boyd: 3 stls, 3 blks
Marquise Jackson: 4 stls

Tyler Knuth: 19 pts (6-7 FT)
Anthony Cooper: 15 pts
Dan Carr: 14 rebs
Matt Hanushewsky: 4 stls

Another night of chaos ball, of course, but this time the chaos was often self-inflicted by North Park, as the Vikings were a lot sloppier than usual with the ball. The game thus ended up being closer than it should've been, given Augustana's talent deficit. But the Park did get one of their patented spurts to flip a 48-45 deficit into a 55-48 lead in the space of three minutes in the middle of the second half, and, although Augie did cut the margin back down to five a couple of times, NPU kept the lead safely in the 8-to-13 range from the seven-minute mark down to the final buzzer.

The Vikings finish the regular season 20-5, which is a pretty big deal; the program hasn't seen a 20-win season since Ronald Reagan was in the White House. And that stretch includes some very good North Park College teams in the late '80s and early '90s towards the end of the Bosko era that always flirted with 20 wins but never quite got there, as well as the Henry/Robinson/Lake/Cobbs CCIW co-champs in 2016-17, who only reached 18 wins that year before bowing out in the CCIW tourney semifinals and failing to make the D3 tourney field.

But the whole point of getting to 20 wins is to then move on to win #21, and the Vikings will now have the luxury of not having to play again until Friday in order to rest up and prepare to climb that next mountain.

Augustana? AC color commentator Dan Sand was brutally honest on tonight's broadcast about the fact that Augie just doesn't have the personnel to compete in this league right now, and that Tom Jessee ought to think about combing through the transfer portal list pretty thoroughly in the off-season. Augie gave a good accounting of itself tonight by staying competitive throughout most of the game, but "staying competitive throughout most of the game" is a far cry from what the Rock Islanders were doing to people in the Giovanine era, especially at Carver P.E. Center.

Congrats to the Vikings on a terrific 20 win campaign.  I would think that this, for sure, locks up a Pool C if they need it - unless there are a huge huge # of AQ upsets.

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to the Vikings on a terrific 20 win campaign.  I would think that this, for sure, locks up a Pool C if they need it - unless there are a huge huge # of AQ upsets.

Bob Quillman, who has been doing Pool C number-crunching practically every other hour over the past few days, has NPU as a Pool C lock now. I'm nervously awaiting Drew Pasteur's confirmation of that.

Thirty-three years without being asked to dance is a long, long, long time. I won't rest easy until I hear Brendan Gulick say the words "North Park"  and see them onscreen on the NCAA D3 MBB Selection Show a week from Monday.

[Gregory Sager]

Incidentally, Dan Carr crossed the threshold and became the 30th member of Augustana's Thousand Points Club this evening. I was happy to see that. I'm sure it made Senior Night more special for him, and maybe it took some of the sting out of enduring a disappointing season for his team.

[Stertorous Thunder]

Starting a new thread on my preferences/predictions for the 2022-2023 CCIW All-Conference Team...

The statistics are based on the conference-only statistics for the regular season, as published on the CCIW website.

My First Team:
- Tyson Cruickshank, Wheaton - 19.9 points/game (#1), 4.9 assists/game (#1), 6.1 rebounds/game (#8!), 34.2 minutes/game (#9)
- Matt Helwig, North Central - 19.4 points/game (#2), 6.2 rebounds/game (#7), 36.3 minutes/game (#3)
- Dan Carr, Augustana - 12.4 points/game (#16), 9.8 rebounds/game (#2)
- Filip Bulatovic, Carthage - 15.4 points/game (#4), 8.6 rebounds/game (#4), 4.5 assists/game (#2), 35.4 minutes/game (#5)
- Kolden Vanlandingham, North Park - 16.0 points/game (#3), 1.6 steals/game (#5)
- Shamar Pumphrey, North Park - 12.4 points/game (#17), 4.4 assists/game (#3), 2.8 steals/game (#1), 2.5 a/t ratio (#1)
- Cody Mitchell, Illinois Wesleyan - 15.4 points/game (#6), 10.2 rebounds/game (#1)
- TJ Askew, Wheaton - 14.5 points/game (#10), 6.2 rebounds/game (#6), 1.2 blocks/game (#4)

The first four players are outright locks for First Team honors and should be unanimous selections; each has been the undisputed leader of their team, has equaled or improved on last year's performance, and will be a repeat all-conference honoree.
I did a previous post on Tyson Cruickshank and little more can be said about his final season for the Thunder, which should earn a conference player-of-the-year trophy.
In the past few seasons, no opposing CCIW fan has ever felt comfortable with even a large lead against North Central, knowing that Matt Helwig has the ability to go into video game scoring mode and singlehandedly close the gap in minutes with shots that can rain down from anywhere on the floor.
If you lined up all of the league players for a playground game with captains, Dan Carr would be the first pick; there's just no one else like him.
And before you move on, take a moment to admire the senior year stat line for Bulatovic, who finished in the Top 4 in scoring, rebounding, and assists as the league's most versatile player; he was Second Team last season but couldn't have done more to earn a place on the First Team this time around.
The abundance of talent riches that is the North Park starting rotation has multiple candidates for First Team, but I'm going to say that Kolden Vanlandingham, the team's leading scorer, and Shamar Pumphrey, the conductor for the ludicrous-speed Vikings, are both potential unanimous vote-getters.
The fifth CCIW player on this year's Bevo Francis Award Top 100 watchlist was Cody Mitchell, which will likely earn the leader of the Titans a spot on the First Team, and perhaps unanimously in the real world.
TJ Askew was the second most important player on a loaded championship team for Wheaton, which gives him the final position on my First Team, but when the real voting happens there are a few players with legitimate cases to bump Askew down to Second Team.

The rest of the discussion gets even more interesting, and there are going to be several very good players snubbed because they fell outside of the top 16, both on my meaningless list here and the real-life one later.  I'll present my Second Team, followed by a list of some others that are worthy of discussion.

My Second Team:
- Antuan Nesbitt, Carthage - 4.2 assists/game (#4), 15.3 points/game (#7), 38.1 minutes/game (#1)
- Marquise Jackson, North Park - 2.9 assists/game (#6), 2.8 steals/game (#1)
- Mitch Lewis, North Central - 15.4 points/game (#5), 5.6 rebounds/game (#12)
- Lucas Heflen, Illinois Wesleyan - 14.6 points/game (#9), 35.8 minutes/game (#4)
- Ocean Johnson, Elmhurst - 13.5 points/game (#14), 6.5 rebounds/game (#5), 34.4 minutes/game (#7), 1.0 backboards broken (#1)
- Jonathan Zapinski, Elmhurst - 9.2 rebounds/game (#3), 2.8 blocks/game (#1, but like way ahead of everyone else)
- John Ittounas, Elmhurst - 14.5 points/game (#11), 2.8 assists/game (#7)
- AJ Johnson, Carthage - 14.0 points/game (#12), 36.8 minutes/game (#7)

If the season had ended a couple weeks ago, I might have placed Antuan Nesbitt on the First Team, but in the last few games his stats fell off pace while Askew came on strong.  Nesbitt led the conference in minutes and was everything you could want from a point guard running the league's most prolific offense; he's already a star and the sophomore should start planning now for how to make space in his home trophy case for many future honors.
Even in a conference talent pool this deep, North Park might earn a third piece of First Team hardware because on some nights Marquise Jackson looked like the best player on the court and every bit as good as his teammates in the backcourt.
I considered leaving Mitch Lewis off my list because he only played half of his team's season, but these are the all-conference awards and he did play in 13 of 16 conference games, where no one was more valuable on a per minute basis in his limited floor time.  Lewis did not have one of the best 16 overall seasons among conference players, but he was a dominating force within conference play, so he makes my fake ballot; it will be interesting to see how the real voters handle his case.
On many nights, Lucas Heflen was arguably the most important player on the floor wearing green, where his voluminous three-point attempts opened up the lane for the big men in the post and old-fashioned Titan basketball.
Elmhurst is an interesting team because their top four players could realistically be ranked in just about any order.  Wesley Hooker was a Second Team honoree last season and put together a solid campaign this year, but Ocean Johnson was usually their best player and Zapinski was an all-nation shot-blocking nightmare, all while Ittounas spearheaded the offense and led the team in scoring.  You could make a case that three spots for the fourth place Blue Jays is already too many, so if Hooker is the odd man out of a foursome in real-world voting, he probably shouldn't complain too loudly.
AJ Johnson was a lock for the Second Team earlier in the season as the much-needed second scoring option for the Firebirds, but some others surged ahead of him as the season wrapped up, including his own teammates Antuan Nesbitt and Luther Campbell.  I still gave him my final place, mostly because I was torn on how to split the vote for the Boyd brothers (see below) and didn't want to put five NPU players on the all-conference squads while other teams only had two or three.  In real life, I don't think Johnson will be an honoree, but he's another rising star who will likely be under consideration in future seasons.

Other Notables:
- Nick Schiavello, Wheaton
- Jalen Boyd, North Park - 11.5 points/game (#20)
- Jordan Boyd, North Park - 5.6 rebounds/game (#11), 1.3 blocks/game (#3), 1.9 steals/game (#3)
- Wesley Hooker, Elmhurst - 11.9 points/game (#18), 1.6 steals/game (#4)
- Ethan Helwig, North Central
- JT Welch, Millikin - 14.6 points/game (#8)
- Aaron Wafford, Carroll - 12.6 points/game (#15)

Nick Schiavello did win a CCIW student-athlete of the week award and had a great season as Wheaton's third scoring option, but I don't believe that even his defensive contributions will get him onto the podium in a conference this deep.
As a previous honoree, Jalen Boyd might get some real-world votes for the Second Team, but there's a case to be made that Jordan Boyd had as valuable a season.  The brothers had interestingly dissimilar stat lines but both were steady post presences anchoring the guard-centric Vikings.  I ran out of spaces on the Second Team and didn't find room for either of them.
It feels odd that only two North Central players might be honored, but Ethan Helwig will get his accolades in the future, especially when he no longer has to share offensive touches with his older brother.  The Cardinals' depth and ability to spread around their offensive attack left them short on additional candidates for individual honors this year.
An argument for JT Welch or Aaron Wafford would be to reward a player who shouldered the burden of playing without the support of a stronger team, yet still showed up on the conference statistics leaderboards - especially Welch, who is seemingly within his shooting range once he passes midcourt.  But despite having fine seasons as their team's MVP, I can't say that any Millikin or Carroll players performed at a level above the third or fourth best player on one of the conference leading teams this year.

- Stertorous "Tor" Thunder

[iwu70]

Greg, rest easy, I think NPU is now a lock for Pool C, if not winning the CCIW tournament.  A great season of quick, chaos basketball.   Fun to watch.  Wheaton will be tough to beat at home.   

Here we go -- IWU vs. Carthage . . . again.

'70

[voxelmhurst]

I really like the way that Elmhurst does Senior Night. John Baines takes the P.A. mic and says a few words about each senior, both as a player and person, as that senior walks onto the floor. It's a really nice way to personalize the event and emphasizes the value of each student-athlete.

Agree. I don't know how widespread this practice is, but I'm glad Baines and Elmhurst make the effort to not just go through the motions. One Elmhurst senior that won't get discussed much outside the team is Myles Thomas, who is finishing up a four year career at Elmhurst. He only became a regular part of the rotation this year, and even then never saw big minutes, but I've never not seen him give anything less than 100% each time he's on the court. I'm glad that players like him can have their contributions recognized in moments like we saw yesterday from Coach Baines.