MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[duckfan41]

Best of luck to Wheaton and North Park tomorrow. Tough games for both, but crazy things happen in March!

[mr_b]

Here is a link to yesterday's article in the Chicago Sun-Times on North Park's season so far:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/3/9/23631072/north-park-university-chicagos-college-basketball-team-nobody-has-been-following-it

[Stertorous Thunder]

Wheaton beats USJ 74-67 in a well-played classic.  The Blue Jays held Tyson Cruickshank to 9 points, which was fifth most for Wheaton, but the rest of the team stepped up to fill in the scoring gaps.  Andrew Williams (23 points) hustled and did other Andrew Williams things (15 of 15 free throws!) and Nate Sock (15 points) picked an opportune time to have his greatest collegiate game, while Nick Schiavello (13 points) and TJ Askew (12 points) rounded out most of the noteworthy contributions.

15 of 15 at the line is incredible, but my second favorite stat of the game was that both TJ Askew and Nate Sock had more blocks (3) than personal fouls (2).

[GoPerry]

Wheaton Thunder   74
St Joseph's (CT) BlueJays  67

Andrew Williams  23 pts, 7 rebs
Nate Sock  15 pts, 4 rebs, 3 blks
Nick Schiavello  13 pts, 6 rebs
TJ Askew 12 pts, 6 rebs

Delshawn Jackson Jr  22 pts,
Jaecee Martin 11 pts, 5 rebs
Alec Kinder  9 pts, 12 rebs

The Thunder got so many contributions up and down the lineup to get this huge win over an excellent BlueJays team.  When Cruickshank picked up his 2nd foul 2 minutes into the game (can't do that!), there was some definite nervousness and tentative play out of Wheaton.  But first it was Askew making some great moves to the basket to keep Wheaton in the game.  Nate Sock played an excellent game, making some huge treys, playing great defense and blocking shots.  Schiavello was quiet in the first half but gave the team a huge lift and the lead by nailing two three pointers in a row.  And then, of course, Andrew Williams off the bench just came up huge with hustle and closing out the game from the free throw line.

It was a great ball game to watch.  Congrats to St Joseph's on their terrific season. 

C'mon North Park!  Let's keep the conference rolling!

[Gregory Sager]

That game in Virginia today was a real coming-out party for Nate Sock. This is the first time he's shown me that he's capable of stepping up and being the man for Wheaton next year alongside Schiavello.

[Stertorous Thunder]

That game in Virginia today was a real coming-out party for Nate Sock. This is the first time he's shown me that he's capable of stepping up and being the man for Wheaton next year alongside Schiavello.

I agree and I can't have been the only person asking why Williams, Schnyders, or Braun wasn't taking Eli Considine's spot in the starting lineup. Sock is ninth in minutes played for the Thunder this year, but he's apparently done some amazing work in practice through the season and it's been fun to see that pay off.

[Dr. Acula]

One half in very impressed w North Park, especially their guards.  I've watched most Mount games and the best I've seen for sure.  Gonna be a battle.

[Wildcat]

North Park couldn't shoot tonight. Free throws hurt and they lost any discipline they had.

[Gregory Sager]

Mount Union 102
North Park 85

Marquise Jackson: 21 pts
Adam Bulwa: 15 pts
Shamar Pumphrey: 13 pts, 3:0 a:to
Jordan Boyd: 10 pts, 6 rebs
Kolden Vanlandingham: 10 pts

The Vikings ran into a buzzsaw tonight. A Jalen Boyd trey with seven minutes to go in the first half capped off one of North Park's patented quick runs, this one three minutes in duration and spanning a 12-1 pro-NPU stretch on the scoreboard that put the Park up, 39-26. I didn't get too up about it. I knew that Mount Union is a very, very good team, that this was likely to be a game of runs, and that the Raiders would punch back.

Well, they punched back, and punched back, and then after going into the locker room with a nine-point lead, they came out in the second half and commenced punching again. The Raiders played a picture-perfect game at both ends, with a .541/.455/.788 shooting line, while North Park simply grew more and more frustrated, which led to the sort of sloppiness, predictability, and bad decisions with the ball that they've induced in so many of their own opponents this season. It was definitely a taste-of-your-own-medicine kind of game for the Park. The late Vikings run near the end of the game was merely cosmetic; this game was over three-quarters of the way through it.

The Vikings were simply beaten by a better team tonight. It happens. Having the words NORTH PARK printed on the front of your jersey has never made you immune to losing in March; it's happened on six previous occasions over the years, after all. As I said on Twitter, I'd wish Mount Union good luck, but they clearly don't need it ... especially since Randolph-Macon went down in flames this evening.

[Gregory Sager]

If there's any consolation, it's that at least losing thoroughly to a great team doesn't produce any regrets or second-guessing, or post-game anguish of any kind. I feel nothing besides gratitude tonight. This season was a magical ride. I had no expectations coming into the school year, just a slender reed of hope that John Born's new hire wouldn't turn out to be a monumental mistake, and that the Vikings wouldn't embarrass themselves as badly as they had been doing throughout the post-Henry/Robinson era.

Well, does anybody still think that John Born's new hire as NPU head men's basketball coach was a mistake?

And did this Vikings season turn out to be an embarrassment?

As I said, I feel nothing besides gratitude tonight. After such a fantastic regular season and memorable CCIW tournament sweep, the Sweet Sixteen run was gravy. As badly as I wanted to see the Vikings go further, the truth is that they were playing with house money. This season was a resounding, amazing success long before the Vikings took the court at the McPherson Center in Alliance this evening.

To Jordan, Jalen, 'quise, Jacob, and (maybe) Adam and Karl: Thanks. Thanks for everything you did to turn this thing around and turn it back into the beast that it was once and could still be again, and the very best wishes for each of you in everything you do going forward once President Surridge hands you that diploma. To Shamar, Kolden, QD, Davante, Lance, and the rest of the crew ... I will see you guys around. Most likely you'll be sprinting when I see you, because I know what it takes for you guys to get into the kind of game shape demanded by that crazy, fun style of ball Sean's got you playing.

To Sean, Ed, Lou, and Mark: Job well done. No, job more than well done. Fantastic job! But the work continues. In order to feed the beast that you've brought back from the dead, you need some new ingredients. From what I've seen of what you guys are doing on the recruiting trail, there are an awful lot of good things ahead that are now right on the horizon for North Park hoops. Resounding, amazing things.

To the rest of you CCIW folks: Consider this season a warning.

North Park is back.

[USee]

Watching Mt Union I couldn't help but think this is where NPU is headed. The Purple Raiders play a similar up tempo style as the Vikings and simply had better players doing it. If NPU recruits well this is the type of result we will begin to see. Scary stuff.

Congrats to the Thunder for the elite 8. Mike Schauer has done perhaps his very best work with this team. The pieces he has put on the floor and the player development of the role players has been a pleasure to watch. Here's praying for another final 4.

[GoPerry]

Congrats to the Thunder for the elite 8. Mike Schauer has done perhaps his very best work with this team. The pieces he has put on the floor and the player development of the role players has been a pleasure to watch. Here's praying for another final 4.

I agree that Schauer has been excellent putting the pieces together this year.  Somehow, the Thunder lost Considine and have still been able to get to the elite eight.  Cruickshank was not a major factor in this game.  But that is a classic example of how the sum of the parts of this Thunder squad is adding up to much more.

Congrats to North Park on a great season and a great run.

[kiko]

After seeing NPU play a couple of times now, several things are pretty clear:
- The talent level has been SIGNIFICANTLY upgraded from seasons past. They are clearly one of the Top 4 most talented teams in the CCIW. They might be the most overall athletic team in the league.
- They play really hard. Only Elmhurst (of the last few years) plays harder/more aggressive than the Vikes.
- They are "old" and play like it - patient, physical, and willing to attack matchups one on one.
- There will be nights when Marquise Jackson is the best player in the league and nights when he's "playing for the other team" (will absolutely kill the Vikes with selfish and out of control play).
- The light blue "Chicago" uniforms (which plenty of people don't like) are fine - they WILL take a while for people to get used to.
- This will be a VERY hard team for NPU fans to like - loud, obnoxious, undisciplined and willing to tell you how good they are and how much you suck. This team is such an outlier in NPU/CCIW norms that it will be shocking to most people.
- I watched 4 players warm up with headphones on and their best player spend the entire pre-game warming up in an undershirt/t-shirt (only to put his jersey on just prior to starting lineup introductions on the bench). These guys watch WAAAAAAAY too many NBA games and think they can do this as well (for the record - NBA players are allowed to do that up to 30 minutes prior to tip-off... then they are fined after that).
- HC Sean Smith has assembled a squad players (3 of whom have been  - in addition to several other transfers) that will require strong discipline and leadership...things that a majority of 1st head coaches struggle with.
- NPU can easily finish 2nd, 3rd, or 4th in the conference race this season.

I'm just going to repost this nonsense because I can be petty like that. 

Congrats to the Vikings on a great season.  The CCIW is a better men's basketball conference when there is a vibrant program at Foster and Kedzie.

[mr_b]

Watching Mt Union I couldn't help but think this is where NPU is headed. The Purple Raiders play a similar up tempo style as the Vikings and simply had better players doing it. If NPU recruits well this is the type of result we will begin to see. Scary stuff.

I agree.  Mount is a well-oiled machine that did everything well last night.  I would not be at all surprised to see the Raiders hoist the trophy at the end of the tournament.

[Greek Tragedy]

Seems like NPU loses a lot from this year's team. None of the seniors listed are returning for a 5th/Covid year?