MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

IWU 75
Illinois College 70

* Andrew Gillmore: 19 pts, 4 assists
* Zach Freeman: 18 pts, 8 reb
* Andrew Freeman: 14 pts, 13 reb
* Darius Gant: 11 pts, 13 reb

http://www.iwu.edu/~iwunews/sports/mbb2007/iwumbb3.htm

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/11/22/sports/doc4563e6d429adb965331763.txt


IWU didn't play well vs the Blueboys by any stretch, but to some degree it just comes down to shooting the basketball, and IWU didn't shoot it well last night.  The Titans were a miserable 5-24 from 3-pt territory.  Andrew Freeman is a lot better 3-pt shooter than 1-7...Tyler Smith better than 1-6...and Andrew Gilmore better than 2-7.  I'm not sure this game needs to be broken down anymore than to say that had the Titans made 4-5 more of those wide open 3's, it would have been a much different game.  From where I sat, I saw a lot of Titans playing very tentative in their first home game in front of the Shirk Center crowd (1800)...with this many inexperienced players, I guess that is to be expected to some extent.

You also have to give a lot of credit to Illinois College.  At 60-48 with 6:41 to play, they certainly could have headed for Thanksgiving break.  Instead they played very hard and made 6 3-pointers from that point on.  Last year the Blueboys played a bunch of freshmen -- now those guys are sophomores.  IC looked a lot better to me than the team I saw last year in Jacksonville.

Yesterday IWU learned that it has lost two members of the rotation.  Freshman point-guard Sean Dwyer suffered a broken foot vs Whitewater and is out two months.  Back-up post player Jason Bloom - who was unable to play at Whitewater - has a stress fracture in his leg and will miss about a month.  IWU's already thin rotation became much thinner.  Dwyer  is a very good back-up point-guard and actually made quite a push to start for this team -- they will really miss him in there.  The good news is that 6-6 Brian Nussbaum played in the JV game last night vs IC and played pretty well (16 pts).  As soon as he is in basketball shape he will become part of the varsity rotation...if that bum shoulder cooperates.

One positive is that IWU's frontline of Andrew Freeman (13 reb.), Darius Gant (13 reb.), and Zach Freeman (8 reb.) continues to rebound the heck out of the basketball.  As I've said a few times, this is the most athletic frontline I've seen in a while.

As I said on WJBC last night, we're going to see this from IWU quite a bit in the early going -- one night they will look great and the next they won't.  It is an entire new cast - and a new coach - still going through that feeling out process.  The great thing is that they will get a ton of good tests.  Next up is a good Ohio Wesleyan team on a neutral court and with a win, DePauw, on their floor.  Then the two NAIA's, St. Xavier and Olivet Nazarene, followed by UAA's Wash U and Chicago.  The good schedule will really help this IWU team.

[und63]

IWU (in their 3rd game) beating traditionally weak Illinois College (in their opener) by only 5 points gives me pause.  Anyone got some details?  Did the Titans just mail it in?

Hey, everyone comes into the Shirk looking to beat the Titans!  I saw an Illinos College team MUCH better than past years.  Plus, the lack of depth now even larger with 2 main subs out means others need to step up and I saw that in Gant, Gilmore and down the line.  These pre-conference games are only going to toughen the whole squad.

Even teams on salt peter get it up for the Titans!!!

GO GREEN!  (ans I'm having green kool ade again this a.m.)

[TitanBacker]

Titan Q or others close to the program-

Is Elias Washington still a part of the basketball team or is he strictly moving to track and field?  I'm curious to know how he's doing because he's from the same hometown and played for the basketball coach that I played for in the past.

I had heard that he was a very good player and was wndering if Coach Rose was going to give him a chance with the thinning line up or let him learn on JV?

GO TITANS!

[Titan Q]

Elias Washington scored 18 in the JV game last night.

[TitanBacker]

Elias Washington scored 18 in the JV game last night.

Thanks Q, good to know that he's playing well.

[Late nite]

Right on the money with the Augie game---Much better competition this ball game---Great positioning by the bigs, but point blank shots were missed---If the Vikes continue to get those looks, they'll be tough to stop---Pre-season question marks about guard play are being answered

Kind of a lackluster win for Augie Tuesday night over Beloit (69-52). Guards played great. Big guys were not very good. Wessels, Delp and Brusveen carried the Vikes. Wessels with his defense and running the offense. Delp and Brusveen knocking down three's and both playing well on the defensive end also. I thought Augie ran their offense pretty well, getting the shots they wanted all night. The problem was none of their big guys could make a shot. Tons of missed layups and they also had trouble hanging onto the ball. The majority of their 23 turnovers were by the big guys. Just not a very good night for their front court players. Headin' to work now. More later...

[albcard]

According to last rankings, there are only 3 out 8 CCIW teams that have not recevied any votes. The rest look like this:

NCC - 19th
Augie - 24th
IWU - 28th
Wheaton - 36th
Elmhurst - 45th

That's impressive. Right?

[dansand]

Augie wasn't the only CCIW team whose big men apparently took the night off, Dan. Didja take a gander at that Elmhurst @ St. Norbert box? Starting guards Brian Lee and Ryan Burks scored 41 of Elmhurst's 56 points. Each recorded 18 shot attempts from the field. Big men Nick Michael and Brent Ruch, who are supposed to be the best asset the Bluejays have this year, only went 3-7 and 1-6 from the field, respectively. You'd think that Elmhurst, for all its talk of playing uptempo this season, would be pounding it into the post now that injuries have forced the 'jays to play walk-it-up-the-floor. What's more, they only had eight rebounds between the two of them.

The other five 'jays who played (Jay Brizzolara, Chris Childs, Mark Aloisio, and Jared Hintzsche) scored a grand total of five points in 79 combined minutes of play. Very unusual stat line for Elmhurst, to say the least. But, hey, when you're on the road a win's a win.

I was surprised by the closeness of the Elmhurst-St. Norbert game last night. What was a bigger surprise, though, is that Michael and Ruch had such off nights. Having just seen the Green Knights at Augie the other night, they are very small. They only played three guys over 6-2 (two started) and none taller than 6-5. I see that they got 6-6 Tom Katzfey back against the Bluejays, but he only had 3 points and 2 boards in 26 minutes. I still would've expected the 'Jay big men to dominate. I said after Augie's win that I was impressed with the Green Knights freshman point guard Tony Jandron and it looks like he played even better against Elmhurst. Although a little short on talent right now, I think Grzesk's team will fare better than people expect in the MWC...or maybe not...what the heck do I know?

As far as Augie's performance last night. All of their front court guys just looked frustrated all night. Dain Swetalla scored the game's first basket and couldn't buy one the rest of the night. One thing I've noticed in the first two games is that he's totally abandoned the jump hook he was using so effectively late last year. I'm a big proponent of all big men developing some kind of hook shot or any kind of shot that keeps the shooters' body between the ball and defender. Dain had that going late last year, but so far this year he's gone with either a bull rush to the hoop or the fadeaway jumper. I'm not too worried about it, he'll come around. I'm just a little curious as to why he hasn't used what had been a very effective weapon.

Shaun Rose looked like he was playing in fifth gear all game last night. He just needs to slow down a little and he'll be fine as well. Like I said earlier, the guards played great. Not just shooting the ball, but running the offense and on the defensive end as well. Delp and Brusveen are both very confident shooters. However, when they're out of the lineup at the same time, Nate Swetalla is the only other threat from behind the arc.

While I was a little disappointed in last night's performance, I felt a little better after seeing that Elmhurst and IWU were less than dominant as well.
They're looking at a big step up in competition Sunday with Washington U. I'm looking forward to seeing how they do.

[veterancciwfan]

Apparently the league office is assigning referees for all nonconf. games in addition to the league games. I wonder why? The refs at the Shirk last night I think came from Milwaukee, or at least one of them was. Why does the league assign refs from so far away to travel to central IL? They get paid a flat $140 and no mileage (I think), so why would a ref from Milwaukee want to travel all the way to Bloomington for $140 with expensive gasoline prices? Not only were the refs late, they weren't very good. There are better local college refs available in central IL than the ones who showed up at the Shirk last night. Is Chris Martin a control freak or did the CCIW ADs want the league to schedule the nonconf. officials? I know I have loaded this post with a lot of questions. Hopefully, someone can supply the answers.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU set three school records last night:

* Fewest points allowed, 31 (previous record was 33, set in a 58-33 North Park win over Elmhurst in 1977-78)

* Fewest FGs allowed, 10 (previous record was 12, set in a 67-37 North Park win over Carroll in 1985-86)

* Lowest FG pct. by an opponent, .217 (previous record was .229, set in a 65-42 win over Rockford in 1961-62)

Congratulations, Vikings! It's a heck of an accomplishment to break any mark in the NPU record book, let alone three in the same night!

Although a little short on talent right now, I think Grzesk's team will fare better than people expect in the MWC...or maybe not...what the heck do I know?

I've said several times on Posting Up that Gary Grzesk's 2005-06 Lakeland team ran the best motion offense that I've seen in years. The man can coach. To me, it's not a question of if St. Norbert will contend for the MWC title in the next three or four years; it's a question of when.

[AndOne]

Greg,

I hereby retract my "first two" statement!

But if you aspire to compete in the CCIW, you SHOULD blow-out CUC (CURF, whoever!)

Oh, I absolutely agree. But the point is that "aspire to compete" is a three-word combination that nobody in their right mind would've attributed to the Vikings over the past four seasons.

Believe me, I'm not overestimating tonight's result in terms of where it places NPU in the CCIW's scheme of things. I'm not predicting that this team will be the second coming of Harper/Thomas/Greer & Co., or even that they'll necessarily finish in the CCIW's first division. What I am saying is that the 2006-07 Vikings squad will be able to compete, night-in and night-out, in this league -- and that's something that they haven't been able to do for far too long. The program is taking some serious steps forward, and that's all any of us Vikings fans can ask for.

GS----

I agree completely. I also am not ready to say NPU will even finish in the upper half of the CCIW. However, they definately seem to have made some nice strides to the point where if a team thinks, as in years past, "oh, we play NPU tonight so all we have to do for a win is show up," they will certainly be in for a bad surprise.

I saw NPU play all summer and I think anyone who knows basketball, and who was paying attention, could see the seeds of a team beginning to grow up beginning as far back as the summer league games.

Lastly, I wouldn't be surprised if NPU beats Illinois College by more than IWU did, the difference being there defensive quickness.

[Gregory Sager]

Lastly, I wouldn't be surprised if NPU beats Illinois College by more than IWU did, the difference being there defensive quickness.

I hope you're right, AO, although this will most likely not be an easy road trip for NPU by any stretch of the imagination. That's a four-hour busride from Foster & Kedzie all the way down to Alabama Jacksonville, Illinois. 

[AndOne]

Apparently the league office is assigning referees for all nonconf. games in addition to the league games. I wonder why? The refs at the Shirk last night I think came from Milwaukee, or at least one of them was. Why does the league assign refs from so far away to travel to central IL? They get paid a flat $140 and no mileage (I think), so why would a ref from Milwaukee want to travel all the way to Bloomington for $140 with expensive gasoline prices? Not only were the refs late, they weren't very good. There are better local college refs available in central IL than the ones who showed up at the Shirk last night. Is Chris Martin a control freak or did the CCIW ADs want the league to schedule the nonconf. officials? I know I have loaded this post with a lot of questions. Hopefully, someone can supply the answers.

I don't know about the league office assigning refs for nonconf games in addition to conf. However, a possible reason for a ref having to travel a fair distance to a game  is that I have heard a (CCIW) coach can "blackball" 2 conference refs a year from his team's games. Lets say, for example, Bosko feels 2 refs had it in for him last season. He can request the league office not assign those 2 refs to any Carthage games this year. Due to this, the league may sometimes have to be creative when it assigns refs to games involving CCIW teams. Also, I wonder if the league office would admit this?

[petemcb]

NPU set three school records last night:

* Fewest points allowed, 31 (previous record was 33, set in a 58-33 North Park win over Elmhurst in 1977-78)

* Fewest FGs allowed, 10 (previous record was 12, set in a 67-37 North Park win over Carroll in 1985-86)

* Lowest FG pct. by an opponent, .217 (previous record was .229, set in a 65-42 win over Rockford in 1961-62)

Congratulations, Vikings! It's a heck of an accomplishment to break any mark in the NPU record book, let alone three in the same night!

Greg, congratulations on the Viking accomplishments.  You're a loyal and fair fan who has offered congratulations to other teams (including your team's most intense, longest-standing rivals: the "Sonic Atmosphere Disturbance") consistently over the last few "dark years".  Enjoy this season and, hopefully, this program turnaround.  It would be great for the CCIW as well.

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks, Pete!