MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Wow, what a performance by Wheaton! 

I was really hoping Kent Raymond was going to take that final shot.  Credit Northwestern for keeping it out of his hands.

This is a pretty good league, ya know that!?

Exactly! As I said before, whenever a D3 team does well against a D1 team it turns some of the scoffers out there into believers as far as D3 ball is concerned. Better still when it's a CCIW team, especially when the game's against a D1 in our own backyard.

Well done, Wheaton!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

So are you calling Bob a "scoffer" because that actually made me laugh out loud.

[Gregory Sager]

So are you calling Bob a "scoffer" because that actually made me laugh out loud.

Huh? I don't see where you're getting that. I was referring to this post I made the other day:

I'm certainly hoping that Wheaton gives a good accounting of itself against Northwestern next week. There will more than likely be 3,000+ people in Welsh-Ryan Arena that night who, like most basketball fans, scoff at D3. That means that there's probably going to be 3,000+ who might reconsider their opinion of D3 men's basketball, and the CCIW in particular, if Wheaton gives the Wildcats a good game.

[markerickson]

Northwestern's 6'10" starting center, Vince Scott, didn't get a single rebound as Wheaton outrebounds the Wildkits 36-19!  If Wheaton was playing man-to-man, how does Scott score only four points!?  Wheaton doesn't have a large front line, do they?

The Tribune said that half of the 3,400 cheered for Wheaton.  Wheaton doesn't even attract 1,700 fans at home contests.

The Trib has a decent article about the game.

[matblake]

Listened to the Wheaton game over the internet on WGN Radio.  It was hard to get a grip on the flow of the game for me.  Couldn't figure out if Wheaton played out of their minds and Northwestern played lousy, or if Northwestern is plain bad, or if these were simply 2 evenly matched teams.  Seemed to me that turnovers could have been the difference.  I'm sure the size and speed had to do with that. 

I think this was a quality game for Wheaton and the loss does not count in-region, but it was still a loss unfortunately.  Cool to see Wheaton come across the bottom of the screen on ESPN last night too!

[Gregory Sager]

Northwestern's 6'10" starting center, Vince Scott, didn't get a single rebound as Wheaton outrebounds the Wildkits 36-19!

Wildkits. Heh!

If Wheaton was playing man-to-man, how does Scott score only four points!?  Wheaton doesn't have a large front line, do they?

Andy Wiele, who was probably the one who guarded Scott, goes 6'8, 225 -- and I think that the "225" is only true if his uniform is made out of lead. Michael Fiddler, the PF, is no bruiser either at 6'6, 190. The team's leading rebounder last night, swingman Johnnie Standard, is 6'4, 205. Sounds to me like Wheaton outrebounded Northwestern by so much because Wiele, Fiddler, Standard, etc., were quicker and more determined. Quickness and effort can go a long way towards negating a size disadvantage when you're talking about the boards.

As to why Scott only scored four points, I'll leave it to someone who saw the game to tell us if it was a matter of great defense, the fact that Scott is terrible, or some combination of the two. Bill Carmody's slowdown style of ball doesn't lend itself to gaudy stats, so perhaps Scott's averages of 5.9 ppg and 2.5 rpg aren't as bad as they appear for someone who sees the court for over thirty minutes per game.

The Tribune said that half of the 3,400 cheered for Wheaton.  Wheaton doesn't even attract 1,700 fans at home contests.

That's the strangest part about the game to me, too. NU usually only draws about 3,000 per game to Welsh-Ryan, and you'd figure that with NU on semester break and a D3 opponent in the gym the home crowd would be even smaller than usual. But is playing a D1 school such an extreme novelty that all these hordes of Wheaties who normally don't darken the doors of King Arena, let alone follow the blue and orange on the road, suddenly saw fit to make the trek all the way to Evanston to watch their team?

[Pat Coleman]

This is a pretty good league, ya know that!?

I've heard.

[robberki]

One thing I've learned in my "career" is that basketball is basketball. High school, division 1, division 3, whatever...it's all the same. Everyone dribbles, shoots, passes etc. and the only difference is the size of the people doing it and in basketball, unlike football, it's fairly simple to counter more athletic opponents if you play hard and play with patience.

[Pat Coleman]

But is playing a D1 school such an extreme novelty that all these hordes of Wheaties who normally don't darken the doors of King Arena, let alone follow the blue and orange on the road, suddenly saw fit to make the trek all the way to Evanston to watch their team?

I would think there's some of that. You also have the chance that alumni who wouldn't come to a home game could be cajoled out to see them play a team people have heard of.

[Mugsy]

But is playing a D1 school such an extreme novelty that all these hordes of Wheaties who normally don't darken the doors of King Arena, let alone follow the blue and orange on the road, suddenly saw fit to make the trek all the way to Evanston to watch their team?

I would think there's some of that. You also have the chance that alumni who wouldn't come to a home game could be cajoled out to see them play a team people have heard of.

I know alumni who came from both coasts to see this game, so there was definitely so extra draw for this game.

[Gregory Sager]

Hmm ... perhaps the skeptics and the blissfully ignorant who were persuaded by this game weren't the D1 people after all, but rather Wheaton's own natural constituency.

[gccfan]

I just wanted to add my two cents about the game.  Congrats to Wheaton, I was also very impressed with the rebounding margin and it looks like they really slowed the game down just glancing at the stat sheet.  Coaches everywhere should get the game tape to show their players how to box out and rebound against bigger opponents.

[Mugsy]

I just wanted to add my two cents about the game.  Congrats to Wheaton, I was also very impressed with the rebounding margin and it looks like they really slowed the game down just glancing at the stat sheet.  Coaches everywhere should get the game tape to show their players how to box out and rebound against bigger opponents.

Boxing out and sound mechanics are one aspect.  Desire and effort is another key element, which I think is where Wheaton excelled last night.  NU probably didn't enter the game with much motivation against a relatively unknown D3 school.  It's not like they were gearing up for Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan St., Duke, etc...

[dewcrew88]

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=263480077


An AP story about Wheaton's near miss against Northwestern.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Plus Kent Raymond and Johnnie Standard now have player profiles on ESPN.com; that's a pretty cool perk.