MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Ya know, I think I could learn to like this internet thing!  Today I watched UWSP-UWLaX, IWU-Elmhurst women, Witt-Woo, and IWU-Elmhurst men.

Sometimes the video and/or audio left a lot to be desired, but I'm sure it will improve with experience.

[kenoshamark]

Box score from the Carthage win tonight....more to follow shortly:

http://www2.carthage.edu/athletics/mens/basketball/augie2.htm#GAME.BOX

The injury to Swettala didn't look good.  He was in obvious pain and was on the floor for at least five minutes until they could move him.   He was iced up for the balance of the game and never made it back to the bench.

[sports]

Refs did a nice job protecting Zach Freeman tonight giving him a total of 11 FTA's
just one more and he would have doubled what any other player received.

[robberki]

Sounds like IWU has absolutely collapsed....

[cciw watcher]

Box score from the Carthage win tonight....more to follow shortly:

http://www2.carthage.edu/athletics/mens/basketball/augie2.htm#GAME.BOX

Kenosha Mark, box score shows only 325 attending the game! Is that right? I thought J-term was over!  

[buf]

Today I watched UWSP-UWLaX, IWU-Elmhurst women, Witt-Woo, and IWU-Elmhurst men.

I watched those too, except instead of the IWU-Elmhurst women, I watched the UWSP-LAX women.

[kenoshamark]

CCIW Watcher, 

I believe the students are getting back middle of this week...325 was probably about right and not to bad considering the temperature was below zero and dropping at game time. 

[kenoshamark]

Lots of positives from the game tonight....

Schlemm had a monster game with 24 points, 11 boards and 4 impressive blocks but I will tell you, the difference in the game primarily in the second half, was the overall play of the Carthage guards.  You had outstanding senior leadership from both Scott Hood and Navaro Thompson, excellent perimeter shooting from Sean Fendley and consistent point guard play from Joe Higgins who had 5 assists, 2 steals and ZERO turnovers. 

Game was back and forth in the first half and Augie went into the break up 33-32.  Dain Swettala had a huge first half with 11 points in 13 minutes.   Augie was very effective and efficient with their offense getting great looks in the paint.   Many times they would wait for the second option on the offense to run through the lane and were rewarded with some easy looks and baskets. 

The second half started out back and forth again and then Augie put together a couple nice possessions and went up 44-39 around 4 minutes into the second half.  Carthage called a timeout and I was a bit nervous that the game was going to open up then and Augie was going to put a nice run on us.   It turned out to be a great timeout for a couple of reasons.  First, Carthage came out and played some of the best defense I've seen from them in a number of years.  They held Augie to 3 points over the next 10 minutes as the easy looks stopped and the perimeter shots were tightly contested. 

Holding Augie to 15 points under their season average was a great accomplishment and part of the reason for that defensive surge was the insertion of Scott Hood into the lineup.  Scott didn't see any first half minutes but he went in right after the timeout with 15 minutes to go in the game and stayed in the rest of the game.  Scott is a tough hard nosed player and he makes good decisions on the court when he is in.   

Swettala was held to 6 points in the second half and Delp was held scoreless.  After shooting 50% in the first half, Augie was held to 37.%% in the second half.  They also were 50% on treys in the first half (3-6) and were just 1-6 in the second half. 

[kenoshamark]

More on the Carthage guard play..

Higgins did a very nice job penetrating the Augie defense and kicking out to some wide open players....surprised how easily he was able to get by the defenders.

Nav Thompson was terrific tonight also breaking down the defenders and getting a couple of beautiful spin moves in the land of the giants....not bad for a 5'8" guard.

Sean Fendley - let me tell you now, this young man will be a first team all-conference player over his career at Carthage and I think it will be more than once.  He is a deadly spot up shooter but now he is starting to take his man off the dribble and pull up for the jumper or got to the hole.   He was 6-6 (3-3 on treys) against Wheaton the other night (15 points) and had 13 more points tonight.  Once he adds some strength he will really be a load to cover.

Final notes - nice job by the Carthage coaching staff on a game plan and adjustments they were able to make at half.

It was mentioned earlier this week about the size of Augie - roster has 10 guys listed 6'5" and taller with 6 of those being 6'7" and taller.

[RodneyKnuppel]

What a complete beat down of the Titans by the BlueJays tonight at the Shirk. This was not even close. Elmhurst was just alot bigger, stronger, quicker, and smarter on the basketball floor than the Titans. This game was NEVER close...

[rknuppel]

Just got back from IWU tonight.  Congrats to the Jays on their first ever win at the Shirk!  Hopefully many more to come.

Elmhurst basically dominated this game from start to finish.  They just beat IWU in every facet of the game tonight.  Another balanced attack for the Jays with 6 guys with 9 or more points.  Here is the boxscore:

http://www.iwu.edu/~iwunews/sports/mbb2007/iwumbb20.htm

Lee has emerged into a premier point guard in the CCIW.  I really like how he controls the tempo for the Jays.  Anytime there seemed to be a little pressure on the Jays - Lee would just dribble through 3 or 4 guys and dish for a layup.  Great game B. Lee.

Burks is going to be something special in this league.  He should be a first team CCIW player this year and I expect he's going to make a run for MOP his next couple years.  I guess MOP is not out of the question for this year!  He gets tons of focus put on him on defense - yet when he gets his shots - he WILL make them.  Just wait til you start seeing this guy shoot 15-20 times per game.  Definately will fill it up in a hurry.  Ryan is now 57-59 from the free throw line in conference play.  Not bad for a kid from Manito 

Ruch is just dominant.  He is an absolute steal of a player for Elmhurst.  If it wasn't for a couple injuries in highschool, this kid would have been D1.  If he gets it in the paint - it's 2 points.  In my opinion he is one of the top candidates for MOP this season.  And he's only a sophomore!

Michael played a great game.  He absolutely made Z. Freeman a NON FACTOR in tonights game.  Out rebounded and out scored him.  Great job Nick.

Bacon, Childs, Sayre and Hintzsche all had good games for Elmhurst tonight as well.

This was a very fun game to watch as an Elmhurst fan.  I don't see any reason this team can't make a deep run into the playoffs.  They have some the best size, speed and skills combination I've ever seen in D3.  Now if they can just keep that intensity EVERY SINGLE GAME!  Great game Elmhurst and look forward to watching a few more this year.

[robberki]

So what are IWU's prospects for next year? Any idea how their recruiting is going? From the results I've seen, they are pretty far off...

[Late nite]

Augie was out-played and out-coached tonight---The extended zone that Carthage played in the second half was intended to take away most of the looks for Delp and Brusveen---There was very little movement in the offense to try and free up shooters vs the zone---By extending their wings, they basically challenged Augie to beat them in the paint and the Vikes couldn't get it done---Turnovers, blocked layups, missed shots---Defensively for the Vikes was also pretty disappointing---Schlemm had his way and Carthage was very efficient at scoring as the shot clock was about to expire on numerous possessions---Carthage played very well and Augie looked rattled---The better team won tonight

[AndOne]

Final Score:

NCC:    82
Millikin: 76

This was a game of two very different halves. NCC up by 20 at half, and then outscored by MU by 14 in the 2nd half.

The unusual thing about Millikin's 2nd half comback was that it was produced almost entirely by the MU bench. NCC's biggest lead was 27, and at one point it was reduced to just 3. The comeback was led by Ott, Warren, Rexroade, & Harmsen who scored 18, 12, 11, & 8 points respectively. Harmsen's 8 pts were scored in 8 minutes. Harrington had 5 assists without a turnover.The Millikin starters scored a total of 21 points! Korte Long did not score. The bench put up 51!

Drew Gensler, MU's normally outstanding guard, started and totaled 7 pts on 2-8 from the field and 3-5 from the line. On defense, he was being severly burned by NC freshman guard Brandon Smith. Early in the 2nd half the MU coach finally removed him after Smith hit 3 or 4 baskets in a very short time. As the Millikin subs were playing much better than the starters, Gensler never saw the floor again. Perhaps the worst game of his career to date? 

MU's Mike Gravic saw limited action also, and was evidently removed after a dispute with the MU coach who was heard to question his commitment on defense. He then advised Gravic that if it didn't improve he w/b removed from the game. Fans within earshot as well as a member of the NC bench advised me Mr. Gravic's response was on the order of "well, take me the f--- out then." The request was promptly granted.

Brandon Smith led NCC with 22 pts on 7-13 shooting. Anthony Simmons added 17.
Dan Walton, held in check most of the game, and saddled with 4 fouls totaled 11 points including 2 clutch baskets and 2 free throws down the stretch when the game was on the line. Adam Krumtinger had another double double with 10 boards and 11 pts. Raymond Lawrence scored 8 and dished out 6 assists.

[BRLHSFAN]

I enjoyed the game at IWU tonight like the other Elmhurst fans!  I finally understand what you all have been saying about the refs in CCIW as well.  They aren't great are they? LOL  Definately several guys that should have had alot more fouls called against them than there were called.  Burks and Ruch both had alot of fans there tonight and it was nice to see how supported they all were of the entire Elmhurst team. 

The women weren't as successful as the guys, but they were pretty beaten up.  I really was wondering if I was at a football game or a basketball game at times. 

Ruch was kept quiet compared to other nights offensively, but still had a decent game and it seemed like a real team effort to me.  Lee was very good tonight as well as Michael and several others played well.  Like I said it was a TEAM effort so it was a great win.