MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[augiefan]

Shaun Rose 17 points and Nate Swetalla 14 points led Augie tonight. A gimpy Dain Swetalla played less than half the game but scored 10. FTs in the final minutes held off a Titan comeback. Brusveen and Pelton were big in reserve roles.

Dain may sit on Saturday night to heal up. The game is a big one for NCC, as they are in the race for the conference tournament after tonight's big win.

Zach Freeman got 23 points, but the guy who kept it close was Mike Harrigan with 18. I guess the little brother played a little like big brother Rick tonight.

Congratulations to the regular season CCIW champs, the Augie Vikings.

[Titan Q]

Here is the IWU/Augie box and Pantagraph article...

http://www.iwu.edu/~iwunews/sports/mbb2007/iwumbb23.htm

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/02/14/sports/doc45d3e8115ce01363635443.txt


In the 2nd half, IWU gave up 10 offensive rebounds and missed 10 free throws...and still had an open 3-pointer to win the game with :08 to play.  Very frustrating, but kind of how the entire season has been for the Titans.

Zach Freeman had a fantastic final home game -- 23 pts and 15 rebounds.  It was also nice to see fellow senior Mike Harrigan set his career high (18) on Senior Night.

[Titan Q]

Congrats to the Augustana Vikings on their second consecutive CCIW title.  In a year with a ton of parity, they've been the team that has escaped trouble the most.  They could have lost @ North Central, at home to IWU, at home to Wheaton, and @ IWU...but they won all 4 games.  There is a very fine line between 12-2 and 8-6 and championship teams just find a way to get it done down the stretch of games.

[Titan Q]

Zach Freeman got 23 points, but the guy who kept it close was Mike Harrigan with 18. I guess the little brother played a little like big brother Rick tonight.

Cousin actually.

[John Gleich]

Wow... ANOTHER close game for NPU...  12 out of Parker's games have been decided by 6 points or less, and that doesn't take into account one OT win that was a 9 pt victory. 

6 of their losses are by 6 or less, meaning that the 13-11 record could be 19-5.  By the same token, however, they could also be 7-18.

[Gregory Sager]

Another heartbreaker loss for NPU. This one may be the worst of all, since it effectively eliminates the Vikings from CCIW tourney consideration. What's more, it's a game in which they blew a big lead -- they were up by 18 in the first half, as many as 13 in the second half, and never trailed in regulation -- and thoroughly dominated the boards, 40-22. Paul Brenegan and crew have to be just sick over this one.

Neither team's starting center played. NPU's Stephano Jones was apparently scratched because of his ailing back, and Carthage's Brian Schlemm missed the game because of a twisted ankle he suffered the other day.

NPU was led by freshman forward Nick Williams with 16 points. Jason Gordon, who fouled out in overtime, scored 13, Jay Alexander had 11, and Antonio Stevens scored 10 as well as led the Vikes with 7 boards. Carthage was paced by Trey Bowens with 22; Nav Thompson had 18 for the Red Men, Scott Hood added 15, and Neb Francisevic (whose layup with ten seconds left forced OT) chipped in 14.

Wow... ANOTHER close game for NPU...  12 out of Parker's games have been decided by 6 points or less, and that doesn't take into account one OT win that was a 9 pt victory. 

6 of their losses are by 6 or less, meaning that the 13-11 record could be 19-5.  By the same token, however, they could also be 7-18.

More to the point, of NPU's 13 conference games to date, six of them went right down to the final seconds of regulation. NPU only won two of those six -- and that's the difference between going to the CCIW tourney and finishing out of the money. Both Elmhurst and Carthage swept NPU, but all four of those games could've gone either way at the end.

The Vikings have to find a way to win the close ones. That's the next step that this program needs to take. As Bob said, championship teams just find a way to get it done in crunch time.

Congrats to Augie upon winning back-to-back CCIW titles!

Congratulations to the regular season CCIW champs, the Augie Vikings.

They aren't the "regular season" CCIW champs, they are the CCIW champs ... no qualifier necessary. The big trophy goes to the team that wins the regular season. The CCIW tournament is strictly to decide the league's automatic bid to the big dance.

[AndOne]

AndOne

I vowed to myself a couple weeks ago that I would not respond again to any of your posts, but some of the opinions that you throw out there (and there are many) just won't allow me to do that---I feel the need to respond just as you felt the need to respond to ecdubb's opinion---In both cases, you formed and voiced your opinions through observation without the benefit of knowing the players, just like ecdubb---Nothing wrong with that as long as you also respect the opinion of others

Late--

The player I called "soft" is a player I have also praised. My thinking, was that he could be even a better, more formidable  player if he played a little tougher. My opinion was echoed by several posters. The proof is on the board. Also, I made reference to his play only---not his personality. I do think there is a difference. The player I called a ballhog was based on the fact that he takes a very high number of shots in relationship to minutes played. I also told you in a previous post that there was another incident I and many other people witnessed last year involving the same player that involved perhaps the poorest example of sportsmanship I have witnessed in a couple of years, but that I didn't give any further details in an attempt to spare the young man any further embarassment over the incident---quite a bit different than to go on the radio and attack someone by labeling him a "headcase"   

You don't have to know the players to refer to a player as soft. If you don't believe my analysis, then what about that of several other posters who completely agreed with me?

As far as referring to someone at the beginning of the season as somewhat of a ball hog, I relied on statistics. Here they are direct from the school's web page.
Last season the player in question played 472 minutes. He took 111 shots. Thats a shot approx every 4.25 minutes. Assuming the other team has the ball one half the time, the average falls to a shot every 2.12 minutes your team has the ball. If you have the ball half the game, or 20 minutes, thats 9.4 shots a game from someone  who doesn't even start. Pass the ball for gosh sakes.

And again, using the terms "soft" and "ball hog" refers to their time on the court  ONLY. It is not an attack on a personal level such as calling a person a "headcase."

(modified for quote formatting by GS)

[AndOne]

NEWSFLASH----

North Central soundly defeats Number 12 ranked Elmhurst by 15 points, 89 to 74!

Anthony "Headcase" Simmons leads North Central with 25 points on 9-16 shooting from the field, including 2-4 on 3 pt shots, and 5-6 on free throws. He also grabs 6 rebounds, has 2 assists, and no turnovers.

Simmons maintains complete and perfect decorum leading many to question how he earned his nickname of "Headcase"

Sources track the origin of the nickname to misguided Elmhurst radio announcer
EC DUBB!

MR. DUBB IS FORCED TO EAT HIS WORDS!

The world wonders what the hell else Mr. EC Dubb likes to eat?      

[AndOne]

ecdubb------

When the game was over I was the one who came over to you and asked "so which one of the North Central players would you like to interview first, Anthony Simmons?

You declined.

Why?

[AndOne]

I have always said that if and when Simmons proves me wrong, I would give him credit where credit is due, but that has not happened.  Tonight may be that night, I certainly know that he has it in him and will have no problems if that happens.

Well EC------Its now 2:00 AM, Central Time. Anthony kept his part of the deal and proved you wrong so------------------WHERE IS THE APOLOGY?

Or, were you suffering a "headcase" and speaking with a forked tongue when you made this promise? 

[cardinalpride]

I have always said that if and when Simmons proves me wrong, I would give him credit where credit is due, but that has not happened.  Tonight may be that night, I certainly know that he has it in him and will have no problems if that happens.

Well EC------Its now 2:00 AM, Central Time. Anthony kept his part of the deal and proved you wrong so------------------WHERE IS THE APOLOGY?

Or, were you suffering a "headcase" and speaking with a forked tongue when made this promise?

Andone, take it easy on the poor chap from elmhurst.  I think he's had enough for one day.

[Gregory Sager]

One of the first things I did tonight when I saw that NCC had beaten Elmhurst was to bring up the box score and check Simmons' numbers.

It's no big secret that many active CCIW players read CCIW Chat.

I would not be at all surprised if Anthony Simmons is one of them.

[AndOne]

I can confirm that indeed he does Gregory, as do most.

Congrats to NCC on a big win tonight over a very talented Elmhurst club.

Team defense and great shooting were the primary keys this evening. The Cards held the Jays to 37.7% shooting, including only 23.5% on 3 point attempts. The Cards shot 56.4% and 60% on 3 pointers.

North Central outrebounded EC and its triple towers 36 to 35.

A highlight of the evening actually occured in the JV game. With Elmhurst leading by 2  and the time remaining almost zero, NCC guard Dean Prince launched an approx 60 footer. The ball left Dean's hands about half a second before the horn, which sounded as the ball was in the air. The long bomb found nothing but net to give the Cards a victory over Coach Dan "Digger" Doyle's Jays.   

[armywife]

Congratulations to Augie for winning the CCIW for the second year in a row. No small feat in this conference. I listened to the first half of the game (couldn't sleep), good job by the IWU team of announcers. IWU came out hot with their shooting and Augie was struggling early against the zone, but it seemed that each time IWU tried to pull away a little bit, Brusveen would nail a 3 to keep Augie close. Harrigan was doing the same from the other end. I could tell Zach Freeman wanted this game badly and at times I wondered if he was going to snatch this one away from Augie just by sheer will and emotion.

It sounds like Augie wanted it badly too, and their balance won the day. Since he came to Augie, Coach G has stressed team, and his constant substitutions have kept all of the players fresh and involved. Guys may not always start as promised, but under his sysytem, I think that more players play more minutes. This year there don't seem to be any huge stars on his team, but all of the players know their roles and play them well.

I wish I could have stayed up for the second half of the game. It sounded like a good one. Good job last night Q.

[armywife]

Congratulations to North Central, tough loss for Elmhurst, typical CCIW, you just never know what is going to happen. Sorry about the North Park loss, I would really have loved to see them win this one and would have especially loved to see them in the tournament. That would have been huge. It sounds like they are headed in the right direction and hopefully next year will be a good one for them.