MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

Missouri Baptist (St. Louis, MO) is an NAIA D1 school and a member of the American Midwest Conference.  Other conference teams are:

Columbia College (Columbia, MO)
Hannibal-LaGrange College (Hanibal, MO)
Harris-Stowe State U. (St. Louis, MO)
U. of Illinois-Springfield
McKendree U. (Lebanon, IL)
William Woods U. (Fulton, MO)
Williams Baptist College (Walnut Ridge, AR)

It looks like a pretty good conference this year at the top, with McKendree ranked #12, Illinois Springfield #21, and Columbia now 10-2 and the leader in "others receiving votes." 

After IWU's loss to St. Xavier yesterday, NCAA Division III teams are now 4-22 vs NAIA D1...

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=1167.1110


Not good.

[Gregory Sager]

After IWU's loss to St. Xavier yesterday, NCAA Division III teams are now 4-22 vs NAIA D1...

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=1167.1110


Not good.

My immediate response to that is, "Well, let's just have everyone here in D3 Land schedule more games against IIT," but then I think of Chicago and the Midway Classic consolation game and do yet another facepalm. 

[Titan Q]

The 4 NCAA Division III wins over NAIA DI teams are:

East Texas Baptist 80
Jarvis Christian 79
(11/15)

Kenyon 71
Illinois Tech 59
(11/15)

Rust 122
Blue Mountain 118
(11/15)

Texas-Dallas 79
Southwest Assemblies of God 53
(12/9)

[Gregory Sager]

Here are Live Stats, audio, and video links for tonight's NPU @ Valparaiso game, for those who can't make it to northwest Indiana but want to follow the Vikings. Here's Valpo's game notes, which includes information on the radio stations that will be covering the game as well.

Valpo's only 3-9, with one of those three wins being a 31-point bomb of an NAIA school (Marian IN), but let's not kid ourselves about the Crusaders being vulnerable to an upset tonight. They aren't SIUE. Elmhurst probably did as well as could be expected to hang around for a half beforie losing to Valpo by 22 in the preseason exhibition contest between the 'jays and the Crusaders. Given everything that's gone on in terms of North Park's roster turmoil, I'm not expecting the Vikings to measure up to that 22-point margin. I'm just hoping that the Park acquits itself well and comes home to Foster and Kedzie with heads held high and no new injuries to report.

[sac]

The 4 NCAA Division III wins over NAIA DI teams are:

East Texas Baptist 80
Jarvis Christian 79
(11/15)

Kenyon 71
Illinois Tech 59
(11/15)

Rust 122
Blue Mountain 118
(11/15)

Texas-Dallas 79
Southwest Assemblies of God 53
(12/9)

Hope beat IU-South Bend, unless I'm mistaken they are NAIA I

[Titan Q]

Hope beat IU-South Bend, unless I'm mistaken they are NAIA I

Yes, they are...I will mention that over on the "D3 vs..." board.

[Titan Q]

The IWU/Missouri Baptist game will be on WJBC...

http://www.wjbc.com/

Since on the air (as opposed to web stream only), just go to "Listen Now."

I spoke to WJBC broadcaster Eric Stock today and said he'll be interviewing Rollie Massimino live at halftime.  Might be worth a listen.

Just listening to the pregame show now and Ron Rose said that Mo. Baptist will be the most athletic and phsyical team IWU will face this year by a big margin.  With CCIW play looming, I am very interested to see how the Titans take care of the ball and rebound today.

[titanfan]

IWU beats Missouri Baptist down in Florida by a score of 82-73.

[Titan Q]

Final:

Illinois Wesleyan 82
Missouri Baptist 73

* Brett Chamernik: 19 pts
* Travis Rosenkranz: 15 pts
* Doug Sexauer: 12 pts
* Jordan Zimmer: 11 pts


It sounded like IWU played very well the final 30 minutes of this game.  At the beginning of the contest it sounded like the Titans might get blown out of the gym.  Missouri Baptist led 22-8 and it sounded, athletically, like a mismatch.  Eric Stock, my former play-by-play partner at WJBC, does a really nice job on the radio and made it sound like these were two very, very different teams - the Spartans were a ton bigger, stronger, and quicker than IWU and the Titans couldn't get much going on either end of the floor at the start of the game.

The Titans cut the deficit to just 1 at the half, 38-39, due in large part to freshman Jordan Zimmer, who came off the bench and scored 9 in the 1st with the Titans struggling.  The first 10 minutes of the 2nd were very close.  MB led 63-59 with about 9:00 to play when Sean Johnson went on a little flurry, scoring 8 quick points to put IWU up 3.  Brett Chamernik made a couple big shots down the stretch to keep IWU in the lead and Travis Rosenkranz closed it out with a couple key baskets. 

Heading into CCIW play, it is great to see Brett Chamernik have his best two games of the season back-to-back.  He scored 18 vs SXU and 19 today.  Chamernik missed the entire practice season with a stress fracture in his foot and didn't start until IWU's 5th game.  The Titans desperately need a low post complement to 6-7 Doug Sexauer, so Chamernik's play is a huge key to IWU's CCIW hopes.

It sounded like Edmond O'Callaghan and John Koschnitzky did a nice job on the boards today, but I haven't seen the final stats yet...just heard their names called a lot on the radio.  I believe the stats will show that the Titans held their own on the glass today. 

If IWU handles Illinois College Saturday at the Shirk Center, the Titans will finish the non-conference 8-3.  Before the year started I hoped they'd go 9-2, so a game off where I would have liked to see them.  The games in Florida were not "in-region", so IWU is still 4-1 in that regard...a win over IC would give the Titans a 5-1 mark in-region heading into league play.

Still a lot of questions about this IWU team here in late-December, but as Ron Rose said on the postgame show, the Titans "can beat anybody and lose to anybody."  I have no idea where IWU will finish in the CCIW but it should be fun to follow.  The Titans are very talented.

[thundermike11]

A look at the top players for Taylor:

Starting five:
Alex Daniel 6-2 Sr. G; 33.9 min,15.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 55 assists
Daniel Cox 6-2 Sr. G; 31.3 min, 11.3 ppg, 43.7 % from three point range
Kyle Hanaway 6-2 Fr. G; 30.6 min, 2.1 ppg, 1.6 rpg
Drew Tower 6-5 So. G/F; 26.1 min, 6.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 85% FT
Jacob Bream 6-8 Sr. F/C; 27.7 min, 13.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg

Bench:
Justin Goeglein 6-5 Jr. F; 19.9 min, 6.1 ppg, 3.7 ppg
Jake Burkholder 6-9 Fr. C; 10.4 min 4.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg
Austin Thoms 6-2 Jr. G; 15.6 min, 2.6 ppg
Jake Sittler 5-9 Fr. G; 11.6 min

Team stats:

62.4 ppg, 46% FG, 40% 3-FG, 71% FT, and they've been out-rebounded 445-430

Looks like a solid team. Wheaton better be ready to play

[OurHouse]

BEST one - two punch players in the CCIW at this point:

Elmhurst: Ruch, Burk
North Central: Rogers, Drennan
Wheaton: Wiele, Raymond
NPU: Williams, Russell
IWU: Chamernik, Johnson
Carthage: Djurickovic, Djurcikovic - 
Augustana: Wessels, Bertrand
Milikan: Ogunleye, Burton

Perimeter defense will be the difference in who wins this conference.
Everyone can score points but it will be defense that makes the difference   

[Gotberg]

Nick Williams is not suited up and playing against Valpo tonight.  Anyone know the reason?

[Titan Q]

So the little lady comes into my office this afternoon and says, "Want to go to spinning class with me at 6:30?"  I think to myself, well this sounds like an easy way to score points...ride a stationary bike for a while...no problem.  "Sure, I'm in."

So yeah.  Spinning class is not so easy.  I'm not sure when feeling will return to my calves and legs, but hope it's by the time CCIW play starts.

[tjcummingsfan]

Nick Williams is not suited up and playing against Valpo tonight.  Anyone know the reason?

I was wondering the same thing... also wondering about stephano jones...

[thundermike11]

Wheaton victorious over Taylor 62-46, bringing home the championship of the Charles B. Zimmerman Classic. Just a really solid defensive effort from the Thunder. Taylor shot 18-45 from the field, 0-10 from beyond the arc. Wheaton played a stifling 3/4 court press for a good portion of the game and the Trojans just couldn't handle the pressure. Wheaton out-rebounded Taylor 39-21, including 12-2 on the offensive boards--once again without Andy Wiele in the lineup.

Kent Raymond led the way with 23 points, Ben Panner added 13, and Jake Carwell had 10. Tim McCrary had a great game, 8 points and 14 rebounds.

Jacob Bream and Daniel Cox reached double figures for Taylor, scoring 14 and 10 respectively. Leading scorer Alex Daniel only had 2 points for the Trojans.

These last two games were the kind of defensive efforts that Wheaton needed heading into conference play. Now it's on to Grinnell, a game which Wheaton should win if they have good defensive intensity like the last two nights.

http://www4.wittenberg.edu/news/athletics/mbasketball/kiwanis08/zimm4.htm