MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[dansand]

Tough loss for the Vikings last night. It's not too hard to figure this one out. You can't shoot 32% against a team as good as Wheaton and expect to win. Also, as others have mentioned, Augie just had no answer for Andy Wiele, particularly in the second half.

Justin Bertrand gave it a go in the first half, but was obviously lacking his usual explosiveness. Without him, Augie is lacking a consistent post presence offensively. Chandlor Collins does most of his scoring off of offensive rebounds and the Thunder did a great job of keeping all the Vikes off the offensive glass last night.

Wiele didn't do a whole lot offensively in the first half, but was a monster on the boards with 11 at the break. In the second half Wheaton really concentrated on getting him the ball more and it paid off. Bryant Voiles was working his a$$ off, but he just doesn't have the bulk to match up well with Wiele. That's another area where Bertrand is missed. I thought Wiele did a nice job of kicking it out quickly when Augie doubled down with a guard from the strong side and a great job of getting his shots up quickly when the Vikes doubled with a big from the weak side.

Oh well, it doesn't get any easier with a road trip to Elmhurst Wednesday...Oh boy!

[usee]

DanSand,

what was with all the offensive fouls on Raymond, etc? Were they legit? interested to know from someone who was there.

Thanks

[Sakman 1111]

Last night the Bluejays were playing with a new confidence. At the end they were playing to win and not to lose.....must have that same confidence against Augie on Wednesday. With Childs and Strzemp scoring it becomes much more difficult to concentrate on Ruchs.........

[dansand]

DanSand,

what was with all the offensive fouls on Raymond, etc? Were they legit? interested to know from someone who was there.

Thanks

There were two that I remember. On the first one, he drove the right baseline and jumped laterally into (I think) Alex Washington. I thought it was a good call, but probably not one that Raymond is used to have going against him. The second was just a couple of possessions later on the left baseline and I think they called him for a hook or push-off, but I honestly didn't get a good look at it. If you've ever seen the broadcast set-up at Carver, our perch is at the west end of the court about 20 feet up and both of these fouls took place at the east end, so we didn't have the best vantage point.

[Late nite]

Home win = 0
Home loss -1
Road win = +1
Road loss = 0

Through Saturday, Jan. 31...

Elmhurst +2
Carthage +1
North Central +1
Wheaton +1
Augustana +0
Illinois Wesleyan -1
Millikin -1
North Park -3


Wednesday
Augustana @ Elmhurst 
Carthage @ Ill. Wesleyan 
Millikin @ Wheaton 
North Central @ North Park

This is still such a great indicatior of how close this conference is. Wheaton won a big game last night and everyone else held serve. Augie, Carthage, Millikin and NCC can gain ground on Wednesday with a victory.

This is not a prediction---But, depending on how the games break on Wednesday, Augie could go from 1st to 5th in a one week span---What a league!

[ball]

Last night at the NPU-CC game I heard the student section chanting what sounded like "N-A-I-A" at North Park. Why would they chant that? Both NPU and CC are NCAA...

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Elmhurst vs IWU

as Titan Q stated this was a game that could have gone either way in the final minute.

Elmhurst's non-senior guards forced a lot of bad shots in the final ten minutes, they were too over-confident.  Burks was strangely non-agressive, though he was 9 for 9 at the line.

To me the difference between halves was that Rosenkranz and Sexauer were both looking for their shots in the first half and in the first ten minutes of the second half I don't think either one attempted a shot.  Trying to get the ball inside to players who couldn't handle their passes proved the Titans undoing and they fell behind.  That they almost caught the Jays at the end was as much as product of the Jays over-agressive shooting guards as it was Sean Johnson shooting lights out for the Titans.  That three pointer from the corner goes in with 39 seconds to go and it might have been a different result.

dgp

by the way - it was an excellent crowd - the titan faithful filled about 2/3 of their half of the gym and the blue jay faithful filled theirs.  the only open seats were right behind the elmhurst bench.

[Gregory Sager]

Did my eyes deceive me, or is there no post from Sager yet on the NP-CC game?  Dr. B?  Anyone?

What is there to say, VB? K-Mark has already said it all. NPU was on the short end of an 18-0 run bracketing the half that turned a tie game into a rout. The Vikings are young, shorthanded, and by now they've probably lost complete confidence in themselves as well. It hurts to say this as a North Park fan, but in a league in which each of the other seven teams presents a difficult hurdle to climb on any given night, NPU is a complete pushover. I'm sure that North Central is totally convinced that it's getting a freebie on Wednesday night, and I can't say that I blame the Cards for thinking that.

This season has been an unmitigated disaster for NPU, and there's really not anything more to add.

[AndOne]

Did my eyes deceive me, or is there no post from Sager yet on the NP-CC game?  Dr. B?  Anyone?

What is there to say, VB? K-Mark has already said it all. NPU was on the short end of an 18-0 run bracketing the half that turned a tie game into a rout. The Vikings are young, shorthanded, and by now they've probably lost complete confidence in themselves as well. It hurts to say this as a North Park fan, but in a league in which each of the other seven teams presents a difficult hurdle to climb on any given night, NPU is a complete pushover. I'm sure that North Central is totally convinced that it's getting a freebie on Wednesday night, and I can't say that I blame the Cards for thinking that.

After what happened at Millikin Sat night, North Central sure as heck better not be thinking of anything as free! 

[OurHouse]

Elmhurst vs IWU

as Titan Q stated this was a game that could have gone either way in the final minute.

Elmhurst's non-senior guards forced a lot of bad shots in the final ten minutes, they were too over-confident.  Burks was strangely non-agressive, though he was 9 for 9 at the line.

To me the difference between halves was that Rosenkranz and Sexauer were both looking for their shots in the first half and in the first ten minutes of the second half I don't think either one attempted a shot.  Trying to get the ball inside to players who couldn't handle their passes proved the Titans undoing and they fell behind.  That they almost caught the Jays at the end was as much as product of the Jays over-agressive shooting guards as it was Sean Johnson shooting lights out for the Titans.  That three pointer from the corner goes in with 39 seconds to go and it might have been a different result.

dgp

by the way - it was an excellent crowd - the titan faithful filled about 2/3 of their half of the gym and the blue jay faithful filled theirs.  the only open seats were right behind the elmhurst bench.

Ya but in the end, when a team can't play defense it doesn't matter what kind of shooters you have. (I don't call that, "shooting lights out") - a combination of soft post defensive play and player rotation had this game headed for disaster from the tip off.

[REDMENFAN]

Here's the article from the paper about the Carthage/NP game Saturday night.  Good quote from Steve D about coming up 9 blocks short of his first collegiate triple double.  I had noticed the last two games he was wearing ankle braces, and this article mentioned that he's been playing with a sprained ankle now the past 2 games.  At least it doesn't tell which ankle!! He seemed to be moving just fine and without a limp during the contest, but the sports writer said he hobbled out of the locker room after the game and appeared to be in some pain.

http://www.kenoshanews.com/sports/red_men_dish_up_a_victory_4291022.html

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Elmhurst vs IWU

as Titan Q stated this was a game that could have gone either way in the final minute.

Elmhurst's non-senior guards forced a lot of bad shots in the final ten minutes, they were too over-confident.  Burks was strangely non-agressive, though he was 9 for 9 at the line.

To me the difference between halves was that Rosenkranz and Sexauer were both looking for their shots in the first half and in the first ten minutes of the second half I don't think either one attempted a shot.  Trying to get the ball inside to players who couldn't handle their passes proved the Titans undoing and they fell behind.  That they almost caught the Jays at the end was as much as product of the Jays over-agressive shooting guards as it was Sean Johnson shooting lights out for the Titans.  That three pointer from the corner goes in with 39 seconds to go and it might have been a different result.

dgp

by the way - it was an excellent crowd - the titan faithful filled about 2/3 of their half of the gym and the blue jay faithful filled theirs.  the only open seats were right behind the elmhurst bench.

Ya but in the end, when a team can't play defense it doesn't matter what kind of shooters you have. (I don't call that, "shooting lights out") - a combination of soft post defensive play and player rotation had this game headed for disaster from the tip off.

can someone out there translate this post for me - I left my "Our House" to English sensibility dictionary at home.

Thanks,
dgp

[Thunder Dutch]

Huge win for Wheaton; I think most people looking at their recent 4-game slate after Kent's injury (carthage, elmhurst, ncc, augie) penciled in @ Augie as a sure loss and the others could have gone either way. I hate playing the what-if game, but if Kent hadn't gone down, and all the current carnage in the CCIW, Wheaton could be sitting real pretty. Anyways. A huge win for their (especially Wiele's) confidence, and now with two easier (relatively, as easy as it gets in the CCIW, though we can't take Millikin lightly - as they have burned NCC and Elmhurst) home games coming up, Raymond has another week to take hopefully take it easier and get his ankle all the way back, cure his back issues, and get his shooting touch back.

[Titan Q]

Elmhurst vs IWU

as Titan Q stated this was a game that could have gone either way in the final minute.

Elmhurst's non-senior guards forced a lot of bad shots in the final ten minutes, they were too over-confident.  Burks was strangely non-agressive, though he was 9 for 9 at the line.

To me the difference between halves was that Rosenkranz and Sexauer were both looking for their shots in the first half and in the first ten minutes of the second half I don't think either one attempted a shot.  Trying to get the ball inside to players who couldn't handle their passes proved the Titans undoing and they fell behind.  That they almost caught the Jays at the end was as much as product of the Jays over-agressive shooting guards as it was Sean Johnson shooting lights out for the Titans.  That three pointer from the corner goes in with 39 seconds to go and it might have been a different result.

dgp

by the way - it was an excellent crowd - the titan faithful filled about 2/3 of their half of the gym and the blue jay faithful filled theirs.  the only open seats were right behind the elmhurst bench.

Ya but in the end, when a team can't play defense it doesn't matter what kind of shooters you have. (I don't call that, "shooting lights out") - a combination of soft post defensive play and player rotation had this game headed for disaster from the tip off.

It is obvious the 2008-09 Titans struggle on the defensive end.  In CCIW play so far, IWU is giving up 79.6 points per game (7th) and opponents are shooting .494 (5th) from the field and .367 from the 3 (5th).  Very poor numbers.

I'm not willing to make any type of evaluation regarding this group's overall, longterm ability to defend at this point though.  I'll wait until sometime in 2009-10 to form an opinion.  The simple fact is that 6 of the 8 players in IWU's rotation are underclassmen:

(CCIW-only minutes per game)

- Travis Rosenkranz, 29 min/game (So.)
- Sean Johnson, 29 min/game (So.)
- Doug Sexauer, 28 min/game (So.)
- John Koschnitzky, 25 min/game (Fr.)
- Jordan Zimmer, 20 min/game (Fr.)
- Ed O'Callaghan, 15 min/game (So.


Young teams are usually at a pretty big disadvantage from a physical standpoint (opponents being bigger and stronger), as well as in the obvious area of experience.  I don't think it is any coincidence that the 7th and 8th place teams in opponents points per game are IWU and North Park (81.9 ppg).  I think playing defense at this level is something you learn by playing games, more so than it is anything that happens in practice.  I want to see how this nucleus of IWU players develops defensively -- I think things will look a lot different next season when these guys are a year older (stronger) and after these great CCIW seniors are gone.

I am very encouraged by how good IWU has been offensively overall - (CCIW-only stats) 78.2 ppg (2nd), .516 FG (2nd), and .385 3-pt (2nd).  For as many sophomores and freshmen as Ron Rose has on the floor at all times, I think these numbers are impressive...especially considering the fact that they're doing it vs older, more experienced CCIW teams.  Still a long way to go offensively as well (mostly in the area of consistency), but a lot of reason for optimism.

I think IWU will be a much better defensive team the next two seasons.  For now, just gonna have to find a way to score 1 more point!

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Titan Q - Elmhurst vs IWU

i was very impressed with IWU's rotation and their youngsters played very hard versus Elmhurst.  I thought they ran their inside offense with a lot of physicalness, a lot of tough screens for the Jays to fight through and at times that really bothered Elmhurst.  The 6-9, 290 pound Titan freshman (the all-time winner of the Rob Berki look-alike contest) saw a lot of court time when Ruch was in the game.  He's a load.

They also did the IWU traditional stealing of the ball after defensive rebounds (at least four times).  Dennie Bridges, whose teams made this theft an art form, had to be pleased. 

This led to one humorous, but near disastrous, incident near the end of the game at the end of the Elmhurst bench.

Reserve center Hintzche had just had a rebound stolen out of his hands for a layup and a foul, and he was taken out of the game.  At the water cooler Jay coach Mark Scherer was demonstrating to Hintzche how to get his elbows out when he got a rebound.

"Now you can't swing your elbows like this," said Scherer, and as he demonstrated the move his left elbow missed connecting with Ryan Burks nose by no more than an inch, as the Jay senior guard was reaching for a cup of water.  Burks ducked his head just in time to miss his coach's elbow and then whistled in relief.