MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks for the tip, Pat. Joe Davis does a great job on PBP. He's a 100% improvement over the two WETN guys.

[Titan Q]

If you are an Augustana fan, here is a list of teams you need to root hard for today (all are hosting conference tournament games and would probably be ahead of Augie in the Pool C line with a loss):

Conference tournament championship games
St. Lawrence (vs RPI, 2:00pm) lost
Widener (vs Elizabethtown, 2:00pm) won
DeSales (vs Manhattanville, 3:00pm) won
Farmingdale St. (vs St. Joseph's L.I., 6:00pm)
Wooster (vs Wabash, 6:00pm) won
Transylvania (vs Franklin, 6:30pm) won
Calvin (vs Hope, 6:30pm) lost
St. Thomas (vs Bethel, 7:30pm)
Puget Sound (vs Whitworth, 8:00pm)

Conference tournament semi-final games
Middlebury (vs Bowdoin, 1:00pm) won
Franklin & Marshall (vs Muhlenberg, 2:00pm) won
Ithaca (vs Nazareth, 3:00pm) lost
Worcester Polytech (vs Springfield, 3:30pm) lost
Texas-Dallas (vs Mary Hardin-Baylor, 3:30pm) won

Scoreboard: http://www.d3hoops.com/schedule/mens/2009-02-28

More trouble...

Hope beats Calvin.

[Titan Q]

Good news, as Transylvania beats Franklin in the HCAC title game.  So Augustana should get to the table for discussion at some point (as the #2 Pool C candidate in the Midwest).  But with all the upsets, getting selected is a real longshot at this point.

[dansand]

Over an extended period many of us have commented that while we personally don't care for Augie Coach Grey Giovanine's demeanor and antics, we recognize he is an excellent tactician and coach. However, in last night's CCIW tourney semifinal, I felt he neglected to capitalize on a huge advantage he was presented by the Elmhurst defensive alignment which may well have cost Augie the chance to win the game.

Let me explain---frequently during the 2nd half, I noticed Augie's 6'7" Chandlor Collins being defended by Elmhurst's guards. At the times I noticed this, Collins was usually being guarded either by 6'2" Zack Boyd or 6'2" Joe Acosta. To my amazement, when these EC players were defending him, Collins was most often hanging around the 3 point line, particularly on the right side of the basket. Why in the world didn't Giovanine instruct Collins to set up down low? All it would have taken was an indefensible lob in to Collins over the much shorter defenders for an almost automatic 2 points given Collins' huge height advantage. Instead, Collins spent much of his time camped out on the arc, as if awaiting the opportunity to launch a 3 point bomb, which surely isn't his weapon of choice.

Augie (and EC) fans---did any of you also notice this? If so, do you think it may have made a difference in the final outcome? Thanks. 

I commented on it during our webcast. It was usually Acosta who was matched up with either Collins or Voiles, whichever one was in the game. In Augie's motion offense, depending on which set they're running, the bigs often start on the perimeter before cutting to the post area, but I'd agree Augie wasn't very effective at exploiting the height advantage. I was really surprised by how much Coach Scherer went with the four-guard lineup.

[Titan Q]

If you are an Augustana fan, here is a list of teams you need to root hard for today (all are hosting conference tournament games and would probably be ahead of Augie in the Pool C line with a loss):

Conference tournament championship games
St. Lawrence (vs RPI, 2:00pm) lost
Widener (vs Elizabethtown, 2:00pm) won
DeSales (vs Manhattanville, 3:00pm) won
Farmingdale St. (vs St. Joseph's L.I., 6:00pm) lost
Wooster (vs Wabash, 6:00pm) won
Transylvania (vs Franklin, 6:30pm) won
Calvin (vs Hope, 6:30pm) lost
St. Thomas (vs Bethel, 7:30pm)
Puget Sound (vs Whitworth, 8:00pm)

Conference tournament semi-final games
Middlebury (vs Bowdoin, 1:00pm) won
Franklin & Marshall (vs Muhlenberg, 2:00pm) won
Ithaca (vs Nazareth, 3:00pm) lost
Worcester Polytech (vs Springfield, 3:30pm) lost
Texas-Dallas (vs Mary Hardin-Baylor, 3:30pm) won

Scoreboard: http://www.d3hoops.com/schedule/mens/2009-02-28

More trouble...

Farmingdale St. loses to St. Joseph's (L.I.)

[Gregory Sager]

FINAL

Wheaton 67
Elmhurst 63

Elmhurst led for 39 minutes, but executed very poorly down the stretch. Wheaton, meanwhile, rose to the occasion. Wheaton gets the Pool A bid.

[dansand]

Elmhurst really let one get away tonight. I thought the two missed technical free throws were big. I think that would have put them up by 14 about half way through the second half. Also, Ryan Burks was really quiet, especially down the stretch.

Speaking of Burks, did anyone notice Kent Raymond talking to the officials in one of the late timeouts? He was kicking his right leg out to the side--no doubt telling the refs to watch for the "World B. Free move" by Burks. Interesting.

Congrats to Wheaton on both the regular season and tournament titles. Like I said earlier, I think both of these teams are capable of going a long ways, It'll be interesting to see how early (or deep) in the bracket they'll be scheduled to meet.

[WahooThunder]

Speaking of Burks, did anyone notice Kent Raymond talking to the officials in one of the late timeouts? He was kicking his right leg out to the side--no doubt telling the refs to watch for the "World B. Free move" by Burks. Interesting.

Indeed, I got a good laugh out of that one. No doubt Raymond did not want any repeats of the bailout Burks got to give Elmhurst the win in the 2007 semifinal game.

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst really let one get away tonight. I thought the two missed technical free throws were big. I think that would have put them up by 13 (I'll have to wait for the play-by-play to be sure) about half way through the second half. Also, Ryan Burks was really quiet, especially down the stretch.

I thought that the biggest miss of the game was Strzemp's miss of the front end of the one-and-one with Wheaton up by one and a minute and change left in the ballgame. That was huge. And, although Strzemp made a big steal and desperation trey in the waning seconds of a game that was almost wrapped up, it's that FT miss that he'll be seeing in his sleep tonight.

Also, Bainter threw the ball away on a routine, uncontested pass at halfcourt with a half-minute left and Wheaton up by three. That's a pass that he'll be seeing in his sleep tonight.

You have to be close to perfect to beat a team as good as Wheaton in its own gym, and in crunch time Elmhurst was a long, long way away from perfect ... whereas Wheaton really rose to the occasion and came back from eleven down in the second half to win it.

[WahooThunder]

Congratulations to the Thunder on another championship won! 2 down, one big one to go. Raymond had an off-night (a mere 24 points), but the offense was clicking when they were able to run it through Wiele down low and they did a nice job of shoring up defensively in the second half. Hopefully Wheaton can figure out how to get out of the gate a little quicker in coming games though and not have to rely on being able to eke them out down the stretch, otherwise I'm not going to have any nails left to chew on.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'm guessing that the loser tonite was Augie.  If the Jays had hung on, Wheaton would have been picked VERY early in the Pool C process, meaning Augie (presumably) would have been at the table for 14-17 rounds.  Now it will probably only be 6-9 rounds.  By the criteria, Augie's credentials are fairly modest, but I wonder if a Midwest #2 has ever missed out if at the table for a really lengthy time?

[AndOne]

CCIW TOURNEY CHAMPIONSHIP BOX SCORE

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/custompages/mbball/mbbstats/mwhe27.htm

[augiefan]

Augie was the loser last night. They controlled their own destiny and could not get the job done. Although there will be many teams weaker than Augie in the tourney, Augie will not be there to prove it. Good luck to the Jays and the Thunder. I hope they are seeded in different brackets, as tonight's tight game and the season as a whole demonstrated that the CCIW deserves to have two teams with a chance to reach the FF. The WIAC may be the only other conference deserving of the same recognition, and I believe they will have 3 teams qualify.

[Jim Matson]

Ypsi, I seriously doubt that Augie gets in with all these upsets this weekend.

Another great game at Wheaton tonight.  First sell-out crowd I've seen at King Arena.  The Elmhurst fans were great and made their presence known.

I thought that the biggest miss of the game was Strzemp's miss of the front end of the one-and-one with Wheaton up by one and a minute and change left in the ballgame. That was huge. And, although Strzemp made a big steal and desperation trey in the waning seconds of a game that was almost wrapped up, it's that FT miss that he'll be seeing in his sleep tonight.

Also, Bainter threw the ball away on a routine, uncontested pass at halfcourt with a half-minute left and Wheaton up by three. That's a pass that he'll be seeing in his sleep tonight.

I agree on the description of the Strzempt miss.  It was huge.  But the 2 missed FT's after Coach Harris was T'd up was also important.  I agree with Dansand that being down 12 or 13 at that point would have been tough.  It was tough enough being down by 10.  Maybe Harris's outburst was a good shot in the arm for the team?  But in the end, it was Wiele's play in the last 12 minutes that kept things rolling for the Thunder.  He was tough to stop whether he was facing the basket or not.  And the dunk in the final minutes was as big a play as Wheaton had all evening.

Congrats also to the Wesleyan women who finished the season without a loss.  When was the last time a CCIW basketball team went undefeated?  Wow.

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats also to the Wesleyan women who finished the season without a loss.  When was the last time a CCIW basketball team went undefeated?  Wow.

It's never happened. All seven men's national championship teams (North Park -- 5; Wheaton  -- 1; Illinois Wesleyan -- 1), and both women's national championship teams (North Central -- 1; Millikin -- 1) each lost at least one game. (The NCC women's national championship team in '82-'83 actually predates CCIW sponsorship of that sport.)