MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[paularmerding]

A few thoughts, now that my nausea from watching Wheaton almost give it away at the end of regulation is gone:
  Very similar to the Carthage game at King when the Thunder gave it away from poor FT shooting.
  I know it was the first game of the season and Bradley probably looked at it as an exhibition game, but UW-Platteville beat the Braves, a team that finished with a winning record in the MVC, in Peoria.  This was a GOOD team.
  Maybe he was standing on his tiptoes for the team picture, (and the whole game tonight ), but if Wiele and the other UW-P big guys are 6'8", Mr. Stremp is more like 7' than 6'10".  And yes, his foot speed is a little slow, which limits his defensive abilities, but his footwork is pretty good and he has a very soft touch even from outside and from the line, so he can do more than just lay it in. He's not an NBA player, but if he wants to he'll play professionally somewhere, e.g. Europe or Asia.
  An advantage for WC as other tournament teams scout them is the way that someone other than Raymond and Wiele usually steps up as a game changer each game.  Panner, McCrary, Pflederer, and Jahns seem to disappear just often enough that teams may overlook them in their preparation, and then one of them takes their turn making the other team pay.  Any team can have a bad game, but they are playing with such balance right now and not so totally dependent on their All-Americans that I like their chances--no great insight there of course.

[Jim Matson]

Q, I don't think that the refs were a huge factor.  There were a few questionable calls but I thought that as a whole, they went both ways.  I liked seeing the OB call in the 2nd half over-ruled by the ref from the other side.  I thought these guys were giving a great effort.  They also let the boys play a number of times when CCIW refs would have let go on the whistle.

[wheels81]

Raymond not being himself tonight had a lot to do with getting hacked, pulled, bumped and raked and wonder of wonders not making baskets.  He did miss a couple of 3's and it was because the pioneers decided not to let him get the open looks he got last night.  So give credit to their defense for kent not looking his usual self although what he did do was enough tonight.  
Wheaton has 2 very special Freshmen that are game savers in Pflederer and McCrary but that's not news.  Carwell plays hard every game.  Wiele had limited success on offense tonight but made an 18 footer and even attempted a 3 pointer with shot clock winding down.  He needed a lot more help on weak/back side double down defense against the big fellow.    Wheaton's defense tonight seemed to let Skemp get his shots and deny everyone else.  Also the big guy surprised me a bit by playing 40 of 45 minutes.  He played with 4 fouls very effectilvely and narrowly missed being called for 5th near end of regulation.  
Wheaton out rebounded the pioneers and that was a big difference getting them extra looks.    
Bad night for the WIAC as well too bad.  At least the right blue and orange team
pulled it out tonight.
I think the first play off game that a Harris wheaton team was in was against Wash U.  Maybe a little revenge these so many years later.
Hoping for a home game next weekend.
Also top D3hoops 3 survive to Sweet 16

[Titan Q]

Q, I don't think that the refs were a huge factor as a few of the more questionable calls went both ways.  I liked seeing the OB call in the 2nd half over-ruled by the ref from the other side - these guys were giving a good effort.  They also let the boys play a number of times when CCIW refs would have let go on the whistle.

Jim, in a game where Wheaton was dealing with a monster down low for Platteville, and a game that was physical at every position on both ends of the floor, the final personal foul count was: Platteville 28, Wheaton 17.  The free throw count was: Wheaton 37, Platteville 14.

Watching the game - even as someone rooting for Wheaton - I felt Wheaton got a home whistle.  Those numbers make me feel like I was right.

And, by the way, it was a CCIW officiating crew!

Officials: Reuben Norris, Tom O'Malley and Tom O'Neill & Ken Maziarka

[Pat Coleman]

Good reason to want it at Wheaton...........video!

Actually, we're going to have video just about everywhere. The NCAA is springing for video coverage for a couple sectionals on each side.

[thunderwearer]

I must say that tonight's game was great. I was very impressed with the coaching of UWP, and at some points not too impressed with at least one of Wheaton's coaching decisions.

With regards to UWP great adjustments, I was very impressed with their move to the 1-3-1 zone with a 5 minutes left in the game. This took Wheaton out of their offense and made them quite stagnant. This helped UWP come back from the 9 point deficit. The other thing that I noticed, UWP spaced their floor really well. They noticed that Wheaton was playing off their guards on the weak side of the ball to help with the big guy, UWP then put their best shooter on the weak side of the ball for skip passes and got a couple of good looks against Wheaton's tough D.

I will also say that I was confused why Wheaton continually attempted to front Skemp. Skemp got so many easy looks because they were able to float the ball over the front defender and Wheaton had no one to help not that it would have helped. I personally thought that Wheaton would have had better success playing behind Skemp and pushing him further from the basket.

With all that said, Wheaton had a sort of off night (free-throw and turnovers) and still came away with the "W". I don't think any team will be looking forward to meeting this Wheaton team and I think if they play to their potential, they can keep advancing.

Just my 2 cents.

[Jim Matson]

Q, my bad on the crew, but being at the game, it seemed that UWP's defense overplayed themselves a bit, which led to quite a few of these fouls - and Wheaton seemed to be more aware of this fact in the second half.  And I personally thought there was more than one non-call on Skemp tonight, especially during rebounds.  But I have to admit, you do see watch more of these games than I do...

And I do need to add my congrats to the IWU women who continue to make it look easy in the post-season.

[usee]

Wheaton/Platteville game thoughts...

* That is as out of it as I've ever seen Kent Raymond look in a game, and I can't put my finger on what the deal was.  I know Platteville played great defense on him, but he just was not himself.  I have not seen the boxscore, and he may have had 25 for all I know, but he did not have a good game.

* Why did Raymond play off the ball so much?  I'm not sure he ever brought the ball up the floor.  It has to be the most minutes I have ever seen the ball out of his hands in a single game.

Raymond did not sit the entire game. played all 45 minutes. I think he was really gassed in the 2nd half but couldn't take himself out. It was also as physical a game as I have seen and Raymond really took a pounding. I saw him in the hallway after the game and he was sitting on the floor against the wall, exhausted.

* Jeff Skemp is the real deal...wow.  I have not seen a better big man in Division III this year.

As good a big man as I have seen in D3. He was awesome. Great footwork and very intelligent player.

* In the final seconds of regulation, up 1, why did Wheaton not get the ball to Raymond for the FT's?  Ben Panner had plenty of time to pass to Raymond, and he chose to hold it and shoot the FT's...he went 1 of 2 and then Platteville (Skemp) tied it.

Raymond did not aggressively go to the ball like I have seen him do in this situation in EVERY other game. I don't know why but it was almost like Kent didn't want the ball. I know he wanted it after Skemps bucket with 8 seconds to play but Jahns inexplicably drove the ball the length of the floor himself and dished to Wiele who missed a layup that would have won it.

* The two biggest shots of the season for Wheaton were the Jahns 3 and then the Panner fadeaway 14 footer on back-to-back possessions in OT.

That's exaclty what I thought. Jahns came up huge tonight. His defense was a big factor and he canned 2 big free throws in OT. Carwell was also a big factor and his foul trouble was costly to the Thunder.

* I thought UW-Platteville got a terrible whistle the entire game.

Although I wouldn't go so far as to say it was a home whistle, I thought there were some really bad calls and the whistle definitely leaned wheaton's way. That said, Raymond got no calls tonight. Wheaton went to the line 37 times but Raymond didn't shoot a free throw until midway through the 2nd half and all but 2 of his 8 ft's, I believe, were from bonus situations and not shooting fouls. He was really hammered when he went to the hoop and the refs let it go. I think he got frustrated by that. I also think the large FT disparity was due in large part to UWP's very physical style. On balance, however, I thought UWP got more of the bad calls. There were 6 or 8 offensive fouls called and I thought maybe 2 of them were legit. The offensive pick against UWP at the start of the 2nd half was atrocious and so was the offensive foul on Raymond as he drove a minute later. I thought the overturned OB call was a good job as the ball was clearly knocked out by a Wheaton player.

* It is absolute crime that that game was played in Round 2.

Enough said.

[usee]

Platteville was as good a team as I have seen all season and the best team Wheaton has played. On the WIAC board there was a comparison of Ruch and Skemp and I would say they are pretty even but Skemp is better because his supporting cast run their offense more efficiently. I was so impressed with the way UWP rotated the ball to get the advantage in the post. I didn't understand why Wiele was still fighting to front Skemp when he was out at the elbow to recieve the pass. It seems to me at that point you should just play behind him and double from somewhere.

UWP kept their shooters in the game and spread the floor to create the looks for Skemp. It was clear Harris' strategy was to let the big guy get his points but limit the UWP guards production. The official stats has Skemp as 17-21 and everyone else was 10-33.

[CCIWchamps]

36 points, refs, home whistles, etc: How is the topic of 3 second violation non-calls not being discussed on here yet?  I'm surprised he didn't go for 60 when he spends half of each possession under the hoop.  If Wheaton got more foul calls, UWP got the benefit of not losing 50% of their possessions based on his camping in the lane on moving screens.

That being said, kudos to Wiele for manning up and playing a game and OT against the big boy.  He took his lumps and cheap shots from 42 and kept coming back.  

[usee]

Wheaton assistant Nate Frank on the WETN postgame show...

"There may be teams in Division III as good as Platteville, but I don't think there are any better."

The big man also mentioned that should Wheaton get sent on the road for the Sectionals, he'd be taking the boys to school in Guitar Hero at the hotel.

Nate Frank vs Aaron Messner in Guitar Hero...who wins?

Guitar Hero.

[izzy stradlin]

With regards to UWP great adjustments, I was very impressed with their move to the 1-3-1 zone with a 5 minutes left in the game. This took Wheaton out of their offense and made them quite stagnant. This helped UWP come back from the 9 point deficit. The other thing that I noticed, UWP spaced their floor really well. They noticed that Wheaton was playing off their guards on the weak side of the ball to help with the big guy, UWP then put their best shooter on the weak side of the ball for skip passes and got a couple of good looks against Wheaton's tough D.

I will also say that I was confused why Wheaton continually attempted to front Skemp. Skemp got so many easy looks because they were able to float the ball over the front defender and Wheaton had no one to help not that it would have helped. I personally thought that Wheaton would have had better success playing behind Skemp and pushing him further from the basket.

With all that said, Wheaton had a sort of off night (free-throw and turnovers) and still came away with the "W". I don't think any team will be looking forward to meeting this Wheaton team and I think if they play to their potential, they can keep advancing.

I agree, Wheaton definitely failed to adjust in their low post defensive scheme.  Wiele did his best trying to deny, and got a few deflections in OT, but the quick weakside help that worked for the CCIW was a non-factor for someone 6-10 265 with great strength and agility around the rim. 

If Wiele plays behind Skemp, maybe he shoots 60% on a few more 5-foot jump hooks instead of 80% on mostly layups and dunks?

Skemp is easily the best big-man in D3-- a notch or two better than Ruch (however, I have only seen each play in person twice  FWIW).

[Thunder Dutch]

On the Plattville game...

- great crowd for Platteville. they did a great job and had lots of energy. you can really tell that its spring break, there is little student support for Wheaton. good local crowd though, and lots of kids. it was nice to see the wheaton players crowded by kids after the game. it was kind of ridiculous though, some older fans were asking us to sit down throughout the game, saying it was "rude". It's a NCAA playoff game!! maybe the best team to come to King Arena all season in maybe the best game, and we need to sit down??

- Free throws almost did come back to bite us. 22-37 won't cut it. that's less than 60%. we did shoot many more free throws than them, and i do think they committed more fouls although the reffing was at times really tacky, and at times too loose. I hesitate to say the whistle went one way or the other, but Wheaton did shoot more FTs. We can't shoot this poorly from the line next game though. We may not win that kind of game vs. Wash U or St. Thomas.

- Wheaton won despite shooting 44% to UWP's 50%. Our defense will have to do better against Wash U.

- Jeff Skemp is incredible. Best center I've seen play in person. He was just unstoppable, getting great position by using his size very effectively. Carwell and Wiele really battled with him all night. If our strategy was to let him get his and deny everyone else, it worked and almost backfired. He is that good by himself. I know Ruch and Skemp have been compared, but I think while Ruch is a better shooter and slightly more athletic, Skemp is better. He uses his body better and is completely unstoppable on the block. He does get the ball a bunch more than Ruch does.

- Raymond was off, although he did show flashes of his brilliance. He did get pushed and shoved and hacked all day, but hopefully he will unleash on Wash U.

- even when Kent and Wiele shot a combined 12-35, Wheaton won. Lots of other players stepped up. Panner played a great game, both offensively and defensively. That missed free throw did cause some stress, but it worked out. Jahns hadn't seemed to be shooting well lately, but hit that huge three and made free throws down the stretch. Pflederer had a big three and that putback of Raymond's miss with 5 seconds left to seal the game. He really is a energy boost off the bench.. McCrary didn't score a lot, but had some nice assists, some blocks, and some big rebounds.

- It's a real pity UWP had to lose. They fought hard and played well, and I wish this could have been in the Final Four rather than second round. criminal indeed. i really enjoyed watching them play and really admired them.

- Wash U is going to be a completely different game. Great guards but no dominant post players? Panner and Raymond may be one of the best guard sets in the country though, both offensively and defensively, so I am thinking Wheaton will do well, especially if it is at Wheaton. How are the Wash U guards defensively? Anyone that has seen both teams play want to give a preview?

- I guess now we wait till hosting sites are announced. I think if Wheaton hosts, they should be favored, if only slightly, to beat Wash U and St. Thomas, despite it being the end of spring break. Maybe by Saturday night a bunch of students will be back, if we win Friday.

[Titan Q]

Just a reminder of all the factors that will be considered in making the Sectional hosting decision...

The Championships Committee has prioritized the following site-selection criteria for all championships:

1. Quality and availability of the facility and other necessary accommodations;

2. Geographical location (which may include such factors as rotation of sites, weather, accessibility, and transportation costs);

3. Seeding, and;

4. Attendance history and revenue potential, which shall be considered necessary to assure fiscal responsibility.

http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/champ_handbooks/basketball/2009/3_mbasketball_handbook.pdf

(page 7)

[usee]

On Kent Raymond, I will say the play at the end of the first half to score and put Wheaton up 3 at the break was ridiculous. But he was clearly not himself, even missing a layup in overtime with 6 seconds left after a well designed long court pass.