MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[petemcb]

  I don't get to see the Titans that often, but every time I have seen them over the last 4 years, Dwyer always impresses me.  He doesn't have the stats that Zimmer or Johnson had yesterday, but his defense is one of the few bright spots on that end of the court for the Titans.

That is so true I just figured it bore repeating.

[y_jack_lok]

Southwestern is my wife's alma mater. Their only loss is to Rose-Hulman by 6 on 11/21, a team that Fontbonne beat by 25 on 12/15. I can't imagine IWU will have any problems tomorrow afternoon.

I certainly was not at the Southwestern/Rose-Hulman game, but I think it's always a little dangerous to make too much of one game.  Each season, we see examples of comparative scores that just don't add up.  For example, Wheaton got blasted at Hope...but took #1 Wash U to the final seconds. 

Wheaton shot 35% in that Hope game...was Hope's defense outstanding, or was Wheaton not knocking down shots they normally make?  Southwestern shot 7-28 from 3 vs Rose-Hulman...just a terrible shooting night for Southwestern, or is Rose just a better team? 

Each season, almost every team will have at least one game where they just flat out stink (and at least one where they play out of their mind on the good side).  I try to keep that in mind throughout the year as I vote in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll.

I know heading into the tournament at Trinity, IWU's coaching staff felt like the Titans would face a tough test vs Southwestern based on what they saw on video.  And after seeing them today vs Dominican, the IWU fans I talked to on the trip feel like the Titans will have their hands full tomorrow vs the smaller, quicker Pirates. 

We'll see.

I agree with everything you say TQ, and I usually don't go out on a limb and make predictions, but I am going to stick by this one.

[Titan Q]

IWU 91
Southwestern 75

•   Jordan Zimmer: 35 pts, 4 reb (13-17 FG, 7-11 3-pt)
•   Doug Sexauer: 16 pts, 10 reb
•   Sean Johnson: 15 pts, 7 assists
•   Travis Rosenkranz: 11 pts, 4 reb, 6 assists


6-5 sophomore guard Jordan Zimmer scored a career best 28 points yesterday vs Trinity.  Today he set a new personal best as a Titan, finishing with 35.  

IWU led just 61-60 with 10:20 to play in the 2nd half in what was a very tight first 10 minutes of the 2nd.  After an IWU timeout, Zimmer went absolutely nuts.  He made 3 consecutive 3's to push the IWU lead to 70-60, and proceeded to score 18 points in 5 minutes on the clock (from 10:20 to 5:20).  

Zimmer's points came from all over the floor – drives to the basket, mid-range jumpers, free throws, and of course, 3-pointers.  He is starting to become a complete college player.  63 points in 2 games...what a tournament for the sophomore from Delavan.

IWU shot 55.6% from the field and 59.1% from 3 (and 53% from the FT line somehow!).

The Titans went through a funk for a few games where they just were not shooting the 3 well at all - most notably the awful 4-24 performance at Chicago.  It was strange, because this should be a very good 3-point shooting team (led by Zimmer and Sean Johnson).  IWU shot 11-23 from 3 vs Trinity and 13-22 vs Southwestern...hopefully this gets them back on track heading into the CCIW schedule.  The Titans are hard to defend when they're knocking down perimeter shots.

IWU finishes the non-conference season 9-2 (8-2 "in-region").

[Titan Q]

IWU/Southwestern boxscore...

http://www.iwusports.com/custompages/MBB/MBB2010/HTML/iwumbb11.htm

[Titan Q]

From Wooster...

Transylvania 73
Wash U 69


(Not sure if Wash U had starters Kelly and Knepper back or not...they did not play @ Fontbonne.)

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage's 22-point opening-day win over what appeared to be a somewhat down Transylvania team is looking much better alll of a sudden. The Vampires upset Wash U today in the opening round of Wooster's Mose Hole Tourney, 73-69.

[Gregory Sager]

(Not sure if Wash U had starters Kelly and Knepper back or not...they did not play @ Fontbonne.)

Caleb Knepper played, coming off the bench to score six points. The report from Wash U's various St. Louis-based posters is that Zach Kelly has mononucleosis, which means that he's going to be sidelined for quite some time.

[Titan Q]

Carthage's 22-point opening-day win over what appeared to be a somewhat down Transylvania team is looking much better alll of a sudden. The Vampires upset Wash U today in the opening round of Wooster's Mose Hole Tourney, 73-69.

The same Transylvania team that lost @ Rose-Hulman.  So...

* Transylvania beat Wash U
* Rose-Hulman beat Transylvania
* Fontbonne beat Rose-Hulman by 25

Of course making Fontbonne better than Wash U.  

(Real score: Wash U 82 Fontbonne 64)


I'm not sure the Carthage win over Transy means any more than it did this morning...maybe it should, maybe it shouldn't.  Who knows.  Maybe Wash U just stunk today.

(It is a nice "common opponent" win for the Red Men though.)

[Gregory Sager]

I don't think that the Carthage win over Transy means more, either, at first blush. I'm no more inclined to play the comparative-scores game than you are, Bob. But this may be an indication that Transy has turned a corner and will be a better team in January and February than its performance up until today had indicated. And if so, that's a feather in Carthage's cap.

In other words, I'm thinking long-range as far as Transy -- and, thus, the Red Men as well -- is concerned.

[Titan Q]

Trinity (Tx) beat Dominican 74-56 to wrap up the Trinity/Southwestern Holiday Classic.

IWU's Jordan Zimmer was named the tournament "MVP" and Sean Johnson also made the all-tournament team.  I have to believe Zimmer is well on his way to CCIW Player of the Week honors as well.

[Titan Q]

Live stats, Millikin @ Mary Hardin-Baylor...

http://www.sidearmstats.com/mhb/mbball/index.htm

[usee]

Trinity (Tx) beat Dominican 74-56 to wrap up the Trinity/Southwestern Holiday Classic.

IWU's Jordan Zimmer was named the tournament "MVP" and Sean Johnson also made the all-tournament team.  I have to believe Zimmer is well on his way to CCIW Player of the Week honors as well.

Don't be so trigger happy Q! Jake Carwell is still yet to play 3 games this week out west! 8)

[Titan Q]

Mary Hardin-Baylor came into the game vs Millikin averaging 78.1 points per game, and shooting .467 from the field on the season.

With 2:38 to play, Millikin has held the Crusaders to 38 points and 26% shooting from the field.

(Before tonight, Millikin opponents were averaging 60.1 point per game.)

[Titan Q]

Final from Belton, TX...

Mary Hardin-Baylor 49
Millikin 44

Millikin led almost the entire game and coughed it up with 35 seconds to go.  The Big Blue led 44-38 with 2:09 to play...and didn't score the rest of the way.  The Crusaders finished the game on an 11-0 run.

[Moser]

Wheaton just tipped off against Hamline

Audio: http://www.wheaton.edu/wetn/