MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[thunderstruck88]

Spencer Shultze started in place of Jake Carwell, which was odd. Jake played and appeared fine. I wonder why the change?

I wondered about the same thing, and I'm not completely sure either. I wonder if it has anything to do with Schultze being the more productive scorer of the two. Wheaton has been looking for another offensive weapon all season, and maybe this is a reaction to going 2-2 on the road in the last four games. In Wheaton's last five games, Carwell has scored 5,1,8,4 and 6 points (7.0 ppg on the season) to Schultze's 12,14,21,6, and 4 (9.0 ppg). Although Schultze is the scorer, Carwell is a great all-around role player.

But it could just as easily be one-game thing.

[Titan Q]

Non-conference final (excluding Augie @ Gonzaga game):

Points per 100 Possessions (offensive efficiency) – non-conference games
1.   Carthage, 115.1
2.   Ill. Wesleyan, 114.8
3.   Elmhurst, 110.2
4.   North Central, 108.5
5.   Wheaton, 107.7
6.   North Park, 106.5
7.   Augustana, 101.1
8.   Millikin, 90.8


Opponent Points per 100 Possessions (defensive efficiency) – non-conference games
1.   Millikin, 89.0
2.   Ill. Wesleyan, 93.5
3.   Wheaton, 94.4
4.   Augustana, 94.9
5.   Carthage, 97.5
6.   North Park, 100.5
7.   North Central, 101.3
8.   Elmhurst, 109.8

Differential
1.   Ill Wesleyan, +21.3
2.   Carthage, +17.6
3.   Wheaton, +13.3
4.   North Central, +7.2
5.   Augustana, +6.2
6.   North Park, +6.0
7.   Millikin, +1.8
8.   Elmhurst, +0.4

CCIW games only, through 2 games:

Points per 100 Possessions (offensive efficiency)
1. Ill. Wesleyan, 119.3
2. Carthage, 117.1
3. Augustana, 113.6
4. North Park, 109.9
5. Wheaton, 107.0
6. North Central, 102.9
7. Millikin, 98.1
8. Elmhurst, 83.3

Opponent Points per 100 Possessions (defensive efficiency)
1. Augustana, 88.8
2. Elmhurst, 97.0
3. Millkin, 99.8
4. Ill. Wesleyan, 105.4
5. North Central, 111.8
6. North Park, 114.4
7. Wheaton, 114.5
8. Carthage, 115.5

Differential
1. Augustana, +24.8
2. Ill. Wesleyan, +13.9
3. Carthage, +1.6
4. Millikin, -1.7
5. North Park, -4.5
6. Wheaton, -7.5
7. North Central, -8.9
8. Elmhurst, -13.7

[Gotberg]

Recruiting news - I don't think I saw this posted anywhere:

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/joelatulip.html

[Titan Q]

Recruiting news - I don't think I saw this posted anywhere:

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/joelatulip.html

Joe was at the game last night actually (on crutches unfortunately...he hurt his knee this past Friday).  I was glad to hear he'll be a Titan.

Latulip is a hard-working, smart, steady point-guard...and also a great leader.  He is one of those kids you throw into the "gym rat" category...the kind of kid you wish you had about 15 of on the roster.

Joe may not be the only PG IWU adds this year (and he is well aware of that), so I think his future role at IWU just depends on how a lot of things shake out over the course of the next couple years.  My bet, though, is that he finds his way into the varsity mix as a JR and SR.

From Illinois Prep Bulls-eye...

http://ilprepbullseye.com/page16.html

[Titan Q]

Amazingly, Steve Djurickovic became the Carthage all-time assist leader last night...just 13 games into his junior year.  He passed Stan Kapka (357 from 1983-86).

He'll own every Carthage record there is before he's done.

[kenoshamark]

Greg,

It was reported in the Kenosha News today that Max Cary has mono.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

I only got to see the first half of North Park's win over Millikin - but two things were impressive: 1- the Vikings had only 8 turnovers in the game versus a team that is known for its press and its ball hawking.  My son saw the second half and commented that the Vikings did a good job breaking the full court press in the 2nd half.  2- Nick Hoekstra is a nice spot up shooter from behind the arc and isn't afraid to mix it up on defense as well.

#3 - Joe Hakes still has more chins than a Chinese phonebook - though no one now would ever mistake him for my brother - he looks more like a chunky Mr. Clean - or coach Bosko.  Good to see Joe and Sue back at NP after a 20-year absence.

[Titan Q]

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

Augustana +1
Ill. Wesleyan +1
Carthage +0
Millikin +0
North Park +0
Wheaton +0
Elmhurst -1
North Central -1


This week...

Wednesday (all at 7:30pm)
Augustana @ Wheaton
Elmhurst @ Carthage
Millikin @ IWU
North Park @ North Central

Saturday
North Central @ Millikin, 4:30pm
Carthage @ Augustana, 7:30pm
Wheaton @ North Park, 7:30pm

Sunday
IWU @ Elmhurst, 3:30pm

[AndOne]

Anyone know why IWU and Elmhurst are playing Sun rather than Sat?

[Titan Q]

Anyone know why IWU and Elmhurst are playing Sun rather than Sat?

A wrestling match at Elmhurst Saturday.

[Titan Q]

A quote Bosko gave to Pantagraph reporter Randy Reinhardt (Randy didn't work it in, but he shared with me via e-mail...good stuff)...


"If you like our team, we've got a great player and a great freshman class. If you don't like our team, we've got a great player and we play too many freshmen. You can go either way on that."

[AndOne]

Recruiting news - I don't think I saw this posted anywhere:

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/joelatulip.html

Joe was at the game last night actually (on crutches unfortunately...he hurt his knee this past Friday).  I was glad to hear he'll be a Titan.

Latulip is undersized (I don't think there's anyway he's 5-10), but he's a hard-working, smart, steady point-guard...and also a great leader.  He is one of those kids you throw into the "gym rat" category...the kind of kid you wish you had about 15 of on the roster.

Joe may not be the only PG IWU adds this year (and he is well aware of that), so I think his future role at IWU just depends on how a lot of things shake out over the course of the next couple years.  My bet, though, is that he finds his way into the varsity mix as a JR and SR.

This sounds remarkably like the description we previously heard about 5'9" Eliud Gonzalez when he committed to Wesleyan.
With Rosenkranz & Johnson having another year, plus the other guards already on the Wesleyan roster, it looks like there is a good chance Gonzalez will never see any meaningful playing time, and Mr. LaTulip won't be playing much until his senior year, if then.

Also, speaking of playing time, what has become of Duncan Lawson's playing time in the Wesleyan rotation? Coming out of high school Lawson was probably the best ball handling & passing big man many recruiters saw that year. He was also a very good 3 point shooter who the Green Machine touted as someone who would present huge match up problems for a usually much shorter defender. However, Lawson has played sparingly his 1st 2 years, and his time seems to be diminishing even more with the return of Dan Schouten to the Titan lineup. With only one season left after this one, it appears this highly recruited kid will be another victim of the Wesleyan numbers game.

[AndOne]

Spencer Shultze started in place of Jake Carwell, which was odd. Jake played and appeared fine. I wonder why the change?

I wondered about the same thing, and I'm not completely sure either. I wonder if it has anything to do with Schultze being the more productive scorer of the two. Wheaton has been looking for another offensive weapon all season, and maybe this is a reaction to going 2-2 on the road in the last four games. In Wheaton's last five games, Carwell has scored 5,1,8,4 and 6 points (7.0 ppg on the season) to Schultze's 12,14,21,6, and 4 (9.0 ppg). Although Schultze is the scorer, Carwell is a great all-around role player.

But it could just as easily be one-game thing.

After watching Wheaton play last night I think the question really should be "Why didn't Carwell start?" It seems that with Panner and McCrary, Wheaton has most of the scoring they need. Is something wrong with Andrew Jahns? If not, he should be capable of providing the additional scoring punch Wheaton might need.

Carwell seems a much better complement to the other starters. For one, he is a very good assist man for a big. MUCH more capable of getting the ball to the primarty scores than Schultze is. Also, Wheaton needs more of an edge in rebounding---the stats show Wheaton vs opponents rebounding as being virtually identical---and Carwell is a much tougher (some would say bordering on dirty) player who would provide better board work than Schultze. Accordingly, I think Wheaton is doing its opponents a favor when they play Schultze more than Panner.

[Titan Q]

This sounds remarkably like the description we previously heard about 5'9" Eliud Gonzalez when he committed to Wesleyan.
With Rosenkranz & Johnson having another year, plus the other guards already on the Wesleyan roster, it looks like there is a good chance Gonzalez will never see any meaningful playing time, and Mr. LaTulip won't be playing much until his senior year, if then.

Also, speaking of playing time, what has become of Duncan Lawson's playing time in the Wesleyan rotation? Coming out of high school Lawson was probably the best ball handling & passing big man many recruiters saw that year. He was also a very good 3 point shooter who the Green Machine touted as someone who would present huge match up problems for a usually much shorter defender. However, Lawson has played sparingly his 1st 2 years, and his time seems to be diminishing even more with the return of Dan Schouten to the Titan lineup. With only one season left after this one, it appears this highly recruited kid will be another victim of the Wesleyan numbers game.

So, are you a proponent of the opposite of the numbers game...ala, what's going on at North Central right now with an extreme lack of depth across the board?  I'm always confused by your posts on this topic.

Every kid on IWU's roster made his decision knowing who else was in the mix.  If a kid decides to go somewhere where he will have to compete and beat out other good players to see varsity time, I think that says a lot about their character.  We all know that a lot of recruits nowadays demand immediate playing time...I'd rather have the kid who knows he will have to win a job.  Great programs are loaded with kids like this - in the CCIW, just look at Augustana in recent years.

It is clear you do not like all of the depth teams like IWU and Augustana have, Mark...you've made many a post about it over the years.  It surprises me, to be honest, that you have so little respect for the decisions these kids make (Brandon Kunz, Eliud Gonzalez, etc).

(As far as Duncan Lawson, I'd say Dan Schouten has just simply beaten him out for minutes off the bench.)

[thunder38]

Yes Schultze has been more effective offensively for the Thunder but Carwell is one of those intangible players whose contributions really comes in areas that can't be measured on the stat sheet.  He brings leadership and energy to the floor and even though he didn't start he was on the floor down the stretch when Schauer went to his most effective line-up. And something else you like to see from a senior like Carwell, from talking to him before the game he seemed excited for Schultze to get his chance.  I don't know if Schultze will stay in the starting line-up but I get the feeling Schauer is looking for his most efficient five to start.