MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[mr_b]

I agree, Dennis, that music gets played too often at professional and amateur competitive events.  Nothing wrong with "Welcome to the Jungle" when the Vikings kickoff, but recorded music has unfortunately supplanted the pep band at bball contests. 

If it was all Tupac, all the time, well that's a different story.

If North Park had a pep band and cheerleaders, I would gladly take that over the canned music that we have to play.  However, we know how well cheerleaders in the Crackerbox have fared...the Crazies usually eat them for lunch. 

I will say this, though (and I hope the regulars notice).  Whenever the Crazies make an attempt to involve the crowd in one of their chants during a timeout, the music get turned down. 

vb - the music at north park games is played at one-tenth the volume of the elmhurst music.

The price of admission should include adequate ear protection.

[CCIWFAN3]

Wheaton's ball handling is bad!.  They have great shooters but the shooters can't create their own shot and no one else can create for them either. They don't have a true point guard.  Next year will be the start of the Schauer era.  The recruits and transfers will be there next year.  Add ball handlers and shooters to McCrary...it will be different.  They defeinitely could have used Pflederer this year.

[Gregory Sager]

My, my, we're all ready to throw Wheaton to the wolves today, aren't we? I guess it does seem as though the world is coming to an end when you lose to NPU, doesn't it?

I'm the last one to defend the preseason poll by the coaches, since I'm usually the poster who points out how often and how badly they annually seem to get it all wrong ... but, nevertheless, let's not forget that: a) Wheaton was the preseason favorite; b) Wheaton's two games out of first and one game out of second with ten games left on the slate, so it's not as though the Orange and Blue is ready to be lowered into the ground and have dirt shoveled on it; and c) Tim McCrary and Ben Panner makes up as good a 1-2 punch as there is in this league.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of Wheaton's death are greatly exaggerated.  

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to NPU sophomore point guard Ro Russell upon being named CCIW Player of the Week!

[CCIWFAN3]

Thunder still have a good chance...but they need more of an attack in the back court than spot ups, and they have to defend the dribble drive. What H.S. did Russell attend?

[Gregory Sager]

Thunder still have a good chance...but they need more of an attack in the back court than spot ups, and they have to defend the dribble drive. What H.S. did Russell attend?

St. Rita. It's in the CCIW press release to which I linked.

[thunderstruck88]

Kent Raymond receives the Today's Top VIII Award in Atlanta

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2010/1/17/GEN_TopVIII.aspx?path=gen

One Raymond quotable from the night:

It was particularly inspiring to stand beside those that received awards for their courage and valor in overcoming unbelievable obstacles to be where they are today. One moment in particular that I will never forget is when Lt. Colonel Gregory Gadson, a former Army football player, walked across stage and shared how many of the lessons he learned as a student-athlete gave him the strength to overcome the loss of both of his legs while serving in Afghanistan. While this is just one of the many incredible people I had the opportunity to meet, Lt. Colonel Gadson's humility and perseverance made a lasting impression on me.

[wheaton.thunder]

Maybe you should lock them all in a shed

Now that's a novel idea! I would be willing to do that if it would help them to become more fundamentally agile and harder to defend.

My, my, we're all ready to throw Wheaton to the wolves today, aren't we?

Not throwing anybody anywhere. Just hate to see opportunities squandered because of poor play. You know as well as I that Wheaton generally is able to dictate the tempo of the game. Their shoddy ball control and missed shots make the difference for their opponents.

[Naperick]

Switching gears, does anybody know if former Elmhurst star, Brent Ruch, is currently playing basketball professionally?

[Titan Q]

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

Ill. Wesleyan +2
Carthage +1
North Park +1
Augustana +0
Wheaton +0
Millikin -1
North Central -1
Elmhurst -2

Wednesday
Augustana @ Millikin
Carthage @ North Central
Elmhurst @ North Park
Illinois Wesleyan @ Wheaton

[BlueJay21]

Switching gears, does anybody know if former Elmhurst star, Brent Ruch, is currently playing basketball professionally?

No he is not.

[Gregory Sager]

My, my, we're all ready to throw Wheaton to the wolves today, aren't we?

Not throwing anybody anywhere. Just hate to see opportunities squandered because of poor play. You know as well as I that Wheaton generally is able to dictate the tempo of the game. Their shoddy ball control and missed shots make the difference for their opponents.

I'll say the same thing to you that I do to other posters in similar circumstances: Basketball is a game that is played by two teams, not one. Your team does not play basketball in a vacuum. (I just went through this with a Gustavus Adolphus poster in the MIAC room two weeks ago who insisted that his Gusties lost to a D2 team in Hawai'i because of extenuating circumstances that affected the Gusties, not because of anything that the D2 opponent did in the actual game itself.) Dictating tempo, the ability to control the ball, and shooting percentage are all factors that are affected by Wheaton's opponents, not simply by Wheaton's relative competence or lack thereof on a given night.

Saturday's game was a clear example of that. NPU pushed the tempo more than Wheaton would've preferred, since an up-tempo game favored the quicker and deeper Vikings, and Wheaton's offensive struggles were at least in part the result of NPU's defense. The Vikings did a better job of recovering to close down on perimeter shooters than they have all season long; the only open spots beyond the arc that Wheaton was able to forge all evening long were in the deep corners, and Panner was the only Wheaton player quick enough to get into the corners uncovered (Shackelford and Jahns were unable to get open down there) and then knock down those shots. And the Vikings are getting better at ballhawking; sophomore Davone Robinson and freshman David Williams have particularly quick hands and feet as far as on-ball defenders for North Park are concerned.

[Viking Blue]

My, my, we're all ready to throw Wheaton to the wolves today, aren't we?

Not throwing anybody anywhere. Just hate to see opportunities squandered because of poor play. You know as well as I that Wheaton generally is able to dictate the tempo of the game. Their shoddy ball control and missed shots make the difference for their opponents.

I'll say the same thing to you that I do to other posters in similar circumstances: Basketball is a game that is played by two teams, not one. Your team does not play basketball in a vacuum. (I just went through this with a Gustavus Adolphus poster in the MIAC room two weeks ago who insisted that his Gusties lost to a D2 team in Hawai'i because of extenuating circumstances that affected the Gusties, not because of anything that the D2 opponent did in the actual game itself.) Dictating tempo, the ability to control the ball, and shooting percentage are all factors that are affected by Wheaton's opponents, not simply by Wheaton's relative competence or lack thereof on a given night.

Saturday's game was a clear example of that. NPU pushed the tempo more than Wheaton would've preferred, since an up-tempo game favored the quicker and deeper Vikings, and Wheaton's offensive struggles were at least in part the result of NPU's defense. The Vikings did a better job of recovering to close down on perimeter shooters than they have all season long; the only open spots beyond the arc that Wheaton was able to forge all evening long were in the deep corners, and Panner was the only Wheaton player quick enough to get into the corners uncovered (Shackelford and Jahns were unable to get open down there) and then knock down those shots. And the Vikings are getting better at ballhawking; sophomore Davone Robinson and freshman David Williams have particularly quick hands and feet as far as on-ball defenders for North Park are concerned.

Thanks for bringing this up, Greg.  I also get tired of the whining about officials.

Case in point, Wheaton fans:  Watch the tape of Saturday's last second layup by McCrary.  The Wheaton player who inbounded the ball and chucked it 70 feet for the assist CLEARLY moves his feet before throwing that pass....an inbounds play which did not come after a made basket.

Should the blame go on the officials there?  Maybe a little, but there should probably be more emphasis put on:

1.  A well-executed desperation play by the Crusading Thunder.
2.  A poor gamble by the NP defender to go after the ball when he had no help behind him and between him and the basket.

2 teams and the officials, all coming together to play a part in the outcome of a play, and for that particular time, the outcome of the game.

[Gregory Sager]

New Top 25 is out. IWU moves up to #17, Carthage and Wheaton are barely hanging on in the ORV category with single-digit point totals.

New Massey Ratings are out, too:

Illinois Wesleyan	18
Carthage	27
Wheaton	46
Augustana	48
North Central	115
North Park	124
Elmhurst	153
Millikin	228

[Gregory Sager]

Revitalizing the North Park men's basketball program means breaking some pretty odious streaks, and I feel that it's a matter of due diligence for me to report them. We've already talked about the twelve-game losing streak to Wheaton that NPU snapped on Saturday night. But that victory also marked the first time since the 2001-02 season that the Vikings have won three CCIW games in a row.

A win over Elmhurst in the crackerbox tomorrow night would snap two more of those odious streaks. First and foremost, it would break a nineteen-game losing streak to the 'jays that dates back to the 1999-00 season. Second, it would mark the first time since 1991-92 that the Park will have won four straight CCIW games.