MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

North Park 65
Fontbonne 51

* Clayton Cahill: 18 pts

[augiefan]

IWU wins 83-70

[Titan Q]

IWU 83
Dominican 70

* Sean Johnson: 34 pts, 5 reb, 3 assists
* Dan Schouten: 8 pts, 6 reb
* Travis Rosenkranz: 8 assists

* Marquis Turley: 19 pts

IWU led comfortably the entire 2nd half, by as much as 22 pts I think.  Dominican scored the final 9 points of the game in garbage time, making the final margin a bit misleading.

After scoring 35 the last time out, Sean Johnson put 34 more on the board today.  He was 12-18 from the field and 5-10 from 3.

IWU had another big assist total today - 21 (on 31 total FG).  The Titans are a good passing team and are fortunate to have a bunch of unselfish guys.

The Titans shot .544 from the field today.

[Titan Q]

The North Central/Illinois College boxscore...

http://northcentralcardinals.com/custompages/MBK/mbk1011/Ncc1127.htm


Through 4 games, preseason all-American Derek Raridon is 13-51 (.255) from the field and 1-13 (.077) from 3.  He is averaging just 8.3 points per game.  Last season Raridon averaged 21.3 ppg and shot .445 from the field and .430 (43-100) from 3.

[Gregory Sager]

Still waiting for stats from NPU's win over Fontbonne. Doesn't sound like a great game by the Vikings, but at this point North Park is still in "a win's a win" territory, particularly since it came on the other team's floor on an overnight road trip. We can start to quibble about style points once the Vikings have figured out the basics.

The North Central/Illinois College boxscore...

http://northcentralcardinals.com/custompages/MBK/mbk1011/Ncc1127.htm


Through 4 games, preseason all-American Derek Raridon is 13-51 (.255) from the field and 1-13 (.077) from 3.  He is averaging just 8.3 points per game.  Last season Raridon averaged 21.3 ppg and shot .445 from the field and .430 (43-100) from 3.

From what I've been told by people who have watched North Central play, opponents are constantly double-teaming Raridon and daring somebody else to step up and beat them. Thus far, nobody's done so. That seems like a sound strategy, considering that NCC's two other experienced players (Brian Evans and Kevin Gillespie) are both blue-collar types who aren't really the kind of player who is a potentially lethal scorer. The strategy is apparently working. One observer told me that Raridon is going to have to learn how to improve as a passer, a la Tim McCrary, and stop forcing shots against double teams. Once his assist totals start going up, the Cardinals will start to be a more effective team.

Then again, I haven't seen the Cardinals play yet, so perhaps AndOne has a different point of view on NCC"s struggles.

[Titan Q]

Sean Johnson's 34 points today was the 3rd highest scoring total by an IWU player in the 17 year history of the Shirk Center (Korey Coon 42, 2/23/00...Bryan Crabtree 40, 2/24/96).

What I'd like to find out is when the last time an IWU player scored more than 69 points total in a two game stretch.  Off the top of my head, I can't seem to think of anytime I've seen that in 22 years around the program.  69 is a huge number for 2 games.

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana 74
Anderson 69

Very exciting game ... it was close for about 39 and 3/4 minutes, if that makes any sense.

Augie shot eleven FTs in the last forty-eight seconds of the game. That's how the Doggies pulled away at the end.

[augiefan]

A sruggle tonight for Augie as their old FT shooting woes resurfaced. It's true they shot 11 FTs in the final minute or so, but they made only 4 of them. 61% from ther FT line for the night. The key was a Kyle Nelson rebound off of a Chris Anderson missed FT with about 35 seconds to go, which resulted in Kyle being fouled and making both FTs to put Augie up by 4. Nelson scored 27 on the night.

It's also true that Anderson's depth was a problem. Their starting 5 scored all but two of their points. Two of those starters did foul out, but both went out in the last minute of the game. Other than the lack of depth Anderson is a really good team, which made all but two of their FTs, shot well from 3 point land and held their own on the boards (30/33). Their 18 TOs were probably the difference maker in a game that was never more than 6 points apart and was usually one score apart.

Congrats to Augie for gutting this one out against the #14 team in DIII.

[Titan Q]

CCIW in-region report (through 11/27)...

(records below are in-region only...not overall)

Augustana (3-0) - 10 scheduled
11/16, @ Simpson  W
11/22, vs Washington U W
11/27, vs Anderson  W
12/1, @ Monmouth
12/11, vs Buena Vista
12/15, vs UW-Whitewater
12/20, @ MacMurray
12/29, vs UW-Stout, at St. Norbert
12/30, @ St. Norbert or vs Lakeland, at St. Norbert
1/2, vs Chicago

Out of region:
12/8, vs St. Ambrose

Carthage (2-1) - 4 scheduled
11/19, vs Bethany Lutheran  W
11/24, vs Whitworth (in Hawaii) L
11/26, vs Pacific (in Hawaii)  W
1/2, @ Transylvania

Out of region:
11/16, vs Calumet-St. Joseph  W  
11/20, vs John Carroll  L
12/3 vs Hope
12/4, vs Calvin
12/7, vs Silver Lake
12/11, vs Albion
12/12, vs Cardinal Stritch

Elmhurst (0-3) - 11 scheduled
11/16, @ Cornell  L
11/20, vs Hamline L
11/23, @ St. Norbert  L
12/1, @ Olivet
12/5, @ Westminster (Mo)
12/9, vs Kalamazoo
12/11, vs Loras
12/20, vs Aurora, in Las Vegas
12/21, vs UW-Oshkosh, in Las Vegas
12/29, vs DePauw
12/30, vs Calvin or Benedictine

Illinois Wesleyan (5-0) -  9 or 10 scheduled
11/15, @ Benedictine  W
11/19, vs Aurora  W
11/20, vs Ripon  W
11/23, @ Monmouth  W
11/27, vs Dominican W
11/29, @ Webster
12/4, vs Chicago
12/11, vs MacMurray
12/18, @ Washington U
(12/30, @ Cal Lutheran)

Out of region:

12/29, vs Gettysburg, at Cal Lutheran
(12/30, vs Hobart, at Cal Lutheran)

Millikin (0-2) -  6 or 7 scheduled
11/19, vs Nebraska Wesleyan  L
11/23, vs Franklin L
11/28, @ Rose-Hulman
12/4, @ Aurora
12/20, @ Transyvania
12/29, @ St. Mary's (MN)
(12/30, @ Illinois College)

Out of region:
12/1, vs Robert Morris-Springfield
12/8, @ Indianapolis
12/18, @ Adrian
12/21, vs Piedmont (GA) or Westminster (PA), at Transylvania
(12/30, vs Clarke at Illinois College)

North Central (0-4) - 8 scheduled
11/19, vs Bluffton L
11/20 vs Edgewood  L
11/23, vs Aurora  L
11/27, @ Illinois College  L
11/28, @ Manchester
12/7, vs Lake Forest
12/22, @ Benedictine
12/27, @ Rockford

Out of region:
12/1, vs Albion
12/17, @ Hawaii-Hilo
12/30, @ Adrian

North Park (2-1) - 9 scheduled
11/17, vs Concordia  L
11/23, vs Edgewood  W
11/27, @ Fontbonne  W
11/30, @ Carroll
12/4, vs Trine
12/11, @ Spalding
12/30, vs Milwaukee Engineering
12/19, @ Coe
12/20, @ Loras

Out of region:
12/28, vs Williams, at Salem State
12/29, vs Regis, at Salem State

Wheaton (2-1) -  6 scheduled
11/16, vs Manchester  L
11/19, vs UW-Whitewater  W
11,23, vs Loras  W
12/1, vs Chicago
12/4, vs Hope
12/11, vs Washington U

Out of region:
11/19, vs Covenant  W
12/3, vs Calvin
12/9, vs Trinity Intl
12/30, vs Messiah, in Phoenix
12/31, vs Husson, in Phoenix


CCIW non-conference totals (88 games)
In-region games: 64 (73%)
Out-of-region games: 24 (27%)

(Assumes 1 of the 2 TBD games end up in-region)

CCIW in-region, non-conference record (through 11/27)
14-12 (.538)

Q's Projected Final in-region, non-conference record
32-32 (.500)

Next in-region games
11/28, Millikin @ Rose-Hulman
11/28, North Central @ Manchester
11/29, IWU @ Webster

[Titan Q]

Above I projected the final CCIW in-region non-conference record.  Unfortunately, I came up with 32-32 (.500).  I have North Central, Elmhurst, and Millikin combining to go 1-15 the rest of the way, and 1-24 overall.

CCIW playoff candidates typically have Opponents' Winning Percentage (OWP) totals between .550 and .600 (which is good, relative speaking), due to the league's usual success in in-region non-conference games.  Unless the bottom 3 get a lot better in a hurry, the top teams may end up with OWP's in the neighborhood of .500 - .525,  which is not very good.  (Augustana will end up on the high side of this projection since its 10 in-region, non-conf opponents should end up with a cumulative in-region record that is well over .500 - in other words, the in-region records of the likes of Anderson, St. Norbert, UW-Whitewater, etc will help.)

The impact?  There are two big components to the Division III selection/seeding process - in-region winning % and strength of schedule (of which OWP is the biggest component).  With the latter not providing CCIW teams any advantage this year, the former (in-region winning %) needs to be really good.  In my opinion, CCIW teams will have less margin for error this year in terms of 1) being selected as Pool C teams, and 2) seeding.  (It's why I think that Carthage loss to Whitworth was so big, as I recently posted.)

For example, last year Wheaton was selected as a Pool C team (at-large big) with an in-region winning % of .680, but the Thunder had an OWP of .557.  With an OWP of, say, .510 Wheaton most likely doesn't make it last year.

For perspective, here is a post that shows all of the key numbers for the 2010 tournament teams (top post on page)...

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.2775

[Titan Q]

IWU/Dominican article...

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/article_f507d580-fa9e-11df-9562-001cc4c002e0.html


Augie/Anderson...

http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=520436

[dansand]

Another nice win for Augie last night. Obviously not as easy as the first two, but it was great to see them come through with defensive stops and key rebounds down the stretch. Had a rough stretch at the free throw line, but made five of their last six and Kyle Nelson came up with a huge rebound on the one they missed.

Nelson (22.3 ppg, 8 rpg, .765 fg%, .882 ft%) has just been a beast so far. Anderson (15 pts/4 reb) gave 'em another nice game last night and Voiles, who has been sick this week had a nice all-around line with 12 points, six boards, four assists and three blocks. Brian DeSimone is struggling with his shooting, but playing well otherwise. Five assists and just one turnover last night and I thought he did a good job on the Ravens' Gabe Miller who came in averaging 9.5 assists a game.

Anderson's pretty good. Exactly the type of team that has given Augie trouble past past few years. One that can spread you out and take you off the dribble. Their big guys, Bowman, Morrison and Jones can all put it on the floor and pass well. Morrison and Bowman are three-point threats as well. The freshman guard, Forte shoots it very well and seems to be much more dangerous with dribble penetration than the guy he replaced, Ty Riddle. The key for the Ravens will be to stay healthy and out of foul trouble. They are not deep at all. Guard Phil Hogan, who looked good against Augie last year, hasn't played this season and was on the bench in a boot. I think it might get tough for them if they suffer any more injuries.

Vikes are at Monmouth on Wednesday, then off 'til the following Wednesday when they host a very good NAIA D2 team, St. Ambrose. The Bees are undefeated this year with wins at McKendree and by 10 points over Olivet Nazarene.

[devildog29]

Sean Johnson's 34 points today was the 3rd highest scoring total by an IWU player in the 17 year history of the Shirk Center (Korey Coon 42, 2/23/00...Bryan Crabtree 40, 2/24/96).

Ugh.  I know I don't have the years of some posters on here, but that really makes me feel a bit older.  I vividly remember watching the first game played in Shirk as an IWU freshman.  Seventeen years ago already?  Sheesh. 

[Titan Q]

Developing situation in North Manchester, IN...

http://mysite.ncnetwork.net/res1vacp/xlive.htm


NCC up 37-23 on Manchester late in the 1st half.

[Titan Q]

A little video of Sean Johnson's big day from WMBD news...

http://centralillinoisproud.com/fulltext?nxd_id=149846


Sean's dribble-drive game, coupled with his 3-point shooting ability (with range), has made him extremely hard to defend.