MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

Gregory Sager · February 19, 2011, 10:18:41 PM

North Central 50
Augustana 46

A wild finish; looks like Augie's gonna need to win in Bloomington on Tuesday in order to clinch home-court advantage in the CCIW tourney.

bopol · February 19, 2011, 10:19:28 PM

Wow. NCU takes out Augie.

So Augustana at IWU is a home court vs. playoff spot match up.

IWU loses, Carthage is in the tournament.
Augustana loses, the tournament is in Naperville.

Gregory Sager · February 19, 2011, 10:20:34 PM

Illinois Wesleyan 73
North Park 57

NPU was up by a point going into the final ten minutes of the game, before IWU realized that it was actually playing for something and NPU wasn't, and the Titans proceeded to turn it on while the Vikings just phoned it in. A grand total of 18 turnovers for the Vikings. Embarrassing.

Gregory Sager · February 19, 2011, 10:25:07 PM

Quote from: bopol on February 19, 2011, 10:19:28 PM
Wow. NCU takes out Augie.

Not to get persnickety about it, but it's NCC, not NCU. North Central University is a D3 school in the Twin Cities.

Gregory Sager · February 19, 2011, 10:27:09 PM

Live stats conked out in King Arena, but Wheaton was up by twenty-something points in the waning seconds. That one's a Wheaton win.

bopol · February 19, 2011, 10:31:45 PM

What is the difference between a college and university anyway?

Gregory Sager · February 19, 2011, 10:41:48 PM

Quote from: bopol on February 19, 2011, 10:31:45 PM
What is the difference between a college and university anyway?

In this particular case, about $10,000 to $15,000 a year, I'd estimate.

Gregory Sager · February 19, 2011, 10:43:37 PM

The Wheaton live stats are still disabled, but since 74imp and izzy are here, I'm sure one of them can give us the EC @ WC final score.

74impala · February 19, 2011, 10:44:46 PM

Wheaton 78 elmhurst 48

Gregory Sager · February 19, 2011, 10:47:17 PM

Quote from: 74impala on February 19, 2011, 10:44:46 PM
Wheaton 78 elmhurst 48

Thanks.

Still no press release up on the Carthage site, which is a shame. It's one I'm eagerly anticipating, since I can't wait to read Bosko's comments on what almost turned out to be possibly the most apocalyptic upset in CCIW history. Perhaps Carthage SID Steve Marovich is still waiting for Bosko to say something that can be rated PG-13.

A Lover of the Game · February 19, 2011, 10:53:56 PM

What a senior night for the Titans. Sean is the man! Hats off to the senior class; Sean Johnson, Matt Schick, Travis Rosenkranz, Doug Sexauer, Edmon O'Callaghan, and Duncan Lawson.

Koschnitzky showed his athleticism with the only two dunks of the season for the Titans and back to back at that.

The live stat feed had a little lag time but the audio feed was great.

Go Titans!

Mugsy · February 19, 2011, 10:58:47 PM

Quote from: 74impala on February 19, 2011, 10:44:46 PM
Wheaton 78 elmhurst 48

Wow... quite a turnaround in the 2nd half. When I left (due to a 2 1/2 yr old hitting the fatigue wall), it was 28-23 Wheaton. 50 pts in the 2nd half.

First game (or 1/2) I've seen in person this year. Wheaton's offense sure struggles when McCrary is on the bench.

I was impressed with the intensity of Wheaton's defense, though Elmhurt's lack of offense may have factored into that as well.

Gregory Sager · February 19, 2011, 11:01:52 PM

Thanks to NPU's two departing seniors, Nick Hoekstra and Shaun Collins, for all the hard work and effort that they've put in, Collins for two years and Hoekstra for four (I'm including his knee-rehab year in there; he's got another year of eligibility left but has decided to simply graduate in May and not use it).

bopol · February 19, 2011, 11:05:13 PM

Bosko said on the post game show that Millikin played harder and deserved to win and that he cussed out his team at halftime (or at least he implied so by mentioning a story about a half-time talk he gave when he was at North Park). He was happy they got out the win and was proud of the senior play (Mariani, Cieski and his son).

Really pretty tame.

Gregory Sager · February 19, 2011, 11:16:30 PM

This was a very disappointing season for NPU, and a very frustrating one to watch. Last season, in spite of a rough November and December and a dip in the middle of the CCIW slate, seemed to show a lot of promise for North Park. With only Nick Williams and a couple of cameo-appearance freshmen not returning, it seemed as though the Park was in good shape to sneak up on people and challenge for the first division. And with the CCIW winding up a lot more topsy-turvy than expected in terms of the preseason top two struggling, it would've been a great year for the Vikings to step forward and make a move like North Central's.

Didn't happen. NPU ends the season in sixth place with an 11-14, 4-10 record.

Even though the Vikings have a pile of players who should be coming back for their senior years next season -- I count seven, including the fifth-year seniors -- it's not a group in which I have a lot of faith. As I've said countless times in this room, they don't play together as a team, and they have no chemistry on the court. Albert Einstein supposedly said once that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Well, the question is: Does NPU go back to the well for more insanity next season, or does Paul Brenegan and his staff shake it up and try something different in terms of the offense and the players that run it? Because, let's face it: An 11-14, 4-10 season is a big step backwards for North Park, and it's not as though the previous season was anything more than mediocre as a starting point, anyway.

If I had faith that this current group of juniors could develop further, I'd be more sanguine about NPU's chances next season. But, alas, as a unit and as individuals they either stood pat or, in some cases, they actually regressed. Color me skeptical regarding their chances to finally figure it all out next season.