MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

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.

Darn. I was hoping for something a lot more colorful than that.

[Ralph Turner]

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.

North Central in Dallas is an Expressway.   

[Titan Q]

Well, if you want to see a game with a lot intensity, travel to Bloomington Tuesday.  IWU has to win to get into the CCIW tournament.  Augustana has to win to host the CCIW tournament.

That should be a great atmosphere.

[iwu70]

Greg, I always appreciate your straight and blunt talk.  Yes, not a good step forward for the NPU program this year.

Glad to see my Titans get the win and move one step closer to the CCIW tournament, but still a huge obstacle in the way with Augie on the 22nd.  Can't say I understand how NCC beat Augie tonight.  I would like to hear more from those in attendance.  

Titans have so so so many weapons but they don't seem to ever be hitting on the same cylinders together.  With the injuries and the erratic play, I just continue to worry about the Titans ever putting it all together, even at this late date.  

Sexauer had a strong game tonight -- almost a double-double, (12 and 9), but foul troubles too.  Connolly came in and played like Q says he will at times, some points, a few rebounds, but 4 TOs.  Zimmer hit 4 treys, but still not the best percentage of threes for the team overall.  Sounds like Kman threw down a few key slams at the beginning of the second half run and then Sean Johnson continued to hit some big shots.  The game was surely closer than the final score indicates.    

Well, it's down to the final game, one game more to see if the Titans can get into the CCIW tournament and keep their season and post-season hopes alive.

Go TITANS!  Let's put it all together for this final regular season home game.

[Titan Q]

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.

Darn. I was hoping for something a lot more colorful than that.

I listened to the Carthage postgame show.  Interesting to note that Bosko basically said he was hoping North Central would beat Augustana, so that Augie would have a lot on the line Tuesday in Bloomington.  He got his wish.  (Carthage needs an Augie win @ IWU to get in.)

[Late nite]

Watched the game in Naperville tonight.  Haven't seen many CCIW games the last few years, but if Augie and NCC are the best the league has to offer, I don't think that there will be any national hardware coming this way soon.  Sub-standard talent compared to the league from 2002- 2008.  Where have all the shooters/scorers gone?  

[Titan Q]

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

A dunk only counts two points.

[TitansIWU]

Just got back from Bloomington, big W for the men in green!

The game was much closer than the score appeared.

The two dunks were huge, and then Sean Johnson stole a ball and made a wild looking layup off balance.

The tide really turned at that point, and NPU started shooting somewhat wild shots that didn't fall.

Just a good win, and now we NEED one more.

GO TITANS!

[WheatonFanChris]

Although Wheaton really let Elmhurst hang around in the first half, the game at King Arena never felt like it was very close. Especially in the 2nd half, the Bluejays stopped playing for the most part. As the thunder lead got up to 20 or so, it seemed more like a pick up game for a time.

Congrats to all seniors in their last home game, and especially to Andrew Jahns who surpassed the 1,000 pt mark tonight as he posted 19 and 8 assists.

Excited to see what next weekend brings as the Thunder are playing well together, and the interior defense has definitely improved from early season form. Not to say it's great by any means, but much better than before.

I, and I believe most Wheaton supporters, may be a bit torn on who to cheer for Tuesday evening, but leaning towards the Titans simply for the drive to Naperville instead of Rock Island. But then again, it's been the greater portion of a decade since the Thunder have won a game in that (insert adjective here) place.

[WheatonFanChris]

It is also interesting to me to see that Wheaton finished 2nd in attendance on the year. With the exception of the IWU game in which the fans were very into the game, there was never too much noise in King until the last 5 minutes of a close game. I suppose lots of students somehow doesn't equal lots of cheering. Much more of a spectator environment than a participatory one.

[AndOne]

Well, if you want to see a game with a lot intensity, travel to Bloomington Tuesday.  IWU has to win to get into the CCIW tournament.  Augustana has to win to host the CCIW tournament.

That should be a great atmosphere.

Father forgive me..........................GO TITANS!!!!!!

More on the NCC win over Augie, but not tonight dear. I ........have a headache.  
Maybe Dansand can type when he gets home.  

[CCIWchamps]

Final:


I'm not sure what is crazier -- Carthage having to come from behind in the final minutes at home vs the Big Blue, or Steve Djurickovic going without a field goal.

If I'm reading this right, if you are going to go 0- on the floor, and can still manage to put up 10-8-8 for your stat line, you've done okay. 

[mwunder]

I listened to the Carthage postgame show.  Interesting to note that Bosko basically said he was hoping North Central would beat Augustana, so that Augie would have a lot on the line Tuesday in Bloomington.  He got his wish.  (Carthage needs an Augie win @ IWU to get in.)

I listened to it on the way home from the game and I have to say, I think you're stretching it just a bit.  I think he was just pointing out that there were a few scenarios left and IF NCC beat Augie that Augie would have something to play for on Tuesday.  If you're inferring 'hope' from the fact that he brought up that particular scenario, then I guess I can get on that ship, but to imply that he said said he hoped NCC would beat Augie, well, that just didn't happen.

[Titan Q]

I listened to the Carthage postgame show.  Interesting to note that Bosko basically said he was hoping North Central would beat Augustana, so that Augie would have a lot on the line Tuesday in Bloomington.  He got his wish.  (Carthage needs an Augie win @ IWU to get in.)

I listened to it on the way home from the game and I have to say, I think you're stretching it just a bit.  I think he was just pointing out that there were a few scenarios left and IF NCC beat Augie that Augie would have something to play for on Tuesday.  If you're inferring 'hope' from the fact that he brought up that particular scenario, then I guess I can get on that ship, but to imply that he said said he hoped NCC would beat Augie, well, that just didn't happen.

I agree that he did not directly say, "I hope North Central beats Augustana."  But consider:

* At that point in the postgame show, Bosko was talking about the fact that Carthage needed one road win out of 3 CCIW games (Elmhurst @ Wheaton, North Park @ IWU, Augustana @ IWU) to get into the conference tournament.  He kind of went through each game and discussed the chances -- I remember him saying something like, "In each of those games, the odds (of a road win) won't be as long as what almost happened here today (Millikin nearly knocking off Carthage)."  He also talked about Elmhurst being better than their record indicates (and having a chance @ Wheaton), and North Park having success vs IWU in recent years.  

* When he got to Augie @ IWU, he clearly stated that Augustana would have more on the line if they were playing for the right to host the conference tournament.  He acknowledged that 24-1 would be an incredible record and certainly something to play hard for, but that playing for the right to host was a different story.


So to me, Bosko "basically said he was hoping North Central would beat Augustana."  I should have worded that more clearly - added more context instead of just using "basically" - but that is what I heard.

[Hoosier Titan]

The IWU-North Park game last night was an example of good coaching and execution down the stretch.  The Titans opened the second half very flat, missing 11 of 13 shots.  Ron Rose took a timeout and, very calmly but not very quietly, reminded the team of what they had done pretty well in the first half and were not doing in the second half.  "Set screens.  Make sharp cuts.  Don't take the first shot if it's not a good one, work for a better one.  Rebound.  REBOUND!"  That led, immediately, to the two Koschnitsky dunks (not really massive ones, but pretty impressive for these parts ), the IWU crowd came alive for the first time all night; the steals, the fast break points, and the double-digit lead followed.  North Park looked stunned, and once it was clear the Titans weren't going to forget all those fundamentals again, the outcome wasn't in doubt.  Over the course of the game, it was closer than the score indicates, but by the end it could have been a 20 point margin.  (I haven't reviewed the play-by-play, but in some ways the game felt like a mirror image of the one at North Park, where the Vikings came alive and the Titans collapsed down the stretch).

So, while we all know that a dunk only counts two points, in last night's game those two created a lot more momentum than layups would have.

Kudos to the Traveling Crazies, by the way.  There were about eight of them, and for most of the game they out-yelled the (full) IWU student section.