MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwumichigander]

Not just the perimeter - 'points in the paint' (as I understand it) is points scored within the area you could be called for a 3-second violation.

That was the worst championship game I can ever recall.  Both teams were good on defense, but absolutely sucked on offense.  Butler in particular - their 18.8% shooting was partly UConn defense, but mainly 'cause they missed wide-open after wide-open shot.  (They also shot only 57% from the line - does UConn have good FT defense?!)

It was a good reminder to not put TOO much faith in any one game.  Based solely on tonight's game, I'm not sure either team should have even BEEN in the tournament!

On the season, Butler shot .433 FG%; .352 3pt% and .726 FT%.  Butler jacked up 33 of 64 FG as 3's - Live By 3's  Die By 3's

And, give Jim Calhoun a lot of credit -- he made critical half time adjustments.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Apologies if it came across that I was not giving UConn or Calhoun due credit.  Perhaps Butler got frustrated and/or intimidated BECAUSE of the UConn defense.  To me, it seemed to be MORE a case of the Butler offense simply happened to have the worst possible time to go dreadfully cold (they missed a lot of 'bunnies' in the lane, and some of the 3s were WIDE open - and UConn defense can't directly explain the missed FTs, though getting discombobulated because of the defense could be a contributing cause).

I missed most of the first half due to other commitments, so (despite Butler's half-time lead) perhaps I missed some key information on reasons for Butler's dreadful offense thereafter, but from what I saw BOTH teams were VERY good on defense, but UConn was acceptable on offense in response, while Butler may have had their worst offensive game of the year, only somewhat due to UConn's defense.

[RogK]

Butler scored 27 pts via 33 3FG att.
They scored 6 pts via 31 2FG att.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Ergo, with 64 total shots, if they had ALL been 3 pointers (at the rate of .818181... points per shot), they would have scored 52.3636... points.  That still leaves them JUST short, but if they could have kept that UConn defense from blocking their FTs ...

The UConn defense was great, but I will maintain that the greater story was that the Butler offense totally imploded at the worst possible time.

Without breaking down the tape (which I have no plans to do), I have no idea how many total 'bunnies' in the lane Butler missed, but I would bet it is over ten.

[Titan Q]

Per the Peoria Irish Facebook page, 6-8/220 F/C Drew Blumenshine of Peoria Notre Dame H.S. recently announced that he is heading to Illinois Wesleyan...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peoria-Irish-Basketball-Program/190771061237?sk=wall


At Notre Dame, Blumenshine played alongside 6-8 Max Bielfeldt, who recently committed to Michigan.  Their team was 28-0 this season, before falling in the 3A sectional semis to Peoria Central.

Here is some video on Blumenshine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQcjZE9fRqc


Looks to me like Blumenshine should develop into a solid CCIW big man.

[Mr. Ypsi]

May Blumenshein and Bielfelt both EXCEED expectations!

I grew up less than 600 feet from Notre Dame (which then didn't exist - the Catholic school in those days was Spalding, and I am a Peoria Richwoods grad).

But, of course, I am an IWU grad and a Michigan (grad school) grad, so GO Blumenshein and Bielfelt!

My 92 and 93 year-old parents (about to celebrate their 70th wedding anniverary! ) are still living independently in that house - they only rarely complain about 'those Notre Dame kids'!  [They rarely complain about anything, but I assume the Notre Dame kids must be at least less than intolerable! ]

[Gregory Sager]

I knew that Steinbrueck's hiring wasn't a joke, because the NPU coaches were talking about it this morning.

Congrats to Stein. He's a good man, and I'm glad to see him realize his dream of getting a head coaching job. But he's certainly got his work cut out for him down in Decatur. I think Bob's being overly optimistic in saying that Millikin will be competing for a CCIW title three years from now (that's usually what "in the mix" means in Q-speak, so I hope that I'm not misconstruing your intended meaning there, Bob).

To begin with, there's little or nothing in the cupboard at MU at the moment. The Big Blue are losing perhaps their two best players, Kyle Taylor and Justin Thompson, off of a roster that was reduced by the worst form of attrition -- guys simply handing in their uniforms and quitting the team -- to ten warm bodies by season's end. After thirty-two years of following this league I can honestly say that I've never seen a program more down than Millikin is at the moment (and, believe me, having had to endure some really bad basketball teams over the past decade and a half at NPU, I know what a "down" program looks like).

What's more, the clock is already almost at 00:00 in terms of going out and finding prospects for 2011-12, to say nothing of wooing them and landing them; even if Stein hit the ground running this morning, this recruiting season's probably a lost cause for Millikin. Unlike NPU, the other CCIW program that's been in the hunt for a head coach, there haven't been any holdover assistant coaches from the Marc Smith regime to act as caretakers for the MU program (i.e., staff who can keep recruiting, as well as monitoring the current players -- which might involve some hand-holding for anybody thinking of transferring out in the wake of Smith's exit). Athletic director Joe Hakes is the name listed on the MU website as the current men's basketball contact person. While I am a card-carrying member of the Joe Hakes Fan Club (you get a dollar discount on the cheeseburger special at Charcoal Delights if you flash your JHFC card), in addition to his normal AD duties this semester Joe's been trying to hire a head football coach and a head men's basketball coach. For an AD, that's like trying to juggle chainsaws while standing on a tightrope. He'll probably e-mail me and read me the riot act for saying this , but I would imagine that Joe's probably not been available for a lot of chitcat with the parents of prospective Big Blue men's basketball players. You have to wonder if any of the prospects Marc Smith and Anthony Figueroa had been recruiting are still interested in being Big Blue players next year.

And, let's face it, Millikin's a bit of a tough sell. Remember when Dennis Prikkel referred to the Quad Cities as the armpit of America a few weeks ago? Well, as far as CCIW towns are concerned, Decatur makes Rock Island look like the EPCOT Center at Disney World. I'd like to see Millikin and my man Joe Hakes get more competitive across the board, just like I'm looking for my own alma mater to step it up in the CCIW, but, as this league's sports go, men's basketball is a particularly steep hill to climb in terms of going from crash-cart, Code Blue, dead-on-arrival, epically awful to competitive status. CCIW people can live with an unsuccessful volleyball or women's golf or men's swimming team at their alma mater, but everybody clamors for a winning men's basketball team. The football guys may not want to hear me say this, but men's basketball is our league's signature sport. And right now it's as cutthroat as it's been in a long, long time.

There's been five really good turnarounds made by new men's basketball coaches in my years of following the league, and by "really good turnaround" I mean a new coach inheriting a losing or .500 team and taking the program to either a first- or second-place finish within his first four years there: Bill Warden at North Central in the early '80s; Steve Yount at Augie in the early '90s; Bill Harris at Wheaton a couple of years after Yount; Bosko Djurickovic at Carthage in the late '90s; and Todd Raridon at North Central in the middle of the last decade. Out of those five, however, only Bosko took over a program that had finished last the season before.

However, as magnificent a job as Bosko performed in building the Carthage program, he had some things going for him. One was the fact that he was operating in a vacuum. When he was hired prior to the 1996-97 season the CCIW was at a low ebb; it was IWU, Wheaton, and the Six Dwarves in those days, which made it a whole lot easier to climb the ladder quickly than was the case for Warden, Yount, Harris, or Raridon. Although Carthage had finished last under Tim Miller (who quit in mid-season) and interim coach Gary Rudd in 1995-96, it was a three-way tie for last, and the Redmen had only finished a game out of fifth. Plus, Bosko inherited a really good All-CCIW player in Aaron Hoenisch, and another future All-CCIW player in Ian Whittington who took it upon himself to try out for the team and lose fifty pounds (shades of Pierce and Guzman, perhaps?) after spending two years at Carthage as a non-playing student before Bosko arrived. In fact, the only coach out of the five I named above who built his first really outstanding team without using any good players inherited from his predecessor was Harris, and it took him one bad year and two mediocre years of weeding out his predecessor Bill Harbeck's players before he was finally able to win big with his own crew of Crusaders.

In short, none of the five coaches who turned their programs around within three or four years had to do so under conditions nearly as bad as what David Steinbrueck faces now. Not only is his roster more empty in terms of quantity and quality than had been the case for Warden, Yount, Harris, et al, there's a bigger gap between his team and the next-lowest team on the CCIW totem pole in terms of roster size and talent than any of those other guys had to face ... and he has to accomplish a turnaround in an era in which the CCIW is not lacking for overall competitiveness and quality, last season's dip notwithstanding ... and he's getting started much too late for his first off-season to likely be very productive in terms of recruiting.

I think that a more realistic goal for David Steinbrueck three years hence is for him to have a Millikin team that's good enough to win most of its non-conference games (i.e., beat up on the SLIAC and go at least .500 against everybody else outside the circuit) and to win a few league games while at least forcing each of the other seven teams in the CCIW to take the Big Blue seriously, particularly in the Griz.

This was the assist of the year.  Wow...nicely played, Greg!

Right back atcha, Bob. Great gag on your part. I just figured that the one thing it needed to put it over the top was one of my trademark ponderous nine-paragraph posts disagreeing with you.

I was wondering if there was anyone out there who would read your post about Stein without clicking on your YouTube link and who thus wouldn't have grasped that you were pulling a fast one. Looks like there was at least one person who did so. I have to admit that I've been wanting to rickroll someone on d3boards.com for a long time, and April Fools Day seemed like a great day to do it. I hope that the newbie poster I victimized didn't take offense; it was all in good fun.

(I would've rickrolled Chuck years ago, but I don't think anyone of his generation knows what a rickroll is. )

And Chicago isn't an armpit?

Mark, wouldn't that make your hometown of Skokie a sweat gland?

[Titan Q]

I was wondering if there was anyone out there who would read your post about Stein without clicking on your YouTube link and who thus wouldn't have grasped that you were pulling a fast one. Looks like there was at least one person who did so. I have to admit that I've been wanting to rickroll someone on d3boards.com for a long time, and April Fools Day seemed like a great day to do it. I hope that the newbie poster I victimized didn't take offense; it was all in good fun.

The funniest part about the whole thing, for me, is the fact that several people mentioned afterwards that your post sold them on this being real -- even some who saw the golf video!  

Then there was this exchange with someone else, who was laughing at the whole thing late on 4/1:

IWU grad: "So I assume you coordinated this whole thing with Greg Sager?"

BQ: "Not at all."

IWU grad: "So you're telling me he just ran with that on his own?"

BQ: "That's exactly what I'm telling you."

IWU grad: "So basically, you guys argue about anything and everything for 5 months, then turn into Stockton and Malone on April 1?"

BQ: "Yes...it appears so."

[Gregory Sager]

I was wondering if there was anyone out there who would read your post about Stein without clicking on your YouTube link and who thus wouldn't have grasped that you were pulling a fast one. Looks like there was at least one person who did so. I have to admit that I've been wanting to rickroll someone on d3boards.com for a long time, and April Fools Day seemed like a great day to do it. I hope that the newbie poster I victimized didn't take offense; it was all in good fun.

The funniest part about the whole thing, for me, is the fact that several people mentioned afterwards that your post sold them on this being real -- even some who saw the golf video!  

Then there was this exchange with someone else, who was laughing at the whole thing late on 4/1:

IWU grad: "So I assume you coordinated this whole thing with Greg Sager?"

BQ: "Not at all."

IWU grad: "So you're telling me he just ran with that on his own?"

BQ: "That's exactly what I'm telling you."

IWU grad: "So basically, you guys argue about anything and everything for 5 months, then turn into Stockton and Malone on April 1?"

BQ: "Yes...it appears so."

ROTFL!

[dansand]

According to the Register-Mail, Augie's getting Brandon Thompson, a very nice guard out of Galesburg.

http://www.galesburg.com/newsnow/x1700901032/Streaks-Thompson-commits-to-Augustana

Brandon Thompson, 6-1, Galesburg, IL (Galesburg HS)
18.9 ppg, 51% FG, 46% 3P, 79% FT, 5.2 rpg, 4.4 apg, 1.3 spg

*2011 IBCA Class 3A/4A 3rd team All-State
*2011 Champaign News-Gazette Honorable mention All-State
*2011 All-Western Big 6
*MVP of 2010 Charleston Holiday Tournament

Being a Western Big 6 kid, I saw him play a few times and was very impressed. He looks like a smooth, under-control, efficient offensive player.  Second-best player in the Big 6 this year behind Co-Mr. Basketball Chasson Randle of Rock Island. Great commitment for the Vikes.

[markerickson]

Skokie is just another bland suburb with roads needing repair and shuttered small businesses.

As a former editor of the school newspaper, Greg knows how to sell an April Fool's story!

[RogK]

If you're complaining about Skokie, you haven't had the lentil soup at Pita Inn, 3910 W Dempster!
Skokie may seem quiet, but that's only because many residents are home watching TV, like they're supposed to be.

[markerickson]

I live less than a mile from Pita Inn and have been there countless times.  I prefer Basha, which is also on Dempster, closer to E-Town. 

The two commitments mentioned previously do not appear on the "Special Mention" All State squad, as printed in the 4/3/11 edition of the Tribune.

Perhaps posters can track the bball commitments of the spring 2011 graduates who appeared on the Special Mention list.  They include:  Kyle Anderson (Newark); Aaron Armstead (Hales); Macari Brooks (Rich South); Julius Brown (Hillcrest); Quenton Chievous (Notre Dame); DeShawn Delaney (Carver); Dre Henly (De La Salle); Mychael Henry (Orr); Ryan Jackson (Riverside-Brookfield); Jeff Jarosz (Morton); Jack Krieger (Plainfield North); Derrick Marks (Plainfield Central); George Marshall (Brooks); Zach Miller (Fremd); Jordan Nelson (Lincoln); Matt Palucki (Maine South); Jay Parkr (Thorton); Josh Piper (Champaign Centennial); Michael Powell (Brooks); Ryan Sawvell (Mundelein); Mike Shaw (De La Salle); Donivine Stewart (Limestone); Will Sullivan (York); Keifer Sykes (Marshall); Mike Turner (Chicago University); Sam Thompson (Young); Greg Travis (Curie); Darien Walker (Simeon); and, Nick Zeisloft (Lyons).

Skokie did contribute Abdel Nader to the Tribune's First Team All State this year.  I watched him play numerous times this year.  Nader committed to Steve Alford as a junior, but has backed off since.

[Gregory Sager]

... and we now have a debate over the best lentil soup emporium in Skokie, Illinois.

CCIW Chat: Taking D3 basketball conversation in new directions that other conference rooms can only dream about.

[dansand]

I live less than a mile from Pita Inn and have been there countless times.  I prefer Basha, which is also on Dempster, closer to E-Town.  

The two commitments mentioned previously do not appear on the "Special Mention" All State squad, as printed in the 4/3/11 edition of the Tribune.

Perhaps posters can track the bball commitments of the spring 2011 graduates who appeared on the Special Mention list.  They include:  Kyle Anderson (Newark); Aaron Armstead (Hales); Macari Brooks (Rich South); Julius Brown (Hillcrest); Quenton Chievous (Notre Dame); DeShawn Delaney (Carver); Dre Henly (De La Salle); Mychael Henry (Orr); Ryan Jackson (Riverside-Brookfield); Jeff Jarosz (Morton); Jack Krieger (Plainfield North); Derrick Marks (Plainfield Central); George Marshall (Brooks); Zach Miller (Fremd); Jordan Nelson (Lincoln); Matt Palucki (Maine South); Jay Parkr (Thorton); Josh Piper (Champaign Centennial); Michael Powell (Brooks); Ryan Sawvell (Mundelein); Mike Shaw (De La Salle); Donivine Stewart (Limestone); Will Sullivan (York); Keifer Sykes (Marshall); Mike Turner (Chicago University); Sam Thompson (Young); Greg Travis (Curie); Darien Walker (Simeon); and, Nick Zeisloft (Lyons).

Skokie did contribute Abdel Nader to the Tribune's First Team All State this year.  I watched him play numerous times this year.  Nader committed to Steve Alford as a junior, but has backed off since.

These are some that I know of:

Kyle Anderson (Newark) Delaware; Aaron Armstead (Hales); Macari Brooks (Rich South) DePaul; Julius Brown (Hillcrest) Toledo; Quenton Chievous (Notre Dame); DeShawn Delaney (Carver); Dre Henly (De La Salle); Mychael Henry (Orr) Illinois; Ryan Jackson (Riverside-Brookfield) Lewis; Jeff Jarosz (Morton) Lewis; Jack Krieger (Plainfield North) St. Xavier; Derrick Marks (Plainfield Central) Boise State; George Marshall (Brooks) Wisconsin; Zach Miller (Fremd--do you mean Glenbard East?Northern Illinois, or Zach Monaghan, Fremd South Dakota State); Jordan Nelson (Lincoln) Evansville; Matt Palucki (Maine South); Jay Parker (Thorton); Josh Piper (Champaign Centennial); Michael Powell (Brooks) Rhode Island; Ryan Sawvell (Mundelein) Evansville; Mike Shaw (De La Salle) Illinois; Donivine Stewart (Limestone) Bradley; Will Sullivan (York); Keifer Sykes (Marshall); Mike Turner (Chicago University) Northwestern; Sam Thompson (Young) Ohio State; Greg Travis (Curie) UIC; Darien Walker (Simeon); and, Nick Zeisloft (Lyons) Illinois State.