MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[wheaton.thunder]

I did not catch the names of the officials at the start of the Wheaton vs Wilmington game but I have my suspicions 59 total whistles during the game 34 for Wilmington and 25 for Wheaton. I could hear that the game was getting chippy but cmon man give us a break more important give these kids a break. Seems to me there I remember there is a CCIW official that just loves to blow his whistle name escapes me at the moment

[Gotberg]

I caught most of the second half of the NP game (online) on Saturday.  It wasn't good.  Honestly it looked to me (an admittedly simple basketball fan) like very little had changed from the Brenegan teams.  Defense was brutal, I saw easy backdoor layup after layup.  We looked stagnant on offense, like people were scared to move to get the ball or to just keep the offense going.  The one thing I liked was the full-court press NP put on pretty much the whole game, it worked at times, not often, but at times.  I was really hoping to see a NP game that didn't disappoint me (like most of the last soccer games did!), but was definitely let down.  I don't know the quality of UW-P, but I don't expect they're any better than the top CCIW teams, and if that's true, NP could have a rough conference season.  Now we're only 3 games in, and Park coming back from the deficit they faced on Friday night to win certainly shows they have some heart, I just hope that converts to playing well together soon, otherwise it could be a long season. 

Let me preface this statement by saying, I'm not complaining (I'm annoyed, but not complaining)... this far from cost NP the game, it was just something I noticed and am wondering how it is being done at other games.  The refs blew two incredibly obvious charge/blocking calls (called a charge when it should've been a block) with the defender was inside the new circle.  The announcers (UW-P announcers) pointed it out even, so I really don't think this is me being a homer.  My questions are... is this being called correctly elsewhere?  Is there some kind of caveat to the rule that isn't the same as the NBA rule inside that circle under the hoop?

TJ,

I caught some of the first half of the game and liked what I saw on offense.  I thought there was pretty good ball movement and good shot selection, but the finishing definitely lacked.  I also don't know if that will improve through the year, because I am not sure there are a lot of natural shooters on the roster.  I did not see any of the second half, so can't comment if it worsened or if we just saw things differently (I also tend to see things half-full).

Defensively?  I am also not sure the current roster is full of natural defenders and a coach can't just make a person a good defender overnight.  I think that will have to be resolved via recruiting fundamentally sound players and not just athletes. 

I won't judge Dylan for a couple of more years; until he has a couple of recruiting cycles under his belt with his ticker starting next year (he was hired too late for this past year's cycle if you ask me).  Something tells me that Dylan will be a good fit though.

It didn't determine the outcome, but the refereeing seemed very poor and fairly one-sided.

[Pioneer_fan04]

Let me preface this statement by saying, I'm not complaining (I'm annoyed, but not complaining)... this far from cost NP the game, it was just something I noticed and am wondering how it is being done at other games.  The refs blew two incredibly obvious charge/blocking calls (called a charge when it should've been a block) with the defender was inside the new circle.  The announcers (UW-P announcers) pointed it out even, so I really don't think this is me being a homer.  My questions are... is this being called correctly elsewhere?  Is there some kind of caveat to the rule that isn't the same as the NBA rule inside that circle under the hoop?

I was one of the announcers for that game, and after looking back on one of those charges the Pioneer player was just outside of the semi-circle so it was probably a good call.  I cannot remember the other occasion but IMO the refs have been hesitant to call blocking fouls even on players inside the circle throughout the early parts of the season.  In Wisconsin especially many of the refs double with high school and college so its a tough adjustment to make.

I was really impressed with NP's Head Coach Dylan Howard. (although I only watched two games) He looks like he is a keeper, does a great job of getting on his team and the refs when need be.   

Thanks for watching hopefully you enjoyed our broadcast and we were not to big of homers for you!

[iwu70]

Tuesday night, 22nd November, IWU vs. Monmouth at The Shirk, 7:30 p.m.   Game #4 of the season.

JV also play Monmouth at 5:15 p.m.

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

Tuesday night, 22nd November, IWU vs. Monmouth at The Shirk, 7:30 p.m.   Game #4 of the season.

JV also play Monmouth at 5:15 p.m.

IWU70

While it may not quite be "Remember the Alamo", guys, remember the football team!

[AndOne]

iwu70----

Appears you're looking for a little payback!      

[wheels81]

I did not catch the names of the officials at the start of the Wheaton vs Wilmington game but I have my suspicions 59 total whistles during the game 34 for Wilmington and 25 for Wheaton. I could hear that the game was getting chippy but cmon man give us a break more important give these kids a break. Seems to me there I remember there is a CCIW official that just loves to blow his whistle name escapes me at the moment

I think the refs were refrained in calling fouls.  Yes there were a few light ones called but not nearly enough of some very blatant hammers.  Wilmington played like they wanted Wheaton on the line the whole game.  In 2nd half Wheaton was in the bonus at the 15 minute mark.  That caused  the game to get extended and thus the point total reflected it. They pressed and trapped every inbound basket until the last 1 or 2 minutes of game. 

[iwu70]

Not me.  That's Ypsi stirring the pot.  I think football is football, and basketball is something else.  Monmouth deserved to win on Saturday, as the Titans just made too many big mistakes in the second half, and at very inopportune moments.  I wish Monmouth well vs. St. Thomas.  You will have your hands full in MSP.   The NCC vs. Wabash matchup should be a great DIII football playoff game, too.

Our bball Titans are playing very very well, this early in the season -- JV, Varsity and womens' squads all.   We'll be sure to "warmly welcome" our Monmouth Scots friends to The Shirk Center tomorrow evening.   

I'll leave the "Alamo" references to Chuck/Ypsi.

IWU70

[tjcummingsfan]

Pioneer fan, thanks for the perspective.  Certainly one of the hard things about watching d3 bba online is the lack of replay, but I'm glad to hear the call was right.  I enjoyed the broadcast very much.  I thought both you and your partner were very impartial (or as impartial as home announcers can be).  At times I actually thought you may have given NP more than its due!

[USee]

Just commemorating the Freedom Page!!

[Titan Q]

I don't know the quality of UW-P, but I don't expect they're any better than the top CCIW teams, and if that's true, NP could have a rough conference season. 

UW-Platteville finished 4th in the WIAC last season with a 9-7 record (17-10 overall).  The Pioneers were picked 5th in the 2011-12 preseason poll, conducted by the league's SID's...

http://www.wiacsports.com/news/2011/11/3/MBB_1103114754.aspx

They return 3 starters, one being a WIAC all-conference pick last year - 6-8/225 F Chas Cross from Winnebago, IL.  However, Cross did not play against North Park due to injury.

Dan Sand reported that Augie defeated Platteville 77-55 in a scrimmage, for whatever that's worth.

[Titan Q]

I believe there are two games scheduled between teams picked in the upper half of the WIAC/CCIW:

* Illinois Wesleyan (picked 4th) @ UW-Whitewater (picked 2nd), Nov 30

* UW-Stevens Point (picked 1st) @ Augustana (picked 1st), Dec 10

[scottie]

Not me.  That's Ypsi stirring the pot.  I think football is football, and basketball is something else.  Monmouth deserved to win on Saturday, as the Titans just made too many big mistakes in the second half, and at very inopportune moments.  I wish Monmouth well vs. St. Thomas.  You will have your hands full in MSP.   The NCC vs. Wabash matchup should be a great DIII football playoff game, too.

Our bball Titans are playing very very well, this early in the season -- JV, Varsity and womens' squads all.   We'll be sure to "warmly welcome" our Monmouth Scots friends to The Shirk Center tomorrow evening.   

I'll leave the "Alamo" references to Chuck/Ypsi.

IWU70

Oh, I'm sure the Titans welcome the Scots warmly.  I was very surprised to see IWU unranked (figured it was a given that they are usually top 10? top 5?)  They should be able to work through their schemes just fine tonight.  Just remember how we feel about running up the scores (e.g Grinnell).   

But, actually, if you truly want to give the Monmouth folks a warm welcome, you could mention to the public address announcer that there is no apostrophe in Fighting Scots.  That got a little old and tacky on Saturday.

Good luck this season.

[Gregory Sager]

I caught most of the second half of the NP game (online) on Saturday.  It wasn't good.  Honestly it looked to me (an admittedly simple basketball fan) like very little had changed from the Brenegan teams.  Defense was brutal, I saw easy backdoor layup after layup.  We looked stagnant on offense, like people were scared to move to get the ball or to just keep the offense going.  The one thing I liked was the full-court press NP put on pretty much the whole game, it worked at times, not often, but at times.  I was really hoping to see a NP game that didn't disappoint me (like most of the last soccer games did!), but was definitely let down.  I don't know the quality of UW-P, but I don't expect they're any better than the top CCIW teams, and if that's true, NP could have a rough conference season.  Now we're only 3 games in, and Park coming back from the deficit they faced on Friday night to win certainly shows they have some heart, I just hope that converts to playing well together soon, otherwise it could be a long season. 

Let me preface this statement by saying, I'm not complaining (I'm annoyed, but not complaining)... this far from cost NP the game, it was just something I noticed and am wondering how it is being done at other games.  The refs blew two incredibly obvious charge/blocking calls (called a charge when it should've been a block) with the defender was inside the new circle.  The announcers (UW-P announcers) pointed it out even, so I really don't think this is me being a homer.  My questions are... is this being called correctly elsewhere?  Is there some kind of caveat to the rule that isn't the same as the NBA rule inside that circle under the hoop?

TJ,

I caught some of the first half of the game and liked what I saw on offense.  I thought there was pretty good ball movement and good shot selection, but the finishing definitely lacked.  I also don't know if that will improve through the year, because I am not sure there are a lot of natural shooters on the roster.  I did not see any of the second half, so can't comment if it worsened or if we just saw things differently (I also tend to see things half-full).

Defensively?  I am also not sure the current roster is full of natural defenders and a coach can't just make a person a good defender overnight.  I think that will have to be resolved via recruiting fundamentally sound players and not just athletes. 

I won't judge Dylan for a couple of more years; until he has a couple of recruiting cycles under his belt with his ticker starting next year (he was hired too late for this past year's cycle if you ask me).  Something tells me that Dylan will be a good fit though.

Unfortunately, Dylan Howard has started out his first season as NPU's head coach with his team already behind the eight-ball. D.A. Robinson announced to the coaching staff just four days before the opener at Eureka that he didn't want to play basketball this season. Then Phil Schniedermeier rolled his ankle badly enough to keep him out of two of the first three games of the season (he tried to give it a go for a couple of minutes against UW-Eau Claire, but from what I was told he could barely make it up and down the floor). So that's two guys gone from a rotation that was going to go nine deep, with a pretty steep dropoff after that.

The Vikings were already going to have to use one freshman in the rotation, 5'10 PG Mike Rice from Evanston Township, but Robinson's sudden last-minute departure from the roster means that a new perimeter player is going to have to step up and take his minutes off the bench. My bet would've been on either junior Brett Peterson or sophomore Josh McNaughton, both JV mainstays last season, but instead Dylan's chosen 5'10 freshman Trent Kucera from Hutchinson, MN to take those minutes. That really surprised me, as Kucera was one of the more lightly-regarded recruits that NPU brought in this year. I thought that the most notable thing about him is that he's the nephew of former Vikings star Marc Horner (alas, Marc's 6'7 height apparently came from the other side of his family). But the word I have is that Dylan is parceling out these game minutes based upon the effort and production put forward in practice, and thus far Kucera's earned the minutes. I suspect that if Brett McArthur (Warren, MI / Center Line HS) was healthy the minutes would be his, but he's hurt his knee and might have to sit out his freshman year entirely. Nothing's written in stone yet, of course, so either Peterson or McNaughton -- or both -- might still end up being the guy who takes Robinson's minutes (and, one can only hope, matches Robinson's production).

The other big problem that NPU has is the new motion offense, which is a work in progress. When you've spent three years running nothing but that one-on-one spread stuff that NPU ran under Paul Brenegan (with the occasional pick-and-roll thrown in), you get used to having to do things by yourself. Understand, please, that I'm not picking on Brenegan; he utilized the offense he felt was best suited for the personnel that he had. But motion is predicated upon all five players working together as a unit and not as individuals, and this has been a very difficult transition for the five seniors. As I said after the Rockford scrimmage, the Vikings can execute it well in practice, but under game conditions they tend to freeze up on offense and wind up reverting to what they know best -- and what they know best is pretty easily defended by any team that plays halfway-decent help defense. Until the Vikings master the motion -- which means passing and screening a whole heckuva lot better than they've done in the past -- they will struggle on the offensive end.

Defensively, Dylan has them playing with much more intensity, but, again, we're talking about the seniors having to unlearn three years' worth of bad habits. I'm not saying that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but it ain't easy, either. And a big problem for NPU is that the team's non-conference schedule is front-loaded; by the end of this weekend North Park will have played six of its eleven non-conference games, and we'll still only be two weeks into the season. That's too many games too early, and not enough practice time. But it is what it is.

Schniedermeier is going to try to give it a go tonight at Anderson if it feels good at game time, but my guess is that he probably won't play any protracted stretches of basketball until this coming weekend when the Iowa teams come to town.

I think that the Vikings are going to struggle tonight on the road against the Ravens. I also anticipate them having a lot of difficulty this weekend with the two Iowa teams. After that, the schedule gets less game-intensive and there'll be more time available in practice for development rather than game-planning.

It'll be an ugly November and December for NPU. My hope is that this will be a repeat of the 2009-10 season, in which the Vikings likewise had a putrid non-conference record (6-5) but rounded into shape and were pretty competitive in CCIW play (7-7). The Vikings certainly do have sufficient talent, although depth is now an increasing concern. It's more a matter of whether or not they can learn how to play the brand of basketball that their new head coach expects of them.

[devildog29]

Bob or anyone from IWU, any word on live video this year for basketball since we had it for football?