MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

North Central thumped Manchester, 62-38, this afternoon in the airplane hangar. Vince Kmiec led the Cards off the bench with 17, while Aaron Tiknis contributed 14 and C.J. Goldthree chipped in 12, and the latter two led NCC with eight boards apiece. Looks like this one was never close; NCC led by twenty at the half.

[Gregory Sager]

What the heck happened with the end of the Wash U @ Elmhurst game? The Bluejays were up by one point with four seconds left, and the Bears had the ball ... and both live stats and the video conked out.

Zach Boyd had 24 points and 9 rebounds.

This one was nip-and-tuck the whole way. Wash U had a pair of brief four-point leads, but, other than that, the entire game was played within a one-possession margin.

[Titan Q]

Boxscores from yesterday's games...

North Central 62
Manchester 38
http://northcentralcardinals.com/custompages/MBK/mbk1112/mbk11.htm


Illinois Wesleyan 90
Staten Island 79
http://www.iwusports.com/custompages/MBB/MBB2012/HTML/iwumbb11.htm


Augustana 96
MacMurray 53
http://www.augustana.edu/athletics/mbasketball/stats/2011-12/12mbb11.htm


Washington U 67
Elmhurst 66
http://www.elmhurstbluejays.com/custompages/MBB/2011-2012/elmmbb11.htm


Maryville (Mo) 53
Millikin 42
http://athletics.millikin.edu/custompages/Stats/mens%20basketball/MBB%2012-30-11/mil-11.htm


Washington (Md) 69
Carthage 65
http://athletics.carthage.edu/custompages/men's%20basketball/2012%20stats/wash-md.htm


A heartbreaker for Elmhurst at the buzzer, and another disappointing loss for Carthage.

[Titan Q]

87 non-conference games are in the books, with just one left (North Park @ Edgewood this afternoon).

Augustana 10-1
Illinois Wesleyan 9-2
Wheaton 9-2
Carthage 6-5
Elmhurst 6-5
North Central 6-5
North Park 4-6
Millikin 1-10


The CCIW is 51-36 (.586), which is really disappointing.

The CCIW Week 1 schedule is:

Wednesday 1/4
Wheaton @ Illinois Wesleyan
North Park @ Elmhurst
Augustana @ Millikin
Carthage @ North Central

Saturday 1/7
Millikin @ Carthage
Illinois Wesleyan @ North Park
Wheaton @ Elmhurst
North Central @ Augustana

[Titan Q]

An article from a Staten Island newspaper on the IWU/CSI game with quotes from both coaches...

http://www.silive.com/colleges/index.ssf/2011/12/illinois_tops_college_of_state.html


And audio interviews with Ron Rose and Eliud Gonzalez from the WJBC postgame show...

http://wjbc.com/titans-capture-tournament-of-heroes-crown/


In IWU's last 5 games (vs Webster, @ Chicago, vs Wash U, vs Bethany, @ Staten Island), 6-5 senior guard Jordan Zimmer has averaged 21.2 points and has connected on 27 of 55 3-point attempts (.491).  To put 27 made 3's in 5 games in perspective, here are the CCIW's 3-point FGM leaders in 2011 through 14 conference games:

1. Jordan Zimmer (IWU) 38
2. Malcom Kelly (CC) 32
3. James Robertson (EC) 31
4. Andrew Jahns (WC) 28
5. Jeremy Pflederer (WC) 27


I think Jordan has finally realized that he is "the guy" for the Titans.  For IWU to be good in CCIW play, Zimmer has to aggressively look for his shot - the benefit is not just Zimmer's production, but what it does to create scoring opportunities for other Titans.

If Jordan Zimmer continues to play like a CCIW 1st Teamer, as he has for 5 games now, the Titans can play with anyone.  If he defers to others, or waits for scoring opportunities to come to him, as it seems he was doing early on, IWU will struggle.

[Titan Q]

Wash U always quick to release buzzer beater video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oR33uuFTpIE


Think they had the Alan Aboona video online last year before IWU got on the bus...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm7BTPkiqas

[jaybird44]

LOL

Before the Titans got to the locker room.

We are not ashamed...

[bopol]

Carthage was 12-25 from the charity stripe and missed one front-end of a one and one.   Their offense was really sloppy in the second half with a lot of pushing the ball into a turnover.  They should have won, but that's not the first time I said that this year.  IMHO, Bosko should have had Pierce in the game at crunch time instead of Johnson b/c Pierce is a better passer and FT shooter, but that's neither here nor there.  Bosko also had Cary on the bench way too long in the 2nd half, but again, he didn't play well, so that's probably why.  There just isn't a player that is consistantly better than Cary even if he isn't playing his A-game.

I'm going to stick with my prediction of Carthage for 4th, but I could see them slipping down depending on how many games of this ilk they blow.  The key factors for Carthage will be consistant good play out of Cary (which they haven't really gotten so far) and growth of Johnson and Donte Logan in their roles (both look promising).

[Gregory Sager]

The CCIW is 51-36 (.586), which is really disappointing.

Barring a great postseason performance from the CCIW's representative(s) (it may not be plural this season), this will be the first time since 1997-98 that the CCIW finishes the season under the .600 mark in non-conference play.

Last season the league barely cleared .600 (56-37, .602), and the only reason it made it up and over that mark was because of Augie's Elite Eight run. After three straight years over .700, including the CCIW's best non-con performance ever (2008-09's .793 mark), the league has nosedived precipitously over the past three seasons, going further and further down each time. Last year and the year before I chalked it up to the bottom of the conference really collapsing, Millikin and Elmhurst in particular. This year, however, the entire middle tier of the league hovered around .500 outside the circuit. Only three teams posted the sort of 10-1 and 9-2 records that were typical of the league as a whole only a few short years ago.

The CCIW is really slipping. I haven't entirely figured out why yet.

[Titan Q]

The CCIW is 51-36 (.586), which is really disappointing.

Barring a great postseason performance from the CCIW's representative(s) (it may not be plural this season), this will be the first time since 1997-98 that the CCIW finishes the season under the .600 mark in non-conference play.

Last season the league barely cleared .600 (56-37, .602), and the only reason it made it up and over that mark was because of Augie's Elite Eight run. After three straight years over .700, including the CCIW's best non-con performance ever (2008-09's .793 mark), the league has nosedived precipitously over the past three seasons, going further and further down each time. Last year and the year before I chalked it up to the bottom of the conference really collapsing, Millikin and Elmhurst in particular. This year, however, the entire middle tier of the league hovered around .500 outside the circuit. Only three teams posted the sort of 10-1 and 9-2 records that were typical of the league as a whole only a few short years ago.

The CCIW is really slipping. I haven't entirely figured out why yet.

Augustana, Illinois Wesleyan, and Wheaton are obviously OK.  And on the flip side, we knew coming into 2011-12 that Millikin would be awful...so that is what it is I guess.

The story is all about what is happening with Carthage (6-5), Elmhurst (6-5), North Central (6-5), North Park (4-6).  That 22-21 cumulative non-conference record is shocking.  When the CCIW is "strong", teams 4-7 rack up a lot of non-conference wins.  And we have seen seasons where team #4 was a Top 25/NCAA tournament-caliber team.

What is really confusing is the number of really bad losses among these 4 teams.  If the CCIW is indeed a "power conference" (*see Bosko's quote from last night), you will easily find more than 10 "bad losses" between Carthage, Elmhurst, North Central, and North Park this season - games those teams just should not lose.



* "Washington (Md) has a very fine basketball team, and they play the game correctly," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic.  "They play with a lot energy, and this game was sort of 'David and Goliath' for them against a mighty CCIW team who blocks shots and dunks and does all those pretty things. 

http://www.carthage.edu/athleticspages/mens/basketball/release.html

[iwu70]

Congrats to the Titans on their NYC tournament win . . . and to Zimmer and Kman on making the all tournament team.  Jordan is heating up bigtime.  Let's hope his play of the last 4-5 games continues. 

IWU women won their tournament rather easily in California, too . . . finishing their very tough pre-CCIW season schedule at 7-4, a major achievement. 

Looking forward to Wheaton coming into the Shirk this week.  Let the CCIW season begin!

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

The CCIW is 51-36 (.586), which is really disappointing.

Barring a great postseason performance from the CCIW's representative(s) (it may not be plural this season), this will be the first time since 1997-98 that the CCIW finishes the season under the .600 mark in non-conference play.

Last season the league barely cleared .600 (56-37, .602), and the only reason it made it up and over that mark was because of Augie's Elite Eight run. After three straight years over .700, including the CCIW's best non-con performance ever (2008-09's .793 mark), the league has nosedived precipitously over the past three seasons, going further and further down each time. Last year and the year before I chalked it up to the bottom of the conference really collapsing, Millikin and Elmhurst in particular. This year, however, the entire middle tier of the league hovered around .500 outside the circuit. Only three teams posted the sort of 10-1 and 9-2 records that were typical of the league as a whole only a few short years ago.

The CCIW is really slipping. I haven't entirely figured out why yet.

Augustana, Illinois Wesleyan, and Wheaton are obviously OK.  And on the flip side, we knew coming into 2011-12 that Millikin would be awful...so that is what it is I guess.

The story is all about what is happening with Carthage (6-5), Elmhurst (6-5), North Central (6-5), North Park (4-6).  That 22-21 cumulative non-conference record is shocking.  When the CCIW is "strong", teams 4-7 rack up a lot of non-conference wins.  And we have seen seasons where team #4 was a Top 25/NCAA tournament-caliber team.

What is really confusing is the number of really bad losses among these 4 teams.  If the CCIW is indeed a "power conference" (*see Bosko's quote from last night), you will easily find more than 10 "bad losses" between Carthage, Elmhurst, North Central, and North Park this season - games those teams just should not lose.

I think that the real question here is whether or not those are games that those four teams "just should not lose" after all. In other words, there is a serious question here as to whether or not Carthage, Elmhurst, North Central, and North Park are anything other than undistinguished, run-of-the-mill D3 teams that don't deserve the benefit of the doubt when playing anyone other than the bottom feeders of D3 (Principia, Marian, Cornell, etc.).

The bottom fell out of the conference the past couple of years. Now the middle's fallen out, too. Contra Bosko, I really question whether we deserve "power conference" status right now at all.

[bopol]

If I would say anything from this non-conference portion is that the CCIW has 3 legit Top 25 teams and then a serious dropoff to the next group where NC, Elmhurst and Carthage are more ranked #75-150 teams than second 50 teams.

From my expectations though, I think IWU is much better than I expected, Elmhurst is better than I expected and NC and Carthage are worse than I expected and I wasn't particularly high on NC to begin with.

As far as Bosko's comments go, I think he is being political.  His team didn't get the job done, like they didn't get the job done against Olivet and Calvin.  All three of those games were quite winnable against teams that on paper, Carthage is better than.  The play has been inconsistant and Bosko doesn't seem to be able to make the in-game adjustments to maintain the 2nd half leads.  Hopefully, they'll get it together, or it'll be a long season.

[AndOne]

In IWU's last 5 games (vs Webster, @ Chicago, vs Wash U, vs Bethany, @ Staten Island), 6-5 senior guard Jordan Zimmer has averaged 21.2 points and has connected on 27 of 55 3-point attempts (.491).  To put 27 made 3's in 5 games in perspective, here are the CCIW's 3-point FGM leaders in 2011 through 14 conference games:

1. Jordan Zimmer (IWU) 38
2. Malcom Kelly (CC) 32
3. James Robertson (EC) 31
4. Andrew Jahns (WC) 28
5. Jeremy Pflederer (WC) 27


I think Jordan has finally realized that he is "the guy" for the Titans.  For IWU to be good in CCIW play, Zimmer has to aggressively look for his shot - the benefit is not just Zimmer's production, but what it does to create scoring opportunities for other Titans.

If Jordan Zimmer continues to play like a CCIW 1st Teamer, as he has for 5 games now, the Titans can play with anyone.  If he defers to others, or waits for scoring opportunities to come to him, as it seems he was doing early on, IWU will struggle.

Seems like you're placing an awful lot of pressure on Mr. Zimmer. He make, they win. He misses, they lose.
I just hope for Jordan's sake that he can remain free of any more injuries such as I believe he sustained at the beginning of last season

[AndOne]

If I would say anything from this non-conference portion is that the CCIW has 3 legit Top 25 teams and then a serious dropoff to the next group where NC, Elmhurst and Carthage are more ranked #75-150 teams than second 50 teams.

From my expectations though, I think IWU is much better than I expected, Elmhurst is better than I expected and NC and Carthage are worse than I expected and I wasn't particularly high on NC to begin with.

As far as Bosko's comments go, I think he is being political.  His team didn't get the job done, like they didn't get the job done against Olivet and Calvin.  All three of those games were quite winnable against teams that on paper, Carthage is better than.  The play has been inconsistant and Bosko doesn't seem to be able to make the in-game adjustments to maintain the 2nd half leads.  Hopefully, they'll get it together, or it'll be a long season.

Yes, "political" is a good word for it.