MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage 87
North Park 80

Malcom Kelly: 27 pts
Luke Johnson: 16 pts, 10 rebs, 6 bks
Donte Logan: 13 pts, 6 asts
Mitch Thompson: 12 pts

Mark Holmes: 23 pts, 8 rebs
Emanuel Crosby: 20 pts, 12 rebs
Roshawn Russell: 17 pts

What a bizarre game. When I walked into the gym a half-hour before tipoff, I was informed by Carthage broadcaster John Weiser that Mike Gabriel and Kendell Greer were in street clothes. "Great," I replied, "now we'll end up losing by 71 and we'll get Matt Nadelhoffer off the hook."

O ye of little faith! Even without their star forward and their best defender, the Vikings rose to the challenge and gave the Red Men all that they could handle last night. The Vikings looked like they'd get blown out early, as everyone but them expected, falling behind, 20-11. But then the Vikings mounted a rally, actually took a six-point lead late in the first half, and went into the locker room up 41-37.

NPU was uncharacteristically sharp with its shooting, but it was the crisp manner in which it ran its halfcourt sets that really impressed me. NPU enjoyed a 13-4 foul disparity in the first half which had Bosko barking at ref Mike O'Neill all night long, but it was a legit disparity; Carthage's gambling on defense led to a number of North Park turnovers and Carthage breakaways, but it also led to a lot of hacking and pushing fouls on the Red Men.

I told Rob on the air as the second half started that the big danger for the Vikes at this point was that they'd be satisfied with what they had done thus far and would settle for a 20-minute "victory". But, if anything, the Vikes were even more determined to hang tough in the second half. They built up an 11-point lead with 15:33 to go that had Rob and I wondering aloud if this really was going to be a miraculous night. But it was not to be. Carthage went into a press, ran off a quick 13-2 run in a little over two minutes to tie the game at 56-56, and then slowly but surely managed to pull away. The Red Men built the lead to ten at 80-70 with two and a half minutes to go before NPU came back with one last-gasp rally to cut the lead to five in the final minute. But Carthage sealed the win by hitting five of six FTs from that point onward.

As has been the case in several CCIW games this season (@ Augie, @ NCC, etc.) the Vikings were competitive for most of the way but simply ran out of gas at the end. The absence of Gabriel and Greer were especially telling at the end; Carthage's press just intensified the obvious exhaustion of the Vikings, and NPU could've sorely used another ballhandler who could also score (Greer) in order to break that press. The press, and Mal Kelly's ability to finish off of the turnovers it created, really was the ultimate story of the game.

Mark Holmes was terrific. He really rose to the occasion in the absence of his running mate Mike Gabriel. Emanuel Crosby played like a man possessed -- this was the best game he's had all season, by far -- and Ro Russell really picked it up in Gabriel's absence as well. It doesn't make sense to me that the Vikings scored a season-high 80 points with Gabriel and Greer in street clothes, but there was a lot about this game that didn't make sense. The Vikings also did a great job on the boards. They'd been getting their clocks cleaned on the glass in CCIW play, being outrebounded by an average of almost nine and a half boards per game coming into last night. But in last night's game they outrebounded Carthage by six, 37-31, the first time that they've won the battle of the boards against a CCIW team other than Millikin. Most of that was due to Crosby, who was unusually active in that department last night.

Luke Johnson was dominant for the Red Men -- I think he got short-changed on the blocks, as I was convinced that he had a triple-double -- and Donte Logan continues to impress me. Throw in Reese Herth, Antwan Hill, and a few other guys who didn't get into the game but whom Bosko raves about, and I don't think that there's any question that Carthage has the best freshman class in the league. The Red Men are going to be awfully tough over the next few seasons.

I'm hopeful that Gabriel's concussion won't keep him out of the lineup too long, but, as the C.J. Goldthree situation earlier in January demonstrated, players really have no control over how long they're sidelined by this situation. Last night notwithstanding, the Vikings desperately need his services. I think that Greer will be back on Saturday for the game against Wesleyan.

There are no moral victories in basketball, but, if there were, last night would've been one of them. A short-handed NPU team that was undermanned to begin with really stepped up and played with vigor, discipline, and (for the most part) intelligence last night, and that was wonderful to see.

[clemac]

[Big "Pink Zone" activities this Saturday at the Shirk, during all the NPU games, to raise money for the local Cancer Center.  Hope everyone in attendance will be very generous and supportive.   Alumni game at 2 p.m. vs. JV, women at 5 and men at 7 p.m. I believe.  A full day of Shirk roundball and philanthropy.  Audio and video streams for both CCIW games vs. NPU.

IWU70

You forgot the Keck track meet at the Shirk all day Sat. as well.

[iwu70]

Clemac, you are so so right.  My bad.  Keck track meet also a fine tradition, in honor of a good guy at IWU.  Bob Keck was around, holding forth during my student days at IWU.  He was really close to a number of my good buddies during those days -- esp. from the track and wrestling teams.  (Yes, back in the day when we still had wrestling!)

Sounds like a super busy day around The Shirk on Saturday.

Good luck to all the Titan athletes.  Hope we have a big turnout and raise lots of money for the local Cancer Center. 

IWU70

[augie_superfan]

IMHO, the jacket toss by GG early in the game, his continued antics, intimidated the officials to the point that they were more than happy to get off the floor at the end of the game.  They would have to deal with GG one more time, perhaps another technical?
The league should deal with this coach once and for all.  At a minimum, Augustana should address his actions with a stern hand!  Perhaps he should journey back to D1 or the pros where players play for money (tongue in cheek, D1).
During the IL/MI ST game last eve, the announcers stated the national head of officials had sent an email telling the officals to get tough on unsportsmanship like behavior.  This warning should be applied at all levels, not just the coaches and players, but also to the fans.

The jacket toss is not very intimidating.  I've never seen a game in my life where it didn't get tossed.  When I was in school there, we used to bet each other a beer on who could come closest to guessing how fast it would come off and what poor JV player in the back row would catch it.

[titanhammer]

Wow! What a comeback for the Titans, and what the heck happened at the end of the game? It appeared to me that there was still some time left when the ball was knocked out of bound.

IMHO, the jacket toss by GG early in the game, his continued antics, intimidated the officials to the point that they were more than happy to get off the floor at the end of the game.  They would have to deal with GG one more time, perhaps another technical?
The league should deal with this coach once and for all.  At a minimum, Augustana should address his actions with a stern hand!  Perhaps he should journey back to D1 or the pros where players play for money (tongue in cheek, D1).
During the IL/MI ST game last eve, the announcers stated the national head of officials had sent an email telling the officals to get tough on unsportsmanship like behavior.  This warning should be applied at all levels, not just the coaches and players, but also to the fans.

Don't know if it's a D1 thing or all levels, but Draymond Green for Michigan State was given a technical in the Illini game for waiving off the official after a call.  The announcers said it was a point of emphasis in recent weeks.  If that point of emphasis was for all levels of the NCAA and applied to the coaches, then Coach GG should have been given a technical atleast once.  It was very clear when I was watching the live stream.

[augie_superfan]

Wow! What a comeback for the Titans, and what the heck happened at the end of the game? It appeared to me that there was still some time left when the ball was knocked out of bound.

IMHO, the jacket toss by GG early in the game, his continued antics, intimidated the officials to the point that they were more than happy to get off the floor at the end of the game.  They would have to deal with GG one more time, perhaps another technical?
The league should deal with this coach once and for all.  At a minimum, Augustana should address his actions with a stern hand!  Perhaps he should journey back to D1 or the pros where players play for money (tongue in cheek, D1).
During the IL/MI ST game last eve, the announcers stated the national head of officials had sent an email telling the officals to get tough on unsportsmanship like behavior.  This warning should be applied at all levels, not just the coaches and players, but also to the fans.

Don't know if it's a D1 thing or all levels, but Draymond Green for Michigan State was given a technical in the Illini game for waiving off the official after a call.  The announcers said it was a point of emphasis in recent weeks.  If that point of emphasis was for all levels of the NCAA and applied to the coaches, then Coach GG should have been given a technical atleast once.  It was very clear when I was watching the live stream.

That may be true but there definitely is and definitely should be a huge difference between what a player and coach are able to get away with when it comes to officials.

[titanhammer]

Wow! What a comeback for the Titans, and what the heck happened at the end of the game? It appeared to me that there was still some time left when the ball was knocked out of bound.

IMHO, the jacket toss by GG early in the game, his continued antics, intimidated the officials to the point that they were more than happy to get off the floor at the end of the game.  They would have to deal with GG one more time, perhaps another technical?
The league should deal with this coach once and for all.  At a minimum, Augustana should address his actions with a stern hand!  Perhaps he should journey back to D1 or the pros where players play for money (tongue in cheek, D1).
During the IL/MI ST game last eve, the announcers stated the national head of officials had sent an email telling the officals to get tough on unsportsmanship like behavior.  This warning should be applied at all levels, not just the coaches and players, but also to the fans.

Don't know if it's a D1 thing or all levels, but Draymond Green for Michigan State was given a technical in the Illini game for waiving off the official after a call.  The announcers said it was a point of emphasis in recent weeks.  If that point of emphasis was for all levels of the NCAA and applied to the coaches, then Coach GG should have been given a technical atleast once.  It was very clear when I was watching the live stream.

That may be true but there definitely is and definitely should be a huge difference between what a player and coach are able to get away with when it comes to officials.

Why?  Are the coaches not an example for the players...and the students?

[titanhammer]

I'm not a coach basher and I don't think coaches should be perfect, but they should be held to a standard.  I've had the priveledge of having some of the best coaches at each level in the country...including Coach Steve Yount, one of my favorites.  Animated is one thing...questionable antics is another.

[augie_superfan]

Sure.  I think any coach in the most popular sports is a public face of the college.  That still doesn't change my opinion that the coach-ref interaction should be different from the player-ref interaction. 

I think its a completely different arguement if you are hinting that Grey is a bad example for students and players.  That is something that the college obviously has made their mind up on.  I'm only guessing that they think the successful program he has built and the good works that he does in and around campus outweigh his demeanor on the sidelines.

There is no doubting he is an intense man when it comes to basketball and that intensity transfers over to his players.  But, if he were serving as a bad example to his players, don't you think we'd see a lot more of the players getting technicals for their behavior on the court? 

[titanhammer]

Article about enforcing sportsmanship:  http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/seth_davis/01/27/NCAA.sportsmanship/index.html

[titanhammer]

Sure.  I think any coach in the most popular sports is a public face of the college.  That still doesn't change my opinion that the coach-ref interaction should be different from the player-ref interaction. 

I think its a completely different arguement if you are hinting that Grey is a bad example for students and players.  That is something that the college obviously has made their mind up on.  I'm only guessing that they think the successful program he has built and the good works that he does in and around campus outweigh his demeanor on the sidelines.

There is no doubting he is an intense man when it comes to basketball and that intensity transfers over to his players.  But, if he were serving as a bad example to his players, don't you think we'd see a lot more of the players getting technicals for their behavior on the court?

If his players give the two handed full "waive off" to the officials that Grey did, there is no doubt that they should/will get the technical foul that Green did.

If Augustana accepts trading the antics/habits of their coach for a winning record, that is their choice.

[titanhammer]

With all of this CCIW coaching talk, I realized that I played under three different CCIW coaches:

1 Coach Bridges at IWU
2 Coach Yount at Lincoln College and Prairie State Games
3 Coach Littrell during Prairie State Games

And I see Coach Ramsey at Church these days...as well as Coach Rose.

[John Gleich]

I'm not a coach basher and I don't think coaches should be perfect, but they should be held to a standard.  I've had the priveledge of having some of the best coaches at each level in the country...including Coach Steve Yount, one of my favorites.  Animated is one thing...questionable antics is another.

What I think it interesting is when coaches are held to DIFFERENT standards.  Grey Giovanine gets away with quite a bit... he has to go pretty far to get called for something.

Contrast that against Bill Harris.  I didn't see him coach that often but I did know that he carried himself to a higher standard... so when he approached that standard (or occasionally crossed it) he was called for it...  Rarely would those things approach the typical antics of GG.

[Titan Q]

A lot of coaches ride officials for 40 minutes, but I've never seen one do it in such a childish manner as Giovanine.  There is just something odd about the whole "two handed waive off", the foot stomping, the coat throwing, etc, etc.  He literally looks like a 3-year old kid who has just been told "no" most of the game.

Giovanine is a fantastic recruiter and tremendous coach, but just a complete jackass on the sideline.

[Pat Coleman]

Might be interesting if Augustana were to advance and not have games in its general part of the country.