MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Hey, Mark (iwu70) - how 'bout them Yankees?!

(I'll be dancing with my broom the rest of the week!)

[NCF]

Hey, Mark (iwu70) - how 'bout them Yankees?!

(I'll be dancing with my broom the rest of the week!)

Picture please

[Mr. Ypsi]

Hey, Mark (iwu70) - how 'bout them Yankees?!

(I'll be dancing with my broom the rest of the week!)

Picture please

Sorry, it's a private celebration.  No paparazzi permitted!

[iwu70]

Ypsi, congrats to your Tigers.  They surely took out my aging Yanks bigtime.  No doubt.  Yes, sweeping is bitter, but, as you know, I didn't think the Yanks would go all that far this year, and that was before the epic hitting and offensive slump exhibited by my aging, and highly paid "bombers."  There was no bomb in the bombers vs. your Tigers, and you can't go too too far when CC Sabathia gets shelled like he did last night.  Nuff said.  Good luck to your Tigers . . . they will likely soon face the again hot and crazy Cardinals.  Most of the fans here in the B/N area are, of course, Cardinal loyalists.  My Yanks can go to the off-season with many questions to address, not least the injury and hitting woes of their highly-paid veterans -- A Rod, Cano, Grandy etc. -- and their high-paid and aging pitchers.  Pettitte can't go forever, and I fear Garcia and Hughes are not really the answer either.  Seems to me Kuroda and Nova actually had the best seasons, if you look at it over the longer haul.  I'm sure there will be some key changes, hopes for injured Yanks (Mo, Jeter, Gardner etc.) to return healthy by spring training.  Need some new young blood to start coming up through the system, or some key trades to be made that make the actuarial table of the Yankees roster a bit more enduring, young-at-heart, and well, actually young!  Guess they should clone Raul Ibanez!  I'm sure George Steinbrenner is spinning, cursing in his grave at the woeful Yanks performance in this Detroit-NY series. 

Big game for our football Titans @Wheaton tomorrow.  Would love to see our boys go 7-0, setting up another big showdown game the following week with NC.  Basketball practices have started, and there's alot of optimism on campus again for both men and women's teams for the roundball season.

Missed you at Homecoming, where we again had a grand time with many interesting and useful events, activities.  45-7 Green Weenies over Redpeople was especially welcomed.  And, who knew?, our class again received the "Silver Bowl" for the most Wesleyan Fund donors of any class.  Thanks again to you and all the class members who continued to support our Titans, our students and our beloved alma mater.  Just say'in.

Baseball over for me, football winding down, and basketball soon to start.  The few weeks of triple sports  . . . I don't worship at the altar of hockey or hunting. 

All best,
IWU70   

[RogK]

Hunting isn't a sport, unless the animals start shooting back.

[iwumichigander]

Q, and others, I'd be very surprised if Ron Rose stays with the idea of Brady Zimmer at the PG spot for very long.  I don't think he has the speed or court vision to do that . . . but we'll see.  Overstreet or Molinari make alot more sense.  ...

I too would doubt Zimmer becomes the full time PG.  But, having a SG with size who knows the PG role --- and can play it in a pinch --- invaluable as it allows you to mix, match and change the perimeter 1-3 to a shooting lineup.  It also allows a good, pentrating PG who can create their shot to create havoc when the SG can also distribute the ball.

[petemcb]

Hunting isn't a sport, unless the animals start shooting back.

+k

[iwu70]

RogK, agreed, I've never thought hunting very sporting either . . . but many love it.  Not this sportsman.

IWUMichigander, agreed it could work, be flexible for Zimmer at PG at times.  He did play some PG on the JV two years ago, but just looked a little out of place, a bit square in a round hole, not quite comfortable.  Perhaps he's a different player with more ease in the various roles now, but we'll see.  (Yes, important to have excellent FT shooters in these positions late in games, too).    I think Overstreet (who is 6'3") and has good range on trey shooting, decent ball-handling, is a more natural for the job.  Molinari has been highly touted, but is also coming back from the concussion of last season.  He's much smaller, perhaps a bit better a ball-handler to Overstreet, with a very interesting penetrating and mid-range game.  He could score quite a bit off of slashing and penetrating, and getting into the lane for pull-up jumpshots, where he has good accuracy.  My doubt is about his is overall size, perimeter defensive quickness, and three-ball range.  Of course, he has likely improved over the summer, improved his game in some of these areas, so we'll have to see how it all plays out.  We don't know much yet about the newbies, esp. Sodemann or others in the seeming JV grouping, freshmen PGs and SGs, of which there are 5-6 additional players.

IWU will be very strong in the post area, deep and tough, with lots of experience, and some good newer players coming along nicely in these positions too.  Perhaps we'll see a Titan team this year that pounds it inside and relies rather less on the trey than surely in the Jordan Zimmer era.  But, seems some good perimeter D is needed, and some good trey shooting will be needed to stretch out defenses.  This is why I mentioned Oswald earlier.  Though as you know, several of our bigs are also pretty good, unhesitating trey shooters, and won't blink or be slow to pull the trigger if open = Ziemnik, Musselman, Davis, yes, Heyen as well.  (Dortch, Reed and Anderson not so much!)  Otherwise, you may see alot of jamming zones against the Titans this year.   Again, IMHO.

Nice piece on the iwu.edu sports section, basketball page about the Titans complimentary pre-season rankings.  FYI.

IWU70 

[Gregory Sager]

Not sure if this is an omen or not, but NPU's first opponent this season has just changed its name. The Crimson Eagles of Philadelphia Biblical University are now the Highlanders of Cairn University.

[RogK]

Here's an Xs and Os situation that some of you may wish to comment on. Let's say team A is shooting a free throw. Team B has a player in each of the two prime rebounding positions next to that basket, plus a 3rd rebounder (point guard) in the spot where he can jump in front of the FT shooter. So far, this is normal.
But, team B puts its other pair of players (reasonably good 3 shooters) in 3 pointland at the opposite end (their offensive zone), one on the right side, one on the left.
How should team A respond to this alignment? Of course, team A will occupy the two secondary rebounding positions in the lane, with another player shooting the FT. Is team A forced to send its other two players down to guard the two team B players at the other end of the court? Is there too much risk otherwise?
At this point, you may ask why team B is doing this to begin with. The answer is that they may have a better chance to get a good shot up before team A's defense can set up. Team B is still very likely to rebound any missed FT shot, and if so, they have a relatively uncrowded floor through which to push the ball up the court; and two reasonably good 3 shooters are in position to receive a pass and get a quick 3 pt shot up, or possibly a backdoor cut, depending on how they're guarded.
If team A misses the FT but gets the rebound, it would have a 3-on-3 situation, but team B probably has two defenders under the basket. If team B rebounds a missed FT or inbounds after a made FT, team A could cause trouble with a fullcourt press, especially if team B's two main rebounders can't dribble well and can't get the ball to the point guard; the other players would have to hurry back to receive a shorter pass.
Other than that circumstance, it seems to me that this alignment would turn out to be advantageous for team B some of the time and neutral other times. I've seen a three NAIA women's teams use it, but I can't recall seeing a men's team use it. Again, it is used only if team B wants to play a fast offense or if they have much less than a shotclock of time left in the half and want to score quickly.
I probably didn't word all this as consisely as possible. Anyway, what reactions come to mind?

[Titan Q]

Interesting opportunity for the IWU basketball team tomorrow per the team's Facebook page...

The Titans will travel to the University of Illinois tomorrow where they will demonstrate in front of Illinois High School coaches. Stan Van Gundy, the former coach of the Orlando Magic, will be the clinician, and will put the Titans through an NBA style workout. This is a great opportunity for our players to learn from one of the NBA's finest.

[Titan Q]

Here's an Xs and Os situation that some of you may wish to comment on. Let's say team A is shooting a free throw. Team B has a player in each of the two prime rebounding positions next to that basket, plus a 3rd rebounder (point guard) in the spot where he can jump in front of the FT shooter. So far, this is normal.
But, team B puts its other pair of players (reasonably good 3 shooters) in 3 pointland at the opposite end (their offensive zone), one on the right side, one on the left.
How should team A respond to this alignment? Of course, team A will occupy the two secondary rebounding positions in the lane, with another player shooting the FT. Is team A forced to send its other two players down to guard the two team B players at the other end of the court? Is there too much risk otherwise?
At this point, you may ask why team B is doing this to begin with. The answer is that they may have a better chance to get a good shot up before team A's defense can set up. Team B is still very likely to rebound any missed FT shot, and if so, they have a relatively uncrowded floor through which to push the ball up the court; and two reasonably good 3 shooters are in position to receive a pass and get a quick 3 pt shot up, or possibly a backdoor cut, depending on how they're guarded.
If team A misses the FT but gets the rebound, it would have a 3-on-3 situation, but team B probably has two defenders under the basket. If team B rebounds a missed FT or inbounds after a made FT, team A could cause trouble with a fullcourt press, especially if team B's two main rebounders can't dribble well and can't get the ball to the point guard; the other players would have to hurry back to receive a shorter pass.
Other than that circumstance, it seems to me that this alignment would turn out to be advantageous for team B some of the time and neutral other times. I've seen a three NAIA women's teams use it, but I can't recall seeing a men's team use it. Again, it is used only if team B wants to play a fast offense or if they have much less than a shotclock of time left in the half and want to score quickly.
I probably didn't word all this as consisely as possible. Anyway, what reactions come to mind?

Team A should make the free throw.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Hunting isn't a sport, unless the animals start shooting back.

Why doesn't the NRA start supporting the clear intent of the Second Amendment: the right to arm bears?!

[Titan Q]

Earlier I was inputting dates for IWU's 2012-13 schedule on IWUhoops.com.  While doing this I finally realized how weird this 2013 NCAA Tournament schedule is going to be with the whole Atlanta thing...

http://www.iwuhoops.com/schedule12-13.html


I don't like the thought of how slow moving that tournament is going to be -- and I can't believe there is 15 days between the national semifinal game in Salem and the national championship in Atlanta.

I'm trying to stay open to this thing being a good idea but my gut reaction is that it's dumb and not very good for either Division III or the student-athletes.  We'll see I guess.

[y_jack_lok]

Earlier I was inputting dates for IWU's 2012-13 schedule on IWUhoops.com.  While doing this I finally realized how weird this 2013 NCAA Tournament schedule is going to be with the whole Atlanta thing...

http://www.iwuhoops.com/schedule12-13.html


I don't like the thought of how slow moving that tournament is going to be -- and I can't believe there is 15 days between the national semifinal game in Salem and the national championship in Atlanta.

I'm trying to stay open to this thing being a good idea but my gut reaction is that it's dumb and not very good for either Division III or the student-athletes.  We'll see I guess.

I couldn't agree more.