MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[augiefan]

4 freshmen and 6 sophs played for Augie. Kunz was the only upperclassman to play as Dexter (back problem) and Schlitter (sprained ankle) could not play. Aurora came from way behind to make it close with 3 threes in the final 35 seconds. Surprisingly Johnson was the least impressive of the 4 freshmen fouling out with virtually no contributions to the win. Even without Dexter and Schlitter Augie dominated the boards.

Aurora was only 13-13 last year but has three starters back plus the Lobdell brothers (transfers), who are really solid players. A pretty nice road win given the inexperience of the available Augie players. Probably will not win with that many frosh/sophs playing against CCIW teams, but it looks like Augie has some good young talent.

[TitanPride]

Good preview on Millikin:  http://herald-review.com/sports/millikin/millikin-men-s-basketball-team-starting-fresh/article_996940fa-2fb8-11e2-b693-0019bb2963f4.html

[WheatonFanChris]

Coach Schauer's post game interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LZdCnF1ilCM

As everyone has said, no one expected things to go so well last night for the Thunder, but it was super fun to watch after the jitters of the first few minutes.

What I took from last night:

1. Capital doesn't have the bigs that NCC, etc do, so I think it's hard to take too much from last night and relate it to CCIW play.

2. You need to get a hand in Kwam's face or it's nothing but net. He was on fire.

3. Tyler Peters has the potential to be on the CCIW First Team this year. It wasn't always pretty for him last night, but he is much improved (and had a ferocious dunk and one).

Overall, it was great to get a big win and exciting to see players who previously haven't had that many chances before really step up.

[Titan Q]

Hope crushing Faith in Naperville.

http://www.sidearmstats.com/ncc/mbball/scoreboard.aspx

[AndOne]

Hope is on course for a 112 point win. 
Would it be a sin if any Hope starters played in the 2nd half?

[jtsmith231]

Hope crushing Faith in Naperville.

I always wondered which was greater between Hope and Faith, and now I know. I can only imagine what kind of massacre we'd have on our hands if Love faced off against Faith.

[Titan Q]

Anyone know the story of why North Central brought College of Faith to their tournament?  Was there some type of really late cancellation from a normal team, or what happened?

[Pat Coleman]

Hope crushing Faith in Naperville.

I always wondered which was greater between Hope and Faith, and now I know. I can only imagine what kind of massacre we'd have on our hands if Love faced off against Faith.

+1 Many posts along this line, but this is the greatest of these.

[Mugsy]

Hope crushing Faith in Naperville.

I always wondered which was greater between Hope and Faith, and now I know. I can only imagine what kind of massacre we'd have on our hands if Love faced off against Faith.

Well... Love is the greatest of those.  Wouldn't be pretty.   

[KnightSlappy]

Hope crushing Faith in Naperville.

http://www.sidearmstats.com/ncc/mbball/scoreboard.aspx

[Pat Coleman]

Hope crushing Faith in Naperville.

http://www.sidearmstats.com/ncc/mbball/scoreboard.aspx

And here they look so peaceful!

[iwu70]

Hope over Faith like that shouldn't be allowed.  Seems Faith got to know Hope in the biblical sense . . . 113-19 or some such, and still 3 minutes to play.  At least not as bad as some women's game in Texas? last night, high school game, that ended 88-0.  Truly. 

IWU about four hours away from 2012-13 Tip-Off vs. Coe.  I'm sure it will be a mightier test than Hope has with Faith.  I'll have a look at the "Big" Blue, too.  Perhaps Millikin should have opened with Faith, instead of Loras.   

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

I've been taking the opposite tack from Bob this preseason. While he's kept us meticulously informed on every Wesleyan injury right down to the merest hangnail, I've kept quiet about NPU's injury situation, except for one passing mention after the Dominican scrimmage in which I said that the Vikes had four starters out. (It turned out that it was three starters plus a key reserve.)

NPU's injury situation has gotten better in terms of numbers, but not in terms of who is injured. To be specific, one of the team's two returning stars, Mike Gabriel, is in danger of missing much or even all of the season. He hurt his knee at the very beginning of preseason practice, got conflicting diagnoses from multiple doctors, and has basically been sidelined ever since. Today he was scheduled to see the orthopedist to get the final word on whether he can return to the team or not, and, if he has to sit out some more, how much longer he'll be sidelined. Word from the coaching staff is that Mike's knee feels good right now, but that means little, since he hasn't been playing basketball on it since mid-October. At any rate, because of his doctor's visit he will not be with the team in Grand Rapids tonight.

I don't have to tell anyone who follows this league how important Mike Gabriel is to NPU. His importance is magnified by the fact that the Vikings have almost no size apart from him, and with a very thin rotation to boot in terms of CCIW-caliber players his absence in terms of scoring, rebounding, and minutes is that much more glaring. It will be a very long and very painful season if he's not around. But, in a sense, I'd almost rather have him miss the entire season and come back fresh for two more years in 2013-14 and 2014-15 than to have him miss a big chunk of this season and then have to work his way back into game shape after the team had already dug a hole for itself. Of course, the best-case scenario is that he gets a clean bill of health today and rejoins the team immediately.

Now that the Vikings are only a few minutes away from their opening tipoff of the season in Grand Rapids against Cairn, I feel as though it's OK to let the cat out of the bag.

[Gregory Sager]

Aurora was only 13-13 last year but has three starters back plus the Lobdell brothers (transfers), who are really solid players.

I'm pretty sure that they're no relation to veterancciwfan.

I watched most of the Jays game vs. Carleton. Very disappointed in the Elmhurst effort tonight. I was secretly thinking that Elmhurst could contend for a top 4 spot in the CCIW this season, but after tonight I'm not sure. Defense wasn't a problem, but they really struggled to score. I was very encouraged by what I saw out of Taylor Baxter and Eric Leonard at the PG spot however. Hopefully, the Jays can figure it out before January begins.

Know what happened to James Robertson and Brandon Grubl?

Grubl transferred to Indiana-Northwest and is playing for the Red Hawks. I have no idea what happened to Robertson.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU 79
Cairn 55

Aaron Weaver: 27 pts, 13 rebs
Mark Holmes: 25 pts, 13 rebs
Zach Cassita: 6 rebs, 8 asts

Doesn't really mean much, as Cairn's been pretty terrible in recent seasons and I doubt that anything about this team other than its' school's name has changed. It'll be a very, very different story tomorrow night when the Vikes have to (presumably) face a much bigger and more skilled Calvin team. Still, a win's a win, and it's always nice to start off the season with a W ... especially with a new head coach sitting in the first chair.