MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[hopefan]

Well Greg, if you get a surprise slap on the back while you're broadcasting, it's most likely the ol hopefan......but wow, 5 and a half hours.....

[Gregory Sager]

If I get a surprise slap on the back I will probably drop dead of a heart attack, seeing as how Rob Berki and I do our webcast from the back row, right up against the south wall of the gym.

[Titan Q]

If I get a surprise slap on the back I will probably drop dead of a heart attack, seeing as how Rob Berki and I do our webcast from the back row, right up against the south wall of the gym.

I've broadcast several games from that position and can confirm that there is no back slapping possible.

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin downed Steve Schafer's Fontbonne squad tonight in the Griz, 87-77, in a game that wasn't as close as the final score seems to indicate. T.J. Griffin, who's been quite a prodigious scorer for MU thus far this season (19.2 ppg), led the way with 20, while Deavis Johnson had 15 and 8 and Alex Tueth contributed 14 and 10.

Millikin is now 3-3, but the problem for the Big Blue is that all three of their wins have come against SLIAC teams (0-7 Blackburn, 0-5 Principia, and 1-7 Fontbonne), and there's no SLIAC teams left on the sked for them. They do have Rockford (1-4) coming up, so my prediction of four pre-CCIW wins for Jimmy Millikin is looking good so far.

[newCCIWfan]

Millikin downed Steve Schafer's Fontbonne squad tonight in the Griz, 87-77, in a game that wasn't as close as the final score seems to indicate. T.J. Griffin, who's been quite a prodigious scorer for MU thus far this season (19.2 ppg), led the way with 20, while Deavis Johnson had 15 and 8 and Alex Tueth contributed 14 and 10.

Millikin is now 3-3, but the problem for the Big Blue is that all three of their wins have come against SLIAC teams (0-7 Blackburn, 0-5 Principia, and 1-7 Fontbonne), and there's no SLIAC teams left on the sked for them. They do have Rockford (1-4) coming up, so my prediction of four pre-CCIW wins for Jimmy Millikin is looking good so far.

To be fair ... it is not as if MU is being blown out by their non-SLIAC opponents. In games vs. non-SLIAC teams they are 0-3 ... with average margin of loss being 6 points. In two of their losses they have been in the game until a free-throw game down the stretch. Millikin has yet to lose by double-digits ... which itself is    quite a difference from even a year ago. It certainly has to help the image of the conference that MU is picking up a few W's. 

[AndOne]

Yes, newCCIWfan, but the non-SLIAC opponents that MU has played certainly cannot be considered powerhouses. In fact, their combined record is 8-10 so its not that surprising that they have not blown MU out.
I think the majority of the opinion as to what degree of progress has been attained will be formulated on how they ultimately do against the conference teams. Can they stay relatively close in most or many of their losses, or even pick up a victory or two. Two conference wins would put them at a level they haven't reached since 2009-10 and would, in my opinion, be a tremendous achievement given their recent past.

[newCCIWfan]

Yes, newCCIWfan, but the non-SLIAC opponents that MU has played certainly cannot be considered powerhouses. In fact, their combined record is 8-10 so its not that surprising that they have not blown MU out.
I think the majority of the opinion as to what degree of progress has been attained will be formulated on how they ultimately do against the conference teams. Can they stay relatively close in most or many of their losses, or even pick up a victory or two. Two conference wins would put them at a level they haven't reached since 2009-10 and would, in my opinion, be a tremendous achievement given their recent past.

Agreed

[CCIWchamps]

AndOne:  Off-topic, but each time I read your tagline that song gets stuck in my head.   

[iwu70]

Yes, you can see some MU improvement, at least up to a certain level.  Griffin and Deavis Johnson are pretty good looking players, with alot of upside and future experience to be had in CCIW play.  MU has some others who will be decent CCIW players in time, as well.  They will make their impression in some games, no doubt.  I wouldn't at all be surprised to see MU win 3-4 games in CCIW play this year, though some more experienced hands around the IWU program thought they'd only win 1-2 in CCIW play this year, after watching them play @The Shirk earlier this year.  Time will tell.   Not sure they can get to 8-10 wins this year, though that would be an improvement over the past few years.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin downed Steve Schafer's Fontbonne squad tonight in the Griz, 87-77, in a game that wasn't as close as the final score seems to indicate. T.J. Griffin, who's been quite a prodigious scorer for MU thus far this season (19.2 ppg), led the way with 20, while Deavis Johnson had 15 and 8 and Alex Tueth contributed 14 and 10.

Millikin is now 3-3, but the problem for the Big Blue is that all three of their wins have come against SLIAC teams (0-7 Blackburn, 0-5 Principia, and 1-7 Fontbonne), and there's no SLIAC teams left on the sked for them. They do have Rockford (1-4) coming up, so my prediction of four pre-CCIW wins for Jimmy Millikin is looking good so far.

To be fair ... it is not as if MU is being blown out by their non-SLIAC opponents. In games vs. non-SLIAC teams they are 0-3 ... with average margin of loss being 6 points. In two of their losses they have been in the game until a free-throw game down the stretch. Millikin has yet to lose by double-digits ... which itself is    quite a difference from even a year ago. It certainly has to help the image of the conference that MU is picking up a few W's.

Yes, newCCIWfan, but the non-SLIAC opponents that MU has played certainly cannot be considered powerhouses. In fact, their combined record is 8-10 so its not that surprising that they have not blown MU out.
I think the majority of the opinion as to what degree of progress has been attained will be formulated on how they ultimately do against the conference teams. Can they stay relatively close in most or many of their losses, or even pick up a victory or two. Two conference wins would put them at a level they haven't reached since 2009-10 and would, in my opinion, be a tremendous achievement given their recent past.

Actually, I think that you both make good points. Millikin is definitely improved this season; we already have plenty of evidence that proves it. But "improvement" isn't simply a generalized term. Improvement is incremental and measurable, and the question of how much the Big Blue have gotten better this year will really depend upon how they do in CCIW play.

[sac]

Massey's strength of schedule for CCIW teams

Carthage       10
Augustana     19
No. Central     25
Ill. Weslyan    29
Wheaton        65
Elmhurst        81
North Park     284
Milliken          345

[BlueJay21]

Elmhurst moves to 0-5 with a 72-68 loss to Westminster at RA Faganel Hall tonight. The Jays were down by 24 at one point.

Yikes. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 70
Eureka 53

Ryan Hyrn: 22 pts (6-10 trey)
Aaron Weaver: 16 pts, 12 rebs, 5 stls
Mark Holmes: 14 pts, 10 rebs
Chris Benjamin: 10 pts, 11 rebs
Zach Cassita: 6 asts

NPU cruised to an easy, but not all that impressive, win over a pretty poor opponent tonight. The Vikings ran out to a 26-7 lead in the first eight minutes, but then the offense bogged down completely -- lots of turnovers, lots of struggling to put the ball in the hands of shooters -- and NPU couldn't make its side of the scoreboard move again for over six minutes. Fortunately, Eureka couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, so the Vikings never really had to worry about the Red Devils taking advantage of the NPU drought. Eureka did cut the lead to 14 at the half, but that's as close as the Red Devils got. NPU led by as much as 22 in the second half.

This was the first time that I can remember seeing a North Park team have three players record double-doubles in the same game. While the obvious star was freshman Ryan Hyrn, who put on a clinic on how to hide in the far corner and bury treys when the ball came his way, the efficient and decisive way in which the Vikings took care of the boards was the real story on the night.

NPU is gonna have to step it up on Saturday afternoon, though, as Trine is certainly a much better team than Eureka.

[Gregory Sager]

Good to see Coach Roshawn Russell in the stands tonight at the crackerbox. The Fontbonne graduate assistant coach was sitting up in the top section of the northeast bleachers along with the rest of the clipboard mafia that was on hand to scout either the Vikings or the Red Devils. Fontbonne has SLIAC foe Eureka coming up in early January.

Speaking of the SLIAC ...

Elmhurst moves to 0-5 with a 72-68 loss to Westminster at RA Faganel Hall tonight. The Jays were down by 24 at one point.

Yikes. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Westmo is no slouch, but it's still a bad loss to fall at home to a SLIAC team. Mark Scherer must be going nuts right about now.

[markerickson]

Eureka's D.T. Thornton is listed at 6'4" 325lbs (take that, Tyler Pierce).  Thornton has soft hands and had two steals.  After one steal he picked up the dribble, but passed at midcourt.  A coast-to-coast trip would have been awesome!

Seemed like Weaver had more than 12 rebounds.  I know Holmes earned Player of the Week so I guess he got the rock quite often.  Last night, Cassita could have passed to Holmes more, especially when his back was to the basket.  Eurerka was clearly the inferior team despite NP playing the shortest Viking squad I can ever recall watching.