MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

Nobody noted this today, but Augustana concluded its long-time cross-river rivalry with St. Ambrose last night with a 77-69 win.

How is it possible that we don't have any regular Augustana posters anymore?

[Gregory Sager]

Good question, Bob.

[petemcb]

Westminster might want to go back to that defense they were playing in the first half.  The bigger Thunder are dissecting them right now.  64-39 with 3:30 to go

[Titan Q]

SLIAC or not, people need to start giving Westminster some respect.  Westminster played Wheaton tough as well last year and gave Hope a run for their money in the NCAA's.

I recall that Wheaton/Westminster game in Fulton, Mo being a Thunder blowout in the 2nd half...maybe I have my years mixed up.

I'm not sure Westminster has really done enough to gain respect.

[BlueJay21]

Wheaton 70
Westminster 41

Wheaton can really defend. That was very evident in the second half of this game as they just ran away with it. I've watched almost all of their games this season, and the way that they defend will keep them in every game they play. Saturday will be a huge test for the Thunder! Looking forward to seeing how that game shakes out.

On a personal note, freshman Michael Berg (Midwest Central) had his best game of the season tonight with 11, 9, and 3. He has been improving each game and now with Teuscher out he is really gonna have an opportunity to step up his game.

[petemcb]

SLIAC or not, people need to start giving Westminster some respect.  Westminster played Wheaton tough as well last year and gave Hope a run for their money in the NCAA's.

I recall that Wheaton/Westminster game in Fulton, Mo being a Thunder blowout in the 2nd half...maybe I have my years mixed up.

I'm not sure Westminster has really done enough to gain respect.

It's deja vu all over again as the Thunder blows Westminster out in the second half again:  70-41.   Nate Haynes had his way in the paint in the second half and Tyler Peters had his way wherever and whenever he wanted in the second half.  I

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton 70
Westminster 41

Tyler Peters: 25 pts, 10 rebs, 6 asts
Nathan Haynes: 12 pts, 8 rebs
Michael Berg: 11 pts, 9 rebs
Michael Kvam: 10 pts

Westmo clearly shot their bolt in the first fifteen minutes of the game. The Blue Jays D did a great job of swarming the ball early, attacking Wheaton ballhandlers with halfcourt corner traps, and they moved the ball around very well and got lots of good looks for open jumpers. But I think that last night's game took something out of the Jays. If Elmhurst had just rolled over and called it a night when Westmo was up by 24, Coach Matt Mitchell might've been able to rest his rotation players a bit for tonight. But Elmhurst came back and took Westmo to the wire, and in the second half tonight the Jays looked out-of-control tired. By that, I mean that they were still hustling and moving quickly up and down the floor, but they were missing a lot of body control. Wheaton's length really bothered Westminster's layup attempts, but a lot of those second-half layup attempts were just throw-the-ball-up-at-the-rim tries by Jays who just didn't have any physical focus left. And while I'd hate to have to guard Tyler Peters on any occasion, I'd especially hate having to guard him the night after playing another game.

Wheaton did a very nice job in the second half of waiting out Westmo's overplay defense and then making the extra pass to get the easy shot. And, as noted, the size difference really played into Wheaton's hands, too, as the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance outrebounded Westmo by 18.

Tyler Peters is the easy early favorite for CCIW MOP. He's simply playing at a different level than everybody else in the league right now.

SLIAC or not, people need to start giving Westminster some respect.  Westminster played Wheaton tough as well last year and gave Hope a run for their money in the NCAA's.

I recall that Wheaton/Westminster game in Fulton, Mo being a Thunder blowout in the 2nd half...maybe I have my years mixed up.

I'm not sure Westminster has really done enough to gain respect.

I agree. As I said yesterday, Westminster is no slouch. But if by "respect" you mean Top 25 consideration or something like that, then sorry ... no sale.

[shepherd]

SLIAC or not, people need to start giving Westminster some respect.  Westminster played Wheaton tough as well last year and gave Hope a run for their money in the NCAA's.

Yep, they are a very scrappy short team with plenty of talent.  IMHO: I think they hurt themselves going to the full court press 100% of the time.  When Wheaten used to do a few years ago you would see shooting percentage, free throws and rebound percentages fall.  Too much effort for what you get out of it.  You can play great defense without going to the full court press.  I'm glad Wheaten doesn't do it anymore.

[Titan Q]

Is Tyler Peters right handed?  Most of the time I see him scoring baskets it's on left handed finishes (including dunks) at the rim. He looks so natural finishing with his left that I assume he was a lefty.  But I swear I saw him shoot a jumpshot right handed.

Peters is an absolute stud at the PG spot for Wheaton.

I've seen enough of IWU and enough of Wheaton now to say that I think Wheaton is a better team.  If IWU gets healthy that could change, but right now I'd take the Thunder.

[Gregory Sager]

SLIAC or not, people need to start giving Westminster some respect.  Westminster played Wheaton tough as well last year and gave Hope a run for their money in the NCAA's.

Yep, they are a very scrappy short team with plenty of talent.  IMHO: I think they hurt themselves going to the full court press 100% of the time.  When Wheaten used to do a few years ago you would see shooting percentage, free throws and rebound percentages fall.  Too much effort for what you get out of it.  You can play great defense without going to the full court press.  I'm glad Wheaten doesn't do it anymore.

I don't recall seeing much, if any, full-court press from Westminster tonight. They did pressure the ballhandler (whether it was Tyler Peters or Tad Fisher) in the backcourt all night, but that's not what a full-court press is. A full-court press involves the team (i.e., two to five players) applying pressure in the backcourt, starting with defending the in-bounds pass, not just one guy guarding the ballhandler as he works his way up the floor.

Also, your blanket indictment of the full-court press in general is overstated. There have been a lot of great teams over the years that built their success upon the full-court press (Nolan Richardson's "40 Minutes of Hell" Arkansas team, Rick Pitino's '96 Kentucky team with Antoine Walker, etc., the Loyola Marymount team with Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, etc.).

[CCIWchamps]

Wheaton 70
Westminster 41

Wheaton can really defend. That was very evident in the second half of this game as they just ran away with it. I've watched almost all of their games this season, and the way that they defend will keep them in every game they play. Saturday will be a huge test for the Thunder! Looking forward to seeing how that game shakes out.

On a personal note, freshman Michael Berg (Midwest Central) had his best game of the season tonight with 11, 9, and 3. He has been improving each game and now with Teuscher out he is really gonna have an opportunity to step up his game.

Halftime score was 32-25, meaning Westminster scored just 16 in the 2nd half.  Wheaton kept Westminster's 2nd chance opportunities to a bare minimum and allowed them to deflate themselves.

[shepherd]

I don't know about anybody else but I didn't see Wheatons season going as good as it is with this young of a team.  I expected a team that would be pretty good going from really bad spurts to good spurts possibly winning one or two games against top 25. Coach Schauer has took what the previous coach did and is building upon that with his own improvements.
Another test Sat.
PS I hope all these home games in a row don't hurt the Thunder when the go back on the road.
Go Thunder!

[shepherd]

SLIAC or not, people need to start giving Westminster some respect.  Westminster played Wheaton tough as well last year and gave Hope a run for their money in the NCAA's.

Yep, they are a very scrappy short team with plenty of talent.  IMHO: I think they hurt themselves going to the full court press 100% of the time.  When Wheaten used to do a few years ago you would see shooting percentage, free throws and rebound percentages fall.  Too much effort for what you get out of it.  You can play great defense without going to the full court press.  I'm glad Wheaten doesn't do it anymore.

I don't recall seeing much, if any, full-court press from Westminster tonight. They did pressure the ballhandler (whether it was Tyler Peters or Tad Fisher) in the backcourt all night, but that's not what a full-court press is. A full-court press involves the team (i.e., two to five players) applying pressure in the backcourt, starting with defending the in-bounds pass, not just one guy guarding the ballhandler as he works his way up the floor.

Please excuse my ignorance of basketball terms. 

[izzy stradlin]

Is Tyler Peters right handed?  Most of the time I see him scoring baskets it's on left handed finishes (including dunks) at the rim. He looks so natural finishing with his left that I assume he was a lefty.  But I swear I saw him shoot a jumpshot right handed.

Peters is an absolute stud at the PG spot for Wheaton.

I've seen enough of IWU and enough of Wheaton now to say that I think Wheaton is a better team.  If IWU gets healthy that could change, but right now I'd take the Thunder.

His jump shots and free throws are right handed but dribbling and finishing inside the left hand might be better.   He definitely prefers to dunk left handed. 

[augie_superfan]

Nobody noted this today, but Augustana concluded its long-time cross-river rivalry with St. Ambrose last night with a 77-69 win.

How is it possible that we don't have any regular Augustana posters anymore?

I hope to follow closer and post after the new year.  I'm currently moving from CCIW land to ODAC land.  I never thought this young group would play as good as they have so far but the conference slate will most likely be another story.