MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[kiko]

down go the Thunder.  Probably the highest ranked team to come to the Ericksen Center since the 2003 Thunder and this time my squad pulls the upset.  Hopefully they archive the video because I wrote them off to watch football.  Hopefully North Central can put up a similar fight tomorrow in Minneapolis.

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/boxscore.aspx?id=2919&path=mbball

Maybe Wheaton played the Big Ten Northwestern?

Nah - Kent Raymond's Wheaton squad only lost to Big Ten Northwestern by 1!

If there has been a bigger upset in d3 so far this season, I'm blanking on it.

Here is a link to a recap of the aforementioned Wheaton-Northwestern (the Big Ten version) from 2006.  NU won by a 41-39 score.

http://www.nusports.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/121406aaa.html

I had remembered Kent Raymond having a chance to win it at the buzzer but it turns out it was an Andy Wiele three that bounced off the rim as time expired.

Most impressive to me was that Wheaton outrebounded their much larger D1 foe by a 36-19 margin.  Perhaps not surprisingly, a Big Ten team that was outrebounded by a two-to-one margin by a comparatively Lilliputin D3 school struggled, as the Wildcats finished the year with a 2-14 / 13-18 record.  Wheaton finished at 9-5 / 17-9.

[kiko]

And, as long as I'm peering through the wayback machine, here is a typically gracious postgame quote from Bill Harris from the same linky as above:

"I want to thank Northwestern, coach Carmody and his staff for giving us this opportunity. For us, this is a big deal. It's one thing to be rated in the Top 20 in Division III. As an athlete, you want a challenge and you want an opportunity and I think that coach Carmody and his staff were very, very gracious. I know that it's hard to get the team focused on a Division III team between Western Michigan and Stanford and then going to San Juan. I want to express my appreciation for the opportunity he gave our program and our kids and I'm thankful for that."

[hopefan]

Steve Schafer's Griffins probably did about as well as could be expected against his alma mater tonight. Fontbonne even cut the Augie lead to twelve with a minute and a half to go, which for this very young Fontbonne team is a pretty significant achievement.

I notice that Kevin Schlitter didn't play again tonight. What's his injury status, anyway? Or is it something else that's keeping him off the floor?

Apropos of today's conversation about CCIW coaches riding refs, there was a bench tech called on Augie tonight. Oh, that leather-lunged Tom Jessee. When will he learn to control his potty mouth?

The T was for a player reporting into the game whose name was not in the book.. Coach G went ballistic with a "you gotta be *****ing me" that could be heard all over the nearly empty gym.. his wrath directed at an unidentified Fontbonne rep who had come into the locker room to get names in the book..  BUT other than that there was very little confrontation by Coach G with the SLIAC officiating team... I was very impressed with Coach...he did a lot of COACHING

[Titan Q]

My biggest question about the Thunder moving forward is...

- Is Wheaton too reliant on 3-point shooting to win?  (What happens on the road against good teams, in tough environments, when the 3s aren't falling?  Like at North Central, or IWU, or Augie.  Do they have enough low post scoring to survive some of these games?)

We know that this Wheaton team is really good at King Arena -- just need to see how they perform on the road now against good teams.

To this point I made last weekend, against Northwestern last night Wheaton was just 4-23 from 3-point range...

- Peter Smith: 2-8
- Tad Fisher: 2-6
- Nate Serenius: 0-3
- Tyler Peters: 0-2
- Caleb DeMoss: 0-2
- Michael Berg: 0-1
- Joel Smith: 0-1

Now to be fair, Wheaton played this game without its two best 3-point shooters - Michael Kvam and Brayden Teuscher.  But I think there is still a fair question here around whether or not Wheaton is too reliant on the 3, and too susceptible to a bad perimeter shooting night.

I wonder if Northwestern played zone against Wheaton?

[AndOne]

Another question pertinent to a discussion of the Wheaton attack besides "I wonder if Northwestern played zone against Wheaton?" is I wonder how often Northwestern forced the Wheaton offense to go to its right?

If you analyze the Wheaton offensive patterns, you will see, unlike most teams whose first tendency is to go to their right, Wheaton often employs a Japanese philosophy and tends to like to flow to the left to begin many of its offensive sequences. By a Japanese philosophy I mean a tendency to take the obvious and reverse it. Most teams come down the floor with the PG on a right handed dribble, and his natural tendency is to then either continue to dribble right or to pass right to begin an offensive play. Wheaton is adept at going left, and seems to often favor doing so to initiate its offensive. Making them go right seems to often take them out of their comfort zone. Food for thought. 

[D-3 watcher]

Ron Rose can get into the refs at points too, in a very targetted way usuaully.  He lets them know his views, but usually gets right back to business, coaching his team and paying attention to the business of playing and players.  I know many IWU fans appreciate this greatly, after the various antics, rages at players, and complaints of a certain previous IWU coach.  I've never seen Rose get T-d up.  Perhaps we were all used to Dennie over the years and his more quiet, some would even say dignified, approach to coaching.  I'm sure he yelled and screamed and strongly motivated at points at practice, but I rarely ever saw him do this in game situations.  Demonstrated a great respect for his players, for the program.  He was a pretty quiet presence on the bench, and with the zebras, having done his preparation before the performance hours.  Don't recall Dennie getting T-d up much either, though I'm sure he did it on occasion if needed to protect or to motivate his players.  Mia Smith can also be very pointed, direct with the refs, but then right back to business, with a clear set of directions to her players during time-outs.  I admire her preparation of the team as well as her in-game skills, management of the players, the refs and the clock.  She's a great leader and also has a great sense of appreciation for the IWU fans, loyalists.  She works the bleachers before each game, shaking hands and greeting folks that attend, folks that she knows are loyal backers of the women's program at IWU. 

IWU is very lucky to have both of these coaches, IMHO.  From all I've seen, they are doing it the right way, representing the University in a very good way.  What's the common sweatshirt seen around campus -- "Victory with Honor."

IWU70

Rudolph had a red nose

[Titan Q]

IWU vs U. of Chicago video...

http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/iwu.portal#

[John Gleich]

down go the Thunder.  Probably the highest ranked team to come to the Ericksen Center since the 2003 Thunder and this time my squad pulls the upset.  Hopefully they archive the video because I wrote them off to watch football.  Hopefully North Central can put up a similar fight tomorrow in Minneapolis.

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/boxscore.aspx?id=2919&path=mbball

Maybe Wheaton played the Big Ten Northwestern?

Nah - Kent Raymond's Wheaton squad only lost to Big Ten Northwestern by 1!

If there has been a bigger upset in d3 so far this season, I'm blanking on it.

I dunno, Rhode Island College over MIT by 27 when MIT was ranked #1 in the country was a pretty big upset...

[sac]

Nah - Kent Raymond's Wheaton squad only lost to Big Ten Northwestern by 1!

If there has been a bigger upset in d3 so far this season, I'm blanking on it.

massey says it was Maine-Maritime beating Husson
http://masseyratings.com/extgms.php?s=193573&sub=11620

Given that Northwestern was ranked in massey's top 100 their win over Wheaton probably won't even register.

[Titan Q]

IWU 82
Chicago 63

* Dylan Overstreet: 18 pts, 5 reb, 5 assists
* Andrew Ziemnik: 17 pts, 8 reb, 3 assists
* Kevin Reed: 16 pts, 7 reb
* Pat Sodemann: 14 pts, 4 reb, 3 assists

IWU: 29-53 FG (.547)

Rebounds: IWU 41 Chicago 30

[Gregory Sager]

North Central wins the battle of Maple Avenue, but not by much, as the Cards escape Lisle with a 61-56 win over neighboring Benedictine. This was a three-point game with a little over half a minute to go.

Wheaton atoned for its loss to the other Billy Graham school last night with a 73-49 pasting of North Central (MN) in the Twin Cities this afternoon. Tyler Peters had 17, Tad Fisher chipped in 16. Nate Serenius contributed 13, and Caleb DeMoss added 10 for the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance. Freshman Michael Berg appears to have hit the wall for Wheaton. After a scoreless 11 minutes of action last night in which he went 0-4 from the field, he again went 0-4 today and and didn't score a point in five minutes of play.

Aurora upended Millikin in the other afternoon game, 92-77, at Thornton Gym out in the western 'burbs. T.J. Griffin returned to action for the Big Blue and contributed a dozen points. Deavis Johnson and Chase Robbins also had 12 apiece for MU, with Johnson adding 14 boards, while Mitch Wilfer led Nadelhoffer's Nursery with 15 points.

[iwu70]

Good, solid game by IWU today.  Not sure I'd call it a breakout game, but it was a big improvement over some of the TO-filled efforts previously.  Very good games by four Titans in double figures -- as indicated by Q above -- Overstreet, Zman, Reed and the newly starting Sodemann.  Sodemann now healthy, does add a very important and tough new piece to IWU's array of perimeter players and he got the start today at the 2 over Dortch.  He is smart, tough and made an immediate impact today.  Mayberger and Zimmer were in street clothes, due to injury, and Molinari, if back, must have been with the JV squad at their game elsewhere.  Heyen still sitting.  Would be nice to get the entire array of players healthy and let Ron Rose really coach with his full arsenal.

Today was a good step forward, with better offensive flow, good rebounding and fewer turnovers than in recent games.  It will all come together strongly if we can get Victor Davis fully untracked and productive.  He had a rough first half again today, but did contribute to rebounding and five points, including a key trey, in the second half.  Bryce Dolan fully in the rotation now, Nelms having dropped out.  Let's hope Mayberger and Zimmer recover by last December, early January, giving the Titans a better overall set of perimeter players. 

IWU bigs played well today, esp. Zman and Reed, with better entry passes, good FT shooting in the second half, and strong rebounding, running the floor and defending.  Anderson contributed nicely today. 

Don't think this is one of the stronger editions of the UC Maroons, but this was a good win for the Titans, now 6-2.  Two games pre-Christmas in Orlando, including Hope, then a game vs. Franklin, before the big CCIW opener January 2nd @Wheaton. 

I was encouraged by what I saw today.  Overstreet had his best game at PG of any this season.  Reed was Reed, the most consistent and clever of IWU's bigs.  Glad to see the Titans score over 78, which is the key level for many wins ahead.  Rarely do you see IWU lose if they score 78 and put in the defensive work, rebounding and intensity that has been one very consistent element of this team, last year and this year so far.  IMHO.

IWU70

[ExBBaller40]

North Central really struggled with Benedictine. Eagles came out in a 2-3 zone on makes and dead balls, which neutralized the Cardinals on the inside.

Gamble and Raridon also got in foul trouble in both halves and sat out for about 6 minutes in the second half, in which both teams didn't score for four minutes as the score stalled at 44-38.

Scary thing for North Central, is that they were unable to create much offense with those Gamble and Raridon on the bench. If CCIW teams are able to get those two in foul trouble and prevent them from getting it inside too much, Cardinals can get beaten and beaten handily. If Benedictine makes any shots, they win that game.

[Gregory Sager]

Wash U cruised to an easy win over Elmhurst in St. Louis, 82-56. Nick Sanford had 11 and 6 for the 'jays, while Bryant Ackerman added ten points off the bench.

[Titan Q]

Randy Reinhardt, aka "Scribe", coming hard with the alliteration in paragraph two..

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-wesleyan/wesleyan-men-get-nonconference-win-over-u-of-chicago/article_a8a28486-4729-11e2-8af4-0019bb2963f4.html

Titan guards Dylan Overstreet and Pat Sodemann efficiently processed the perimeter proceedings and Kevin Reed and Andrew Ziemnik purposefully patrolled the paint as the 18th-ranked Titans pulled away in the second half for an 82-63 nonconference victory over the University of Chicago.