MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

Much like Wed night at Elmhurst, North Central had extreme difficulty getting its offense engaged last night in their conference home opener in Naperville. The Cardinals seemed to spend considerable time standing around rather than moving without the ball and, as a result of that problem combined with the Wheaton defense, wound up with a 1st half point total of only 25. Fortunately, they permitted Wheatonn to score only 28. 
Coming out of the locker room to begin the 2nd stanza, the home team found a way to invigorate its offense while continuing to turn the screws defensively, and went on to dominate the visitors and post a 14 point victory that would have been even larger had the Cardinals hit an acceptable percentage of their free throw opportunities.

This was most certainly a defensive win. Tyler Peters came into the game averaging nearly 21 ppg. He was guarded primarily by Derek Raridon, who harassed the Wheaton star into a 5 for 16 shooting performance in 36 minutes of action. Peters did have 5 assists, but also committed 4 TOs, largely negating the 5 helpers. Vince Kmiec had Brayden Teuscher and, with periodic relief from Brandon Williams, forced Teuscher into a virtually invisible 2 for 14 night. Michael Kvan was only slightly more noticeable, finishing 2 for 12. Overall, the Cardinals blanketed the Wheaton contingent so effectively that the #8 ranked visitors converted only 19 of 66 shots for an amazingly low 28.8 shooting percentage, compared to the Cardinals 51.2%

North Central was led in scoring by Vince Kmiec who tied a career high with 20, and added 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Aaron Tiknis was close behind with 19 on 7 of 12 shooting, including 3 of 4 from distance. Tiknis added 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks in a fine all-around performance. Landon Gamble had another double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. The Cards tallied assists on 20 of their 22 successful field goals.

I must say Nathan Haynes played a great game for Wheaton, with 15 points and 16 rebounds. This was an especially impressive showing considering that he missed Wednesday's game due to illness. I think Wesleyan lucked out in that regard.

[toooldtohoop]

Had a chance to spend some more quality time in the hangar last night.  Garage doors opening and cold air blasting in and bleachers bending....Great venue! 

That being said...I have seen a bunch of games live and a bunch online this year.  have not seen augie on either, but have seen Whitewater, washU, IWU, Carthage etc.  NCC is by a good margin the best team that I have seen.  I understand the good old concept of "on any given night..", but it will take a very special effort by an opponent and a really off night by the cards for the upset to occur in mho.

[AndOne]

Had a chance to spend some more quality time in the hangar last night.  Garage doors opening and cold air blasting in and bleachers bending....Great venue! 

That being said...I have seen a bunch of games live and a bunch online this year.  have not seen augie on either, but have seen Whitewater, washU, IWU, Carthage etc.  NCC is by a good margin the best team that I have seen.  I understand the good old concept of "on any given night..", but it will take a very special effort by an opponent and a really off night by the cards for the upset to occur in mho.

Many visiting fans would describe the NCC hangar in a variety of ways, the majority of which are most likely not very complementary. However, one thing the hangar does have is "character." A word that can certainly mean different things to different people.

The truth is the Cardinals can do some things better than they have. Some are obvious, some not. However, as long as they continue to play defense like they did last night, and have in some other games so far this season, they will be very hard to beat. When at the top of their game defensively, the defense is capable, on "any given night" of overcoming whatever offensive shortcomings that might be present that particular evening.

A perfect example is the game last night. NCC held the nation's #8 team (the complete team) that has a strong inside force, several very good outside shooters, and good coaching, to 55 points. Pretty good. Although, I'll still take a game where they can be as good as they're capable of being on both ends of the floor. 

[AndOne]

Step right up and raise your hand if you thought that after the 1st 2 conference games, Millikin would be 2-0 and Wheaton 0-2. Ya, right.   

[Mr. Ypsi]

Step right up and raise your hand if you thought that after the 1st 2 conference games, Millikin would be 2-0 and Wheaton 0-2. Ya, right.   

Yeah, I've already expressed that opinion on both CCIW In-game Updates and CCIW Pickems.  Wheaton will definitely rise back up, and Millikin may yet revert to previous form, but I now will predict Millikin for fifth, with at least a chance of sneaking into the conference tourney.

On the Pickems, I joined Greek Tragedy in predicting Wheaton to get off the schneid, and (inconceivable as it seems) Millikin going to 3-0.  (We'll see what happens when Millikin starts meeting the 'big boys'.)

[iwu70]

Friends, let's not get too too carried away just yet on the Big Blue bandwagon.  I said in the very early days of pre-CCIW season that MU would be greatly improved over the dismal years two times past.  However, this is still a young and re-building team, with very raw talent.   I'd think 5-6 wins in CCIW play might be more realistic, though I surely see the Big Blue contending for top four, CCIW tournament status next year and the year after, if all of the MU newbies, babies stay on board the rebuilding express in Decatur.  Some of these guys will drop away for various reasons and the Big Blue coach will have to continue to recruit like mad to keep his upward trajectory for the program moving upward.  Yes, so far so good, but still a long long way to go, from a very low base. 

Sure do like the new-found energy of the  Titans with all the key pieces healthy and back in place either in starting rotation or on the healthy, ready bench.  The game this Wednesday will be another key indicator of how much the Titans are truly getting it all together -- vs. #19 Augie Doggies.  Would be a wonderful week, CCIW start to go 3-0 and take down #8 WC and #19 AC, plus, as expected, EC.  Seems very doable. 

Go TITANS!!!

IWU70

[Titan Q]

Step right up and raise your hand if you thought that after the 1st 2 conference games, Millikin would be 2-0 and Wheaton 0-2. Ya, right.   

Yeah, I've already expressed that opinion on both CCIW In-game Updates and CCIW Pickems.  Wheaton will definitely rise back up, and Millikin may yet revert to previous form, but I now will predict Millikin for fifth, with at least a chance of sneaking into the conference tourney.

On the Pickems, I joined Greek Tragedy in predicting Wheaton to get off the schneid, and (inconceivable as it seems) Millikin going to 3-0.  (We'll see what happens when Millikin starts meeting the 'big boys'.)

I think Millikin has a very legitimate chance at 5th -- the Big Blue may very well be better than Carthage, Elmhurst, and North Park.  I think it's a stretch though to say they have "a chance of sneaking into the conference tourney."  I just don't see any possible scenario where Millikin finishes better than North Central, IWU, Wheaton, or Augustana. 

I believe we have a pretty clear top four this year.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Q, I agree (and already expressed that bball this year uncharacteristically seems much like the old fball days of the Big Four/Little Four).  I was allowing for the possibility that accumulated injuries or other unforeseen circumstances might lead one of the Big Four to falter.

[Greenguy]

Glad to see the Big Blue getting better.  I've missed the down State rivalry that pretty much disappeared with the deteriorization of  Millikin athletics in recent years. 

[D-3 watcher]

And one, I also think IWU  was lucky not to face Wheaton with a full squad, and we were very lucky that NCC beat up on Whittenberg last year in the tourney, thus allowing IWU to cake walk into the final four. IWU is just a very lucky team. Hopefully, with a little more luck, the conference tourney is attainable.

[thunder38]

Wheaton's offense has really seemed off-kilter for the last month (yes, half of which involved not playing at all). I think the subtractions of Kvam and Teuscher to injury and then the revolving door of people in and out of practice due to illness as they've prepared last week has killed the offensive flow they had early in the season. Additionally, its been a resounding thud as the rookies have crashed back to the norm as the season has worn on. That said Joel Smith had one of his better games this year on Saturday.

As was noted on the Wheaton broadcast on Saturday, I think the Wheaton offense looks dangerously like last year's Wheaton offense with Tyler Peters filling the role of Tim McCrary in the sense that the ball comes in to him on a post up 12-feet from the basket and then everything revolves around filling spots off the ball so Peters can go 1 on 1 or pull a defender. That's as far as that comparison will go. Wheaton was successful early in the season running more of a motion offense and getting movement from Peters and opening the floor so that guys like Teuscher and Peter Smith could be aggressive off the bounce to take advantage of a defender who had been chasing around screens and not sitting and waiting to see what Peters might do. That led to Peters and everyone else being more successful.

I see the need to run a higher percentage of possessions through Peters when you're missing the likes of Teuscher and Kvam in your lineup but when you're at full strength, this offense has shown that its better playing out of the motion a majority of the time and limiting their set play looks instead of depending primarily on sets.

More than anything Wheaton just needs to see the ball go in the net. They've really struggled from the arc and you can see the frustration with Kvam, P. Smith and Peters.

This week has been a stark reminder how young this Wheaton team is in contrast to last year's graybeards.

[D-3 watcher]

I and IWU understand that it would have been a different game had Nathan Haynes been able to play, but a lot of things would have been different. Without him in there, our bigs were forced to go out and guard smaller players capable of making threes. This left the lane wide open and Tyler Peters just took advantage of this. But without him, IWU got a ton of offensive rebounds early in the game, and that was a big reason they got out to the lead early. When we play again, I'm sure Nathan will be ready to show the Titans what he can do. But I have a feeling they already know, him being from Bloomington, I'm sure he works out with a few of them. He has become a force to game plan against.

[Gregory Sager]

Additionally, its been a resounding thud as the rookies have crashed back to the norm as the season has worn on.

After eight games, Michael Berg was averaging 6.8 ppg and 3.3 rpg, and his scoring totals had gone up for four straight games, peaking with a 15-point performance against Wash U. He was shooting 19-50 (.380) from the field, 8-21 (.381) from beyond the arc, and 8-10 (.800) from the foul line.

Michael Berg's last five games:

Dec. 12 vs. Cornell	19 min	2 pts, 1 reb (1-6 FG)
Dec. 14: @ Northwestern	11 min	0 pts, 1 reb (0-4 FG, 0-1 trey, 0-2 FT)
Dec. 15: @ North Central (MN)	5 min	0 pts, 1 reb (0-4 FG, 0-1 trey)
Jan. 2: vs. Illinois Wesleyan	18 min	6 pts, 3 rebs (2-4 FG, 2-2 trey, fouled out)
Jan. 5: @ North Central (IL)	5 min	0 pts, 3 rebs (0-1 FG)

[AndOne]

I and IWU understand that it would have been a different game had Nathan Haynes been able to play, but a lot of things would have been different. Without him in there, our bigs were forced to go out and guard smaller players capable of making threes. This left the lane wide open and Tyler Peters just took advantage of this. But without him, IWU got a ton of offensive rebounds early in the game, and that was a big reason they got out to the lead early. When we play again, I'm sure Nathan will be ready to show the Titans what he can do. But I have a feeling they already know, him being from Bloomington, I'm sure he works out with a few of them. He has become a force to game plan against.

I have little doubt that the Wheaton/IWU game would have been a different one if Haynes had played. And yes, indeed a lot of things would probably have been different as esteemed hoops analyst D-2 Watcher pointed out above.
Three of the things that would have been different would most certainly have been the rebound totals, especially offensive rebounds and subsequently, "points in the paint" and "2nd chance points."

I spoke with Nathan (nice guy) and his mom after the game, and congratulated him on his showing against NCC. He was very disappointed at not being able to face IWU, and certainly looks forward to facing them in Bloomington. He indicated one of primary things he missed about the game was not being able to compete against many of the IWU players he knows pretty well due to his being from the area. I got the impression that if he could just play one conference game all year, IWU would be the team he would choose to go up against.

[AndOne]

Additionally, its been a resounding thud as the rookies have crashed back to the norm as the season has worn on.

After eight games, Michael Berg was averaging 6.8 ppg and 3.3 rpg, and his scoring totals had gone up for four straight games, peaking with a 15-point performance against Wash U. He was shooting 19-50 (.380) from the field, 8-21 (.381) from beyond the arc, and 8-10 (.800) from the foul line.

Michael Berg's last five games:

Dec. 12 vs. Cornell	19 min	2 pts, 1 reb (1-6 FG)
Dec. 14: @ Northwestern	11 min	0 pts, 1 reb (0-4 FG, 0-1 trey, 0-2 FT)
Dec. 15: @ North Central (MN)	5 min	0 pts, 1 reb (0-4 FG, 0-1 trey)
Jan. 2: vs. Illinois Wesleyan	18 min	6 pts, 3 rebs (2-4 FG, 2-2 trey, fouled out)
Jan. 5: @ North Central (IL)	5 min	0 pts, 3 rebs (0-1 FG)

I was at the Wheaton/Cornell game, and of course witnessed his limited engagement against NCC. It was very quickly evident that Berg has a touch of "Johnson Syndrome" in that he really isn't fond of more than a minimal degree of physical contact. His domicile of preference on the basketball court appears to be the right corner, and he would much rather sit out there and pop threes rather than to try to drive the baseline. I see that against IWU, he hit 2 threes. Very understandable as I doubt if he wanted any part of meeting Reed, Davis, or Ziemnik inside.

Berg definitely has talent. However, that talent won't be cultivated to its fullest potential until he develops more of a taste for a little bumping and grinding in the paint. This would also allow him to collect a few more boards which, at 6'6" he should be able to get done. In his freshman campaign, he is undoubtedly still adjusting to competition at the college level where he is encountering obstacles that weren't present last year.