MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

Pantagraph article on IWU/Augie game...

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-wesleyan/iwu-men-win-close-contest-over-augustana/article_298156de-5adc-11e2-9acc-001a4bcf887a.html

[veterancciwfan]

IWU/Augie observations:

1) Dylan Overstreet was a magician. 8 assists, some on sensational passes.
2) Ben Ryan is a ton. 10 points on 4-5 shooting and 2-2 from the line, led in RB with 9, and 1 TO in 31 min.
3) Refereeing was abysmal. Touch fouls called, several out of bounds calls missed, travelling and 3 second calls were missed. Overall, slight edge to Augustana.
4) Victor Davis was the VD of the 5 2012 NCAA tournament games, with the exception of 5 TOs. Very encouraging for IWU's next 11 games.
5) The IWU women need to coach the men in the art of FT shooting. It must drive Ron Rose crazy. Just one a many inexplicable examples: Musselman's FG % after 14 games is .531, his 3-point % is .556 & his FT % is .300. Yet, IWU made 14 of its last 16 FTs at Wheaton. IWU now .630 for the season.
6) Augustana has improved its offensive scheme. Crisper with more uncontested shots. They will get better as season progresses, just like Wheaton. Both are so young but gaining vital experience.
7) Best crowd of the year at Shirk but smaller contingent of Augie fans than normal. I don't even know what is normal now regarding CCIW attendance. 1500 now apparently is a huge crowd.

[kiko]

+/- standings through Wednesday, January 9
Augustana +1
Illinois Wesleyan +1
Millikin +1
Elmhurst +0
North Central +0
Carthage -1
North Park -1
Wheaton -1

Unless I'm missing something, this is slightly off.  North Central is +1 and Elmhurst is -1.  I think you might have reversed the results from the matchup at Faganel in the above calcs.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Re: veteran's #7:  that is just sad.

'Back in the day' (1966-70) we were at Fred Young Fieldhouse (Q's website no longer has a story on that - at least, that I could find); if I recall, listed capacity was 1,700, but we routinely drove the fire marshall crazy by overfilling it by 2-300!  As recently as a few years ago, we routinely finished in the top 3 in national d3 attendance (at somewhere between 2,500 and 2,800).  What the hell is happening in B'town?!

My immediate reaction to the listed attendance for the game was 'that is pathetic for a game against Augie'.  And that is the BEST for the year??!!

[und63]

I'm not surprised.

[Titan Q]

Fixed Kiko, thanks.


+/- standings through Wednesday, January 9
Augustana +1
Illinois Wesleyan +1
Millikin +1
North Central +1
Carthage -1
Elmhurst -1
North Park -1
Wheaton -1

Saturday, January 12
North Park @ Elmhurst, 4:00pm
Carthage @ Illinois Wesleyan, 7:00pm
Augustana @ North Central, 7:00pm
Millikin @ Wheaton, 7:00pm

[D-3 watcher]

Is it now safe to say, that there will not be a team go thru the conference undefeated.

[Titan Q]

Is it now safe to say, that there will not be a team go thru the conference undefeated.

Bosko mentioned this on the Carthage postgame last night.  He said something like, "There is a very good chance this will be the 40th consecutive season without an undefeated CCIW team.  There just isn't another league that can say that."

I've heard Bosko reference this stat a lot of times over the years.  It's obvious that this is one of the things about the CCIW he appreciates and respects the most.

[AndOne]

Last night in Kenosha, Carthage took a page from the North Central game plan that had found the Cardinals undefeated until last night's loss north of the boarder, namely stingy defense. Carthage held the visitors to 39.2% shooting, including 17.6% (3 of 17) from downtown. The visitors further compounded their problems by not taking very good care of the ball, and committing an unacceptable 17 TOs, several unforced. The home team also blocked 3 of the visitors shots, and stole the ball from them 8 times. Not too hard to tell which team was victorious after only a quick glance at the final stats.

Donte Logan led the Carthage attack with 16 points (7 of 9), and he also dished out 5 assists. Tyler Pierce, who appears to have made a nice comeback from last year, had 14. Mitch Thompson led the Carthage defense with 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 4 steals, and also added 10 points. While the contributions of these 3 players were evident, the spark provided by sub Kiston Lee in the last several minutes of the 1st half, and the overall steady floor game of fellow sub Marlon Senior, were very important contributory factors in the Carthage win.

Derek Raridon (7 of 13/3 of 4) led NCC with a game high 18 points, but missed the last several minutes of the game after he was sent crashing to the floor following a rebound battle under the basket. No foul as called on the play which sent the NCC head coach onto the floor as Derek, who would end the game on the bench with a large ice bag, lay under the basket. He wondered aloud how a foul could not be called on the play, which certainly seemed a reasonable request given the circumstances. However, rather than an explanation, he was given a T. Carthage hit one of the 2 FTs, and following a NCC TO, Logan scored on a layup to up the Carthage lead at 6, and effectively seal the victory. The Cardinals also lost the services of Aaron Tiknis for about the last 6 minutes of the 1st half, and the same number of minutes to start the 2nd. He went down after collecting a rebound and, after several  minutes, was helped to the locker room by 2 CC trainers. He returned to the court with his leg wrapped, but was not the same thereafter.

[bopol]

I'm not surprised by the Carthage win.  I figure they'll put up a few great performances (last night) and a few stinkers.  They have good players, but no depth.

Impressed by Donte Logan's game.  I love the idea of a Logan/Kelly backcourt next year, but the team will have to reload on the bigs.

[iwumichigander]

I'm not surprised by the Carthage win.  I figure they'll put up a few great performances (last night) and a few stinkers.  They have good players, but no depth.

Impressed by Donte Logan's game.  I love the idea of a Logan/Kelly backcourt next year, but the team will have to reload on the bigs.

I'm not all surprised by the Carthage victory in Kenosha either.  Bosko atypically is 'old school' with a short rotation.  And, I do not think there are many better coaches than Bosko figuring out how to win with what he has to work with. Carthage might 'surprise' before this conference regular season is over.

[iwumichigander]

Who would have thunk it -- "the Titans share the Conference lead at 3-0 with the Big Blue."  There it is.  And, who would have thunk it even more "Carthage over North Central."  A wild night.

And I would add to the above, who would have thought the 0-3 teams would be Elmhurst and NPU at this point?  The head to head match up next will leave one of them 0-4

[Gregory Sager]

Is it now safe to say, that there will not be a team go thru the conference undefeated.

Bosko mentioned this on the Carthage postgame last night.  He said something like, "There is a very good chance this will be the 40th consecutive season without an undefeated CCIW team.  There just isn't another league that can say that."

I've heard Bosko reference this stat a lot of times over the years.  It's obvious that this is one of the things about the CCIW he appreciates and respects the most.

Bosko's like one of the '72 Miami Dolphins. I swear that he breaks out a bottle of champagne every season when the last remaining undefeated CCIW team loses.

[Gregory Sager]

Who would have thunk it -- "the Titans share the Conference lead at 3-0 with the Big Blue."  There it is.  And, who would have thunk it even more "Carthage over North Central."  A wild night.

And I would add to the above, who would have thought the 0-3 teams would be Elmhurst and NPU at this point?  The head to head match up next will leave one of them 0-4

The only surprise lies in the fact that neither Elmhurst nor NPU was able to defeat Millikin. Given the struggles of the two programs over the past few seasons and the patchwork lineups that both had put together for this season, it was obvious back in the preseason that both teams were going to be bad by CCIW standards. I think that Elmhurst's turned out to be worse than originally suspected, but NPU was staring down the barrel of the gun right from the get-go, given how little in the way of roster talent Tom Slyder had inherited from Dylan Howard and the fact that he lost Mike Gabriel in mid-October to a knee injury.

[Gregory Sager]

I think that Millikin will be a serious longshot this weekend at King Arena. Nevertheless, for two hours on Saturday night Matt Nadelhoffer will be my favorite Wheaton alumnus on the planet. That may sound like faint praise coming from a North Park grad, but I mean it with the utmost sincerity. Once the NPU @ Elmhurst game is concluded in the afternoon, I become a full-fledged fan of the Big Blue ... not simply because Millikin is one of the biggest feel-good stories of the year in all of D3 basketball, but also because of their opponent.

Go Jimmy Millikin!