MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[bopol]

So, Pierce misses a game because of a team rule and then manages to get hurt in practice?  Dang.

And Kiston Lee (a guy that I think can at least help off the bench) breaks his finger and is out indefinitely?  Dang.

I was just on the Carthage site and realized that they have gone from pictures of Kelly and Johnson in the borders to now just Mitch Thompson. 

Bosko's right...it's been a weird year.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Final from Decatur: IWU 93, Millikin 60.  The one bright spot for the Big Blue: the bottom of their bench out-played the bottom of the Titan bench to cut a 40+ deficit to 33!

[petemcb]

Phonetic spellings of Wheaton's Tuescher I've heard so far by the Carthage broadcaster:

Toosher
Tuhsher
Tehsher
Teesher
Tysher

[Gregory Sager]

North Central 69
North Park 61

Mark Holmes: 15 pts
Zach Cassita: 13 pts, 4 asts
Ryan Hyrn: 12 pts
Reggie McGee: 10 pts
Chris Benjamin: 6 rebs
Cameron Burnett: 4 asts

Derek Raridon: 18 pts
Landon Gamble: 14 pts
Jack Burchett: 13 pts, 10 rebs
Charlie Rosenberg: 11 pts
Vince Kmiec: 12 rebs

NPU had a golden opportunity today to steal an upset on the #5 team in the nation -- and in reaching for it, the Vikings tripped over their own feet.

Picture this scenario: NCC was missing two starters today, Aaron Tiknis and Brandon Williams. Then Landon Gamble rolls his ankle at the 5:16 mark of the first half, sidelining him for the remainder of the game. Then Derek Raridon picks up his fourth foul with 15:39 to go in the game. That's four out of five NCC starters who were either not dressed at all, out with an in-game injury, or sidelined by fouls -- and three-quarters of a half still left to play. As if that wasn't enough of a situation in which the Vikings had the potential upset handed to them on a silver platter, Jack Burchett -- who played a whale of a game for North Central -- picked up his fourth foul with 13:06 to go.

So, how on Earth does North Central win the game? Simple: North Park can't rebound, and North Park can't figure out how to solve a zone.

When Raridon came back into the game at the 12:02 mark, the Cardinals went into a zone defense and stayed there for the rest of the game in an attempt to not only protect Raridon, but to protect Burchett as well (and Charlie Rosenberg, too, eventually, as he picked up his fourth foul with four minutes and change remaining). NPU, which had been down by seven (45-38) when Raridon picked up his fourth, had whittled the lead down to one (48-47) when Raridon returned with just over twelve minutes remaining. And the Vikings never managed to either take the lead nor foul out Raridon (Burchett did eventually foul out). Mark Holmes missed a dunk with 10:52 remaining that would've put NPU in the lead and, quite possibly, would've given the Vikes the mental lift that they needed to believe in themselves. Instead, NCC rebounded the ball after it flew out to halfcourt and promptly scored the next four points. NPU would cut the lead back down to two on a couple of subsequent occasions, but the Vikes' inability to solve the NCC zone spelled their doom, as the Cards opened up the narrow lead a bit in the final minute at the FT line.

The Cards alternated between a 3-2 zone and a 2-3 zone. There are any number of ways of attacking either zone. NPU's approach seemed to be to pass the ball back and forth between the point and the wing, hoping that a magic path would open up in front of either one. It was a ridiculously passive approach by the Vikings, who, although seriously undermanned this year, at least have enough sound players to be able to capitalize on the numerous holes that either a 2-3 zone or a 3-2 zone offers. Aside from one instance in which Reggie McGee ran the baseline against the 3-2 and scored an easy layup as a result, the Vikings did nothing to attack the zone. Absolutely nothing. It was agonizing to watch.

McGee actually played quite well at both ends of the floor. Brett Peterson did everything expected of him and a little bit more. Zach Cassita had a decent game. And Cameron Burnett played well before he fouled out (alas, the little man's big problem is that other players have a tendency to not see him and to trip over him). The rest of the Vikings? Mark Holmes, Chris Benjamin, and Ryan Hyrn were a collective 2-19 from downtown, with most of those misses either coming early in the shot clock before the Vikings had had a chance to try to break down the NCC defense, or else were concession shots from outside their effective range, as though the Vikings simply didn't want to try solving the zone.

North Central, for all of its aches and pains, didn't really play all that well. The fouls were a huge problem, of course, and the two backup point guards Rourke and Merrithey both played undistinguished games. Vince Kmiec was quiet all night (although he did get to a lot of long defensive rebounds). But Burchett and Rosenberg were monsters (Burchett, a 37% FT shooter on the year, went a relatively solid 7-13 from the line tonight), and Raridon did everything that a team could ask for in spite of taking another blow to his aching shoulder that had him wincing for the rest of the game. The Cardinals remained a much bigger team, injuries or not, and were able to exploit that advantage inside (they amassed a whopping 44-24 advantage on the boards over the Park), and lucked out at the other end because NPU gagged on trying to solve NCC's zone.

This was a terribly disheartening loss. It demonstrates that, no matter how shorthanded a good opponent happens to be, the Vikes still don't have what it takes to take advantage of it.

[Gregory Sager]

Titans up 21 at the half @MU in Decatur.

IWU70

Titans absolutely torching Millikin: w/ 11+ to go, they're up 75-36.

Guys, I hate to be a scold, but that's why we have an in-game updates room. It helps keep this board from scrolling too fast on game nights.

[iwu70]

Greg, chill.  Did you ever think the board scrolls fast because your posts are so long.    Don't think a few one sentence posts are causing the board to scroll too too fast on game nights.  I posted in the In-games section, properly, too. 

Really sounds like NP lost a chance to pin one on NCC.  Injuries, etc. taking their toll on NCC.  I'm sure they will be all healthy and ready come Wednesday night to face the 6-0 Titans.   I only listened to the Titans win at MU on JBC and it sure sounds like the Titans are hitting on all cylinders and that the Titan perimeter game is superb and the bigs are pounding it, having their way in the post, with almost every Titan who appears on the floor making an immediate and positive contribution.  We know MU is not the sharpest arrow in the CCIW quiver as yet, but, still, IWU sounds in a very good flow and place right now, peaking and coming together fully at the right time, in the meat of the CCIW season.

Sodemann had his best game as a Titan.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Greg, chill.  Did you ever think the board scrolls fast because your posts are so long.    Don't think a few one sentence posts are causing the board to scroll too too fast on game nights.  I posted in the In-games section, properly, too.

I used this room for its proper purpose. It's not really too much to ask you to not update live games here, is it?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Just for the record, length of posts does not affect 'scrolling' of the board.  There are 15 posts per page, regardless of length or brevity.

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage 62
Wheaton 61

Marlon Senior knocked down a four-footer with four seconds left.

Tremendous effort tonight by a Pierce-less Red Men team.

[Mr. Ypsi]

If there is a more Jekyll-and-Hyde team in d3 than Carthage, I have no clue who it would be!  They (still) have a losing record, yet they have beaten THREE Top 25 teams (Calvin, then-#1 NCC, and now Wheaton).

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana 84
Elmhurst 41

No, that's not a typo.

[Gregory Sager]

Nice article in today's Chicago Tribune about Mark Holmes.

[Titan Q]

IWU 93
Millikin 60

http://athletics.millikin.edu/boxscore.aspx?id=1011&path=mbball

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-wesleyan/sodemann-no-titan-men-overwhelm-millikin/article_32c5d548-62a8-11e2-84de-0019bb2963f4.html

* Pat Sodemann: 19 pts, 2 reb, 2 assists (6-8 FG, 4-5 3-point, 3-3 FT)
* Andrew Ziemnik: 13 pts, 3 reb
* Nick Anderson: 10 pts, 4 reb

FG: IWU 62%, MU 25%


I certainly was not surprised that the Titans won easily over Millikin today, but I was extremely impressed by the way they took care of business on the road.  Coming in, I thought this could be a game where a young team, in front of a big home crowd, hangs around for a while and makes things interesting.

IWU jumped out to a 21-point halftime lead, then pushed it to 37 with 13:41 to play.  Millikin made 13 field goals in this game...and 4 of those were in the final 3:20 of play.

It's been a process this season, but the Titans really look good right now.  Ron Rose lost 4 very important players off the Final Four team last year -  SG Jordan Zimmer, PG Eliud Gonzalez, SF John Koschnitzky, and G Stephen Rudnicki.  It took a while to, a) get some key guys healthy, and b) settle on a rotation, but right now this IWU team is every bit as good as the one that played so well in March last year.  Even from afar, watching on video stream game after game,  I can tell this group has that same chemistry and just general love of playing together that last year's team did.  It's an unselfish group of guys with an incredible amount of weapons.

Obviously a huge game Wednesday in Bloomington between the Titans and North Central.

[Titan Q]

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-wesleyan/sodemann-no-titan-men-overwhelm-millikin/article_32c5d548-62a8-11e2-84de-0019bb2963f4.html

"They play for what's written on the front of the jersey, not what's written on the back," said Millikin coach Matt Nadelhoffer.  "That's a 50-year thing.  They play together.  They are unselfish."


As an alum and fan, this group makes me proud with the way they play, just as the team last year did. 

[veterancciwfan]

Great crowd at Griswold, 1025. 6 IWU players made 1 or more 3s and Mussleman's lone 3 defied the law of gravity as it went uphilll while in the net by half a foot or 7 Titans would have connected. This team is playing very well-shooting the 3, open men cutting to the basket for easy buckets following magical interior passing, dominating the defensive boards, great help man-to-man defense, a drastic decline in TOs, and more tolerable FT shooting. IWU has had many good teams in the past with 2-4 very capable bench players, but this team has exceptional depth that goes 6 deep. Zimmer, Mayberger (who has good ball handling skills and could play the 2 as well as the 3), Anderson (who had a fabulous game), Musselman (a 3-point shooter with strong post moves), Dortch (who has contributed to many wins, especially the miracle win over Hope), and even though Oswald and Dolan have seen limited PT, they are both good enough to help if needed. As Titan Q has posted in the past, this is a team with no superstars but one with many good players. And you don't find that very often at the D3 level. This team has great chemistry and Ron Rose always has them well prepared. IWU fans are treated to a team that is fun to watch.