MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[havej]

Have seen both teams live - both can be prone to longer possessions, so executing against the clock will be crucial.

[kiko]

NCC gives up 58 ppg on average. UWW gives up 60. I tend to agree with havej that neither team's gonna make it to 71.

If one of them does I suspect it will be a product of either (1) a parade of free throws in the waning minutes, or (2) overtime -- both of which are anomalies rather than products of the basic style of play for these two teams.

[WUPHF]

Fixed it for you.

Thanks for the correction.  Incidentally, Zach Kelly is the interim director of Jewish outreach for the Obama administration.  I wonder if he gets to shoot around with the President and whether or not he lets him win.

[USee]

Wash U will send out a lineup to battle the Titans including the following:

Chris "Webber" Klimek
Alan "Houston" Aboona
Matt "Bonner" Palucki
Robert "Horry" Burnett (aka, Big shot Bob)
Tim "Hardaway-George" Cooney

and off the pine:
Nick "Collison" Burt (and Ernie)
Ben "Gordon" Hoener
Kevin "Durant" Bischoff

*thx magicman

[magicman]

UWW Washinton U will send out a lineup to battle the Titans including the following:

Chris "Webber" Klimek
Alan "Houston" Aboona
Matt "Bonner" Palucki
Robert "Horry" Burnett (aka, Big shot Bob)
Tim "Hardaway-George" Cooney

and off the pine:
Nick "Collison" Burt (and Ernie)
Ben "Gordon" Hoener
Kevin "Durant" Bischoff

I corrected it for you.

[iwu70]

Magicman, you are outdoing yourself with these additional and creative monikers.

I also doubt the NCC-WW game goes much beyond 70 points.  WC needs to defend like mad and shoot lights out from threeland.

Always for the Titans, if they get to 78, almost always a good night, winning with effective, efficient offense, a good shooting percentage and enough from treyville.  Let's hope Zimmer's back is behaving and Sodemann finds more of his regular season stroke.  I have little doubt about Overstreet and the Titan bigs playing well.  Hope to see more of the late season positive surge by Victor Davis, especially on the glass.  Wouldn't be surprised to see some great contributions off the bench, esp. from Zimmer and Mayberger, as Mayberger is from the St. Louis area and basically grew up playing in that gym.  Need all the pieces functional well to beat Wash U, an excellent team @home. 

GO TITANS -- bigtime, showtime. 

Good luck to NCC and WC as well. Would love to see another 3-0 CCIW weekend.

IWU70

[AndOne]

Agree that its highly likely that neither team will get to 71. Just sayin' if one does they will be the winner.

I know one area in which UWW will have an overwhelming advantage---hair!

[WUPHF]

Wouldn't be surprised to see some great contributions off the bench, esp. from Zimmer and Mayberger, as Mayberger is from the St. Louis area and basically grew up playing in that gym. 

You do read the Pantagraph after all.    The Patagraph story makes it sound as though Michael Mayberger grew up watching Washington University rather than playing at the Field House. 

The Mayberger family also has an interest in a Saturday evening Class 5 high school basketball quarterfinals game with a trip to the Final Four on the line.  That game is scheduled for 7:45 at a gym that is easily 30 minutes away from the WUSTL campus.  Conundrum!

[iwu70]

Until the paywall appears and cuts me off.  I read fast. 

Yes, the Mayberger family may have to send one parent one place, the other another. 

IWU should have a good crack at Wash U.  Always a good game, a good match-up this time of year.

Sorry about your Wash U women . . . they just ran into the DePauw jugernaut!   No stopping DP this year, it would appear.  Always next year . . . and your women will be very very good for some years to come.   A good season, Sweet Sixteen, with alot to build on.

IWU70

[magicman]

Magicman, you are outdoing yourself with these additional and creative monikers.

I also doubt the NCC-WW game goes much beyond 70 points.  WC needs to defend like mad and shoot lights out from threeland.

Always for the Titans, if they get to 78, almost always a good night, winning with effective, efficient offense, a good shooting percentage and enough from treyville.  Let's hope Zimmer's back is behaving and Sodemann finds more of his regular season stroke.  I have little doubt about Overstreet and the Titan bigs playing well.  Hope to see more of the late season positive surge by Victor Davis, especially on the glass.  Wouldn't be surprised to see some great contributions off the bench, esp. from Zimmer and Mayberger, as Mayberger is from the St. Louis area and basically grew up playing in that gym.  Need all the pieces functional well to beat Wash U, an excellent team @home. 

GO TITANS -- bigtime, showtime. 

Good luck to NCC and WC as well. Would love to see another 3-0 CCIW weekend.

IWU70

iwu70,

You are giving credit for the creative monikers to the wrong guy. USee is the one that's been playing the name game. AndOne had his North Central nicknames in there as well.

I just helped out USee when he posted his latest list and he had UWW instead of Wash U as the team. 

[Titan Q]

#10 Illinois Wesleyan @ #17 Washington U (7:00pm)...

Illinois Wesleyan (22-5, 13-1 CCIW)
G - Dylan Overstreet, 6-3/180 So   (9.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 4.4 apg, 1.7 A/TO )
G - Pat Sodemann, 6-3/190 So   (11.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.5 apg)
F - Andrew Ziemnik, 6-4/230 Jr   (11.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg)
F - Victor Davis, 6-5/235 Jr   (8.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
F - Kevin Reed, 6-6/230 Sr   (9.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 2.7 apg)

G - Brady Zimmer, 6-4/180 Jr   (11.6 ppg, 2.2 rpg)
F - Mike Mayberger, 6-6/220 Jr   (6.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg)
F - Eric Dortch, 6-3/210 Jr   (3.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg)
C - Nick Anderson, 6-9/220 Jr   (3.2 ppg, 2. 6 rpg)
G - Bryce Dolan, 6-0/155 Fr   (3.0 ppg)

Washington U. (21-5, 10-4 UAA)
G - Alan Aboona, 6-1/180 Jr   (12.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 4.7 apg, 1.7 A/TO)
G - Tim Cooney, 6-3/200 Jr   (5.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.8 apg)
F - Matt Palucki, 6-6/205 So   (9.9 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.2 apg)
F - Chris Klimek, 6-5/190 Jr   (15.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg)
C - Robert Burnett, 6-7/225 Sr   (9.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg)

G - Ben Hoener, 6-0/150 Sr   (9.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.3 apg)
F - Nick Burt, 6-5/205 So   (6.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg)
G - Kevin Bischoff, 6-0/175 Jr   (4.0 ppg, 1.3 rpg)


Pantagraph: http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-wesleyan/familiar-foes-iwu-to-take-on-wash-u-in-second/article_e1e81e96-8846-11e2-b85e-001a4bcf887a.html

Wash U notes: http://bearsports.wustl.edu/Sports/BasketballMen/Documents/NCAA2.pdf

IWU Game Notes: http://bearsports.wustl.edu/Sports/BasketballMen/Documents/IllinoisWesleyan.pdf

Video: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wustl.portal#

Live stats: http://bearsports-livestats.wustl.edu/Basketball/xlive.htm

WJBC Radio: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wjbc.portal#

Massey ratings: IWU #5, Wash U #12
http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=cb&yr=2013&sub=11620

[iwu70]

Ahhh, Magicman, you are quite right.  Kudos to USee on all the creative monikers.  Shall we say "Oh-say-can-USee" . . .

The games be with us now . . . a big Saturday full of hoops, all over the country. 

The women are down to 8, soon to their Final Four.  DePauw looks pretty unstoppable. 

IWU70

[Titan Q]

IWU looks for NCAA Division III Sweet 16 appearance #16 tonight.  To achieve that, and to advance in the tournament, the Titans will have to keep a streak of NCAA tournament success vs Wash U alive...

Illinois Wesleyan vs Washington U, Division III tournament
1995 - IWU 90 Wash U 65 (round 2 @ IWU)
1996 - IWU 73 Wash U 61 (round 4 @ Roanoke College)
2003 - IWU 85 Wash U 73 (round 2 @ Wash U)
2010 - IWU 75 Wash U 70 (round 2 @ Wash U)

In 2003, Wash U was rated #2 by D3hoops.com at the time of the game (IWU #13), and in 2010 the two-time defending national champ Bears were #1 (IWU was not ranked).  In both of these years, Wash U defeated IWU in the non-conference.  IWU was a heavy underdog in the 2003 and 2010 games - I don't see that really being the case tonight.

This year, these two teams played on Dec 1, in a game the Bears dominated - http://bearsports.wustl.edu/Stats/TeamStats/basketball-mens/2012-2013/game7.htm.  I believe the IWU team that plays at Wash U this coming Saturday will be a very different team, for a few reasons:

1) IWU played without starting SG Pat Sodemann (11.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.5 apg) and starting PF Victor Davis (8.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg).  Both are very important players for the Titans.

2) IWU PG Dylan Overstreet couldn't have made the 1st Team all-Noonball team back on December 1.  After this game in the non-conference, and into the CCIW season, is when Overstreet really settled into the PG roll....eventually being named to the 1st Team all-CCIW.  He's just a different player than he was in early-December.

3) Andrew Ziemnik, IWU's other 1st Team all-CCIW player, is another guy who has developed quite a bit since then.  At the time, he was just a few games into learning how to play the SF position (after playing PF exclusively last year).


I'm sure Wash U has developed quite a bit as a team, and individually, since then too.  This should be another classic game between the Titans and Bears.  A few thoughts on these teams...

* Both teams are really "big" in the frontcourt by D3 standards, but I'd say it's big in different ways.  The Bears are a very tall and skilled team at the 3/4/5 spots (they look and play just like a Dennie Bridges IWU team), while IWU is more of a physical and bruising team.  That's not to say Wash U isn't physical and IWU isn't skilled though.

* Wash U and IWU both use their size to dominate the boards - the Bears are +12 in rebounding per game and IWU +10.  These are two of the elite rebounding teams in Division III.  Wash U #2 and IWU #6 nationally in rebound margin as of the last stats update - http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d3/current/team/151.

* Both teams have a really good combo guard as a 6th man:
    -Brady Zimmer (IWU), 6-4 Jr - 11.6 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.0 apg, 60-99 FG (.606), 22-36 3-point (.611), 66-80 FT (.825)
    -Ben Hoener (Wash U), 6-0 Sr - 9.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.3 apg, 81-172 FG (.506), 27-63 3-point (.429), 53-66 FT (.803)

* IWU is a much deeper team in the frontcourt (the 3/4/5 spots).  Off the bench the Titans have 6-3 F Eric Dortch, 6-6 F Mike Mayberger, 6-9 C Nick Anderson, and 6-8 C Parker Musselman.   Wash U really just has 6-5 F Nick Burt...Mark Edwards may need to throw a couple more bodies into the rotation in this one.


I believe this is a straight-up "pick 'em."  Two very even teams that know each other extremely well (quite frankly, when IWU and Wash U play it almost has a conference game feel about it).  It's just going to come down to who plays better.  Not the most hard-hitting of analysis, I know, but I'm not sure it's anymore complicated than that.

Flying from Omaha to St. Louis early this afternoon.  Excited to enjoy the rare treat of getting to see the Titans play in person.

[iwu70]

Thanks Q, looks like two mighty fine, even Final Four quality teams, going at it in round two.  Same with NCC vs. WW.  The bracket of death truly reaching its intensity.  Wheaton has a tough mountain to climb @Tommies. 

Keys to the game for the Titans, seem to me to be:  1) making some treys, stretching the floor and allowing the Titan bigs room to be effective, 2) win or have a stand-off on the rebounding battle, as both teams are superb off the glass, 3) disrupt, make it hard on Alan Aboona to operate and score -- wouldn't be too surprised to see Dortch on him at some points,  4 ) win the bench-points battle, 5) as always, take care of the ball, win the TO battle and 5) if at all possible, shoot a good percentage and get to 78.   If a close game, which I expect it to be, make FTs down the stretch, surely both teams will need to do this in any close game, OT game.  Both teams are probably drilling/memorizng who is the best guy to foul in key, end-of-game situations.

Should be a great game.

GO TITANS!!!

IWU70 

[iwu70]

Lucky you, Q. Have a great time under the Arch.  Wish I could be there.  I'll be watching Sunday morning HK time.

Good luck, safe travels to all the Titan fans heading for Wash U.

IWU70