MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[TitansIWU]

They just did it again.

Guys, the Colonial States Athletic Conference is Cabrini's league. North Central's in a completely different time zone.

Despite that, this is a pretty good pair of broadcasters.

They did four games today.

They are probably just all confused.

[Gregory Sager]

Middlebury's Nolan Thompson is an awesome defender. He basically erased Derek Raridon from this game. But the key to NCC's season down the stretch has been guys unexpectedly stepping it up and coming big when needed. One night it's Burchett, another night it's Rourke and Merrithey. Tonight it was Vince Kmiec's turn. He could've thrown a helium balloon at the basket tonight, and it still would've found its way into the cylinder.

NCC dominated the boards, 39-30, and was simply stronger and tougher than Middlebury. For most of the second half the Panthers couldn't hit any open shots at all, and while some of that was bad luck, down the stretch it was clear that they were tired and were rushing shots that would've gone down if they had had more energy and more patience. NCC wore down the the Panthers both physically and mentally.

Congrats to the Sons of Warden on their first-ever trip to the Final Four.

[iwumichigander]

Congratulations to Cards.  Please take Amherst tomorrow !

[iwumichigander]

They just did it again.

Guys, the Colonial States Athletic Conference is Cabrini's league. North Central's in a completely different time zone.

Despite that, this is a pretty good pair of broadcasters.

broadcasters were decent.  Buffering a little disappointing for these games.  Cutting off two consecutive broadcaster before the game was over --- amateur!

[A Lover of the Game]

Congrats, NCC! Kmiec with a career high of 31 points - nice job! One more game to go before heading to the Dirty South's A.T.L, as many African Americans call it.  Keep that foot on the gas. Good luck to you tomorrow night!!

[sac]

Has NCC played anyone that plays as fast paced as Amherst?

I have them around 76 possessions per game, I don't think anyone in the CCIW was that high.

[kiko]

I'm going to have to disagree on the 'good broadcasting pair' thing.  They were easier on the ears than a couple of excitable students, but must have been broadcasting a different game than I was watching.

Mostly it was a case of forcing themes and conclusions where none were present:

- Early on they declared that Gamble was the only weapon who'd asserted himself for the Cardinals at a point in time where he had a grand total of two points.

- Later they were singing the praises of Joey Kizel and his ten points as the offensive force in the game.  Kmiec had at least an equal number of points at the time.

- Early in the second half they decided that Kmiec was the only weapon the Cards had while Gamble had crossed into double digits and was steadily building to his 19-point total.

- Later they said both teams were doing a good job of limiting the opposing offenses to just one shot at the end of a sequence where one of the teams (I forget which) had just had a three-shot possession.

Etc. etc. etc.  I don't expect them to realize that it's not Derek Raridon's style to assert himself from the get-go.  And it was lazy commentary to talk about how cold Middlebury was in the second half without noting how strong the Redbirds are nationally in both defensive scoring and defensive FG percentage, but again, they were seeing the Flatlanders for the first time.   Then there was the Colonial States Athletic Conference thing.  (First clue: Illinois was not a colony back in the day, fellas.)

All in all, I found them pleasant to listen to but empty of any sort of insight.

[iwu70]

Congrats to NCC on Final Four, 2013.  Great to see a CCIW team in the Final Four again.  Keep it going Cardinals.  Amherst presents an even bigger challenge.  No let-up, pedal to the metal, for the march to Atlanta. 

GO CCIW, go NCC.

IWU70

[Titan Q]

The CCIW has had a team in the Final 4 the last two seasons...and neither was the regular season conference champion.

[Stagg Again!!]

Congrats, NCC! Kmiec with a career high of 31 points - nice job! One more game to go before heading to the Dirty South's A.T.L, as many African Americans call it.  Keep that foot on the gas. Good luck to you tomorrow night!!

KMIEC!!! 

[Titan Q]

I'm going to have to disagree on the 'good broadcasting pair' thing.  They were easier on the ears than a couple of excitable students, but must have been broadcasting a different game than I was watching.

Mostly it was a case of forcing themes and conclusions where none were present:

- Early on they declared that Gamble was the only weapon who'd asserted himself for the Cardinals at a point in time where he had a grand total of two points.

- Later they were singing the praises of Joey Kizel and his ten points as the offensive force in the game.  Kmiec had at least an equal number of points at the time.

- Early in the second half they decided that Kmiec was the only weapon the Cards had while Gamble had crossed into double digits and was steadily building to his 19-point total.

- Later they said both teams were doing a good job of limiting the opposing offenses to just one shot at the end of a sequence where one of the teams (I forget which) had just had a three-shot possession.

Etc. etc. etc.  I don't expect them to realize that it's not Derek Raridon's style to assert himself from the get-go.  And it was lazy commentary to talk about how cold Middlebury was in the second half without noting how strong the Redbirds are nationally in both defensive scoring and defensive FG percentage, but again, they were seeing the Flatlanders for the first time.   Then there was the Colonial States Athletic Conference thing.  (First clue: Illinois was not a colony back in the day, fellas.)

All in all, I found them pleasant to listen to but empty of any sort of insight.

At one point late the color guy said that North Central didn't have that much talent on the roster...basically that they just played really hard and well together!!

[Gregory Sager]

The CCIW has had a team in the Final 4 the last two seasons...and neither was the regular season conference champion.

Only one of the last five CCIW teams to make the Final Four was a conference champion (Carthage, '02).

In fact, of the last nine times that the CCIW has had multiple teams in the tourney, on six of those occasions a team other than the conference champion has gone deeper into the tourney than the champion. And another year ('05) both representatives got knocked out in the same round (the first, alas). Only twice has the champion been the last CCIW team standing.

[kiko]

I'm going to have to disagree on the 'good broadcasting pair' thing.  They were easier on the ears than a couple of excitable students, but must have been broadcasting a different game than I was watching.

Mostly it was a case of forcing themes and conclusions where none were present:

- Early on they declared that Gamble was the only weapon who'd asserted himself for the Cardinals at a point in time where he had a grand total of two points.

- Later they were singing the praises of Joey Kizel and his ten points as the offensive force in the game.  Kmiec had at least an equal number of points at the time.

- Early in the second half they decided that Kmiec was the only weapon the Cards had while Gamble had crossed into double digits and was steadily building to his 19-point total.

- Later they said both teams were doing a good job of limiting the opposing offenses to just one shot at the end of a sequence where one of the teams (I forget which) had just had a three-shot possession.

Etc. etc. etc.  I don't expect them to realize that it's not Derek Raridon's style to assert himself from the get-go.  And it was lazy commentary to talk about how cold Middlebury was in the second half without noting how strong the Redbirds are nationally in both defensive scoring and defensive FG percentage, but again, they were seeing the Flatlanders for the first time.   Then there was the Colonial States Athletic Conference thing.  (First clue: Illinois was not a colony back in the day, fellas.)

All in all, I found them pleasant to listen to but empty of any sort of insight.

At one point late the color guy said that North Central didn't have that much talent on the roster...basically that they just played really hard and well together!!

This reminded me of another one.  First they noted that the Cards weren't a deep team, and then observed that the Birds were reaching deep into their bench with nine guys seeing action in the opening ten minutes.  Looked like pretty much the normal rotation to me.

But yes, there was a comment that was the equivalent of 'well, they don't look like much, but they sure do play hard'.

[Gregory Sager]

I'm going to have to disagree on the 'good broadcasting pair' thing.  They were easier on the ears than a couple of excitable students, but must have been broadcasting a different game than I was watching.

Mostly it was a case of forcing themes and conclusions where none were present:

- Early on they declared that Gamble was the only weapon who'd asserted himself for the Cardinals at a point in time where he had a grand total of two points.

- Later they were singing the praises of Joey Kizel and his ten points as the offensive force in the game.  Kmiec had at least an equal number of points at the time.

- Early in the second half they decided that Kmiec was the only weapon the Cards had while Gamble had crossed into double digits and was steadily building to his 19-point total.

- Later they said both teams were doing a good job of limiting the opposing offenses to just one shot at the end of a sequence where one of the teams (I forget which) had just had a three-shot possession.

Etc. etc. etc.  I don't expect them to realize that it's not Derek Raridon's style to assert himself from the get-go.  And it was lazy commentary to talk about how cold Middlebury was in the second half without noting how strong the Redbirds are nationally in both defensive scoring and defensive FG percentage, but again, they were seeing the Flatlanders for the first time.   Then there was the Colonial States Athletic Conference thing.  (First clue: Illinois was not a colony back in the day, fellas.)

All in all, I found them pleasant to listen to but empty of any sort of insight.

That's overstating it. Did you watch any of the other games?

They did tend to get swept away by whatever it was that they had just seen, and then build a conclusive statement off of it that was not supported by the overall evidence. But keep in mind that NCC vs. Midd was the fourth game of the day for that crew. On balance, they did a good job.

They did provide some decent moments of insight in the fourth game -- noting the effectiveness of NCC's flex screen up top, focusing in the first half about how Raridon was not only not shooting the ball, he wasn't even touching the ball, and discussing how effective Midd's interior passing was among its bigs.

But, yeah, as TitansIWU said, they were somewhat confused by the end of their fourth game of the day. I watched all four games, and my statement that they're a decent pair reflects the balance of the day's work.

At one point late the color guy said that North Central didn't have that much talent on the roster...basically that they just played really hard and well together!!

I must've missed that comment.

This reminded me of another one.  First they noted that the Cards weren't a deep team, and then observed that the Birds were reaching deep into their bench with nine guys seeing action in the opening ten minutes.  Looked like pretty much the normal rotation to me.

But yes, there was a comment that was the equivalent of 'well, they don't look like much, but they sure do play hard'.

I didn't understand where they were going with their comments about NCC's depth. But you and other Cards fans may be too close to this. A telling comment about North Central came on the Hoopsville pregame when Chicago head coach Mike McGrath said about the Cards, "They don't really pass the eye test. But they can find any number of ways to beat you."

Quite honestly, Amherst is a much flashier team that produces more oohs and aahs. But I'm not sure that the Lord Jeffs are going to prevail tomorrow night, because I think Mike McGrath hit it on the nose.

[markerickson]

Has Coach Raridon now taken two different schools to the D3 Final Four?  Bosko has.  How unique is that?