MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[izzy stradlin]

Players not named Teuscher, Peters or Haynes went 1-24 from the field. Mike Kvam is shooting 33% overall this year after another 0-7.  I think Wheaton has some young guards on the bench that can give something more with those minutes than a purely long-range set-shooter.

Here is the amazing stat for me -- Wheaton bench points = 0.

Only 4 players put the ball in the basket today for the Thunder.

http://www.calvin.edu/scoreboard/

Wheaton's bench rotation of Kvam, Berg, Caleb DeMoss, and Fisher looked really bad today.  Wheaton has three guys who are allowed to create shots and everyone else is relegated to perimeter jump shots in the motion offense.  Even 3 or their 6-6 forwards in Peter Smith, Michael Berg and Joel Smith are always out at the three point line for perimeter jump shots.  I even see Nate Haynes getting the ball out on the perimeter in the offense which make no sense at all to me.   

Wheaton's offense right now ensures that when double teams come for guys like Peters and Teuscher, the open look is almost always long-range.  On nights when those shots don't go down, the Thunder are in trouble.

[izzy stradlin]

Final from Grand Rapids:

Calvin 78
Wheaton 51


Postgame ponderings:

1) Is Wheaton too perimeter-oriented?

You could give Calvin just a wee bit of credit.    Not to mention they had a serious height advantage.
Front line 6'7", 6'8", and 6'9" backed up by 6'6", and another 6'9".   Just like Calvin had no answer for Carthage's quickness last night, Wheaton had no answer for Calvin's size.  FWIW the 27 point margin was the largest spread Calvin has had over Wheaton.

I think he is asking this question in the setting of watching Wheaton several times, not just today.   Wheaton got a lot of fairly open threes in their offense today.

No doubt Calvin played very well and shot the lights out.

[iwu70]

Really sorry to hear that Rossi has left the IWU program, due to the injuries.  He was a terrific talent, both offensively and defensively.  I agree the Titans have plenty of talent, will have a good, perhaps even special season, but losing Rossi is pretty big, too. 

GO TITANS!   Should be a great early season D3 match-up, test vs. Wash U in a few hours.

IWU'70

[toooldtohoop]

Really sorry to hear that Rossi has left the IWU program, due to the injuries.  He was a terrific talent, both offensively and defensively.  I agree the Titans have plenty of talent, will have a good, perhaps even special season, but losing Rossi is pretty big, too. 

GO TITANS!   Should be a great early season D3 match-up, test vs. Wash U in a few hours.

IWU'70

sorry to hear about Rossi.  I was looking forward to seeing him play.

Very difficult to watch the Thunder today.  Hats off to Calvin.  They were very impressive.

Wheaton will need to get some things figured out if they hope to compete in the CCIW.

[Titan Q]

I think he is asking this question in the setting of watching Wheaton several times, not just today.   Wheaton got a lot of fairly open threes in their offense today.

Yes, I wasn't trying to take anything away from Calvin.  I was simply making some observations about Wheaton -- from what I've seen this year so far and going back to last season.

[Titan Q]

UW-Stout 74
#4 UW-Whitewater 69

[Titan Q]

#5 IWU 98
#8 Wash U 73


The Titans really looked good tonight.

[Mr. Ypsi]

#5 IWU 98
#8 Wash U 73


The Titans really looked good tonight.

With both #1 Amherst and #4 UWW losing today, that will soon be either #3 or #4 IWU!

Five Titans between 10-15 points (which still leaves plenty for the others) - VERY balanced scoring for the Titans.  There is NO one player for opponents to focus on.

[Titan Q]

IWU/Wash U boxscore - http://www.iwusports.com/boxscore.aspx?id=2449&path=

* Dylan Overstreet: 15 pts, 3 reb, 5 assists
* Pat Sodemann: 14 pts
* Michael Mayberger: 13 pts, 4 reb
* Nick Anderson: 12 pts, 6 reb
* Eric Dortch: 10 pts, 7 reb

Rebounds: IWU 42 Wash U 30

FG: IWU 54.4%, Wash U 37.5%

IWU bench points = 43


Dylan Overstreet makes IWU go -- having him back is really significant.  He is an outstanding PG.

[markerickson]

NPU looked completely lost tonight against a 4-1 Albion team.  The so-called point guards failed miserably.  Weaver could have dominated this game, but he was on the bench too much, including the first 10 minutes of the first half.  NPU missed too many free throws and relied upon four guys hanging around the trey stripe, which is not a good, strategic offense.  Unfortunately, I believe NPU will go winless during conference play.  Pathetic.   

[Gregory Sager]

Albion 68
North Park 58

Juwan Henry: 21 pts
Garett Gatz: 11 pts
Jay'Quan Lee: 10 pts, 6:1 a:to, 3 stls
Aaron Weaver: 7 rebs, 4 blks

The Vikings couldn't throw a ball into Lake Michigan today if they were standing at the end of Navy Pier. The shooting numbers for NPU were truly ugly: 20-57 (35%) from the field, 5-26 (19%) from downtown, and 13-25 (52%) from the line. Some of that was Albion; in tune with the Mike Turner and Jody May tradition, this Britons team knows how to ugly up a game defensively and take you out of your rhythm. But a lot of the misses from three-point range were wide-open looks -- and Albion certainly wasn't putting up much resistance on the FT shots.

Still, the young Vikes did show a lot of moxie. Albion looked at several points as though it'd break the game wide open, but it never happened. A lot of that had to do with Juwan Henry, who simply has a knack for finding a way to get to the rim and finish, all 5'10 of him, when the Vikings absolutely need a bucket. He's a pretty impressive talent. His fellow freshman guard, Jay'Quan Lee, had a very nice day as well. His shooting was off, as it was for just about everybody else wearing home whites, but his floor game was impeccable. I can certainly live with the idea of these guys being NPU's starting backcourt for the next four years.

The undersized Vikes hung tough on the boards, losing the rebounding battle by only five -- which is a victory for North Park -- and compensating for the rebounding imbalance by turning the ball over ten fewer times than did the Britons. NPU can definitely make its quickness work for it on the defensive end, although the gambling did lead to some reverse cuts for easy baskets by Albion. But, man, that size disparity ... I shudder to think about what's going to happen come January and February when the Vikings have to face CCIW teams without an inside game.

Tough loss, but I can't say that the Vikes didn't fight hard. And it looks as though today was MIAA Beats CCIW Day, so North Park was just caught up in the wave, I guess.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU looked completely lost tonight against a 4-1 Albion team.  The so-called point guards failed miserably.

What game were you watching, Mark? Jay'Quan Lee was very solid today: six assists, only one turnover -- the first thing you always look at with a PG is a:to ratio -- and three steals. He didn't shoot well, but none of the Vikings did.

Also, Albion was 4-2 after losing last night to Trinity (TX) ... but that didn't make the game program, because it was printed before last night's game finished.

  Weaver could have dominated this game, but he was on the bench too much, including the first 10 minutes of the first half.

Weaver and Henry sat out the start of the game for disciplinary reasons. They were both late in getting to the locker room this afternoon. Tom Slyder made the right call in sitting them down for the first part of the game.

NPU missed too many free throws and relied upon four guys hanging around the trey stripe, which is not a good, strategic offense.

Um, Mark, four-out-one-in is a pretty standard motion set, especially for smaller teams. Get used to it. North Park does not have a post-up game this year. All you're going to see is four-out-one-in from the Vikings. It's the only formula this undersized roster is capable of employing successfully.

Unfortunately, I believe NPU will go winless during conference play.  Pathetic.

I'm not predicting anything that drastic. But, alas, unless something dramatic happens, the CCIW record will be very ugly again for the Park -- and 0-14 is certainly within the realm of possibility. A very young team and a lack of size is usually a deadly combination in CCIW play.

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst plays Trine tomorrow at Faganel. Given the dramatically alternating results we've seen between the CCIW and the MIAA over the past two days, I guess that this means a Bluejays win over the Thunder tomorrow is in the cards.

[Titan Q]

Pantagraph article on IWU/Wash U -- http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/depth-big-surge-keys-no-iwu-in-rout-of-washington/article_6582335e-5fb5-11e3-96f4-0019bb2963f4.html

Ron Rose WJBC postgame -- http://www.stationcaster.com/player_skinned.php?s=711&c=3911&f=2187003

[Mr. Ypsi]

I was embarassed by the number of empty seats at the Shirk.  This is a major rivalry and a battle of top ten teams, and they can barely fill half the arena??  Forty five years ago we (to the chagrin of the fire marshall) filled Fred Young Fieldhouse with more than that for nearly every game.  Come on townies and students - what the heck is wrong with you!