MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[havej]

App Rocks - as an example of the teams you listed, saw the U of I vs UIC game last Saturday.  UIC starts a Big Ten transfer at the point in Kelsey Barlow (Purdue), who's 6'5" and a big time defender.  Don't see TT gettin much time there. 

Eastern starts Reggie Smith at the point who's an absolute jet, and previously played at Marquette and UNLV.  Again don't see TT playin' much there either.

Don't know anything about Northern except their starting back court next year will be a transfer from K State and Purdue.

You may have a point about UWM - not in my hood.

[Titan Q]

IWU's forward combo of Ziemnik and Davis would be the difference. They are both much more physically imposing than anyone on UWSP, and I think could take the ball inside with relative ease. Should their interior games be somehow thwarted, they are good enough shooters to do considerable damage from outside.

This is where I also see IWU presenting big problems for UWSP.  I'm just not sure how the Pointers could deal with Ziemnik and Davis, physically, based on their personnel at the forward spots.

I'd love to see the IWU/UW-Stevens Point matchup - it'd be a great X's and O's matchup.

[sac]

Salem better hope USP makes it to the Final 4 because their fans obviously travel well. Same for IWU. That's a logical reason to put them in opposite brackets if both make the tournament, but that's not going to happen.

Traveling fan base numbers are not part of the D3 selection/seeding/bracketing process...nor should they be.  Not sure if you are serious about that Lanny...but that suggestion is kind of silly.

I'm confident UW-Stevens Point will have ridiculously good numbers (in-region winning %, SOS, results vs regionally ranked) at the time of the selection/seeding process.  If IWU does as well, there are plenty of ways to split IWU and UWSP up.  It's premature to suggest that the selection committee would not do this.  The problem is that IWU lost to Loras, and now heads into CCIW play where I believe the Titans will probably face better competition than UWSP will in the WIAC this year. 

IWU has every opportunity to get split up from Stevens Point...but that will take, say, 12-2 in the CCIW and 2-0 in the conference tournament.  Any more losses than that and the Titans will most likely find themselves in the same quadrant as the Pointers.  The committee has split Amherst and Williams up before...but that is because both had the numbers.  IWU will have to make the same case.

And splitting IWU from UWSP would likely put them in the same quadrant as Wooster.

[URockets]

How about Anderson, Marietti, Heyen and Overstreet?  Are their health issues "behind them?"  Can we expect full-out play from Overstreet and Anderson, some new contributions from Marietti backing up the 5 and Heyen getting any minutes?  An update please.

Good luck to the Titans vs. Franklin @The Shirk -- then the CCIW race opens @ EC -- and four straight road games for the Titans.  IWU vs. AC should be a real good one @AC.  An early test for the Titan road warriors at Carver.

Happy New Year -- already New Year's eve here in Asia.

IWU70

Brandon Heyen has been cleared to play 100 percent from his leg stress fracture.  He has been working to get back in condition over the holiday break.

[kiko]

Much discussion on the last couple of pages regarding to the outcome of a possible matchup of UWSP, and IWU.
From my observations of UWSP last night and knowledge of IWU, I'd say:

* Tyler Tillema is the real deal. While not as physically strong as Wheaton's Tyler Peters, Tillema is better at creating off the dribble and more adept at finishing in traffic rather than just drawing a foul on the drive. I think Peters is a better passer and defender, and quite possibly a better FT shooter. Both are great outside shooters, with Peters having very slightly more range.
* If Trevor Hass is the 2nd best player on UWSP, I'd like to see a better 2nd best player anywhere in D3.
* While UWSP is undefeated, I'm not close to sure they are the nation's #1 team. There is a definite drop off between their 2nd and 3rd best players. They lack strength on the interior both offensively and defensively. Last night, Tillema was Point's best interior offensive threat. Additionally, they would have gone down to defeat last night had NCC been able to make a layup or had they taken care of the ball better. The Cardinals missed 7, yes 7 layups, and turned the ball over 16 times. They out rebounded the visitors by 11.
* In head to head competition I think Anderson and Heuer would effectively cancel each other. IWU's forward combo of Ziemnik and Davis would be the difference. They are both much more physically imposing than anyone on UWSP, and I think could take the ball inside with relative ease. Should their interior games be somehow thwarted, they are good enough shooters to do considerable damage from outside. Also, as a team, IWU would dominate on the boards, affording themselves many 2nd chance points. Should any IWU defender be able to limit Tellema to his average or less, it would be lights out for sure. JMHO.

Like Q, I also agree with this.  I'm by no means a Titan homer, but the Wezzies can beat you seven ways to Sunday.  I was decidedly unimpressed by Point's inside game yesterday.  One reason (beyond Point's travel itinerary) that I think the Sons of Warden made it as much of a game as they did is that their strength starts with the damage Landon Gamble can do inside, and that is where Point is most vulnerable.  Jack Burchett also took advantage of this and posted some nice numbers relative to his typical output.

The Titans will bring a similar strength.  I'd take Gamble over Victor Davis or Ziemnik (and yes, my roots are showing), but I take the combination of those two over any pair the Cards have on offer.  They will give the Pointers some fits unless what we saw yesterday was an outlier.  And IWU will bring a much, much stronger perimeter game than North Central brought.  The Pointers' big two will still do their thing coz they're the real deal, but the perimeter is by no means a liability for the Titans.

---

All this talk about who is in which half of the draw is waaaaay premature.  Both of these teams have to navigate some pretty choppy waters in their respective conferences before they can lay claim to anything more than being slotted appropriately for their seed and their geography.

[kiko]

Final from Bill Warden Court at Gregory Arena inside Merner Fieldhouse on the campus of North Central College in Naperville:

I think you forgot to provide directional information--isn't it part of the Athletic Complex on the Southwest corner of the North Central Campus in Naperville, IL ?   

More completely, its Bill Warden Court at Gregory Arena in Merner Fieldhouse at the bottom of the Brainard Street hill at 450 S. Brainard St., on the campus of North Central College in Naperville. Or----You could just say "The Hangar." 

I'm gonna keep calling it Bill Warden Court until the poobahs-that-be get around to actually making this official.

[Pat Coleman]

I have watched a lot of UW-SP's last 3 games, and this Tyler Tillema kid is just amazing.  He's not only dominant from the guard spot throughout the game, but he seems to always make the big shot or big play down the stretch when needed.  I can't imagine there is a better player in Division III, all things considered, than Tyler Tillema.

Tillema was granted a medical redshirt for last season, when he got hurt.  He played in 9 games, which I would have guessed (without looking the rule up) was a game or two more than allowable for a medical redshirt.  Anyone know what the cutoff # is?  He had to have been right at.

If you haven't watched Stevens Point, do so sometime soon.  He's worth the time.

http://athletics.uwsp.edu/roster.aspx?rp_id=4348&path=mbball

The cutoff is 9...like you said, he played 9....so he was exactly at the cutoff.

A third of the schedule, rounded up. So 9 of 25 basketball games, four of 10 football games, etc.

[frodotwo]

I don't see anyone, IWU or others, beating them in the NCAA tourney unless Tillema is injured.

Stevens Point went to OT against Whitman.  Whitman lost to Chicago - the Maroons were pounded by IWU, Wheaton, and Augustana.  Whitman lost to Wash U - Wash U was pounded by IWU.  Whitman also lost to SUNY-Old Westbury.

Stevens Point beat North Central by a basket.  NCC is good, and dangerous, but not great.  The Cardinals have lost to DePauw, Aurora, and Buffalo State.

The Pointers are a tremendous basketball team, but I don't think it's fair to make them out to be an unbeatable type team like that Kalsow, Bennett group was.  Are they the favorite to win the national championship? Absolutely.

And IWU lost to Loras who lost to Millikin who lost to Principia who had lost 57 straight games. All of which goes to prove that on any given night.............

Having watched a few IWU games via the net, I think Point has an advantage in the backcourt, but not enough to offset the advantage the IWU front court has.

[iwu70]

Thanks to all the chatsters for their comments, assessments of Point vs. IWU.  Very useful and interesting.

IWU has Franklin at home tonight, the last game of the pre-CCIW phase.  10-1 would be nice.

Glad to hear Heyen is cleared, can start to get back into full game shape, play some JV time.  He's been through a lot with the injuries, so hope he can now play full-out and chase his dream of PT in the future.  Let's also hope Marietti gets fully healthy too, and can contribute some good, solid back-up minutes at the 5 during the CCIW season.  Delighted to hear Overstreet and Anderson are basically fully healthy and back to starting. 

Wonder how it would be having Eric Dortch guard Tillema?  Or doubling him with Dortch and Nelms?    Call me crazy.  Sounds like he's the kind of player where you basically have to try to get the ball, keep the ball out of his hands.

Surely some very interesting games upcoming -- in CCIW and beyond.  Hope this is a year CCIW gets three teams in the Dance.  8 weeks of great competition.

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

Thanks to all the chatsters for their comments, assessments of Point vs. IWU.  Very useful and interesting.

IWU has Franklin at home tonight, the last game of the pre-CCIW phase.  10-1 would be nice.

Glad to hear Heyen is cleared, can start to get back into full game shape, play some JV time.  He's been through a lot with the injuries, so hope he can now play full-out and chase his dream of PT in the future.  Let's also hope Marietti gets fully healthy too, and can contribute some good, solid back-up minutes at the 5 during the CCIW season.  Delighted to hear Overstreet and Anderson are basically fully healthy and back to starting. 

Wonder how it would be having Eric Dortch guard Tillema?  Or doubling him with Dortch and Nelms?    Call me crazy.  Sounds like he's the kind of player where you basically have to try to get the ball, keep the ball out of his hands.

Surely some very interesting games upcoming -- in CCIW and beyond.  Hope this is a year CCIW gets three teams in the Dance.  8 weeks of great competition.

IWU70

That scenario immediately crossed my mind when the UWSP/IWU subject came up!  I think Dortch could shut him down as well as anyone in D3, but Eric also has a tendency to pick up fouls - could he shut him down for more than 15 minutes?

Still, 15 minutes of little or no Tillema probably would equal a Titan victory.   (When I was in Holland for the first round of the playoffs in 2012, once I found that Tillema would definitely not play, I knew we were good for the second round - and that's when he was only a sophomore!)  That guy can ball!!  (National POY would not surprise me in the least.)

[Pat Coleman]

He was a junior in 2012.

Tillema missed 23 (of the 45) minutes vs. Whitman and still scored 25 points.

[nescac1]

It's going to be quite a race for national POY.  I think it will come down to a three-way tossup between Tillema, Aaron Walton-Moss, and Aaron Toomey, who has improved tremendously on his POY (in some circles) performance from last year and is posting tremendous stats so far while doing everything for an Amherst team that is not as loaded across the board as last year: 22-4-6, 56/49/86, plus 3 steals per game.  Tillema and Toomey are  posting basically equivalent stat lines ... Tillema is at 24-5-4, shooting 61/48/76, plus 1 steal and 1 block per game.  As incredible as those two performances have been, they both pale in comparison to the historically good numbers that Walton-Moss is posting (with I'd argue less help than either): 28-10-6, shooting 64/44/84, plus over a steal per game.  If anything close to that pace continues, that has to be one of the best performances D3 has ever seen -- he is the Lebron of Division 3, basically, and single-handedly makes Cabrini a national title contender. 

Other impressive players include Michael Mayer from Williams (off to a VERY slow start due mainly to injury and illness, but now that he is healthy and rounding into hoops shape, I expect him to return to form very soon and start posting big numbers again), Tyler Peters, Joey Kizell, Landon Gamble, and DJ Woodmore.  But none of those guys are, in my view, a threat to the three guys at the top, who are all on pace for just monster seasons. 

As an Eph fan, I do feel very good about Duncan Robinson's odds for national ROY ... his stat line has been impressive for any player, let alone for a frosh, and if anything understate how good he has looked: 15-7-2 with only 1 TO per game, plus 2 blocks per game, while shooting 57/47/96.  Despite the presence of two pre-season all-Americans on Williams, he has been the best overall player on the Ephs so far this year.  He could put up 20 per game in his sleep and I am confident he will do so for the next three years after Williams graduates its other two big scorers, Mayer and Epley.

[Titan Q]

Illinois Wesleyan (9-1) vs Franklin (5-4)- 7:00pm

Illinois Wesleyan (9-1)
G - Dylan Overstreet, 6-3/180 Jr (9.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 4.3 apg)
G - Pat Sodemann, 6-3/195 Jr (10.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.6 apg)
F - Andrew Ziemnik, 6-5/220 Sr (13.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.8 apg)
F - Victor Davis, 6-5/235 Sr (12.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg)
C - Nick Anderson, 6-10/230 Sr (7.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg)

G - Jordan Nelson, 6-1/170 Jr (8.6 ppg)
F - Mike Mayberger, 6-6/205 Sr (8.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
G - Bryce Dolan, 6-0/160 So (7.0 ppg)
F - Eric Dortch, 6-4/210 Sr (4.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg)
C - Mike Marietti, 6-8/245 So (3.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg)

Franklin (5-4)
G - Trae Washington, 5-8/160 So (10.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 4.6 apg)
G - Bailey Howard, 5-11/185 Sr (25.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.9 apg)
G - Terry Sargent, 6-0/165 Sr (10.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.1 apg)
F - Troy Porter. 6-2/200 Sr (13.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.0 apg)
F - Dion Smith, 6-4/195 So (13.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.8 apg)

G - Robbie Prather, 5-9/160 Fr (4.8 ppg)
G- Aaron Mann, 6-3/170 (2.5 ppg)
G - J.T. Barton, 6-0/205 Sr (1.9 ppg)
F/C - Trevor Selburg, 6-3/200 Fr (1.7 ppg)


Pantagraph - http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/titans-look-to-get-back-in-the-flow-before-cciw/article_44ea3f52-7369-11e3-8547-001a4bcf887a.html

WJBC radio - http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wjbc.portal#

Live video/stats - http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/iwu.portal#

[Greek Tragedy]

I enjoy everyone's banter on the Pointers and also find it amusing.

Did anyone say Point was unbeatable?  If anyone knows, its Point fans that would be the first to tell you we don't have much of an inside game, both offensively and defensively. Individual vs individual, I'm sure there are a lot of teams better than Point. Athletically and individually, conference foe Whitewater is better. But, we have beaten them 7 or 8 times in a row, I think. We know Point is beatable, even those championship years with Kalsow and Bennett we lost games!

I'm reading a lot of ifs, ands and buts about NCC's loss to Point. Of course if they made this or didn't do that...

I think everyone is repeating what everyone already knows. LOL 

I have no doubt Point will not go unbeaten this year, I just hope they end the year on a 6-game winning streak! 

[Titan Q]

Did anyone say Point was unbeatable? 

Some of the comments above are related to this opinion...

I don't see anyone, IWU or others, beating them in the NCAA tourney unless Tillema is injured.