MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

I've come to expect nothing from NPU this year, so I was (pleasantly) shocked last night at how well the Vikings performed against Carthage. The Vikings played with a lot of energy, clawed right back into it after what was essentially a five-point play by Marlon Senior put the Red Men up by 12 with 12:27 to go (he was the victim of an intentional foul by Ryan Hyrn, made both FTs, and hit a trey from the top of the key off the inbounds pass on the ensuing possession, one second into live action), and generally looked like a team that belonged on the same floor as the team that beat Calvin, Wash U, and Eastern Connecticut. Given the fact that the Vikings have spent most of the season thus far looking outmanned or incompetent, or both, it was a refreshing change to see them take a good team right down to the wire. The fact that the Vikings ended the game even-steven with Carthage on the boards at 30 rebounds apiece felt like a minor miracle in and of itself, given how putrid NPU's rebounding has been this season.

Unfortunately, there are no moral victories in basketball. The Vikings had their chances in the last couple minutes of the game, but they didn't run a good possession with a half-minute left and down two, and paid the price for it with a loss. While it's better to walk off the floor kicking yourself and asking what-ifs than it is to walk off the floor hanging your head because your team got embarrassed, it's still not a good feeling.

Juwan Henry (20 pts) had another outstanding half, scoring 18 in the initial twenty minutes as NPU opened up a lead as big as 11 at one point. His problem thus far this season is that he's had a hard time sustaining good first halves into the second stanza. Give Bosko Djurickovic credit for having Reese Herth body up Henry off the ball consistently throughout the second half, although cramping issues bothered Henry as well. Aaron Weaver (16 pts, 9 rebs) had a good game, but, as talented as he is, he just has too many lapses at the defensive end. Joe Biko was the pleasant surprise of the night, as the freshman big man was an almost-perfect 8-9 from the field for 18 points. If he can only manage to lose some weight to get back to the 6'6, 220 he was at last season as a Hoffman Estates HS senior -- he's at 240 right now, and moves like a guy who's carrying around way too much weight -- he could be a nice find for the NPU program. Highlight of the night was Biko, who is an outstanding shooter, getting the ball while wide open on the perimeter ... and hearing Bosko's scream of "Nooooo!" at the top of his lungs reverberate off the walls of the almost-empty crackerbox as Biko launched what would be a nothing-but-net trey. Bosko sounded exactly like Darth Vader at the end of Revenge of the Sith.

The close final score needs perspective. Having watched a number of Red Men games online this season, it was pretty obvious to me that Carthage did not play up to par; Donte Logan looked lost, Reese Herth couldn't hit a shot, and Malcom Kelly looks like he has a lot of rust remaining to be scraped off. If Kevin Sykes hadn't almost singlehandedly kept the Kenoshans in the game in the first half, and if someone hadn't set off an alarm in the Carthage locker room at halftime to wake up Marlon Senior (2 pts first half, 18 pts second half), the Red Men would've left Foster & Kedzie as the recipients of an ugly upset loss. In spite of the quality wins that the Red Men racked up in November and December, I haven't seen anything yet that convinces me that Carthage is going to hang with Augustana, Illinois Wesleyan, and Wheaton at the top of the standings. And I don't think that the Red Men are a shoo-in for fourth, either, although I still think that they have the best chance of getting that spot.

This is a bad year for NPU basketball, so I fully admit I'm grasping at straws by talking up a loss. But there are some good freshmen in this class, Juwan Henry in particular, and if nothing else I'm going to enjoy watching their sometimes-halting progression into CCIW-quality ballplayers.

[veterancciwfan]

Regarding post players last night, IWU did have the edge as Ziemnik, Davis and Anderson combined went 14/24 on FGs and scored 37 compared to Schlitter, Hoepfner and Motzel going a combined 8/13 with 21 points. Ziemnik and Davis each attempted 11 shots and, in hindsight, probably should have attempted more. I will be surprised if Ziemnik is not league MOP. I thought Augie's pressure on IWU's perimeter players was one of the keys to their victory.  CCIW Trivia: Only 3 were 3-time MOP winners: Jack Sikma, Michael Harper and Kent Raymond (the award began for the 67/68 season).

[Mr. Ypsi]

Regarding post players last night, IWU did have the edge as Ziemnik, Davis and Anderson combined went 14/24 on FGs and scored 37 compared to Schlitter, Hoepfner and Motzel going a combined 8/13 with 21 points. Ziemnik and Davis each attempted 11 shots and, in hindsight, probably should have attempted more. I will be surprised if Ziemnik is not league MOP. I thought Augie's pressure on IWU's perimeter players was one of the keys to their victory.  CCIW Trivia: Only 3 were 3-time MOP winners: Jack Sikma, Michael Harper and Kent Raymond (the award began for the 67/68 season).

If they had started the award 2 years earlier, my suspicion is that Jesse Price would have been a FOUR-time MOP.  He was THAT good, right from the start.

[AndOne]

GS---

I am amazed at the night Biko had against Carthage. Last Wed he started against NCC and looked lost. He did make his only 3 attempt, but that was it. He actually looked like he would trip over his own feet at any moment, appeared not to be sure where to go on several plays, fumbled the ball on offense, and was invisible on defense. It didn't really appear like he was ready to play on a CCIW team. Perhaps shooting the 3 is his forte. As far as the development of the rest of is game I would venture that there has to be more overall potential than he showed against NCC. As to wether that potential will come to fruition is anyone's guess. You reported he is overweight. Should he not be able to bring his additional girth under control its probably a good bet that potential won't be realized.

Juwan Henry is an exciting player with obvious offensive skills, especially in the areas of ball handling and shot making ability. His drawbacks seem to be that he becomes easily frustrated when teammates don't preform to the level he believes they should, and the fact that he appears to often to force the issue, rather than, as the old saying goes, let the game come to him. This forcing the issue/making bad decisions can result in a tendency to commit more turnovers than you would like to see your floor leader commit.

Is Cameron Burnett still playing? He seemed like a pretty good assist man last year.

Any understanding as to why Aaron Weaver didn't play against NCC? 

[AndOne]

Regarding post players last night, IWU did have the edge as Ziemnik, Davis and Anderson combined went 14/24 on FGs and scored 37 compared to Schlitter, Hoepfner and Motzel going a combined 8/13 with 21 points. Ziemnik and Davis each attempted 11 shots and, in hindsight, probably should have attempted more. I will be surprised if Ziemnik is not league MOP. I thought Augie's pressure on IWU's perimeter players was one of the keys to their victory.  CCIW Trivia: Only 3 were 3-time MOP winners: Jack Sikma, Michael Harper and Kent Raymond (the award began for the 67/68 season).

If they had started the award 2 years earlier, my suspicion is that Jesse Price would have been a FOUR-time MOP.  He was THAT good, right from the start.

And depending just how early they began the award, the FIRST 4 time MOP may well have been NCC's Bill Warden who was 1st team all-conference in 1952-55. One of just a handful (4?) of players who have been named to the all-conference first team all 4 years. 

[iwu70]

So who scored the 24 in Heyen's jersey in the IWU JV game at Augie?

Curious minds wish to know.

(sorry for the erroneous post, just reading it off the Augie LiveStats for the JV game last Wednesday night).

IWU'70

[veterancciwfan]

Add one more IWU post player to the three I already named and analyzed: Eric Dortch who, on a per minute basis, was outstanding. He was 3/4 from both the field (all post shots) and the line, scored 9 and had 4 rebounds in 20 minutes and played his usual very tough defense.

And One: Yes, Bill Warden was one of the greatest players ever in the CCI (before Carthage moved).

[Gregory Sager]

GS---

I am amazed at the night Biko had against Carthage. Last Wed he started against NCC and looked lost. He did make his only 3 attempt, but that was it. He actually looked like he would trip over his own feet at any moment, appeared not to be sure where to go on several plays, fumbled the ball on offense, and was invisible on defense. It didn't really appear like he was ready to play on a CCIW team.

Biko's not the smoothest-looking player on the floor, but he can be effective right now in the right situation. Even if and when he loses the weight that he needs to lose, I doubt that anyone's ever going to attach the adjective "graceful" to his name.

And that's fine with me. I don't care about pretty. I care about what works.

Perhaps shooting the 3 is his forte. As far as the development of the rest of is game I would venture that there has to be more overall potential than he showed against NCC. As to wether that potential will come to fruition is anyone's guess. You reported he is overweight. Should he not be able to bring his additional girth under control its probably a good bet that potential won't be realized.

I agree. I will say, though, that there's a lot more to Biko than his trey-shooting skills. He has great touch everywhere on the floor, whether in the low post, in midrange "jumpers" (that's what they're called, although it's a bit of a stretch to call what Biko does as "jumping" ), or on the perimeter. And he does understand how to use his body and gain leverage. Keep in mind that he's only a freshman, and big men are traditionally the late bloomers when it comes to skills development. As for now, though, he has the most important skill in basketball -- shooting -- down pat.

Juwan Henry is an exciting player with obvious offensive skills, especially in the areas of ball handling and shot making ability. His drawbacks seem to be that he becomes easily frustrated when teammates don't preform to the level he believes they should, and the fact that he appears to often to force the issue, rather than, as the old saying goes, let the game come to him. This forcing the issue/making bad decisions can result in a tendency to commit more turnovers than you would like to see your floor leader commit.

Juwan Henry's not the turnover machine that you're making him out to be. He has 26 turnovers thus far this season, an average of two per game. For a team's leading scorer, whose forte is his penetration game, that's not many turnovers at all. He's not a great distributor, which is why he's playing off guard rather than point guard in spite of his 5'10 stature, but off guards frequently don't have great a:to ratios -- especially if, as I said, they specialize in dribble penetration. Henry is fortunate to have a promising complementary backcourt mate in freshman PG JayQuan Lee, who is a good distributor. Lee has a 2:1 a:to thus far this season, which is pretty remarkable given his team's lamentable inability to put the ball in the basket with any regularity and the lack of a consistently reliable inside scorer.

I think that your view of Juwan Henry is colored by the fact that Aaron Weaver did not play in the game at NCC. Given the absence of the only other consistent scoring threat that NPU has, Henry really had no other choice but to force the issue. His five turnovers against the Cardinals was a season high. In only three other games has he had as many as three turnovers. As for his frustration, he's an 18-year-old kid who is expected to shoulder a huge load on a team that has a number of veteran players who are not carrying their own weight. I understand his feelings completely.

Is Cameron Burnett still playing? He seemed like a pretty good assist man last year.

Unfortunately, Cam Burnett tore his Achilles tendon a few weeks ago and is out for the season. He intends to apply for a med red so that he can come back next season with sophomore eligibility. Freshman T.J. Cobbs (Evergreen Park) has replaced him as the backup PG.

Any understanding as to why Aaron Weaver didn't play against NCC?

Yes, but I'm not sharing them with the board. All I'm gonna say is that his grades are fine, so don't bother speculating about that angle.

[AndOne]

Any understanding as to why Aaron Weaver didn't play against NCC?

Yes, but I'm not sharing them with the board. All I'm gonna say is that his grades are fine, so don't bother speculating about that angle.

I personally hadn't planned to introduce academics as a possible reason either directly or by speculation. The reason being that if academic ineligibility was involved I would not expect his name to continue to appear on the team roster. Accordingly, it appears any speculation on this issue emanates from your corner. 
I fully expected to hear he was injured.

[AndOne]

Regarding post players last night, IWU did have the edge as Ziemnik, Davis and Anderson combined went 14/24 on FGs and scored 37 compared to Schlitter, Hoepfner and Motzel going a combined 8/13 with 21 points. Ziemnik and Davis each attempted 11 shots and, in hindsight, probably should have attempted more. I will be surprised if Ziemnik is not league MOP. I thought Augie's pressure on IWU's perimeter players was one of the keys to their victory.  CCIW Trivia: Only 3 were 3-time MOP winners: Jack Sikma, Michael Harper and Kent Raymond (the award began for the 67/68 season).

Veteran---

I think your determination as to who had the edge in interior play last night is correct, but I think your analysis is mixing apples and oranges to some extent. Let me explain. The three IWU players you mention above were all starters while two of the three Augie players were subs. In order to determine who ultimately had the edge, I think you need to include all the interior players for both teams. Thus, you need to factor in Mayberger, Dortch, and Marietti for IWU, and Johnson and Ryan for Augie. When these players are included, the point total favors IWU by a whopping 60-29. The rebound total slightly favors IWU 21-20.
It appears the flies in the ointment for IWU are centers Anderson and Marietti. Anderson had 2 points and no rebounds. Marietti had no points, and no rebounds. Granted, he played only 2 minutes. You would think the 6'10" Anderson would be able to score more than 2 points, and collect at least one rebound. 6'10" and 1 basket and NO rebounds? This just isn't gonna cut it if IWU has national championship aspirations. It appears Anderson needs to get tougher/more aggressive, and Marietti needs to do more than just take up space for however long he is in the game.
For Augie, Ryan did collect 7 boards, but he certainly needs to score. I think you can say Augie escaped last night given Ryan failed to score even a single point. This needs to change or Augie is likely to go down when they face tough games on the road against the likes of IWU and Wheaton.

I think the final result last night was due to the fact that the Augie guards outplayed the IWU guards by more than the IWU frontcourt players outplayed the Augie frontcourt players. 

[AndOne]

I will be surprised if Ziemnik is not league MOP.

I think Landon Gamble and Tyler Peters might have something to say about that. They came into the season as 1st and 2nd team pre-season All-Americans respectively, and have played well with no reason to suspect that their performances will drop appreciably. We shall see.

[Gregory Sager]

Any understanding as to why Aaron Weaver didn't play against NCC?

Yes, but I'm not sharing them with the board. All I'm gonna say is that his grades are fine, so don't bother speculating about that angle.

I personally hadn't planned to introduce academics as a possible reason either directly or by speculation. The reason being that if academic ineligibility was involved I would not expect his name to continue to appear on the team roster. Accordingly, it appears any speculation on this issue emanates from your corner. 
I fully expected to hear he was injured.

He was academically ineligible for the final ten games of last season, so it would've been a natural speculation. That's all that I meant by that.

[Kovo]

Regarding post players last night, IWU did have the edge as Ziemnik, Davis and Anderson combined went 14/24 on FGs and scored 37 compared to Schlitter, Hoepfner and Motzel going a combined 8/13 with 21 points. Ziemnik and Davis each attempted 11 shots and, in hindsight, probably should have attempted more. I will be surprised if Ziemnik is not league MOP. I thought Augie's pressure on IWU's perimeter players was one of the keys to their victory.  CCIW Trivia: Only 3 were 3-time MOP winners: Jack Sikma, Michael Harper and Kent Raymond (the award began for the 67/68 season).

If they had started the award 2 years earlier, my suspicion is that Jesse Price would have been a FOUR-time MOP.  He was THAT good, right from the start.

And depending just how early they began the award, the FIRST 4 time MOP may well have been NCC's Bill Warden who was 1st team all-conference in 1952-55. One of just a handful (4?) of players who have been named to the all-conference first team all 4 years. 

It appears (from the CCIW website) that the award was first given in 1968.

[Titan Q]

So who scored the 24 in Heyen's jersey in the IWU JV game at Augie?

Curious minds wish to know.

(sorry for the erroneous post, just reading it off the Augie LiveStats for the JV game last Wednesday night).

IWU'70

This was 6-3 freshman wing Andy Stempel.  I know Ron Rose is really excited about Stempel's future at IWU.

[iwu70]

Thanks, Q.  Yes, I got the word on Stempel indirectly too -- sounds like he had a great game at Augie in the JV game.  Bright future for him and others on that JV group.

Nice piece in the Pgraph about another, the youngest Seibring, 6-7 junior Tyler, and his side-kick, 6-7 Mssr. Peacock, both playing for Normal Community.  Sure would be nice to see Tyler follow his 4 sibs and cousins onward to IWU -- and have Mr. Peacock join in, turn Green too.  They both have been playing very well, playing lots of games in The Shirk over the years, during their HS careers.  Why not just continue the fun on The Shirk court.  Just say'in.  Perhaps they can be joined by a PG, a 2 with great 3 ball range and skill from BHS, with the name Rose.    OK, just dream'in.

Good luck to the Titans up at NPU this weekend -- we need a big win, to get back on the winning way.

IWU70