MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

carthage guy, my apologies for doubting your memory.  I was mixing up Mass-Dartmouth with Mass-Boston, which IS a perennial bottom-feeder in a weak conference.  Mass-Dartmouth is usually only a bit better, but I recall now that they did have those couple of very good years.

To be fair to Mass-Dartmouth, the Corsairs have been a New England power in D3 from almost the very outset of the division. They've made 14 D3 tourney appearances over the years, the first in 1976 and the latest in 2009. (Until 1991 the school was known as Southeastern Massachusetts University.) And the D3 tourney record of the Corsairs is 16-15. So, yeah, Mass-Dartmouth got shelled like a peanut by Carthage in the '01 tourney, but the Corsairs still have a better basketball heritage than you think.

Thanks, Greg - this old dog can still learn new tricks!  I saw their less than mediocre record for the last three years, their good season preceded by two very good seasons, then their record for the previous year (all that d3hoops.com readily provides), and assumed they were usually only a step or two over Mass-Boston with a short anomalous upward blip.  I'll pay them a bit more heed from here on out!

2001 was an interesting tourney.  IIRC, Elmhurst won the CCIW - IWU took them out in round three.  We then beat (IIRC) #1 Chicago AT Chicago, before falling to Horace Jenkins and company in the FF.  There was still a third place game in those days, and (while he didn't much like it either) Coach Bridges figured if there is a game, you play to win it!  The Titans never finished fourth, beating Ohio Northern (the team that ousted CCIW #2 Carthage) in the consolation game.

[unanimous22]

I got to watch my first IWU game online in a while tonight and here are some random thoughts (1st Half ONLY):

- Mike Marietti looks very athletic and solid defensively. If he can refine some things offensively it seems he could have very solid Jr/Sr seasons.

- From online video Eric Dortch looks big. Sort of tall and very big chest/base wise. He played well.

- There has been some talk about Jordan Nelson on the board and it's somewhat warranted I guess. Nelson looked very good at times tonight and very odd at times tonight. There's certainly a lot of talent there but he seems to be pressing at times.

- Guess I don't really understand Millikin's desire to play an up-and-down game with IWU...?

- Brady Zimmer just must have real issues, he has completely fallen off from what I remember a couple years ago.

- Did Nick Anderson ever play?

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois Wesleyan 86
Millikin 52

Again, no T.J. Griffin. He wouldn't have made up that 34-point gap, of course.

[Gregory Sager]

North Central 66
Augustana 59

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton 86
Elmhurst 77

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage 89
North Park 72

[iwu70]

As Greg indicated, IWU over the Big Blue, 86-52.  Never close in the second half.

Zman 15
Dortch 13 -- perhaps his best game as a Titan
Overstreet 9
Sodemann 8
Marietti, looking more and more comfortable, 8
Davis 8

Still not everything clicking as it should, esp. bench contributions tonight, but still a very easy win at home.  As it should be.

Women won too -- at the Griz, 94-78, Seibring with a monster game, 26.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage 89, North Park 72

http://athletics.carthage.edu/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=2909

Juwan Henry: 20 pts
Aaron Weaver: 15 pts, 7 rebs

Malcom Kelly: 22 pts
Kevin Sykes: 20 pts
Marlon Senior: 18 pts, 7 rebs
Reese Herth: 13 pts
Mike Kastel: 10 rebs

Once again, NPU played a good first half and then tanked in the second. The Vikings led for the first 19 minutes of the game, building up their advantage to a pair of 12-point leads, thanks to good floor spacing and really solid shooting (50%/60%/100%), an uncharacteristic rebounding advantage (15-8), and a rather listless effort on the part of the hosts. Carthage did wake up at the end of the half to tie it up at 42-all.

In the second half, it was all Carthage. The Red Men moved much better on offense, and, probably most importantly, absolutely owned the glass; CC outboarded NPU in the second stanza by two-to-one, 26-13. NPU panicked offensively and shot too many ill-advised shots early in the shot clock, leading to inevitable one-and-dones. Carthage blistered the nets from downtown against the NPU zone to the tune of 12-19 (63%). It's what the Vikings were giving them, and credit the Red Men for making those shots.

The one takeaway that I like for the night was the free-throw shooting of NPU's stars. Aaron Weaver shot 8-8 from the line, although all eight of them came in the first half, and Juwan Henry was 8-9. If they can knock down their throws consistently from here on out, it could spell the difference in NPU being able to pick up another win somewhere along the line.

[Titan Q]

Updated standings, through 1/29
Illinois Wesleyan, 6-2
Carthage, 6-2
Wheaton, 6-2
Augustana, 5-3
Elmhurst, 4-4
North Central, 3-5
Millikin, 1-7
North Park, 1-7


+/- standings, through 1/29
Illinois Wesleyan, +3
Carthage, +2
Wheaton, +2
Augustana, +0
Elmhurst, -1
North Central, -1
Millikin, -2
North Park, -3

+1 for road win, -1 for home loss

[Gregory Sager]

Massive loss by Augie tonight. The Rock Islanders are clearly in a tailspin. If you want to win this league, you simply can't afford to lose to a second-division team in your own gym.

[Titan Q]

I watched the last 10 minutes or so of the NCC/Augie game.  I haven't seen enough NCC games this year to know if Todd Raridon has his team play the same tempo each night out, but tonight the Cardinals played just like they did at IWU - walk the ball up the floor, use most of the shot clock, grind it out-type offense.  NCC limits possessions so much that it really puts pressure on you when you don't get off to a good offensive start, and when you get down in the 2nd half. When you are behind 6 to the Cardinals, it feels like 16.

Hunter Hill, who has developed into a fantastic CCIW guard, was the only Viking to make a 3-pointer at Elmhurst Saturday.  Tonight he was the only Augie player to make a 3 until Mark Roth made one with 0:51 to play.

[Titan Q]

Last season the CCIW's top 4 went 30-2 against the bottom 4, with the only losses being Wheaton @ Carthage and North Central @ Carthage.

This season the bottom 4 has 3 wins over the top 4 (Elmhurst over Carthage, Elmhurst over Augie, NCC over Augie) with a long way to go. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Last season the CCIW's top 4 went 30-2 against the bottom 4, with the only losses being Wheaton @ Carthage and North Central @ Carthage.

This season the bottom 4 has 3 wins over the top 4 (Elmhurst over Carthage, Elmhurst over Augie, NCC over Augie) with a long way to go.

The way that Elmhurst is going up, and Augie is going down, do we even know who the top 4 are?

[carthage guy]

I hope my 9-5 prediction isnt too high for augie

It appears its becoming more of a 3 team race for the league title..... I really see similarities with the Wheaton and Carthage teams.  Great star player with good complementary D3 players... Wheaton always plays hard and Carthage seems to be just a great outside shooting team with good athletes... IWU clearly the easier of the home and away schedules but i'm hoping the lack of a star player could cause a close loss on a bad shooting night .

At least its fun to be a Carthage fan again, its been since steve d. junior year, i believe.  Muddled in 13-12 years is no fun for anyone

[Gregory Sager]

Count your blessings, cg. Some of us would take 13-12 right about now.