MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[veterancciwfan]

I don't check other D3 boards. But is there another top tier D3 league (I would limit that definition to the top 5 D3 leagues as per Massey or some other objective evaluator) where the last place team can absolutely smoke a top 20 team like NPU did to NCC tonight? NCC was 10-1 in nonconf. with its only loss to #10 (at the time) Dickinson and was 13-1 prior to the home game vs. Augie of Jan. 14. Now it seems like the wheels have fallen off. And Millikin's performance at Shirk on Jan. 14 was so putird that I wondered how they ever beat NPU on the road in the opener. And the Big Blue blast Wheaton and take #1 Augie to the limit tonight. Just wondering if these things have happened in the other 4 top D3 leagues so far during this conference season. Like I posted before, nothing in this league will surprise me due to quality of players and coaches. Yes, Greg, I know you think overall D3 is weaker this year than what, a normal year or maybe last year? And perhaps that is true. Instead of weaker, perhaps the correct term is more parity. I would agree that there doesn't appear to be a truly great team this year in D3 seeing what has befallen Wash. U., Augie, and NCC recently. I know Dickinson was very good last year (once game away from Final 4)and appears to just as good or better this year. Perhaps they are close to a great D3 team. Don't know-haven't watched them.

[iwu70]

Tough loss for the Titans, after climbing back from double digits down, with Overstreet having a chance to tie it with less than 15 seconds to play.  I thought there should have been a call there, surly plenty of contact, but I guess that's the homer refs.  Titans let themselves get down, EC playing good D earlier.  Titans loss caused by way too many TOs, including from Overstreet, poor rebounding allowing many offensive rebounds by EC.  I was impressed with Nixon for sure.  The game was a bit of a wrestling match and foul fest with both teams losing key players for long stretches due to 3, 4, even 5 fouls.  Sure wish Coyle would learn to go much stronger to the rim, not fade back, or lean back and get blocked so easily at point blank range. 

Nelson some truly NBA range treys.  Amazing, getting the Titans back in it.  Bausch had perhaps his best game as a Titan. 

I agree with Q that the Titans are still in the championship run mix at 5-2, though losing more games puts pressure on them come tourney bid time.  Hard now to get to 20 wins. 

IWU70

[iwu70]

Congrats to NPU on their thrashing of NCC.  Pretty amazing, pretty surprising.

Schedule now does favor IWU to some extent.

'70

[augiefan]

Last night"s narrow victory was Coach Giovanine's 300th anger filled win at Augie. By the way Hunter Hill is not the only height challenged star in the CCIW. Millikin's 5' 8" freshman T J Sims was incredible last night. Virtually unstoppable.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 92
North Central 68

Juwan Henry: 28 pts (10-14 FG), 7 rebs, 6:3 a:to, 3 stls
Jordan Robinson: 20 pts (7-11 FG), 5 rebs
Colin Lake: 17 pts (5-8 FG)
T.J. Cobbs: 10 pts, 5 rebs
Michael Hutchinson: 5 rebs, 4:1 a:to

Charlie Rosenberg: 18 pts, 4:2 a:to
Jack Burchett: 15 pts, 17 rebs
Jayme Moten: 4:0 a:to

The description of iwu70 of this game as a "thrashing" is pretty apt. The inevitable question people are going to ask is, "Was this outcome the result of North Central playing really poorly, or of North Park playing exceptionally well?" The answer is that NCC didn't play anywhere close to par in terms of what the Cardinals are capable of doing -- I've seen several Cards games online, and I know what they can do when they're on their game -- but NPU was simply magnificent. Just ask AndOne; after the game he told me, "North Park would've beaten any team in the league tonight," and he was absolutely right.

North Park actually didn't win this game via the Vikings' bread-and-butter of forcing turnovers and getting runouts. NCC only turned the ball over 13 times, although nine of them were steals, and the Vikes converted those steals into points with their usual aplomb. Instead, they won it by doing an amazing job on the boards -- 38 rebounds to NCC's 30 -- great shooting that was the complete inverse of their can't-throw-the-ball-into-Lake-Michigan-from-the-end-of-Navy-Pier performance against Elmhurst on Wednesday -- NPU shot 62% from the field and 53% from downtown -- and solid defense that kept the Cards from getting the ball below the foul line enough to make a difference.

NCC zoned the Vikings quite a bit, especially early on, and NPU made the Cardinals pay for it. The Vikings circulated the ball around the perimeter as well as they have all season against zones, Michael Hutchinson did a great job of moving the ball around from the high post, and the Vikings knocked down the open treys when they had the opportunity to do so.

I kept waiting for North Central to make a run, but the Cards never got their act together. NPU was up by 16 at the half -- Juwan Henry made a running three-pointer at the halftime buzzer that just had a "this is our night" kind of feel to it -- and North Central never got any closer than that 16 in the second half. When Todd Raridon finally ran the white flag up the flagpole and put in his scrubs with two and a half minutes left, the Vikings were up by 27 points and it felt as though they could push the lead out as far as they liked. You could tell from the body language and facial expressions of the Cardinals during the game's final eight or nine minutes that they wanted to be anywhere else but there. Raridon didn't even allow them to go to the locker room after the game; he kept them in a classroom below the gym for what seemed like forever, haranguing them no doubt about getting their butts kicked by such a bad team. While I'm not sure that I like the implication that losing to North Park is such a total disgrace, I can't blame him for tearing into his team like that. They did not have either the demeanor or the execution of a team that considers itself a contender.

Juwan Henry made a statement last night that he is All-CCIW first-team timber. He shot with uncharacteristic economy, opting for pullup jumpers for the most part instead of driving pell-mell into a packed lane -- Juwan's pullup shot is a thing of beauty -- and he got his teammates involved the way that he was doing back in December. Jordan Robinson was very strong both inside and outside the paint, as was T.J. Cobbs. Colin Lake looked like that highlight video of him that was circulating on CCIW Chat last year. And the grunts inside -- Michael Hutchinson and Matt McNamara -- contributed strong efforts that belie their modest line scores.

NPU's limitations in terms of youth and size are obvious. But the Vikes are beginning to realize that they can nevertheless compete in this league if they execute the game plan properly. This was just a magnificent effort by the Vikings. Now we have to see if they can build upon it.

Last night"s narrow victory was Coach Giovanine's 300th anger filled win at Augie. By the way Hunter Hill is not the only height challenged star in the CCIW. Millikin's 5' 8" freshman T J Sims was incredible last night. Virtually unstoppable.

North Park's 5'7 mighty mite Colin Lake is not a bad little player, either.

Yep.   NPU 92 NCC 68.  NCC looked very slow up and down the court tonite, which led to many easy buckets for NPU.  D2 transfer and NCC scoring leader, Jayme Moten, was a non-factor.  NPU's win was truly a bench-clearing team win.  NPU led 2-0 and then the entire game.

Almost, but not quite. NCC did lead 6-4 and 8-6, but then the Vikings went on a 15-2 run to take an 11-point lead less than seven minutes deep into the game, and they were off to the races.

NPU had a very good night from behind the arc, but that alone is not what separated this game.   

Absolutely. Aside from the free-throw shooting and some late-game sloppiness with the ball, the Park played close to a flawless ballgame.

do you have any voice left?

Not much of one. And yet I have to sing in the choir this morning.

[mr_b]

North Park 92
North Central 68

do you have any voice left?

Not much of one. And yet I have to sing in the choir this morning.

Greg, that must have been one of the most satisfying games you've called in many years. Congratulations to the Vikings for putting it all together against a very good team.

[Gregory Sager]

Yes, Greg, I know you think overall D3 is weaker this year than what, a normal year or maybe last year? And perhaps that is true. Instead of weaker, perhaps the correct term is more parity.

I didn't say that overall D3 is weaker this year. I said that there weren't any really great teams out there -- which is a completely different thing altogether -- and I'm more convinced of that lack of really great teams right now than I was when I first posted it. I absolutely believe that this is a season in which parity (or, as I called it in my original post, "the golden mean") is apparent across the board.

Just ask Pat Coleman or Dave McHugh how much trouble they've had putting their Top 25 ballots together this season. It's like an 80-car pileup on a snowy freeway.

[AppletonRocks]

One thing I can tell you as an outsider reading this board--there are a lot of people wrong with a high frequency.   

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 92
North Central 68

do you have any voice left?

Not much of one. And yet I have to sing in the choir this morning.

Greg, that must have been one of the most satisfying games you've called in many years.

That was as much fun as I've had behind the mic since last year's come-from-behind football win over Carthage that snapped the long CCIW losing streak.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Rounding out tonight's action:

North Central 87, Carthage 82 from beyond the Cheddar curtain.

Millikin 86, Wheaton 46 at the Griz.  Easily the most head-scratching result of the year millennium so far.

Fixed it for you, kiko.

I have no way of knowing this, but I'm guessing that his wedding night was the greatest night of Matt Nadelhoffer's life ... but that last night was probably a pretty respectable second place in that particular category.

Since Millikin was (and is) above NPU in the standings, and NCC was (and is) above Wheaton, does the 24-point demolition by the Vikes over the Cards translate as the most head-scratching result since Chaminade over Virginia?!

TWO earth-shaking results in a single week - welcome to the CCIW!

[sac]

Won't even register on Masseyratings.com list of biggest upsets.  North Park is 9-8 you know.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Yes, Greg, I know you think overall D3 is weaker this year than what, a normal year or maybe last year? And perhaps that is true. Instead of weaker, perhaps the correct term is more parity.

I didn't say that overall D3 is weaker this year. I said that there weren't any really great teams out there -- which is a completely different thing altogether -- and I'm more convinced of that lack of really great teams right now than I was when I first posted it. I absolutely believe that this is a season in which parity (or, as I called it in my original post, "the golden mean") is apparent across the board.

Just ask Pat Coleman or Dave McHugh how much trouble they've had putting their Top 25 ballots together this season. It's like an 80-car pileup on a snowy freeway.

Yes... that is about the right analogy! I was at the WashU-NYU game and shook my head and smiled knowing I had to make a few tough decisions on Monday... then I looked at the results from Saturday and Sunday coupled with earlier in the weak and I simply threw my ballot out. Time for things to go boom with my Top 25.

I don't think D3 is weaker this year... there are just a heck of a lot more good teams in the middle tier and not nearly as many upper tier teams making it very interesting. I have said on Hoopsville a lot this year: we aren't going to have brackets of death where people complain about two second round games... we are going to have an entire tournament of death. Those who get to Salem will have actually survived and I promise you we are going to have a dark horse or two get there.

[AndOne]

Yep.   NPU 92 NCC 68.  NCC looked very slow up and down the court tonite, which led to many easy buckets for NPU.  D2 transfer and NCC scoring leader, Jayme Moten, was a non-factor.  NPU's win was truly a bench-clearing team win.  NPU led 2-0 and then the entire game.  NPU had a very good night from behind the arc, but that alone is not what separated this game.   

Yep. NPU had lots of speed up and down the court. NCC, not so much.

[AndOne]

North Park 92
North Central 68

Juwan Henry: 28 pts (10-14 FG), 7 rebs, 6:3 a:to, 3 stls
Jordan Robinson: 20 pts (7-11 FG), 5 rebs
Colin Lake: 17 pts (5-8 FG)
T.J. Cobbs: 10 pts, 5 rebs
Michael Hutchinson: 5 rebs, 4:1 a:to

Charlie Rosenberg: 18 pts, 4:2 a:to
Jack Burchett: 15 pts, 17 rebs
Jayme Moten: 4:0 a:to

The description of iwu70 of this game as a "thrashing" is pretty apt. The inevitable question people are going to ask is, "Was this outcome the result of North Central playing really poorly, or of North Park playing exceptionally well?" The answer is that NCC didn't play anywhere close to par in terms of what the Cardinals are capable of doing -- I've seen several Cards games online, and I know what they can do when they're on their game -- but NPU was simply magnificent. Just ask AndOne; after the game he told me, "North Park would've beaten any team in the league tonight," and he was absolutely right.

NPU would have indeed beaten ANY team in the conference last night. Count on it. It didn't matter that NCC wasn't on its game, NPU's speed and execution would have outpaced any opposition that could have been offered. Another night in the you-never- know-what-you're-gonna-get-tonight CCIW. It will be interesting to see if NPU can maintain and duplicate their accomplishment of last evening in the 2nd half of the conference schedule.

[markerickson]

I note that there has been no talk about in/deflategate that contributed to North Park's victory.