MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

I know the 1st set of regional rankings don't come out until February 11.  Does anybody have a link to any projections up through last night's games?  I forgot where to find that.  Maybe it's a little early for that?  As an Elmhurst fan, I would like to see where the 'Jays and the other CCIW teams stand.

Knightslappy's computer-based projections...

http://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/p/division-iii-mens-regional-rankings.html

Always great stuff.

[Naperick]

I know the 1st set of regional rankings don't come out until February 11.  Does anybody have a link to any projections up through last night's games?  I forgot where to find that.  Maybe it's a little early for that?  As an Elmhurst fan, I would like to see where the 'Jays and the other CCIW teams stand.

Knightslappy's computer-based projections...

http://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/p/division-iii-mens-regional-rankings.html

Always great stuff.

Thanks for sending!  It is great stuff!

[GoPerry]

I know the 1st set of regional rankings don't come out until February 11.  Does anybody have a link to any projections up through last night's games?  I forgot where to find that.  Maybe it's a little early for that?  As an Elmhurst fan, I would like to see where the 'Jays and the other CCIW teams stand.

Knightslappy's computer-based projections...

http://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/p/division-iii-mens-regional-rankings.html

Always great stuff.

Interesting what #s and stats spit out.  However, uhh, Wheaton at #12 in the region calls the whole methodology into question.  That doesn't exactly pass the smell test.  Nor the eye, ear, Rorschach . . . unless the 'close but not cigar' factor gets a heavy weighting.

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to NPU on delivering yet another agonizingly close road loss to the Thunder ( I presume Coach Slyder didn't need the bowling side trip this week).  A brilliant game by Teuscher was not enough to counter the Juwan Henry/Jordan Robinson quinella.  Brayden had a look at a trey to tie with 4 secs left . . . it was open but not exactly clean coming off a screen and not being able to totally square up.  Other factors were:

Michael Berg getting the flagrant 2  technical and ejection with 4 minutes left really hurt.  He did foul Henry pretty hard but as I was only watching the feed, I will defer to Mr Sager's objectivity as to whether flag2 was justified- it was quite obvious Mike Schauer didn't think so.  Berg was having a very effective game up to that point with 12 and 10.

Boy, that was as angry as I've ever seen Mike Schauer. He was so furious that his face turned purple, and he giovanined his sportcoat so emphatically that I'm sure it's headed for a date with either the tailor or the dry cleaners.

I will have to watch the game film again to get another look at the Berg foul. He went in very hard on Henry and undercut him, and whenever a big man undercuts a little man it's more likely to draw an arms-crossed call from the refs than usual (the reasoning being that someone who's 6'6 ought to be able to go up high with a 5'10 opponent). But if Berg got his arm up over his head, showing at least a token effort to play the ball, then he met the standard by which a foul is merely a hard foul rather than a flagrant foul.

What I think got lost in the fog of battle was that the foul in and of itself didn't get Berg ejected from the game. Players don't get ejected merely because they incur a flagrant foul. The reason why official Ron Olesiak gave Berg the hook (after consulting with his two colleagues) was because of Berg's overall body of work, shall we say. At 8:19 of the second half he gave T.J. Cobbs a hard shove on a scramble for a loose ball going out of bounds, and one of the officials had to intervene between Berg and Cobbs after the whistle. Then, at 4:38, he walloped Jordan Robinson underneath the basket as everyone was jockeying to rebound a Caleb DeMoss miss; this time, unlike the first incident, Berg was whistled for a foul -- but, more importantly, the officials had to again step in, this time between Berg and Robinson. When a player has had to be separated from an opponent by the refs twice in less than four minutes, and when it's two different players with whom he's generating ill will, then he's naturally going to be a marked man. The hammer he laid down on Henry 38 seconds after the Robinson incident sent him from "loose cannon" to "menace" in the opinion of Olesiak and his two partners, and thus got him the ejection.

So, to sum up: I'm not sure yet about the validity of the flagrant call, pending review of the game film, but the ejection was, in my humble and admittedly biased opinion, warranted. Berg was coming off as a headhunter in a game that was already tense and nasty (the NPU student section, in time-honored North Park fashion, was less than exemplary in terms of Christian deportment regarding the presence of orange-clad athletes from that school for which no true Parker holds warm thoughts; PA announcer Kevin Shepke even had to scold the student section by re-reading the CCIW's sportsmanship statement while the Berg ejection scene played itself out). The officials did what they thought was necessary to remove a potentially dangerous threat from the situation.

Lest this sound like I'm roasting Michael Berg over the coals, let me assure you that I'm not. Pete McBride and I were talking about this after the game last night, and we both agreed that Wheaton's a little soft as a team -- but that Berg has the sort of, uh, testicular fortitude that that team really needs and which, to be honest, I respect to a certain degree in a player. Berg plays with a lot of fire and with a serious chip on his shoulder. That may seem surprising, given the constant criticism he's endured on CCIW Chat as being a finesse type who doesn't like to mix it up, but perhaps that's the very reason why he's put a dash of Charlie Rosenberg Hot Sauce into his game this season. I suspect that Berg has papered the walls of his dorm room with AndOne's posts about him.

By contrast, Joel Smith coming up with a mere 2 rebounds (the second one with 18 secs remaining in the game) is just not getting it done. Meanwhile, all 5'-10" of TJ Cobb was collecting 9, 3 offensive.

T.J. Cobbs does not get enough credit, which is probably my fault as NPU's primary CCIW Chat presence. What that kid does on a nightly basis is nothing short of remarkable. Point guards, shooting guards, forwards -- you name 'em, he'll guard 'em, which makes him invaluable on a team that relies upon a lot of switching and which has a very serious size deficiency. He's constantly asked to guard players who are as many as 6 to 8 inches taller than he is -- and he excels at it. For a stretch last night he was actually guarding 6'6, 235 Joel Smith, and Smith didn't even get a single touch in the low post. Part of that was the fault of the Wheaton guards, who failed to ball-reverse well enough to get a clear entry-pass lane, but a lot of that was just Cobbs's doggedness. At one point he fronted Smith, DeMoss tried lobbing the ball over his head to Smith -- and Cobbs leapt up and knocked the ball out of bounds, falling on his back in the process and knocking the wind out of himself. His offensive rebound of a missed Juwan Henry layup in the game's final minute allowed the Vikings to eat up 34 more seconds of clock that went a long way to helping that three-point lead stand up at the end.

Part of Cobbs's ability to do this sort of stuff is that he's a tremendous athlete with quick feet and a serious vertical. But he's also as tough as old shoe leather, and he knows how to position himself well for rebounds, especially on the weak side. Henry, Robinson, and Lake get all the glory, but T.J. Cobbs has made himself into a really solid CCIW basketball player. And he's only a sophomore, folks.

A microcosm of their season in the first half:  trailing by one they go 5 straight possessions without a shot, 4 TOs and 2 missed FTs.

By the way Gregory, on the broadcast you kept referring to NPU only being 1 game behind NCC but I believe it's 2?  I guess you can make a case for 1 ½ with one win in hand. In any case, it looks like they need to go 3-1 to have a chance.

Yeah, after the game I realized that I had been getting ahead of myself, because I had -- stupid me -- assumed an Augie home victory over a Moten-less NCC team. To which I say, bad on me and %#*@%+ on Augie.

[AndOne]

Greg,

You know you shouldn't ASSume anything about the wacky CCIW.   

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to NPU on their win.  When was the last time NPU beat Wheaton -- must have been some few years.  Greg, please enlighten.

NPU had lost ten straight to Wheaton. And, believe me, I was heartily sick of it. I'm not going to get ahead of myself, but it appears to me that there's a good chance that the pendulum may now be swinging the Park's way in this rivalry.

On the other side, I saw the refs protect Brayden Teuschner and call a biased game against NPU.  I believe he shot too many free throws in the last 10 minutes while accruing zero fouls the entire game, according to the scoreboard.  And NPU defensive specialist, TJ Cobbs, "earned" four fouls while guarding Teuschner.  Henry also got called for fouls while guarding Teuschner.  Wheaton had a grand total of seven fouls the entire game, and Coach Schauer whined too much.  He took off his coat in a fit!  Understanding Wheaton's side on the ejection of Berg, I didn't understand the refs.  The ref immediately raised the X signal after a hammer foul to deter a clear layup...there was no blood or injury.  The refs were absolutely horrible.   (I've got several other anti-Viking examples, but will spare you.)

However, in the waning seconds, I strongly believe the ball went off the Wheaton player.  If my vision is correct, and the play happened directly in front of me, Wheaton would not have had the chance to tie at the end with a trey.  Nevertheless, Teuschner missed his trey attempt and the Vikes won by three.

I'm interested in the steals portion of the box score.  It is possible that Lake and Cobbs will finish 1+2 in conference pay, respectively.  Seems like Henry is also adept at stealing the ball.

Teuscher went to the line 8 times and w/o looking at his season stats, I would guess that's close to his average.  He was pretty much taking it to the rim every time in the last couple mins to bring the team back by getting to the line and I didn't notice any of the fouls being blatant bailout type calls.  And the play in the corner was not really clear on the video blurr.  But of course, I'm not totally objective because I was too busy trying to keep track of the offensive rebounds and 2nd chances Park was getting.

The final foul tally was 16-8, yes- pretty lopsided.  But the Vikes took lots of outside shots against the 2-3 zone that Wheaton utilized pretty much the last 25 mins of the game.  So that could explain some of that.

I have to disagree with Mark, in that I really don't think that the refs were protecting Teuscher. The Wheaton star is simply an intelligent, talented player who understands how to extract fouls from his opponent as well as beat him off the dribble. As for the play with 7.2 seconds left in which Colin Lake knocked the ball out of Jonathan Berntsen's hand out of bounds, it was across the court from both me and the webcast camera, and the angle was such that it was impossible to tell from the broadcast perch whether the ball last touched Lake or Berntsen. I defer to Mark on this, since he was sitting five feet away from the sideline and the play thus took place practically in his lap.

The 2-3 zone that Wheaton used for most of the game does partly explain why NPU only shot four free throws all night (two of them for the Berg flagrant), but not all of it. NPU didn't simply settle for jumpshots, as the Vikings did attack the basket quite a bit as well. The Vikings scored 36 points in the paint, more than half their game total. Perhaps Wheaton should have fouled more often, which brings me back to the statement I made earlier about Michael Berg and about Wheaton's overall team toughness.

Fixed it for you guys. 

It ticks me off to no end that NCC stole that one in the QC, but give credit where credit is due -- that was a very solid win without Moten.

Who in the world knows what's happening with Augie right now. Perhaps sharing a bus in a snowstorm for three hours with a Grey Giovanine who has cartoon steam coming out of his ears because they lost a game to lowly North Park has done bad things to the collective psyche of the Doggies.

Good to see Fritz Larsen tonight but I understand this year is his finale. He has been a very good official in CCIW for many years. If you see him, tell him thanks for all his efforts.

Fritz Larsen deserves more than a mere thanks from IWU fans. They should name a scholarship after him down in Bloomington for all the homer calls he's given the Titans over the decades.

[iwu70]

Oh yes, DI Elon for Tyler Seibring.  Thanks, Q.  Too bad we won't see him in The Shirk for his college play.  A really good player, for sure. 

Thanks for all the explanations and commentary, guys.  Interesting, all good.

The Fritz Larsen Titan Homer Scholarship Award -- sounds about right, Greg.  You provide the money, we'll provide the name, and a future Titan athlete will "benefit."  So it goes . . .

Big, big game at The Shirk Saturday, IWU hosting NCC.  It's gonna be a take no prisoners affair in the paint, some big bodies banging.  The normal keys always there -- limit TOs, rebound the ball, shoot a good percentage, especially from treyland.  The way our guys are playing now, I like the Titans' chances at home.

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

All five Titan losses this season have been on 'enemy' floors.  They are 4-0 on neutral courts and 7-0 at the Shirk.  IF (a very big if) they can continue that, they will win the regular season title, win their first conference tourney title (they are 0-5 in conference final games), and probably host a round or two in the NCAA tourney.  Man, but I'm hoping for some Shirk magic!

No, Greg - this is not a prediction; just a very fond wish!   (And IF this were all to happen, you can even go ahead and win the game at the Crackerbox! )

[augie_superfan]

Some probabilities on the race for the #4 seed:

Chance NPU wins outright:  3.5%
Chance of tiebreaker:          10.9%
Chance NCC wins outright:  85.6%

Given NPU's earlier win vs. NCC, they only need to be within 1 game for the final matchup
(NPU win would take the 2-0 H2H tiebreaker)

Chances NPU 1 game behind for final matchup:  23.4%
Chances NPU/NCC tied for final matchup (winner gets in):  9.4%

[GoPerry]

By contrast, Joel Smith coming up with a mere 2 rebounds (the second one with 18 secs remaining in the game) is just not getting it done. Meanwhile, all 5'-10" of TJ Cobb was collecting 9, 3 offensive.

T.J. Cobbs does not get enough credit, which is probably my fault as NPU's primary CCIW Chat presence. What that kid does on a nightly basis is nothing short of remarkable. Point guards, shooting guards, forwards -- you name 'em, he'll guard 'em, which makes him invaluable on a team that relies upon a lot of switching and which has a very serious size deficiency. He's constantly asked to guard players who are as many as 6 to 8 inches taller than he is -- and he excels at it. For a stretch last night he was actually guarding 6'6, 235 Joel Smith, and Smith didn't even get a single touch in the low post. Part of that was the fault of the Wheaton guards, who failed to ball-reverse well enough to get a clear entry-pass lane, but a lot of that was just Cobbs's doggedness. At one point he fronted Smith, DeMoss tried lobbing the ball over his head to Smith -- and Cobbs leapt up and knocked the ball out of bounds, falling on his back in the process and knocking the wind out of himself. His offensive rebound of a missed Juwan Henry layup in the game's final minute allowed the Vikings to eat up 34 more seconds of clock that went a long way to helping that three-point lead stand up at the end.

Part of Cobbs's ability to do this sort of stuff is that he's a tremendous athlete with quick feet and a serious vertical. But he's also as tough as old shoe leather, and he knows how to position himself well for rebounds, especially on the weak side. Henry, Robinson, and Lake get all the glory, but T.J. Cobbs has made himself into a really solid CCIW basketball player. And he's only a sophomore, folks.

That comment was meant to draw an ironic contrast between 2 very different players and the level of contribution(or lack thereof) they provided in that very important category of rebounding.  It certainly was not meant to diminish the talent and effort of TJ Cobb in his play last night.  I too remember that play down in the left block and the tremendous frustration I felt when a clean entry could not be made to Smith even with Cobb fighting to front him as they swung the ball.

Teuscher went to the line 8 times and w/o looking at his season stats, I would guess that's close to his average.  He was pretty much taking it to the rim every time in the last couple mins to bring the team back by getting to the line and I didn't notice any of the fouls being blatant bailout type calls.  And the play in the corner was not really clear on the video blurr.  But of course, I'm not totally objective because I was too busy trying to keep track of the offensive rebounds and 2nd chances Park was getting.

The final foul tally was 16-8, yes- pretty lopsided.  But the Vikes took lots of outside shots against the 2-3 zone that Wheaton utilized pretty much the last 25 mins of the game.  So that could explain some of that.

I have to disagree with Mark, in that I really don't think that the refs were protecting Teuscher. The Wheaton star is simply an intelligent, talented player who understands how to extract fouls from his opponent as well as beat him off the dribble. As for the play with 7.2 seconds left in which Colin Lake knocked the ball out of Jonathan Berntsen's hand out of bounds, it was across the court from both me and the webcast camera, and the angle was such that it was impossible to tell from the broadcast perch whether the ball last touched Lake or Berntsen. I defer to Mark on this, since he was sitting five feet away from the sideline and the play thus took place practically in his lap.

The 2-3 zone that Wheaton used for most of the game does partly explain why NPU only shot four free throws all night (two of them for the Berg flagrant), but not all of it. NPU didn't simply settle for jumpshots, as the Vikings did attack the basket quite a bit as well. The Vikings scored 36 points in the paint, more than half their game total. Perhaps Wheaton should have fouled more often, which brings me back to the statement I made earlier about Michael Berg and about Wheaton's overall team toughness.

Berg and DeMoss were the only ones carrying some scoring at that point with Teuscher.  So Berg's ejection with 4 mins to go and Wheaton down by 8 (or 9 maybe?)pretty much forced Teuscher to the rack every time and it almost worked.  Having a 3rd offensive option would have helped to say nothing of another rebounder defensively.

I don't think NPU responded well to the zone initially and it seemed to me they did settle for jumpshots and treys.  But halfway thru the 2nd, they started penetrating and attacking it more which led to some easy baskets off some nice dishes and one or two backdoor cuts(even though you're not supposed to get backdoor cuts against a zone- it's called rotation, but I digress).

[markerickson]

Berg drank the orange kool aid before the game as he and one ref "interacted" in the first half.  There was a more serious interaction at the beginning of halftime between the two in a serious 1:1 conversation with no one else on the court.

GoPerry is correct that NPU did not respond well to the 2/3 zone that Wheaton used at the beginning of the second half.  Also true:  this NP ensemble does not seem hesitant about penetration unlike the recent past.

[Gregory Sager]

I don't think NPU responded well to the zone initially and it seemed to me they did settle for jumpshots and treys.  But halfway thru the 2nd, they started penetrating and attacking it more which led to some easy baskets off some nice dishes and one or two backdoor cuts(even though you're not supposed to get backdoor cuts against a zone- it's called rotation, but I digress).

I agree. NPU looked flummoxed against that zone in the first half, which is why I think that the Vikings will see more of it in their final four games. And, as you said, they finally started to figure it out in the second half by swinging the ball around the perimeter more adeptly and by cutting from the weak side to the basket.

The Fritz Larsen Titan Homer Scholarship Award -- sounds about right, Greg.  You provide the money, we'll provide the name, and a future Titan athlete will "benefit."  So it goes . . .

Tell you what, Mark ... you front the rembimbi, or whatever the heck they're calling the Chinese currency these days -- please, don't take this as an invitation for a CCIW Chat lecture on Chinese economics -- for North Park to build a new gym (or to refurbish the old one; I'm not particular), and I'll front the money for Wesleyan's Fritz Larsen Titan Homer Scholarship.

No, Greg - this is not a prediction; just a very fond wish!   (And IF this were all to happen, you can even go ahead and win the game at the Crackerbox! )

I don't plan to suit up and play anytime soon, Chuck. I'm quite happy calling the game from up in the stands.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Good comeback, Greg.  IF we can sweep at the Shirk, you have my blessing to call a win at the Crackerbox on Valentine's Day.  (But if you change your mind and sneak in and take the winning shot, I promise not to tell anyone! )

[iwu70]

Agreed, Greg, you'all surely need a new or renovated gym far more than we need a Fritz Homer award.

It's "renminbi" or Chinese "yuan," my friend -- the global currency of the future.  Get it right! 

Some great games on tap this weekend.  Good luck to NPU. 

IWU'70

[kiko]

Fixed it for you guys. 

It ticks me off to no end that NCC stole that one in the QC, but give credit where credit is due -- that was a very solid win without Moten.

Not to get all anal-retentive, but... fixed this for you again.