MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[titanfan]

North central is in. 

[John Gleich]

Congrats to North Central, beat North Park 82-72. Withstood 34 from Henry, who needed a bit more help than he was able to get. NPU just 5/22 from deep and no other players in double figures.

The North Central broadcasters were pretty hard to listen to. I understand rooting for the home team... it's the home team broadcast, but these guys were broadcasting like they had their chests painted red and they were sitting under the basket.

[kiko]

Wow, first North Central home game I've watched in a long time.

Kudos for having figured out such good video!

Amazingly nice!

Both the replay and the addition of the game clock to the score CG are newish.  Don't think either was there at the beginning of the season.  And as you suggest, they look great!  Some of the incremental improvements to the Hangar are also classing up the joint a bit.

Kudos also to the Cards' broadcast team; I unfortunately haven't internalized their names.  The PBP guy is smooth, and they do a nice job of root root rooting for the home team while also giving the opponent their due.  Lots of (very deserved) healthy respect for Juwan Henry this evening.

[kiko]

Congrats to North Central, beat North Park 82-72. Withstood 34 from Henry, who needed a bit more help than he was able to get. NPU just 5/22 from deep and no other players in double figures.

The North Central broadcasters were pretty hard to listen to. I understand rooting for the home team... it's the home team broadcast, but these guys were broadcasting like they had their chests painted red and they were sitting under the basket.

So I hit post on my note just above this as you did on yours.  Suffice it to say, I strongly disagree with the comments on the broadcast team.  They spent the better part of the first 25 minutes of game time absolutely gushing over Juwan Henry.  (Who deserved every bit of it.)  Then they gave the Cards their due during what was a 23-8 run starting around the 11:30 minute mark.  Which, given the circumstances, was entirely appropriate.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Juwan Henry was absolutely amazing tonight, but he couldn't do it ALL by himself, and seemed to finally run out of gas in the last couple of minutes.  He had 34 points on the night (15 of 20 until the very end), but missed his last two 3s and his last FTs.

Sophomores have to be either utterly beyond the crowd and/or play for the winning team, so I doubt Juwan has any chance at MOP THIS year - but he is my early front-runner for the next two years!  (Greg, are you holding out any hope that he can pull an Ernie Banks and win MVP from a non-contending team?)

[John Gleich]

Congrats to North Central, beat North Park 82-72. Withstood 34 from Henry, who needed a bit more help than he was able to get. NPU just 5/22 from deep and no other players in double figures.

The North Central broadcasters were pretty hard to listen to. I understand rooting for the home team... it's the home team broadcast, but these guys were broadcasting like they had their chests painted red and they were sitting under the basket.

So I hit post on my note just above this as you did on yours.  Suffice it to say, I strongly disagree with the comments on the broadcast team.  They spent the better part of the first 25 minutes of game time absolutely gushing over Juwan Henry.  (Who deserved every bit of it.)  Then they gave the Cards their due during what was a 23-8 run starting around the 11:30 minute mark.  Which, given the circumstances, was entirely appropriate.

Let me reiterate that I found it pretty difficult to listen to. Particularly the commentary when the play was stopped and towards the end of the game. The play by play was pretty well done.

I've watched/listened to NC broadcasts in past years over the last decade and they generally are very good, some of the best I've heard. But the additional commentary wasn't up to par with the play by play.

[Viking Blue]

VERY proud of the effort from the Vikings tonight. Remarkable defensive intensity and poise from such a young, thin core. Unfortunately, it was also clear that the lack of depth hamstrung them in the second half....from a fatigue factor for sure, but the foul trouble really hampered their tenacious guards' ability to swarm as they did early on.

Greg--to your point about them being a favorite to watch---easy to see why after tonight.

I sincerely hope we see everyone back on the roster next year. We'll done Coach Slyder and team...nice to have something to be proud of on the court. It's been a LONG time...

[Viking Blue]

One more thing...easy to be amazed with Juwan Henry, and for good reason. But I was really impressed with TJ Cobb. Very active, very athletic.  Great compliment to Lake and J.H.

[IWUHOOPS89]

Any reason as to why Jordy Nelson didn't play much? Even tho he was hitting his shots when he came in at the end? 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Any reason as to why Jordy Nelson didn't play much? Even tho he was hitting his shots when he came in at the end? 

We won by 30 and you're gonna complain about PT??!!

[mwunder]

So the above statement by Bosko, surmising he can't finish 7th because its never happened before, wasn't, among other things, "outlandish" as I termed it??

Do you really think that Bosko surmised that his team couldn't finish 7th because it had never happened to him before?  That because he's the great and mighty Bosko that he couldn't POSSIBLY finish in 7th place?  That A always follows B?  Or do you think that Bosko thought, AT THE TIME HE MADE THE STATEMENT, that his team was better than a 7th place team?  It's certainly not outlandish for a coach to think he's has a squad that is better than 7th place, is it?

Guess who was right....yeah, the guy with 503 victories.

[Hoosier Titan]

Very interesting night at Shirk--fun from a Titan perspective because of the victory and memorable because of the dedication of the court to Dennie Bridges, retiring after 51 years at IWU. 

Ron Rose put a new starting lineup together tonight:  both big men (Seibring and Marietti), Sodemann, Overstreet, and Dolan were the starters.  Jordan Nelson was on the bench until the 4:00 mark of the second half, and I have no information about that.  There was a lot of talk here over the past week of IWU hoarding players, limiting playing time for bench players, and Brady Rose being favored over other players.  Tonight 15 players are listed on the box score, with 10 of them having 13+ minutes.  Among those are Brian Nelms, formerly the third choice point guard; he played 13 minutes and registered 5 assists along with 3 points.  Before the game I was wondering if he would get playing time next year; now, I have no doubt.  Rose scored a career-high 13, Overstreet had 8 assists, and Sodemann led the scoring with 18.  Overall the Titans had an A/T ratio of 25/4--it doesn't get much better than that.

As others have mentioned, IWU has a JV team while many other schools do not.  Most of the JV players are first-years and sophomores.  I've known, and known of, quite a few IWU students who came with an interest in playing basketball.  Some are able to handle both athletics and academics, and some, after giving it a shot, make the choice to focus on academics.  I know of none who felt misled about their prospects.

I'm sorry not to have North Park in the CCIW tournament.  I think Juwan Henry is the most exciting player in the conference by a wide margin, and I look forward to seeing him next year. 

[toooldtohoop]

Wheaton did not pack it in tonight.  They ran into an Augie team that just hit on all cylinders.  If Augie can keep up this level of play, they are going to have a lot of fun in the post season.

I was particularly impressed with how hard Ryan played tonight.

Tough year for the Thunder.  Grateful for our seniors.  We will miss their leadership and effort.

Best of luck to any CCIW teams that get the invitation.  Make our conference proud!

[bbfan44]

Following the OT win last night in Decatur: 

"This game does not get played like this in most NCAA Division III conferences," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic.  "This was two teams playing for pride, and it was as competitive and as physical a game as you can imagine.  We're thrilled to win this one.  We're proud to be a part of this league, and I'm proud of how our guys finished the season.  It was weird season, and there was no way to predict what the league scores were going to be, night in and night out.  The league was really good this year, top to bottom.  We have some good players, and I know we'll be significantly better next year.  There's no guarantee of that unless we do a better job of recruiting.  We were just under-manned this year, and that's on me.  We have to have an exceptional recruiting class this year, and I have no doubt that we will."

[bbfan44]

I think he is right in that it was a really weird season with regard to guessing what team was going to win on a given night.  Glad I don't bet on games.  Here's hoping that he gets out on the road and does a little more successful recruiting for next year.