MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

Henry and Robinson accounted for 56/72 Viking points last night.  No other player had more than six, according to the NPU website.  Biko fouled out in eight minutes.  I don't ever recall seeing those kind of stats.

Perhaps Biko was sent into the game with instructions, either expressly stated or implied, TO foul? 
If not, perhaps with a little extra work in practice, he can become a foul a minute man rather than having to use a whole 20% of the game to manage to have himself disqualified. 

[Gotberg]

As for your second question, I expect most of the minutes to go to Juwan Henry (duh), Jordan Robinson (duh, again), Colin Lake (yet another duh), and newcomer Brandon Berry -- with generous portions of clock ladled out as well to T.J. Cobbs, Michael Hutchinson, Kylee Beheler, Matt McNamara, and perhaps one or two others, with a surprise special guest star waiting in the wings.

*Red and black---I don't understand what you did. I believe the above quote was previously the work of Greg Sager, but it looks like you are the author from the way you have arranged things. ?

Based off of the minutes from last night I did not notice new names. Did I miss something?  There has been a player removed from the roster. Is this guest star now waiting for semester?

Obviously, Brandon Berry has elected not to join the NPU squad despite GS previously projecting him as a likely starter or at least a major player.
Beheler is on the roster, but didn't see action in the first game despite GS's prognostication that he would/will see a "generous portion of clock."
It would be nice if the identity of the "surprise special guest star" could be revealed. Perhaps keeping his identity a secret is a matter of national security.   

The only freshman that I had seen on the NPU roster, but not on a recruiting list was James Stonikas.  He was taken off the roster last week.  Based on videos of him available on the net, it looks like he would have been a huge contributor.

(modified by GS for formatting)

[AndOne]

Gotberg,

Perhaps, then, Stonikas was the designated "secret weapon" of whom Greg spoke.
However, if so, maybe NPU doesn't need any secret weapons. After all, they have a couple of atomic weapons in Juwan Henry and Jordan Robinson, neither of whom is much of a secret.
Additionally, armed with only its known weapons, NPU won a very nice victory over the pre-season #17 ranked team in the country, so a job well done without the aid of any secrets.
I'm sure the NPU coaching staff would like a more even distribution of scoring, but a W is a W, and NPU certainly got a nice one to open the season.

[Gregory Sager]

I feel like the janitor in here today. I've swept up the formatting mess you guys created. Now, on to addressing the actual content of your posts :

* Neither Brandon Berry nor James Stonikas are Vikings anymore. There's no beating around the bush here on my part. I am completely candid in saying that those are two very serious losses. Berry had the chance to be a very good CCIW player somewhere down the road (although he looked terrible in both preseason scrimmages, and Pete McBride can at least attest to how Berry looked in the Lakeland @ NPU scrimmage). Stonikas, who was pursued by D2 programs while he was prepping at Springfield Calvary, could've been not a very good CCIW player, but a great one. Neither one panned out, so it's water under the bridge. Such is life at the D3 level, where nobody is forced by a legal contract to play college basketball.

* Going back to Red and Black's original post, there was a new name on the floor for the Vikings on Saturday night: Armahn Mooring, a juco transfer from Seton HS and Olive Harvey. He's a 6'2 wing with nice athleticism and length who will be a role player off the bench ... and, I hope, an effective one.

* Yes, Joe Biko fouled out in eight minutes on Saturday night. It's a dubious stat line, but I've seen players foul out faster than he did on more than one occasion. Again, I'm not hiding anything. I said this in my recap yesterday:

As I said, the Vikings were far from perfect last night; the post defense was terrible, and the defensive rebounding needs more concerted effort.

(Emphasis added.)

I don't usually salt my postgame comments with terms as strong as "terrible" to describe the Vikings, even when it's apt. After all, I'm their broadcaster, and I have to deal with those guys (and their parents ), so a little politesse goes a long way. But their performance Saturday night defending the Maroons down in the blocks was so poor that it merited (if that's the right way to describe it) the term "terrible". Tom Slyder used stronger language than that to describe it after the game. Biko falls into that category, but he's not the only Viking who was called upon to guard a Chicago big who had his back to the basket, so he's not the only Viking who got thrown under the bus in the post-game comments.

* No, Kylee Beheler didn't play. He had not progressed in preseason practice to the point where he merited varsity minutes at center. Perhaps NPU's aforementioned defensive woes in the low post on Saturday will garner Beheler that varsity playing time.

* As for this:

Henry and Robinson accounted for 56/72 Viking points last night.  No other player had more than six, according to the NPU website.  Biko fouled out in eight minutes.  I don't ever recall seeing those kind of stats.

Gee, Mark, are you auditioning for Scrooge in a local production of A Christmas Carol somewhere?  I mean, c'mon! The Vikings beat a team that was ranked 17th in the d3hoops.com preseason poll, in case you didn't hear it the umpteen times I mentioned it on the air on Saturday night. This is a reason for all of us Vikings fans to celebrate! Why are you examining a complementary equine in the oral cavity?

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the other Mark -- well, the Mark who roots for North Central, not the Mark who roots for Illinois Wesleyan or the Mark who roots for Carthage  --  is actually a lot more positive about the Vikings' performance than you were:

maybe NPU doesn't need any secret weapons. After all, they have a couple of atomic weapons in Juwan Henry and Jordan Robinson, neither of whom is much of a secret.
Additionally, armed with only its known weapons, NPU won a very nice victory over the pre-season #17 ranked team in the country, so a job well done without the aid of any secrets.
I'm sure the NPU coaching staff would like a more even distribution of scoring, but a W is a W, and NPU certainly got a nice one to open the season.

* And now, in an attempt to cut through all of the post-victory buzzkill, congrats to Juwan Henry upon winning the first of what I hope will be a truckload of 2015-16 CCIW Player of the Week awards.

[Gregory Sager]

Ugly.  The only times the refs swallowed their whistles was when Lucas Johnson and Trevor Sebring both had four fouls.  The only flow to this game was trips to the free throw line and/or the bench with foul trouble.

Blame it upon the dreaded "point of emphasis" of the NCAA this year. Officials have been instructed to aggressively call hand-checking fouls, the reasoning being that offensive players should not be impeded when they have a clear path from Point A to Point B. Fans want to see more offense, or so the NCAA says, so let's give it to them. If that offense turns out to be in the form of more free throws, well ... blame it on the players and coaches for not adjusting. Or so goes the thought process behind this.

The NCAA did the same thing three or four years ago (D-Mac, you're up on this stuff; when was the NCAA's most recent foray into policing hand-checking more strictly?), and for the first couple of weeks of the season a lot of games (not all of them) saw a rash of trips to the line and players fouling out. Then the officials got into their usual habits, and the games more or less reverted to the way that they'd always been called.

FWIW, the UC @ NPU game didn't appear to be more closely called than the previous norm ... and the refs (James O'Boye, Andy Bole, and Terry Murphy) were a veteran crew. I'd be interested in hearing how the other CCIW games on opening weekend were called. I watched most of the UWL @ Augie game and a huge chunk of the Iowa Wesleyan @ Carthage game, and I didn't really notice anything different.

[AndOne]

Another point of emphasis this year seems to be returning to the floor on a timely basis following a timeout. I think you are going to see the refs have a short fuse with delays of more than a few seconds. They might relax a bit as the season progresses, but initially they are going to give little leeway. Don't be surprised to see a T or two called if a team even slightly exceeds a ref's expectations about how long it should take to break the huddle.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Hand-checking and cutting off the offensive players has been a point of emphasis at least the last two years that I remember well. Two years ago they started cracking down on the simple hand check and I think it was last season they started cutting down on defenders coming over late from help defense or from a help position and cutting off the path to the basket if the offensive player had already started in that direction.

Now, it's different in different parts of the country, but I have found that refs in the last few years have actually stuck to the points of emphasis far more during the entire season than in the past. I remember about four years ago there was an effort to open up post play a bit more, but it was completely half-hearted and by Christmas we were right back to square one. Many refs have told me they are more focused on those rules because the message from the NCAA, and honestly coaches, is to drive these rules home no matter if players are going to be in a little more trouble early on in the season. Just as players and coaches have to adjust each game to different refs and call styles, they have to adjust to these points of emphasis.


And coaches are behind this. Of course they are the ones on the rules committee(s) in the first place. I have talked to quite a few coaches both on Hoopsville and off, and they are telling me that they agree with the points of emphasis. Even they want to get the game back to a freer flowing one than the rugby style it has started to slide towards.

Another point of emphasis this year seems to be returning to the floor on a timely basis following a timeout. I think you are going to see the refs have a short fuse with delays of more than a few seconds. They might relax a bit as the season progresses, but initially they are going to give little leeway. Don't be surprised to see a T or two called if a team even slightly exceeds a ref's expectations about how long it should take to break the huddle.

Absolutely this is a big one as well. It's part of improving the pace of play. Don't be surprised to see Ts or five-second counts as a result.

[iwu70]

I was also watching the IWU - BU game last Saturday.  I share Q's view about the importance of not having Marietti as yet.  Esp. so as Seibring had early foul trouble.  As has been mentioned, this game had no flow at all, very ragged and surely almost a record of fouls called.  Ugly. Not a kind of up-and-down flow that usually gets the Titans open 3s on pushing the ball up the court.  Things will change when Seibring and Marietti are on the floor together, in certain circumstances, and when both are available, one or the other in the line up, for strong post, rebounding presence.  I'm of the view, unlike my Titan comrades, that Bausch should be starting over Coyle -- as he produces more hustle plays and is a better scorer and reboundig, IMHO.  And, for the life of me, I can't see why Joel Pennington is not starting.  My preferred starting line up right now would be Dolan, Pennington, Stempel, Bausch and Seibring . . . and maybe later:  Sebring, Marietti, Basuch, Dolan and Pennington.  Andy Stempel did not have a strong game the other night, nor did Brady Rose.  I know these are all Coach Rose's decisions and one game does not a starting line up make.  But, that's my view and I'm stick'n to it.  We'll learn more tomorrow night vs. Greenville -- 7 p.m. @The Shirk.

Tough loss on a buzzer beater bizarre off the hip toss of a shot.  You just gotta shake your head and move on.  BU played the TITANS tough, made their opportunity to stay close enough and took their chance to win the game, even on a lucky lucky put back. 

Interesting use by Coach Rose of Spencer Seibring in defensive situations, and using a 2-3 zone at points as well.  Can't imagine that he will use this too too much down the road, as both Nelms and S. Seibring have yet to prove they can contribute very much on the offensive end.  Time will tell.

IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

Another point of emphasis this year seems to be returning to the floor on a timely basis following a timeout. I think you are going to see the refs have a short fuse with delays of more than a few seconds. They might relax a bit as the season progresses, but initially they are going to give little leeway. Don't be surprised to see a T or two called if a team even slightly exceeds a ref's expectations about how long it should take to break the huddle.

Absolutely this is a big one as well. It's part of improving the pace of play. Don't be surprised to see Ts or five-second counts as a result.

When the refs were informed that NPU center Joe Biko had fouled out on Saturday night, head official Jim O'Boye immediately went over to the scorer's table and told our clock operator to sound the horn, put fifteen seconds on the clock, and start it. It's plain to see that there will be no more dilly-dallying following player disqualifications, either.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

And don't be surprised that in a few years... this rule will simply turn into a "he's disqualified, I need your sub now." Many coaches are starting to agree that the "free timeout" isn't flying anymore especially considering I have yet to have a coach disagree with the point no coach is caught unaware a player already has four fouls on the floor.

[AndOne]

IF a head coach IS caught unaware that a player on the floor already has four fouls, one of the assistant coaches is gonna be in BIG trouble. 

[Gregory Sager]

Again in the interest of keeping everybody caught up on how the league's teams are opening up their seasons, Elmhurst beat Curry last night in the 2015-16 debut for the 'jays out in suburban Boston, 83-61. It wasn't as close as the final score indicated, as the 'jays were up by 35 when John Baines emptied his bench with seven minutes to go. He ended up playing 16 players in the contest.

[Gregory Sager]

Tonight's games:

Greenville (0-0) @ Illinois Wesleyan (0-1), 7 pm
Wheaton (1-0) @ Benedictine (1-0), 8 pm

[GoPerry]

Tonight's games:

Greenville (0-0) @ Illinois Wesleyan (0-1), 7 pm
Wheaton (1-0) @ Benedictine (1-0), 8 pm

I'll be very interested to see how the Thunder face Benedictine tonight.  No doubt they will have their hands full unless they can shoot 56% from the field again like Saturday @ Franklin.  Jonathan Berntsen and Michael Berg shot a combined 17-20 and Berg pulled down 16 rebounds.  6'6" newcomer Trae Masten started and had a nice game scoring with 12 pts, all from the arc, but shut out on the glass.  Not sure why Joel Smith played so little on Saturday; injury I would guess.  Would like to see him healthy as we need all the size we can muster.

Even so, Wheaton has nobody who can counter the height of a 6'9" Luke Johnson.  Lack of inside presence will be the challenge just like last year. 

Interestingly, this will be the 2nd of 3 lead off games vs CCIW opponents for BU. They go to Elmhurst next week and NCC, Carthage later in the year.  I agree with others that they are pretty strong with an active Luke Johnson.  I thought they were very tough last year vs Wheaton.  Wheaton won the game but Michael Blaszczyk countered Teuscher shot for shot and had an impressive game. 

[titanfan]

IWU up on Greenville at the half, 78-54