MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwumichigander]

Home from Milwaukee, a trip made more tolerable listening to "An American Trilogy" by EP. 3 questions (remember humor soothes a troubled mind): 1) Is it too early for my wife and I to cancel our March reservations at the Hotel Roanoke? 2) What will be IWU's road record, currently 0-3, after 7 league games? 3) Is it too late to make hotel reservations in Mesa for the 3rd week in March? Have a glorious New Year Chat posters!

1) Yes 2) ? - 3+  And 3) No

[Titan Q]

Illinois Wesleyan (6-5, 0-0) at Elmhurst  (10-1, 0-0), 4:00pm

Illinois Wesleyan (6-5, 0-0)
G - Joel Pennington, 6-0/180 Sr.  (8.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 3.0 rpg)
G - Bryce Dolan, 6-1/165 Sr.  (16.0 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 3.3 apg)
G - Andy Stempel, 6-4/192 Jr.  (9.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.7 apg)
F - Ryan Coyle, 6-6/210 Sr.  (8.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg)
F - Trevor Seibring, 6-8/235 Jr.  (16.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg)

Elmhurst (10-1, 0-0)
G - Pat Coleman, 6-2/195 Sr.  (7.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.4 apg)
G - Kyle Wuest, 6-1/175 Sr.  (16.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.0 apg)
G - Bryant Ackerman, 6-2/205 Sr.  (11.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.0 apg)
F - Erik Crittenden, 6-7/215 Sr.  (13.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
C - Will Nixon, 6-7/210 Sr.  (8.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg)


Pantagraph - http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/iwu-opens-cciw-slate-at-elmhurst/article_dc0575d9-1d23-5351-abbd-bb3c71fe3076.html

Live Video - http://www.bluejaytv.com

Live Stats - http://www.sidearmstats.com/elmhurst/mbball/

WJBC Radio - http://portal.stretchinternet.com/wjbc/

[AndOne]

The above listed starters for both Elmhurst and IWU each average a combined 58.5 PPG.
Looks like the outcome may well be decided by who has the better bench, and which coach pushes the right buttons at the right times with regard to substitution patterns/matchups.

[Gregory Sager]

Current Massey:

    1. Augustana
    7. Elmhurst
  15. North Central
  42. North Park*
  61. Illinois Wesleyan
149. Millikin
153. Wheaton
160. Carthage

(*NPU's Massey rating is off, because it doesn't record the win on Wednesday over #58 Albion. I e-mailed Ken about it, but he hasn't corrected it yet. I suspect that he's a very, very busy man.)

[AndOne]

Big CCIW game in beautiful downtown Naperville tonight as NCC welcomes  NPU and its dynamic duo of Robinson and Henry to The Hangar. In order to register a W the Cards will have to hold at least one of the NPU stars in check, or relatively so. If both are allowed to go off, the hosts could be in for a long evening. While North Park features the explosive scoring potential of the two aforementioned stars, they also have very talented support in the form of Colin Lake who can deliver daggers of his own should the Cards sluff off him to lend help on Robinson or Henry. The Cards are a talented group of largely new faces who are still learning to play together. They come in at 7-4 with wins over the, at the time, #7 and # 9 teams in the country, an ORV team, and a NAIA #15 team that featured a plethora of players who appeared to be in their mid twenties. One problem area has been closing out/finishing as three out of their four losses are by 3 points to a good Aurora team, by 2 points to 11-0 and current #7 Benedictine, and by 1 point to Alma. Close, but no cigar.
NCC needs to remember that much of their success to date has stemmed from playing good defense, which they need to do for a full 40 minutes. They also need to exploit their advantage in the middle, and their bench strength/depth.

[Gotberg]

Big CCIW game in beautiful downtown Naperville tonight as NCC welcomes  NPU and its dynamic duo of Robinson and Henry to The Hangar. In order to register a W the Cards will have to hold at least one of the NPU stars in check, or relatively so. If both are allowed to go off, the hosts could be in for a long evening. While North Park features the explosive scoring potential of the two aforementioned stars, they also have very talented support in the form of Colin Lake who can deliver daggers of his own should the Cards sluff off him to lend help on Robinson or Henry. The Cards are a talented group of largely new faces who are still learning to play together. They come in at 7-4 with wins over the, at the time, #7 and # 9 teams in the country, an ORV team, and a NAIA #15 team that featured a plethora of players who appeared to be in their mid twenties. One problem area has been closing out/finishing as three out of their four losses are by 3 points to a good Aurora team, by 2 points to 11-0 and current #7 Benedictine, and by 1 point to Alma. Close, but no cigar.
NCC needs to remember that much of their success to date has stemmed from playing good defense, which they need to do for a full 40 minutes. They also need to exploit their advantage in the middle, and their bench strength/depth.

In town for the game, looking forward to it.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Big CCIW game in beautiful downtown Naperville tonight as NCC welcomes  NPU and its dynamic duo of Robinson and Henry to The Hangar. In order to register a W the Cards will have to hold at least one of the NPU stars in check, or relatively so. If both are allowed to go off, the hosts could be in for a long evening. While North Park features the explosive scoring potential of the two aforementioned stars, they also have very talented support in the form of Colin Lake who can deliver daggers of his own should the Cards sluff off him to lend help on Robinson or Henry. The Cards are a talented group of largely new faces who are still learning to play together. They come in at 7-4 with wins over the, at the time, #7 and # 9 teams in the country, an ORV team, and a NAIA #15 team that featured a plethora of players who appeared to be in their mid twenties. One problem area has been closing out/finishing as three out of their four losses are by 3 points to a good Aurora team, by 2 points to 11-0 and current #7 Benedictine, and by 1 point to Alma. Close, but no cigar.
NCC needs to remember that much of their success to date has stemmed from playing good defense, which they need to do for a full 40 minutes. They also need to exploit their advantage in the middle, and their bench strength/depth.

Having that talented third option can be critically important, as this still disappointed Titan fan (1970 was my senior year) can attest.  Way back in the 1970 NAIA national tourney, we met Kentucky State in the first round (who were about to begin a three year run of national titles).  We pretty well shut down BOTH their All-Americans, the scorer Travis "Machine Gun" Grant and the rebounding machine Elmore Smith (both of whom played in the NBA) - only to get beat by a guy few of us fans had ever heard of, Bill Graham.   (With a name like that, why was he at Kentucky State rather than Wheaton? )

[Mr. Ypsi]

IWU gave it a valiant effort - led a few times early (last lead I believe was 22-21), trailed only by single digits most of the game, but the Jays pulled away late to win 78-64.  IWU is clearly missing Rose and Marietti, but Elmhurst would have probably still been better, especially at their place.  I have a feeling most, if not all, visitors are going to think of that facility in Elmhurst as the Faganel Hall of Horrors!

[kiko]

Aside from their obvious talent, one of the big reasons I expect Elmhurst to win 10+ conference games and perform better than their ranking/seed come tournament time is this:

Elmhurst (10-1, 0-0)
G - Pat Coleman, 6-2/195 Sr.  (7.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.4 apg)
G - Kyle Wuest, 6-1/175 Sr.  (16.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.0 apg)
G - Bryant Ackerman, 6-2/205 Sr.  (11.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.0 apg)
F - Erik Crittenden, 6-7/215 Sr.  (13.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
C - Will Nixon, 6-7/210 Sr.  (8.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg)

That experience will pay huge dividends for the Jays this year.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Aside from their obvious talent, one of the big reasons I expect Elmhurst to win 10+ conference games and perform better than their ranking/seed come tournament time is this:

Elmhurst (10-1, 0-0)
G - Pat Coleman, 6-2/195 Sr.  (7.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.4 apg)
G - Kyle Wuest, 6-1/175 Sr.  (16.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.0 apg)
G - Bryant Ackerman, 6-2/205 Sr.  (11.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.0 apg)
F - Erik Crittenden, 6-7/215 Sr.  (13.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
C - Will Nixon, 6-7/210 Sr.  (8.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg)

That experience will pay huge dividends for the Jays this year.

So, can we count on them to compete for the bottom next year?!

[kiko]

Today's scoreboard:

Elmhurst 78, Illinois Wesleyan 64 at Faganel
Augustana 72, Wheaton 68 at Carver
Carthage 74, Millikin 71 in Cheeselandia
North Central 76, North Park 64 at the Hangar

[markerickson]

Greg said, "North Park is far from being a shoo-in for a CCIW tourney spot. I think it's a middle-of-the-pack team that's got a decent shot at fourth place (or, knock on wood, third place)."

I agree with Greg.

[GoPerry]

Tonight in the hangar, I saw a North Central team that really picked up it's game and came prepared to shut down North Park.  They used their size advantage well in dominating Park on the glass by (gulp) 24, 51-27.  The Vikings had no answer to Alex Sorenson who just dominated basically everything offensively(24-14) and defensively(6 blocks).  Even so, NPU had a chance to take their first lead with about 10 mins left and down 47-46 but Henry or Robinson didn't even touch the ball as Colin Lake took a pretty quick shot and missed.  NCC then went on a 12-2 run and that was pretty much it.

Jordan Robinson and Juwan Henry are superior talents no doubt.  But one wonders how much size can you give up and still be successful on such talent alone?  At 5'10", Juwan Henry will do as good a job of anyone in giving away 7 inches to guard Conor Raridon, but it's still 7 inches.  Similar matchup problems at all positions practically.

[iwu70]

Wheaton sure gave Augie almost all it could handle, leading in the last 2-3 minutes, before going down by four.  A very close game.

IWU70

[Titan Q]

Elmhurst 78
IWU 64

* Kyle Wuest: 19 pts, 7 reb, 4 assists
* Will Nixon: 17 pts, 10 reb
* Bryant Ackerman: 15 pts, 3 reb, 5 assists

* Bryce Dolan: 17 pts (4-8 3-point)
* Trevor Seibring: 13 pts, 7 reb, 5 assists
* Joel Pennington: 11 pts, 4 reb

http://www.iwusports.com/boxscore.aspx?id=3484&path=


I thought IWU played pretty well at #6-Elmhurst all things considered.  This was about a 7-point game on average.  IWU trailed 61-55 with 5:44 to play, but Elmhurst closed it out from there.

Three keys from my perspective in this one:

1) Elmhurst made shots.  The Bluejays were 9-20 (45%) from 3, led by Kyle Wuest (3-5), Bryant Ackerman (3-6), and Peyton Wyatt (2-3). 

2) Elmhurst, one of the best rebounding teams in the country, out-rebounded IWU by 9. The Bluejays got big rebounding totals from both posts and perimeter players - Nixon (10), Wuest (7), Schwebke (7), Coleman (6).  Dominating the boards helped Elmhurst created separation at the end of the 1st half.  IWU led 22-21 with 6:14 to play, but trailed 41-34 heading into the locker room.  The Bluejays held a 7-rebound advantage in the 1st.

3) Elmhurst's size at athleticism at the 4/5 spots.  The Bluejays are the biggest team in the league and present all kinds of problems on both ends of the floor with Will Nixon (6-7/210), Erik Crittenden (6-7/215), Kenny Payonk (6-6/225), and Jalen Loving (6-6/190).  Elmhurst made it very difficult on Trevor Seibring and IWU's posts yesterday.


Elmhurst is a very talented and deep team without any holes.  Their perimeter is outstanding, their posts are big and athletic, they are well coached.  I'm very interested to see how the Augie @ Elmhurst game Wednesday plays out.  If the Bluejays are going to challenge Augie, they have to win that game.

IWU hosts Wheaton Wednesday.