MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I agree with all but the last one... I think it depends on the rest of the country, so I wouldn't want to assume they are safe... but I think most of that is a very fair take on it.

[havej]

General flavor on the Bosko / Henry riff is that Bosko is in the wrong.  Not going to take sides because who cares what another poster thinks?

Haven't seen where anyone is making any noise about attempting a 3 point shot at the buzzer with your team up 7 - from where I come from that is not only disrespecting the game but the entire Carthage squad.

This type of stuff starts beanball wars in baseball - an extreme bat flip while admiring a bomb gets you nailed in the ribs on your next AB.

Mr. Henry's next "AB" took place at the all conference selection meeting.

If that happened and I was the NPU coach, I would have had Mr Henry apologize to the opposing coach afterwards - many of you may laugh at that but what comes around goes around in this game.

At the end of the day a fantastic player made a bad decision in just a split second - not a big deal, nobody got hurt.

But maybe Mr Henry learned a life lesson - disrespecting someone may have consequences.

[WUPHF]

Haven't seen where anyone is making any noise about attempting a 3 point shot at the buzzer with your team up 7 - from where I come from that is not only disrespecting the game but the entire Carthage squad.

There was lots of noise at the time.

I think I was the only one who defended Henry at the time.  Way overblown in my mind.

[havej]

Thanks WUH - just started reading again so missed the posts when it happened

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The final days of the regular season are here. Results of games across the country are affecting other teams not even playing. How will it all shake out and how does one result affect another?

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[AppletonRocks]

The accolade is most outstanding player, not most valuable.  Clearly, Mr. Henry was the most outstanding player in the league.  How many times did a player score more than 30 points in a CCIW contest?  35?  40?  45?  Games with more than 20?  To theorize that Bosko withheld his vote because Henry tried to score 50 (!) astounds me.  If you had more games when you scored more than 20 points than any other league player (besides your teammate....don't know those numbers offhand) and you were approaching 50 in a game, then you are clearly the most OUTSTANDING player.  Keep in mind that Henry had a very good APG stat.  He also rebounded.  The concept of "valuable" comes into play when you consider your team's overall performance, IMHO.

Well, you'll certainly get no argument from me on any of this, of course. But I need to point out to you that Bosko's withholding of his vote for Juwan for first team is not a theory. It's a fact. Also, Bosko's snub really had less to do with why Juwan attempted that final shot (in order to reach 50 points for the game) than it did with when he attempted it (in the final seconds of an already-decided game, in which Carthage had ceased to defend).

Hold on. So you're saying Bosko did not care that Henry TOOK the shot. But he did care WHEN the shot was taken.
If so, its hard to comprehend Bosko's thinking when you consider that you can't score 50 until you have at least 47. 
As such, it seems logical that if Bosko really didn't care THAT the shot was taken, its also true that he really didn't care WHEN it was taken!
Accordingly, it appears Bosko really doesn't know why he didn't vote for Henry for 1st team.   

Bosko was just upset that he ran out of conditioner that morning and Mrs. Bosko didn't have any in inventory

[Gregory Sager]

I am not going to parse words, Greg.

I'm not sure why you'd have to parse words, Mark. I simply pointed out that Bosko's snub of Juwan is not a theory; it is a fact.

Juwan may have also finished second in steals in the conference behind fellow Viking, TJ Cobbs.  More fuel to the fire.

He did, in both the overall and CCIW-only statistics.

Hold on. So you're saying Bosko did not care that Henry TOOK the shot. But he did care WHEN the shot was taken.
If so, its hard to comprehend Bosko's thinking when you consider that you can't score 50 until you have at least 47. 
As such, it seems logical that if Bosko really didn't care THAT the shot was taken, its also true that he really didn't care WHEN it was taken!
Accordingly, it appears Bosko really doesn't know why he didn't vote for Henry for 1st team.   

Huh?

Mark, I'm not sure why this is so difficult to comprehend:

1. North Park led Carthage by seven in the game's waning moments.
2. Juwan Henry had already scored 47 points.
3. With 13 seconds left on the game clock, Carthage's Mike Leazer missed a trey attempt. The ball was rebounded by NPU's Armahn Mooring.
4. The Carthage coaches instructed the Red Men not to foul, which is the customary indication that the losing team is conceding the game.
5. In dribbling out the clock, Mooring advanced the ball into the forecourt.
6. None of the Red Men followed the Vikings across the midcourt line.
7. Mooring passed the ball to Juwan Henry.
8. With nobody from either team anywhere near him, Henry lined up at the top of the key and attempted a trey with one second remaining. He missed.

I know Bosko well enough to be certain that he didn't care one bit whether an opposing player scored 50 points against his team or 47, as long as those three points didn't alter the outcome of the game. What he did care about was: a) his Red Men had just lost a hard-fought overtime contest after playing probably their best game of the season (his quote in Steve Marovich's gamer was, "I can't remember too many losses that hurt as much as this one"); and b) Juwan Henry had, as havej put it, disrespected both the game itself and the Red Men in particular by violating the unwritten rule of sportsmanship that you don't attempt to score after the other team has made a de facto concession of defeat at the end of the game and has ceased to play defense.

If it was a player on any other school than North Park, would Bosko have chosen to make this principled stance?

Yes, I think he would have. He's made his peace with his alma mater, or at least he had prior to January 27. In the gamer for the Carthage @ Wheaton game four days prior to the CC @ NPU contest, Bosko said this in previewing the next game:

"North Park is probably playing as well as anyone in the league, "said Djurickovic.  "That's exciting stuff for them, and they're my second-favorite team.  How many places name a court after you?  I hope they win every game they play, except when they play us."

Moving right along ...

If that happened and I was the NPU coach, I would have had Mr Henry apologize to the opposing coach afterwards - many of you may laugh at that but what comes around goes around in this game.

In the postgame handshake line, as Bosko was haranguing Tom Slyder over Juwan's unsportsmanlike action, Tom kept repeating, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it." Bosko didn't want to hear it.

Tom did the right thing in dealing with it himself. By telling Bosko that he would administer discipline to his player he took responsibility for the situation, and the book therefore should have been closed on the issue. I recall something similar happening after Hope's recent win over Alma, in which a Hope player dunked the ball at the final buzzer after the outcome was no longer in doubt. Hope's Coach Mitchell obviously gave the player a dressing-down afterwards, and he then reiterated in the postgame video interview that the player had made a mistake (the player was sitting right next to him at the interview table, BTW).

This sort of in-house treatment of a sportsmanship infraction is the proper way to handle things, IMO. When an opposing coach tells you that he will deal with a problem with one of his erring players, you have to accept that he will do so, and move on. Otherwise, you're indirectly challenging either that coach's integrity or his ability to control his team, or both. Bosko was unwilling to let Tom's declaration that he would discipline Juwan be the end of the matter, which to me is as disappointing as his actual refusal to vote for Juwan.

Greg: I've seen Juwan play 4 games in two years and saw Mike Barach play 5 games in two years (all 9 of course against IWU) and if I had to pick a team I would take Mike Barach in a heartbeat over Henry.

It's an interesting comparison, but I'd say that Barach and Henry are apples and oranges. They're really two different kinds of players. Barach was strictly a shooting guard, Henry's a combo guard. Barach had the luxury of playing with the best big man in the league (6'8 Michael Starks) as well as an awfully good center (6'8 Dan Mulkerin). Henry has to stretch himself into taking on more rebounding and ball-handling duties than Barach ever did, because his team's so much smaller and more limited than Barach's NPC teams were. I'm not badmouthing Mike Barach, who was one of the most sensational players I've ever seen in this league. I'm just saying that he and Juwan Henry are very, very different players.

Yes Henry is unguardable and his quickness makes him a good defender and decent rebounder. But he seemed disinterested and passive in the first 30 minutes of the Shirk contest, the biggest game NPU had played in what, 15 years?

It was the biggest game NPU had played in four days, Lanny, not 15 years. And it was surpassed a week later, as the NCC @ NPU game therefore became the biggest game that the Vikings had played.

Juwan's got several different gears. One of the secrets to his game is that he doesn't look like he's going all-out all of the time, which can lull an opponent to sleep. He's not like Jordan Robinson in that respect, since Robinson's clearly got a motor that never stops.

He scored most of his points after IWU had a 21 point lead. Maybe he was ill, had a headache, didn't sleep well the night before. Henry is a great talent, no doubt. But he wasn't great on Feb. 13.

He certainly wasn't. But there were a number of games this year in which he wasn't great. He had played worse in the home loss to Millikin the week before, and he was horrifically bad in the home debacle against Augustana and in the early-season loss at Alma. It happens. As I've said before, he's not Superman. He has off nights. I can't remember too many college basketball players who never had off nights.

But you know what? He's still the best player in the league. And I'm pretty darned happy that he plays for my alma mater.

[Titan Q]

Illinois Wesleyan has won on the road at #1 four times in the last 10 seasons...

* January 21, 2015 @ Augustana, 89-84

* March 3, 2012 @ Hope, 108-102 2OT

* March 6, 2010 @ Washington U, 75-70

* March 10, 2006 @ Lawrence, 71-68


The Titans will have to make it five tomorrow to extend their season.

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/iwu-heads-to-tournament-as-underdog/article_7c4db13b-3a0d-5726-a912-54ba3bdac517.html

[Mr. Ypsi]

Sad to see that Marietti will definitely not play, and his career is over.  If Mike and Brady could have stayed healthy, IWU might have been right in the mix at the top.  Now I think it would take a near miracle to keep the season alive, but I was in Holland in 2012, so I know 'near miracles' CAN occur.  Both John Koschnitzky and Jordan Zimmer were in such obvious pain that they probably should have been at the nearest ER rather than at The DeVos, yet they (especially Jordan) TOTALLY took over the second OT.  Arguably the best game I have ever seen in person (and certainly the bravest).

[Titan Q]

Illinois Wesleyan (13-12, 7-7) at #1-Augustana (24-1, 13-1), 7:00pm...

Illinois Wesleyan (13-12, 7-7)
G - Brian Nelms, 5-11/170 Sr.  (2.0 ppg, 0.7 rpg, 1.3 apg)
G - Joel Pennington, 6-0/180 Sr.  (9.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.9 rpg)
G - Colin Bonnett, 6-3/195 Fr.  (6.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.1 apg)
F - Ryan Coyle, 6-6/210 Sr.  (8.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
F - Trevor Seibring, 6-8/235 Jr.  (14.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg)

#1-Augustana (24-1, 13-1)
G - Hunter Hill, 5-9/165 Sr.   (14.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 3.6 apg)
G - Jawan Straughter, 6-0/186 Sr.  (6.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.6 apg)
G - Griffin Pils, 6-4/216 Sr.  (8.1 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.5 apg)
F - Ben Ryan, 6-5/216 Sr.  (14.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg)
F - Brandon Motzel, 6-7/210 Sr.  (8.4 ppg, 6.3 rpg)


Pantagraph - http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/iwu-heads-to-tournament-as-underdog/article_7c4db13b-3a0d-5726-a912-54ba3bdac517.html

Quad-City Times - http://qctimes.com/sports/basketball/college/johnson-thrives-in-new-role-for-top-ranked-vikings/article_3c834f7b-b835-598c-9c89-2458dd84713b.html

Quad-Cities Online - http://www.qconline.com/sports/college_sports/plenty-on-the-line-for-vikings-this-weekend/article_408c7e23-1107-58d4-9810-8a23b3268ab2.html

Live Video - http://portal.stretchinternet.com/augustana/

Live Stats - http://www.augustana.edu/athletics/mbasketball/xlive.htm

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

[Titan Q]

http://www.qconline.com/sports/college_sports/plenty-on-the-line-for-vikings-this-weekend/article_408c7e23-1107-58d4-9810-8a23b3268ab2.html

"Giovanine and other Augie officials feel as if the two Midwest powers will be separated when the national tournament bids are announced on Monday."


By "separated", I assume that means putting Augustana and Benedictine in different quadrants -- separating the two for the first weekend is so obvious I am going to assume that is not what the Augie officials are suggesting. 

Putting Augie and BU in different quadrants is certainly possible, but the two Central region powers could just as easily end up in the same quadrant. Here is my best guess at the top 8 seeds right now...

(Data from Matthew Snyder - http://detroitjockcity.com/division-iii-mens-basketball-regional-rankings-data/)

1. St. Thomas (West #1): .920/.556/10-0
2. Benedictine (Central #1): 1.000/.523/4-0
3. Marietta (GL #1): .926/.546/5-2
4. Christopher Newport (MA #1): .960/.530/4-1
5. Augustana (Central #2): .960/.528/3-1
6. Susquehanna (MA #2): .875/.543/4-2
7. Amherst (Northeast #1): .840/.558/4-1
8. Plattsburgh State (East #1): .840/.546/4-2

In the top 8 conversation:
* Whitworth (West #2): .958/.504/1-1
* Ohio Wesleyan (GL #2): .885/.521/3-2
* John Carroll (GL #3): .889/.526/3-2


Obviously the D3 bracket isn't constructed like the D1 bracket, where #1 and #8 would end up together, #2 and #7, etc..  Geography is a huge factor, and when you take that into account in 2016, there is a good chance Augustana ends up in a quadrant with either St. Thomas or Benedictine.  Bottom line, it's impossible to say at this point that Augustana and Benedictine are going to be split up.

Another takeaway I have here is that Augustana, entering this weekend as the #1 team in the country, has some issues in terms of hosting a sectional.  With geography in mind, Augie probably ends up in a quadrant with St. Thomas, Benedictine, or Marietta -- and I see all 3 of those as higher seeds than the Vikings.

Augie is actually playing for quite a bit this weekend in Rock Island in terms of national seeding.  While the Vikings are #1 in the D3hoops.com poll, obviously that doesn't factor into tournament seeding at all.  In looking at selection criteria, I don't see Augie higher than a national #5 at this point...that could change over the weekend.

[havej]

GS - gained respect for Coach Slyder for recognizing and taking care of the issue in house.  Absolute right thing to do.

And you're comparison of Barach and Henry is nuts on - two totally different but outstanding players, having played against one and seen the other on the net.

[bbfan44]

Random thoughts:
Greg, maybe Bosko has been to the tanning salon one too many times and isn't the same guy you used to know.
Why did Henry not start Saturday's game vs. NCC?
I'm hoping Benedictine can host all the way until Salem.  Much rather watch a game live than on my laptop.
Why do people defend NFL players celebrating, but get bent out of shape if they try to score while ahead? 
Transition that to basketball.  Really, if you're going to lose by 10 what difference does it make if you lose 13?  Really ? Just take the hit.
If NCC wins the AQ, could both NCC and Benedictine host on the same weekend, or would one go away and come back if they win?

[lmitzel]

Random thoughts:
Greg, maybe Bosko has been to the tanning salon one too many times and isn't the same guy you used to know.
Why did Henry not start Saturday's game vs. NCC?
I'm hoping Benedictine can host all the way until Salem.  Much rather watch a game live than on my laptop.
Why do people defend NFL players celebrating, but get bent out of shape if they try to score while ahead? 
Transition that to basketball.  Really, if you're going to lose by 10 what difference does it make if you lose 13?  Really ? Just take the hit.
If NCC wins the AQ, could both NCC and Benedictine host on the same weekend, or would one go away and come back if they win?

I would imagine that the NCAA wouldn't want two host sites within four miles of each other, as much as I would love to work three more games. The only conceivable way it would happen is if NCC got the AQ. They did put in a hosting bid, but with the Central being what it is, I'm sure the committee would rather not have eight teams that close.

[sac]

2009 Wheaton and Elmhurst both hosted 1st and 2nd round games.  That's pretty close.