MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Had Jordan Baum waited just a second or so later, he may have been able to in-bounds it to one of the two Chicago players breaking free from their defenders and returning to the baseline, but certainly the pressure was on after the other failed attempts...

Very true. The other thing to consider is that the natural impulse for a player is to throw the ball as far away from the near basket as possible in that situation, since the ball's lack of proximity to the basket, regardless of the success of the pass, works in favor of the team that's ahead and is trying to run out the clock. I've seen similar situations in which a player has disastrously thrown a long inbounds pass beyond the far endline and out of bounds, resulting in a possession for the defending team right in the same inbounding spot under the near basket, because that impulse to heave the ball as far away from the basket as possible is so strong.

Of course, if I was Baum and I knew that Waller Perez was going to be the guy at the other end of that long pass, I'd feel pretty good about my chances of having it work.

Reading this and thinking about it, because Henry hit a three (and then Chicago called multiple timeouts), why didn't Baum try to run along the baseline to open up a possible passing lane? I know they didn't have a man on him (at least on the last attempt), but maybe him moving a little bit he could have had a better look? I don't know, maybe I'm just picking nits at this point.

Every indication is that Baum is a really smart player for a freshman, but I think that Baum might've been guilty of pulling a Joe Maddon (i.e., smart guy overthinks in a crucial gut-check situation) had he started moving along the endline in that situation. Best to just keep it simple. The play Chicago attempted -- send Perez long -- was the right one, because Perez's size and athleticism, combined with the element of surprise (he leaned in before breaking long, allowing him to get the jump on Jarvis Cannon, who was guarding him) made it a good bet that he'd be able to haul in that long pass.

It was the right play, but sometimes an outstanding opponent (Jordan Robinson, in this case) is able to thwart the right play.

[Titan Q]

Illinois Wesleyan vs Webster, 7:00pm at the Shirk Center...

Illinois Wesleyan (1-0)
G - Brady Rose, 6-3 Jr.  18 ppg, 3 rpg, 5 rpg
G - Colin Bonnett, 6-4 So.  5 ppg, 2 apg
G - Andy Stempel, 6-4 Sr.  17 ppg, 5 rpg, 4 apg
F - Jaylen Beasley, 6-6 Jr.  7 ppg, 6 rpg
F - Trevor Seibring, 6-8 Sr.  15 ppg, 7 rpg

F - Alec Bausch, 6-6 Sr.  12 ppg, 11 rpg, 3 apg

Webster (0-1)
G - CJ Moore, 6-0 Sr.  13 ppg, 3 rpg, 1 apg
G - Adam Etter, 6-0 Sr.  5 ppg, 3 rpg, 1 apg
G - Rabassa Turner, 6-1 Sr.  2 ppg, 2 rpg, 2 apg
F - Hunter Ward, 6-4 Sr.  12 ppg, 3 rpg
F - Evan Milligan, 6-6 So.  14 ppg, 6 rpg

F - Enrique Tankins, 6-3 Fr.   7 ppg, 4 rpg, 4 apg


Pantagraph - http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/iwu-meets-webster-in-tip-off-tourney/article_67e00772-c501-5a6e-be33-9f84cd42497e.html

Video - https://portal.stretchinternet.com/iwu/

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

[Gregory Sager]

Tonight's games

Augustana (1-0) @ Alma (1-0)
Principia (0-0) @ Carroll (0-0)
Olivet (0-1) @ Carthage (0-0)
Greenville (1-0) vs. Elmhurst (0-1) (@ Decatur, IL)   
Webster (0-1) @ Illinois Wesleyan (1-0)
Westminster (MO) (0-0) @ Millikin (0-1)
Luther (0-1) @ Wheaton (0-1)

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst falls to 0-2 on the season as the 'jays dropped their first game of the CCIW/SLIAC Challenge at the Griz to Greenville this afternoon, 110-98. Greenville, an Arseneault System team, was the beneficiary of a whopping 37 EC turnovers. The game was tied as late as the 2:51 mark at 93-93, but the Panthers then went on a 14-1 run over the next two and a half minutes to close it out.

Greenville is apparently the System version of The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight; the Panthers missed an astonishing 55 field-goal attempts (including 30 trey attempts) and ten free-throw attempts. In other words, the Panthers missed roughly the same number of shots as the typical D3 team attempts in a game. No wonder Elmhurst reined in a whopping 65 rebounds tonight. When's the last time that a team pulled down 65 boards and lost?

Elmhurst attempted 19 treys tonight, hitting four of them for a 21% success rate. That strikes me as being ill-advised; there's not many scenarios in which it's ever a good idea to attempt a trey against a System team, especially when you're a bigger team that is dominating the boards the way that Elmhurst was.

As if often the case when a team plays a System opponent, it was the center who had the big night by getting a lot of easy layups against the press. Tonight it was Caleb Mowry's chance to shine, as he poured in a career-high 29 points for the 'jays, garnering nine boards as well. Michael Plunk had a 14 and 15 double-double for EC, while Jake Rhode and Ryan Patton contributed 14 apiece as well and Derek Dotlich added 10. Rhode was injured and had to leave the game early; he was limping badly after the game, according to Hopefan.

In Elmhurst's first two games the 'jays have scored 200 points and given up 214. They're going to play havoc with CCIW stats.

http://athletics.millikin.edu/documents/2016/11/18//mbbgcec.htm?id=2333

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana 89
Alma 77

[4samuy]

Nice win for Augustana at # 14 Alma. They may be young, but they are deep and talented.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Nice win for Augustana at # 14 Alma. They may be young, but they are deep and talented.

I'm withholding any judgement on Augie.  Alma is almost certainly greatly over-ranked - their best player last year transferred to conference rival Hope.

[Gregory Sager]

Nice win for Augustana at # 14 Alma. They may be young, but they are deep and talented.

I'm withholding any judgement on Augie.  Alma is almost certainly greatly over-ranked - their second-best player last year transferred to conference rival Hope and their best player graduated.

FTFY.

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage 103
Olivet 68

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois Wesleyan 82
Webster 69

[Gregory Sager]

Carroll 75
Principia 57

[Mr. Ypsi]

Nice win for Augustana at # 14 Alma. They may be young, but they are deep and talented.

I'm withholding any judgement on Augie.  Alma is almost certainly greatly over-ranked - their second-best player last year transferred to conference rival Hope and their best player graduated.

FTFY.

Thanks for the correction - I failed to check for sure.  I guess I should have said 'their best presumably-returning player transferred'....  And actually, Jason Beckman may have only been their third best last season - not sure he had yet overtaken either big brother DJ or Nikodemski.  But my gut hunch is that he would have been the best player this season even if the other two had not graduated.

Bottom line: their THREE best players left.  Not sure where a #14 ranking comes from.

[augiefan]

Thanks for the info on how overrated Alma is Sager. I agree they are overrated. It is too bad Alma lost their 2 top players from last year.

By the same token Augie has no business being ranked #18, as they lost their top 6 scorers from last year and are in a total rebuild this year. So nearly every win early this year is kind of a tribute to the unlikeable Coach G's coaching skills. Happy have this one in the win column. Sorry they spoiled your day GS.

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks for the info on how overrated Alma is Sager. I agree they are overrated. It is too bad Alma lost their 2 top players from last year.

By the same token Augie has no business being ranked #18, as they lost their top 6 scorers from last year and are in a total rebuild this year. So nearly every win early this year is kind of a tribute to the unlikeable Coach G's coaching skills. Happy have this one in the win column. Sorry they spoiled your day GS.

What on earth are you talking about? Where did I say that Alma was overrated?

(Also, in the interest of accuracy, as Chuck indicated Alma lost its top three players from last year -- Scott Nikodemski and the Beckman brothers -- not its top two.)

[Mr. Ypsi]

Thanks for the info on how overrated Alma is Sager. I agree they are overrated. It is too bad Alma lost their 2 top players from last year.

By the same token Augie has no business being ranked #18, as they lost their top 6 scorers from last year and are in a total rebuild this year. So nearly every win early this year is kind of a tribute to the unlikeable Coach G's coaching skills. Happy have this one in the win column. Sorry they spoiled your day GS.

What on earth are you talking about? Where did I say that Alma was overrated?

(Also, in the interest of accuracy, as Chuck indicated Alma lost its top three players from last year -- Scott Nikodemski and the Beckman brothers -- not its top two.)

Yeah, I'm the one that said Alma was greatly over-rated.  I also suspect that Augie is greatly over-ranked, but, since they won, I'll withhold judgement.  My point was that beating Alma (even at Alma) does not necessarily show that they are NOT over-ranked.  We'll find out in the coming weeks.