MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Kirby is listed as a sophomore, but I do not know whether he is a transfer or never saw varsity minutes last year.  Greg knows, I'm sure.  Kirby has appeared sporadically throughout the season.  He may be the player next year who takes Henry's spot, given the thin roster.

I posted several times about Kirby when he first deposited at North Park, and I've posted several times about him since. In fact, there was a protracted conversation about him this past off-season, because I referred to him as a "rising junior", and a couple of posters didn't understand the "rising" terminology. I ended up by correcting myself; he had received a medical hardship waiver for a year, so he was actually a rising sophomore.

Since you and Rob obviously weren't following the board at the time that I posted this past off-season about Kirby's decision to enroll at NPU, here's his particulars: He is a transfer from Cardinal Stritch, an NAIA school in Milwaukee that plays in the local NAIA league (the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference). He's on an ROTC scholarship at North Park, as he plans to be commissioned as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army upon graduation. He played point guard at Cardinal Stritch, but he's versatile enough to play several positions; he's even functioned as the power forward at the defensive end at times when NPU goes to a small lineup. (Perhaps I should call it a "super-small" lineup.)

He hasn't appeared "sporadically throughout the season"; he's been a rotation regular since the opening game at Chicago, in which he scored 11 points. He's averaging over 15 minutes a game, which is hardly "sporadic".

Also, please stop worrying about next year, Mark E., and just enjoy the very positive season of which we're in the midst right now. After all, it's not as though NPU has made a habit lately out of starting seasons with an 8-1 record and a #13 ranking in the d3hoops.com poll.

North Park 84
Albion 65

Jordan Robinson: 23 pts
Juwan Henry: 19 pts
Billy Kirby: 16 pts

An ugly, scrap-filled game, but a win's a win. Breakout night for Billy Kirby with a career high tonight. It's the first time he's scored in double figures since the opener at Chicago.

A "scrap-filled" game? How many scraps?
I see that NPU's diminutive one, Colin Lake was assessed a T. Was he the primary reason the game was "scrap-filled"? Did he utter a profanity, or, even worse, did his indiscretions go even further to the point where he was unable to channel his aggressive drives into socially accepted patterns of behavior? Did things get really interesting to the point where fisticuffs ensued? Details please. 

Lots of jawing back and forth, a ball thrown at another player by Albion which miraculously did not result in technical even though the signal was given, official requests coach to sub-out a player and a literal officals timeout to let both teams chill out a bit at their benches.

Honestly for a few minutes I was afraid that game was one bad, hard foul away from a brawl of some kind.

I'd say that sac, who was on hand at Kresge tonight among the sparse crowd, summed it up nicely. There were a number of hard fouls throughout the game, which was not well-officiated at all; they let a lot of stuff go that should've been called, while calling a lot of fouls that were borderline legit calls at best. Both Tom Slyder and Albion coach Jody May spent a lot of time yelling at the gentlemen in stripes, as much out of their fear that all hell would break loose and someone would get hurt as out of exasperation at the failure of the refs to call the game consistently.

I'm not sure why I should sate your curiosity regarding Lake's technical, Mark A., but it's the Christmas season and I'm feeling generous. On a drive to the basket Colin took a hard hit that sent him sprawling on the endline, a hit that drew no whistle, and when he got up and ran down the floor to play defense he yelled to the ref as he passed him, "Do you think I just fell to the floor by myself?" That earned him the T-bone -- and a lot of extra running at the next practice the Vikings hold when they get back from their break.

[AndOne]

I'm glad you are in a generous mood Gregory. Thank you.
Had you not used the wording "scrap filled," my couriosity would not have come close to rising to the level it did.
I thought perhaps a physical altercation of some type may have taken place.

As far as your admonishment to Mark E. to enjoy this season, I think that is sage advice. After all, next season may well not be as enjoyable given the fact that this is Mr. Henry's senior season.
Or, does he, for whatever reason, have eligibility left which he plans to use?

[Gregory Sager]

* In Albion's most recent game, a win over Spring Arbor (a respectable NAIA outfit), Britons guard Jaylin Fordham scored 33 points on 11-17 shooting from the field. Tonight he scored four points on 1-12 shooting from the field. Hat tip to the junkyard dog, T.J. Cobbs, for yet another yeoman effort at defending the other team's most dangerous player.

* I remarked the other day about Jordan Robinson's ridiculous shooting numbers from downtown in terms of both quantity and quality, as he was 24-40 (60%) from long range, which ranked him among the league leaders in trey attempts as well as made him the league leader in trey shooting percentage by an absurdly large margin. Well, he somehow managed to improve his numbers from behind the arc by going 4-5 from distance tonight. He's now 28-45 (62%). I honestly cannot remember a high-volume CCIW shooter ever having a lights-out stretch that lasted this long. Maybe Ryan Knuppel did at some point during his storied career, or Keelan Amelianovich or Ben Panner, but I honestly don't remember any of those guys, or any other high-volume gunners in this league, ever doing what Jordan Robinson is doing from downtown this November and December.

* Given how NPU's two superstars have struggled at the free-throw line this season, most notably in the loss to Carroll in which they went a catastrophic combined 12-24 from the stripe, perhaps the most satisfying stat of the night from a North Park perspective was the fact that Juwan Henry went 8-8 from the line and Jordan Robinson went 5-5. In fact, the team as a whole shot 20-22 (91%).

As far as your admonishment to Mark E. to enjoy this season, I think that is sage advice.

It's the only kind of advice I'm capable of giving.

After all, next season may well not be as enjoyable given the fact that this is Mr. Henry's senior season.

None of us knows what next year will bring ... or, should I say, who next year will bring.

At any rate, that's for Tom and Joe and Peter to worry about ... not me. I'm too busy enjoying the ride, and I think that Mark and the rest of the NPU faithful should focus upon enjoying that ride as well.

[iwu70]

And Greg's modesty won't let him say anymore. . . .

'70

[Gregory Sager]

... and my love of puns won't let me say any less.

[Greek Tragedy]

So what are the chances that 1st Manchester/North Park game being rescheduled. With conference games basically being Wed/Sat for the rest of the year, it doesn't look good. NP gets their bye Feb 1, but Manchester already has a game on that date.

[lmitzel]

* I remarked the other day about Jordan Robinson's ridiculous shooting numbers from downtown in terms of both quantity and quality, as he was 24-40 (60%) from long range, which ranked him among the league leaders in trey attempts as well as made him the league leader in trey shooting percentage by an absurdly large margin. Well, he somehow managed to improve his numbers from behind the arc by going 4-5 from distance tonight. He's now 28-45 (62%). I honestly cannot remember a high-volume CCIW shooter ever having a lights-out stretch that lasted this long. Maybe Ryan Knuppel did at some point during his storied career, or Keelan Amelianovich or Ben Panner, but I honestly don't remember any of those guys, or any other high-volume gunners in this league, ever doing what Jordan Robinson is doing from downtown this November and December.

The thought that came to mind when I was reading this was Aaron Tiknis for North Central. He hit shot 49.4 percent from deep in his junior season (41-83) before regressing to the mean the following year (33.3 percent). And that isn't even close to the eye-popping numbers Robinson is putting up. It's getting to the point where screaming "Small sample size!" doesn't work anymore. I still doubt Robinson finishes as high as he is right now, but somewhere in the 50's? Can't really rule it out.

[Gregory Sager]

* I remarked the other day about Jordan Robinson's ridiculous shooting numbers from downtown in terms of both quantity and quality, as he was 24-40 (60%) from long range, which ranked him among the league leaders in trey attempts as well as made him the league leader in trey shooting percentage by an absurdly large margin. Well, he somehow managed to improve his numbers from behind the arc by going 4-5 from distance tonight. He's now 28-45 (62%). I honestly cannot remember a high-volume CCIW shooter ever having a lights-out stretch that lasted this long. Maybe Ryan Knuppel did at some point during his storied career, or Keelan Amelianovich or Ben Panner, but I honestly don't remember any of those guys, or any other high-volume gunners in this league, ever doing what Jordan Robinson is doing from downtown this November and December.

The thought that came to mind when I was reading this was Aaron Tiknis for North Central. He hit shot 49.4 percent from deep in his junior season (41-83) before regressing to the mean the following year (33.3 percent). And that isn't even close to the eye-popping numbers Robinson is putting up. It's getting to the point where screaming "Small sample size!" doesn't work anymore. I still doubt Robinson finishes as high as he is right now, but somewhere in the 50's? Can't really rule it out.

That wasn't really "volume shooting" from three-point range by Tiknis in 2011-12, either. He only averaged fewer than 2.9 trey attempts per game. That type of shooter is typically one of the two kinds of players that dominate the CCIW's trey-percentage stats -- the guy who attempts just enough of them to keep the opponent honest and to maintain his stroke, but who really isn't counted upon to use the trey as a consistent offensive weapon. Elmhurst's Colin Mowry and Augustana's Nolan Ebel are current examples of this type of player. (The other type that usually dominates the CCIW's trey-percentage leaderboard is the guy who isn't hesitant to shoot regularly from downtown but who plays comparatively restricted minutes; two good current examples are Elmhurst's Ryan Patton and Millikin's Tyler Pygon.)

That's the point that I'm trying to make. It's not simply about Robinson's trey-shooting prowess. It's about his trey-shooting prowess in the context of how often he shoots treys. The only CCIW players who average more trey attempts per game than Robinson are Carroll's Tanner Zaeske and Kyle Keranen, Carthage's Jordan Thomas, North Park's Colin Lake, and Wheaton's Ricky Samuelson and Aston Francis (the latter of whom will probably have his arms fall off if he keeps hoisting them at his current rate ). All six of those guys are serious shooters -- and the closest one to Robinson's .622 success rate is Thomas at .471. In other words, Robinson is 15% better than the next-closest high-volume gunner in this league. That's stupendous, ridiculous, amazing, whatever adjective that you want to trot out.

So what are the chances that 1st Manchester/North Park game being rescheduled. With conference games basically being Wed/Sat for the rest of the year, it doesn't look good. NP gets their bye Feb 1, but Manchester already has a game on that date.

NPU and Manchester will play that game, Tom, trust me. The initial word is that it might end up being a Monday game, probably on Martin Luther King Day (January 16). NPU doesn't start spring semester classes until the next day, so there's no academic obstacle for the Vikings to hop on the charter and bus three hours to northern Indiana on that particular Monday, and neither NPU nor Manchester are already scheduled to play that day.

I can't confirm it yet, and I'm not going to go all-the-corn-in-Manito on it, but I'm pretty sure that this will end up being a MLK Day game. It's not ideal, of course, since it will happen in the middle of the conference slate, but since it would only mean one less day of prep for Millikin it's as good a date as any that NPU has left.

[Titan Q]

* I remarked the other day about Jordan Robinson's ridiculous shooting numbers from downtown in terms of both quantity and quality, as he was 24-40 (60%) from long range, which ranked him among the league leaders in trey attempts as well as made him the league leader in trey shooting percentage by an absurdly large margin. Well, he somehow managed to improve his numbers from behind the arc by going 4-5 from distance tonight. He's now 28-45 (62%). I honestly cannot remember a high-volume CCIW shooter ever having a lights-out stretch that lasted this long. Maybe Ryan Knuppel did at some point during his storied career, or Keelan Amelianovich or Ben Panner, but I honestly don't remember any of those guys, or any other high-volume gunners in this league, ever doing what Jordan Robinson is doing from downtown this November and December.

IWU's all-time single season 3-point % leaders are:

1. Brian Martin ('92-93): .516, 48-93
2. Korey Coon ('97-98): .514, 57-111
3. Jordan Zimmer ('08-09): .510, 53-104
4. Keelan Amelianovich ('03-04): .506, 82-162
5. Korey Coon ('96-97): .505, 49-97

[Gregory Sager]

Amelianovich is the one that I would consider "high-volume" for the purposes of this conversation, meaning someone who shoots in the vicinity of five trey attempts per game or more.

North Park has had two seasons in which a player has finished higher than .500 from downtown (Rob Bady in 1989-90 and Jeff Pearson in 1988-89), but neither one could be considered a volume shooter.

Jordan Robinson is, as of today, ranked second in D3 in trey percentage. The leader is Zach Knobloch of UW-Whitewater, who is a thousandth of a percentage point better than Robinson at .623 to .622. NPU as a team is ranked fourth in the nation in trey percentage at .449, trailing only UWW (.503), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (.465), and Whitworth (.458).

[lmitzel]

I went further down the rabbit hole of NCC's three point shooting. Only three players in NCC history have hit over 50 percent of their threes in a qualifying season:

• Robert Brown ('88-'89)- 58.2%
• Pete Rochford ('88-'89)- 52.5%
• Ray Vicario ('04-'05)- 51.4%

Unfortunately, I don't know what the threshold to be on this list was, and of them, the only person who stats go back far enough to get a good glimpse of this for is Vicario, who shot 36-70 that particular year. I wouldn't consider that a high enough volume, with Robinson on pace to surpass those attempt numbers by mid-January.

Digging into the CCIW archives, Robert Brown hit 48.8 percent of his threes (84-172) in CCIW play in 1990, and that's the best mark in CCIW history... though again, that's just conference play and not the full season. And that's still a good 13-14 percentage points behind what Robinson has done so far.

That's the point that I'm trying to make. It's not simply about Robinson's trey-shooting prowess. It's about his trey-shooting prowess in the context of how often he shoots treys. The only CCIW players who average more trey attempts per game than Robinson are Carroll's Tanner Zaeske and Kyle Keranen, Carthage's Jordan Thomas, North Park's Colin Lake, and Wheaton's Ricky Samuelson and Aston Francis (the latter of whom will probably have his arms fall off if he keeps hoisting them at his current rate ). All six of those guys are serious shooters -- and the closest one to Robinson's .622 success rate is Thomas at .471. In other words, Robinson is 15% better than the next-closest high-volume gunner in this league. That's stupendous, ridiculous, amazing, whatever adjective that you want to trot out.

I think the only adjective to really capture my thoughts on this is "holy s***."

My next question is can he break Chris Payne's record of 64 made threes in CCIW play back in 1996? Based on volume so far, he needs 60 over the final 14 games of conference play to break it. Which means he either needs to take 100 or so threes in those games and sustain his percentage, or increase the volume by a ton. The latter is probably not advisable unless the circumstances are dire, which means he would likely need to sustain that percentage... which I'm not going to doubt at this point.

[Gregory Sager]

I went further down the rabbit hole of NCC's three point shooting. Only three players in NCC history have hit over 50 percent of their threes in a qualifying season:

• Robert Brown ('88-'89)- 58.2%
• Pete Rochford ('88-'89)- 52.5%
• Ray Vicario ('04-'05)- 51.4%

Unfortunately, I don't know what the threshold to be on this list was, and of them, the only person who stats go back far enough to get a good glimpse of this for is Vicario, who shot 36-70 that particular year. I wouldn't consider that a high enough volume, with Robinson on pace to surpass those attempt numbers by mid-January.

Digging into the CCIW archives, Robert Brown hit 48.8 percent of his threes (84-172) in CCIW play in 1990, and that's the best mark in CCIW history... though again, that's just conference play and not the full season. And that's still a good 13-14 percentage points behind what Robinson has done so far.

Brown was a volume shooter ... and a great one. He also had a lot more to his game than mere outside shooting. He's among the best half-dozen or so guards I've ever seen in the CCIW.

That's the point that I'm trying to make. It's not simply about Robinson's trey-shooting prowess. It's about his trey-shooting prowess in the context of how often he shoots treys. The only CCIW players who average more trey attempts per game than Robinson are Carroll's Tanner Zaeske and Kyle Keranen, Carthage's Jordan Thomas, North Park's Colin Lake, and Wheaton's Ricky Samuelson and Aston Francis (the latter of whom will probably have his arms fall off if he keeps hoisting them at his current rate ). All six of those guys are serious shooters -- and the closest one to Robinson's .622 success rate is Thomas at .471. In other words, Robinson is 15% better than the next-closest high-volume gunner in this league. That's stupendous, ridiculous, amazing, whatever adjective that you want to trot out.

I think the only adjective to really capture my thoughts on this is "holy s***."

My next question is can he break Chris Payne's record of 64 made threes in CCIW play back in 1996? Based on volume so far, he needs 60 over the final 14 games of conference play to break it. Which means he either needs to take 100 or so threes in those games and sustain his percentage, or increase the volume by a ton. The latter is probably not advisable unless the circumstances are dire, which means he would likely need to sustain that percentage... which I'm not going to doubt at this point.

I hope that it doesn't come to that, quite honestly. I think that NPU's offense will become too skewed if Robinson starts attempting treys at the rate of Wheaton's Aston Francis or Ricky Samuelson. Unlike those guys, Robinson is counted upon to be the primary rebounder for what's already the worst rebounding team in the league, and the more time that he spends away from the basket, the fewer offensive rebounds he's likely to grab.

[Hoosier Titan]

Linda, farewell and good luck in Virginia.  Hope to see you in Salem soon, with the Titans back in the Final Four. That would be grand.

We'll miss you and Ron at The Shirk, for sure.  You guys are some of the most loyal Titan fans out there, no doubt.  Just like my parents were over almost seven decades.

Your parents have us beat by quite a lot, Mark.  As this is our fifteenth year, we'd need another five and a half decades of basketball to match them!

Happy holidays and safe travels to all.

[Canvas Hightops]

Hi All,

Old fella, former player, father of two sons who played for NESCAC teams, here.
Looking at the IWU/Middlebury College game at Staten Island next week.  IWU looks to have played the tougher schedule, have more quality depth and a powerful player in the post.
Having seen Middlebury broadcasts a few times, they have very aggressive defense, great size off the bench and are physically gritty.  Their shooting is inconsistent.  When it counts they make very few mental errors.
I rate the game IWU -4.5 on a neutral court.  Please forgive me if I root for an upset.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Hi All,

Old fella, former player, father of two sons who played for NESCAC teams, here.
Looking at the IWU/Middlebury College game at Staten Island next week.  IWU looks to have played the tougher schedule, have more quality depth and a powerful player in the post.
Having seen Middlebury broadcasts a few times, they have very aggressive defense, great size off the bench and are physically gritty.  Their shooting is inconsistent.  When it counts they make very few mental errors.
I rate the game IWU -4.5 on a neutral court.  Please forgive me if I root for an upset.

I think your analysis is right on the money.

As a Titan fan and alum, of course you are forgiven for rooting for an upset - it's what fans do.  Now if they actually GET the upset ...