MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

Great balance for the Titans tonight, and superb offense in the first half, even over-shadowing the incredible first half that Francis had.  I think the Titans were shooting near 70% most of the first half.

Bausch got the start tonight too -- and had a good game, causing TOs, getting steals, and doing a great job on the quick double teams of Francis that disrupted his game in the second half, wore him down to where he started missing, even taking some threes from well over 30 feet out.  The guy can really shoot it, but he just doesn't have an experienced enough surrounding cast as yet.

Great win for the Titans.  Congrats to Coach Rose on #200.  Great job these past 10 years.

Yes, big game at Augie now. 

[markerickson]

North Park remains undefeated on the road for the season by beating NCC in a close one despite NPU leading at one point by 62-48.  The Vikes really have a knack for blowing big leads this year.  Viewing online, I believe Robinson and Lake led the Vikes in scoring, but I missed the first half.  What I saw from Henry in the second half prompted me to check stats...you may not remember I posted after last season that Henry got totally hosed regarding post-season accolades.  In this season's first four conference games, he has shot 33% from the field.  In NP's two conference victories, the opponent (AC+IWU) shot 35% from downtown.  In NP's two conference losses, Carroll shot 10-17 (59%) and Carthage shot 9-20 (45%) from downtown.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 76
North Central 73

Colin Lake: 18 pts
Juwan Henry: 17 pts, 3 stls, 4:2 a:to
Jordan Robinson: 14 pts, 6 rebs, 4:2 a:to
T.J. Cobbs: 13 pts, 4:2 a:to

Alex Sorenson: 23 pts, 11 rebs
Erwin Henry: 17 pts
Aiden Chang: 12, 5:2 a:to
Matt Cappelletti: 6 rebs

NPU made this game far more interesting than it should've been. The Vikings squandered what had been a 14-point lead at 62-48 with less than ten minutes to go, as North Central tied the game at 71 and again at 73. But the Cardinals never pulled ahead, as the Vikings defense really toughened up down the stretch and made some big stops. Still, NPU missed three of the six FTs it attempted in the final minute, as if the Vikings were daring the Cards to tie it up at the end so that they could all enjoy some extra basketball. But the Cards didn't oblige; Alex Sorenson, who otherwise played a great game, airballed a layup attempt off of a hook cut with nineteen seconds left and NPU up by two, the exact same play and layup he had made with 63 seconds remaining to make the score 73-73. After Jordan Robinson, who was really off in all respects tonight, missed a pair of FTs with seven seconds left, the Vikings managed to keep NCC from attempting a final shot before the buzzer went off; Aiden Chang's fadeaway corner trey attempt from the end of the North Central bench was waved off, even as it was airballed into the waiting hands of T.J. Cobbs.

Sloppy endgame or not, it was an encouraging win for North Park, inasmuch as neither of the two Vikings stars had a great scoring game tonight (although Juwan Henry did have a solid all-around game). Colin Lake was awesome, to the point where the Vikings were actually running plays for him towards the end of the game; it doesn't often happen that a play is designed for someone other than Henry or Robinson for NPU. Cobbs was his usual tougher-than-old-shoe-leather self at both ends of the floor, and the Vikings were very unselfish and protected the ball well. The Park's a:to ratio was 16:8, while, on the other hand, the Cardinals coughed it up as many times as they dropped dimes (16:16). Erwin Henry, who otherwise played great tonight for NCC, turned it over five times himself.

Something about the road seems to bring out the best in the Vikings. I wonder if Tom Slyder is going to give Mike Schauer a call and ask him if he'd rather host Wednesday's game at King.

[Gregory Sager]

Carroll snapped a four-game losing streak by taking down Millikin this afternoon, 66-49, up at Van Male. Tanner Zaeske and Tyler Ingebrigtsen each had 13 and Kyle Keranen and Ben Widdes both added 11 for the Pios, while Jordan Cunningham had 14 and 7 and Logan Bader chipped in 10 for Jimmy Millikin.

In the other Wisconsin game, Carthage came from behind to stave off Elmhurst up in Kenosha, 75-67. Kienen Baltimore had 15 and Drew Joiner 10 for the Red Men, while Brad Kruse came pretty darned near close to a triple-double, finishing with 8 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists. For good measure, he also blocked three shots and didn't have a turnover. Jalen Loving had 16, Caleb Mowry added 13, and Derek Dotlich contributed 10 and 7 for the 'jays.

[Titan Q]

IWU travels to Augustana Wednesday.  Should be another great game between these two.

Last 5 years:
  * IWU: 52 CCIW wins; 2 titles; 11 NCAA wins
  * Augie: 50 CCIW wins, 2 titles, 8 NCAA wins

Two outstanding programs and a great rivalry.

In the last 5 years, IWU had the Overstreet, Ziemnik, Davis, etc group and then Augie had the Hill, Ryan, Johnson, etc group (both making Salem runs).  I believe 2016-17 is the most even these two programs have been.  I don't see any separation between IWU and Augie heading into the game Wednesday.

Some great matchups. Top 8 for both...

Augustana
G - Nolan Ebel, 6-1 So.  10.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 3.9 apg
G - Chrishawn Orange, 6-2 So.  11.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.1 apg
G - Dylan Sortillo, 6-3 Jr.  14.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.2 apg
F - Jacob Johnston, 6-5 Sr.  13.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg
C - Micah Martin, 6-10 Fr.  2.7 ppg, 2.2 rpg

F - Pierson Wofford, 6-4 So.  9.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg
G - Brett Benning, 6-6 So.  8.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg
C - A.J. Dollmeyer, 6-8 Jr.  5.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg

Illinois Wesleyan
G - Brady Rose, 6-3 Jr.  14.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.2 apg
G - Colin Bonnett, 6-4 So.  9.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.1 apg
G - Andy Stempel, 6-4 Sr.  12.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.9 apg
F - Alec Bausch, 6-6 Sr.  8.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg
C - Trevor Seibring, 6-8 Sr.  12.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg

G - Nick Coleman, 6-1 So. 8.1 ppg, 2.4 apg
F - Jaylen Beasley, 6-6 Jr.  5.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg
G - Austin Amann, 6-3 Sr.  4.1 ppg, 2.4 rpg


I'll be surprised if this one isn't very close from start to finish.

Massey has Augie #10 and IWU #13...neither is in the current D3hoops.com Top 25. (I believe both are top 15-20 teams.)

[Titan Q]

For me, the most impressive of many impressive Aston Francis baskets last night...

https://twitter.com/IWUhoopscom/status/818146572324184064

[GoPerry]

For me, the most impressive of many impressive Aston Francis baskets last night...

https://twitter.com/IWUhoopscom/status/818146572324184064

Yes, nice one.

As fun as it is to watch Aston Francis put up some numbers, the recipe for playing consistently winning basketball likely does not include one player taking nearly ½ your team's shots.  While he is obviously a tremendous player (dare I say 'gifted'?), I don't believe Wheaton has so few other offensive options where the shots can't be distributed a little more  – even against a team as good as IWU who didn't seem to miss in the 1st half.

[tjcummingsfan]

If, at the beginning of the season, you had told me that North park would be 3-2 after its first 5 conference games, I would've been thrilled.  Those first 5 games include 3 games on the road against the other teams picked to finish in the top four in the conference.  TO get one of those road wins would've been huge. 

But now, it feels really deflating to be only 3-2 considering all three wins came on the road.  Winning at Augie, at IWU, and at NCC would've looked impossible at the start of the season.  To get those and to drop two at home to what looks like a middle of the road Carroll team, and Carthage (who looks better than I expected) just hurts.  Here's hoping Park can find a way to win at home. 

[Titan Q]

As fun as it is to watch Aston Francis put up some numbers, the recipe for playing consistently winning basketball likely does not include one player taking nearly ½ your team's shots.  While he is obviously a tremendous player (dare I say 'gifted'?), I don't believe Wheaton has so few other offensive options where the shots can't be distributed a little more  – even against a team as good as IWU who didn't seem to miss in the 1st half.

I can tell you that after 20 minutes last night I was hoping Wheaton would spread the shots around more.

In CCIW play, Francis is averaging 35% of his team's total field goal attempts.  That's a huge number and leads the league. 

Each team's leader in % of total FGA (CCIW games)
1. Aston Francis (Wheaton): 35%
2. Juwan Henry (North Park): 31%
3. Alex Sorenson (North Central): 24%
4. Ben Widdes (Carroll): 22%
5. Dylan Sortillo (Augustana): 20%
6. Zach Fisher (Millikin): 20%
7. Brady Rose (Illinois Wesleyan): 18%
8. Mike Stevenson (Carthage): 15%
9. Nathan Rogers (Elmhurst): 15%

I'd guess that 35% is near the highest number you'd find across the country.

And interesting stat from looking at those numbers -- through 5 league games, North Park's Juwan Henry has taken 38 more shots than Jordan Robinson and only made 2 more.
   - Juwan Henry: 35-91 FG (.385)
   - Jordan Robinson: 33-53 FG (.623)

[Gregory Sager]

If, at the beginning of the season, you had told me that North park would be 3-2 after its first 5 conference games, I would've been thrilled.  Those first 5 games include 3 games on the road against the other teams picked to finish in the top four in the conference.  TO get one of those road wins would've been huge. 

But now, it feels really deflating to be only 3-2 considering all three wins came on the road.  Winning at Augie, at IWU, and at NCC would've looked impossible at the start of the season.  To get those and to drop two at home to what looks like a middle of the road Carroll team, and Carthage (who looks better than I expected) just hurts.  Here's hoping Park can find a way to win at home.

My thoughts exactly concerning that second paragraph, EH. While I think that in the end that loss to Carthage isn't going to look terrible, because the Red Men are legit, the loss at home to Carroll is one of those games that just sticks in your craw and doesn't go away.

As for the first paragraph, I tried not to get too far ahead of myself in terms of expectations for this season, although I knew that the Vikings would be better than people had given them credit because I knew that it was going to be more than just the Juwan and Jordan Show. While I figured NPU to be competitive, I didn't really sort out which games I figured the Park would win and which it would lose. What I think has borne itself out through this strange start that NPU has had is this: a) the Vikings can beat anybody, anywhere, at any time; b) because, as was the case over the past two seasons, the Vikings are so small and don't rebound or defend the post well, they don't have the safety margin to survive a lackadaisical effort and can therefore lose to anybody, anywhere, at any time; and c) with no clear-cut favorite in the CCIW this season and every team showing at least flashes of strong play, even frosh-dominated Millikin, every night is going to be an adventure.

And interesting stat from looking at those numbers -- through 5 league games, North Park's Juwan Henry has taken 38 more shots than Jordan Robinson and only made 2 more.
   - Juwan Henry: 35-91 FG (.385)
   - Jordan Robinson: 33-53 FG (.623)

As is always the case, there's a story behind those numbers. While Juwan does have a habit of forcing ill-conceived shots on the drive when there's nothing really there for him, he's also the bailout guy who is expected to create something when the offense breaks down or the shot clock runs low or (usually) when there's a specific play designed in a timeout. Those sorts of issues help depress a player's shooting percentage. (I should also add that at the end of the NCC game last night Juwan began to return to his money shot, the pull-up, which was great to see.) Also, Jordan's an inside player by trade, so he's always going to attempt more of his two-point shots from advantageous positions around the basket than will Juwan (even though the latter gets a fair amount of shots at the rim in transition). What's really remarkable about these numbers, though, is that Robinson's amassed that .623 FG% in league play (good for fourth in the CCIW in that category) in spite of the fact that over half of his shots (27) have been trey attempts. That's a remarkable stat, and a testimony to just how good an outside shooter he is, because you won't find any of the other high-volume trey shooters (e.g., Zaeske, Lake, Thomas, Francis) anywhere near the FG% leaderboard.

Oh, by the way, has anybody else noticed that in CCIW play Jordan Robinson is averaging a full one and a quarter more assists per game than anybody else in the league?

There are thirteen categories of statistical rankings in both the overall stats and the conference-only stats. Robinson's not only ranked in eleven of those thirteen categories in conference play, he's in the top five in nine of them. It's truly remarkable how well-rounded his game is.

[sac]

As fun as it is to watch Aston Francis put up some numbers, the recipe for playing consistently winning basketball likely does not include one player taking nearly ½ your team's shots.  While he is obviously a tremendous player (dare I say 'gifted'?), I don't believe Wheaton has so few other offensive options where the shots can't be distributed a little more  – even against a team as good as IWU who didn't seem to miss in the 1st half.

I can tell you that after 20 minutes last night I was hoping Wheaton would spread the shots around more.

In CCIW play, Francis is averaging 35% of his team's total field goal attempts.  That's a huge number and leads the league. 

Each team's leader in % of total FGA (CCIW games)
1. Aston Francis (Wheaton): 35%
2. Juwan Henry (North Park): 31%
3. Alex Sorenson (North Central): 24%
4. Ben Widdes (Carroll): 22%
5. Dylan Sortillo (Augustana): 20%
6. Zach Fisher (Millikin): 20%
7. Brady Rose (Illinois Wesleyan): 18%
8. Mike Stevenson (Carthage): 15%
9. Nathan Rogers (Elmhurst): 15%

I'd guess that 35% is near the highest number you'd find across the country.

And interesting stat from looking at those numbers -- through 5 league games, North Park's Juwan Henry has taken 38 more shots than Jordan Robinson and only made 2 more.
   - Juwan Henry: 35-91 FG (.385)
   - Jordan Robinson: 33-53 FG (.623)

Going into last weeks action Adrian College's DaVonte Harris was leading D3 is FG attempts and 33% of his teams attempts.  He attempted 40% of his teams shots this past week and now stands at 35.2% on the year.   Aston Francis also attempted 40% of his teams shots so his % of team attempts will also rise this week.

NCAA FG Attempt leaders
1      Davonte Harris, Adrian (Michigan Intercol.)            Sr.    6-0    G        236
2    Rashaan Spencer, Centenary (NJ) (CSAC)            Jr.    5-9    G        227
3    Marquis Marshall, Alvernia (MAC Commonwealth)    Sr.    6-6    F        223
4    Collin Kennedy, Wis. Lutheran (Northern Athletics) So.    6-4    F       216
5    Jake Ross, Springfield (NEWMAC)                            Fr.    6-4    G        215
6    Marcos Echevarria, Nichols (CCC)                            So.    5-10 G        209
7    Tyler Michael, Frostburg St. (CAC)                            Jr.    6-3    G        208
8    Aston Francis, Wheaton (IL) (CCIW)                    So.    6-1    G        206
8    Sam Light, Lebanon Valley (MAC Commonwealth)    Jr.    6-0    G        206
10    Jourdain Bell, Colby-Sawyer (North Atlantic)            So.    6-1    G        204

I didn't check all of these.  Its pretty hard to get much higher than 35%, even peak Kent Raymond in 2008 was 33%.


Harris is a 4th year college player having spent his first two years at Kalamazoo Valley CC in Michigan.


Edit---looks like the stats I was looking at from the NCAA site included Wed. games, so my math might be a bit off, but it sure looks like Francis and Harris are the top two.

[iwu70]

Agree, Q, on that shot by Francis.  That's the one I remembered too, and just thought that might be the one you selected on your video.  Pretty amazing.  The Titans were actually "lights out" in the first half, both teams putting on quite an offensive show.  Let's hope the Titans shoot it like that at Carver this week.  We've had some great fast starts up there over the years.  I remember one game I attended where we went out 28-3 or some such.  Let's hope for that this time too! 

Really sad to see the Ehresman injury.  I hope it's just a bad ankle strain, not a break.  Hate to lose her for the rest of this season.  Titans really coming on strong -- both men and women -- now, and you just hate to see injuries.  Holness already out for the year, her last. 

A great TITAN, long-time Dean of Admission, Dir of Development, and overall grand gentleman, Lee Short, RIP.  He admitted my class to IWU in 1966.  At our 45th reunion in 2015, we made Lee an Honorary Member of the Class of '70, giving him much recognition and love. His daughter, Karen Short Mills, is in our class.  He will be greatly missed. 

IWU'70

[iwu70]

Q, glad to hear the news about Ehresman in your post on the other Board.  Thanks. 

IWU'70

[GoPerry]

As fun as it is to watch Aston Francis put up some numbers, the recipe for playing consistently winning basketball likely does not include one player taking nearly ½ your team's shots.  While he is obviously a tremendous player (dare I say 'gifted'?), I don't believe Wheaton has so few other offensive options where the shots can't be distributed a little more  – even against a team as good as IWU who didn't seem to miss in the 1st half.

I can tell you that after 20 minutes last night I was hoping Wheaton would spread the shots around more.

In CCIW play, Francis is averaging 35% of his team's total field goal attempts.  That's a huge number and leads the league. 

Each team's leader in % of total FGA (CCIW games)
1. Aston Francis (Wheaton): 35%
2. Juwan Henry (North Park): 31%
3. Alex Sorenson (North Central): 24%
4. Ben Widdes (Carroll): 22%
5. Dylan Sortillo (Augustana): 20%
6. Zach Fisher (Millikin): 20%
7. Brady Rose (Illinois Wesleyan): 18%
8. Mike Stevenson (Carthage): 15%
9. Nathan Rogers (Elmhurst): 15%

I'd guess that 35% is near the highest number you'd find across the country.

And interesting stat from looking at those numbers -- through 5 league games, North Park's Juwan Henry has taken 38 more shots than Jordan Robinson and only made 2 more.
   - Juwan Henry: 35-91 FG (.385)
   - Jordan Robinson: 33-53 FG (.623)

Those are interesting stats Q.  And not surprising from watching the games that Francis accounts for over 1/3 of the teams attempts.  I agree that's a big number – Wheaton averaging 56 shots/game(in conf) and #1 is taking 19-20 of them.   Overall his share of attempts is 30.8% which is still pretty high.  On the other hand, his FG% of 48% (45% overall) is pretty solid for a guard and considering ½ his attempts are treys.  Last night, however, he took 30 out of his team's 63 attempts(15/32 1st half, 15/31 2nd ) and you just find a lot of guys standing around with #s like that.

[4samuy]

If, at the beginning of the season, you had told me that North park would be 3-2 after its first 5 conference games, I would've been thrilled.  Those first 5 games include 3 games on the road against the other teams picked to finish in the top four in the conference.  TO get one of those road wins would've been huge. 

But now, it feels really deflating to be only 3-2 considering all three wins came on the road.  Winning at Augie, at IWU, and at NCC would've looked impossible at the start of the season.  To get those and to drop two at home to what looks like a middle of the road Carroll team, and Carthage (who looks better than I expected) just hurts.  Here's hoping Park can find a way to win at home.

My thoughts exactly concerning that second paragraph, EH. While I think that in the end that loss to Carthage isn't going to look terrible, because the Red Men are legit, the loss at home to Carroll is one of those games that just sticks in your craw and doesn't go away.

As for the first paragraph, I tried not to get too far ahead of myself in terms of expectations for this season, although I knew that the Vikings would be better than people had given them credit because I knew that it was going to be more than just the Juwan and Jordan Show. While I figured NPU to be competitive, I didn't really sort out which games I figured the Park would win and which it would lose. What I think has borne itself out through this strange start that NPU has had is this: a) the Vikings can beat anybody, anywhere, at any time; b) because, as was the case over the past two seasons, the Vikings are so small and don't rebound or defend the post well, they don't have the safety margin to survive a lackadaisical effort and can therefore lose to anybody, anywhere, at any time; and c) with no clear-cut favorite in the CCIW this season and every team showing at least flashes of strong play, even frosh-dominated Millikin, every night is going to be an adventure.

And interesting stat from looking at those numbers -- through 5 league games, North Park's Juwan Henry has taken 38 more shots than Jordan Robinson and only made 2 more.
   - Juwan Henry: 35-91 FG (.385)
   - Jordan Robinson: 33-53 FG (.623)

As is always the case, there's a story behind those numbers. While Juwan does have a habit of forcing ill-conceived shots on the drive when there's nothing really there for him, he's also the bailout guy who is expected to create something when the offense breaks down or the shot clock runs low or (usually) when there's a specific play designed in a timeout. Those sorts of issues help depress a player's shooting percentage. (I should also add that at the end of the NCC game last night Juwan began to return to his money shot, the pull-up, which was great to see.) Also, Jordan's an inside player by trade, so he's always going to attempt more of his two-point shots from advantageous positions around the basket than will Juwan (even though the latter gets a fair amount of shots at the rim in transition). What's really remarkable about these numbers, though, is that Robinson's amassed that .623 FG% in league play (good for fourth in the CCIW in that category) in spite of the fact that over half of his shots (27) have been trey attempts. That's a remarkable stat, and a testimony to just how good an outside shooter he is, because you won't find any of the other high-volume trey shooters (e.g., Zaeske, Lake, Thomas, Francis) anywhere near the FG% leaderboard.

Oh, by the way, has anybody else noticed that in CCIW play Jordan Robinson is averaging a full one and a quarter more assists per game than anybody else in the league?

There are thirteen categories of statistical rankings in both the overall stats and the conference-only stats. Robinson's not only ranked in eleven of those thirteen categories in conference play, he's in the top five in nine of them. It's truly remarkable how well-rounded his game is.

You don't have to "sell" me on Jordan and his stats (I know you're not selling, just stating facts). His overall game has been on my radar since last year and should be on the radar of anyone associated with division 3 basketball, especially those who have votes for post season accolades.