MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

OT:  Amherst Lord Jeffs may become the Amherst Hamsters.

http://www.startribune.com/go-fight-hamsters-amherst-college-closes-in-on-new-mascot/410263835/

Almost as amusing as the Freeport (IL) Pretzels.

Lord Hamsters please.

I'm pulling for The Amherst Radiance.

Sounds like a women's hair care product. 💆 

[Gregory Sager]

Now that this site is back up, I can report that Carthage (11-3) eked out a win over Illinois Tech (10-5) tonight in Tarble by a score of 81-79 on a pair of Kevin Kozil free throws with 3.9 seconds remaining. The Red Man blew what had been a 12-point lead with under ten minutes to go, as the Scarlet Hawks pulled even a couple of times in the final minute, but they never went ahead. Mike Stevenson led the way with 20 points and was joined in double figures by Jordan Thomas with 16 and Kienen Baltimore with 11, while Brad Kruse pulled down 10 rebounds. The win negated really fine performances by Whitney Young grad Anthony Moseley, Jr. (24 pts and 10 asts) and DePaul Prep grad Sam Rarick (22 pts and 8 rebs).

Anyone else think that Russia is behind the site going down temporarily? 😳

I think that the Russians are more interested in waiting for Gordon to post a new readers' poll on the d3hoops.com front page, and then influencing it with data leaks.

OT:  Amherst Lord Jeffs may become the Amherst Hamsters.

http://www.startribune.com/go-fight-hamsters-amherst-college-closes-in-on-new-mascot/410263835/

Almost as amusing as the Freeport (IL) Pretzels.

Lord Hamsters please.

I'm pulling for The Amherst Radiance.

Sounds like a women's hair care product. 💆 

That's probably why Williams fans are pulling for the Amherst Radiance as well.

[AndOne]

Now that this site is back up, I can report that Carthage (11-3) eked out a win over Illinois Tech (10-5) tonight in Tarble by a score of 81-79 on a pair of Kevin Kozil free throws with 3.9 seconds remaining. The Red Man blew what had been a 12-point lead with under ten minutes to go, as the Scarlet Hawks pulled even a couple of times in the final minute, but they never went ahead. Mike Stevenson led the way with 20 points and was joined in double figures by Jordan Thomas with 16 and Kienen Baltimore with 11, while Brad Kruse pulled down 10 rebounds. The win negated really fine performances by Whitney Young grad Anthony Moseley, Jr. (24 pts and 10 asts) and DePaul Prep grad Sam Rarick (22 pts and 8 rebs).

Anyone else think that Russia is behind the site going down temporarily? 😳

Trump has probably been spooning Putin again. 😏

[AndOne]

New Top 25 is out:

North Park fell from #10 to #18 (246 pts)
Illinois Wesleyan re-enters the list at #22 (98 pts)
Augustana (40 pts) and Carthage (19 pts) are the top two teams in the ORV category.

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2016-17/week6

Is North Park's fall due more to their losing to Carthage, or only beating a Connor Raridon less North Central team by 3?

[Gregory Sager]

You're not serious, are you?

[Pat Coleman]

You're not serious, are you?

Agreed -- even for a fan, that's a pretty inflated opinion of North Central's impact on the poll. Come on now ...

[AndOne]

Sadly no amount of mighty belief will save you from the #6 team in D-III.

Why on earth would a Cards fan tout a blowout win over a team that doesn't even qualify for tomato-can status? I know that Mark and I have hashed this out on CCIW Chat before, but I don't think that bringing the likes of College of Faith, World Harvest, Valor Christian, and Illinois Tech (in the first season that the IIT program had been revived and was a D3 first-year provie) into North Central's tip-off tourney over the past decade is something to look back upon with pride.

Three years ago North Park was forced by a last-minute cancellation to bring Dayspring Bible into the crackerbox. The Vikings won by 54 points, none of the starters played more than 19 minutes, and all fifteen NPU players who suited up saw the floor -- and nobody said a word about the game for the rest of the year. It was played simply to ensure that the Vikings got in their allotted 25 regular-season games of basketball, as well as to give some of the guys at the end of the bench and the JV players the chance to get some statistical love. Tom Slyder would've given anything to have had a genuine D3 opponent to fill that late schedule hole. (Look at the lengths to which he's gone this season in a similar situation, first by getting Manchester to agree to a second game after the UW-LaCrosse cancellation, then by rescheduling it after the power went out on the Man U campus and forced a postponement back in mid-December.) And yet NCC's brought multiple versions of Dayspring Bible into the airplane hangar over the past ten Novembers.

Maybe it's just me, but I think that there's some wins that you just don't brag about.

Certainly there are some wins you don't brag about, and I'd venture to say many teams have their share of these type of victories. These are "wins" that barely qualify as Ws. However, I would hope that nobody is naive enough to believe the above referenced schools were anywhere near NCC's top choices for it's long running, but now discontinued, season opening Tip-Off Tournament.
Rather than entertaining that false pretense, here is a little more detail.

2012 -- Illinois Institute of Technology was invited after repeated calls practically begging to be included because of their desire to reinstitute their basketball program following a 3 year suspension of play. College of Faith was included primarily because after North Central's advancement to the Sweet Sixteen in 2011-2012, teams were not exactly pounding on NCC's door asking to be let in. Also, as previously noted, NCC did not play College of Faith in the tournament, Hope College did.

2013 -- Valor Christian was included, again, primarily due to the fact that the Cardinals advancement to the 2012-2013 Final Four did not inspire much confidence among D3 teams that a trip to Naperville would result in a victory over the home team. This time, even more so than the previous year, the Cards made numerous calls to other teams asking if they would like to be included in the festivities. When a certain date was reached and a spot was still open, the Cardinals had little choice.

2014 -- NAIA Trinity International was a very late replacement for a D3 which unexpectedly pulled out after almost everyone had already filled their schedules.

2015 -- Nobody seemed to raise much stink when the tournament was played in a classic type format and the Cardinals season opening opponents were #7 Mt. Union and #17 U of Chicago.

2016 -- Due to the difficulty of attracting 3 quality teams, the long term, season opening Tip-Off Tournament was discontinued. Same thing is happening to a number of schools with traditional season opening tourneys.

In summary, NCC usually had little choice but to invite some teams whose inclusion was nothing more than embarrassing. This is the primary reason the tournament has been discontinued. And no, some of those early season wins over the previous few years are nothing to be particularly proud of. 

[AndOne]

New Top 25 is out:

North Park fell from #10 to #18 (246 pts)
Illinois Wesleyan re-enters the list at #22 (98 pts)
Augustana (40 pts) and Carthage (19 pts) are the top two teams in the ORV category.

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2016-17/week6

Is North Park's fall due more to their losing to Carthage, or only beating a Connor Raridon less North Central team by 3?

You're not serious, are you?

Agreed -- even for a fan, that's a pretty inflated opinion of North Central's impact on the poll. Come on now ...

Geez guys.
Heck no, it certainly was not a very serious question. Of course the loss was much more of a factor.
As a fan, I was just kinda proud the Cards played as well as they did without such a key missing piece.
Wondering though, considering what NCC was missing, wouldn't you have expected a little larger margin of victory by the Vikes? 

[Gregory Sager]

New Top 25 is out:

North Park fell from #10 to #18 (246 pts)
Illinois Wesleyan re-enters the list at #22 (98 pts)
Augustana (40 pts) and Carthage (19 pts) are the top two teams in the ORV category.

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2016-17/week6

Is North Park's fall due more to their losing to Carthage, or only beating a Connor Raridon less North Central team by 3?

You're not serious, are you?

Agreed -- even for a fan, that's a pretty inflated opinion of North Central's impact on the poll. Come on now ...

Geez guys.
Heck no, it certainly was not a very serious question. Of course the loss was much more of a factor.
As a fan, I was just kinda proud the Cards played as well as they did without such a key missing piece.
Wondering though, considering what NCC was missing, wouldn't you have expected a little larger margin of victory by the Vikes? 

Let me answer that question with another question: Considering that NCC had Connor Raridon on December 10, wouldn't you have expected a little larger margin of victory by the Cards over freshmen-laden, 0-7 Millikin? 

In this league, any road win is a good win, regardless of the final margin or the opponent or how pretty it looked. Besides, if someone on this board had ever intimated that they thought a Raridon-less North Central team was a pushover, I have no doubts that your immediate objection would've been long and loud and vehement.

[AndOne]

?#1 -- Yes, although MU made 2 threes in the last 18 seconds to noticeably reduce the final margin. 
Besides, in this league any road win is a good win, regardless of the final margin or the opponent or how pretty it looked. 👀 

?#2 -- You must be thinking of someone else! 

[Gregory Sager]

?#1 -- Yes, although MU made 2 threes in the last 18 seconds to noticeably reduce the final margin. 

True, but it was a six-point game with nine seconds left. I've seen six-point endgame leads disappear in less time than that.

Besides, in this league any road win is a good win, regardless of the final margin or the opponent or how pretty it looked. 👀 

Precisely, Robin.

[Titan Q]

IWU has lost 6-8 Trevor Seibring to a back injury. No timetable on return.

[iwu70]

The injury bug really biting the Titans -- both men and women.  Ehresman and Seibring, perhaps the two key players on both sides. 

Guess Tyler Burdine has to grow up fast tonight.  If Titans play Beasley and Bausch, they could be under-sized tonight against giant Augie. 

IWU'70

[iwu70]

Q, how is IWU's JV squad doing this year?  Any news?

'70

[unanimous22]

No audio, but this Augie feed is very nice to view.