MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Greg, thanks for your lunchtime tidbits.  I missed them, as I'd already gone for my lunch in a very pleasant two-IWU-win mood.    I've been aware of those sour tastes you sent along for some time.  Your boys are surely better so far this season.  I was only pointing out NPU's recent losses, surely fading further from Augie's impressive regular season lead now.  And, now my Titans are only one game behind your illustrious team.  Those are the facts.  No delusions.

Actually, they're effectively two games behind the Vikings, which was the whole point behind my posting those two box scores. In the event of a tie in the final standings between the two teams, NPU wins the tiebreaker over IWU by virtue of the season sweep. Therefore, the Titans have to finish a game up on the Vikings in the final standings in order to either get a better seed than the Vikings or, if it comes to that, to beat them out for the fourth and final tourney spot. Those are the facts. No delusions.

[Gregory Sager]

X + Y + Z = LOSS

X = 55% on FTs
y = 18 Turnovers
z = Can't get the ball in bounds

I watched the final minute or two of regulation and a little ways into overtime after the women's game finished up. I spent probably half that time screaming at my phone to "MAKE YOUR [expletive] FREE THROWS!" NCC had a chance to go into Rock Island, steal a win, and stay in fourth place, just half a game out of second with three to play.

Instead, X + Y + Z.

I can relate. Once the women's game finished up in our gym, I, too, spent a lot of time screaming as I watched the two overtimes in Kenosha on the laptop. Some of it was good screaming (Colin Lake to the rescue!), but some of it was the very words you yelled ... minus the profanity.

[WUPHF]

I'm not sure that St. Joe's shutting its doors makes much difference in terms of the GLVC accepting Benedictine or not. I mean, the GLVC has, what ... two thousand member schools? Three thousand? What's one more?

I am not sure either, but the GLVC makes more sense for Benedictine than any other Division II conference, so if the GLVC wants an even number of teams, I think their next member comes from a Chicago area or Indiana Division III or NAIA school.

[Augie6]

I must say, regardless of how the season plays out, I am so impressed with what Augie has done this season.  With the graduation of last year's exceptional senior class, I certainly would not have predicted that Augie would be 18-4 and 11-2 in the CCIW, at this point of the season.  I knew the cupboard wasn't bare at Augie, but I also knew it would take a while to for the returning players to figure out their new roles and for the new players to mesh into the system.  Credit to Coach G and the program he has built.  Now if only Coach Bell can have similar success rebuilding the football program, all will right with the world! 

[USee]

In other news, Wheaton beat Millikin last night in Decatur 77-57 and Aston Francis scored 31.

[augie77]

"You're a disgrace to Hunter Hill's uniform."  Unnamed North Central player to Nolan Ebel.  This year's number 14 had just turned the ball over and things didn't look good for the Vikings as they trailed 55-51 with just a minute remaining in regulation.  Ebel went on to score 14 of his points after this little bit of inspiration, as he carried the Vikings to this come from behind win.  Thank you, North Central!      Taken from the game article in QC Online. 

I'd provide the article if I had the technical know how. 

[Gregory Sager]

Here ya go.

Who knew that the Cardinals were so protective of Hunter Hill's legacy?

[kiko]

Here ya go.

Who knew that the Cardinals were so protective of Hunter Hill's legacy?

No more or less protective than Coach G is of the Cardinals' equity.  This Holtzian comment is from the linked article.  You'd think that Augie was the underdog in this one...

"To win a championship, you've got to win some games like that," said Augie coach Grey Giovanine. "We're playing the pre-season favorite, they've got the All-American center (in Alex Sorenson, who finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds) and we found a way to win. We missed layups, we missed free throws, we go 3-for-14 from 3 and we win."

[Greek Tragedy]

Iwu70

Carthage is IWU's big game obviously. If you win, you'll sweep them. Carthage isn't regionally ranked, but they are probably 9th or 10th. The good news is that North Park already lost. If you split with Carthage, that's bad news as they swept NP and IWU got swept by them. Carthage already split with Augie, so you'll need to win that one too.

[Gregory Sager]

Here ya go.

Who knew that the Cardinals were so protective of Hunter Hill's legacy?

No more or less protective than Coach G is of the Cardinals' equity.  This Holtzian comment is from the linked article.  You'd think that Augie was the underdog in this one...

"To win a championship, you've got to win some games like that," said Augie coach Grey Giovanine. "We're playing the pre-season favorite, they've got the All-American center (in Alex Sorenson, who finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds) and we found a way to win. We missed layups, we missed free throws, we go 3-for-14 from 3 and we win."

Good point. But if you'd pressed him on his selective use of the facts, Giovanine would've undoubtedly retorted that his team was missing Pierson Wofford, whom he referred to in the press last week as "our key player." (Never mind that in early December he permanently removed Wofford from the starting lineup, or that Wofford was averaging less than 20 mpg when he was dismissed from the team.)

Grey Giovanine has many positive attributes as a head basketball coach, and one of them is the fact that he's earned a spin doctorate.

[augie77]

Wofford was certainly "a" key player.  Although operating off the bench, he was playing starter's minutes in the Augustana system.  He was fourth on the team in scoring and second in rebounding.  His athleticism was second to none, and he infused a special energy onto the floor that can't be replaced.  Not having Wofford is a game changer in how Giovannine plays his considerably weakened bench.  Many teams are missing key personnel, and that includes Augustana

[Gregory Sager]

Nobody's arguing any of that, though*. The distinction here is that Wofford was a key player for Augie, not the key player.


(*A quibble could be made about the whole "starter's minutes" thing, though, as Wofford was averaging substantially less time on the floor than were Orange, Sortillo, Johnston, or Ebel -- and, since Giovanine's been using a center-by-committee system with Dollmeyer, Martin, and Ferguson, the fifth starter doesn't really enter into the discussion.)

[AndOne]

"You're a disgrace to Hunter Hill's uniform."  Unnamed North Central player to Nolan Ebel.  This year's number 14 had just turned the ball over and things didn't look good for the Vikings as they trailed 55-51 with just a minute remaining in regulation.  Ebel went on to score 14 of his points after this little bit of inspiration, as he carried the Vikings to this come from behind win.  Thank you, North Central!      Taken from the game article in QC Online. 

I'd provide the article if I had the technical know how.

Perhaps said NCC player forgot that Ebel was arguably Augie's best player in their first round conference meeting earlier this season Or possibly it was just an attempt at a little reverse psychology that backfired big time.
Ebel is a fine player who is having a very nice season indeed.

As one of NCC"s biggest fans, I wish the NC player in question would have channeled his efforts into something like making one more basket, or one more defensive stop at some point during the course of the game. I think that would have likely been a more productive outlet than to piss off Augie's top performer last evening.

My advice to my friend in "red" is don't start crowing until the barn door is both closed and locked. When its still open, even slightly (one minute left) your expected victory might slip through the crack.

[AndOne]

Wofford was certainly "a" key player.  Although operating off the bench, he was playing starter's minutes in the Augustana system.  He was fourth on the team in scoring and second in rebounding.  His athleticism was second to none, and he infused a special energy onto the floor that can't be replaced.  Not having Wofford is a game changer in how Giovannine plays his considerably weakened bench.  Many teams are missing key personnel, and that includes Augustana

augie77,

1. As Greg Sager advised. Wofford was a key player, not the key player. Book it.

2. "His athleticism was second to NONE." Really? You can't find anyone else in the entire CCIW who is as athletic as Pierson Wofford? 
I sense you're not looking hard enough. 

3. I agree that when he was playing it could be said that "he infused a special energy onto the floor."
However, it seems that he evidently infused quite a bit of energy elsewhere as well.
Perhaps if he had confined his energies to the court he'd still be appearing on the court. 

[AndOne]

Here ya go.

Who knew that the Cardinals were so protective of Hunter Hill's legacy?

No more or less protective than Coach G is of the Cardinals' equity.  This Holtzian comment is from the linked article.  You'd think that Augie was the underdog in this one...

"To win a championship, you've got to win some games like that," said Augie coach Grey Giovanine. "We're playing the pre-season favorite, they've got the All-American center (in Alex Sorenson, who finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds) and we found a way to win. We missed layups, we missed free throws, we go 3-for-14 from 3 and we win."

Good point. But if you'd pressed him on his selective use of the facts, Giovanine would've undoubtedly retorted that his team was missing Pierson Wofford, whom he referred to in the press last week as "our key player." (Never mind that in early December he permanently removed Wofford from the starting lineup, or that Wofford was averaging less than 20 mpg when he was dismissed from the team.)

Indeed kiko, very good point.
To hear Stomper Giovanine tell it, you would think North Central was still the same team that was the pre-season favorite. Seems he conveniently forgot that the Cardinals have been playing not only without a key ingredient, but perhaps without the key ingredient.
And, as far as Augie finding a way to win, I think last night's result was at least as much of a case of NCC finding a way to lose as Augie finding a way to win. After all, it wasn't just the Vikings that missed layups and free throws.

And if Giovanine wants to retort that his team didn't have Wofford, then I'd say fine, you can have Wofford back, and we'll take a healthy Raridon, and lets play and see what happens. Hopefully next season we'll get the opportunity to find out.