MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[kiko]

Carroll (4-10, 0-5)

Fixed the loss column for you GS.  Carroll hasn't been good. but they haven't been THAT bad yet.

There's more to an athletic program than just basketball... but anybody think that Carroll might be rethinking their return to the CCIW?

It would surprise me.  One rationale that has been suggested for the move was that it would help the school, broadly, to recruit better in Chicagoland, and that factor is a bit insulated from their struggles in the most marquee sports.

[Gregory Sager]

I agree with kiko. I don't think that Carroll got back into the league because the CU administration thought that the school was primed to become a CCIW powerhouse. The Pioneers tended to be pretty dismal -- not just in the big three sports, but across the board -- throughout their lengthy sojourn in the CCIW the first time around, and there was really no reason for anyone to think that things would be any different now than they were back then. It's simply tough to recruit CCIW-level student-athletes if you're a Wisconsin private school because of the WIAC (we're all aware that Carthage is in many respects an Illinois school planted just across the border), and Carroll's resources in terms of money and facilities are modest by CCIW standards.

Carroll got back into the league in order to draw more Chicagolanders, as kiko said, and that's likely the yardstick by which the CU administration measures the move's success or failure, not wins and losses.

[AndOne]

Key for Wheaton tonight: Keep Alex Sorenson from scoring 20 and keep Alex Sorenson off of the glass (less than 10 boards), then we'll see what happens. This is always an entertaining game between to teams (and schools) that do not like each other. If NCC gives Francis enough space to get hot, I see the Thunder coming out of this one with two wins at two of the hardest places to play in the conference in the same week which would be huge.

Obviously NCC has more weapons than Sorenson, but in last year's matchup at King, Sorenson torched us, so minimizing him helps keep the game close when other offensive weapons are hitting for them. Will be in Naperville for the game tonight rooting for a Thunder win!

As much as Sorenson's contributions helped NCC to post a W in the game in Wheaton last year, Wheaton Turnovers we responsible for the Cardinals victory. Point maker Aston Francis had 9 TOs, many of which were committed by his doing too much dribbling in attempts to free himself to launch another of his long range missiles. PG Luke Peters generously threw the ball to the Cards (5 times) almost as many times (6) as he did to a teammate. NCC had their own problems taking care of the ball in that game, but the combined 14 TOs by Francis and Peters played a big role in the Wheaties loss.

It will be interesting to see what type of game plan the coaches have in mind for tonight's battle.
Perimeter defense will play an important role in tonight's outcome.
Francis can score about all he wants if the Cards can hold down the Wheaties other players, particularly Samuelson. And, as far as Francis raking up the points, the trick is to make those points what I call "non-efficient." By that I mean make him take an inordinate number of shots to register whatever point total he posts. In actuality, Wheaton has, I believe 3 players who have a higher percentage on their attempts from downtown. For every poor shot (although he makes a lot of the "poor" ones too) Francis takes, that's possibly a good shot another capable player doesn't get. It might not help, but I also think Mr. Francis will see different defenders throughout the evening.

NCC has won plenty of games where Sorenson hasn't had one of his higher scoring nights. In the game at Wheaton last year, the Cards had 3 other players in double figures, and none of them were Connor Raridon who was out injured.
NCC must win the battle of the boards and limit 2nd chance opportunities for the North DuPagers.

As always in what shapes up as being a very close game, look for the team that plays the best defense and limits mistakes/turnovers to have the most likely chance to come away with the W. (Duh 😉)

[Yogao]

I think there is a lid on the east basket in Rock Island. Augie went  9 for 27 from the field in the first half. They missed at least 8 shots in the paint. They were also 4-9 from the line. Trailing 34 to 27 at the half.

[iwu70]

Augie over Carroll 66-62

[iwu70]

IWU sneaks by NPU 76-75,

Colin Lake a scoring machine, with 46
Kirby 15
For NPU

IWU
Brady Rose 29 and 6
Bonnett 16
O'Neill 11 and 6 and 5 assists

Poor FT shooting tonight by the Titans. 

IWU'70

[shepherd]

I don't understand the Wheaton coach taking out Spencer Peterson.  They controlled the inside when he was in and got out rebounded big time for the time he was out in the second half.  Either the coach was mad at him or didn't resize what he was doing.  He should never shoot from the three and isn't an offensive threat but he was essential in all the time Wheaton lead.  Wheaton had no chance do to the inside match-ups when they took him out.

Why play Jay Spencer all those minutes when he wasn't getting rebounds and constantly fouling?  Jay could be a much better player if he ever learned to put his weight on the balls of his feet and bend from the knees more.  He doesn't have control of were he is moving.  In the off season he needs to play some touch or flag football at the linebacker position while getting coached by a lb coach for body position.

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois Wesleyan 76
North Park 75

Colin Lake: 46 pts
Billy Kirby: 15 pts
Matt Szuba: 6 rebs, 3 blks

Brady Rose: 29 pts, 8 rebs, 4:2 a:to
Colin Bonnett: 16 pts
Alex O'Neill: 11 pts, 6 rebs

The Vikings fought back from what had been a double-digit deficit for most of the second half, and came fairly close to winning the game on a 3/4ths court heave by Colin Lake at the buzzer that was wide left by a foot.

Lake's 46 is the most points scored by a Viking since Jack Ecker set the school record of 54 in a game against Carthage in 1995.

[voxelmhurst]

Carthage 63
Elmhurst 57

Game was tied at 54 with a few minutes remaining. Carthage got the buckets done the stretch, Elmhurst didn't. Ireland and Rhode, Elmhurst's usual leaders struggled in this one. Rhode finished with just 5, Ireland finished with 10 after scoring just 2 points in the first half.  Dotlich led Elmhurst with 14.

Carthage finished with a 28-18 advantage in points in the paint as Elmhurst struggled to establish an inside presence for much of the night.

[GoPerry]

NCC  75
Wheaton 66

Aston Francis       31 pts, 7 rebs,
Trevor Gunter      11 pts, 2 rebs
Kobe Eichelberger   9 pts, 5 rebs
Ricky Samuelson   7 pts, 5 rebs

Alex Sorenson      19 pts, 10 rebs, 3 blks
Erwin Henry      15 pts, 4 rebs
Connor Raridon   7 pts, 6 rebs, 6 assts
Mike Cappelletti   13 pts, 5 rebs


This was a much tighter game than 9 pts and Wheaton actually led for most of the game.  The Thunder were plagued by foul trouble the whole night and had to rely on Francis even more.  He was up to the task until he cooled off just a little bit late in the 2nd half and that's all it took in a tight game for the Cards to get the edge.  Sorenson, as expected, was trouble for the Thunder.  I actually thought Trevor Gunter and Spencer Peterson did a decent job on him but still had no answer down the stretch.  Samuelson had difficulty getting untracked with his foul trouble – only played 20 minutes.  Francis was Francis(several more unbelievable shots), but I thought the team overall had trouble finding some offensive rhythm. Still, they had a chance to win late in the game and that's all you can ask for on the road in January.

Some really bad officiating calls in the game, for both teams I thought.

For NCC tonight was an important "hold of serve."  After some early hiccups, looks like NCC is pretty much right where we thought they'd be coming into the season.  Right in the thick of it.  They are obviously much more than just Alex Sorenson and Connor Raridon as both Henry and Cappelletti made some big buckets.  For Wheaton, not a catastrophic loss by any means.  But they need to get themselves back up again on Wednesday in Kenosha and try to come away with a W there.  If they can do that, they'll be in pretty decent shape.

[duckfan41]

Unreal game in Naperville tonight, NCC came out on top in a game that was much closer than the eventual final score. I was encouraged for much of the game with how the Thunder played as they lead most of the way until the final minutes. I know this game was going to be a war and it didn't disappoint. Excited for the matchup in King in a few weeks.

[Titan Q]

Colin Lake had quite a night - seemed like everything he threw up there was going to go in. 

I was never officially nervous in that final minute until Lake went to the FT line down 3 with 2 seconds to play.  I was worried he would make the 1st and something bad (for IWU) would happen on an intentional miss on the 2nd.  But he decided to make the 2nd.

Really nice game again by Brady Rose - he's having a tremendous season.  Colin Bonnett was good again as well.

IWU is all alone atop the CCIW standings at 5-1...with huge road wins at Wheaton and North Central.  Long way to go, but a pretty good spot for now.

Next up for the Titans - Millikin at home on Wednesday.

[GoPerry]

I don't understand the Wheaton coach taking out Spencer Peterson.  They controlled the inside when he was in and got out rebounded big time for the time he was out in the second half.  Either the coach was mad at him or didn't resize what he was doing.  He should never shoot from the three and isn't an offensive threat but he was essential in all the time Wheaton lead.  Wheaton had no chance do to the inside match-ups when they took him out.

Why play Jay Spencer all those minutes when he wasn't getting rebounds and constantly fouling?  Jay could be a much better player if he ever learned to put his weight on the balls of his feet and bend from the knees more.  He doesn't have control of were he is moving.  In the off season he needs to play some touch or flag football at the linebacker position while getting coached by a lb coach for body position.

In the I'm-sorry-I-have-to-say-it-but since-you-brought-it-up department:  Someone explain to me why Spencer Peterson, now shooting a whopping 15.3%, that's 4 for 26 folks, continues to shoot 3 pointers( 0 for 2 tonight)?  I don't know why the coaching staff doesn't simply forbid him from shooting anything over 15 ft for the rest of the season, if not for the team then for the sake of the fans?

What Jay Spencer really needs is another 20 lbs of muscle minimum - 30 would be better.  At 180 lbs, technique can't make up for that much less bulk.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I don't understand the Wheaton coach taking out Spencer Peterson.  They controlled the inside when he was in and got out rebounded big time for the time he was out in the second half.  Either the coach was mad at him or didn't resize what he was doing.  He should never shoot from the three and isn't an offensive threat but he was essential in all the time Wheaton lead.  Wheaton had no chance do to the inside match-ups when they took him out.

Why play Jay Spencer all those minutes when he wasn't getting rebounds and constantly fouling?  Jay could be a much better player if he ever learned to put his weight on the balls of his feet and bend from the knees more.  He doesn't have control of were he is moving.  In the off season he needs to play some touch or flag football at the linebacker position while getting coached by a lb coach for body position.

In the I'm-sorry-I-have-to-say-it-but since-you-brought-it-up department:  Someone explain to me why Spencer Peterson, now shooting a whopping 15.3%, that's 4 for 26 folks, continues to shoot 3 pointers( 0 for 2 tonight)?  I don't know why the coaching staff doesn't simply forbid him from shooting anything over 15 ft for the rest of the season, if not for the team then for the sake of the fans?

What Jay Spencer really needs is another 20 lbs of muscle minimum - 30 would be better.  At 180 lbs, technique can't make up for that much less bulk.

In the I'm-sorry-I-have-no-idea department, I wonder if he got pulled because the coaches ordered him not to shoot any more threes, but he disobeyed the order?

[izzy stradlin]

I don't understand the Wheaton coach taking out Spencer Peterson.  They controlled the inside when he was in and got out rebounded big time for the time he was out in the second half.  Either the coach was mad at him or didn't resize what he was doing.  He should never shoot from the three and isn't an offensive threat but he was essential in all the time Wheaton lead.  Wheaton had no chance do to the inside match-ups when they took him out.

Why play Jay Spencer all those minutes when he wasn't getting rebounds and constantly fouling?  Jay could be a much better player if he ever learned to put his weight on the balls of his feet and bend from the knees more.  He doesn't have control of were he is moving.  In the off season he needs to play some touch or flag football at the linebacker position while getting coached by a lb coach for body position.

In the I'm-sorry-I-have-to-say-it-but since-you-brought-it-up department:  Someone explain to me why Spencer Peterson, now shooting a whopping 15.3%, that's 4 for 26 folks, continues to shoot 3 pointers( 0 for 2 tonight)?  I don't know why the coaching staff doesn't simply forbid him from shooting anything over 15 ft for the rest of the season, if not for the team then for the sake of the fans?

What Jay Spencer really needs is another 20 lbs of muscle minimum - 30 would be better.  At 180 lbs, technique can't make up for that much less bulk.

I agree. No more 3's for Spencer Peterson.  He should have been on the floor way more down the stretch, though, when NCC took control of the game.  He was Wheaton's best defender again Sorenson who had several easy baskets in the last 6-7 minutes of the game with Peterson out.  It made no sense to have him on the bench.

Francis had an amazing 3/4 of the game.  He played 38 minutes though and I don't think it's a complete coincidence that his crazy arsenal of jumpers didn't fall towards the end of the game.