MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

Tonight's games:
Augustana (13-3, 5-2) @ North Park (4-11, 1-6)
Illinois Wesleyan (13-3, 6-1) @ Carroll (5-11, 1-6)
Carthage (9-7, 4-3) @ Millikin (8-8, 1-6)
North Central (12-4, 5-2) @ Elmhurst (10-6, 3-4)
Illinois Tech (11-5) @ Wheaton (12-4)

Massey sez:

Augustana 74, North Park 62	AC 87%, NPU 13%
Illinois Wesleyan 73, Carroll 66	IWU 74%, CU 26%
Carthage 71, Millikin 64	CC 75%, MU 25%
North Central 80, Elmhurst 74	NCC 71%, EC 29%
Wheaton 82, Illinois Tech 73	WC 82%, IIT 18%

Saturday's games:
Carthage (10-7, 5-3) @ Augustana (15-3, 7-2)
Elmhurst (11-7, 4-5) @ North Central (13-5, 6-3)
North Park (4-13, 1-8) @ Illinois Wesleyan (15-3, 8-1)
Wheaton (13-5, 6-3) @ Millikin (8-10, 1-8)

Massey sez:

Augustana 74, Carthage 65	AC 80%, CC 20%
North Central 82 75 Elmhurst 75 82	NCC 77% 23% EC 23% 77%
Illinois Wesleyan 78, North Park 63	IWU 93%, NPU 7%
Wheaton 82, Millikin 73	WC 81%, MU 19%

Since Mr. Massey didn't exactly hit the nail on the head in the first go-round, I'm employing a little reverse prediction psychology with regard to the second meeting. 🤔

I fully hope and expect the Cardinals to emerge victorious from tomorrow evening's battle.
Accordingly, I'm hoping they view themselves as the underdogs rather than the favorites since playing the favored role didn't exactly bring success last weekend. 😏
Seriously, I'm sure both that the coaching staff has impressed upon the Cards, and they have absorbed, and are aware of the fact that the effort they put forth for the first 17 minutes of last Saturday's game is what will be required for a full 40 minutes tomorrow night. 🏀

[iwu70]

AO, a very important game for NCC -- you don't want to have that 4th loss in CCIW just yet. 

I think Carthage has a good chance at home vs. AC. 

7 games to go . . . the long grind of the season, testing the fitness of the players now. 

'70

[AndOne]

I think the poker term "all in" might come into play for the IWU bench Sat. night. ⛹🏼‍♂️⛹🏼‍♂️⛹🏼‍♂️⛹🏼‍♂️⛹🏼‍♂️

[AndOne]

AO, a very important game for NCC -- you don't want to have that 4th loss in CCIW just yet. 

I think Carthage has a good chance at home vs. AC. 

7 games to go . . . the long grind of the season, testing the fitness of the players now. 

'70

EVERY game remaining on the NCC schedule is an important game!

[iwu70]

AO, I hope you are right -- that last game with NPU was very close -- Lake went off for 46, as you will recall.  Hope this one @The Shirk is a bit easier, letting some of the loyal pine-sitters get some minutes.

Yup, all games important now, esp. for getting to the CCIW tournament.  Still think it will be AC, IWU, WC and NCC at the end of the day.

IWU just has to keep winning, stay in the driver's seat. 

'70

[Titan Q]

Illinois Wesleyan (15-3, 8-1) vs North Park (4-13, 1-8), 7pm...

Illinois Wesleyan (15-3, 8-1)
G - Brady Rose, 6-3/185 Jr.  22.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 3.4 apg
G - Colin Bonnett, 6-4/190 Jr.  12.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.7 apg
G - Jason Gregoire, 6-4/195 Jr.  6.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.8 apg
F - Jaylen Beasley, 6-6/185 Sr.  6.8 ppg, 6.9 rpg
C - Alex O'Neill, 6-9/245 So.  8.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg

North Park (4-13, 1-8)
G - Colin Lake, 5-7/175 Sr.  21.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.9 apg
G - Jack Gurvey, 6-1/160 Jr.  3.3 ppg, 2.2 apg, 1.7 apg
G - Billy Kirby, 6-3/190 Jr.  12.5 ppg, 3.5 apg, 2.0 apg
F - Matt Szuba, 6-6/210 Fr.  8.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg
F - Jason Hines, 6-4/236 Sr.  3.1 ppg, 1.3 rpg


Pantagraph: http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/three-point-marvel-lake-brings-north-park-to-iwu/article_11869124-b7e3-57d1-8091-cd6ce2780e1d.html

WJBC Radio: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/wjbc/

Video/Stats: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/iwu/

[Titan Q]

IWU PG Brady Rose continues to have a great conference season.  Through 9 games:

25.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.9 apg, 1.8 A:TO, .541 FG, .483 3-point, .830 FT. 

Rose, w/ 949 career points, recently passed Dennie Bridges on IWU's all-time scoring list. Rose is in a 48th place tie w/ Paul Peterson. Up next: #47 Trevor Seibring (952), #46 Mark Aubry (955), #45 Jamie Shouba (959).

[Titan Q]

I think Carthage has a good chance at home vs. AC. 

The game tonight is in Rock Island.  Augie won 70-61 in Kenosha on December 9.

[duckfan41]

The WIAC is brutal - loaded with so many good teams, every night is a war for every team in the league. You're right that standing 6-1 at this point is really impressive, SP looks legit from the perspective of an outsider who admittedly hasn't watched them live.


I want to talk about Ruggles for a minute, because I saw that Chris Martin made a bold statement in his post-game interview last Wednesday when he called Ruggles "one of the elite players in the country". I'm a CCIW fan and, more specifically, an avid Wheaton fan, and I was really disappointed when Wheaton wasn't able to keep Ruggles home (he played his high school ball at Wheaton-Warrenville South). People said then that he would be a D3 star, and I believed it. After two seasons spent dealing with all kinds of injuries, he's proving me right. 22.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.7 APG and no one's talking about the kid as an All-American candidate. Meanwhile, if you look over at the CCIW, everyone is already labeling Brady Rose an All-American (and he's a heck of a player so this isn't a shot at him) with virtually the same numbers (22.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.4 APG). I know the CCIW is the better league, but if you look at Massey (which I know is imperfect but it's still a good measuring stick) before writing it off as a difference in competition played, IWU's strength of schedule is 33rd in the country compared to Loras at 34th. Brady Rose probably is an All-American - but why isn't Ruggles in the same conversation?


There's also a legitimate argument to be made that Ruggles is the most efficient scorer in the country. He's shooting 51.2% from the field (125-224), 46.3% from three (68-147), and 92.7% from the FT line (102-110). I saw someone make the claim on twitter the other day that Ruggles is the only member of the 50-40-90 club in the country, so I dug into the numbers on the NCAA site and confirmed that this is true (using the NCAA minimums for attempts). This sparked my curiosity, so I started looking at historical numbers on the site and found that there has literally been one other player in D3 hoops in the past decade who has finished the season as a member of the 50-40-90 club.


If you want to chalk up the lack of buzz surrounding Ruggles to the fact that Loras isn't nationally ranked, fine, I won't argue with that. But I would genuinely be interested to hear from other CCIW/IIAC fans about what I'm missing here. In any case, I wish he was playing alongside Aston Francis for my Thunder!

Thanks for the insight Duckfan!! I had no clue he was that efficient, the 50-40-90 club is a incredibly impressive accomplishment. Who was the one other player to do it? Loras isn't in the national converstion but definitely one of the top teams in the West, and he will be recognized by the IIAC and All-Region teams for sure. I remembered reading an Around the Region article on him last year, he really has persevered injuries, great story, sounds like him his brother and his family really deserve this.

http://www.d3hoops.com/columns/around-the-region/west/2016-17/loras-ruggles-heart

Oh... and if Francis and Ruggles were on the same team:

Based on my research, the only other player to do it in the last 10 years was Colby Taylor from Central - believe it was two years ago, but may have even been last year. That season, he shot 53% from the field (196-370), 46.9% from three (69-147, coincidentally one more than Ruggles has hit in the same amount of shots this year), and 92.5% from the FT line (99-107). Others were close, others were in the club without reaching the NCAA minimum requirements for attempts, but only Ruggles and Taylor in the last decade according to the NCAA statistics.


I hear you on Loras not being on the national scene, and I appreciate that feedback. If Loras wins the IIAC and advances a few games into the national tournament, though, it seems to me that he should be in the conversation. Winning solves everything!

Also, that gif is probably the most accurate representation of what those two would look like on the court together for the same team!

Had this exchange over on the IIAC board and was wondering if you all had any thoughts?

[Gregory Sager]

Pantagraph: http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/three-point-marvel-lake-brings-north-park-to-iwu/article_11869124-b7e3-57d1-8091-cd6ce2780e1d.html

How bizarre is it that the Pantagraph writer picked Zach Knobloch, of all people, to quote regarding Colin Lake in his article?

Zach Knobloch didn't enjoy Colin Lake's outlandish display of long-range shooting in Chicago on Jan. 13.

Yet the Illinois Wesleyan sophomore couldn't help but admire it.

"When someone gets hot like that, you've just got to respect it because there's not much you can do it stop it," Knobloch said. "When you get into a zone like that, it's hard to guard someone. He's a scorer. That's what he does."

Knobloch was the guy who went thug-life on Lake in an attempt to either rile him up enough to retaliate and get thrown out of the game or to hurt him outright. As I said on CCIW Chat after that game two Saturdays ago, I understand and can appreciate, on one level, the gamesmanship involved in what he was doing to Lake. But on another level it was disappointing, because Illinois Wesleyan has never been known to play goon ball. I wasn't the only person who was disappointed with it, either, as a North Park faculty member went out of his way to tell me last week that he wrote a letter to the president of Illinois Wesleyan University expressing his disgust with Knobloch's actions.

[AndOne]

It must have been an 11 on the 1-10 scale of aggravated aggression for a NPU faculty member to go so far as to write to the POIWU. Perhaps thuggery directed at Lake was part of the game plan?
Do we really know if Knobloch is a thug or was that an isolated incident? What exactly did he do? Was it more verbal or physical? Has he been guilty of such behavior either previously or since? Many generally nice guys will occasionally exhibit unusual behavior. If he is an overly aggressive player is there a chance he learned such behavior elsewhere and brought it with him to Bloomington?

[WUPHF]

I wasn't the only person who was disappointed with it, either, as a North Park faculty member went out of his way to tell me last week that he wrote a letter to the president of Illinois Wesleyan University expressing his disgust with Knobloch's actions.

I am sorry, but I hate everything about this part of the post.

I'll say though that I am not all that surprised as this is where we are headed in higher education.  Oh, you didn't like something?  Offended?  Solution: appeal to the authorities for a resolution.

The professor could have just as easily e-mailed Knobloch directly to discuss (his e-mail is most certainly in a public directory) or written a letter to the basketball program with a c/o.  The professor passed on a teachable moment.

[AndOne]

The WIAC is brutal - loaded with so many good teams, every night is a war for every team in the league. You're right that standing 6-1 at this point is really impressive, SP looks legit from the perspective of an outsider who admittedly hasn't watched them live.


I want to talk about Ruggles for a minute, because I saw that Chris Martin made a bold statement in his post-game interview last Wednesday when he called Ruggles "one of the elite players in the country". I'm a CCIW fan and, more specifically, an avid Wheaton fan, and I was really disappointed when Wheaton wasn't able to keep Ruggles home (he played his high school ball at Wheaton-Warrenville South). People said then that he would be a D3 star, and I believed it. After two seasons spent dealing with all kinds of injuries, he's proving me right. 22.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.7 APG and no one's talking about the kid as an All-American candidate. Meanwhile, if you look over at the CCIW, everyone is already labeling Brady Rose an All-American (and he's a heck of a player so this isn't a shot at him) with virtually the same numbers (22.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.4 APG). I know the CCIW is the better league, but if you look at Massey (which I know is imperfect but it's still a good measuring stick) before writing it off as a difference in competition played, IWU's strength of schedule is 33rd in the country compared to Loras at 34th. Brady Rose probably is an All-American - but why isn't Ruggles in the same conversation?


There's also a legitimate argument to be made that Ruggles is the most efficient scorer in the country. He's shooting 51.2% from the field (125-224), 46.3% from three (68-147), and 92.7% from the FT line (102-110). I saw someone make the claim on twitter the other day that Ruggles is the only member of the 50-40-90 club in the country, so I dug into the numbers on the NCAA site and confirmed that this is true (using the NCAA minimums for attempts). This sparked my curiosity, so I started looking at historical numbers on the site and found that there has literally been one other player in D3 hoops in the past decade who has finished the season as a member of the 50-40-90 club.


If you want to chalk up the lack of buzz surrounding Ruggles to the fact that Loras isn't nationally ranked, fine, I won't argue with that. But I would genuinely be interested to hear from other CCIW/IIAC fans about what I'm missing here. In any case, I wish he was playing alongside Aston Francis for my Thunder!

Thanks for the insight Duckfan!! I had no clue he was that efficient, the 50-40-90 club is a incredibly impressive accomplishment. Who was the one other player to do it? Loras isn't in the national converstion but definitely one of the top teams in the West, and he will be recognized by the IIAC and All-Region teams for sure. I remembered reading an Around the Region article on him last year, he really has persevered injuries, great story, sounds like him his brother and his family really deserve this.

http://www.d3hoops.com/columns/around-the-region/west/2016-17/loras-ruggles-heart

Oh... and if Francis and Ruggles were on the same team:

Based on my research, the only other player to do it in the last 10 years was Colby Taylor from Central - believe it was two years ago, but may have even been last year. That season, he shot 53% from the field (196-370), 46.9% from three (69-147, coincidentally one more than Ruggles has hit in the same amount of shots this year), and 92.5% from the FT line (99-107). Others were close, others were in the club without reaching the NCAA minimum requirements for attempts, but only Ruggles and Taylor in the last decade according to the NCAA statistics.


I hear you on Loras not being on the national scene, and I appreciate that feedback. If Loras wins the IIAC and advances a few games into the national tournament, though, it seems to me that he should be in the conversation. Winning solves everything!

Also, that gif is probably the most accurate representation of what those two would look like on the court together for the same team!

Had this exchange over on the IIAC board and was wondering if you all had any thoughts?

JMHO, but I think all this ballyhoo about All-Americans and such is just a wee bit premature.
Here in CCIW land we've already been subjected to some "he's playing at an All-American level" publicity campaigning.
One player having an excellent year is IWU's Brady Rose. But All-American? Maybe he'll be one and maybe he won't. But, if he is, what are......................?

- The 20 players who have, as of right now, scored more points.
- The 24 players who have made more field goals.
- The 68 players who have made more 3 point shots.
- The 74 players who average more 3 pt field goals per game.
- The 112 players who have a higher 3 pt shooting percentage.
- The 200+ players who average more assists per game.
- The 200+ players with more rebounds per game.
- The 200+ players who have a better assist to Turnover Ratio.

Any All-Americans in that group?
There are many factors that make someone an All-American.
Whoever the subject might be, lets just hold off and see where they're positioned when the season ends.   

[AndOne]

I wasn't the only person who was disappointed with it, either, as a North Park faculty member went out of his way to tell me last week that he wrote a letter to the president of Illinois Wesleyan University expressing his disgust with Knobloch's actions.

I am sorry, but I hate everything about this part of the post.

I'll say though that I am not all that surprised as this is where we are headed in higher education.  Oh, you didn't like something?  Offended?  Solution: appeal to the authorities for a resolution.

The professor could have just as easily e-mailed Knobloch directly to discuss (his e-mail is most certainly in a public directory) or written a letter to the basketball program with a c/o.  The professor passed on a teachable moment.

Actually, appealing to the authorities might be a (very little) more desirable solution.

What seems to happen even more when someone gets bent out of shape over something relatively minor today is that they'll find an attorney that's being taken out for a walk by it's owner, and have the attorney file a frivolous lawsuit! 🐩

[duckfan41]

The WIAC is brutal - loaded with so many good teams, every night is a war for every team in the league. You're right that standing 6-1 at this point is really impressive, SP looks legit from the perspective of an outsider who admittedly hasn't watched them live.


I want to talk about Ruggles for a minute, because I saw that Chris Martin made a bold statement in his post-game interview last Wednesday when he called Ruggles "one of the elite players in the country". I'm a CCIW fan and, more specifically, an avid Wheaton fan, and I was really disappointed when Wheaton wasn't able to keep Ruggles home (he played his high school ball at Wheaton-Warrenville South). People said then that he would be a D3 star, and I believed it. After two seasons spent dealing with all kinds of injuries, he's proving me right. 22.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.7 APG and no one's talking about the kid as an All-American candidate. Meanwhile, if you look over at the CCIW, everyone is already labeling Brady Rose an All-American (and he's a heck of a player so this isn't a shot at him) with virtually the same numbers (22.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.4 APG). I know the CCIW is the better league, but if you look at Massey (which I know is imperfect but it's still a good measuring stick) before writing it off as a difference in competition played, IWU's strength of schedule is 33rd in the country compared to Loras at 34th. Brady Rose probably is an All-American - but why isn't Ruggles in the same conversation?


There's also a legitimate argument to be made that Ruggles is the most efficient scorer in the country. He's shooting 51.2% from the field (125-224), 46.3% from three (68-147), and 92.7% from the FT line (102-110). I saw someone make the claim on twitter the other day that Ruggles is the only member of the 50-40-90 club in the country, so I dug into the numbers on the NCAA site and confirmed that this is true (using the NCAA minimums for attempts). This sparked my curiosity, so I started looking at historical numbers on the site and found that there has literally been one other player in D3 hoops in the past decade who has finished the season as a member of the 50-40-90 club.


If you want to chalk up the lack of buzz surrounding Ruggles to the fact that Loras isn't nationally ranked, fine, I won't argue with that. But I would genuinely be interested to hear from other CCIW/IIAC fans about what I'm missing here. In any case, I wish he was playing alongside Aston Francis for my Thunder!

Thanks for the insight Duckfan!! I had no clue he was that efficient, the 50-40-90 club is a incredibly impressive accomplishment. Who was the one other player to do it? Loras isn't in the national converstion but definitely one of the top teams in the West, and he will be recognized by the IIAC and All-Region teams for sure. I remembered reading an Around the Region article on him last year, he really has persevered injuries, great story, sounds like him his brother and his family really deserve this.

http://www.d3hoops.com/columns/around-the-region/west/2016-17/loras-ruggles-heart

Oh... and if Francis and Ruggles were on the same team:

Based on my research, the only other player to do it in the last 10 years was Colby Taylor from Central - believe it was two years ago, but may have even been last year. That season, he shot 53% from the field (196-370), 46.9% from three (69-147, coincidentally one more than Ruggles has hit in the same amount of shots this year), and 92.5% from the FT line (99-107). Others were close, others were in the club without reaching the NCAA minimum requirements for attempts, but only Ruggles and Taylor in the last decade according to the NCAA statistics.


I hear you on Loras not being on the national scene, and I appreciate that feedback. If Loras wins the IIAC and advances a few games into the national tournament, though, it seems to me that he should be in the conversation. Winning solves everything!

Also, that gif is probably the most accurate representation of what those two would look like on the court together for the same team!

Had this exchange over on the IIAC board and was wondering if you all had any thoughts?

JMHO, but I think all this ballyhoo about All-Americans and such is just a wee bit premature.
Here in CCIW land we've already been subjected to some "he's playing at an All-American level" publicity campaigning.
One player having an excellent year is IWU's Brady Rose. But All-American? Maybe he'll be one and maybe he won't. But, if he is, what are......................?

- The 20 players who have, as of right now, scored more points.
- The 24 players who have made more field goals.
- The 68 players who have made more 3 point shots.
- The 74 players who average more 3 pt field goals per game.
- The 112 players who have a higher 3 pt shooting percentage.
- The 200+ players who average more assists per game.
- The 200+ players with more rebounds per game.
- The 200+ players who have a better assist to Turnover Ratio.

Any All-Americans in that group?
There are many factors that make someone an All-American.
Whoever the subject might be, lets just hold off and see where they're positioned when the season ends.   

I appreciate your input, but you seem to always blow a gasket whenever Raridon has a somewhat respectable game, and I haven't said anything. I was just noting how Josh is the second most efficient shooter in the entire country (behind my own Ricky Samuelson), but his percentages are actually better than Mr. Samuelson's. And with 6-ish games left in the season I hardly think it's too early to speculate on who may be deserving of All-American status.

Before people potentially lose their minds, I'm not going to compare Ruggles to all-time great Kent Raymond. So don't worry about that 😉