MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Augie goes wire-to-wire (barely) and tops Illinois Wesleyan, 88-79, in a foulathon in Carver.

[Gregory Sager]

Great game in RI.  Down to the wire.

And announcers that I can enjoy listening to.

Yep. In my estimation, Chris Ford and Dan Sand are the gold standard as far as two-man booths go.

[iwu70]

Indeed a foulathon.  Titans shoot it poorly, play poorly in the first half, struggle back into the game against good AC D.  Come back from 14 down to get to within one, but can't get over the hump.  Three Titans fouling out.  This game was poorly, overly-officiated and hurting both teams.  AC deserves the win at home, which they are supposed to do, with their good D.

For AC:
Ebel 21
Sortillo 21
Orange 14
Benn 12

For IWU:
Bonnett 21
Gregoire 18
Rose (held down well in the first half), 16

Augie wins the boards 39-30, fouls hurting the IWU big men tonight. 

Not very often you see both teams in the double bonus with 8:00+ minutes left in a half.

A disappointing loss for the TITANS (they had a chance when only one down), but just gotta bounce back, win out and keep control of the conference race in your own hands. 

Augie deserves the win tonight, doing what they do on defense.  Perhaps a rubber match in the CCIW tournament. 

IWU'70

[Kovo]

Great game in RI.  Down to the wire.

And announcers that I can enjoy listening to.

Yep. In my estimation, Chris Ford and Dan Sand are the gold standard as far as two-man booths go.

Are there any decent one man booths in the league?! 

[Titan Q]

Augustana 88
IWU 79

* Colin Bonnett: 21 pts (4-5 3-point), 2 reb, 2 assists
* Jason Gregoire: 18 pts
* Brady Rose: 16 pts, 2 reb, 2 assists

* Nolan Ebel: 21 pts, 4 reb, 7 assists
* Dylan Sortillo: 21 pts, 5 reb
* Chrishawn Orange: 14 pts, 6 reb, 4 assists
* Brett Benning: 12 pts, 6 reb

This one was really strange due to the whistle -- the officials called 56 fouls (IWU 31, Augie 25).  The game had no flow whatsoever, outside of a little stretch late in the 2nd when both teams traded a few 3s.

IWU was down just 80-79 with 1:14 to play and had the ball.  Brady Rose headed to the basket and had his layup blocked by Micah Martin.  The Titans did not score in the final minute.

Brady Rose struggled from the field tonight - missed a lot of shots he normally makes. He also played through foul trouble, picking up his 3rd in the 1st half, and his 4th with 16:00 to play in the game.  He played a lot less minutes than usual.

Tough road loss against a good team.  IWU still in pretty good shape, up a game.

[Gregory Sager]

I wondered about Coach Slyder's intention of sitting Lake and Kirby for too much against Carroll.  I did not watch the IWU debacle, but have read the Coach used the same tactic.  I am opposed to open tryouts because upperclassmen Lake and Kirby deserve through their dedication and performance at least 30mpg.

I agree 100% with this take. The seniors should be able to finish their career with the minutes they deserve. They put 4 years of hard work into the team, with early morning lifts, conditioning, extra shots up, and then they get minutes siphoned away for a freshman who might not come back/quit/never blossom. Plus, no one likes losing, even if the season is going no where. I get that you want the freshman and sophomores to gain experience but I think there is a solid balance, where you can play your seniors (Lake and Kirby) 30 minutes and give young guys a chance to flash.

If the starters weren't playing becasuse it was a blow out with not a lot of time remaining thats a different thing. But both Mark and Greg made it sound more like tryouts then benched at the end of a blow out.

I've only played and never coached, so I may have a very biased view point.

That bias you hold is legitimate though. Lake and Kirby have dedicated their college experiences to this game, and have excelled in their respective roles for NPU basketball. It would be one thing if they were both poor basketball players, but they are the best players on that team, and it's really not all that close. Lake is an absolute workhorse, and he has to be to overcome his height disadvantage against everyone he plays. Those two should get to play as much as they so desire after everything they've given to that program over four years.

Billy Kirby is only a junior, guys.

[voxelmhurst]

Big surprise of the night:

Carroll 90
Elmhurst 60

The win for the Pios wasn't the big surprise, but the margin of victory certainly was.

  Yikes. The month of January did not end well for the Bluejays.

5 games left, 3 of them at home. Not sure that .500 in CCIW is realistic anymore, but hopefully the Jays can still finish a few wins above last year's total of 4.

Never knew Pioneers could be shortened to Pios until tonight.

[Mr. Ypsi]

It could have been a very enjoyable game if the zebras hadn't hi-jacked it.  SIXTY EIGHT FT attempts in a regulation game has got to be close to a record.  I'm sure this was far from Coach G's first T, but I can't recall Brady Rose ever getting one before, and Sortillo doesn't strike me as a hot-head.  Except that it at least didn't seem biased or one-sided, this was one of the worst officiating outings I've ever seen.  I have a feeling the officiating crew will be hearing from the conference office this week!

[Gregory Sager]

I wondered about Coach Slyder's intention of sitting Lake and Kirby for too much against Carroll.  I did not watch the IWU debacle, but have read the Coach used the same tactic.  I am opposed to open tryouts because upperclassmen Lake and Kirby deserve through their dedication and performance at least 30mpg.

I agree 100% with this take. The seniors should be able to finish their career with the minutes they deserve. They put 4 years of hard work into the team, with early morning lifts, conditioning, extra shots up, and then they get minutes siphoned away for a freshman who might not come back/quit/never blossom. Plus, no one likes losing, even if the season is going no where. I get that you want the freshman and sophomores to gain experience but I think there is a solid balance, where you can play your seniors (Lake and Kirby) 30 minutes and give young guys a chance to flash.

I've only played and never coached, so I may have a very biased view point.

That bias you hold is legitimate though. Lake and Kirby have dedicated their college experiences to this game, and have excelled in their respective roles for NPU basketball. It would be one thing if they were both poor basketball players, but they are the best players on that team, and it's really not all that close. Lake is an absolute workhorse, and he has to be to overcome his height disadvantage against everyone he plays. Those two should get to play as much as they so desire after everything they've given to that program over four years.

I do understand getting the young-bucks experience, but to diminish the minutes of two players of their caliber just doesn't seem right to me. I played as well and harbor the same bias, but don't see a problem with it because if you're a senior leader, and the best player on your team, you should be on the floor. I was never the best player on my team, but you get what I mean.

A coach can't demand that his players like him, but he can demand that they show him respect.
Likewise though, while a player can't demand any certain amount of PT, he should be able to count on being respected by his coach.
If you're an upperclassman AND the best, or in the case of Lake & Kirby, the two best players on your team, you have earned, through both your dedication (all the hours you put in) and your level of skill (your efforts have done the most to put your team in a position to win), the utmost degree of respect from your coach.
In the specific case of Lake & Kirby, you have 2 guys who have put in countless hours working to get both their school and their coach the most wins possible. From a basketball standpoint, they are the individuals most responsible for promoting and advancing the brand and name recognition and the reputation of both the school and the coach.
When Coach Slyder sits them in the name of "open tryouts" for next season, he disrespects the dedication and efforts they have put forth on behalf of the school whose name they have proudly worn on their chests while battling to win for their team and school.
There will be plenty of time for "open tryouts" for next season during both the spring and fall open gym periods—the time after this season ends until the end of this school year, and the time between when school starts again in the fall and when formal practice starts on Oct 15th—and also during next fall's actual formal practice.
Coach Slyder has the right to run his team as he sees fit. However, it seems that in instances such as this when a coach disrespects the players he demands respect him, the legitimate question of who would want to play for a guy who treats his most dedicated and best players like that, certainly seems valid.
In the case of a senior, when the buzzer sounds at the end of the season's last game, his competitive basketball life is effectively over. All things end in time, but until then, if a player has earned it, he should be able to fully enjoy the fruits of his labors.

I don't agree with Smitty, duck, and the two Marks, and I think that the Naperville-based Mark's implications that Tom Slyder's early benching of his two best players in blowout losses is disrespectful, and that it is somehow going to hurt him on the recruiting trail, are silly.

Tom Slyder's job isn't to make Colin Lake or Billy Kirby happy, or to dole out personal rewards to them for their efforts. His job is to win basketball games. When it becomes obvious that he isn't going to get one on a particular night, it's incumbent upon him to work on getting wins somewhere in the future with the minutes he has left to allot to his team. Given how many underclassmen he has suiting up for the varsity, I have no problem whatsoever under those circumstances with his holding "open tryouts", as I called them, for extended second-half minutes while benching his backcourt regulars. Tom was playing the long game against Carroll and Illinois Wesleyan, as he should be.

[robertthebruce50]

How 'bout them Augie Vikings. They played great D and controlled the boards to earn the victory against a great IWU squad. IWU played well in the 2nd half to close it to 1, but the horrible officiating where Augie did much better on the line tonight was a contributing factor as well.  I agree with an earlier post and that officiating crew could be hearing from the office. These officials assigned to the game should have been the top line officials. 56 called fouls on both teams seems a little out of line. But, I'm quite sure that Coach G LIT INTO THE TEAM after that horrible effort against Carthage. This was a completely different Augie squad that showed up tonight. Congratulations to Augie on a great effort. Now, Carthage suffered a rough loss against NCC. 'Carthage's 3 of 4 conference losses have been at home (AC, NCC, WC). NCC has beaten CC twice. Not looking good for the Redman. I believe that loser of the CC/WC game goes home. Anyway, the CCIW action is just heating up.

[Gregory Sager]

Great game in RI.  Down to the wire.

And announcers that I can enjoy listening to.

Yep. In my estimation, Chris Ford and Dan Sand are the gold standard as far as two-man booths go.

Are there any decent one man booths in the league?! 

Sure. John Weiser.

(Incidentally, I think that IWU's Eric Stock and Joel Swanson are very good, too.)

It could have been a very enjoyable game if the zebras hadn't hi-jacked it.  SIXTY EIGHT FT attempts in a regulation game has got to be close to a record.

Pfft. Not even in the same zip code as "close", Chuck. Earlham and Oberlin once shot 105 free throws between them in a game in '92 that, knowing those two programs, must've been nicknamed the "Can't-Get-Out-Of-Our-Own-Way Game". The NCAA record for a regulation-length game is 130 free throws in a contest between Northern Arizona and Arizona that dates all the way back to 1953.

  I'm sure this was far from Coach G's first T, but I can't recall Brady Rose ever getting one before, and Sortillo doesn't strike me as a hot-head.

Chris and Dan surmised in both cases that Rose and Sortillo drew the T-bones for ungentlemanly utterances. Given the context in which those whistles occurred, that seems likely. Without knowing exactly what either of them said to get T'ed up, it really makes no sense to pass judgment upon the refs for those calls.

Don't get me wrong; I saw a little less than half of the game, and from what I saw it was not well-officiated at all. But I don't think that anybody's in a position to question the technicals without any further information.

It didn't appear to be a particularly well-played game, either, aside from that second-half stretch that Bob mentioned, and that wasn't just because the constant whistles interrupted flow. But it was close, and it was exciting; it certainly felt like the high-stakes game between two top teams that it was. I agree with Bob that the inability of Brady Rose to score on his drive with 1:14 to go and Augie only up by one was the decisive play of the game. I don't think it really was a block by Micah Martin, though, in spite of how it was recorded in live stats; as Dan Sand said on the air, it looked like Rose lost the handle on the ball as he was bringing it up to shoot it, well before Martin touched it. Regardless, Martin's presence in the middle was a big factor down the stretch in Augie's favor. Sortillo had a really hot hand for Augie tonight, but I thought that Colin Bonnett more or less balanced him out offensively.

[Gregory Sager]

Big surprise of the night:

Carroll 90
Elmhurst 60

The win for the Pios wasn't the big surprise, but the margin of victory certainly was.

  Yikes. The month of January did not end well for the Bluejays.

5 games left, 3 of them at home. Not sure that .500 in CCIW is realistic anymore, but hopefully the Jays can still finish a few wins above last year's total of 4.

Never knew Pioneers could be shortened to Pios until tonight.

Not my doing. Carroll fans have been calling them the Pios for as long as I can remember.

[4samuy]

Didn't get a chance to see the game, but sounds as if it was one of those "muck it up" games that Augustana, in a sense kinda likes.  They do have an uncanny ability to play different styles, but IMO they thrive in these types of games (of course as long as they have a consistency at the free throw line).

One interesting note...three games into the second half of the round robin, Augustana is now done with IWU, Carthage and Wheaton.  As we've seen this year (even as Greg mentioned the surprise score between Carroll and Elmhurst) there will be be some head scratchers over the next few weeks, but I've gotta believe Augustana has to feel pretty good being done with those three.

[voxelmhurst]

Big surprise of the night:

Carroll 90
Elmhurst 60

The win for the Pios wasn't the big surprise, but the margin of victory certainly was.

  Yikes. The month of January did not end well for the Bluejays.

5 games left, 3 of them at home. Not sure that .500 in CCIW is realistic anymore, but hopefully the Jays can still finish a few wins above last year's total of 4.

Never knew Pioneers could be shortened to Pios until tonight.

Not my doing. Carroll fans have been calling them the Pios for as long as I can remember.

No worries- I heard this on the broadcast. First time I tuned into a Carroll broadcast. It took me a good 5 minutes to figure out they were saying" Pios".  My only laugh of the night.

[iwumichigander]

Ugly game in Rock Island influenced by the guys wearing black and white. Going in, you would have thought this might be a battle of the bigs with help from the guards.  Instead, other than altering shots, the bigs did not really influence offense.
The technicals looked like a combination of gestures with some utterances.  You can attribute the win to better job by Augustana from the free throw line or sharp soothing the threes in the 2nd half.  Just some hard, good play by Augustana to come out with the win.  Hard fought by both teams.