MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Massey sez:

Augustana 80, Illinois Wesleyan 75 (AC 68%, IWU 32%)
North Central 67, Carroll 61 (NCC 71%, CU 29%)
Millikin 53, Carthage 52 (MU 52%, CC 48%)
Wheaton 84, North Park 65 (WC 98%, NPU 2%)

Millikin @ Carthage would've been an outstanding choice for the D3 Men's National Pick Em League this week.

[Yogao]

Giovanine-stream!  I got nothing on that.

The marketing tagline has to be something like "Covering Double-G better than a cheap sportscoat".  I'm not sure that's exactly right, but there's definitely something to work with there... 

The moment he throws off the jacket MUST be sponsored.

"Just like that old sportscoat, that old car is worth money! Call Victory Auto Wreckers at 630-860-2000 for a quote!"

My vote would be by Eagle Insurance.  Eagle Man who speaks in a slow, deep voice and proclaims, "I've ... got ... something ... for ... you!" He then squats down and inexplicably lays an oversized egg, out of which hatches a hand puppet sport coat.

[Viking Mike]

Has anyone heard if there are plans in place if a game or two does not get played tomorrow due to the weather?
Significant snow and strong winds make for big travel concerns......

Can we expect an announcement on the CCIW website? 

[Gregory Sager]

Postponement decisions are made by the two teams involved, not by the league. So you're better off checking the home pages of the respective teams to see if games are still on or not, although I'm sure that CCIW SID Mike Krizman will change the schedule on the league website whenever he's informed about a postponement.

[AndOne]

POSTPONEMENT

Carthage @ Millikin has been postponed until Sunday.
Women at 4:00
Men at 6:00

[matblake]

Ok, I will admit that I am not a frequent viewer of the IWU athletics webpage, but how long have the Titans have their new logo?  I just saw it on the Wheaton athletics webpage and then confirmed on the IWU athletics webpage, just to see if Wheaton was using an "unsanctioned" IWU logo or not.  I don't mind it actually, the old Titan face was never too intimidating to me anyway.  And now to see how observant, or unobservant I am............

[AndOne]

Ok, I will admit that I am not a frequent viewer of the IWU athletics webpage, but how long have the Titans have their new logo?  I just saw it on the Wheaton athletics webpage and then confirmed on the IWU athletics webpage, just to see if Wheaton was using an "unsanctioned" IWU logo or not.  I don't mind it actually, the old Titan face was never too intimidating to me anyway.  And now to see how observant, or unobservant I am............

The IWU website indicates Faceless One replaced the never too intimidating Goofy Looking Guy in November. Not sure why they didn't just stick with some version of the letters IWU. I think you could come up with several pretty good looking design logos just using different arrangements of the school initials.

[kiko]

The legacy version always looked like he shared some DNA with Sparty Spartan.

[Titan Q]

Illinois Wesleyan (11-6, 4-4) vs #2-Augustana (16-1, 8-0), 7pm...

Titans (11-6, 4-4)
G - Brady Rose, 6-3/185 Sr.  21.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 4.0 apg
G - Colin Bonnett, 6-4/190 Sr.  11.9 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 2.8 apg
G - Jason Gregoire, 6-4/205 Sr.  10.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.4 apg
F - Doug Wallen, 6-5/210 So. 7.6 ppg, 3.9 rpg
F - Danny Baker, 6-6/210 Sr.  2.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg

Vikings (16-1, 8-0)
G - Nolan Ebel, 6-1/175 Sr.  16.6 jpg, 3.5 rpg, 3.4 apg
G - Chrishawn Orange, 6-2/180 Sr.  12.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.8 apg
G - Brett Benning, 6-6/191 Sr.  10.6 peg, 4.2 rpg, 1.1 apg
F - Pierson Wofford, 6-4/202 Jr.  12.1 ppg, 6.5 rpg
C - Micah Martin, 6-11/240 Jr.  8.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg

Pantagraph - https://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/no-augustana-visits-illinois-wesleyan/article_c2201c3a-cbfb-51b8-8fab-2d4002767037.html

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

WEXG Radio - https://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/index.cfm?stationCallSign=WWHP

[Titan Q]

My halfway point All-CCIW Team...

1st Team
Nolan Ebel (Augustana), 6-1 Sr G. 
Aston Francis (Wheaton), 6-1 Sr. G
Brady Rose (Illinois Wesleyan), 6-3 Sr. G
Connor Raridon (North Central), 6-6 Jr. F
Jake Rhode (Elmhurst), 5-10 So. G
Kienan Baltimore (Carthage), 6-5 Jr. F
Chrishawn Orange (Augustana), 6-2 Sr. G
Matt Cappelletti (North Central), 6-5 Jr. F

2nd Team
Elijah Henry (Millikin), 6-7 Sr. F
Colin Bonnett (Illinois Wesleyan), 6-4 Sr. G
Jeremy Ireland (Elmhurst), 6-7 Sr. F
Nick Penny (Carroll), 6-2 Jr. G
Pierson Wofford (Augustana), 6-4 Jr. F
Jordan Kedrowski (Carthage), 6-3 Jr. G
Toby Marek (North Park), 6-0 So. G
Micah Martin (Augustana), 6-11 Jr. C

* Fred Young Most Outstanding Player - Nolan Ebel (Augustana)

* CCIW Coach of the Year - Greg Giovanine (Augustana)

* Freshman of the Year - Calvin Fisher (Millikin)

[augie77]

I'd be interested in hearing your logic in selecting Martin, a part time starter averaging 8 ppg, over Brett Benning (or any number of other quality players).

Also, Ebel does a lot for Augustana but Francis will almost certainly be named Most Outstanding Player.  His scoring AND rebounding can't be overlooked.

Thanks for compiling this list.  Always appreciated!

[Titan Q]

I'd be interested in hearing your logic in selecting Martin, a part time starter averaging 8 ppg, over Brett Benning (or any number of other quality players).

Also, Ebel does a lot for Augustana but Francis will almost certainly be named Most Outstanding Player.  His scoring AND rebounding can't be overlooked.

Thanks for compiling this list.  Always appreciated!

Martin is 9.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg, .604 FG.  But most importantly I think he really changes the game on the defensive end of the floor - just disrupts everything the opponents is trying to do in the low post.

I think 8-0 Augie should have 4 guys at this point, and he is my pick for that last spot.

[Gregory Sager]

Even considering the predilection that coaches have for assigning the MOP to a player from the championship team, Aston Francis is a clear choice for MOP at this point. In CCIW play (which are the only games that matter for awards consideration), Francis has scored more than twice as many points as Nolan Ebel (237 to 118, which works out to 29.6 ppg to 14.8 ppg). Francis has a whopping 7.6 ppg lead over the second-place scorer, Jake Rhode (22.0 ppg). That's the biggest discrepancy between the leading scorer and the second-leading scorer in the 18 seasons that the CCIW has kept CCIW-only stats -- with the exception of last season, when Francis eclipsed Brady Rose by 7.9 ppg (and won the MOP, of course). This season, Ebel's dramatically far down on the leaderboard in scoring; he's tied with Elijah Henry for seventh place. I honestly can't recall if there's ever been anyone who has won the MOP while scoring at such a low average or being that far down in the scoring rankings.

The breakout aspect of Francis's game this season is his rebounding. He's gone from being nothing special in that category to being one of the league's premier glass-cleaners. Francis is tied for second in the league with Henry in rebounding (7.9 rpg), whereas Ebel isn't anywhere near the CCIW leaderboard (4.0 rpg) -- and, since they're both guards, neither of them has an inherent advantage there. Francis also has a slight edge on Ebel in assists (30 to 29, or 3.75 apg to 3.63 apg), and a big advantage in steals; Francis is tied with Pierson Wofford for third in the league with 11 (1.38 spg), while Ebel has eight, or one per game. Francis is even on the leaderboard for blocked shots; he has five, tying him with Wofford and Charlie Bair for 12th place in a category in which Ebel is a non-factor.

Given that Francis deals in volume when it comes to shooting -- he's often held up in conversation as being the epitome of the old basketball cliché "a scorer, not a shooter" -- one would think that the rate categories would be where Ebel compensates. But that's not necessarily so. Ebel is markedly better than Francis when it comes to FG%, ranking seventh in the league at .524, while Francis's .404 leaves him nowhere near the leaderboard. But neither player is among the league's top fifteen in terms of trey %; Ebel does have a .400 to .372 advantage, but neither player really shines in this category (this season the CCIW is jam-packed with good but low-volume trey shooters who are averaging fewer than two made treys per CCIW game). And Ebel has the a:to edge, too, at 2.23 to 0.97. But free throws are Francis's preserve. He leads the league in FT% at .922, well out in front of Brett Benning at .905, in spite of the fact that only Rhode and Connor Raridon have been to the line more than Francis has in CCIW play. Ebel, by contrast, is in tenth place at .842; he's only shot 19 free throws in CCIW competition to Francis's 51. Since it takes two made free throws per game to qualify for the leaderboard, Ebel's barely hanging on; he's made exactly two per game (16 in eight games).

All told, given Francis's emergence as one of the league's premier rebounders, it can be very convincingly argued that he is the most statistically dominant CCIW player in this millennium -- more dominant than Tim McCrary was, more dominant than Stevie D. was, more dominant than Kent Raymond was, more dominant than Chris Martin was.

Nobody in at least the past two decades had won more than five CCIW POTW awards in a given season. Francis has already won six this season, and we still have the entire second round-robin to go. Ebel has yet to win one ... ever.

Sorry, Bob, but you're way off on this one. Aston Francis is the MOP at the halfway point.

[Titan Q]

Sorry, Bob, but you're way off on this one. Aston Francis is the MOP at the halfway point.

I just look at it a different way.  Certainly Francis is a tremendous player and has, by far, the best stats.  But when I think of the entire package - leadership, defense, making huge plays time after time to lead a team to 8-0 - I think Ebel has been the "most outstanding player" so far.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Barring drastic change over the next few weeks, I think Francis is not only a lock for CCIW MOP, but also the front-runner for national POY.

On a different topic, AndOne already posted the postponement of Carthage/Millikin yesterday.  I can't find any indication on various webpages of any other schedule changes - anyone else have insider info?