MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[kiko]

Lost amidst the sights and sounds of Garo Yepremian popping a bottle of champagne tonight... this was a bad loss for Wheaton.  At 15-6, I don't see a Pool C path for the Thunder unless they run the table in their remaining four games (that means wins over Augustana and North Central) and about six hundred other things all break their way as the regular season arcs to its conclusion.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Lost amidst the sights and sounds of Garo Yepremian popping a bottle of champagne tonight... this was a bad loss for Wheaton.  At 15-6, I don't see a Pool C path for the Thunder unless they run the table in their remaining four games (that means wins over Augustana and North Central) and about six hundred other things all break their way as the regular season arcs to its conclusion.

Ryan Scott and I thought and said the same thing near the end of today's/tonight's Hoopsville Marathon as we watched that game play out. And they aren't the only team in this situation. I'm now nervous about UWSP and others who have taken losses this season they shouldn't (or couldn't) have especially when conference play is bound to beat on them.

[Gregory Sager]

Lost amidst the sights and sounds of Garo Yepremian popping a bottle of champagne tonight... this was a bad loss for Wheaton.  At 15-6, I don't see a Pool C path for the Thunder unless they run the table in their remaining four games (that means wins over Augustana and North Central) and about six hundred other things all break their way as the regular season arcs to its conclusion.

[Gregory Sager]

Dave, the numbers-cruncher whose name you were trying to remember on Hoopsville who died an untimely death was Patrick Abegg.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Dave, the numbers-cruncher whose name you were trying to remember on Hoopsville who died an untimely death was Patrick Abegg.

Thank you, Greg. I am sorry I forgot it ... but still miss him to this day. He was a good egg.

[Gregory Sager]

Yep. I liked Patrick.

[voxelmhurst]

Elmhurst 87
Carthage 80

This was a very entertaining game. Carthage led 65-60 with just under 10 minutes to play in the 2nd half before Elmhurst went on a 10-0 run to get it to 70-65. After Carthage's TJ Best hit a 3 to make it 79-78 Elmhurst with just under 3 minutes to play, Elmhurst was able to get a layup from Rhode, followed by defensive stop, and a possession which led to Rhode getting fouled and hitting both foul shots. Down 5 with 1:33 left, Carthage then threw away the ensuing inbounds pass and while Elmhurst was not able to get any points off that turnover, they were able to run another 30 seconds off the clock. Sean Johnson hit 2 foul shots to get the deficit back down to 3 for Carthage, but Nick Perry hit 2 free throws back at the other end. The exclamation point on the victory game when Marakis got a huge block on Kienan Baltimore's layup attempt with under 30 seconds to play which sealed the deal for the Jays.

That block was so fitting as this might have been Marakis' best game of his Elmhurst career, finishing with 12 points and 12 rebounds, most of these at critical moments in the second half. Jeremy Ireland (21 points) and Derek Dotlich (16 points) have really been finding their scoring touch these last few games and while Rhode (also 16 points) was held under his season average, his 10 assists did well stretching out the Carthage defense.

I thought Carthage looked better than their win total suggests.
Kienan Baltimore led Carthage with 24 points. Jordon Kedrowski had 18, Sean Johnson had 16 and 12 rebounds, TJ Best added 10.

[GoPerry]

Lost amidst the sights and sounds of Garo Yepremian popping a bottle of champagne tonight... this was a bad loss for Wheaton.  At 15-6, I don't see a Pool C path for the Thunder unless they run the table in their remaining four games (that means wins over Augustana and North Central) and about six hundred other things all break their way as the regular season arcs to its conclusion.

Ryan Scott and I thought and said the same thing near the end of today's/tonight's Hoopsville Marathon as we watched that game play out. And they aren't the only team in this situation. I'm now nervous about UWSP and others who have taken losses this season they shouldn't (or couldn't) have especially when conference play is bound to beat on them.

This was definitely a bad loss for Wheaton and their 3rd loss in a row at Carroll.  I didn't see the game but the box score shows slight advantages to the Pios in overall and offensive rebounds(+5) and turnovers (+5).  On the road, that's all it takes.  Francis and Peters with solid games but the others mediocre.  (How does Luke Anthony play 20 mins without taking a single shot?)

Regrettably, I agree that this severely damages their Pool C prospects.  If they do finish 4-0, a very tall order, and then 1-1, then I would think a .740% and strong SOS would get them in(I haven't studied KnightSlappy or fantastic50's #s).  3-1 and 1-1 is the thread-the-needle scenario just to get them on the bubble with a .703%. That might be enough to get them on the board at least. 

But let's first see if they can beat Elmhurst tomorrow night at King.

[Gregory Sager]

Lost amidst the sights and sounds of Garo Yepremian popping a bottle of champagne tonight... this was a bad loss for Wheaton.  At 15-6, I don't see a Pool C path for the Thunder unless they run the table in their remaining four games (that means wins over Augustana and North Central) and about six hundred other things all break their way as the regular season arcs to its conclusion.

Ryan Scott and I thought and said the same thing near the end of today's/tonight's Hoopsville Marathon as we watched that game play out. And they aren't the only team in this situation. I'm now nervous about UWSP and others who have taken losses this season they shouldn't (or couldn't) have especially when conference play is bound to beat on them.

This was definitely a bad loss for Wheaton and their 3rd loss in a row at Carroll.  I didn't see the game but the box score shows slight advantages to the Pios in overall and offensive rebounds(+5) and turnovers (+5).  On the road, that's all it takes.  Francis and Peters with solid games but the others mediocre.  (How does Luke Anthony play 20 mins without taking a single shot?)

Saving his arm for football, maybe?

[Gregory Sager]

Grey Giovanine sounded almost relieved that the "undefeated" craziness is now in Augie's rear-view mirror.

[lmitzel]

Grey Giovanine sounded almost relieved that the "undefeated" craziness is now in Augie's rear-view mirror.

I know it's the old cliché of "maybe it's a good loss, now the talk is out of the way" and they may be poised for a monster run deep into March. But at the same time, as you've said a couple times...

Augie somehow continues to dance with the devil without getting burned.

Some of these results have shown Augie is mortal. And yeah, it's Division III basketball, crazy things happen, but it's always good to be reminded of that.

[AndOne]

Augustana 78
Elmhurst 73

Incredibly tough loss for the Jays. They had Augustana on the ropes but couldn't get the knockout punch  I'm running a high fever so that's about all the commentary I can give.

Augie somehow continues to dance with the devil without getting burned.

Last night the devil came dressed as a North Central Cardinal, and brought longer matches. 😊

[AndOne]

Wheaton fans,

1. The box score from last night shows the names of only two refs. Misprint or were there really just 2? if so, did it have a major effect on the flow of the game?

2. Also noted was Wheaton's Nyameye Adom, and 3 point shooting specialist Spencer Peterson were tagged with Technical fouls. Certainty the lads didn't utter a profanity. What were their transgressions?

[pgkevin]

Wheaton fans,

1. The box score from last night shows the names of only two refs. Misprint or were there really just 2? if so, did it have a major effect on the flow of the game?

2. Also noted was Wheaton's Nyameye Adom, and 3 point shooting specialist Spencer Peterson were tagged with Technical fouls. Certainty the lads didn't utter a profanity. What were their transgressions?

I'm sure they were just good kids who got caught up in the competitive moment, much like Mike Pollack of North Central last night.  Wouldn't you agree?

[thunder38]

Wheaton fans,

1. The box score from last night shows the names of only two refs. Misprint or were there really just 2? if so, did it have a major effect on the flow of the game?

2. Also noted was Wheaton's Nyameye Adom, and 3 point shooting specialist Spencer Peterson were tagged with Technical fouls. Certainty the lads didn't utter a profanity. What were their transgressions?

1. By the looks of things, that may be a Freudian omission because there were only two refs on the floor that looked like they might possibly belong on the floor during a bottom-three CCIW game. There were three on the floor but one was clearly there because games were rescheduled and the bottom of the barrel had been scraped to fill out a crew. I'm not sure if the omission on the box score fits the bill or not but the same guy called both technical fouls and if those are technical fouls, there would be at least five techs handed out on any given night in the CCIW.

2. See response to number 1.

Here's the link to the video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/carroll/portal.htm?eventId=461134&streamType=video
Spencer Peterson's comes at 1:23:50 and Nyameye Adom's comes at 1:35:55

Both came with Wheaton making runs and narrowing the Carroll lead only to have Carroll use the techs to pull away once again.

Again, Carroll made the plays needed to win last night and deserved to, but the CCIW has had a problem all year with the officiating not being up to par with the quality of play on the floor and it was squarely on display last night in Waukesha. The sheer number of illegal screens that didn't get called last night is staggering on both ends of the floor not to mention Francis getting tackled on a three attempt with no whistle and Anajuwon Spencer taking a shot to the shooting arm that came without a whistle.

However, credit Carroll for executing down the stretch and taking advantage. They deserved to win.