MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Baltimore -- just amazing, 31-11
Johnson 10
Kedrowski 10

You sold Sean Johnson way short, Mark. The kid had six rebounds and eight blocks tonight to go with that ten points. I think that it's been seven seasons since anybody's had that many blocks for a CCIW team (He Who Shall Not Be Named had nine for Carthage against Geneva in a 2011 game), and, while I know that it's not a CCIW game record (Lars Anderson had 10 in his triple-double game for North Park against Carroll back in 1985), I'll wager that it's been a good long time since anybody's swatted eight shots in a CCIW game.

[Gregory Sager]

I've said for years that the CCIW ought to give out a Defensive Player of the Year award. If they did, Luke Peters would win it hands-down this season. Check out Jake Rhode's line tonight: four points on 2-15 shooting, including 0-7 from downtown. He did have a 4:1 ratio, but that's not the kind of floor game that's going to kill an opponent. It certainly doesn't make up statistically for the awful shooting and scoring numbers for a guy who averages 20.2 ppg in CCIW play this season, and it has to be indicative of some smothering defense that must've been played on him.

I only saw bits and pieces of that game, so I can't speak to it directly, but I have to figure that Mike Schauer had Peters on Rhode for all 36 minutes that the Bluejays star was on the floor. He certainly made one of the game's two biggest plays by blocking Rhode's trey attempt in the final few seconds.

[Titan Q]

I wonder how many more years Bosko will coach? Has he said?

[Gregory Sager]

I was pretty sure going into this season that it would be his final one, based upon things I've overheard. But in his postgame interview with John Weiser tonight, he talked about the development of the Red Men and how "we should be very good next year," and his use of the first person plural sure makes it sound as though he's coming back. Bosko's got an enormous amount of pride, and I can't imagine him wanting to end his career with a crappy campaign like this one.

He also had a classic Bosko line tonight: "I started my head coaching career with 62 straight home wins. I should've saved some of them."

[Titan Q]

Augustana 97
North Park 42

North Park beating North Central in Naperville seems like one of D3's more surprising results this season. 

[GoPerry]

In a defensive slugfest, Wheaton gets by Elmhurst 58-55 on Senior night in King Arena.  Fitting that 2 seniors made the key plays in the last minute:  Francis' absolutely pure-nothing-but-net three pointer with a little less than 40 secs remaining and then Luke Peters' block of Jake Rhodes' game tying three attempt with 4 tics left.  Francis ended up with 22 and 11, Peters 8 pts and 9 boards, and Anajuwon Spencer a big 9 pts, 8 rebs including 2 key three pointers that brought the Thunder back when they were down by 8 pretty late in the game.

John Baines came out in the 2nd half employing a box and one on Francis and even a couple Triangle and Two looks on Francis and Peters – basically daring the others to make shots which they were not able to do as the BlueJays extended the lead out to 8.  But then Spencer hit 2 threes in a row which I think forced them back to man to man.

Jeremy Ireland led EC.

On to Augie at Carver Wednesday and then NCC at the Hangar.  I like their chances of beating Augie more than I do NCC.

[GoPerry]

I've said for years that the CCIW ought to give out a Defensive Player of the Year award. If they did, Luke Peters would win it hands-down this season. Check out Jake Rhode's line tonight: four points on 2-15 shooting, including 0-7 from downtown. He did have a 4:1 ratio, but that's not the kind of floor game that's going to kill an opponent. It certainly doesn't make up statistically for the awful shooting and scoring numbers for a guy who averages 20.2 ppg in CCIW play this season, and it has to be indicative of some smothering defense that must've been played on him.

I only saw bits and pieces of that game, so I can't speak to it directly, but I have to figure that Mike Schauer had Peters on Rhode for all 36 minutes that the Bluejays star was on the floor. He certainly made one of the game's two biggest plays by blocking Rhode's trey attempt in the final few seconds.

Say what you will about his pretty bad 52% foul shooting, but Luke Peters is a really excellent player.  He runs the team well, a great post up game for a guard, good rebounder, and all that while guarding the opposing teams best player.  He gave zero room to Rhode tonight.  If Wheaton can sneak a 2nd player onto that First team All-CCIW, Peters would be more than deserving.

[thunder38]

In a defensive slugfest, Wheaton gets by Elmhurst 58-55 on Senior night in King Arena.  Fitting that 2 seniors made the key plays in the last minute:  Francis' absolutely pure-nothing-but-net three pointer with a little less than 40 secs remaining and then Luke Peters' block of Jake Rhodes' game tying three attempt with 4 tics left.  Francis ended up with 22 and 11, Peters 8 pts and 9 boards, and Anajuwon Spencer a big 9 pts, 8 rebs including 2 key three pointers that brought the Thunder back when they were down by 8 pretty late in the game.

John Baines came out in the 2nd half employing a box and one on Francis and even a couple Triangle and Two looks on Francis and Peters – basically daring the others to make shots which they were not able to do as the BlueJays extended the lead out to 8.  But then Spencer hit 2 threes in a row which I think forced them back to man to man.

Jeremy Ireland led EC.

On to Augie at Carver Wednesday and then NCC at the Hangar.  I like their chances of beating Augie more than I do NCC.

Elmhurst actually had a great game plan tonight. They actually played the box and one all night as long as Francis was in the game and then went straight man to man when Francis was out. The oddity of the box and one was they way they chose to employ their four zone defenders. Instead of your conventional 2-2 zone or even 1-2-1 diamond concept, the Bluejays shaped more like a 1-3 zone with Rhode defending the top of the key and the three other defenders staying down around the block extended. They had Wheaton completely out sorts and nearly delivered the knock-out blow until Anajuwon Spencer hit a three on three straight possesions to turn a six-point deficit into a one-point lead.

Luke Peters was outstanding tonight. Jake Rhode was completely eliminated on the offensive end and Peters did a really nice job keeping the Thunder offense moving despite the ball struggling to go in. In two games against Elmhurst, Peters has held Rhode to just 17 points on 5-25 shooting including 2-11 from three with five of his 17 points coming at the free throw line. His anticipation and leap to block Rhode's three in the final seconds was impressive. He's been a lot of fun to watch as an eraser against some incredibly talented players this season. It'll be tough but I would hope that gets him consideration as a First Teamer at the end of the year.

[Gregory Sager]

Congratulations to Aston Francis upon becoming the 17th member of the CCIW's 2K Club:

Player	School	Last Yr	Points
Leon Gobczynski	Millikin	1975	2635
Dave Shaw	Carroll	1977	2563
Steve Djurickovic	Carthage	2011	2547
Mel Peterson	Wheaton	1960	2542
Kent Raymond	Wheaton	2009	2308
Jack Sikma	Illinois Wesleyan	1977	2272
Bill Warden	North Central	1955	2249
Jesse Price	Millikin	1969	2222
Scott Steagal	Millikin	1951	2127
Jason Wiertel	Carthage	2002	2113
Mike Thomas	North Park	1981	2085
Blaise Bugajski	Illinois Wesleyan	1984	2062
Marv Johnson	Wheaton	1951	2044
Juwan Henry	North Park	2017	2040
Justyne Monegain	North Park	1985	2039
John Laing	Augustana	1973	2035
Aston Francis	Wheaton	2019	2005

[BobbyO]

IWU goes to 13-8, 6-6.  A tough tough road win.  We'll take it any day . . .  and head home.

Next up NCC, a bigger challenge.

'70

I will be pulling for IWU! First and last time.  Forgive me please!

[kenoshamark]

Bob, 

Great question.....be curious what your thoughts are around the question?

Greg,

I had listened to a portion of the post game interview, but missed the part you reference.  Based on what they have coming back (only one senior), they should be good.   But, they were supposed to be good this year, based on experience and transfers coming in, and we can see how that went.

In all likelihood, they are going to miss the conference tourney again this year, even with an expanded field.  That means they have only qualified for it three times in the fourteen years.   This is not acceptable, in my opinion. 

There have been multiple games this year that Carthage was in it with just minutes to go and they have yet to find a way to win.  Poor execution or poor game management...I will leave that to everyone else to decide.  What I do know is that last night, Carthage went up by one with 14 seconds to go when Baltimore made a bucket and one (he can get to the basket on anyone in this league...really a great offensive player).  So, each team had a possession that lasted roughly 7 seconds.   Carthage chooses to let Rose get the inbound pass, dribble up the court, make a drive to the basket, make the layup and get fouled.  Great play by Rose...what I don't get is why Sean Johnson was not under the basket in that play as Rose went by him at the foul line and then hit a tough shot along with getting fouled by Baltimore.  Conversely, IWU picks up Carthage full court and Carthage has trouble getting the ball to Baltimore and when they finally do, he lofts an errant three pointer that doesn't come close.   

Like I said, each coach had a play setup at the end, one was successful and the other wasn't.   Sure, it can happen to any team, but it was only a few weeks ago that Carthage lost at the buzzer on a length of the court drive by Ebel.   Hard to understand how you can't pull out a win in one of these games going down to the wire. 

I don't fault the efforts of the players, they play hard and there has been some improvement over the year.  Johnson should be all conference along with Baltimore. 

I feel its time to let Steve take over...

One other note, less than 500 people (484) in attendance last night.   This game used to bring sell out crowds. 

[GoPerry]

Congratulations to Aston Francis upon becoming the 17th member of the CCIW's 2K Club:

Player	School	Last Yr	Points
Leon Gobczynski	Millikin	1975	2635
Dave Shaw	Carroll	1977	2563
Steve Djurickovic	Carthage	2011	2547
Mel Peterson	Wheaton	1960	2542
Kent Raymond	Wheaton	2009	2308
Jack Sikma	Illinois Wesleyan	1977	2272
Bill Warden	North Central	1955	2249
Jesse Price	Millikin	1969	2222
Scott Steagal	Millikin	1951	2127
Jason Wiertel	Carthage	2002	2113
Mike Thomas	North Park	1981	2085
Blaise Bugajski	Illinois Wesleyan	1984	2062
Marv Johnson	Wheaton	1951	2044
Juwan Henry	North Park	2017	2040
Justyne Monegain	North Park	1985	2039
John Laing	Augustana	1973	2035
Aston Francis	Wheaton	2019	2005

. . . and will likely finish 3rd in Wheaton all-time, over only 3 seasons remarkably.

[Gregory Sager]

What I do know is that last night, Carthage went up by one with 14 seconds to go when Baltimore made a bucket and one (he can get to the basket on anyone in this league...really a great offensive player).

I think that I described him here a couple of weeks ago as "the best player in this league that nobody ever talks about." (It was either Baltimore or Elijah Henry; I'm not going to bother going back to check on whether or not I'm being consistent. ) Baltimore proved it last night: 31 points and 11 rebounds.

So, each team had a possession that lasted roughly 7 seconds.   Carthage chooses to let Rose get the inbound pass, dribble up the court, make a drive to the basket, make the layup and get fouled.  Great play by Rose...what I don't get is why Sean Johnson was not under the basket in that play as Rose went by him at the foul line and then hit a tough shot along with getting fouled by Baltimore.

That's a great question. I was wondering the same thing, since I watched the final minute or so of the game. Why was the best rim protector in the nation (Johnson ranks second in all of D3 in blocks per game, and the leader plays against dramatically lesser competition than Johnson does) nowhere near the rim when the other team had the ball for the last shot?

Conversely, IWU picks up Carthage full court and Carthage has trouble getting the ball to Baltimore and when they finally do, he lofts an errant three pointer that doesn't come close.

Bosko broke down the final play in detail in the interview. Baltimore was supposed to work himself open to take the inbound, come up the camera side of the floor, and get to the elbow where he'd have the option to either drive to the basket or, if a double team came at him, to hit the open man for the final shot. Instead, Baltimore came up the bench side of the floor. The inbounder, inexperienced sophomore Brett Czerak, panicked and inbounded the ball to Johnson, who was supposed to be screening the inbound for Baltimore and was standing at the foul line. The last thing in the world that a coach wants is to have his 6'10 center holding the ball 80 feet from the basket with less than seven seconds left. Johnson got the ball back to Czerak, who was slow to find the self-redirected Baltimore. By the time that he got Baltimore the ball, two Titans defenders were already in a position to pin him against the sideline, forcing Baltimore to heave up a fadeaway trey attempt that nobody in this league besides Aston Francis can hit with a reasonable chance of success.

In other words, the players didn't execute the play that Bosko drew up in the huddle; instead, they freelanced. Bosko blamed himself for looking at them and seeing that they were nodding and saying "yeah" and thus concluding that he didn't need to drum it into their heads a second time.

Like I said, each coach had a play setup at the end, one was successful and the other wasn't.   Sure, it can happen to any team, but it was only a few weeks ago that Carthage lost at the buzzer on a length of the court drive by Ebel.   Hard to understand how you can't pull out a win in one of these games going down to the wire.

Ron Rose was asking that same question until last night ... over and over and over again, I might add.

I don't fault the efforts of the players, they play hard and there has been some improvement over the year.  Johnson should be all conference along with Baltimore.

He deserves it, but it's questionable as to whether or not the coaches will break their typical protocol by giving a team at the bottom of the standings two players on the All-CCIW team. Baltimore, on the other hand, is one of six surefire All-CCIW first-teamers, along with Nolan Ebel, Aston Francis, Connor Raridon, Jake Rhode, and Brady Rose.

I feel its time to let Steve take over...

The $64,000 question remains: Is the job his? With Bosko's old buddy Bob Bonn now off playing golf somewhere, there's a fresh face in the Carthage athletic director's office who has only been on the job since July -- and whose prior work experience at five D3 schools and undergraduate education at a sixth doesn't involve any schools within the Central Region. This could be one of those situations involving "a pharaoh who knew not Joseph." I'm not privy to any inside info regarding whether or not Steve has any guarantees from Michelle Manning that the job is his when the old man retires.

One other note, less than 500 people (484) in attendance last night.   This game used to bring sell out crowds.

The fact that Carthage people and Kenoshan townies are staying away is easily explained by the poor record of the Red Men. But the other side of that equation is that Illinois Wesleyan doesn't travel as well as it used to. The Titans still get more road support than any team in the league other than Augustana, but there's noticeably less green in opposing gyms this year at IWU road games -- and I don't think that it's because the Titans are having a down year, either, as that's never kept their fans away in the past and it's also part of a subtle but undeniable trend in recent seasons. One wonders if the Grim Reaper has been taking its toll on the fan bus regulars, or if that Bloomington funeral home is no longer handing out the free donuts when the regulars board the bus.

[thunder38]

So, each team had a possession that lasted roughly 7 seconds.   Carthage chooses to let Rose get the inbound pass, dribble up the court, make a drive to the basket, make the layup and get fouled.  Great play by Rose...what I don't get is why Sean Johnson was not under the basket in that play as Rose went by him at the foul line and then hit a tough shot along with getting fouled by Baltimore.

That's a great question. I was wondering the same thing, since I watched the final minute or so of the game. Why was the best rim protector in the nation (Johnson ranks second in all of D3 in blocks per game, and the leader plays against dramatically lesser competition than Johnson does) nowhere near the rim when the other team had the ball for the last shot?

This is now twice that Johnson has been out of place in a situation with the game on the line. For some reason he was drifting around the midcourt line when Nolan Ebel went coast to coast at the end of the game in Rock Island. Given what was mentioned about Baltimore freelancing on the Carthage possession last night, I wonder if this is Johnson just being unaware of his surroundings or if this is more of a trend of his players doing what they want instead of what Bosko is calling for.

[kenoshamark]

What I do know is that last night, Carthage went up by one with 14 seconds to go when Baltimore made a bucket and one (he can get to the basket on anyone in this league...really a great offensive player).

I think that I described him here a couple of weeks ago as "the best player in this league that nobody ever talks about." (It was either Baltimore or Elijah Henry; I'm not going to bother going back to check on whether or not I'm being consistent. ) Baltimore proved it last night: 31 points and 11 rebounds.

So, each team had a possession that lasted roughly 7 seconds.   Carthage chooses to let Rose get the inbound pass, dribble up the court, make a drive to the basket, make the layup and get fouled.  Great play by Rose...what I don't get is why Sean Johnson was not under the basket in that play as Rose went by him at the foul line and then hit a tough shot along with getting fouled by Baltimore.

That's a great question. I was wondering the same thing, since I watched the final minute or so of the game. Why was the best rim protector in the nation (Johnson ranks second in all of D3 in blocks per game, and the leader plays against dramatically lesser competition than Johnson does) nowhere near the rim when the other team had the ball for the last shot?

Conversely, IWU picks up Carthage full court and Carthage has trouble getting the ball to Baltimore and when they finally do, he lofts an errant three pointer that doesn't come close.

Bosko broke down the final play in detail in the interview. Baltimore was supposed to work himself open to take the inbound, come up the camera side of the floor, and get to the elbow where he'd have the option to either drive to the basket or, if a double team came at him, to hit the open man for the final shot. Instead, Baltimore came up the bench side of the floor. The inbounder, inexperienced sophomore Brett Czerak, panicked and inbounded the ball to Johnson, who was supposed to be screening the inbound for Baltimore and was standing at the foul line. The last thing in the world that a coach wants is to have his 6'10 center holding the ball 80 feet from the basket with less than seven seconds left. Johnson got the ball back to Czerak, who was slow to find the self-redirected Baltimore. By the time that he got Baltimore the ball, two Titans defenders were already in a position to pin him against the sideline, forcing Baltimore to heave up a fadeaway trey attempt that nobody in this league besides Aston Francis can hit with a reasonable chance of success.

In other words, the players didn't execute the play that Bosko drew up in the huddle; instead, they freelanced. Bosko blamed himself for looking at them and seeing that they were nodding and saying "yeah" and thus concluding that he didn't need to drum it into their heads a second time.

This is where he should have had his only senior, Mike Canady, in the lineup to get the ball up the court and to Baltimore

Like I said, each coach had a play setup at the end, one was successful and the other wasn't.   Sure, it can happen to any team, but it was only a few weeks ago that Carthage lost at the buzzer on a length of the court drive by Ebel.   Hard to understand how you can't pull out a win in one of these games going down to the wire.

Ron Rose was asking that same question until last night ... over and over and over again, I might add.

I don't fault the efforts of the players, they play hard and there has been some improvement over the year.  Johnson should be all conference along with Baltimore.

He deserves it, but it's questionable as to whether or not the coaches will break their typical protocol by giving a team at the bottom of the standings two players on the All-CCIW team. Baltimore, on the other hand, is one of six surefire All-CCIW first-teamers, along with Nolan Ebel, Aston Francis, Connor Raridon, Jake Rhode, and Brady Rose.

Fair point, I was thinking back to when Bob posted his mid-season all conference team and he had Kedrowski.  That was when Carthage still had a chance to land in the tournament and possibly garner a second member.

I feel its time to let Steve take over...

The $64,000 question remains: Is the job his? With Bosko's old buddy Bob Bonn now off playing golf somewhere, there's a fresh face in the Carthage athletic director's office who has only been on the job since July -- and whose prior work experience at five D3 schools and undergraduate education at a sixth doesn't involve any schools within the Central Region. This could be one of those situations involving "a pharaoh who knew not Joseph." I'm not privy to any inside info regarding whether or not Steve has any guarantees from Michelle Manning that the job is his when the old man retires.

Valid point, and something I was thinking about mentioning too.  Bonn was never going to rock the boat, but maybe there will be more evaluation now.  I'd like to see Steve get it, but I understand there is possibly a bigger picture here too.  BTW, love the line "a pharaoh who knew not Joseph!"

One other note, less than 500 people (484) in attendance last night.   This game used to bring sell out crowds.

The fact that Carthage people and Kenoshan townies are staying away is easily explained by the poor record of the Red Men. But the other side of that equation is that Illinois Wesleyan doesn't travel as well as it used to. The Titans still get more road support than any team in the league other than Augustana, but there's noticeably less green in opposing gyms this year at IWU road games -- and I don't think that it's because the Titans are having a down year, either, as that's never kept their fans away in the past and it's also part of a subtle but undeniable trend in recent seasons. One wonders if the Grim Reaper has been taking its toll on the fan bus regulars, or if that Bloomington funeral home is no longer handing out the free donuts when the regulars board the bus.

That's true, but there were no other conflicts in town last night with high school ball and Wisconsin Parkside played during the afternoon.