MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

It's arguably the most dominant CCIW season I've ever seen, even more so than either of Stevie D's upperclassmen seasons.

Aston Francis is currently in 11th place all-time in scoring among CCIW players with 2,089 career points for Wheaton. With a minimum of two games left in his career (tomorrow night's contest vs. Millikin and at least one CCIW tourney game), he will easily pass Carthage immortal Jason Wiertel (2,113 points) for 10th place, and I'm guessing that he'll likely finish his career in ninth place after passing this league's original basketball superstar, class of 1951 alumnus Scott Steagall of Millikin (2,127 points). Anything beyond that is going to require a deep D3 tourney run by the Sonic Atmosopheric Disturbance.

Even more impressive is where he stands on the all-time career leaderboard for points scored in league play. As is the case with his all-time overall career points record of 2,635 points, Leon Gobczynski's mark in the CCIW-games-only category seems unassailable. But Francis has already amassed 1,365 points in CCIW play, which puts him third all-time behind Carroll's mid-'70s superstar Dave Shaw (1,478) and Gobo (1,662). To put it in perspective, Francis's 49-point performance in the airplane hangar on Saturday night moved him ahead of Jesse Price and Stevie D. -- two guys who were superstars for all four seasons that they played -- in one fell swoop as far as CCIW-only career scoring is concerned.

It may make you wonder what would've happened if Francis hadn't spent his freshman year playing at that juco in Texas. It would seem at first blush that he would've already shattered Gobo's CCIW-only career scoring record and that he'd at least be coming into range to do the same to Gobo's overall career scoring record. But the interesting thing is that that probably wouldn't have happened at all. I've looked up Francis's freshman stats at Tyler Junior College for the 2015-16 season, and it's astonishing how unimpressive they are. He only started one game for the Apaches that season, and he scored only 107 points over the entire season, averaging 4.5 ppg and 0.8 rpg. Either he had a freshman season that was plagued with illnesses and/or injuries that he tried to play through, or he had some kind of an amazing transformation between his freshman year at Tyler and his sophomore year at Wheaton.

(Tyler only went 14-14 that season, so it's not as though the Apaches were some sort of juco juggernaut that had a roster studded with future D1 types who kept Francis from getting minutes and shots.)

[GoPerry]

It's arguably the most dominant CCIW season I've ever seen, even more so than either of Stevie D's upperclassmen seasons.

Aston Francis is currently in 11th place all-time in scoring among CCIW players with 2,089 career points for Wheaton. With a minimum of two games left in his career (tomorrow night's contest vs. Millikin and at least one CCIW tourney game), he will easily pass Carthage immortal Jason Wiertel (2,113 points) for 10th place, and I'm guessing that he'll likely finish his career in ninth place after passing this league's original basketball superstar, class of 1951 alumnus Scott Steagall of Millikin (2,127 points). Anything beyond that is going to require a deep D3 tourney run by the Sonic Atmosopheric Disturbance.

Even more impressive is where he stands on the all-time career leaderboard for points scored in league play. As is the case with his all-time overall career points record of 2,635 points, Leon Gobczynski's mark in the CCIW-games-only category seems unassailable. But Francis has already amassed 1,365 points in CCIW play, which puts him third all-time behind Carroll's mid-'70s superstar Dave Shaw (1,478) and Gobo (1,662). To put it in perspective, Francis's 49-point performance in the airplane hangar on Saturday night moved him ahead of Jesse Price and Stevie D. -- two guys who were superstars for all four seasons that they played -- in one fell swoop as far as CCIW-only career scoring is concerned.

It may make you wonder what would've happened if Francis hadn't spent his freshman year playing at that juco in Texas. It would seem at first blush that he would've already shattered Gobo's CCIW-only career scoring record and that he'd at least be coming into range to do the same to Gobo's overall career scoring record. But the interesting thing is that that probably wouldn't have happened at all. I've looked up Francis's freshman stats at Tyler Junior College for the 2015-16 season, and it's astonishing how unimpressive they are. He only started one game for the Apaches that season, and he scored only 107 points over the entire season, averaging 4.5 ppg and 0.8 rpg. Either he had a freshman season that was plagued with illnesses and/or injuries that he tried to play through, or he had some kind of an amazing transformation between his freshman year at Tyler and his sophomore year at Wheaton.

(Tyler only went 14-14 that season, so it's not as though the Apaches were some sort of juco juggernaut that had a roster studded with future D1 types who kept Francis from getting minutes and shots.)

Fwiw, Aston actually talks about his TJC season in this article in the latest Wheaton Record (student newspaper). Try to ignore that the writer didn't know how to spell the name of their own coach – or maybe worse, didn't bother to check.

http://www.wheatonrecord.com/articles/athlete-spotlight-aston-francis/

[Gregory Sager]

It's arguably the most dominant CCIW season I've ever seen, even more so than either of Stevie D's upperclassmen seasons.

Aston Francis is currently in 11th place all-time in scoring among CCIW players with 2,089 career points for Wheaton. With a minimum of two games left in his career (tomorrow night's contest vs. Millikin and at least one CCIW tourney game), he will easily pass Carthage immortal Jason Wiertel (2,113 points) for 10th place, and I'm guessing that he'll likely finish his career in ninth place after passing this league's original basketball superstar, class of 1951 alumnus Scott Steagall of Millikin (2,127 points). Anything beyond that is going to require a deep D3 tourney run by the Sonic Atmosopheric Disturbance.

Even more impressive is where he stands on the all-time career leaderboard for points scored in league play. As is the case with his all-time overall career points record of 2,635 points, Leon Gobczynski's mark in the CCIW-games-only category seems unassailable. But Francis has already amassed 1,365 points in CCIW play, which puts him third all-time behind Carroll's mid-'70s superstar Dave Shaw (1,478) and Gobo (1,662). To put it in perspective, Francis's 49-point performance in the airplane hangar on Saturday night moved him ahead of Jesse Price and Stevie D. -- two guys who were superstars for all four seasons that they played -- in one fell swoop as far as CCIW-only career scoring is concerned.

It may make you wonder what would've happened if Francis hadn't spent his freshman year playing at that juco in Texas. It would seem at first blush that he would've already shattered Gobo's CCIW-only career scoring record and that he'd at least be coming into range to do the same to Gobo's overall career scoring record. But the interesting thing is that that probably wouldn't have happened at all. I've looked up Francis's freshman stats at Tyler Junior College for the 2015-16 season, and it's astonishing how unimpressive they are. He only started one game for the Apaches that season, and he scored only 107 points over the entire season, averaging 4.5 ppg and 0.8 rpg. Either he had a freshman season that was plagued with illnesses and/or injuries that he tried to play through, or he had some kind of an amazing transformation between his freshman year at Tyler and his sophomore year at Wheaton.

(Tyler only went 14-14 that season, so it's not as though the Apaches were some sort of juco juggernaut that had a roster studded with future D1 types who kept Francis from getting minutes and shots.)

Fwiw, Aston actually talks about his TJC season in this article in the latest Wheaton Record (student newspaper).

Thanks. That does help a bit to fill in some missing gaps in the story.

Try to ignore that the writer didn't know how to spell the name of their own coach – or maybe worse, didn't bother to check.

"Schauer, not Shauer!"

[Smitty Oom]

Why was Schauer recruiting Gunter all the way down in Texas? Does he have a connection to Tyler, Texas?

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton tends to recruit student-athletes based upon alumni connections, especially student-athlete alumni connections. Some Wheaton alumnus down in Tyler, TX undoubtedly alerted either Mike Schauer or the WC admissions office to the presence of a big man playing high school ball down there (Trevor Gunter) who fit the Wheaton profile, so Mike went down there to recruit him -- and inadverently stumbled upon Aston Francis while doing so.

Wheaton, as you may or may not know, is a Rand-McNally school. That is to say, it has a student body that is national in origin rather than local. Check out the roster of any Wheaton sports team and you'll find a plethora of states represented from coast to coast.

[kiko]

I've looked up Francis's freshman stats at Tyler Junior College for the 2015-16 season, and it's astonishing how unimpressive they are.

My favorite part of this is the Points per 40 minutes stat.  For those of us who support teams more likely to Shape Of than to Form Of, it doesn't really feel like that has changed much in the three years since.

[GoPerry]

Wheaton tends to recruit student-athletes based upon alumni connections, especially student-athlete alumni connections. Some Wheaton alumnus down in Tyler, TX undoubtedly alerted either Mike Schauer or the WC admissions office to the presence of a big man playing high school ball down there (Trevor Gunter) who fit the Wheaton profile, so Mike went down there to recruit him -- and inadverently stumbled upon Aston Francis while doing so.

I believe Wheaton was one of numerous schools in touch with Francis his senior year but he fell off the radar once he decided to go to A&M and not play sports.  After he changed his mind and went to TJC, only Schauer and one other school bothered to get back in touch.

[Gregory Sager]

I've looked up Francis's freshman stats at Tyler Junior College for the 2015-16 season, and it's astonishing how unimpressive they are.

My favorite part of this is the Points per 40 minutes stat.  For those of us who support teams more likely to Shape Of than to Form Of, it doesn't really feel like that has changed much in the three years since.

Of course, the reason behind that is that at a lot of TJC games that season the live stats operator didn't bother keeping track of minutes.

But that's still a funny observation.

Back in the middle of the last decade, when Wheaton had Luke Trenz on the men's team and his sister Jill on the women's team, the WC @ NPU contest happened to fall on a Saturday, so it was a women's / men's doubleheader. Jill starred in the women's game for the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance. When Dan came off the bench into the men's game, one of the Carlson Crazies yelled at him, "Did you and your sister forget to bring Gleek and the bucket?"

That was one of the better one-liners I can remember from that era of student sections.

[Smitty Oom]

Wheaton tends to recruit student-athletes based upon alumni connections, especially student-athlete alumni connections. Some Wheaton alumnus down in Tyler, TX undoubtedly alerted either Mike Schauer or the WC admissions office to the presence of a big man playing high school ball down there (Trevor Gunter) who fit the Wheaton profile, so Mike went down there to recruit him -- and inadverently stumbled upon Aston Francis while doing so.

Wheaton, as you may or may not know, is a Rand-McNally school. That is to say, it has a student body that is national in origin rather than local. Check out the roster of any Wheaton sports team and you'll find a plethora of states represented from coast to coast.

I did not know that, but I really like the term "Rand-McNally School." Much like Macalester in the MIAC. I actually had a couple of HS classmates that went down to participate in track and field at Wheaton.. one was a national qualifier in the pole vault and/or decathlon I believe. Not that a Minneapolis suburb to Wheaton IL is that far, but you do pass by a lot of liberal art schools on your way south.

Thanks for the info, Greg.

[Titan Q]

Illinois Wesleyan (15-8, 8-6) vs North Park (4-19, 2-12), 7pm...

Titans (15-8, 8-6)
G - Brady Rose, 6-3/185 Sr.  20.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 3.9 apg
G - Colin Bonnett, 6-4/190 Sr.  11.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.5 apg
G - Jason Gregoire, 6-4/205 Sr.  10.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.6 apg
F - Doug Wallen, 6-5/210 So. 7.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg
F - Danny Baker, 6-6/210 Sr.  3.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg

North Park (4-19, 2-12)
G - Antonio Gardner, 5-9/177 So.  3.9 ppg, 1.8 ppg, 1.1 apg
G - Cardell Simmons, 5-11/165 Sr.  5.6 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 0.8 apg
G - Toby Marek, 6-0/188 So.  11.7 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.4 apg
F - Matt Szuba, 6-6/215 So.  11.0 ppg, 8.1 rpg
F - Vegard Tangen, 6-6/202 Jr.  10.7 påg, 4.2 rpg


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

[kiko]

F - Vegard Tangen, 6-6/202 Jr.  10.7 påg, 4.2 rpg

Nice touch...

[Gregory Sager]

It's actually "ppk" in Norwegian (poeng per kamp), but this is definitely funnier.

[lmitzel]

Here's the standings coming into tonight and tournament clinching scenarios:

School	Record
*-Augustana	14-1
y-NCC	10-4
y-Wheaton	10-5
x-IWU	8-6
x-Elmhurst	7-7
x-Carroll	6-8
e-Millikin	4-10
e-Carthage	3-11
e-NPU	2-12

• NCC is guaranteed to finish no worse than 3rd; clinches the #2 seed with a win OR a Wheaton loss
• Wheaton is guaranteed to finish no worse than 3rd; clinches the #2 seed with a win AND NCC losses at Carthage tonight and at Elmhurst Saturday
• IWU clinches the #4 seed with a win OR Elmhurst loss
• Elmhurst clinches the #5 seed with a win
• Elmhurst clinches the #4 seed with a win tonight AND a win Saturday AND IWU losses tonight and Saturday
• I thought Carroll hadn't clinched yet, but it looks like the tiebreaker against Millikin will go the way of the Pioneers due to Carroll's split with IWU
• Carroll clinches the #5 seed with a win tonight AND a win Saturday AND an Elmhurst loss to NCC Saturday

That's... actually a lot less messy than I thought it would be with two rounds to go.

[Gregory Sager]

Not that messy, actually. As I pointed out on Friday:

This is the standings and what's left on the docket:

Augustana*	13-1	21-2	MU	bye	@ CC
North Central	10-3	18-4	WC	@ CC	@ EC
Wheaton	9-5	16-7	@ NCC	MU	bye
Illinois Wesleyan	7-6	14-8	EC	NPU	@ CU
Elmhurst	7-6	12-10	@ IWU	CU	NCC
Carroll	6-8	10-13	bye	@ EC	IWU
Millikin	4-9	10-11	@ AC	@ WC	NPU
Carthage#	2-11	7-13	@ NPU	NCC	AC
North Park#	2-11	4-18	CC	@ IWU	@ MU

* Augustana owns the tiebreaker over North Central by virtue of having swept Illinois Wesleyan, which split with NCC. The only advantage(s) that NCC could have over AC is/are via Millikin (NCC sweep, AC split) and/or Carthage (NCC sweep, AC split), and, since neither the Big Blue nor the Red Men can finish ahead of Illinois Wesleyan, the IWU tiebreak is fixed. Therefore, Augustana has clinched the #1 seed and will host the tournament's semifinals and championship.

* North Central can finish no lower than the third seed, because it owns tiebreakers over Illinois Wesleyan and Elmhurst by virtue of having split with Augustana, which swept both IWU and EC. North Central currently owns the H2H tiebreaker over Wheaton. If NCC and WC end the season tied, and if WC defeats NCC tomorrow night, then NCC owns the tiebreaker by virtue of having split with Augustana, which swept WC. The only way that North Central can lose the opening-round bye and fall to the third seed is if the Cardinals lose all three remaining games while Wheaton wins its final two games.

* Wheaton can finish no lower than the third seed if it wins at least one more game, or if Illinois Wesleyan and Elmhurst each lose one more game, because it owns the tiebreakers over IWU and EC by virtue of having swept them both.

* With regard to the middle of the pack:
-- Illinois Wesleyan currently owns the H2H tiebreaker over Elmhurst;
-- Illinois Wesleyan owns the H2H tiebreaker over Millikin;
-- Elmhurst currently owns the H2H tiebreaker over Carroll;
-- Elmhurst owns the H2H tiebreaker over Millikin;
-- Carroll currently owns the H2H tiebreaker over Illinois Wesleyan; and
-- Carroll currently owns the tiebreaker over Millikin by virtue of having split with Wheaton, which beat MU in their first contest. If MU beats Wheaton, the tiebreaker most likely devolves to performance against Illinois Wesleyan, in which case CU retains the tiebreaker by having won at least once against IWU while IWU swept MU. If, however, it devolves to performance against Elmhurst, then the tiebreaker becomes contingent upon how Carroll fares at Faganel Hall on Wednesday. If the Pioneers win that game, then they own the EC tiebreak over Millikin. If the Pioneers lose that game, then the tiebreaker devolves to performance against Illinois Wesleyan -- which, again, CU owns. All of which goes to say that Carroll owns all of the ladder tiebreakers over Millikin if the Big Blue fail to defeat Augustana tomorrow night. In other words:

* If Millikin fails to defeat Augustana tomorrow night, Millikin is eliminated. If MU wins at Carver, then the Big Blue own the tiebreaker over Carroll.

* Because Illinois Wesleyan and Elmhurst have each already swept the current seventh-place team (Millikin), the Titans and the Bluejays have both clinched tournament spots.

... it would've taken a Millikin upset over Augie at Carver to prevent us from knowing the identity of the six-team field by the end of play this past Saturday night. Having an already-fixed field, with the top seed and host already identified and spots two thru six at least strongly indicated, is a remarkable level of clarity when you consider that there are still two game nights left in the regular season. Contrast that to the women's side in the CCIW, in which all nine teams still have a shot at the playoffs going into tonight's action.

[Titan Q]

Nice article on Ron and Brady Rose...

https://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/ron-brady-rose-keep-basketball-in-the-family/article_759f2c3b-b0a9-5c02-9250-2d3e18536286.html