MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[voxelmhurst]

Carroll 72
Elmhurst 59

After leading by as many as 12 in the first half, Elmhurst went to halftime with a 33-28 lead. The Bluejays then went ice cold and sloppy in a second half performance that wouldn't have passed muster on November 13th, much less February 13th.

The #5 and #6 seeds will be decided Saturday.

Carroll played tenacious and shot the ball very well in the second half. They will be anything but an easy mark in the opening round.

[lmitzel]

North Central wins in Kenosha, 85-54.  I did not get home in time to watch this one live, but of note is the fact that Matt Cappelletti logged zero minutes tonight.  I'm sure someone can chime in with context as I'm not sure what led to this, but I hope it was a one-off.

Blaise Meredith with 22 and 14
Connor Raridon with 21 and 8 boards
Aaron Jones with 10 and 5 assists

For Carthage:
Kienan Baltimore with 16
Jordan Kedrowski with 14
Sean Johnson with 10


Carthage was just 4-of-29 from three in this one.

From what I heard this evening, Cap was in concussion protocol, but I'm not 100 percent sure.

[Gregory Sager]

IWU 111 NP 66.

To paraphrase Greg, our work here is done.

Classy.

North Central wins in Kenosha, 85-54.  I did not get home in time to watch this one live, but of note is the fact that Matt Cappelletti logged zero minutes tonight.  I'm sure someone can chime in with context as I'm not sure what led to this, but I hope it was a one-off.

Blaise Meredith with 22 and 14
Connor Raridon with 21 and 8 boards
Aaron Jones with 10 and 5 assists

For Carthage:
Kienan Baltimore with 16
Jordan Kedrowski with 14
Sean Johnson with 10


Carthage was just 4-of-29 from three in this one.

From what I heard this evening, Cap was in concussion protocol, but I'm not 100 percent sure.

That's ominous news for the Cardinals, tonight's win aside. It's impressive that NCC got the job done on the road in spite of him -- looks like Blaise Meredith picked up a lot of the slack with a humongous 22 and 14 night -- but, let's be honest, the NCC are living on borrowed time if they have to go into the CCIW tournament without Cappelletti. Just getting past Elmhurst on Saturday in Faganel without him will be tough enough.

[GoPerry]

Well that was easy (not). Wheaton 81-73 over MU and finishes the regular season 18-7, 11-5.

After the big W on Saturday, the Thunder came out flat in the first half and trailed by 10, but were able to right the ship in the second and finish off the victory.  Aston Francis had 31 pts, 8 rebs, 4 assts on 9/17, 5/13 from trey and 8/8 FT.  He also sets a new NCAA Div III record with his 76th consecutive game with a 3 pointer.  Luke Peters had 11 and 7, Spencer Peterson 10 and 5.

The Big Blue were paced by Jack Marinko and Davante Harrell, both with 18 pts.  Jordan Cunningham had 9 boards.

Wheaton will host either Elmhurst or Carroll on Tuesday night.

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton beat Millikin, 81-73, to end its conference slate at 11-5 and clinch the third seed. Since NCC owns the tiebreaker (record vs. Augie) over Wheaton, NCC clinched the second seed with its win tonight at Carthage.

Aston Francis had a mere 31 and 8 tonight. He finishes the season just .07 behind Matt Cappelletti (whom I'm guessing won't play on Saturday at Faganel) for the CCIW rebounding title. He would've been the first true guard to win the rebounding title since ... I'm not sure. Maybe the first ever.

Incidentally, Francis set a new D3 record tonight for most consecutive games making a three-pointer, as all 76 games he's played for Wheaton have included him knocking down a trey. He snapped the old record of 75 held by Chris Carideo of Widener, who set it in the 1992-95 seasons.

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst and Carroll are currently tied at 7-8. If the 'jays and the Pios both win or both lose on Saturday, since they split this season series they'll have to go to the ladder tiebreaker. Only once has either squad beaten a team that's currently above them in the standings, and that was Carroll's 90-83 win over Illinois Wesleyan at Shirk back in mid-December. So a tie at the end of Saturday night's games means that Carroll gets the fifth seed and has to travel to Illinois Wesleyan on Tuesday, while Elmhurst has the sixth seed and has to move on down the Union Pacific line to Wheaton on Tuesday.

[kiko]

Aston Francis had 31 pts, 8 rebs, 4 assts on 9/17, 5/13 from trey and 8/8 FT.  He also sets a new NCAA Div III record with his 76th consecutive game with a 3 pointer.

Incidentally, Francis set a new D3 record tonight for most consecutive games making a three-pointer, as all 76 games he's played for Wheaton have included him knocking down a trey. He snapped the old record of 75 held by Chris Carideo of Widener, who set it in the 1992-95 seasons.

I have to admit, I'm kind of surprised that this record was not held by someone from Grinnell or another system school.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Aston Francis had 31 pts, 8 rebs, 4 assts on 9/17, 5/13 from trey and 8/8 FT.  He also sets a new NCAA Div III record with his 76th consecutive game with a 3 pointer.

Incidentally, Francis set a new D3 record tonight for most consecutive games making a three-pointer, as all 76 games he's played for Wheaton have included him knocking down a trey. He snapped the old record of 75 held by Chris Carideo of Widener, who set it in the 1992-95 seasons.

I have to admit, I'm kind of surprised that this record was not held by someone from Grinnell or another system school.

System players don't generally get the same number of shots per game as Francis does.  I guess all it takes is one poor shooting night in the middle of a career to have two long, but not-long-enough streaks.

[hopefan]

Aston Francis had 31 pts, 8 rebs, 4 assts on 9/17, 5/13 from trey and 8/8 FT.  He also sets a new NCAA Div III record with his 76th consecutive game with a 3 pointer.

Incidentally, Francis set a new D3 record tonight for most consecutive games making a three-pointer, as all 76 games he's played for Wheaton have included him knocking down a trey. He snapped the old record of 75 held by Chris Carideo of Widener, who set it in the 1992-95 seasons.

I have to admit, I'm kind of surprised that this record was not held by someone from Grinnell or another system school.

System players don't generally get the same number of shots per game as Francis does.  I guess all it takes is one poor shooting night in the middle of a career to have two long, but not-long-enough streaks.

checked this out just for this season... Ryan's right, but not a huge difference, when compared to the highest 3 point FGA per game at Grinnell and Gville

Francis Wheaton    13.5 FGA/Game    38.6%
Bateman Gville       10.4 FGA/Game    39.3%
Kogelnik Grinnell     12.7 FGA/Game    37.3%

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'd argue Kogelink's not an "average" system player, but the point remains.  I also wonder how quickly Grinnell puts the kibosh on shooting if a guy's having a bad night.  They tend to ride the hot hand, so if you miss three or four early, you might not get a lot more than night.  Still, Grotberg must have had an 0-10 night somewhere in there to not have this record.

[Gregory Sager]

It's not the most impressive D3 record, given the nature of the player involved, I'll grant you that. But it's still worth noting, for GoPerry as a Wheaton fan and for me as a conversation piece for CCIW Chat.

The more that I think about it, the more impressed I am by what Aston Francis did as a rebounder this season. Mike Schauer was exactly right when he told Rusty Lindsey in their postgame interview last night, "The narrative that Aston Francis is just a scorer needs to end."

[Greek Tragedy]

Not that it matters, but I have Francis at 13.16, 329 attempts in 25 games.

[hopefan]

Not that it matters, but I have Francis at 13.16, 329 attempts in 25 games.

Wheaton stats on their site show 316 in 24, which is 3.2 , then dummy hopefan typoed 3.5....   Wheaton not updated for last night?

[Greek Tragedy]

Not that it matters, but I have Francis at 13.16, 329 attempts in 25 games.

Wheaton stats on their site show 316 in 24, which is 3.2 , then dummy hopefan typoed 3.5....   Wheaton not updated for last night?

I saw Wheaton's too. 316 in 24 games is still 3.16. Like I said, no big deal. I suppose in the grand scheme of things, there is a big difference between 3.5 and 3.16...

[GoPerry]

It's not the most impressive D3 record, given the nature of the player involved, I'll grant you that. But it's still worth noting, for GoPerry as a Wheaton fan and for me as a conversation piece for CCIW Chat.

The more that I think about it, the more impressed I am by what Aston Francis did as a rebounder this season. Mike Schauer was exactly right when he told Rusty Lindsey in their postgame interview last night, "The narrative that Aston Francis is just a scorer needs to end."

I'd agree with that.  For me, it's impressive in more like an "oh, and by the way" type of way.  As has been noted, he takes alot of shots from beyond the arc, sometimes way beyond the arc.  I used to think he forces a lot of those shots, but he's proven so adept and natural at the step back and fall-away 3 that I don't think that anymore.  76 is a lot of games though.  It's also how many total games he's played for Wheaton so he's hit a trey in every game he's played for the Thunder.