MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Greek Tragedy]

You don't even have to focus upon the numbers to see that Aston Francis is clearly more deserving than Ben Boots. A simple eye test tells you that. Or ask any coach who played both UWO and Wheaton how much time he and his staff spent game-planning for Boots and how much time they spent game-planning for Francis. Or look at it in terms of the performance of their respective teams. Even without Boots, UW-Oshkosh is a solid team with other stars (Fravert, Wittchow, and Flynn) that would make the Titans competitive in the upper half of the WIAC. Take Francis off of Wheaton, and what have you got? A Wheaton team that finishes eighth out of nine.

NPU beat them with Francis!

[Gregory Sager]

NPU beat them with Francis!

That means little or nothing within the overall picture of the season. After all, NPU beat North Central, too, and the Cardinals still made the D3 tourney, just like Wheaton did. In fact, North Central had two really ugly losses and still made the tournament. The loss to NPU was essentially a mulligan for Wheaton.

Without Francis, though, Wheaton would've struggled to win more than four or five CCIW games.

[Smitty Oom]

These awards are not decided by numbers.  Numbers mean very little in evaluating how good a player is.  Especially for the coach's awards - these are the guys who see these players day in and day out, break them down on film, etc.  They usually know what they're talking about.  Mistakes can be made, of course (I don't really get Boots over Francis unless you're rewarding his full four year career), but you're not going to find a lot of numbers involved in these arguments; numbers really only get you in the ballpark.

You think the people deciding this have seen both Robert Duax and Brady Rose play? 

I don't buy it.

I agree with Titan Q here. I can almost guarantee that teams from the CCIW don't follow much of the WIAC outside of the box'scores, unless they have a WIAC team on their schedule that year. I think we are only kidding ourselves saying that coaches are breaking down film from majority of the games for a lot of these players nominated. Even so, film can be misleading if you only watch a couple of games. At least season long stats give us the picture of the WHOLE season. I agree to the point that players can be be better than what their numbers/stats suggest, but when handing out post season awards it makes the most since to base  our considerations mostly on numbers since no one out there has enough time to watch all of these players games.

[Greek Tragedy]

I don't understand why everyone is "making an argument" about Francis when we all agree that the NABC  got it wrong.

[Greek Tragedy]

NPU beat them with Francis!

That means little or nothing within the overall picture of the season. After all, NPU beat North Central, too, and the Cardinals still made the D3 tourney, just like Wheaton did. In fact, North Central had two really ugly losses and still made the tournament. The loss to NPU was essentially a mulligan for Wheaton.

Without Francis, though, Wheaton would've struggled to win more than four or five CCIW games.

I was actually trying to give your boys a little credit, but apparently whenever NPU wins, it's considered a mulligan for the other team. My apologies.

[Smitty Oom]

I don't understand why everyone is "making an argument" about Francis when we all agree that the NABC  got it wrong.

I guess it's more about the process than the results, in my mind.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU beat them with Francis!

That means little or nothing within the overall picture of the season. After all, NPU beat North Central, too, and the Cardinals still made the D3 tourney, just like Wheaton did. In fact, North Central had two really ugly losses and still made the tournament. The loss to NPU was essentially a mulligan for Wheaton.

Without Francis, though, Wheaton would've struggled to win more than four or five CCIW games.

I was actually trying to give your boys a little credit, but apparently whenever NPU wins, it's considered a mulligan for the other team. My apologies.

I do appreciate the gesture, Tom. But, to be perfectly honest, it was a mulligan for both Wheaton and North Central. The Vikings were just plain bad this season. You can't put a positive spin on 4-21.

[GoPerry]

Thank you for the updates all you guys! Any thoughts on how UWO will defend Francis?

My two cents: I could see this a few ways.  For starters, I doubt the Titans try anything in the gimmick category, ie. box and one (Augie, Elmhurst).  Wooster started out with 6'8" Eric Bulic on Francis to disadvantage him heightwise.  I think it did affect Aston for the first few mins of the game but then Bulic picked up his 2nd foul 7 mins in and had to sit.  In the same vein, 6-8 Adam Fravert is very long and is probably mobile enough to stick with him.  But do you risk Fravert potentially getting into foul trouble?  Brett Wittchow at 6-4 would be my guess to start out.  Probably not Boots.  Besides, at 6-1 Francis is going up against taller defenders all year.  He's solved it.

Marietta guarded Aston straight up on the perimeter.  But as soon as he made any sort of move, they tried to bring a double team to force the ball from him.  The problem is that one of his offensive fortes is the one dribble, or no dribble, pull up from 2-3 feet, or more, beyond the arc.  If he's hitting it, then you're not going to stop him.  He also has such a quick release coming off ball screens that you don't have a chance to switch or get thru the pick to contest it in time.  On that last play, Wheaton (Schauer) didn't bring a ball screener for him b/c that would bring a second defender to double him.  That left Francis one on one, and well, you gotta like those odds of him getting a look he likes.

I'm guessing UWO will really just try to guard him straight up and be prepared to adjust.  Use several different guys and perhaps play him more physical than you would a normal #2 guard?  The 45 he hung on them in November wasn't super efficient.  Bottom line, I still think opponents need to do what they can on Francis and make the other guys beat you.  You can't expect #1 to have another Marietta game . . . right?

Oshkosh presents big problems for the Thunder.  A mismatch at every position practically except Francis.  That's nothing new for Wheaton, but the magnitude of mismatch seems more significant for the Titans.  No doubt, the Thunder will once again have to be greater than the sum of their parts like they have been doing.  Can't wait.

[GoPerry]

I didn't think we cared so much about the NABC...

Exactly - agree.  And not because AF didn't get Central POY.  The NABC doesn't do a DIII  weekly poll or really anything DIII all year right?  Just D1.  I think it's nice of them to recognize players at season's end.  But the thoroughness of their voting process would have to be questionable.   

[UWPSUPERFAN77]

Go Perry: Nice post! I do not disagree with Robert Duax as all region!! He is a selfless leader who does all the little things! As to Boots over Francis as POY, I vote for Francis! He did not get the nickname one man team for nothing! Boots is great but I see him as another cog on the UWP powerhouse!

[UWPSUPERFAN77]

Correction: UWO Powerhouse! Oops!

[sac]

NPU beat them with Francis!

That means little or nothing within the overall picture of the season. After all, NPU beat North Central, too, and the Cardinals still made the D3 tourney, just like Wheaton did. In fact, North Central had two really ugly losses and still made the tournament. The loss to NPU was essentially a mulligan for Wheaton.

Without Francis, though, Wheaton would've struggled to win more than four or five CCIW games.

I was actually trying to give your boys a little credit, but apparently whenever NPU wins, it's considered a mulligan for the other team. My apologies.

I do appreciate the gesture, Tom. But, to be perfectly honest, it was a mulligan for both Wheaton and North Central. The Vikings were just plain bad this season. You can't put a positive spin on 4-21.

It wasn't 2-23 

[Titan Q]

I'm guessing UWO will really just try to guard him straight up and be prepared to adjust.  Use several different guys and perhaps play him more physical than you would a normal #2 guard?  The 45 he hung on them in November wasn't super efficient.  Bottom line, I still think opponents need to do what they can on Francis and make the other guys beat you.  You can't expect #1 to have another Marietta game . . . right?

I agree with this.  I would try to guard him straight up to start - of course doubling in the right moments to get the ball out of his hands some.  But I would not sell out with some type of crazy defense I haven't played all season.  If Francis is in crazy mode, then you adjust.

Francis relies heavily on jumpshooting.  His FGs primarily come from long bombs and some mid-range shots.  While it does not happen to Aston Francis often, every shooter is gonna have a bad game.  And with the bright lights of the Final Four, and national semifinal game, in a big arena he has never played in (unfamiliar shooting background, etc), crazier things have happened than Francis having a bad shooting night.  I have seen many great shooters over the years have rough shooting nights at the Final Four.  (IWU's Jordan Nelson in 2014 comes to mind.  Nelson is one of the best shooters to ever play for IWU, and he had a huge 2013-14 season shooting it.  He went 0-6 from 3 vs Whitewater in the national semifinal, missing great look after great look.  It happens.)

If I'm UW-Oshkosh, I just do my best on him with normal defense (and extra help) and see how things are going along the way.  There is a chance he comes out and is completely off.  Or he could go bananas again and the Titans have to adjust.  I mean, Grey Giovanine, on one of the biggest possessions of his season last weekend, played a box and one.  So you just never know.

[Titan Q]

I would add...

I think it is important for Wheaton to come out in Augustana/Round 3 game mode (where the whole team gets involved) vs Marietta game/Round 4 (all Aston Francis).  I think the Thunder want to get Luke Peters going to the basket, or posting up a smaller guard, a few times early; get Spencer a couple good 3-point looks; get Luke Anthony some shots when he first checks in; etc.

I think Wheaton's best chance to win Friday is by spreading out the shots better than they did at the start of the Marietta game. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Oshkosh should have a rebounding advantage and with the sheer number of three point shooters they have, should be able to get better looks.  I thought it was telling that Coach Lewis said in the d3hoops.com piece teams either try to stop Francis or just let him go; neither has been real successful thus far.  It just seems to me Oshkosh will have the numbers advantage (at least a better chance to shoot a better percentage).  I think it'll really come down to how Wheaton rebounds and the non-Francis shooters knocking down the looks they get.