MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Greek Tragedy]

Well, yeah, of course. But if they lined up all of the guys at the end of the bench and made them say, "Are you sh!++ing me?", one by one, until they figured out which one it sounded like, that would take up even more time, wouldn't it?

Reminds me of the lineup scene in Usual Suspects. "Give me the keys...!"

[AndOne]

Well, yeah, of course. But if they lined up all of the guys at the end of the bench and made them say, "Are you sh!++ing me?", one by one, until they figured out which one it sounded like, that would take up even more time, wouldn't it?

Reminds me of the lineup scene in Usual Suspects. "Give me the keys...!"

Up against the wall and spread 'em. You know the drill!

[AndOne]

... aaaaand now a Cardinal who has played all of 22 minutes on varsity this season has just been assessed a T-bone for yapping at the officials from the end of the bench.

This is wild.

Certainly one of the crazier games I've ever done. It was chippy, but not to a "the officials are going to lose control of this game" type of chippy.

Elmhurst 71
North Central 60

Bluejays just wanted this one more. They played with a lot more fire than the Cardinals did.

Jake Rhode (25 and 7) was the man tonight. Connor Raridon (18-10-6:1) did what he could, but it wasn't nearly enough.

I'll agree with that platitude. Just three weeks after getting completely shut down on offense, the Jays really fed off their fans to go on that run in the second half to take total control. I honestly felt like I was announcing a road game.

One reason for this was a discernible lack of NCC students among the crowd in The Hangar last night.
While this was puzzling during the game, a discussion with a student-athlete after the game revealed that next week is the first spring break week under the semester system which NCC converted to just thus year, and with which many are not yet used to. I believe some 1,600-1,700 students reside in the dorms, and it turns out the the administration decreed that all residents be out of the dorms by 5:00 yesterday afternoon. Evidently there was some type of student petition asking that the deadline be extended until sometime tomorrow, but the powers that be nixed this possibility which subsequently resulted in the Cardinal campus being virtually deserted as of 5:00 PM.

[shepherd]

Nice live stats.  Not a fan if our team doesn't play no video.  Including when Wheaton does it.  CCIW needs to fix this if a school plays video for itself they should provide it for others in tournaments. 

[unanimous22]

Nice live stats.  Not a fan if our team doesn't play no video.  Including when Wheaton does it.  CCIW needs to fix this if a school plays video for itself they should provide it for others in tournaments.

Ummmm

[Gregory Sager]

Nice live stats.  Not a fan if our team doesn't play no video.  Including when Wheaton does it.  CCIW needs to fix this if a school plays video for itself they should provide it for others in tournaments.

I believe that it is a CCIW rule that the host of a conference tournament in this sport has to provide both video and live stats.

[Gregory Sager]

It's hard for me to believe that there were people who didn't think Lavon Thomas belonged on the All-CCIW team.

[unanimous22]

Congrats to Elmhurst. Very nice regular season.

[cardinalpride]

Congrats to Elmhurst on receiving the automatic bid!

[iwumichigander]

It's hard for me to believe that there were people who didn't think Lavon Thomas belonged on the All-CCIW team.

at least based upon tonight.  Titans could not stop him.  Congratulations to Elmhurst.

[GoPerry]

Great game.  Congratulations to Elmhurst - very deserving.  I think they're a team capable of making a fairly deep run.  Let's see what the draw looks like.

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst 78
Illinois Wesleyan 72

Congrats to the 'jays upon winning the program's first-ever CCIW tourney championship.

I was glad to see that, unusually for this weekend in the CCIW, there were no goats in this game. Just really good all-around play by everybody on both teams. The 'jays and the Titans really left everything on the floor in this one. IWU has no reason to hang its collective head. And Elmhurst has due reason to celebrate.

[Gregory Sager]

It's hard for me to believe that there were people who didn't think Lavon Thomas belonged on the All-CCIW team.

at least based upon tonight.  Titans could not stop him.  Congratulations to Elmhurst.

He didn't just pop up on the radar tonight. He's had a great season for the 'jays since November.

I thought that there were two big moments down the stretch. First was the unlikely Wesley Hooker triple at the three-minute mark that doubled Elmhurst's lead from three to six. Hooker was 8-36 (.222) from downtown for the season when he attempted that shot from the top of the key, but as Kevin Jackman said on the air Hooker showed total confidence in his ability to make it and was spot-on. It took the Titans two valuable minutes of the three minutes left to get the EC lead back down to one possession. And it was at that point that Jake Rhode, who, conversely, didn't shoot well from beyond the arc, did what he did well all night -- he attacked the basket, sucked in the Titans defense to him, and flipped the ball to his right to his wingman, Jay Millitello, whose layup at the :52 mark made it a two-possession lead again at 74-69 that forced the Titans to scramble into two-for-one mode, which did not work out for them.

[iwu70]

Great game.  Congrats to Coach Baines and all the EC players.  Titans just couldn't quite get over the hump in this one.  Seemed seniors (I know, a key junior!),  vs. sophomores and freshmen, with the Titans just not quite having enough experience in this one.  Still a great effort, esp. the wins over Carthage and Augie.  I think TITANS now 0-7 in CCIW tournament finals.  Gotta get over the hump one of these years -- next year?   Get the injured guys back and IWU is going to look very formidable next year. 

Congrats to Coach Rose and all the TITANS on a great and exciting season.  The future is bright for the IWU program.  (IWU Women win tonight over WC, get to go dancing . . . ). 

Titans surely on the bubble, unlikely to get in.  (Swarthmore losing tonight too.).  Maybe just EC and NCC, right? 

IWU'70

[Titan Q]

Elmhurst 78
IWU 72

* Jake Rhode: 22 pts
* Lavon Thomas: 17 pts, 8 reb, 2 assists
* Jay Militello: 13 pts, 6 reb
* Derek Dotlich: 12 pts

* Doug Wallen: 21 pts, 5 reb
* Matt Leritz: 17 pts, 13 reb
* Cory Noe: 16 pts, 5 reb, 2 assists
* Pete Lambesis:12 pts, 6 reb, 7 assists


I thought IWU really battled hard tonight.  Came back from down 9 to take a lead with about 5 to play.  Just had a few key plays go the other way over the course of those next couple minutes.  Doug Wallen was very good tonight -- Matt Leritz too.

Elmhurst was great tonight -- played tremendous defense and played with a lot of intensity.  And Jake Rhode -- I mean he made a number of pretty crazy shots down the stretch that I just don't think you can defend.  He is a special player.

Really proud of the Titans.  Down Wolfe, Yoder, and Bair, to be in this position, just really impressive.  I love watching this IWU team play because they truly play the game the right way.