MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

Now for the real starters and reserves:

#8-Illinois Wesleyan (7-1)
G - Luke Yoder "Lay Hee Hoo", 6-0/170 So.
G - Cory "Yes and" Noe, 6-2/175 Jr.
G - Pete "Photo" Lambesis, 6-4/195 Jr.
F - Charlie "The Cupboard's not" Bair, 6-7/220 Sr.
F - Matt "Puttin on the" Leritz, 6-7/235 Jr.
G- "Beware of" Doug Wallen
G- Keondre "Willie" Schumaker

#3-Wheaton (12-0)
G - Tyson "The" Cruickshank "Redemption", 5-11/160 Jr.
G - Nyameye "Notre" Adom, 6-1/190 Jr.
G - Collin "Viva" Uveges, 6-1/170 Sr.
F - Cade "David and" Alioth, 6-5/205 Sr.
F - Gavin "The Theory of Everything" Hawkins, 6-7/215 Sr.
G- Luke "Acts" Anthony
G- "The Book of Eli" Considine

It officially feels like a big game now!

[GU1999]

Now for the real starters and reserves:

#8-Illinois Wesleyan (7-1)
G - Luke Yoder "Lay Hee Hoo", 6-0/170 So.
G - Cory "Yes and" Noe, 6-2/175 Jr.
G - Pete "Photo" Lambesis, 6-4/195 Jr.
F - Charlie "The Cupboard's not" Bair, 6-7/220 Sr.
F - Matt "Puttin on the" Leritz, 6-7/235 Jr.
G- "Beware of" Doug Wallen
G- Keondre "Willie" Schumaker

#3-Wheaton (12-0)
G - Tyson "The" Cruickshank "Redemption", 5-11/160 Jr.
G - Nyameye "Notre" Adom, 6-1/190 Jr.
G - Collin "Viva" Uveges, 6-1/170 Sr.
F - Cade "David and" Alioth, 6-5/205 Sr.
F - Gavin "The Theory of Everything" Hawkins, 6-7/215 Sr.
G- Luke "Acts" Anthony
G- "The Book of Eli" Considine

Is there a history of these making their way into the championship game broadcast? 

Personal favs are Matt Leritz and Collin Uveges. 

Thank you Usee!

[Gregory Sager]

G- Luke "Acts" Anthony

Speaking as a former seminarian, I can attest that that's a seriously clever "inside baseball" joke, in terms of biblical studies.

Well done, Obi-Wan!

[Titan Q]

Mark Scherer out at Millikin.

https://athletics.millikin.edu/news/2021/3/12/mens-basketball-millikin-begins-search-for-new-mens-basketball-coach.aspx

[Gregory Sager]

Two observations:

1) It's worded in such a way that seems to indicate that Scherer did not leave voluntarily, since "departure" has an entirely different connotation than "resigned" or "retired," and Scherer's name isn't mentioned in the headline. In fact, it's pretty much a given that if a head coach resigns without retiring, then "resigns" will be the verb used in the press release. And, of course, if Scherer had announced his retirement, the school would've noted it as such and duly celebrated his lengthy career.

2) It may have been a pretty sudden decision on Millikin AD's Craig White's part, or one that he made awhile ago but kept close to his vest, since Millikin SID Bryan Marshall obviously did a quick cut-and-paste for this press release. Note the final paragraph: "Prior to coming Millikin [sic], Mark Scherer is a proven winner in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin ...". The fact that the verb tense doesn't match up led me to look up MU's press release announcing Scherer's hire on March 22, 2017. Sure enough, it's the exact same paragraph, only this time it has a hastily-typed and unproofed "Prior to coming Millikin" tacked onto the front of it.

[Gregory Sager]

My personal opinion -- and I say this with the full disclosure that Matt Nadelhoffer is a friend of mine -- is that Millikin never should've dumped Matt Nadelhoffer back in 2017.

That's not an indictment of Mark Scherer, who has certainly had a noteworthy career as head coach. Indeed, in the 68 years that Elmhurst has played men's basketball in this league, the only coach who has ever led the Bluejays to a CCIW title is Mark Scherer. And, while it could be argued that his protégé John Baines has outstripped Scherer as Elmhurst's most successful men's basketball coach, having posted a better record at EC/EU both in CCIW play and overall as well as leading the 'jays to more D3 tourney appearances than Scherer did, you can't argue the fact that Scherer is also the person who originally brought Baines to Faganel Hall as his full-time assistant coach, prior to Baines's short stint as the head coach at St. Francis (IL).

Mark Scherer's legacy as a successful head coach is intact, the last four years at Millikin notwithstanding. Nevertheless, I think that the Big Blue men's basketball program would be in better shape today if Matt Nadelhoffer was still at the helm.

[iwu70]

Thanks USee, good stuff, good fun.

Yes, a big game tonight.  I'm with Q on that!

Looking forward . . .

'70

[WUPHF]

My personal opinion -- and I say this with the full disclosure that Matt Nadelhoffer is a friend of mine -- is that Millikin never should've dumped Matt Nadelhoffer back in 2017.

Out of curiosity, why do you think that?

[Gregory Sager]

Matt was a tireless recruiter who found some really top-notch players within his first couple of seasons at Millikin. Unfortunately for him, some of them didn't buy in to his expectations of them in terms of discipline and comportment, and he lost enough of those very good players to disrupt the program's forward momentum. But a big part of being a college head coach is establishing a reputation as someone with integrity and vision among the high-school and AAU coaches within your recruiting footprint, and Matt was certainly developing that. I think that those coaches would've seen that Matt was a straight shooter who meant what he said and who looked out for the best interests of the program and everybody in it, rather than catering to malcontents and losing control of a talented team off of the court, and that they would've responded favorably in years to come by talking positively to their players about Millikin.

[WUPHF]

Its tough because coaching is a great gig, but so much is out of the hands of their hands. 

Its tough too though because after several seasons of below .500 season records, Millikin won 3 games in his final season.

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois Wesleyan 71
Wheaton 58

Very entertaining game if you like defense-oriented contests. (I do, so I was entertained.)

Wheaton went away from what was working -- attacking the basket -- and started chucking up long treys too early, when the deficit was still manageable. Wesleyan got outrebounded, but made a lot of late offensive rebounds that were huge. The Titans also did a nice job of expanding their narrow lead even with Leritz and Lambesis on the bench for a bunch of minutes with four fouls apiece, with seniors Doug Wallen and Charlie Bair in particular coming up really big.

[iwu70]

Congrats to all the Titans, Coach Rose, and all the coaching staff. 

CCIW Champions!   Great game, coming up with their A-game for sure, esp. down the stretch.

IWU:
Leritz 17 and 8
Lambesis 16
Noe 12
Wallen 11
Yoder everywhere, 5 and 7 assists
Bair 10 and 6

WC:
Alioth a tremendous game, 17 and 14
Adom, contained pretty well, esp. in the second half, 15
Cruickshank 11

Great work by all the TITANS.  I thought the difference in the game was Noe, taking charges, hitting key FTs. and the trey dagger with about 2 minutes to go.  But, overall, all the Titans played a good role.  Bair and Wallen really came through when Lambesis and Leritz had to sit for about 4-5 minutes.

Congrats to the Seniors -- great run -- Wallen and Bair.  You guys will be greatly missed.  TITANS have a lot coming back, and hopefully will get a full season, a normal season to see really what their longer-term potential can be.  Let's hope . . .

Again, Congratulations, CCIW Champions. 


IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

Its tough because coaching is a great gig, but so much is out of the hands of their hands. 

Its tough too though because after several seasons of below .500 season records, Millikin won 3 games in his final season.

Yeah, because of the aforementioned personnel losses that really depleted that particular team. I thought that Nadelhoffer deserved a mulligan for that season; after all, he had taken Millikin from the depths of non-competitiveness (the Big Blue usually didn't look like much more than an intramural team in official school uniforms at the end of the Marc Smith era) and got them back to the 8-or-9-win level, and every coach in the league knew that his team was going to be in a battle against the Big Blue ... up until that bad season happened.

But Millikin AD Craig White didn't see it that way, and it was his call.

[iwu70]

Key stat in the IWU-WC game:

Points in the paint for IWU:  44

Bair and Leritz were a ton.

'70

[GoPerry]

Do many teams win without scoring in the last 3 ½ minutes of a close game?  Didn't think so. 

Congratulations to the Titans.  I think Ron Rose came in with an excellent defensive game plan designed to totally disrupt Wheaton's offensive rhythm and the Thunder, players and coaches, simply weren't able to respond.    It was obvious early on that Lambesis, Yoder and Noe were going to challenge the easy handoffs to Cruickshank and Adom the whole night.  And the home team couldn't solve it – no back door cuts, very few one on one drives that might relieve the pressure.

On the other side, Wheaton always plays good D as well which kept the game close and low scoring.   What was really surprising and disappointing was how Wheaton lost their patience and composure late in the game when IWU got out to a 5 pt lead.  The game was far from decided but they started taking some desperation threes when twos and some stops would have sufficed.

But bottom line, Wesleyan was the better team tonight and deserved the win and the conference championship.

Congratulations to seniors Cade Alioth (a beast on the boards) Collin Uveges and Gavin Hawkins on their fine careers and for representing Wheaton well. 

A disappointing way to end it.  But thanks to Coach Schauer and crew for sticking with all the messiness and giving all of us some very fine play.