MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[GoPerry]

Wheaton over Ben U 82-80

Huge game for Cade Alioth with 17 pts, 19 rebs including a critical offensive board and putback basket in the waning minute.  Nyameye Adom had 23 pts, Tyson Cruickshank with 19 pts, 6 rebs and both players playing heavy minutes, 37.    Benedictine was led by Trevor Montiel with 26 pts to lead all scorers. 

[Next Man Up]

I don't know what to make of the result this evening in the hangar.  Cal Lutheran pressed for much of the game and, excepting a few sequences, the Cardinals had a really difficult time handling this.  North Central shot over 50% in part because of the layups they got when they broke the press, and also due to some success running backdoor cuts, but were underwhelming from three (23%) and at the line (62%).  The Sons of Warden seemed to have things in control early in the second half when they led by as many as 13, but a 19-5 CLU run erased that margin in a span of fourish minutes.

As Gregory mentioned, CLU has not been a strong program of late -- 4-21 in 2019-20, including a pair of losses to Caltech, and they did not play last year.  Tonight they got 69 of their 80 points from the bench.

The Cardinals have a fair bit of talent this year but there is a lot to work on and clean up in the coming weeks.

Not a whole lot of mystery here. One stat basically tells the story.

Points off Turnovers 🤮

North Central 12
Cal Lutheran  32

Game, set, match. Clean up indeed. 🧹

[USee]

Absolutely, there should have been .5 or .6 (and possibly more) on the clock for Millikin, but as I was told two years ago when Nolan was clearly fouled behind the three-point line with the Bears trailing by two, that is basketball.

I love this. Touche!

[GU1999]

Tough one in Naperville tonight as Cal Lutheran's Mason Johnson hit a pair of free throws with 5.3 seconds left to give the Kingsmen an 80-79 win over North Central. The Kingsmen scored 32 points off 21 Cardinal turnovers and NCC went just 15-24 at the free throw line.

Matt Helwig led the Cardinals with 21 points, Blaise Meredith had 17 (including getting fouled on a made three with a minute and a half to go, but missed the free throw), and Ethan Helwig notched 10 in his Cardinal debut.

Johnson scored 21 to pace the Kingsmen, Jacob Alonzo put up 16, and Jake Martin added four threes ; all three guys came off the bench.

Was great to hear the hangar that loud again, just wish the outcome was different.

If Cal Lutherans pressure got to NCC, the game in Greenville on Saturday may be closer than I initially thought.   

[WUPHF]

Absolutely, there should have been .5 or .6 (and possibly more) on the clock for Millikin, but as I was told two years ago when Nolan was clearly fouled behind the three-point line with the Bears trailing by two, that is basketball.

I love this. Touche!

A few years ago, I took a leadership assessment at work and the only thing I remember is that the results said I was a grudge holder.  I guess that was true.

[SpartyBlue]

Funny game, basketball, how does a team like Millikin who barely escaped Blackburn the other night nearly knock off a ranked Wash U on the road?  8 quarter combined score in last two meetings MU 114 WashU 113.   

[Gregory Sager]

Matchups. For some reason -- and I can't quite put my finger on the particulars -- MU has matched up well with Wash U in the current iteration of their respective lineups. When they're playing different opponents it's a whole 'nother thing, with the Big Blue not faring well for the most part and the Bears being a powerhouse.

[WUPHF]

No excuses, but in the first match-up, Washington University had lost two starters to injury in the two weeks prior.

In the match-up last night, Millikin had played its second game of the season after playing an abbreviated season in the Spring 2021.  The Bears had not played a varsity match in 614 days.

I am not sure you can say that the two games featured current iterations...

Millikin looks like a veteran team, but Washington University played just two starters from the 2019-2020 season.  After the two starters and a key reserve, the majority of the minutes went to players who did not play or barely played (less than 10 minutes) in 2019-2020.

The Big Blue were very physical as well and that worked in their favor.

I look forward to discussing Millikin upsets as the season progresses as they are coming, just watch.

[Gregory Sager]

No excuses, but in the first match-up, Washington University had lost two starters to injury in the two weeks prior.

I'm not interpreting that as an excuse on your part, but matchups could've still played a part. You play with the lineup you have, and it's reasonable to surmise that the Big Blue team that took the floor that night matched up well with the Wash U team it faced. It's been a long time since that game took place, though, and, although I watched parts of it, I've seen too much basketball since to remember the particulars of anything other than where Jack Nolan was standing on the floor of the Griz when that final shot went up.

In the match-up last night, Millikin had played its second game of the season after playing an abbreviated season in the Spring 2021.  The Bears had not played a varsity match in 614 days.

I'm not sure how far the seasoning explanation goes. Last night North Park opened its season against a Lake Forest team that was playing its third game, and the talent gap between NPU and LFC is most likely narrower than the talent gap between Wash U and Millikin -- and yet the Vikings pulled away in the end to a double-digit victory. Albion, a very good team that's picked to finish second in the MIAA, was coming off of a tough contest against preseason #21 Mount Union when it faced Rose-Hulman last night. RHIT, which is picked to finish fourth in a league that isn't as good as the MIAA, was opening its season -- and yet the Engineers cruised to a 14-point win over Albion after leading by as much as 18 in the second half.

I am not sure you can say that the two games featured current iterations...

Millikin looks like a veteran team, but Washington University played just two starters from the 2019-2020 season.  After the two starters and a key reserve, the majority of the minutes went to players who did not play or barely played (less than 10 minutes) in 2019-2020.

I haven't looked into Wash U's current lineup very closely -- or Millikin's, either, for that matter -- so you probably have me there.

The Big Blue were very physical as well and that worked in their favor.

CCIW ball at its finest: 94 feet and a bloody nose.

I look forward to discussing Millikin upsets as the season progresses as they are coming, just watch.

With bated breath, of course.

[lmitzel]

Tough one in Naperville tonight as Cal Lutheran's Mason Johnson hit a pair of free throws with 5.3 seconds left to give the Kingsmen an 80-79 win over North Central. The Kingsmen scored 32 points off 21 Cardinal turnovers and NCC went just 15-24 at the free throw line.

Matt Helwig led the Cardinals with 21 points, Blaise Meredith had 17 (including getting fouled on a made three with a minute and a half to go, but missed the free throw), and Ethan Helwig notched 10 in his Cardinal debut.

Johnson scored 21 to pace the Kingsmen, Jacob Alonzo put up 16, and Jake Martin added four threes ; all three guys came off the bench.

Was great to hear the hangar that loud again, just wish the outcome was different.

If Cal Lutherans pressure got to NCC, the game in Greenville on Saturday may be closer than I initially thought.

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, it has me a little nervous. I'd like to think Todd Raridon will have them ready to go.

And as long as the Cardinals make their free throws...

[Gregory Sager]

And as long as the Cardinals make their free throws...

Free throws can be a weird ingredient. NPU was abysmal at the foul line in its scrimmages. Last night, however, the Vikings went 17-19 (90%) from the stripe, and the two FTs that they missed -- in both cases, the front end of one-and-ones in the final 2:31 of the game -- both bounced out hard off of the heel of the rim and right into the waiting hands of a leaping Viking, with both O-reebs eventually leading to made baskets for NPU that allowed the Vikings to further push out their lead as much as if they'd made both ends of those one-and-ones.

I think that in most cases it can take up to three games or so before you can assess with any significant accuracy how good a team is in the free-throw department.

[SpartyBlue]

No excuses, but in the first match-up, Washington University had lost two starters to injury in the two weeks prior.

In the match-up last night, Millikin had played its second game of the season after playing an abbreviated season in the Spring 2021.  The Bears had not played a varsity match in 614 days.

I am not sure you can say that the two games featured current iterations...

Millikin looks like a veteran team, but Washington University played just two starters from the 2019-2020 season.  After the two starters and a key reserve, the majority of the minutes went to players who did not play or barely played (less than 10 minutes) in 2019-2020.

The Big Blue were very physical as well and that worked in their favor.

I look forward to discussing Millikin upsets as the season progresses as they are coming, just watch.

All valid points.  I'll maintain at the end of the day Millikin has gone 5-33 its last two seasons and, no offense to any MU backers, but this current iteration is probably less offensively talented than the 19-20 squad that beat WashU, especially considering Zach Fisher was an all-CCIW level talent and leading scorer in that game. I'll be really surprised if Millikin wins more than a game or two in the CCIW.  WashU returned their two best players from that game two years ago, Nolan and Hardy. 


Considering what is pretty clearly a big talent disparity, this result is a giant cosmic fluke I suppose...weird things afoot in D3 in the opening days. 

[WUPHF]

I'm not sure how far the seasoning explanation goes. Last night North Park opened its season against a Lake Forest team that was playing its third game, and the talent gap between NPU and LFC is most likely narrower than the talent gap between Wash U and Millikin -- and yet the Vikings pulled away in the end to a double-digit victory.

I agree with everything you said including this point.  I should have said factors to consider rather than no excuses.

As an aside, while I focused on the lack of experience, I do think the Bears have a ton of talent including freshman Hayden Doyle who started and played 33 minutes.

[SpartyBlue]

An American Rivers Conf. observation from the NP/LF game:  the leading scorers for each team are both transfers from Loras.  Johnny Roeser had 24 for LF and Jalen Boyd had 20 for NP.

[Gregory Sager]

An American Rivers Conf. observation from the NP/LF game:  the leading scorers for each team are both transfers from Loras.  Johnny Roeser had 24 for LF and Jalen Boyd had 20 for NP.

NPU has two mainstays that are Loras transfers: Jalen Boyd and his brother Jordan. Of course, regular readers of CCIW Chat are well aware that NPU's Boyd brothers started out at Loras.