MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[kenoshamark]

Carthage is hosting Beloit tonight as well.  Will recap later tonight or tomorrow

[voxelmhurst]

Elmhurst defeated Marian 86-68. I only caught the second half, in which Elmhurst started out 3 points behind and continued ice cold, before finding their game and dominating the second half. Marian could not grab a defensive rebound to save their lives down the stretch, and Elmhurst finished with 27 second chance points. Zapinksi grabbed 8 offensive rebounds en route to a 15-11 double double. Ocean Johnson finished with 20, Wesley Hooker scored 12, and John Ittounas 11.

I won't say this game had the worst camera work of all the D3 games Ive caught on my computer, but no other game has recreated the seasick feeling as effectively as last night's presentation. Can someone please find an allen wrench to fix that tripod in Marian's sports media department? 

[Greek Tragedy]

Gym #7 found me in Fond du Lac with Marian hosting #23 ranked Elmhurst. An electric crowd welcomed the visitors. Marian more than handled their opponents and lead by 3 at the break. It could've been more. They were up 6 with the ball with about 8 seconds left. However, they coughed the ball up on the inbounds play and Elmhurst ended up with a "and-1" play.

Marian increased their lead in the 2nd half, but that's when Elmhurst went on a huge run and basically put the game away. The taller, more athletic visitors dominated the boards. It was still an uncomfortable 10 point lead with about 5 minutes to go, but the Sabres just ran out of gas.

Sadoff gym is really small. There is literally no walk way between the stands and the player bench and between the wall and the end lines. If play was going on, you'd feel uncomfortable trying to walk past either spots. It was a nice intimate gym as the crowd was literally on top of the players. The Marian fans were a treat and the student section filled up most of the opposite side stands. This site says Sadoff holds 1100. The box score says there were just over 400. There's no way you're getting another 400 in there, let alone 700 to make up the 1100 capacity.

I mentioned this on Twitter. Have you ever seen Saved By the Bell? You remember the basketball game scenes? This reminded me of that...almost like the court was smaller than it was supposed to be, like on the show. It's definitely not a criticism. I'd rather have 500 fans at Sadoff than 500 fans at WLC's Tex Center that apparently holds 2500.

Find the public Facebook group: Wisconsin D3 Basketball Challenge and check out some pictures or follow me on Twitter @greektragedy08

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin had some unexpected trouble at Eureka tonight in a game that went right down to the wire, but the Red Devils fell short of the upset, 60-58. Frazier Ott led the way off the bench for the Big Blue with 14 and 9 with three steals, while Noah Livingston added 13 and three steals and J.T. Welch contributed a dozen points. Demarcus Bond had 8 boards and a nice 4:0 floor game, while Trent Champagne likewise had a solid ratio of 4:1.

[iwu70]

IWU starts their weekend trip to the North Country of SD, with a 73-67 win over Nebraska Wesleyan.

Heflen with 22
Mitchell 17 and 9

Next up, nationally ranked St. Joseph of CT. 

'70

[iwu70]

CCIW men's teams, so far 16-6.   More palatable.

'70

[CarrollBooster]

Quite a week here in Waukesha. Monday Paul Combs resigned and Taylor Jannsen was named interim coach. Lots of speculation around both - anyway the word around here is if Jannsen does well he has a chance to stay past this year and become the permanent coach. But no guarantees.

The Pios were absolutely horrible in the first two games of the year, losing to a very beatable Whitman team and a good Dubuque team last weekend - and were never in either game from the beginning.  I'm a new fan/booster and I was taken aback at how poorly they played.

Tonight, Carroll beat a bad Northland team and could have named the score for Jannsen's first career win. The score and opponent didn't really matter much, as it looked like at least for the moment the program had a little life to it tonight. Gruber, Dante, Kobe Simpson, Hudgens and Stieneke all in double figures for Carroll.

I continue to think they have some talent and I saw them play Whitewater even in a scrimmage which wasn't a fluke. Not saying they will magically turn it around, but they shouldn't be a doormat this year either — but time will tell on that.  At least hoping for competitive.

We will see.  But tonight was the first positive around here in a while.

Busy schedule, back to it Sunday at 4pm against IIT of Chicago, the Tuesday vs Concordia of Chicago.

[Gregory Sager]

Last night's finals:

Carroll 90, Northland 74
Illinois Wesleyan 73, Nebraska Wesleyan 67
Wheaton 65, Hanover 48

The CCIW now stands at 18-6 (.750), with eight teams playing today and the ninth playing tomorrow:

Today
Aurora @ Augustana, 7 pm
Marian @ Carthage, 2 pm
Elmhurst @ Buena Vista, 2 pm
Illinois Wesleyan vs. St. Joseph (CT) @ Aberdeen, SD, 12 pm
UW-Stout @ Millikin, 4 pm
North Central @ UW-Whitewater, 7 pm
North Park @ Hope, 4 pm Central
John Carroll @ Wheaton, 7 pm

Tomorrow
Illinois Tech @ Carroll, 4 pm

[kiko]

Today
Aurora @ Augustana, 7 pm
Marian @ Carthage, 2 pm
Elmhurst @ Buena Vista, 2 pm
Illinois Wesleyan vs. St. Joseph (CT) @ Aberdeen, SD, 12 pm
UW-Stout @ Millikin, 4 pm
North Central @ UW-Whitewater, 7 pm 5 pm
North Park @ Hope, 4 pm Central
John Carroll @ Wheaton, 7 pm

Someone mentioned this a page or two back, but North Central-Whitewater is at 5p rather than 7p.

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks. I'll have to remind myself to keep checking school pages rather than the CCIW's, which has not been particularly reliable this year. The league's composite schedule has the North Park @ Hope game starting at the wrong time as well.

[GoPerry]

Wheaton over Hanover 65-48 in the Lee Pfund Classic.

This was a rough one as neither team came out very impressively in the first 20 mins.  Fortunately, the Thunder found their groove in the 2nd half whereas Hanover shot even worse.  The Panthers had plenty of open looks but it just wasn't their night.

Tyson Cruickshank started slowly but really heated up to help his team extend and pull away.  He ended up with 21 pts and 8 rebs.  Andrew Williams came with tremendous energy off the bench, as he always does, and ended up with 10 and 5.  Hanover's Jack Wininger had a 15 and 11 double double in the losing cause.

Tonight's championship game against John Carroll's transfer-heavy squad will be a terrific early season test for both teams.  The Blue Streaks beat UW-River Falls 80-73 in the opener.

[4samuy]

The good ole boys network will somehow keep IWU in the top 25.

[Gregory Sager]

The good ole boys network will somehow keep IWU in the top 25.

They'll have to do so in spite of IWU's overtime loss today to St. Joseph (CT), which dropped the Titans to 2-2.

Frankly, I thought that the Titans did well to force it to overtime. They will struggle against quick teams, and USJ is quick. The Bluejays took it to the rim against Rose's boys time and time again, drawing lots of fouls in the process. The fact that the Greenies sent it to an extra session, and even had a lead within the final three minutes of regulation, speaks well for their composure.

[Gregory Sager]

Hope 80
North Park 73

Kolden Vanlandingham: 23 pts, 4:1 a:to
Shamar Pumphrey: 17 pts, 3:1 a:to
Marquise Jackson: 14 pts

In a sense, I looked upon this ballgame as NPU's true opener, and I think that Sean Smith did, too. The Dutchmen represented the first example of what North Park will be seeing throughout CCIW play: smart, physically strong, disciplined halfcourt teams that can shoot. The question was: Can North Park's newly-adopted brand of "chaos ball" (as the Hope PBP broadcaster called it) work against that traditional style?

Loss or not, I think that the answer is "yes". The Dutch pushed out to an early 20-point lead at 37-17, as the spead-the-floor-and-isolate offense the Vikings were using exclusively became very predictable and was easily stopped by Hope's help D. But then Vanlandingham got hot from downtown, the Vikings started working motion offensively to good effect, and their quickness and high energy played havoc with Hope's ability to possess. By halftime they'd caught the Dutch, although the hosts did extend back out to a six-point lead at intermission.

The second half seesawed back and forth throughout the first two-thirds of the latter stanza, although the Vikings were unable to extend any leads past three points. But in the final seven minutes or so, the Vikings simply went ice-cold from the field, while Hope continued its superb shooting night (.556/.389/.920) and put the game away in the waning minutes. Too much steady nerves behind those shooting eyes on Hope's part for North Park to handle, and too many rebounds as well (39-25 in Hope's favor, although NPU actually had more offensive boards than did the Dutchmen). Hope also did a nice job defensively on Jalen Boyd, NPU's star scorer through the first two games of the year, essentially rendering him invisible today. Where North Park excelled was the ball-control game; the Vikings came close in the a:to department (9:12), while Hope had a whopping 28 turnovers (15 of 'em courtesy of North Park steals) and only half as many assists.

Obviously, the Vikings need to do a better job of finishing around the basket and knocking down bunnies, but I liked what I saw from them today. It's a loss, but it's the kind of loss that indicates that this style can work in the CCIW for Sean Smith. It won't work every night, but at least the Vikings will be a pain in the neck to have to play.

[Next Man Up]

North Central 87
Whitewater    86

NCC in a real down-to-the-wire, nail-biter in Wisconsin.

Matt Helwig 28 points
Ethan Helwig 20 points, 10 rebounds
Nick Smoldt 15 points

Carter Capstran had 19 for UWW, and Jameer Barker had 18

NCC shot 57.9% overall, and 63.2 from three.
UWW shot 47.8% overall, and 35.0 from three.