MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[kiko]

Attention, CCIW Chatsters!

Please step away from IWU70's lawn at your earliest convenience.  Thank you!

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Let's see if this post can get thru the D3Boards censors...

Ummm... for those who haven't figured it out yet - North Park is (from top to bottom) the most talented team in the CCIW. Their strength, athleticism, quickness, and speed is unmatched by any roster. Elmhurst (when healthy) and IWU come closest - but it's not really close. Now, their skill level, team cohesion, and bball IQ is a different conversation.

They are old. They play angry. They will try to run up the score on you. Their biggest challenge will be their shot selection - which is, on occasion, worse than awful for several minutes at a time.

Because Massey doesn't actually watch games - and the D3 Top 25 voters don't watch enough of them (and how could they?), it will be a while before they are recognized as a Top 15 team (which is what they are). If, as Massey currently says, they finish 7-9 in the conference, I'll eat ALL of the corn in Sagers beloved Manito!! They are a guaranteed CCIW Tournament qualifier. Heck, after seeing them play one time even Ray Charles can see they weren't going to win 1 game...

Here's you future CCIW Standings:
1) Wheaton
2) IWU/NPU
3) NPU/IWU
4) Most likely North Central

[Gregory Sager]

Attention, CCIW Chatsters!

Please step away from IWU70's lawn at your earliest convenience.  Thank you!

All you can do, really, is just shake your head and move on.

[Pat Coleman]

Let's see if this post can get thru the D3Boards censors...

Yes. Because you ignored the warning and doubled down, your posts are now held for moderation and will have to be approved by me before they go live.

[iwu70]

I'll sit on my lawn chair and wait a bit longer before I get on the North Park bandwagon.   Shake your head all you wish.  I'm unimpressed so far.   Yes, they might go 10-15, even 15-10, but that is not a top ten record.   

'70

[itsnotmeitsyou]

I'll sit on my lawn chair and wait a bit longer before I get on the North Park bandwagon.   Shake your head all you wish.  I'm unimpressed so far.   Yes, they might go 10-15, even 15-10, but that is not a top ten record.   

'70

How long have you watched NPU play this season?

[Gregory Sager]

I'm not the one that said that the Vikings were a top ten team. Heck, I've never even said that they were a top 25 team; your Greenie guru, Bob Quillman, said that, not me. (If Bob was still posting here right now, Mark, he'd be all over you like a cheap suit.)

What I said was that the Vikings are much improved. Hold out against that conclusion all you like, despite all evidence to the contrary, but it's the truth. If North Park goes 14-11 or 15-10, it will prove that the Vikings are much improved, because 14-11 or 15-10 in the wake of last season's 10-14 against pretty much the same schedule is a four- or five-game improvement. And 16%-20% improvement certainly qualifies for the adjective "much".

[kiko]

I'll sit on my lawn chair and wait a bit longer before I get on the North Park bandwagon.   Shake your head all you wish.  I'm unimpressed so far.   Yes, they might go 10-15, even 15-10, but that is not a top ten record.   

'70

You do you.  Let us know when you've taken the green glasses off and realized that's a very good team up at Foster and Kedzie.

[Stertorous Thunder]

Wheaton closed out an instant-classic 74-73 nailbiter in King Arena over Calvin in a game in which the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance trailed most of the second half, at one point by double digits. I'll let the Wheaton guys pore over the details of that game in their posts, but I just wanted to say that, while I love their enthusiasm, the Wheaton student broadcasters were giving me an earache with their screaming into their headsets down the stretch.

I normally like the broadcasters on the WTSN network.  Naturally, they fall short of the professional polish on the IWU broadcast or the experience and institutional knowledge on the NPU broadcast, but they're usually pretty good, especially considering that they're students (or fill-in amateurs) and I find that the occasional moments where they're still experimenting with how to speak within the flow of the game add to the college atmosphere of the production in an enjoyable way.  But yeah, the broadcasters need to listen to the Calvin tape and make some adjustments for the next show.

But the game was really fun (although possibly less so if you're from western Michigan).  Egekeze Uchenna was the first guard I've seen this season playing at the level of Tyson Cruickshank, and he did a great job of limiting the Wheaton captain's production.  Freshman center Jalen Overway was poised and skilled and seemingly unstoppable on several possessions, despite what looked like a solid defensive effort by Eli Considine.  Both rosters have depth and the matchup of styles was interesting.  A few Wheaton players had noticeably more or fewer minutes than in previous games this season as the coaches worked to meet the challenges that certain Calvin players posed.  But ultimately, the Wheaton game plan to send their smaller but quicker forwards out to the three point line where Calvin's bigger forwards weren't always able to close the distance earned the victory.

Calvin was throwing juniors and underclassmen against Wheaton's graduate students and upperclassmen and lost by one point after a four-hour road trip.  I won't be surprised to see them go deep into the this season's playoffs but if anyone is taking bets on the 2023-2024 championship, the very young and already very good Calvin University Knights are going to be a terrifying force with another season-and-two-thirds of development under their belts.

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Carlinville, IL:

Millikin 85
Blackburn 75

Final from Platteville, WI:

UW-Platteville 65
North Central 55

[kiko]

In Platteville:

UW Platteville 65, North Central 55

Platteville:
Ben Probst with 23
Logan Pearson with 13
Brad Nies with 10

North Central:
Matt Helwig with 18
Mitch Lewis with 10 in his Cardinal debut

This was a tale of two halves.  North Central led by 5 at the break.

Shooting in the first half:
North Central 45% and 33% from three
Platteville 39% and 37% from three

Shooting in the second half:
North Central 30% and 26%
Platteville 54% and 30%

North Central is definitely a hot-and-cold shooting team this year; absent a change in this, they will (and have) lose some games they should win and may punch up a time or two as well.

As noted above, Mitch Lewis made his debut tonight and he will be a nice piece for the Sons of Warden this year.  I presume from his knee brace that his earlier absence was due to injury.  He's got a decent shooting touch and from my POV, his game is best described as Old Man At The YMCA, which is honestly not a bad game to have.

[GoPerry]

I normally like the broadcasters on the WTSN network.  Naturally, they fall short of the professional polish on the IWU broadcast or the experience and institutional knowledge on the NPU broadcast, but they're usually pretty good, especially considering that they're students (or fill-in amateurs) and I find that the occasional moments where they're still experimenting with how to speak within the flow of the game add to the college atmosphere of the production in an enjoyable way.  But yeah, the broadcasters need to listen to the Calvin tape and make some adjustments for the next show.

I've learned to tolerate the student announcers generally speaking.  But Saturday's game was just way too much.  Screaming is fine if you're in the stands with the rest of the student section.  But on the broadcast?  The other parts of the livestream : the video clarity, camera usage and angles, the good audio, replays, etc is so top notch that it makes the announcing really a head scratcher.  Student announcers don't do football so why basketball?

[WUPHF]

I did appreciate how the color commentator was like Wheaton needs to calm down on the defensive end.  I have to think that was a subtle hint to his fellow announcer.

[Gotberg]

I normally like the broadcasters on the WTSN network.  Naturally, they fall short of the professional polish on the IWU broadcast or the experience and institutional knowledge on the NPU broadcast, but they're usually pretty good, especially considering that they're students (or fill-in amateurs) and I find that the occasional moments where they're still experimenting with how to speak within the flow of the game add to the college atmosphere of the production in an enjoyable way.  But yeah, the broadcasters need to listen to the Calvin tape and make some adjustments for the next show.

I've learned to tolerate the student announcers generally speaking.  But Saturday's game was just way too much.  Screaming is fine if you're in the stands with the rest of the student section.  But on the broadcast?  The other parts of the livestream : the video clarity, camera usage and angles, the good audio, replays, etc is so top notch that it makes the announcing really a head scratcher.  Student announcers don't do football so why basketball?

Screaming announcers is pretty common if they're representing a specific team - here's one from yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLm1t-iW3Q4

[Gregory Sager]

I did appreciate how the color commentator was like Wheaton needs to calm down on the defensive end.  I have to think that was a subtle hint to his fellow announcer.

Yeah, earache or not, that remark cracked me up. Whereas some teams in that situation would waste time, energy, and advantage by prematurely celebrating, Wheaton, to its credit, got back on defense quickly and was all business in the wake of Cruickshank's decisive trey from the right corner. There was no need at all to call them out to calm down. Whether he did so consciously or not, the Wheaton color commentator was either trying to talk down his partner from his amplified bliss, or talk himself down from Cloud Nine in the midst of what was still a game that was up for grabs.