MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gotberg]

* Everyone remembers former Augie coach Grey Giovanine for both his great coaching ability and success, and also for his...........let's say outlandish exuberance and wild gyrations. When your team plays NPU, keep an eye on their new head coach. While his behavior may not be directed at the officials as often, his overall "energy" level, (at least on the night I saw him in person)—-racing up and down the sideline, gesturing, and screaming (mostly at his players), surely rivals Coach G. 

Big, big difference there between Giovanine and Sean Smith, Mark. Giovanine's energy was consistently negative. When he was yelling and gesticulating and dancing, it was because he was mad about something, or at somebody. Sean is definitely a high-energy guy as well -- I'd love to see a sideline Fitbit contest between Sean and Mike Schauer -- but an awful lot of his yelling is positive encouragment. When it comes to the refs, he's definitely a draw-them-in-close-and-calmly-politick-them type, in the vein of Bosko. Sean's a relentlessly positive person, which is one of the reasons why he's received so much buy-in from his team. The easiest thing in the world to happen to a team loaded with new transfers is to have the situation blow up through selfishness and grumbling and a general mercenary attitude. The opposite is happening with the 2022-23 Vikings. Every time that I have one of them on for a postgame interview, like Shamar Pumphrey this evening, it's always "the team" this or "the guys" that, or there's about three times the use of "we" as there is "I". That could all be written off as customary jockspeak, except that the Vikings are putting their money where their mouth is; they're leading the league in assists per game by a healthy margin.

The more I watch this Vikings team, the more impressed I am by Sean Smith. It's becoming more and more apparent to me that, Sean's youth and comparatively skimpy résumé notwithstanding, hiring him was a genius move by John Born.

Greg, first I have to say how much I love the NPU channel on Boxcast - makes home viewing really enjoyable.

I caught the tail end of last night's game and the post-game interviews.  You're right, Shamar came across as such a team oriented player - even referring to the fact they miss some key players in the game, but others were ready to step in and fill their place.

Big fan of Sean Smith since his initial interview with Bob Q.  Very positive attitude, good energy and it seemed he would relate to college age kids, yet still hold them accountable.  I really enjoyed his interview last night, that included his thoughts and approach to coaching (little hints anyways).  It also looked like Sean went to connect with a recruit after the game - can't wait to see what he can accomplish on this trail with a full season available.

I really look forward to seeing where the program will go over the next couple of years....

[kiko]

Wanted to wish a happy big 5-0 today to the Landlord of this fine establishment.

I appreciated on the final ATN podcast hearing the guy from the Twin Cities declare 'I'm here to tell you... there's something else!'  I'd not heard that version of the song before.

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois Wesleyan and Chicago are going to overtime at Ratner.

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Igini:

North Park 80
Dominican 76

Jalen Boyd: 17 pts, 9 rebs
Kolden Vanlandingham: 15 pts
Jordan Boyd: 13 pts, 6 rebs
Quillin Dixon: 12 pts, 3 stls
Shamar Pumphrey: 8 rebs, 10:5 a:to, 5 stls

The Vikings didn't so much win this game as survive it. Twenty hours after beating Blackburn the Vikings were back at it, and they definitely looked the worse for wear. They were heavy-legged on their jumpers and had a few more mental lapses than usual. But you can't take any credit away from the Stars, who played with verve and surprising skillfulness. (Pete McBride and I were sitting next to a guy who played for the hosts back in the '80s, and he said that this was the best he's seen the Stars play in twenty years.) NPU, which led for all but a five-minute stretch in the first half, built up a double-digit lead no less than four times in the second stanza, but the Stars refused to go away. In the end, it took a flurry of good defense-to-offense plays by the Vikes in the final minute to give them the necessary cushion to win (DU hit a trey at the buzzer).

This win will impress no one, and that's fine. It was a good experience for the Vikings to fight through fatigue on the road and get the best of a very determined foe. NPU is now 9-1, and that's all that matters.

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois Wesleyan leads the entire extra stanza and prevails in Hyde Park, 67-63.

[Gregory Sager]

Also:

* Coe topped Millikin at the Griz, 65-56. Cole Laurence was the only Decaturite to reach double figures, as he had a 10 and 9 day. The Big Blue falls to 7-5 with the loss.

* Elmhurst's slide continues, as the 'jays took one on the chin against seventh-ranked Christopher Newport, 82-74, in Charlotte, NC. EU (7-4) was led by John Ittounas with 19, a fine 16-and-17 double-double by Jonathan Zapinski, and 11 from Tagen Pearson. Neither Wesley Hooker nor Ocean Johnson started, and they amassed six points in 41 minutes played between them today.

* Carthage cruised in the Cruzin Classic down in Fort Lauderdale, prevailing in a 98-78 outcome over New England College. AJ Johnson, the best CCIW player nobody's talking about, scored 28 points on 11-15 shooting (6-10 from range) to lead the Firebirds (8-1), while Fillip Bulatovic also had a strong outing with 20 and 9. They were joined in double figures by Colton Sigel (17 pts, 4-7 trey), Anthony Bernero (10), and Julian Campbell (10).

[blue_jays]

If there's such a thing as a feel-bad win, IWU just had it tonight at UChicago. The Maroons went 7 for 35 on three-pointers and shot 33.9 percent from the field overall, and still should have won the game in regulation. Cody Mitchell hit big shots down the stretch to save the Titans.
It's been a long time since I've seen an IWU team this shaky with no big stars (2008-09 comes to mind). They had beaten UChicago 10 of the past 11 meetings, with 6 coming by double digits. The two things they can feel good about tonight is they closed well and played good active defense. But the rest wasn't pretty.

[kenoshamark]

Hey Greg,

Thanks for the shout out regarding the lighting in the "old" Tarble building.  We had a few laughs over that.

Been meaning to give my take on the team so far.  Wanted to wait a bit to see how things kept playing out as I have seen two games in person (Beloit and Ripon) and watched a few others.

* Carthage finally has multiple scoring options they have lacked for some time.  They have five guys scoring in double figures and those five are in the top 22 scorers in the conference.  No longer is Bulatovic need to carry the team from the offensive end.
* This team plays better on the ball defense than I have seen in some time too.   Sigel has some sneaky quick hands, Johnson is just a good all around defender, Nesbitt has good length to handle the taller guards and Bernero is such a great role player and does a nice job underneath for being undersized in the post.
* Bosko always used to say that players made their biggest jump between their freshmen and sophomore years. That is an understatement with AJ Johnson.   This kid can play...knocks down the three and likes to get into the lane as well. Other than a two point game against Beloit, he has been lighting it up as of late and is the number six scorer in the conference. 
* Carthage is winning games this year that I have seen them lose regularly in the past.  They are jumping out to nice leads and then holding off the runs by other teams.  Did that against Ripon and held off Augie just recently. 
* That Ripon win was impressive.  Carthage shot out to a big lead, withstood a nice Ripon run and added back to the lead they had.  Ripon has beaten a few WIAC teams including Oshkosh just recently.
* It feels like Steve has found his groove on the types of players he likes. He had to play some freshmen last year, but it is paying off now.
* Of the top eight in the rotation, there is one senior, one junior, four sophomores and two freshmen.  There are only 3 or 4 other junior/seniors on the team and they aren't seeing much time so this feels like we could see Carthage elevating themselves back into the top of the conference again.
Speaking of the freshmen, the Campbell kid is coming off the bench and still rounding into shape (I feel).  If he can slim down some, he is going to be a force at 6'8" and someone willing to step out and take the three.   Jendusa is going to be a nice complimentary point guard they can count on to run the team when they need to sub perimeter players in. 

All in all, glad Steve is finding success.  These guys play hard and I really like the way they play defense and push the ball up the floor on offense. 

[kiko]

In the Mitten tonight:

North Central 74, Hope 73

North Central led the entire second half and by seven with 1:18 to go, but a few unforced errors made it a one point game before the Cardinals finally landed the plane when Hope missed a shot as time expired.  I'm not convinced the landing gear was deployed when they touched down, but a win is a win.

Beyond the highlight reel that was the Matt Helwig show, of note for the Sons of Warden this evening is that Jeffrey Hemmelgarn, who had played two minutes and one second* across three games so far this year, went into the game for meaningful minutes in each half.  The Cardinals were struggling to counter Hope's post game, and the 6'8" Hemmelgarn was able to effectively neutralize that as his time coincided with some of the team's best stretches this evening.

(* - Whitewater was inbounding down one with less than a second left, and Anthony Figueroa inserted Hemmelgarn into the game for his first action to block out the sun for the inbounder.)

This was a nice win on the road for the Cardinals against a quality opponent.  I'd love to see them put teams away when they have the boot on the throat, but coming away from Hope with a win is nothing to sniff at.

North Central:
Matt Helwig 30 and 10
Mitch Lewis 12

Hope:
TJ McKenzie 19
Marcus Wourman 16
Tanner Wiegerink 12
Clayton Dykhouse 12

Related: I knew from reputation that DeVos Fieldhouse was nice, but somehow this was the first time I'd seen a stream of a game from there.  And, um, someone please forward the blueprints to Brainard Street.  What a gorgeous arena.

[Gregory Sager]

Aside from a brief hiccup when Lynchburg whittled the Elmhurst lead down to eight on four different occasions between the five-minute mark and the 2:40 mark, the 'jays basically sailed to a 87-73 victory over the Hornets in Charlotte. I imagine that everyone connected with the EU program must've breathed a sigh of relief, given the way that the season has gone pear-shaped for the 'jays over the past few weeks (aside from that dramatic overtime win at King Arena). Tagen Pearson scored a career-high 28 for Elmhurst, while Wesley Hooker climbed out of John Baines's doghouse and had a 20 and 13 night. John Ittounas contributed 18, and Jonathan Zapinski also had a double-double with 10 and 13, while adding three blocks and a really nice 5:1 floor game. Ocean Johnson continues to struggle with his shooting -- he's now 4-28 from the field over Elmhurst's last four games -- but he did grab a dozen boards in the winning effort today.

[Next Man Up]

Jeff Hemmelgarn did very nice work against Hope tonight. In his first real action of the season, he went 2 for 2 from the field and registered a block in 9 minutes of action. As kiko advised above, he effectively neutralized Hope's inside game during his time on the floor during which the Cardinals played their most efficient basketball.

Mitch Lewis' 12 points came in 11 minutes of action.

With 9 seconds left and NCC up by 2, Shea Cupples was called for an extremely questionable (defensive) flop and resultant tech despite Hope's Clayton Dykhouse definitely running into Cupples chest on the dribble. In all honesty, it appeared Cupples was backing up at the time the contact occurred so a blocking call on Shea would have been more understandable. But no way was a flop a valid call especially considering the contact that was made. Even the Hope broadcast duo seemed surprised at the call. Dykhouse made the T to make it 74-73 with side out to Hope, now in position to win the game with only a two point basket. After the inbounds pass, Marcus Wourman drove the right baseline and, with one second remaining, put up a winning layup attempt which was blocked by the Cardinals John Blumeyer to preserve the victory. The Hope contingent seemed as astonished no foul call was made as their North Central counterparts had been when the flop was called on Cupples.

[Next Man Up]

I knew from reputation that DeVos Fieldhouse was nice, but somehow this was the first time I'd seen a stream of a game from there.  And, um, someone please forward the blueprints to Brainard Street.  What a gorgeous arena.

Perhaps the next benefactor that pulls up in front of Old Main with a semi truck full of dinero will desire and designate that it be used for a new Fieldhouse. The last five loads of cash gifted to North Central were earmarked for the new Health Science & Engineering Building, new Science Center, New Hall dorm, the Residential-Recreation (Res-Rec) Center, and the Fine Arts Center.

[lmitzel]

With 9 seconds left and NCC up by 2, Shea Cupples was called for an extremely questionable (defensive) flop and resultant tech despite Hope's Clayton Dykhouse definitely running into Cupples chest on the dribble. In all honesty, it appeared Cupples was backing up at the time the contact occurred so a blocking call on Shea would have been more understandable. But no way was a flop a valid call especially considering the contact that was made. Even the Hope broadcast duo seemed surprised at the call. Dykhouse made the T to make it 74-73 with side out to Hope, now in position to win the game with only a two point basket. After the inbounds pass, Marcus Wourman drove the right baseline and, with one second remaining, put up a winning layup attempt which was blocked by the Cardinals John Blumeyer to preserve the victory. The Hope contingent seemed as astonished no foul call was made as their North Central counterparts had been when the flop was called on Cupples.

Here's the flop call in question. Consensus seems to agree with NMU here: this was a very bad call.

[TheOsprey]

Looking at over and over again, it looks like an offensive foul.  The guard swings his right arm and I don't see the defender pushing off with his legs. Just an outsider observation.  Tough loss.

[GoPerry]

With 9 seconds left and NCC up by 2, Shea Cupples was called for an extremely questionable (defensive) flop and resultant tech despite Hope's Clayton Dykhouse definitely running into Cupples chest on the dribble. In all honesty, it appeared Cupples was backing up at the time the contact occurred so a blocking call on Shea would have been more understandable. But no way was a flop a valid call especially considering the contact that was made. Even the Hope broadcast duo seemed surprised at the call. Dykhouse made the T to make it 74-73 with side out to Hope, now in position to win the game with only a two point basket. After the inbounds pass, Marcus Wourman drove the right baseline and, with one second remaining, put up a winning layup attempt which was blocked by the Cardinals John Blumeyer to preserve the victory. The Hope contingent seemed as astonished no foul call was made as their North Central counterparts had been when the flop was called on Cupples.

Here's the flop call in question. Consensus seems to agree with NMU here: this was a very bad call.

I'm not so sure.  Cupples seems to hesitate a split second after the contact before going down.  There seemed to be some contact but I also think there was some selling going on.  Still, I'm surprised the official actually made the flop call in that situation.