MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Next Man Up]

Merry Christmas to all the CCIW chatsters!   May your New Year be filled with happiness and good health.

'70

Merry Christmas to you too 70, and to all our fellow CCIW chatsters.
After this year we could all use good health and happiness.
Safe travels, and stay warm!

[mr_b]

Merry Christmas to everyone and best wishes for a safe and healthy holiday season.

[Gregory Sager]

Merry Christmas, everyone! Be safe and be well.

[Viking Mike]

Merry Christmas all! 

Remember there are 12 days of Christmas and we should continue to feel joy and blessings for each and every day.

I am looking forward to continued improvement with the Augustana Vikings.  They have been in every game this year but have not been able to play the defense needed in the closing minutes to pull out many wins.  Hard to see the losses build up, but optimistic about the rest of the season.  Augie will make some noise this season and Coach Jesse has them going in the right direction.

Go Augie!

[Gregory Sager]

If North Park men beat Wheaton in early January, then I'll be convinced how great the North Parkers are . . .

Way to move those goalposts, Mark. Back on December 5 you said this:

Looking forward to seeing the seemingly much improved North Park team.

... and then fought like a tiger to back up your assessment of the Vikings as "seemingly much improved" after I called you out on it. Tellingly, you pegged the January 4 game at King Arena as being your litmus test as to whether or not the "seemingly much improved" Vikings actually were "much improved" -- despite my insistence that it doesn't take a road win over a major CCIW powerhouse to prove that a team that had gone a mere 10-14, 5-11 the year before was "much improved" this year.

Greg, I'll stick with "seemingly" for now . . .  it's not like your guys have played a very tough schedule so far.   I'll wait until, say, the early January game with Wheaton to see how strong the NPU team actually is.

The gap between "much improved" (for a team coming off of a 10-14, 5-11 season) and "great" isn't merely a gap ... it's a chasm.

[Gregory Sager]

This week's games:

Wednesday
UW-LaCrosse (9-2) @ Augustana (3-8)
Edgewood (1-9) @ North Central (6-5)

Thursday
Illinois Wesleyan (6-4) @ Linfield (4-6)
Wheaton (8-2) @ SUNY Oneonta (8-2) (@ Hoboken, NJ)

Friday
Augustana @ Illinois College (11-1)
Carroll (3-8) @ Lake Forest (3-8)
Calvin (8-2) @ Elmhurst (8-4)
Illinois Wesleyan @ George Fox (2-8)
St. Mary's MN (3-5) @ North Park (9-1)
Wheaton vs. Dickinson (1-7) or @ Stevens (5-5) (@ Hoboken, NJ)

Saturday
Carthage (9-1) @ Greenville (1-9)
Spalding (1-8) @ Millikin (7-5)
North Park @ Benedictine (4-7)

[Next Man Up]

Of course records don't necessarily mean a thing but, on the surface of things, it looks like North Central, Millikin, and especially Carthage should each pick up a W this week.

I think Wheaton looks good for two wins as, with the exception of Williams, their fellow 8–2 opponent has played a very weak schedule.

IWU plays opponents with 4-6, and 2-8 records so you would think they should win both their games in Oregon.

Carroll (3-8) appears to have a tossup with 3-8 Lake Forest.

Elmhurst could be in trouble with #11 Calvin.

Augie could very well be looking at two more losses. After LaCrosse they face 11-1 Illinois College. It will be interesting to see what 4-8, or more likely 3-9, Augie of the CCIW can do against an 11-1 IC team from the generally weaker Midwest Conference. IC's only loss to this point is to CCIW member Millikin.

North Park goes against 3-5 and 4-7 teams. That should translate to making the Parkers 11-1 going into the new year!
* It's noteworthy that NPU spark plug Marquise Jackson, who has averaged 15.0 PPG, hasn't appeared in their last two games after starting all of their games up to that point. Injured? Coach's doghouse? Eligibility problems? Should he miss extended time, it could be a definite blow to the currently high flying Vikings.

[Gregory Sager]

IWU plays opponents with 4-6, and 2-8 records so you would think they should win both their games in Oregon.

Maybe. You can't win games that you don't play. And, unfortunately for the Titans, their flight to Portland was booked on Southwest Airlines; like over two-thirds of Southwest's flights over the past few days, that flight was canceled. At this point, it's still uncertain as to whether or not the Titans will be able to make it to Portland to play those two games in the Beaver State.

North Park goes against 3-5 and 4-7 teams. That should translate to making the Parkers 11-1 going into the new year!

Not to go all Lou Holtz here or anything, but I'm not taking either game for granted. In the most recent game played by St. Mary's (MN), the Cardinals beat UW-LaCrosse, which was ranked #7 at the time, by seven points on UWL's home floor. And, aside from the fact that, again, the Vikings will be asked to play a second game in less than 24 hours, they'll be on the road at a Benedictine team that was good enough to beat North Central in the hangar. So, while the Vikings are clearly favorites in both games, I'm not marking either one in the W column yet.

* It's noteworthy that NPU spark plug Marquise Jackson, who has averaged 15.0 PPG, hasn't appeared in their last two games after starting all of their games up to that point. Injured? Coach's doghouse? Eligibility problems? Should he miss extended time, it could be a definite blow to the currently high flying Vikings.

Those who watch North Park games online () are aware that Sean Smith sat out Marquise Jackson for the Blackburn and Dominican games due to a bruised hip suffered in the exhibition game at UW-Milwaukee on December 11. Although he was on the bench in street clothes for both games, Marquise could've suited up and played had it been necessary. He sat out the games purely as a precautionary measure. (In fact, I posted that info here on CCIW Chat back on December 19.)

I have no reason to expect that he won't play on Friday and/or Saturday.

[Next Man Up]

The weather certainly has played havoc with games all around the country especially considering that at this time of year many games are tournaments or single games which are "destination" games usually reached via a plane trip. Southwest has especially contributed to the state of perplexity. On Christmas SWA canceled 42% of it's flights, and delayed another 48%. Yesterday they canceled 71%, and delayed 16% more. More than 60% have already been canceled for tomorrow.

The NCC woman's team was supposed to fly on SW to a tournament in Florida. Theirs was one of the thousands of flights canceled. Unfortunately, at this late date, the chances of finding make up games are practically non-existent. I suspect this will be the case with many teams of both sexes.

The apparently eminent return of Marquise Jackson to the NPU lineup is certainly bad news for their upcoming opponents.

[iwu70]

Greg, NPU surely has a nice-looking record so far.  Kudos to them.  I'll stick with my Wheaton game test to see if the Parkers are for real this year or not . . . and a true threat to make the CCIW tournament this year.   

IWU has played inconsistently.   If they get to the West Coast, they could easily lose one or two games out West.

I'm glad to be attending some games at the big high school State Farm Holiday Classic at the Shirk, enjoying some pretty high-quality high school games.

Happy New Year all!

'70

[kiko]

IDK why you are wondering if the Parkers are a threat to make the CCIW tournament considering 6 of the conference's 8 teams will make it and one of those eight teams is clearly going through a lost season.  It is blindingly obvious, and not just because they blew the doors off of the Hangar when they beat my school by 34 points on the road*, that they will not only be among these final six, but that they are as likely to be sitting out the first round with a bye as they are to be playing in the first round.

* - the all-powerful Titans beat that same team by two in the friendly confines of the Shirk Center.  But please keep telling us who has been tested and who has not.

[kiko]

Hopefully teams that have lost their snowbird trip can pair up with other teams in their area that lost games and figure something out.  Easier said than done though as you have to sort out logistics, officials, etc. in a very tight window of time.

And having your middle-of-winter visit to sunshine and warmth cancelled on the eve of your departure is definitely a violation of the Marquis de Queensbury rules.

[GoPerry]

I've only watched three or four of their games, but there's no question in my mind that NPU is a legitimate top 2 or 3 league contender and I am glad to see it.  The level of talent is obvious to any observer that can run a team out of the gym if they get on a roll on an opponent not sufficiently prepared.  As I believe others have observed, they can sometimes get a little over stretched and lose some discipline.  But that is simply a by-product of their style.  It's a little reminiscent of the Juwan Henry/Jordan Robinson teams to some extent.  Speed/skill making up for lack of size.

As a new coach coming in to give a very positive vision for his program, it's hard not to root for Sean Smith - I certainly am.  But I'll have the strength of character to resist it by Jan 4 . . .

[USee]

IDK why you are wondering if the Parkers are a threat to make the CCIW tournament considering 6 of the conference's 8 teams will make it and one of those eight teams is clearly going through a lost season.  It is blindingly obvious, and not just because they blew the doors off of the Hangar when they beat my school by 34 points on the road*, that they will not only be among these final six, but that they are as likely to be sitting out the first round with a bye as they are to be playing in the first round.

* - the all-powerful Titans beat that same team by two in the friendly confines of the Shirk Center.  But please keep telling us who has been tested and who has not.

Kiko, no big deal, IWU70 also waited until December 17th to determine if the NCC football team was good enough to win a national championship. 

[USee]

In real time, I thought it was a blocking foul and not a flop.  There was contact, and from my POV, odds are not good that the defender is going to get a charging call at that point on the court as the offensive player wasn't really driving to the basket.

And calling that while swallowing the whistle (to the Cardinals' benefit) on the final shot seems... inconsistent.  But no complaints here.

Well, one complaint.  This should not have been a one possession game at the end.

As a football guy I am well aware of how much force it requires to knock someone flat on their backs. In basketball, I am always amazed at how little contact so often results in an obliterating knockdown of a defender. FWIW, soccer is much worse. SMH.

And, as an atomic physicist I am well aware that it takes much less force to effect an obliterating knockdown of a 170 pound basketball guard than it does to successfully knockdown a 320 pound football nose tackle in an obliterating manner.
And as this particular study involved a basketball play, we indeed have a situation where it's entirely understandable that the amount of force that was applied to the defender's body was certainly enough to send him reeling, obliteratingly or not. Additionally, we must consider that unlike football where contact may be initiated after only a step or two, the collision in this particular case occurred after the offensive player was able to build speed and force over at least half the length of the basketball court before coming in contact with the defensive player. With that degree of speed and force being brought forth, and introduced into the equation it's not surprising that what might have appeared to be minimal contact resulted in the above referenced obliterating knockdown.   

Ok, last comment from me....the NCC player (like most basketball players) are taught to fall down to absorb the contact. The contact on this play was not enough to send him flying backwards flat on his back. It was an acting job....not one worthy of a flop call IMO and certainly one that is seen multiple times in almost any game, but it was an acting job. By the way, 320lb nose tackles don't really ever get knocked down. They are usually the hammer, not the nail.