MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Perhaps he doesn't think kind thoughts about Marc Horner, but I strongly doubt that he's actively blocked North Park coaches from recruiting his players. For one thing, he's had at least one NPU alumnus on his coaching staff at DePaul Prep. For another, I'm not sure he's even been put in that position, as I don't recall any NPU coaches going hard after a DePaul Prep/Gordon Tech prospect since Kleinschmidt took over as the head coach of the Rams ten years ago. The NPU football program's gone after a lot of kids from that high school over the past decade (as North Park football's been doing since the 1930s) and has had a few former Rams play for the Vikings during that timespan (Douglas Ivy, Gary Anish, Pedro Colome, Harold Alexander, etc.), but I don't recall Tom Slyder and his assistants keying in on any Rams basketball players.

Unlike AAU coaches, who occasionally exhibit such a laser-like focus upon getting basketball scholarships for their players (which is good for business if you're an AAU coach) that they'll try to steer a player away from a D3 program seeking to recruit that kid, high school coaches in general seem much more akin to teachers in hewing to the "I want to see my kids succeed in whatever they choose to do after they've moved on" philosophy. I doubt that Kleinschmidt is any different.

[USee]

Yea, If it was based on dislike, Kleinschmidt would have to block every Big Ten team from his program too. That's not happening.

[iwu70]

New Poll:  Wheaton at #12, Carthage and Elmhurst as ORVs.  North Park dropping out entirely.

Big games coming up for all the CCIW contenders. 

'70

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Shirk:

Wash U 63
Illinois Wesleyan 61

Bears guard Hayden Doyle buried a jumper with three seconds left to win the game.

IWU drops to 6-5.

[Next Man Up]

From Rock Island

North Central 83
Augustana     69

NCC trailed by one at the half, but shot 60% after the break to outscore their hosts by 15 in the second stanza.

[WUPHF]

Who are the Wheaton broadcasters tonight and why are they not behind the table every night?

[Next Man Up]

Wheaton   76
North Park 71

Elmhurst 70
Millikin.   59

Carroll    72!
Carthage 66!

[CarrollBooster]

Carroll 72
Carthage 66

The first time in a month something to get excited about. I haven't seen Carthage this year. Honestly I am very surprised they have the record they do. Maybe I caught them on an off night or they were down a player - that I don't know. Carroll was just better wire to wire. Maybe putting some things together. I hope so.

Kylo Simpson and Josh Hudgens guarded Bulatovic all night, and he was no factor offensively. Those guys were the players of the game I thought for Carroll.  It wasn't an off night for Bulatovic, they hounded him on that end of the floor and took him out of the game.  Aaron Wafford, Kobe Simpson, Paradisio Dante and Justin Steinke were all good offensively for Carroll, and for the first time all year Carroll played solid down the stretch of a game.

Nice win for the Pios. I'm surprised they played so well, hope this is the start of turning things around.

[GoPerry]

Who are the Wheaton broadcasters tonight and why are they not behind the table every night?

Nate Frank on the play by play and Steve Thonn on color.  Both former Wheaton players (Frank, mid 1990s? - Bball,--- Thonn, early 1980s football and Bball).  Frank was an asst coach under Bill Harris.  Thonn was a standout receiver in FB, an asst coach for Wheaton football before head coaching in the Arena football league for a # of seasons.  Trying to recall from memory so might have gotten that wrong.  Usee can correct me.

Nate is always good.  This was the first time I've heard Steve on the call but he was excellent also.  The only minor criticism was that they didn't have livestats going so they weren't aware of Cruickshank or Askews foul trouble.  Students, and student announcers, return to campus this coming weekend.

[GoPerry]

Wheaton over North Park, 76-71

TJ Askew      19 pts, 5 rebs
Andrew Williams  17 pts, even more hustle plays . . .
Eli Considine  14 pts, 8 rebs
Nick Schiavello   12 pts

Shamar Pumphrey   19 pts
Kolden Vanlandingham  15 pts, 5 rebs
Jordan Boyd   10 pts, 8 rebs
Marquise Jackson, 11 pts, 5 rebs

This is a very big win for Wheaton.  You wouldn't normally say that about the #12 ranked team playing at home vs an unranked opponent.  But Wheaton needed this one against a really good and dangerous Viking squad.  A win would've meant a great deal more to NP in a lot of ways.  But the Vikes played well and gave the Thunder all they could handle.

I think the stat sheet tells a story of how Wheaton has really progressed as a top team this year.  Cruickshank and Askew have been the consistent and reliable scorers so far this season.  But over the last 5 or 6 games, the development of Eddie Scott, Nick Schiavello, Eli Considine, Andrew Williams into bigger scoring threats have really made the Thunder a very tough team.  North Park played great defense on Cruickshank who only scored 1 pt and took only 7 shots all night.  But the others really stepped up and, really, it was no surprise that they did.

The Thunder led by as much as 10 pts in the first half but NPU cut it to 6 at halftime.  The Vikes came out gangbusters in the 2nd half and took the lead by 6.  But Wheaton didn't panic, got a few stops, the visitors cooled off a little and Wheaton steadily got the lead back out to 9 pts with 5 mins left.  That sort of lead is nothing given Park's many weapons.  But Wheaton was able to make the free throws down the stretch and seal it. (End of the game was odd that NPU didn't foul a few more times.  Probably wouldn't have affected the outcome however.)

[Stertorous Thunder]

Who are the Wheaton broadcasters tonight and why are they not behind the table every night?

Nate and Steve are both Wheaton College alumni in the school Hall of Honor.

Nate Frank (All-American center):
https://athletics.wheaton.edu/honors/hall-of-honor/nate-frank/210

Steve Thonn (college three-sport star, Arena Football League coach):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Thonn
https://athletics.wheaton.edu/honors/hall-of-honor/steve-thonn/127/kiosk

I thoroughly enjoyed tonight's commentary as well.  But my favorite Nate Frank announcing moment came in his previous game this season, which I believe was when the student announcers were away for Thanksgiving break.  In the last few minutes of that game Nate mentioned that he was going to see how long he could hold coach Mike Schauer around in the postgame press conference.  While watching online I was chuckling out loud as Nate did indeed stretch the interview to a length significantly longer than normal, asking just one more question each time that Schauer seemed ready to turn around and head to the locker room.

North Park played a very tough game tonight.  Mike Schauer's postgame comments about how the Vikings "create chaos" and made the Thunder look "disheveled" at times were apt descriptions.

[bbfan44]

An interesting stat from the NP vs Wheaton game: 4 assists for NP and 20 assists for Wheaton.

[Gregory Sager]

And so the 1972-73 Augie team is again popping the champagne corks, as this will be the 50th straight season in which the CCIW will not have a team run the table. The losses by North Park and Carthage tonight bring blemishes to the last two undefeated teams in league play.

Disappointed that the Park couldn't hold on to that lead in Wheaton. At stoppages I regularly check out live stats on my laptop and run through the other scores around the league on the air, including the NPU men if the women are at home and vice-versa, and when I saw that the Vikings were up by five in the second half at King Arena I got so jacked up it took me a few moments to recover and get back to work calling the IWU @ NPU women's game. Alas, it was not to be. The Vikes just have to turn around and get after it on Saturday at the crackerbox against an outstanding Elmhurst team that is probably going to go into every game in January and February feeling as though their backs are against the wall.

Carroll's victory over Carthage is the most improbable upset we've had in this league in quite a while. The Firebirds were leading all of D3 in FG percentage coming into the game, but tonight at Van Male they only shot a measly .406 from the field. Carthage's three best weapons, AJ Johnson, Fillip Bulatovic, and Colton Sigel, shot a combined 7-31.

[USee]

First of all, Nate Frank and Steve Thonn were awesome on the call. I turned the game on a little late and I could tell who it was immediately. It's so refreshing to have veteran guys who know the game and have great insights on the call. I am not sure why the school has turned to student announcers, especially without putting any resources toward them to train.

As for the game, North Park is good. I was super impressed with how well they are coached and how hard they play...ALL the time! This game was in doubt until about 55 seconds remained. Shamar Pumphrey and Marquise Jackson can flat out ball. And NPU is deep. They are going to give a lot of CCIW teams problems during the conference slate. Tyson Cruickshank scored 1 pt and Wheaton still scored 76 and won. Tyson had 8 rebounds and 6 assists and still led this team to victory despite not scoring.  Very impressive performance from the Wheaton bench including Andrew Williams and Micah Schnyders.  North Park plays with energy and pace and only turned it over 12 times (their season avg), forcing 15 Wheaton turnovers (about 40% over their season avg).

I thought the key to the game was Wheaton's ability to get into the paint and get fouled or score. They outscored NPU in the paint 44 to 30 and they made 7 more FT than the Vikings despite a similar number of attempts (29 to 26). Wheaton was aggressive vs the NPU pressure defense and it often led to easy baskets on back cuts and number advantages when NPU blitzed the ball screens, especially on Cruickshank.

NPU is almost certainly going to be a top 4 team in the CCIW tournament. High praise for Sean Smith from Coach Schauer on the post game saying "not only is he a great young coach, but he is a great person".

I get the sense that the Vikings are disappointed when they have to shoot free throws because it slows the game down too much. For the viewer, it's an opportunity to take a break!

[USee]

Who are the Wheaton broadcasters tonight and why are they not behind the table every night?

Nate Frank on the play by play and Steve Thonn on color.  Both former Wheaton players (Frank, mid 1990s? - Bball,--- Thonn, early 1980s football and Bball).  Frank was an asst coach under Bill Harris.  Thonn was a standout receiver in FB, an asst coach for Wheaton football before head coaching in the Arena football league for a # of seasons.  Trying to recall from memory so might have gotten that wrong.  Usee can correct me.

Nate is always good.  This was the first time I've heard Steve on the call but he was excellent also.  The only minor criticism was that they didn't have livestats going so they weren't aware of Cruickshank or Askews foul trouble.  Students, and student announcers, return to campus this coming weekend.

Steve Thonn was actually a 3 sport star at Wheaton in Football, Basketball and Baseball. A Wheaton North product he did indeed go on to coach for a long stint (20+ yrs)in the Arena football league . Until this year he was the head basketball coach at Wheaton Academy and is still the offensive coordinator for the football team.  https://athletics.wheatonacademy.org/sports/football/roster/coaches/steve-thonn/867

Steve was an exceptional athlete and a better person.