MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[sac]

Hurrah! The crane operator is in the house! Now we can finally swap out the old backboard for the new one!

I actually think this might be one of Greg's greatest posts ever.

[Greek Tragedy]

Any videos of Ocean breaking the backboard or the game tying 3 for NCC?

[lmitzel]

Any videos of Ocean breaking the backboard or the game tying 3 for NCC?

Ocean Johnson breaking the backboard.

And Shea Effing Cupples.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 93
Elmhurst 90

Kolden Vanlandingham: 32 pts (10-16 FG, 3-6 trey), 8 rebs
Jordan Boyd: 21 pts (8-10 FG), 10 rebs
Marquise Jackson: 15 pts, 8 rebs, 5 stls
Jalen Boyd: 11 pts, 6 rebs, 4:0 a:to
Shamar Pumphrey: 7:3 a:to, 3 stls

Jonathan Zapinski: 25 pts (7-10 FG, 11-13 FT), 12 rebs, 6:1 a:to, 5 blks, 3 stls
Ocean Johnson: 19 pts, 10 rebs, 3 stls
John Ittounas: 15 pts
Tagen Pearson: 10 pts
Wesley Hooker: 8 rebs

This wasn't just an epic game, it was Homeric. You've got your Iliad, your Odyssey, and your Elmhurst Double OT Backboard Shatter Game. Fifteen ties and eighteen lead changes. Some of the best defense I've seen two teams play in years ... in a game in which 183 points were scored. I remember thinking to myself after Ocean Johnson turned the backboard into shards that it meant that we were going to wind up spending all night in Elmhurst ... but that at least it would give me a chance to catch my breath, because the sheer ferocity and intensity of the game was making me feel a little light-headed.

Some absolutely great performances all around. Jonathan Zapinski put up one of the most impressive all-around stat lines I've ever seen. Ocean Johnson was a one-man highlight machine. Marquise Jackson just kept doing Marquise Jackson things, to the utter disbelief and frustration of 'jays fans, until he finally fouled out in the second overtime. Kolden Vanlandingham showed why he is starting to emerge as one of the most explosive scorers on this level. And Jordan Boyd, for all of his struggles at the free-throw line, made some big ones in the second overtime to cap his second straight 20-and-10 game. Two must-win road games in one week against the #3 and #4 teams in the CCIW -- and Jordan Boyd comes up huge in both of them. He's gotta be CCIW Player of the Week ... oops, CCIW Student-Athlete of the Week.

Bottom line, beyond all of the hoopla and all of the weirdness of today's game, is that the Vikings did what they had to do here on their way to getting to where they want to go. They're now back to within a game of Wheaton with two to go, and they've clinched at least a first-round bye. They've also maintained their status as a viable Pool C contender, should it come to that.

At Faganel today I saw a lot of North Park fans (and former players) who don't usually make it into the city to watch games live in the crackerbox, and they were -- each and every one of them -- duly impressed by these Vikings. We were told by our now-departed troll back at the beginning of this season that this was a hard team for Vikings fans to like. Just one more thing about which he was 100% wrong. These Vikings play with an enormous amount of heart, a quality which actually makes it quite easy to like them.

[kiko]

Ocean Johnson breaking the backboard.

I've never considered the danger around this before, but (1) if the rim separates from the backboard, you are off-balance and there is nothing to break your fall, and (2) when it fell, that rim looked like it missed hitting his head by a matter of inches.

Probably just as well that the closest I'll ever come to doing this is with a Nerf hoop at the age of thirteen.

[bbfan44]

Any videos of Ocean breaking the backboard or the game tying 3 for NCC?

I saw a clip of the backboard dunk on channel 5 NBC 10 o'clock news...so there's a video somewhere.  The commentator thought he had a great name, too.

[mwunder]

Carthage quietly clinched a spot in the CCIW tourney last night with a 93-80 win over Millikin.  If you tuned in to this game at the end of the first half (like I did), you probably would have moved on to another game as Carthage held a 54-32 lead going into the break.  Millikin came out in the second half and slowly whittled the lead to 8 with 10:05 remaining.  They defended well in a tight man to man that entire time.  They got to within 4 on three trips between the 10 and 7 minute mark.  Very entertaining second half to be sure.

Carthage continues to spread the scoring amongst it's starters.

AJ Johnson, 27 (9-12, 3-5, 6-6 from the line)
A Nesbitt, 19 (8-12, 2-2) 5 boards, 1:1 A:T
F Bulatovic, 16 and 12 (8-9 free throws is good to see going into the playoffs) and 9 assists to just miss a triple double
C Sigel, 15 behind 5-7 from behind the arc
J Campbell, 14 on 6-14 shooting and 4 boards.  He did log 25 minutes in a very fast paced game, also nice to see.


Millikin also had 5 players reach double figures.  Welch with 20, Livingston with 15, Travis and Stevenson with 12 each and with 10.  Stevenson just missed a double-double with 9 boards to lead the Big Blue.

Welch has a sweet stroke.  Impressive last night.

Nice to see all the seniors get in the game at the end.

[voxelmhurst]

In spite of some great individual performances, and a memorable game, this was another bitterly disappointing loss for Elmhurst. They spent much of the second half with the lead, but could never establish control over the game. Not trying to take anything away from Chicago's CCIW Team^tm, they are a talented and entertaining side to watch, but Elmhurst just seems to lack confidence this season. It was the same story Wednesday night @ Carroll.

Though he finished with a respectable 15 points, I felt John Ittounas was never really a major factor in the game and that explains a lot for why Elmhurst lost their second in a row. When he is on and dictating that flow of the game, Elmhurst usually wins.

[Greek Tragedy]

Any videos of Ocean breaking the backboard or the game tying 3 for NCC?

Ocean Johnson breaking the backboard.

And Shea Effing Cupples.

Thanks. Hope they make the ESPN Top 10 and maybe the buzzer beaters page on Twitter.

[Gregory Sager]

When you put Elmhurst's John Ittounas, Wheaton's TJ Askew, and North Central's Mitch Lewis together with the North Park quartet of Kolden Vanlandingham, Marquise Jackson, Shamar Pumphrey, and Quillin Dixon, this season's had the best crop of incoming transfers in CCIW men's basketball history. And it isn't close.

[Stertorous Thunder]

When you put Elmhurst's John Ittounas, Wheaton's TJ Askew, and North Central's Mitch Lewis together with the North Park quartet of Kolden Vanlandingham, Marquise Jackson, Shamar Pumphrey, and Quillin Dixon, this season's had the best crop of incoming transfers in CCIW men's basketball history. And it isn't close.

He hasn't had the impact of the others listed above, but Micah Schnyders of Wheaton is another noteworthy transfer. He's technically seventh in minutes played for the Thunder, but only trails five minutes behind Eddie Scott in playing time and has appeared in every game.

[kiko]

When you put Elmhurst's John Ittounas, Wheaton's TJ Askew, and North Central's Mitch Lewis together with the North Park quartet of Kolden Vanlandingham, Marquise Jackson, Shamar Pumphrey, and Quillin Dixon, this season's had the best crop of incoming transfers in CCIW men's basketball history. And it isn't close.

Agreed, and I expect this volume and quality may become pretty close to the norm going forward.

I know that D1/D2 to D3 was a fairly painless transfer in the past, but also think we will see more movement than in the past as the mindset around transfers in general is evolving.

[kiko]

Also, I was looking at the coaches' poll over the weekend.  The group you mentioned above is one of the main reasons why it is ridiculously off-target.

[WUPHF]

When you put Elmhurst's John Ittounas, Wheaton's TJ Askew, and North Central's Mitch Lewis together with the North Park quartet of Kolden Vanlandingham, Marquise Jackson, Shamar Pumphrey, and Quillin Dixon, this season's had the best crop of incoming transfers in CCIW men's basketball history. And it isn't close.

This is true of the UAA as well with 4-5 transfers on three rosters making a big impact. 

I have not been paying attention to the national scene so I am sure there are others, but off the top of my head, I cannot think of any other conference that has as many impact transfers as the CCIW and UAA. 

[Gregory Sager]

In spite of some great individual performances, and a memorable game, this was another bitterly disappointing loss for Elmhurst. They spent much of the second half with the lead, but could never establish control over the game. Not trying to take anything away from Chicago's CCIW Team^tm, they are a talented and entertaining side to watch, but Elmhurst just seems to lack confidence this season. It was the same story Wednesday night @ Carroll.

Though he finished with a respectable 15 points, I felt John Ittounas was never really a major factor in the game and that explains a lot for why Elmhurst lost their second in a row. When he is on and dictating that flow of the game, Elmhurst usually wins.

North Park did to Ittounas what it always tries to do to Tyson Cruickshank of Wheaton -- make him work from side to side in the halfcourt for 40 minutes, not just to impede his path to the basket and prevent him from squaring up to shoot from distance, but to alter his shooting angles and just plain wear him down. I think that that worked on Saturday; Ittounas missed several open shots, especially at the end of regulation and in the two overtimes. Of course, it didn't hurt that he was asked to play 41 minutes, his longest stint of the season (he averages less than 30), while covering NPU's high-velocity guards -- although that doesn't excuse his misses in the second overtime, after the hour-and-40-minute delay that allowed him to rest up.

And you're absolutely right that Ittounas is the key to Elmhurst. He doesn't attempt as many shots as Ocean Johnson, nor is he as efficient from the field as Jonathan Zapinski, but he is nevertheless the best offensive weapon that the Bluejays have. EU, like most teams, tries to win games with efficiency; the Bluejays operate on the assumption that both teams will take roughly the same number of shots (Elmhurst has taken exactly as many field goal attempts in 2022-23 as has its opponents), but that they will simply make more of them than their opponents will (EU shoots .440 from the field, while their opponents shoot .409). The problem for the 'jays, which helps to explain why they've been so up-and-down in CCIW play, is that they're not a particularly good team when it comes to three-point shooting. Percentage-wise, they're seventh in the league from downtown in overall play, and only eighth in the league in conference play. Ittounas is the only good high-volume trey shooter (i.e., more than two attempts per game) the Bluejays have; Johnson, Wesley Hooker, and Tagen Pearson are all below the team's not-particularly-good team trey average of .322 over the entire course of the season. That means that when Ittounas is off (as he was on Saturday) the 'jays are probably not going to do well from beyond the arc, which they didn't against NPU (4-24, .167).

NPU, on the other hand, plays a game of quantity rather than quality when it comes to shooting. The Vikings have actually been outshot by their opponents from the field this season, .439 to .458, some of which is due to teams beating the North Park press and getting easy layups, or getting odd-number runouts off of defensive rebounds because the Vikings typically attack the offensive boards with four guys. But, because of the press and NPU's attack-dog halfcourt defense, as well as their zealous approach to getting offensive boards, the Vikings shoot an average of nearly 15 more field-goal attempts and four more free-throw attempts per game than do their opponents. That excess volume of attempts explains why North Park is 18-5 this season despite being outshot from both the field (although not from beyond the arc) and the line.

In five of North Park's 23 games this season the Vikings' opponent has attempted more field goals than have the Vikings. Two of them were somewhat anomalous, Dominican and Benedictine, but both can be explained in part by the fact that they were both the tail ends of back-to-back game days for North Park. In both of those games the Vikings got to the line a lot more than those two NACC opponents did (ten extra FTs and eight extra FTs, respectively), and the Vikings made as many field goals as did those two opponents. Nevertheless, both were close wins against markedly inferior teams, demonstrating just how much NPU relies upon getting those extra field goal attempts. The other three games were the two against Carthage and Saturday's game at Elmhurst. The Vikings lost the first time around to the Firebirds, and beat them by three in Tarble last Wednesday only because they made one more FG than did the Firebirds and because they attempted 11 more FTs than did the hosts (although they only made four more of 'em than did Carthage).

The biggest number of extra FG attempts a team had managed against North Park in those four games was two. But on Saturday Elmhurst attempted a whopping ten more field-goal attempts than did the Vikings, testament to the fact that EU not only challenged NPU at its own style but actually outplayed the Vikings with it. That really says something about Elmhurst's athleticism. And the two teams attempted the same number of FTs (34), with Elmhurst making three more of 'em than North Park did.

The reason why North Park won was because of three-pointers. The Vikings, who are a decent trey-shooting team in league play (.357, good for fourth), went 6-17 (.353) from downtown, as compared to EU's aforementioned 4-24 (.167). That's not just two extra points gained via made three-pointers in what turned out to be a 93-90 win, it's also a lot of Elmhurst field-goal attempts that went to waste, as the Vikings outshot the Bluejays on the day by a .515 to .432 margin. The most telling moments of the game were the trey from the right elbow by NPU's Quillin Dixon (a defensive standout who is not a particularly good shooter) with 1:18 left that gave North Park its first lead in the second overtime at 89-86, and Ittounas missing a trey from the left elbow with 12 seconds left that would've tied the game at 91.