MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Wildcat]

 St . Norbert's shoots lights out in first half. Leading Carleton 41-35, Carleton cut the lead from 14 to 6 .

[mr_b]

At the half: North Park 41, Sewanee 24

[mr_b]

Final from St. Louis: North Park 88, Sewanee 69.  The Vikings came out of the break a bit cold, which allowed the Tigers to whittle the lead down to ten points, but North Park regained its touch and built the lead  backto as much as 28.  The Tigers were stymied from downtown, going only 2-for-20 from 3-point range (compared to the Vikings' 11-for-29 from long range).  Jordan Boyd led a balanced North Park attack with 15 points, and Lance Nelson added 10 off the bench.  In all, 15 Vikings saw playing time and 13 tallied points.  Colin Kahl led Sewanee with 24 points; Luka Avaliani added 15 and Russ Marr scored 12.  The Vikings play the winner of the Wash U-Coe contest that follows.

[mr_b]

Two more finals: Wash U 69, Coe 48, so North Park will play the Bears tomorrow.  Wheaton 79, Illinois College 66.  The Thunder will square off against St. Norbert, which topped Carleton, 81-77.

[Gregory Sager]

What I liked best about this afternoon's game at the Wash U Field House, aside from the fact that the Vikings won, is that Sean Smith was able to spread out the minutes, as well as put the game away with another one of their lightning runs (10-0 in only 1:39) to put the game on ice with over six minutes to go.

Wash U, on the other hand, squandered an opportunity to put away a stubborn Coe team and really didn't put the game in the bag until there was only a couple of minutes left.

This kind of stuff can be important in a back-to-back situation, although I don't think the Bears will give NPU anything less than a tough contest, regardless of relative freshness.

[Gregory Sager]

This was my first game at the Wash U Field House, after watching what feels like hundreds of livestreams from there. Fun to not only see a game in such an historic building, but to see it while sitting courtside, literally right next to the NPU bench.

(I went with the team to St. Louis as North Park's media rep, and I'm writing the game stories for the NPU website.)

[WUPHF]

Wash U, on the other hand, squandered an opportunity to put away a stubborn Coe team and really didn't put the game in the bag until there was only a couple of minutes left.

I disagree with this take.

The Bears may have played more minutes on average, but chose to go for shots late in the shot clock as per usual and were more non-chalant than usual.  They'll be ready to go tomorrow.

[Stertorous Thunder]

I don't want to be a pessimist, because Wheaton played decently well tonight, but without Eli Considine I'm really concerned about their ability to go up against a team with an elite center or multiple quality bigs.  TJ Askew ended up with four fouls and Nick Schiavello fouled out against an Illinois College team that took a lot of shots from the paint and won the rebounding battle, but didn't have a size advantage against the Thunder.  St. Norbert's looks a little taller, but hopefully they are also manageable tomorrow evening.  If Wheaton can continue on in the tournament I think they're going to have to catch some breaks and avoid anyone with a Jonathan Zapinski (Elmhurst), Daniel Carr (Augustana), or Jalen Overway (Calvin) level of player; Considine didn't always shut those players down, but during the season he definitely reduced some of the damage they would have done without his efforts.

Wheaton has a pretty good video system by D3 standards with replay capability and multiple cameras, but I liked the extra camera angles under the baskets this evening.  The additional gear provided some shot angles that are never available in one of the regular games and some great replays of contact and fouls under the basket.  There's also a slow motion replay of an insane Tyson Cruickshank basket; if you have a moment I recommend checking out the timestamp range 1:38:45 through 1:39:15 on the game video.

I also enjoyed some of the camerawork focused on the Illinois College bench near the end of the broadcast.  I think the video crew did a nice job of covering the reactions and interactions of the coaches and players when the game outcome was known, and they looked like class acts.  They didn't scowl and pout or look like someone had shattered the only dream they've ever had.  They gave one another slow hugs with sad smiles but they kept their heads up and cheered on the players who checked into the final minutes of the game.  The entire IC team also joined the traditional postgame prayer circle at Wheaton College and there were some nice moments of sportsmanship between the teams.  Every school but one has to end their dream season with a loss but Illinois College strikes me as a group of guys that's going to spend more time tomorrow celebrating their 25-win season and what they achieved than dwelling on tonight's loss.

[USee]

Despite the fact that many thought Carleton or even Illinois College could emerge from the Wheaton Pod, the Thunder will face St Norbert with the winner headed to the sweet 16. Probably the best matchup for Wheaton (vs Carleton). D3 DataCast has Wheaton as a 9 pt favorite at home.

As thrilled as I am for Wheaton's game tonight, I am most excited about the NPU @WashU game. WashU likes to run clock and averages about 66 possessions per game (national average is about 70). NPU is the opposite of that. WashU turns it over 12.2x a game and NPU defense forces closer to 20 per game. WashU's points per game is 1.06 on offense and .92 on defense. Easily the best defense NPU will have seen but not the most efficient offense. It will be fascinating to see how WashU handles the NPU up tempo. WashU trying to slow it down and take good shots late in the clock vs NPU trying to speed it up and force poor decisions while maximizing the number of possessions. WashU's guards Doyle, Jacob and Oliff all have great A/TO ratio's and their ability to handle the NPU pressure will be key to this game.

[mr_b]

Wheaton holds off St. Norbert, 75-71.

[WUPHF]

Is it time to call a Greg Sager hyperbole alert yet?

[mr_b]

Final from St. Louis: in a fast-paced, physical game, North Park comes from 14 points down to prevail, 72-69.  The Vikings move on to the Sweet 16.

[iwu70]

Great games, North Park and Wheaton win . . .  into the Round of 16.  Congrats to both teams.   Keep it rolling, CCIW.

IWU'70

[GoPerry]

Congrats to both Wheaton and NPU!  Representing the CCIW well.

Once NPU got back within 5 pts with about 6 mins to go, you just never doubted NPU would finish it off and win it.  Great job!

[mr_b]

Final from St. Louis: in a fast-paced, physical game, North Park comes from 14 points down to prevail, 72-69.  The Vikings move on to the Sweet 16.  North Park was paced by Kolden Vanlandingham with 24 points and Marquis Jackson with 22.  Charlie Jacob led the Bears with 15, and Haden Doyle chipped in 13.  Wash U got into foul trouble in the second half, with three players accumulating four fouls each.  North Park took advantage, with 15 of 22 free throws made, compared to only 5 of 8 for the Bears.