MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Gordon Edes, who is an NPU alumnus, has had a long and distinguished career as a sportswriter. He wrote for the Chicago Tribune in the late '70s and into the '80s (he had the pleasure of writing the Trib's game story for North Park's 1980 national championship victory over Upsala). He then moved to the Los Angeles Times, where he was the paper's Lakers beat writer during the Showtime era of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy. And then he switched to the Boston Globe, where he was the Globe's Red Sox beat writer and was able to chronicle on a daily basis the breaking of the Curse of the Bambino, as Boston won two World Series while Gordon covered the team -- which must've been a huge thrill for a New England native like Gordon.

Now he does Substack columns, based mostly upon his own sports interests. As a North Park grad who had a front-row seat for the D3 championship threepeat teams from 1978 thru 1980, he has a special fondness for Vikings basketball, which has led him back to cover the team with his current Substack column, North Park Hoops Experience. Gordon has a gift for finding the story within the story and then bringing it to life with great writing. I strongly recommend his Substack column to anybody who loves D3 basketball, regardless of whether or not you have any rooting interest in NPU basketball.

[lmitzel]

Cal Lutheran 71
North Central 63

First 10 minutes of Vince Kmiec's tenure were good as the Cardinals built a solid lead, but the Kingsmen fought back and led by 5 at the break thanks in part to about a 30 foot buzzer beater. NCC got close a couple times in the second half but couldn't get over the hump, and CLU pulled away for a solid win.

Ken Thomas: 16 pts, 5 reb
John Blumeyer: 13 pts, 4 reb
Terrance Moncrief: 11 pts

Tommy Griffitts: 15 pts, 11 reb
Devon Lewis: 14 pts, 4 reb
Desi Burrage: 10 pts

Cardinals close the west coast trip at LaVerne on Saturday.

[Gregory Sager]

Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 92
North Park 67

Kolden Vanlandingham: 12 pts
Phil Holmes: 12 pts, 3:1 a:to

The ridiculous amount of travel and the (extreme) step up in class from one night to the next finally caught up to the Vikings, who were game for a half and a little bit of the second before SIUE went on a 19-5 run and put away the contest.

Despite this, I'd love to see the Vikings play two D1 exhibitions every year rather than settle for just the standard-issue D3 preseason scrimmages. Completely aside from the extra money these exhibitions bring into the program's coffers, playing competition of the caliber of DePaul and SIUE simply makes a good D3 team better in the long run.

Associate head coach Edwind McGhee coached the Vikings tonight, as Sean Smith stayed behind to welcome his new son into the world. Congratulations to the Smiths!

[Gregory Sager]

Two more CCIW teams open their seasons tonight, while the Big Blue move on to their second game:

Carthage @ Westminster (PA)
Ohio Wesleyan @ Illinois Wesleyan
Millikin @ Aurora

After tomorrow night, when Augustana and Elmhurst each tip off for the first time, all nine teams will be at least one game into their seasons.

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois Wesleyan 84
Ohio Wesleyan 55

Titans run away and hide against a pretty one-dimensional OWU squad. Excellent defense by the Greenies, who held the Bishops to .355 from the field and .233 from downtown. Trey Bazzell was the only Titan in double figures with 12, but 18 Titans played and 15 of 'em scored.

Millikin 76
Aurora 67

In what was the only thing that even remotely resembled a close game tonight, the Big Blue held the host Spartans at bay throughout the second half in Thornton Gym. Chase Travis had what is (so far) a career game, notching 21 and 11 for MU, and he was joined in double figures by Nate Straughter with 19 and JT Welch with 17. Aurora, incidentally, was paced by former North Park guard Michael Osborne, who had a 20 and 8 performance.

Carthage 85
Westminster (PA) 66

The Firebirds were trailing by a dozen halfway through the opening stanza before they woke up and said, "OK, that's enough of that." From then on it was all Carthage, as the big fella had a big night: 22 and 11 on 10-14 shooting for Julian Campbell. AJ Johnson had 15 points and three steals, Fillip Bulatovic contributed a double-double of 13 and 12, and Antuan Nesbitt added a really nice floor game (7:2 a:to) to the Carthage cause out in western Pennsylvania.

The CCIW is now 6-2 on the young season.

[iwu70]

Yes, OWU pretty under-sized and out-manned tonight . . . IWU doing a good job on defense, but still rather offensively challenged.   I don't think they have anyone who can really find a key shot when it is needed.   We'll see.  Ron Rose used an initial rotation of 12-13 players and everyone to the end of the pine got in the game with 5-6 minutes to go.  IWU was up by over 30 in the middle of the second half.  IWU has size and length, but not great shooting.  Trey Bazzell got the start tonight over Hakim Williams -- so starters were Schneider, Sroka, Roper and Yoder.   Roper looked a bit more comfortable tonight.  Yoder back doing his thing, all over the court.

The MHB team is excellent.  Both UW Stout and MHB played well, lots of speed and athleticism -- back and forth -- more like a track meet than a basketball game.   MHB has great defense, athleticism and trey shooting.  It's easy to see why they are ranked.

I would expect UW Stout to easily handle OWU in the consolation game tomorrow and for MHB to beat IWU.   IWU is notably weak guarding the perimeter, so I expect MHB to win by 15 or more.  We'll see.  A great challenge for the Titans against this MHB team.

A pretty good crowd, (Yes, even Titan Q in the house), a nice D3 atmosphere and a video greeting from the Tournament's namesake himself -- NBA Hall of Famer, former Titan great, Jack SIKMA.

IWU'70

[Greek Tragedy]

A pretty good crowd, (Yes, even Titan Q in the house), a nice D3 atmosphere and a video greeting from the Tournament's namesake himself -- NBA Hall of Famer, former Titan great, Jack SIKMA.

IWU'70

I can only assume that's why it was a pretty good crowd.

[iwu70]

Greek, yes, it was good to see Titan Q in person last eve.  Those of us "oldies" have known him for several decades.  He was interviewed by Eric Stock for the WJBC coverage at halftime of the IWU game.  However, most IWU fans, surely current students and players, know nothing of Titan Q and his long-time coverage and comment on IWU and D3 basketball.   

IWU faces MHB at 4 p.m. in the Sikma Hall of Fame Invitational Championship game.   A tough match-up for IWU, lacking the quickness and perimeter defense to stop MHB's excellent three-point shooting.   I'd be very surprised to see IWU win this game. 

IWU'70

[lmitzel]

NCC finishes its California trip at 1-1 after knocking off La Verne 97-87.

John Blumeyer: 24 pts (12-14 FT)
Brian Johnson: 18 pts
Nick Smoldt: 17 pts, 6 reb
Ethan Helwig: 10 pts

Dahmaj Warren: 21 pts
Darien Guyton: 15 pts
Carlos Bedolla: 12 pts, 8 reb
Kyler Harvey: 12 pts

The Cardinals open their home slate (and I get to yell things for the first time in 9 months) on Wednesday against Aurora.

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana 83, Knox 60
Carroll 75, Earlham 74
Carthage 70, Thiel 66
Elmhurst 77, Concordia (IL) 72
Mary Hardin-Baylor 71, Illinois Wesleyan 68
North Central 97, La Verne 87

The CCIW is now 11-3 (.786).

[voxelmhurst]

Elmhurst had to do it the hard way, coming back from 14 down midway thru the second half to get the 77-72 win. Elmhurst started the game looking very, very rusty, whereas Concordia played like a team in midseason form, executing almost at-will in the first half. That said, Elmhurst finished the game on a 26-7 run, at one point hitting 3s on three consecutive possessions, which put them in the lead with just under a minute to play.

John Ittounas came off the bench and scored 26 points, 12 of those coming in the final 10 minutes. Ocean Johnson had 14, Zapinski just missed out on a double-double with 9 points and 11 rebounds. Quinn Pemberton had 8 points in his Elmhurst debut. Matt Woloch had a nice game with 9 points off the bench. Concordia had 4 players in double figures and while they'll be disappointed in how they finished the game, they looked really good in the first half, and seem like they're more than ready to put last year behind them.

I don't believe this has been reported yet in this forum, but I just learned yesterday that Mark Krueger, longtime voice of Elmhurst and many other local sports broadcasts, passed away in August. There was a moment of silence in his honor before tipoff yesterday.

[Gregory Sager]

I don't believe this has been reported yet in this forum, but I just learned yesterday that Mark Krueger, longtime voice of Elmhurst and many other local sports broadcasts, passed away in August. There was a moment of silence in his honor before tipoff yesterday.

I think that I mentioned that here when I found out this summer. If I didn't, I apologize for not mentioning it right away. I never met Mark (although I subbed for him at Faganel that one memorable day last winter -- the Backboard Game, as we now call it), but I enjoyed his calls.

[Greek Tragedy]

Augustana 83, Knox 60
Carroll 75, Earlham 74
Carthage 70, Thiel 66
Elmhurst 77, Concordia (IL) 72
Mary Hardin-Baylor 71, Illinois Wesleyan 68
North Central 97, La Verne 87

The CCIW is now 11-3 (.786).

Come on, Greg. As much as you hate it, it's Concordia-Chicago.

I think Concordia-Chicago might be pretty good this year too.

[iwu70]

IWU played far better than I expected, giving #15 Mary Hardin Baylor a good scare last night in the Sikma championship game.

Final was 71-69, with Sroka's potentially tying three being waved off at the buzzer.  The shot went in but was not counted.   Some pretty dodgy calls in the last two minutes of that one -- not really going IWU's way.  I don't have positive feelings about that officiating crew.  Anyway, . . . a hard fought, close game.

For MHB

Josiah Johnson, the tourney MVP, 21
Zach Engels 13
Kyle Wright 11

MHB is one of the best defensive teams you will see in D3.  They had 9 steals, gave the Titans fits at first, before adjustments, and shot 13-30 from three.  A very smooth and confident team offensively.

For IWU:

Sroka, not really finding his shot yet, 13
Hakim Williams, on the all-tournament team, 10
Marko Anderson a nice double-double at 10 and 11
Trey Bazzel, IWU's good trey threat, 9

IWU had to adjust to the MHB defensive speed and pressure.  They came back from 13 down, 10 down at the half, and got within one point late in the second half.  Just couldn't get over the hump.  IWU shot FTs poorly, 12-23 for 52%.  Could have won this game with better FT shooting.

If MHB is ranked #15, then this IWU team is not far behind.  We learned a lot about them in this game -- they play hard, don't have a stand-out offensive threat as yet, play better than expected defense, have size and length, and have great depth -- again the 11-12 person rotation.   I expect Ron Rose to stick with this lengthy rotation, at least for a time.  It seems to work, keeping everyone fresh and playing hard.  Marko Anderson and Valentine both a nice surprise. 

A very nice ceremony at halftime honoring all the basketball alums from the six IWU FINAL FOUR teams.  Many in attendance.  Also a nice honor for the CCIW Champions women's golf team.  This team blew away the field in the recent CCIW golf championships and will be headed for the D3 national golf tournament in the Spring.  They have a good shot at a national championship.

IWU at 1-1, but a very optimistic showing vs. #15 Mary Hardin Baylor.   MHB is really good . . .we'll see them in the D3 March dance, pretty sure.

IWU'70

[WUPHF]

Those of us "oldies" have known him for several decades.  He was interviewed by Eric Stock for the WJBC coverage at halftime of the IWU game.  However, most IWU fans, surely current students and players, know nothing of Titan Q and his long-time coverage and comment on IWU and D3 basketball.   

Credit where credit is due... Bob is probably the most well known #d3hoops commentator among those who were not yet born when Division III became a thing.

He clearly knows the IWU players and probably more CCIW players than most.