MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Coe 86
North Park 66

Right now the Vikings look exactly like the same sort of frustrated victim that they try to create in opponents by their aggressive style. This weekend they were the team that lost its head in the face of adversity, thereby causing even more mistakes to pile up. This doesn't look at all like the team that battled DePaul into the final three minutes a couple of weeks ago. The Vikings spent too much time and energy arguing calls/non-calls, and you could tell just by looking at their postures that they were wound up too tight. They played two excellent teams in Jacksonville that they couldn't just sweep aside, and both of those opponents, Wabash and Coe, demonstrated that a huge part of winning basketball games is keeping your wits about you when you make some mistakes and/or the other team goes on a run.

Sean and his coaching staff have to sort this out and get this team back into its proper headspace. There are some X's and O's stuff to figure out as well, but the big problem with this team right now is mental.

During the first half of the game against DePaul, Dave Corzine commented that North Park doesn't have offensive structure and the person that brought the ball up tends to shoot.  He said that made sense, because if they pass it, they will never get to take a shot themselves.

I watched the Wabash game and the second half of the Coe game.  I didn't see much passing in these 2 games - lots of 1 v multiple.

Corzine should've known better, because DePaul, being bigger and faster than any D3 team (NPU included), negated the ability of the Vikings to regularly run any kind of coherent offense.

When NPU is on its game, as it was against Lawrence and Marian, the offensive structure is there and the Vikings do just fine in the halfcourt. The statistics don't lie; the Vikings had assists on roughly half of their FG in the Lawrence game (15 asts in 31 FG), a total which, even though decent, was kept down somewhat by their 20 steals (steals frequently lead to easy buckets by the players who steal the ball). In the game against Marian, a significantly better team than Lawrence, the Vikings had 23 assists in 35 FG, an outstanding two-out-of-three rate of dimes to buckets -- and they got that despite stealing the ball 14 times.

This past weekend the assists dwindled to practically nonexistent -- only seven against Wabash and six against Coe. That's what I meant by these final sentences:

Sean and his coaching staff have to sort this out and get this team back into its proper headspace. There are some X's and O's stuff to figure out as well, but the big problem with this team right now is mental.

When the Vikings have their focus intact and their heads screwed on right, their offensive shape is just fine, they move the ball, and things click in the halfcourt. When they faced some adversity this past weekend -- a run by the other team, some missed shots right at the rim, calls or non-calls that didn't go their way -- they fell apart and started playing the "1 vs. multiple" ball you mentioned. What Sean and his assistant coaches have to do is to address that problem, which is primarily mental -- although they can help the situation by running more plays that don't involve isolation sets when things go awry and it becomes obvious that the Vikings need to rein in their emotions, because the other team knows that when the Vikings are frustrated, their isolation plays inevitably lead to one guy driving into three or four defenders without even looking to dish.

[iwu70]

IWU @ Wash U Wednesday evening . . . University of Chicago on Saturday @The Shirk.

'70

[mwunder]

Carthage finally played a complete game on the offensive side of the ball, defeating Anderson, 94-87 at Tarble in their home opener last night.

The 'birds shot 57, 53, and 92% for the contest and dished out 25 team assists in a contest that saw runs by both teams. Carthage led by as many as 11 at the 9:11 mark of the first half, but Anderson hung around, cutting the lead to 5 on four occasions in the first half. Carthage led by 8 at the break. Anderson got to within 2 at the 17:42 mark, but Carthage extended the lead to 9 over the next 5 minutes. Anderson cut the lead to 4 in less than a minute, but the home team answered with a run of it's own to increase the lead to 12 with 5:49 remaining. The Ravens didn't go away. It was a one-possession game with just under a minute to play, but Carthage responded with a lay-up by Bulatovic and six consecutive free throws from AJ Johnson to seal the deal.

Firebirds:
Campbell--24 points on 9-17 shooting
AJ Johnson--20 and 6 with clutch free throws to ice the game
Nesbitt--19 on 8-9 shooting and stellar defense on Anderson's Tate Ivanyo the entire game.
Bulatovic--14,9, and 6:0 (A:TO)

Ravens:
Mattingly--20 and 8. Looked very smooth for a big guy. Went toe to toe with Campbell all night. One very nice Euro-step move in the first half.
Huckeby--18 and 7
Smith--16 and 7 assists
Ivanyo--14

Too many second-chance points, but Carthage looked much better tonight.  UW-Whitewater up next.

[lmitzel]

Benedictine 67
NCC 60

The sluggish start continues. North Central broke a 57-all tie on a Brian Johnson three with just over two minutes remaining, then missed their final five shots and also committed a turnover that led to a fast break bucket for the Eagles' Brandon McCoy that gave BenU the lead for good with 1:19 to play.

Ethan Helwig: 19 pts, 9 reb
Ken Thomas: 10 pts, 13 reb
Brian Johnson: 9 pts, 9 reb

Cullen Cosme: 15 pts, 9 reb
Drew Stokes: 14 pts, 5 reb
Nick Howard: 12 pts

The Cardinals only hit 3 of 18 threes in this game, which made me go look at the season stats so far; they're at exactly 32 percent through the first five games, which is better than I thought (though it's buoyed by the win at La Verne and the heartbreaker against Anderson this past weekend). The stat that's a little alarming through five games to me:

NCC: 53 assists, 56 turnovers
Opponents: 63 assists, 44 turnovers

[iwu70]

In a really good win for IWU, 76-50 over previously unbeaten and ranked Wash U.  And Wash U had beaten some really good teams:  Swarthmore and Johns Hopkins earlier.

Seemingly a nightmare shooting night for Wash U:  25% from the field, 22% from three, 68% from the line.

For WU:
Only two players in double figures:
Kindsvater 11
Cohen 11

IWU led in this one for 37 minutes.

For IWU:

Wilmsen 17
Yoder 15
Roper, playing better, 12
Sroka 9

IWU at 48%, 42% from three, and 75% from the line.

A really good win on the road.  Bound to be a confidence builder for the Titans, now 3-2 on the year.


IWU '70

[iwu70]

Illinois College over Millikin, 81-77 in OT.

'70

[iwu70]

Happy Thanksgiving to all the CCIW Chatsters here . . .

Don't let the turkeys get you down . . .

IWU'70

[iwu70]

IWU over Chicago at the Shirk.

Ron Rose settling on a new starting line-up -- with Wilmsen and Hakim Williams starting . . . Schneider and Bazzell rotating in.  I think it is wise for more post offense and stronger perimeter defense.   Hakim Williams is playing very well just now.  Wilmsen rewarded Rose's decision with team-leading 20 points vs. Chicago.  He's a beast in the low post, vs. a very strong Chicago post player (both 6'9"), and also stepped out and hit two treys.

IWU now 4-2, starting league play Wednesday at Elmhurst.  That will be a very telling game to really see where the Titans are.

Glad the chat is back up.  Thanks to whomever did the fix'n. 

IWU'70

[markerickson]

Low post?  What is that??  I have not seen a set offense post a big man low with his back to the basket in far too long.  Even in NP's final game of last year, the opponent's All-American big man never established a low post ala Rob Berki or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

[Gregory Sager]

Low post?  What is that??  I have not seen a set offense post a big man low with his back to the basket in far too long.  Even in NP's final game of last year, the opponent's All-American big man never established a low post ala Rob Berki or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

I guess that you didn't watch Saturday's game at UW-Oshkosh, Mark. Phil Holmes, Jr. was down in the blocks for 32 minutes against the Titans and played very creditably, going 8-10 from the field and scoring a career-high 18 points. Granted, UWO was missing its own 6'9" low post presence, Jonah Rindfleish (out with a leg injury), but, nevertheless, Holmes will be a steady presence down low for North Park for the next two seasons.

[Greek Tragedy]

As noted in my WIAC post, NPU should've thrown down to Holmes ever possession. Oshkosh had no answer for him. Doesn't seem like much of a half court offense. Lots of 1 v 1s. 27 made FGs with only 5 assists.

[Gregory Sager]

Glad to see that the site is back up, and intact as well.

On Saturday up in Oshkosh:

UW-Oshkosh 69
North Park 64

Phil Holmes, Jr.: 18 pts (8-10 FG)
Kolden Vanlandingham: 16 pts, 7 rebs
Shamar Pumphrey: 11 pts, 6 rebs, 6 stls

The long and short of the game can be explained in the comparative shooting percentages of UWO and NPU from beyond the arc and at the foul line:

UWO	12-25 (.480)	13-16 (.813)
NPU	3-22 (.136)	7-14 (.500)

North Park's offense certainly wasn't helped by the fact that the Vikings did a poor job of moving the ball. Five assists in a game is awful. This can't simply be reduced to the fact that the Vikings play a lot of iso; they took advantage of their athleticism by playing just as much iso last year, and yet the Vikings averaged 13.9 assists per game, third in the league behind only Carthage and Wheaton. This season the Vikings are averaging 11.4 apg, and in their three losses they're averaging a mere six per game. Some of that is simple shooting inefficiency -- Kolden Vanlandingham and Shamar Pumphrey have always been streaky from outside, and opponents are forcing Quillin Dixon to take open shots more than Sean Smith would like, I suspect -- but a lot of it is simply poor shot selection coupled with a lack of moving the ball around the perimeter, plus zero attempts to kick out at all.

Defensively, opponents are shooting .386 from downtown against the Vikings, which is ridiculous. I understand that a gambling halfcourt defense is going to provide open looks to patient, high-IQ opponents that can reverse the ball, but the Vikings still have to close out better.

As noted in my WIAC post, NPU should've thrown down to Holmes ever possession. Oshkosh had no answer for him. Doesn't seem like much of a half court offense. Lots of 1 v 1s. 27 made FGs with only 5 assists.

As I showed with the numbers above, iso doesn't necessarily equate to "doesn't seem like much of a halfcourt offense." A good halfcourt offense that uses a lot of iso -- and NPU should spread the floor and use iso, because the Vikings have multiple players who can break down a defense off the dribble -- will get its efficiency through kickouts and with dumpoff passes down low when defenders converge to help in the paint. Right now, the Vikings aren't doing any of that. They're simply keeping their heads down and attacking the basket without any thought of passing the ball, or they're settling for low-percentage fadeaway pullup J's, both of which are a sign of frustrated players reverting to open-gym ball rather than doing what they're supposed to be doing.

[iwu70]

Yes, Wilmsen does get to the "low post" at times, with his back to the basket, and within 5 feet of the basket.  He's pretty effective down there, perhaps more effective offensively than Schneider was being in the first 3-4 games, hence the change in the starting line-up.  And, Hakim Williams a better defender than Trey Bazzell on the perimeter, though not quite as good a three-point shooter.   Williams can also rebound and back people down into the post area and score from in close.  He's played very well in the last 2-3 games, especially defensively.  Unrelenting.  So, IWU starting five appears now to be:  Wilmsen, Sroka, Roper, H. Williams and Yoder.   Perhaps it will change given circumstances and opponents, but it worked well vs. Chicago.   Rose is still with a 11-12 player rotation, so lots of folks getting good minutes and playing experience, keeping everyone involved and fresh. 

Big game Wednesday at Elmhurst.

IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

Looking at the CCIW as a whole, the current non-con record as we head into the first week of conference play is a frightening 25-24 (.510). I can't remember seeing the CCIW hover so close to .500 this deep into a season since the '80s, which was the tail end of the bygone era when college basketball was still structured in a way that allowed a D3 team to schedule a whole bunch of scholarship teams in non-conference play if the team's coach saw fit.

One note I will add specifically is that I may have been dumping upon our current bottom-dweller, Augustana (1-4), a little too hard. After that debacle in the Twin Cities two weekends ago, Augie came back this past week with two much more impressive performances. The Rock Islanders lost at UW-Whitewater last Tuesday, 93-79, and, although UWW led by double digits for most of the game, for almost the entirety of the game's final nine minutes Augustana kept that lead in the low teens -- even chopping it down to ten at one point. It may appear that I'm squinting very hard to find a silver lining on that day's particular dark cloud for Augie, but keep in mind that UWW is indisputably one of the best teams in all of D3, and the Warhawks were playing on their home floor. A fourteen-point loss to this particular UWW team in a game in which Augustana remained at least mildly competitive down the stretch is a better outcome than a single-digit loss to a UMAC team. Same thing goes for Augie's 55-41 loss to UW-Stevens Point on Sunday. Granted, UWSP is not nearly on the same level as UWW; newly-minted UWSP head coach Kent Dernbach is definitely faced with a rebuilding phase up there in central Wisconsin. But the Pointers certainly have WIAC-level talent, and I think the odds are good that they'll wind up in the middle of the pack in the WIAC this season. Augie never led after the opening few minutes, but Tom Jessee's team was within single digits in the final five minutes and change before fading.

I still think that this is going to be a dismal season by Augustana's traditional standards, but it might not be the trainwreck I'd thought when I watched Augie's losses at Crown and North Central (MN).

[SpartyBlue]

Low post?  What is that??  I have not seen a set offense post a big man low with his back to the basket in far too long.  Even in NP's final game of last year, the opponent's All-American big man never established a low post ala Rob Berki or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

I know he was on a bad team, but anyone remember Jake Schroeckenthaler from Edgewood the last couple of years?  Round mound of...well...low postness.  That dude had amazing footwork for his sumo physique.  Put up 29/14 vs. North Central, 18/13 vs. Wabash, etc. last season.