MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

John Wesley believed in truth and in a diligent study of source material regarding any topic upon which he spoke.

He also put out an amateur medical guide for his parishioners suggestion electric shocks might be curative for certain ailments, so, you know...

[Gregory Sager]

John Wesley believed in truth and in a diligent study of source material regarding any topic upon which he spoke.

He also put out an amateur medical guide for his parishioners suggestion electric shocks might be curative for certain ailments, so, you know...

Veracity is subject to source. If that's not the first law of epistemology, it should be. This is true whether your name is Matt Snyder or John Wesley. (As an algorithm creator and data analyst, Matt probably knows this principle by the acronym GIGO.) The source material used as the basis for public pronouncements should thus be updated as new information becomes available -- and there's certainly been a fair amount of new information that's come to light in the field of medicine over the past 300 years.

[iwu70]

I apologize for ever having started it with John Wesley, seeing what it has wrought. 

Please please, back to basketball.

'70 

[Gregory Sager]

[Gregory Sager]

It went right down to the wire, but Augustana escaped with a 60-58 win over Elmhurst at Carver in tonight's visit to the dentist basketball game. Augie not only won, but somehow had a 16-point lead over the 'jays in the second half (which obviously didn't last) on a night when the Doggies couldn't throw a ball into the Mississippi River if they were standing by the railing of the Centennial Bridge. They shot 33% from the field and 16% from beyond the arc, and managed to prevail due to a solid rebounding lead and fewer turnovers than EU and by playing defense well enough to keep the 'jays from putting up very good numbers themselves. I'd classify this game as "extremely close, but hardly thrilling" -- unless you're an Augie or Elmhurst fan, that is.

Tyler Knuth scored 18 and Evan Ambrose scored 12, and nobody else in an Augie uniform had more than six. Ray Maurchie led the hosts with seven caroms. Dom Trelenberg and Sebastian Blachut each had 11 for the 'jays, with Vinnie Adjahoungbeta, who was unable to score close to the basket with a trio of smaller AC players around him in the final few seconds, notching 10 and 8.

Augie now moves ahead of Elmhurst into sole possession of fourth place at 7-6, while the 'jays drop to 6-7 and have the added problem of being swept by Augie.

[Gregory Sager]

Saturday:

Augustana @ Carroll
Wheaton @ Carthage
Elmhurst @ North Park
Millikin @ Illinois Wesleyan

North Central has the bye.

All games are 4:15 tipoffs.

[blue_jays]

Not basketball related, but just saw the sad news of the passing of Wheaton College's legendary soccer coach Joe Bean. He will be greatly missed.

https://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2025/2/13/mens-soccer-wheaton-college-remembers-former-mens-soccer-coach-joe-bean-1939-2025.aspx

[teddydetitan]

Carroll 90
North Park 84

Kobe Simpson: 18 pts (3-4 trey, 5:2 a:to)
Erik Victorson: 17 pts (5-11 trey)
Aaron Wafford: 15 pts, 4:1 a:to
Jacob Naber: 14 pts, 7 rebs
Kylo Simpson: 10 pts

Lance Nelson: 20 pts, 7 rebs, 5:2 a:to
TJ Gardner: 15 pts, 3 stls
William Bates: 15 pts

The Vikings are in free fall. For the third game in a row the played an opponent that had more energy, more enthusiasm, and more execution than they did. The Vikings did erase a 14-point deficit in the last ten minutes to tie the game at 79-79, but they faded in crunch time while Carroll finished like the Pios were the (now former) contenders and the Vikings were the team in last place.

NPU has two more chances to right the longship, because if they go into the CCIW tourney looking like this the Vikings will be one-and-done and this once-promising season will come to an abrupt end.

Greg, couldn't remember if you said it or your color guy did early in the second half about Rico Powell trying to get to the tin for a shot with no regards to what the situation looked like in front of him, and sure enough, a killer turnover after fighting so hard to get back with about a minute to go. Interesting to see if he learns from that today.

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst 97
North Park 83

Tagen Pearson: 40 pts (11-15 FG, 8-12 trey, 10-10 FT), 6:2 a:to
Dom Trelenberg: 20 pts, 3:0 a:to
Sebastian Blachut: 15 pts
Vinnie Adjahoungbeta: 12 rebs
Talen Pearson: 8 rebs

TJ Gardner: 23 pts, 4 stls
Lance Nelson: 20 pts (4-7 trey), 7 rebs
Rico Powell: 14 pts
Preston Bax III: 5:0 a:to

Once again, the Vikings allowed an opposing star to have a career night on the crackerbox floor. The NPU defensive communication continues to be terrible, as too many times the Vikings were caught missing switches or not picking up people in transition. Most of all, they got outhustled again; Elmhurst, which played the way a team that is in the thick of a race to secure a tourney spot ought to play, ate up the Vikings on the glass by 15 rebounds. That's all desire. Worse, the Vikings appear to be mentally worn down by this losing streak, as their frustrations boiled over into two technicals.

Just one more chance to get this thing together before the tournament starts. Rising expectations have bred rising disappointment in terms of how the Vikings have performed.

[iwu70]

IWU over the Big Blue, 96-60.

'70

[bopol]

John Wesley believed in truth and in a diligent study of source material regarding any topic upon which he spoke.

He also put out an amateur medical guide for his parishioners suggestion electric shocks might be curative for certain ailments, so, you know...

That's why I lick 9 volt batteries.

[iwu70]

Again, IWU over the Big Blue, easily, 96-60.

For MU:
-
Bond 11
Straughter 9

TOs 20

Big Blue shooting 31%, 37% from three, and 86% FTs.

IWU wins the rebounding line 39-26

For IWU:

Roper 23
Funk 15 and 7
Anderson 15
Bazzell 10 -- including a monster dunk off a steal

IWU shooting 56%, 36% from three, and 93% FTs.

IWU moves to 19-4, still stuck in second behind Carthage.  IWU hosts NPU on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at The Shirk.

Big, energetic and appreciative crowd for Senior Day, for the six IWU seniors, with a great attendance number of 2632, perhaps the largest of the year.  Loud and proud for the six seniors:  Roper, Bazzell, Williams, Anderson, Wilmsen and Shane Miller. 

More basketball to be played.

IWU'70

[markerickson]

Pearson, a graduate student who earned an undergrad degree from Elmhurst, had scored more than 26 points only once in his collegiate career.  He scorched North Park for 40.  I don't think his shooting could have been diminished with only better communication between players. Then again, Elmhurst scored a whopping 97 points.  There has to something in addition to enhanced communication. And how many did talent-laden Wheaton score?  Triple digits.

[lmitzel]

Okay, took longer than I hoped it would, but I'm ready. Here's our standings with a week to go.

z-CAR	12-2
z-IWU	11-3
y-NPU	9-6
x-AUG	7-7
x-ELM	7-7
NCC	6-8
MIL	5-10
e-CRL	4-10
e-WHE	3-11

Let's start at the top. Carthage has a one game lead with two to play; their magic number is 1. The only way Illinois Wesleyan can steal the top seed is by winning out and Carthage losing out. These two teams have also locked up the byes to the weekend.

North Park, despite its tailspin over the past couple of weeks, is still in good shape in the conference race. A win at Illinois Wesleyan locks them into the #3 seed. Even with a loss, the Vikings would take that slot unless we see a three-way 9-7 tie between them, Augie, and Elmhurst, in which case the Rock Islanders will be the three and NPU falls to four.

Augie holds the tiebreaker over Elmhurst, so they're currently in the driver's seat for the four seed. Elmhurst would need to surpass them to steal it.

NCC's magic number to grab the final spot is 1. The Cardinals can finish anywhere from 4-6; they would only get the home quarterfinal if they win out, Elmhurst loses out, and Augie loses at least to IWU.

Millikin would need to win its final game against IWU AND have NCC lose out to steal the last spot.

Spreadsheet with all the scenarios.

[iwu70]

Thanks, Imitzel.  Looks like the CCIW tournament will be in Kenosha. 

'70