MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwumichigander]

As good as IWU (the Illinois greenie version) is this year, what are the chances of it going undefeated? 

Martin - Neither the Titans or the Titan Nation are thinking in terms of an undefeated season.  Undefeated from the conference tournament through the NCAA Tournament - yes.

Titans have clear goals this season: win one game at a time, win the conference, win the conference tournament and win the NCAA Tournament. To achieve these goals, the Titans need to execute flawlessly, play team ball, play for 40+ minutes, defend both ends - to get the ball back so they can shoot - and finish opponents early and often.

I have yet to see this Titan team reach the level that our 1997 National Championship team did which was a realization by the that team that - they were their own competition.  The starters on that National Championship team still hit their numbers while playing fewer minutes yet the entire team continued to improve the overall team numbers.

This current Titan team needs to get to that championship level - where either they force an opponent to play up to the Titan's level or finish the opponent off early.

[Titan Scouser]

Well said, Michigander.  I was an undergraduate at Indiana in the early 70's and was in Philadelphia when the 75-76 Hoosiers won the D1 National Championship after an undefeated season.  Last year, Quinn Buckner said about that time that Bobby Knight used to tell them "Don't worry about the next game.  Worry about every posession." 

This Titan team has the capability to achieve all of its goals...but they will have to work at it one posession at a time.

[Redmen54]

Carthage loses 72-69 in ot.

Jeffrey finishes with career high 28.

No details just yet.

[Gregory Sager]

These are good losses for the Red Men. Losing tight ones on the road to NAIA-1 powerhouses like Concordia (CA) and Westmont will make Carthage that much tougher when CCIW play commences, and they're coming so early in the season that Bosko will have plenty of time to sort out the Red Men's weaknesses, make adjustments, and (if he's more fortunate than last season) be able to settle upon a consistent rotation.

[augiedad]

Wednesday:

St. Xavier 74
Illinois-Chicago 73
(@ Ill-Chicago)

Friday:

Illinois-Chicago 73
Georgia Tech 51
(@ Ga Tech)



It's a funny game, isn't it?

[petemcb]

Attention all Titan fans:  Your next game, against St. Xavier, is going to be one of the better games to see all season.  They are a deep, talented, athletic, disciplined, unselfish team.....even without Jabari Saunders.

First the scoop on Saunders:  He was sitting on the bench, his left foot in a boot, the entire game.  I happened to be sitting in front of his mother at last night's games at the Shannon Center, and got talking to her.  She was saying that Saunders reported pain and a popping sound in his left foot right near the end of the first half of the UIC game.  He's not even sure how it happened.  After going to the bench, he got up with the team at the end of the first half, and just went straight down to the floor, the pain was so bad.  He's due for tests today, and it is highly unlikely that he will be playing on Monday (or for a while, it sounded like).

Having said that, St. Xavier has a couple of strong post players.  In particular, Bolger, who looks to be a good 6'8", is adept both in the paint, on both ends of the glass, and even on the wing on a press break.  He looks to be a good decision maker on the open floor, and is strong and active on the offensive boards.  St. Xavier also has several talented and physically strong wing players, all roughly 6'3" to 6'6", who can put the ball on the floor, get to the hoop and finish, work the ball around the horn quickly, and, at least last night (and apparently the other night @ UIC) are deadeye shooters.  They are a very exciting team to watch.  This is the third consecutive year I have seen them, including an early season scrimmage last year versus the Titans, and I would say this is definitely a better team than last year's.  I would be surprised if this isn't the Titans' toughest test of the year (not counting exhibition games against the likes of the Illini!).  St. Xavier would be in the hunt for first place if they were a CCIW team this year. 

For anyone who's interested in extrapolations from other games, here's some material for you.  Huntington, IN  beat Olivet Nazarene University by 10 or so.  Olivet looked to be hurting at the point.  No leadership, and, other than  6'5" Stan Chismark (one of their wings), no real sense of urgency  -  even though they were playing the seventh ranked NAIA D2 team in the country.  Olivet would whittle their deficit down to 8, 6, a couple of times 4, but just didn't have the heart, leadership, horses, I don't know what, to get over the hump and take control of the game.

Huntington is a nice collection of intense, well-schooled, hard-working (and probably hard-practicing) Indiana ballplayers who play unselfishly, shoot well, and wait to find the best scoring opportunity for the team.  Today's Huntington vs. St. Xavier game at 1:00 should be one of the better games available in Chicagoland this season.  Somebody else will have to report on it  -  I can't make that one. 

I DO wish I could make St. X. @ the Shirk.  That should be a great one......even without Jabari Saunders.

Oh, by the way, Jabari Saunders wasn't the only player limping his way around the Shannon center in a boot.......John Paxson's son, Ryan, from Lake Forest High School, is a freshman at Olivet..........in a boot.  They could have used him last night.  I saw him in high school a few times, and he plays with his father's fire  - and shooting eye  -  both things Olivet could have used last night.

[b_holmgren]

 The reporting consists primarily of reading the front page of the Tribune and Sun Times sports sections and rehashing it on television....  

I realize that sports journalism is an oxymoron - particularly on television.  The anchors are usually ex-jocks who have a hard time pronouncing many words let alone doing any actual reporting.  I rarely watch television news because it is so vapid.  When I do watch it, something ends up setting me off.

Martin, I don't think you quite know what you're talking about. Depending on the length of the sports segment and the nature of the content (highlights, sound bytes, voiceovers) an anchor will spend anywhere from 2-3-4 hours on a single show. Most do a good amount of research (from a wide variety of sources) in coming up with facts, stats, etc to throw in.  In the case of a game like UIC, which probably ended fairly late, there is a certain amount of time crunch involved. By the time he acquired the highlights, cut them, scripted them out, and determined his lead-in, there probably wasn't a lot of opportunity to research the complete history of a no-name opponent. Especially considering the fact that there were probably several other late-ending games to edit and script, as well.

As far as TV sports not being journalism, I find that to be an ignorant comment. Just because it's not the same format as print doesn't relegate it to pure entertainment. There are plenty of anchors out there who aren't caught up in the Sportscenter movement, and - gasp - actually make an effort to dig up facts and report. TV sports and print journalism actually share a lot of the same challenges and skill-sets. I would argue that it takes a heck of a lot more skill to write a good sportscast than it does to write a newspaper article.

I'm sure there are a handful of former jocks butchering words out there, but I don't know of many. Most are very talented in what is an extremely competitive industry. Granted you say you don't watch much TV. When you do, you're evidently watching the wrong people.

[augiedad]

Thank you for the report, Pete.

If you think about it, there is a chance that St. Xavier (even without Saunders) is better than any Division III team IWU will play this season.  SXU is a team loaded with talented scholarship players, so it is certainly possible they are better than UW-Oshkosh, Wittenberg, Wooster, Puget Sound, Hanover, etc.

As always, IWU plays a great schedule and this game will help them a bunch.

[augiedad]

Carthage's performance vs Concordia and Westmont (two very close games) is a good sign for the Redmen.  As was posted here recetntly by Q I think, Westmont lost by 1 point @ D2 power Metro State.  And Concordia is always tough - won the NAIA D1 title twice recently.

If Carthage is our 4th or 5th best team, the CCIW is loaded this year.

[dansand]

East-West is awful. SXU should be able to play their JV team (if they have one) and win by 20.

OK, I'll have to take that back. St. Xavier's JV lost 149-73 to Black Hawk JC last night.

[kenoshamark]

Carthage takes the final game in Hawaii by a score of 78 - 64.  25 to 6 run to start the second half was the difference. 

Stats to follow shortly....

Doesn't get much easier next week as they take on Calvin and Hope.

[kenoshamark]

Carthage  78
Concordia 64

Trey Bowens 16, Nav Thompson 14, Mike Hart and Keena Johnson with 10 and Kyle Jeffery with 9.

Bosko commented that the second half was as good a 20 minutes as they have played in the last 3 years.   

Bowens had an excellent three games with 17 points in the first game and 16 in the last two games. 

[bluejaybacker1]

Elmhurst 87
Simpson 75

Chris Martin-had 40 pts (career high) on 13-18 from the field and 12-14 from the line. He also pulled down 7 brds and had 4 steals.

Teams combined for 49 fouls.

The lead stayed between 9 and 17 during the second half, the Jays struggled to put them away for good.

Next week should be a tough week for the Jays with games at UW-Plateville and at home vs. Hanover.

[Uncledudley]

Go Red Men

[veterancciwfan]

What's the story on Schlemm (sp?) so far with Carthage? Is he playing and, if so, is he effective? I only saw him play in the 2 IWU games last year.