MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[dansand]

We can all shift to the "big dance" now and support Illinois. 

Baseball?  (No thanks 'til at least the snow melts).  Steroids anyone?   

Golf anyone? 

The Illinois Class AA tourney is still going on. Simeon vs. Peoria Richwoods tonight at 8:15 for the title. Go Wolverines! Bring the hardware home to Chi-town!

Greg, Richwoods happens to be my alma mater - go Knights!

Since I sure won't hear the result up here, please post!

Sorry Mr. Ypsi, the Knights go down 31-29 in overtime. They hit a desperation 3-pointer at the regulation buzzer to send it in to overtime, but Wolverine all-stater Derrick Rose scored the only basket of the overtime at the final buzzer.

Congratulations to IWU on a great season. A few people will view them, unfairly, as underachievers. What they were was an outstanding team that lost some games to some other very good teams including the eventual national champions, and finished 3rd in the national tournament. Nothing underachieving about it. As for Adam Dauksas, although he obviously had a bad game in the semis, from what I've seen of him the last four years I have a tough time believing he "choked." Even great players have off games and the Titans were able to survive his sub-par performance against Lawrence, but unfortunately they couldn't do it Friday.

Congrats, also, to VWC, beating the two teams that most people felt were the odds-on favorites to win the title. With only two seniors on the roster the expectations for the Marlins will be sky high next year.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Dansand,

Thanks for the (disappointing) news on the hs tourney.  A state championship game (in overtime, no less) where the teams COMBINE for 60 points??!!

[rpknupp]

Just wanted to hop onto the site and congraulate the Illinois Wesleyan Titans for their excellent finish- 3rd place in the Nation. Congrats to Scott Trost and the boys, and all the fans on the board. Another great CCIW Chat year!!!!

[diehardfan]

It was tough to see the guys so heartbroken after Friday's game... you wouldn't wish a last second loss like that on anyone.

The buzz from the crowd watching Zach's and Keelan's performances was really something else.... watching two guys you've never seen before drop 27 and 28 pts with sick shooting percentages must have been something else for the people who aren't used to the privilage of watching those two guys play. Those two guys really put this team on their back and carried them in that game against VA Wesleyan. I will miss watching Keelan play quite a bit... though it sure seems like his chances to continue playing are pretty good!

Though it was hard to see the CCIW go down, as a fan of the game, it's nice to see a new conference win the championship, just seemed good for DIII in general... and there's probably never been a final four ever that came down to four excellent games like that. I hope all the IWU fans who came down managed to have a good time and be proud of your guys, despite the fact that it didn't exactly end how you were hoping it would... they still did us proud!

[diehardfan]

It was awesome to catch up with many of you whom I haven't seen for ages, and to meet many new posters and secret lurkers. Having an IWU fan I've never met before tell me how much they missed seeing me post (after all the craziness last year with people associated with the program) was sure good for my soul. So thank you for being so sweet!

P.S. Greg, I said hi to the extremely full North Park's national championship banner for you. 

P.P.S. Huge congrats to Amelianovich, Dauksas, Harrigan, and Martin for their All-American nods! What an honor for the CCIW to land four players on the All-America teams!

[Gregory Sager]

Dansand,

Thanks for the (disappointing) news on the hs tourney.  A state championship game (in overtime, no less) where the teams COMBINE for 60 points??!!

There's no shot clock in high school basketball, Chuck, so it's possible to slow down the game much more than in college or the pros. Peoria Richwoods definitely put the brakes on the basketball this weekend -- their semifinal win over Thornwood was only 39-26. They lock into a tight 2-3 zone on defense, and they refuse to come out of it -- especially against a much faster team like Simeon. On several occasions during the game, Simeon simply held the ball near center court for minutes at a time while the Knights stood back behind the arc in their zone. The slowdown game was really the only chance Peoria Richwoods had against the favored Wolverines.

Aside from that, neither team shot well at all; the lunging trey at the buzzer in regulation by Justin Dehm that Dansand mentioned was the first and only field goal that Peoria Richwoods hit in the fourth quarter.

It wasn't a pretty game, but it was very exciting.

P.S. Greg, I said hi to the extremely full North Park's national championship banner for you. 

Thanks, but it still ticks me off that they cram all five titles onto one banner, rather than giving each one its own glorious gonfalon. 

[sac]

Did I miss ESPN mentioning the D3 National Champions on Sportscenter this morning?..........or am I right that they didn't bother mentioning the games at all.

After spending a few days doing a segment for OTL you'd think they'd at least mention the games.

Big giant raspberry to ESPN.

PPPPPFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

[titan missile]

Did I miss ESPN mentioning the D3 National Champions on Sportscenter this morning?..........or am I right that they didn't bother mentioning the games at all.

After spending a few days doing a segment for OTL you'd think they'd at least mention the games.

Big giant raspberry to ESPN.

PPPPPFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

They did have a blurb up on their webpage. A link to it was on the Men's College BB Frontpage.  Very small write-up.

[titanfan]

They also had it go across the "Bottom Line".  I guess it's better than nothing.

[Gregory Sager]

The 6-9 kid for PR had a field day blocking shots.

That was Billy Cole, who has already declared for the University of Illinois even though he's only a junior. I was not impressed by him. He blocked plenty of shots all right, but when you're 6'9" and nobody on the other team clears 6'5" you can swat shots almost by accident. More importantly, he only scored one single point and went something like 0-7 from the field in a game in which Peoria Richwoods desperately needed him to provide some offense in the low post against the much shorter Simeon bigs. He's also advertised as having great range facing the basket, but he obviously didn't hit any jumpers, either.

Derrick Rose of Simeon is amazing, and I think that TV analyst Mark Lindo was correct in predicting that he'll only play a year or so in college before going pro. But the Wolverine who really impressed me was 5'10" point guard Dexter Williams. He was the guy who was asked by coach Robert Smith to do all of the running around in Simeon's box-and-one defense and guard the following players in the tournament: Jacob Pullen of Proviso East, Jon Scheyer of Glenbrook North, Patrick Beverley of Marshall, and Justin Dehm of Peoria Richwoods.

He held Pullen, one of the state's top juniors, to four points on 1-8 shooting before Pullen fouled out in Simeon's supersectional victory over Proviso East.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/sports/current/wp/03-08-06=853593.html

The Duke-bound 6'6" senior Scheyer, the best player in the state and probably one of the best high school players in Illinois history, scored only 18 points in his final game Friday night, over 11 below his average, with Williams on him so tight the entire game that they were probably sharing the same stick of gum:

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/highschool/boysbasketball/cs-060317simeon,1,1503070.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

Beverley, one of the most explosive scorers I think I've ever seen on the high school level (he averages over 31 ppg), scored 19 points in the Commandos' loss to Simeon in the semifinals.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/highschool/cs-060318prepsemi2,0,157764.story?coll=cs-highschool-headlines

And then in the title game Williams was assigned to Dehm. In the Public League playoffs, he guarded Von Steuben star Jeremie Simmons (who has five or six inches on him) and Crane's Kansas-bound superstar Sherron Collins. Williams, whom Tribune prep sports columnist Barry Temkin has dubbed "Velcro", is an undersized player who rarely scores .. but he's one of the best defenders I can ever remember seeing. He was just amazing. I don't know if he has the grades or the test scores, but he'd make a phenomenal D3 player.

[Titan Q]

Back from another enjoyable trip to Salem, Virginia.  ODAC Commissioner Brad Bankston, the city of Salem, and everyone involved in running the Division III Final Four does such a great job with the tournament.  It's always great to see the D3 student-athletes treated so well and put on that stage.

This was my 8th trip to Salem and I can only recall maybe 1 or 2 other Final Fours where the 4 teams were this dead even.  Virginia Wesleyan, IWU, Wittenberg, and Amherst were very different in makeup and styles, but I think the games showed that the title could have been won by any of them.  Virginia Wesleyan beat IWU by 2 in a game IWU must have lead for 35 minutes...Wittenberg beat Amherst by 4 in a game Amherst led by 8 with 5:44 to play and 4 with 3:05...IWU beat Amherst by 3 in the 3rd place game...and Virginia Wesleyan defeated Wittenberg for the title in a game the Marlins led for about 20 seconds total.

Last year Stevens Point was just a lot better than the other teams in the field and the Pointers rolled over York (by 23) and Rochester (by 24).  This year the title was won by the team that made the most plays down the stretch of two games.  Ton Ton Balenga, Tyler Fantin, and Brandon Adair were amazing in the final minutes of both the IWU and Wittenberg games and as a team, Virginia Wesleyan's ability to keep attacking, even when in pretty serious trouble late, was really something.

All four teams should feel very good about their play at the Final Four.  It was great to have 4 outstanding games.

[wheatonc]

Congratulations to Illinois Wesleyan for their superb effort in the Final 4.  You have a right to be very proud of your performance in Salem.  I cannot get over how good a player Zach Freeman has become the past several weeks and am looking forward to seeing him play next season.  It has been a delight to watch him, Keelan, and Adam the last few years.  Great players and first class kids! 

Augustana and North Central are also to be congratulated for their outstanding play during the season and into post-season.  What a great conference we have!

[Titan Q]

Keelan Amelianovich and Zach Freeman were outstanding for the Titans this weekend.  I had people coming up to me all weekend asking/saying things like, "How is #32 not in Division 1?" and "#30 is scary."

vs Virginia Wesleyan....

Amelianovich: 28 pts, 4 reb (12-19 FG)
Freeman: 27 pts, 7 reb (13-16 FG)

vs Amherst...

Amelianovich: 21 pts, 8 reb (8-14 FG)
Freeman: 19 pts, 7 reb (7-9 FG)

While I realize the desire to have 2 players from the 2nd place team on the All-Tournament team, I really think Zach Freeman should have made it over Wittenberg's Dane Borchers.  Borchers had two great games, but I think most at the Civic Center would say Freeman should have been on the 5-man team.

Freeman: 46 pts, 14 reb (20-25 FG)
Borchers: 30 pts, 16 reb (11-20 FG)

Zach really turned the corner late this season.  All of that scary athletic ability and talent finally came together in IWU's final 8 games...


vs Augustana: 19 pts, 4 reb (8-10 FG)
vs North Central: 17 pts, 6 reb (7-12 FG)
vs Carroll: 29 pts, 10 reb (13-19 FG)
vs UW-Whitewater: 11 pts, 7 reb (3-5 FG)
vs Lawrence: 21 pts, 12 reb (7-9)
vs Puget Sound: 19 pts, 10 reb (8-13)
vs Virginia Wesleyan: 27 pts, 7 reb (13-16 FG)
vs Amherst: 19 pts, 7 reb (7-9 FG)

An average of 20.3 pts, 8.4 reb, and FG % of .710 (66-93)...and all 8 games were on the road, in very tough environments.

IWU will have one of the best big guys, and one of the best overall players, in Division III next year.  Zach Freeman will be one heck of a building block for the 2006-07 Titans.

[Titan Q]

The 6-9 kid for PR had a field day blocking shots.

That was Billy Cole, who has already declared for the University of Illinois even though he's only a junior. I was not impressed by him.

I went to the Bloomington/Richwoods supersectional title game last week at Redbird Arena.  I was not impressed by Cole at all as a kid heading to play for the Illini.  He's a very good high school basketball player, but I'm going to remain real skeptical about Cole's ability to successfully play power forward in the Big Ten until I actually see it.  I'm also not sold on the 7-0 string bean from little Class A Riverton that Bruce Weber & Co.  gave a ride to.

[veterancciwfan]

Back from Salem. VWC is a very impressive team and has a good chance to make the Final 4 next year. Sometimes you just have to give an opponent credit. It was a great Final 4, but the attendance was disappointing. Don't know when the contract is up for bid, but the brand new Bloom'ton Colisuem is looking for events and Bloom'ton/Normal is a D3 hotbed and would support the Final 4 better than Salem.

As a long time Titan fan, I have to rate this season as the best from a fan's viewpoint. So many great close games, some of them heartbreaking losses. But with a 25-7 record (an all time 32 game high for IWU and that doesn't even count the memorable U. of I. exhibition when the game was tied with 13 minutes and change left), IWU certainly broke more hearts than vice versa (Lawrence, Whitewater, Puget Sound to name a few). What a recruiter and X and O's coach IWU has in Trost. And give Dennie Bridges all the credit for selecting him to replace himself. A lot of coaches wanted the job and selecting Scott Trost was certainly a brilliant choice. IWU seniors, thanks for a great 4-year run. I know you will be as successful after graduation as you were on the court.