MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

IWU (in their 3rd game) beating traditionally weak Illinois College (in their opener) by only 5 points gives me pause.  Anyone got some details?  Did the Titans just mail it in?

[Hoosier Titan]

Ypsi,

No, the Titans didn't mail it in.  This was the first I've seen them this year, so I can't compare tonight's performance to what happened in Whitewater. 

Illinois College seemed much better than I remember them from last year.  The Titans' long shots were not falling tonight, and they just seemed unable to put together a long run, despite individual great plays. 

The game was about half an hour late in starting due to--we heard in the stands--two of the refs being caught in traffic around Chicago.  The officiating, in the end, didn't determine the game, but there was a stretch early in the second half where it seemed that neither Freeman could do anything right in the eyes of the refs.  Andrew made some huge baskets down the stretch to put it away for the Titans.  Andrew Gilmore was the high scorer and played the point efficiently and well, Darius Gant had a double double, and  Zach Freeman attracted a lot of attention everywhere on the court. 

This was definitely one of those "not pretty but it's a win" nights.

[bluejaybacker1]

The Elmhurst score, I looked on St. Norbert's website.

Elmhurst won 56-54.

Lee had 23 points and Burks had 18.

Here is the re-cap.


http://www.snc.edu/athletics/basketball/men/elm107.htm

[AndOne]

Ypsi,

No, the Titans didn't mail it in.  This was the first I've seen them this year, so I can't compare tonight's performance to what happened in Whitewater. 

Illinois College seemed much better than I remember them from last year.  The Titans' long shots were not falling tonight, and they just seemed unable to put together a long run, despite individual great plays. 

The game was about half an hour late in starting due to--we heard in the stands--two of the refs being caught in traffic around Chicago.  The officiating, in the end, didn't determine the game, but there was a stretch early in the second half where it seemed that neither Freeman could do anything right in the eyes of the refs. Andrew made some huge baskets down the stretch to put it away for the Titans.  Andrew Gilmore was the high scorer and played the point efficiently and well, Darius Gant had a double double, and  Zach Freeman attracted a lot of attention everywhere on the court. 

This was definitely one of those "not pretty but it's a win" nights.

I just got off the phone with the two refs in question, Its seems they got pretty bored while stuck in traffic coming out of Chi town so they played a game of "lets think of what we can call fouls on the Freeman's for." Then, when they got to the game, they put their thoughts into practice.     

Seriously, Titan fans, is there honestly anyone out there who didn't think IWU would just destroy Illinois College?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Thanks for the game summary, HT (and the humor AO), [+k to you both].

I was concerned because, unless I am misremembering, that is a team that even in down years we beat by 20+.  With the graduation losses, I figured this would be a down year, but with the win over #4 UWW AT UWW, I was getting rather hopeful!  Perhaps this was just a glitch.

At any rate, a win is a win.

[Mr. Ypsi]

With the only game not yet reported being Millikin vs. Indiana-Northwest (your daughter's middle school jv team could beat them! ), I think it is safe to declare a perfect night for the CCIW!

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana 69, Beloit 52
Carthage 118, Grinnell 106
Elmhurst 56, St. Norbert 54
Illinois Wesleyan 75, Illinois College 70
Millikin 88, Indiana-Northwest 73
North Park 68, Concordia (IL) 31
Wheaton 70, Benedictine 58

Some fairly big surprises tonight. I'll leave it for others to decide whether the biggest one was Illinois Wesleyan's unexpectedly narrow win over the Blueboys at the Shirk Center, Millikin's uncharacteristic non-blowout win over IUN in Gary, or NPU's annihilation of CUC in the Cougars' lair in River Forest.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'll leave it to the first two - blowing out the former CURF should not be a big surprise (EVEN for NPU, which DOES seem to be on the rise).

I'm very worried about the IWU game, but until I see evidence to the contrary I guess I'm willing to pass it off as totally overlooking the foe.

(C'mon, guys.  When you lose ALMOST your entire rotation, you cannot overlook ANYONE!  You've got INCREDIBLE potential, but you have to show up EVERY night.)

This is the most enigmatic Titan squad in many years.  Missing out on the CCIW tourney would not shock me; winning the national title woud not shock me (either of those would surprise me, but not shock me! )  I just don't know what to make of them?!

[Gregory Sager]

I did a double-take when I saw the final score.  The Vikings led 33-16 at the half and increased the margin even further after the break.  Jason Gordon was the only player for either squad in double figures with 14, but  14 of the 15 Vikes who saw playing time also chipped in with at least two points.  The box score shows that North Park dominated in every phase of the game (16 turnovers to 25 by the Cougars; 14 Viking steals to only 3 by Concordia; a 42-30 advantage in rebounds; 48% to 22% shooting; and so forth).  That must not have been a fun game for the home crowd in River Forest to watch.  I'll be interested to read a first-person account of the game.

http://www.cuchicago.edu/athletics/stats/men/basketball/2006/mnpucuc.htm

To say that I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw this evening at Greiseman Gym in River Forest would be a severe understatement. For a month now I've been hearing from the coaches about how NPU really has something special this year in terms of defense, but now I can attest to it firsthand. Granted, CUC was missing its starting PG, David Mikrut, but other than him the starters for the Cougars were the same crew that beat the Vikings by ten in the crackerbox last season. That was the first loss that NPU had suffered at the hands of their closest D3 neighbor since the 1966-67 season, and while I doubt that that particular indignity entered into the minds of the Vikings this evening, they definitely played as if they have no intention of losing to the Cougars for another four decades.

The Vikings defense was simply suffocating. They hermetically sealed the offense of the Cougars, and they didn't even employ a press to do so. Sheldon Evans and Jason Gordon, and then the rest of the NPU guard corps that subbed in for them, simply picked up their men at midcourt and harried them with superior quickness and flailing arms. When they weren't stealing the ball they were forcing bad passes, and when they weren't forcing bad passes they were inducing the Cougars to throw up ugly off-balance shots. Paul Brenegan subbed early and often, as can be seen by the box score, and every wave of Vikings that entered the game seemed to feel a personal obligation to hold down the Cougars. It took CUC eight minutes into the second half before they even broke 20 on the scoreboard, and while I don't have my NPU record book handy I would not be at all surprised if the 31 points that CUC scored on the night, and/or the 15 points that the Cougars scored in the second half, constitute all-time bests for North Park in the "team points allowed" categories. I'm also pretty sure that no North Park team has ever had fourteen players score in one game. Brenegan brought in the JV in the waning minutes to hold down the final score a bit, but they proved to be equally capable of clamping down on the Cougars and contributing to the victory.

Granted, CUC isn't Virginia Wesleyan or Wooster, but they're not that bad. As I said, this is the same team that beat the Vikes by ten in the crackerbox last season, won 11 games (the most that the Cougars have won in ages), and was within one point of Augustana with under nine minutes to go in their contest with the Doggies. The Cougars were simply bushwacked tonight by a North Park team whose speed, depth, and energy took them completely by surprise.

There's a lot of things about the Vikes that still need work -- reducing unforced turnovers, boxing out on the defensive boards, putting more effort into getting the ball into the post -- but this team has some real potential. I suspect that a lot of people around the CCIW are going to take NPU lightly. For the first time in several years, I can honestly say that if they do so they will be making a big mistake.

Above all, if I'm gonna sit in a gym for forty minutes and watch someone get squashed, it's sure nice to see NPU be the boot rather than the bug for a change. 

[Gregory Sager]

I'll leave it to the first two - blowing out the former CURF should not be a big surprise (EVEN for NPU, which DOES seem to be on the rise).

Chuck, as I said in the above post, this exact same Cougars squad beat NPU by ten in the crackerbox last season. They won eleven games, swept Benedictine in three contests (probably the first time that CURF/CUC's ever done that), and played Augie tough. Seven of the top eight Cougars players from last year played tonight. Anybody who was not surprised by the fact that NPU not only beat CUC by 37 points this evening, but may have set some school defense records in the process, isn't aware of all the pertinent facts.

As I said, the Cougars are not world-beaters by any stretch of the imagination. I predict that they'll muddle through into a middle-of-the-pack finish in the NAthCon this season. North Park is going to have much tougher tests ahead, starting with next Saturday's trip down to Jacksonville to play an Illinois College Blueboys team that gave your alma mater's boys all that they could handle this evening in Bloomington. But you simply don't see a one-year turnaround in results between two teams like this very often, and I don't think it's expected at all.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg,

I hereby retract my "first two" statement!

But if you aspire to compete in the CCIW, you SHOULD blow-out CUC (CURF, whoever!)   (Though it sounds like they may be better than I gave them credit for..)

And I sense that NPU WILL win a few this year.

[Gregory Sager]

Greg,

I hereby retract my "first two" statement!

But if you aspire to compete in the CCIW, you SHOULD blow-out CUC (CURF, whoever!)  

Oh, I absolutely agree. But the point is that "aspire to compete" is a three-word combination that nobody in their right mind would've attributed to the Vikings over the past four seasons.

Believe me, I'm not overestimating tonight's result in terms of where it places NPU in the CCIW's scheme of things. I'm not predicting that this team will be the second coming of Harper/Thomas/Greer & Co., or even that they'll necessarily finish in the CCIW's first division. What I am saying is that the 2006-07 Vikings squad will be able to compete, night-in and night-out, in this league -- and that's something that they haven't been able to do for far too long. The program is taking some serious steps forward, and that's all any of us Vikings fans can ask for.

[Gregory Sager]

BTW, I would be remiss if I didn't congratulate the Redmen upon winning their opener. Why? Because I can't imagine a more difficult way to start the season, coachingwise, than playing your opener at Grinnell. There are certainly tougher teams in D3 than the Pioneers, but when you're trying to install your offensive and defensive structures, hone your halfcourt sets, and instruct your younger players on the right way to do things -- well, let's just say that all that goes right out the window when you have to play Grinnell. It's like a forty-minute tactical and philosophical hiatus for a coach ... which makes me wonder if something fell off of a shelf and hit Bosko on the head prior to his agreeing to open Carthage's season with this game. 

[dansand]

Kind of a lackluster win for Augie Tuesday night over Beloit (69-52). Guards played great. Big guys were not very good. Wessels, Delp and Brusveen carried the Vikes. Wessels with his defense and running the offense. Delp and Brusveen knocking down three's and both playing well on the defensive end also. I thought Augie ran their offense pretty well, getting the shots they wanted all night. The problem was none of their big guys could make a shot. Tons of missed layups and they also had trouble hanging onto the ball. The majority of their 23 turnovers were by the big guys. Just not a very good night for their front court players. Headin' to work now. More later...

[Gregory Sager]

Augie wasn't the only CCIW team whose big men apparently took the night off, Dan. Didja take a gander at that Elmhurst @ St. Norbert box? Starting guards Brian Lee and Ryan Burks scored 41 of Elmhurst's 56 points. Each recorded 18 shot attempts from the field. Big men Nick Michael and Brent Ruch, who are supposed to be the best asset the Bluejays have this year, only went 3-7 and 1-6 from the field, respectively. You'd think that Elmhurst, for all its talk of playing uptempo this season, would be pounding it into the post now that injuries have forced the 'jays to play walk-it-up-the-floor. What's more, they only had eight rebounds between the two of them.

The other five 'jays who played (Jay Brizzolara, Chris Childs, Mark Aloisio, and Jared Hintzsche) scored a grand total of five points in 79 combined minutes of play. Very unusual stat line for Elmhurst, to say the least. But, hey, when you're on the road a win's a win.