MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

An article from today's Pantagraph and some match-up notes on the DePauw tournament IWU plays in this weekend...

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/11/24/sports/doc456689d8bc40d386118700.txt

http://www.iwuhoops.com/notes07.htm


The Titans play the late game tonight (7:00pm CST), with DePauw and Judson squaring off in the 5:00pm CST game.  IWU will have to play well tonight to beat Ohio Wesleyan.  The Bishops went 18-9 last year and 12-4 in the NCAC, including a win over then #1-ranked Wooster in the regular season finale.  OWU is led by two-time 1st Team all-NCAC performer Ben Chojnacki (15.7 ppg, 7.7 ppg), a 6-4 post player.  They've had no problem in their first three games:

96-31 over D'Youville
84-64 over Penn State - Behrend
90-64 over Washington & Jefferson


Ron Rose makes a very accurate statement in that Pantagraph piece: "We realize that we don't have a huge margin for error."  IWU's starting 5 may be as good as any in the CCIW, but depth - especially after the two recent injuries - is a big problem.  The Titans need solid performances off the bench from guys like Tyler Smith, Brett Chamernik, Jordan Morris, and Teddy Toliver.  Sounds like 6-6 junior Brian Nussbaum (missed last year with a torn labrum) may give it a go this weekend, which would be a big help.

[BigPoppa]

I don't know about the league office assigning refs for nonconf games in addition to conf. However, a possible reason for a ref having to travel a fair distance to a game  is that I have heard a (CCIW) coach can "blackball" 2 conference refs a year from his team's games. Lets say, for example, Bosko feels 2 refs had it in for him last season. He can request the league office not assign those 2 refs to any Carthage games this year. Due to this, the league may sometimes have to be creative when it assigns refs to games involving CCIW teams. Also, I wonder if the league office would admit this?

I was allowed to "blackball" two umpires per season while coaching college baseball. Many conferences have that rule to eliminate possible conflicts between coaches and officials. I liked the rule as it weeded out the poor officials as they were rarely given games to work.

[Jim Matson]

Some CCIW news of interest (and surprise)...

Wheaton soccer pulls off the upset and takes down Ohio Wesleyan 1-0 in the national semis.  Wheaton will now play for the national championship tomorrow.

This is the best NCAA post season story I've seen in 26 years of Division III soccer!  Wow!

[dlawrenz]

The Thunder have two teams playing for the NCAA championship tomorrow as the women's team knocked off Virginia Wesleyan today, 2-0.  This is the first time in Wheaton history that both men and women's teams are playing in the championship games in the same year!  Now if we can get some divine intervention for our football team tomorrow, we could win a trifecta!

[David Collinge]

Ohio Wesleyan gets a measure of revenge, on the CCIW at least, by defeating Illinois Wesleyan in men's hoops tonight, 87-74.

[Pat Coleman]

Apparently the league office is assigning referees for all nonconf. games in addition to the league games. I wonder why?

This is fairly common where I'm from.

[Titan Q]

IWU lost to an Ohio Wesleyan team that is just probably a better basketball team right now.  The Bishops are extremely well-coached and their offense is a thing of beauty.  It reminded me of watching a good Hanover team play in a lot of ways.  They play "4 out, 1 in" and always seem to get the ball to the low post player in a good one-on-one matchup, and if you double they find the open man every time.  I do not have the stat sheet and it's not online yet, but OWU shot the heck out of the ball tonight -- great FG% and 3-pt%.

IWU was led by Darius Gant with 18 points and 9 rebounds.  I believe Z. Freeman had 17.  OWU has a great player in 6-4 forward Ben Chojnacki who can beat you around the basket or from beyond the arc. 

IWU's lack of depth is a big, big problem right now, but it is what it is, as they say.  The Titans will have to deal with it and find a way to play through it.

After this "out-of-region" game, IWU now has 3 more that "don't count" in a row -- NAIA's Judson, St. Xavier, and Olivet Nazarene.  Judson (1-7) was way better than I thought they'd be.  They took a good DePauw team to the final 30 seconds or so.  Judson has a good big guy and a really good point-guard that will give IWU problems.  The Titans will have to play pretty well to beat Judson, and I didn't think I'd say that before seeing them play.

OWU vs DePauw should be a good game -- very contrasting styles.  Undersized OWU with their ball movement and 3-point attack and DePauw with just a ton of size.

[Titan Q]

The IWU/OWU box...

http://www.depauw.edu/ath/mbasket/2007/stats/1124062.htm


Ohio Wesleyan shot 57% from the field, including 45% (14-31) from beyond the arc.  IWU was led by the frontline:

Darius Gant: 18 pts, 6 reb
A. Freeman: 16 pts, 8 reb
Z. Freeman: 16 pts, 9 reb

[martin]

OWU was expected to be strong this year but most of the attention in the NCAC is focused on Wooster.  Wittenberg was picked for second (87 points), just above OWU (84).

The DePauw/OWU game should be interesting.  DePauw was picked to win the SCAC.  They lost at Chicago this past Sunday - 79-71.  Chicago led 43-40 at the half, controlled the second half but never could pull away.  DePauw had balanced scoring - only six players scored, totals ranging from 8 to 16.

Wheaton is at Chicago this coming Wednesday and the Maroons travel down to IWU on December 16.  UofC is starting three guards.  The experienced duo from Nebraska of Brandon Woodhead and Jesse Meyer is joined by freshman Jake Pancratz.  Chicago won at Trinity (TX) yesterday 60-57.  Trinity was picked to finish second in the SCAC.  They take on Southwestern tonight.  Last night, Meyer started but played only 10 minutes.  He may have been injured - no word yet.  Woodhead led Chicago with 16 points in 25 minutes. He finished with 4 fouls so may have been in foul trouble.  Nate Hainje only played 20 minutes - also had 4 fouls.

Woodhead and Meyer are a very good, experienced set of guards.  It will be interesting to see how Kent Raymond and Wheaton do against them.

[Titan Q]

Final:

IWU 92
Judson 50


Zach Freeman: 29 pts, 16 rebounds (11-11 FG)


http://www.depauw.edu/ath/mbasket/2007/stats/1125061.htm

[Gregory Sager]

The DePauw/OWU game should be interesting.  DePauw was picked to win the SCAC.  They lost at Chicago this past Sunday - 79-71.  Chicago led 43-40 at the half, controlled the second half but never could pull away.  DePauw had balanced scoring - only six players scored, totals ranging from 8 to 16.

It was a good game. DePauw is decent, but they didn't make me go "wow" or anything. Chicago has some very nice potential, as long as Jesse Meyer isn't hurt (as per your report on the game in San Antonio).

Woodhead and Meyer are a very good, experienced set of guards.  It will be interesting to see how Kent Raymond and Wheaton do against them.

I'll be down at the Ratner Center on Wednesday for that one. Looking forward to it.

[Titan Q]

DePauw defeated Ohio Wesleyan 85-79 in a game DePauw led by as much as 17 in the 2nd half...


http://www.depauw.edu/ath/mbasket/2007/stats/112506.htm

DePauw is a good team -- not a flashy team, but they have solid players at about every position.  Two legit big guys in 6-6/230 Stephen Schott and 6-7/210 Matt MacDonald, a good point-guard in Mike Moore, a nice 2 in Reid Sakel, and a really good "do it all" type in wing Austin Brown.  Also a nice bench.

The four scores from the DePauw tourney this weekend are another good example of why playing the comparative scores game is tough to do:

DePauw 88
Judson 84

Ohio Wesleyan 87
Illinois Wesleyan 74

Illinois Wesleyan 92
Judson 50

DePauw 85
Ohio Wesleyan 79


The All-Tournament team was:

Austin Brown, DePauw (MVP)     
Stephen Schott, DePauw     
Ben Chojnacki, Ohio Wesleyan     
Zach Freeman, Illinois Wesleyan     
Justen Boyd, Judson 

[Gotberg]

According to D3hoops.com's scoreboard, Illinois College defeated NPU 66-62.

[fcnews]

Is IC really that good this year?

[Titan Q]

I'm not sure how good Illinois College is, but I do know they are a much improved team from last year.