MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

Per Franklin's site:


North Central 85
Franklin 61

Franklin is picked to win the HCAC and lost by just 3 at Wheaton last weekend.

[AndOne]

No stats for the North Central-Franklin are available as yet. I believe the reason is that the North Central computer was attending the football playoff game in Ohio, Sat PM, and didn't make it back to Naperville by game time. Stats were kept by hand, and will hopefully be compiled and published soon.

As above, the final was 85-61, North Central.

NC led at halftime by about 11. The outcome was never really in doubt. The first half was dominated by NCC's Anthony Simmons who I think finished with 27. Franklin had no answer. They field a pretty small lineup with little inside presence, either offensively or defensively. The only thing that kept Franklin in the game before halftime was the outside shooting of Redman, who was unable to sustain his marksmenship after intermission.

Somewhat of a bright spot was the modestly better overall play of the North Central guards. In particular, freshman Brandon Smith, and especially fellow frosh Reid Barringer, stepped up their games a notch or 2 above their 1st two contests of the season. Barringer finished with about 13 points highlighted by a play on which he flew in on the left side and rebounded a missed layup which he put back up and in. NC still had to many turnovers, but did show signs it may be possible to bring this problem under control sooner rather than later. Several NC players also had some good inside passes which resulted in some nice assists/easy baskets. Usually reliable 6th man, Chris Drennan fouled out without cracking the scoring column.   

[Titan Q]

A big game today at 3:00pm in Rock Island, where Augustana (2-0) hosts Wash U (3-0)...

http://bearsports.wustl.edu/mensbball/Augustana.pdf


This is one of those early season games that could have tournament implications.  It is "in-region" and in addition to impacting Wash U and Augie directly, the game can also affect others in the "record vs common in-region opponents" criteria.

[GoRedMen]

Also a big game for Carthage playing at Gustavus should be a good game

[kenoshamark]

Carthage                         63
Gustavous Adolphus       58

Final

[kenoshamark]

Carthage wins 63-58.   Higgins hits two big FT's to put Carthage back up by 3 at 61-58 and then Bowens steals the ball on the inbounds pass with less than 15 seconds to go to seal the victory.

     *   Schlemm 15 points
     *   Neb F.     10 points
     *   Shemerdiak 12 points (4-4 3 pointers)
     *   Fendley  9 points
     *   Bowens  8 points

     *   Jacklin 7 rebounds

[Titan Q]

Augie 75
Wash U 73


http://www.augustana.edu/athletics/mbasketball/stats/2006-07/07mbb03.htm


The way the Quality of Wins Index works, these in-region non-conference wins (like both today) are important for the entire league.

[augiefan]

Augie was down by 6 at the half 43-37 but won the game on 2 Drew Wessels FTs with 11 secs. left. Dain Swatalla with 16 points lead Augie.  Oliver Rorer had 11 and several other were around 10 pts each for balanced scoring by the Vikings.

Wash U. is a pretty good team, but this was an Augie home game so a little close for comfort.

[kenoshamark]

Here are the stats from the Carthage game:

http://www2.carthage.edu/athletics/mens/basketball/gac.htm

Group on the floor at the end of the game was Schlemm, Bowens, Shemerdiak, Higgins and Fendley.  Pretty impressive to have Higgins and Fendley (Sophomore and Freshman) on the court in a tight game on the road.  Bosko mentioned on the postgame broadcast that Fendley is going to be a whale of a player in this league.

[dansand]

Today's game was very reminiscent of the type of games Augie won all year long last season. Not the prettiest game, but a win over a very solid Washington U. team.

The Vikes got off to a terrible start. Washington's trio of point guard Sean Wallis, shooter Danny O'Boyle and big man Troy Ruths were eating them up early. I figured it was going to be a long afternoon when Wallis went 3-for-3 from downtown in the first half (he shot .115 from behind the arc last year!). When Coach G called timeout with about 3 and a half minutes left in the first half, Augie trailed 41-31. From that point on, they really cranked up the defensive pressure and were able to cut the lead to 43-37 at the half.

The same defensive pressure was the key to their 29-11 run in the first 12 minutes of the second half. The bench, particularly Oliver Rorer, really played a key role in that run. Unfortunately, over the next six minutes they scored only once in 12 possessions (including six turnovers in that stretch). No scores meant no chance to set up their full court pressure and the Bears roared back to take a 71-68 lead at the 2:17 mark. Jordan Delp tied it with a huge three and the teams traded baskets to make it 73-73 with a under a minute left. Augie committed another turnover and the Bears called timeout to set up the final shot with 12 seconds left.

Drew Wessels, who hadn't had a very good game to that point, made a great play stealing the inbounds pass and drawing Wallis' fifth foul. He knocked down both free throws and Augie weathered the Bears' last possession to get the win.

Augie's big guys Rorer, Dain Swetalla, Shaun Rose, and Dan Rukavina all played much better tonight than in the Beloit game. Dain was much more active on offense than in the first two games, but I'd still like to see him finish better than he has so far. The guards continue to shoot very well from behind the arc. Washington was really hurt by losing O'Boyle to an ankle injury midway through the second half.

Up next is Augie's first road test Wednesday against their cross-river rival St. Ambrose. Let's hope they continue their recent success against the Bees.

[petemcb]

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

Per Franklin's site:


North Central 85
Franklin 61

Franklin is picked to win the HCAC and lost by just 3 at Wheaton last weekend.

Q, the comparative scores game is tough, as noted, but still irresistible, isn't it?

[Gregory Sager]

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

... and the Illinois College people were of no help whatsoever in giving out any info about this game. The basketball page on the IC website doesn't appear to have been modified since before the season began, and nobody on the IC campus was answering the phone after the game ended. Very frustrating.

The Vikings can't dwell on the loss, as they're in the midst of a grueling three-games-in-four-days stretch. They got to take today off, but tomorrow night they're back at it against Robert Morris - Springfield in the home opener. Then on Tuesday night the Vikes have to climb back into the bus to travel across state to Eureka for a 7:30 pm tipoff against the Red Devils. NPU then gets a three-day breather before facing Loras on Saturday.

I applaud Paul Brenegan's efforts to give the players time off prior to and during finals, and the earlier start to the CCIW slate necessitated by the new conference tournament forces everyone to cram in more non-conference games before Christmas. But the downside is that this probably won't be the last time NPU is forced to play concentrated stretches of games like this. The fact that two of the three games involve lengthy bus trips only makes it worse.

[Gregory Sager]

No stats for the North Central-Franklin are available as yet. I believe the reason is that the North Central computer was attending the football playoff game in Ohio, Sat PM, and didn't make it back to Naperville by game time. Stats were kept by hand, and will hopefully be compiled and published soon.

As above, the final was 85-61, North Central.

NC led at halftime by about 11. The outcome was never really in doubt. The first half was dominated by NCC's Anthony Simmons who I think finished with 27. Franklin had no answer. They field a pretty small lineup with little inside presence, either offensively or defensively. The only thing that kept Franklin in the game before halftime was the outside shooting of Redman, who was unable to sustain his marksmenship after intermission.

Franklin's shooting was truly brutal. The Grizzlies shot 31% for the night from the field, and only 21% (4-19) from downtown. It wasn't for lack of good looks, either, as that diagonal-cut offense of theirs got the Grizzlies lots of open looks, and a surprisingly decent number of trips to the rim for such an undersized outfit. But they were thoroughly cowed by NCC's size and didn't finish strong, and the outside shots for whatever reason never fell, apart from the early Jace Redman treys that AO mentioned. Franklin got very frustrated. For as good as they looked last weekend, it's important to remember (for those of you playing the comparative-scores game) that the Grizzlies are still a young team and prone to these sorts of ups and downs from one weekend to the next.

North Central's front line absolutely dominated the game. It's not simply a matter of the Cardinals being big and physical; they're also smart players who know how to pin a defender in the post or when to flash out and create space in order to make an interior pass. When you're a small team like Franklin and you're forced to double down on a player of Simmons' ability, you end up giving up easy buckets to Walton and Krumtinger because they're so good at flashing ball side and making themselves available. Yet Franklin had no choice to but to double or even triple Simmons every time he touched the ball in the post, because the Beast of Bolingbrook was obviously a man among boys in Saturday's game. All the Cardinals guards had to do was get the ball in the hands of one of their three front-courters, and it was almost a surefire two points.

Somewhat of a bright spot was the modestly better overall play of the North Central guards. In particular, freshman Brandon Smith, and especially fellow frosh Reid Barringer, stepped up their games a notch or 2 above their 1st two contests of the season. Barringer finished with about 13 points highlighted by a play on which he flew in on the left side and rebounded a missed layup which he put back up and in. NC still had to many turnovers, but did show signs it may be possible to bring this problem under control sooner rather than later. Several NC players also had some good inside passes which resulted in some nice assists/easy baskets. Usually reliable 6th man, Chris Drennan fouled out without cracking the scoring column.

This was my first time seeing the new-look Cardinals backcourt this year, so unlike AO I have no basis of comparison to their earlier games. But I would judge their performance as adequate. This was basically a game where all they had to do at the offensive end was get the ball into the hands of the front line as quickly as possible in the possession, and Franklin's guards shot so poorly at the other end that the defense almost took care of itself. Barringer and Smith each had 11 off the bench, but neither had an outstanding game by any means. Barringer didn't enter the game until about a third of the way through the second half, and while his stickback that AO described was a great play, three of his five buckets occurred because the Grizzlies were so far behind that they were selling out on the offensive boards with four or even five guys going for each rebound in a desperate attempt to retain the ball and get themselves back in the game -- only to watch helplessly as the NCC bigs grabbed the rebounds and threw the ball downcourt to Barringer for easy cherry-picker baskets. Smith's abilities are obvious, and I think he's going to be a fine player in this league. But right now, like a lot of freshman PGs tend to do, he plays out of control too much. Of the starting senior guards, one was serviceable and the other was invisible. Raymond Lawrence seems to understand that his role is to be to NCC what Kyle Orton was to the Bears last year -- the quarterback who manages the game and doesn't screw it up rather than trying to make the plays himself that might win it.

As I said, adequate. How much they improve between now and January 6 will determine how prepared the Redbirds are to live up to their selection as preseason favorites, because that awesome front line of North Central's looks like it's ready for CCIW action right now.

One other note: A nearly-empty airplane hangar over a holiday weekend is a depressing place to watch a basketball game. The NCC pep band's tunes were echoing off the walls like they were doing a gig in Carlsbad Caverns.

[Gregory Sager]

CCIW overall: 19-5 (.792)
......... vs. NAIA-2: 2-0
......... vs. other: 1-0
......... vs. D3: 16-5 (.762)
.................. vs. D3 non-regional: 1-1
.................. vs. D3 regional, non-MWR: 2-2
.................. vs. D3 Midwest Region: 13-2 (.667)
........................... vs. HCAC: 3-1
........................... vs. indies: 1-0
........................... vs. MWC: 5-1
........................... vs. NAthC: 2-0
........................... vs. SLIAC: 1-0
........................... vs. UAA: 1-0

Monday's games:
Elmhurst (1-1) @ Rockford (1-1)
RMC-Springfield (2-3) @ North Park (2-2)

Tuesday's games:
Carthage (2-0) @ Carroll (1-2)
Illinois Wesleyan (4-1) @ St. Xavier (4-2)
Aurora (2-0) @ North Central (3-0)
North Park @ Eureka (2-1)

Wednesday's games:
Augustana (3-0) @ St. Ambrose (2-4)
Wheaton (2-1) @ Chicago (4-1)

Thursday's game:
Eureka @ Millikin (2-0)

Friday's games:
Hope (2-0) @ Carthage *
Wheaton vs. Calvin (3-1) *

Saturday's games:
Augustana @ Simpson (2-0)
Calvin @ Carthage *
IIT (2-5) @ Elmhurst
Webster (1-2) @ Millikin (2-0)
Loras (2-1) @ North Park
Wheaton vs. Hope *

* CCIW/MIAA Classic, Kenosha, WI

[AndOne]

Of the starting senior guards, one was serviceable and the other was invisible. Raymond Lawrence seems to understand that his role is to be to NCC what Kyle Orton was to the Bears last year -- the quarterback who manages the game and doesn't screw it up rather than trying to make the plays himself that might win it.

One other note: A nearly-empty airplane hangar over a holiday weekend is a depressing place to watch a basketball game. The NCC pep band's tunes were echoing off the walls like they were doing a gig in Carlsbad Caverns.

While not contributing much offensively as yet, the "invisible" guard has played well on the defensive end. That invisible shield certainly helps out in some regard. 

Concerning the near empty airplane hanger:

North Central is on a trimester system. They had final exams last Mon-Wed. Beginning last Thurs (T'Giving), the students are on a combined interim break/X-mas vacation ALL THE WAY until 1/2/07. According, the campus is basically closed until that time. All the students left Wed evening, so nobody was still around  come Sat night.

Therefore, most of the space in the hanger last weekend was taken up by the new North Central team plane which is parked on the other side of the south wall of the gym portion of the hanger. While only a 28 seat prop job, its still not bad transportation for a D3 team!  8)