MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[CCRedMenFan]

From CCIW.org:

"Carthage's Schlemm Named CCIW Men's Basketball Player of the Week

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Brian Schlemm of Carthage was named the player of the week in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Monday after his performance during the previous week of competition.

Schlemm, a senior forward from Libertyville, Ill., scored a career-high 36 points on 16-of-21 field goals, along with eight rebounds in the Red Men's 118-106 win at Grinnell College on Nov. 21.

He followed that with 15 points in a 63-58 win at No. 40 Gustavus Adolphus on Nov. 26."

Congrats to Brian. 

[cardinalpride]

here's the box score from the NCC/Franklin game:

http://www2.noctrl.edu/athlet/basketball_m/06-07/NCCM-FRA.HTM

[tjcummingsfan]

NPU 65 RMC 64

I didn't see it, but I got the score.

[Titan Q]

This is a funny picture...

http://www.iwuhoops.com/interview.jpg


We were interviewing the Freemans and Andrew Gilmore after the Whitewater win.  Zach Freeman picked up the boxscore and I clearly remember the look on his face as he realized he had 11 turnovers in the game.  I had no idea someone snapped a photo at that exact moment...good stuff.

[mr_b]

As reported earlier, North Park held on to defeat Robert Morris College of Springfield, 65-64.  The two teams traded baskets early on until the Vikings pulled away for a 36-26 advantage at the half.  Anthony Lenoir led all scorers with 10 at the half, followed by Sheldon Evans (8 points), Jason Gordon and Joe Capalbo (5 apiece).  Gordon's slam was the highlight of the first half and energized the Crackerbox.  I was probably not the only one in attendance who felt confident as the Vikings headed to the locker room at the break.

The second half was truly a different story.  The Vikings came out as flat as a worm's footprint, while the Eagles battled back to knot the score at 42 with about 8 minutes to go; a spectacular dunk by Brian Price (if I recall correctly) really quieted the home crowd.  After that, it was nip-and-tuck; the Vikes pulled ahead 65-64 with 8 seconds left.  On the final possession, RMCS inbounded under the basket and made several attempts to tip the ball in, but time expired before the winning shot could be made.

For North Park, Lenoir netted 19 points, Evans 12, and Gordon, Capalbo, and Stephano Jones each contributed 7.  The Vikings made 5 threes and were 8 of 11 from the line.  RMCS was led by Corley Lee with 23 points, Tyler Moretto with 12, and Price with 11.  The Eagles were 11 of 18 from the line.

[robberki]

slight correction, the opposing players dunk quieted all of the home crowd except for me. I continued to yell a mocking "that's right" to him all night, as he seemed to like doing to our fans after the dunk. I really felt that my heckling got "in his head" which is why he spent the rest of the game on the bench. In fact, I'm taking full credit for this victory.

[Titan Q]

Illinois College finally posted the boxscore from the NPU game Saturday...

http://www2.ic.edu/athletic/mbasketb/2006-07/Results/NPU11-25.htm

[mr_b]

slight correction, the opposing players dunk quieted all of the home crowd except for me. I continued to yell a mocking "that's right" to him all night, as he seemed to like doing to our fans after the dunk. I really felt that my heckling got "in his head" which is why he spent the rest of the game on the bench. In fact, I'm taking full credit for this victory.

Yes, that is quite true.  I neglected to credit Mr. Berki with that key assist.  It's always nice to know we have a dependable veteran on the bench.  Thanks, Rob!

[Titan Q]

IWU travels to St. Xavier tomorrow...

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/11/27/sports/121322.txt

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


This is mom's alma mater vs dad's, sister's and my alma mater. 

IWU has played SXU twice in the last five years -- a win on a neutral court at Westmont College in 2001-02 and last year's win at the Shirk Center.  I believe this will be the first time Illinois Wesleyan has ever played at SXU.

IWU has done amazingly well in the last decade+ vs good CCAC teams, going 10-1 vs Olivet Nazarene since 1995-96 and the 2-0 mentioned above vs St. Xavier.  After tomorrow's St. Xavier game, the Titans get ONU the following Tuesday.

St. Xavier lost star center Jabari Saunders to graduation and CCAC freshman of the year Jason Genova and last year's starting point-guard Dan Marino to Lewis University.  It will be a battle of teams still trying to figure things out.

[rknuppel]

Bluejays beat Rockford 78-59.  Sophomores Brent Ruch and Ryan Burks led the way with 19 and 18 points.  Ruch added 14 rebounds.  Could be a few good years to come for the Jays.

Looking forward to watching Elmhurst in a couple weeks during the Bluejay Classic!

[cardinalpride]

The latest Top 25 Poll has NCC up 5 spots to #14, Augustana up 9 spots to #15, and IWU cracks the top 25 at #24.  The CCIW is still strong nationally with 3 teams in the top 25!!!

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois College finally posted the boxscore from the NPU game Saturday...

http://www2.ic.edu/athletic/mbasketb/2006-07/Results/NPU11-25.htm

The word I got from the coaches tonight was that NPU was completely flat in Saturday's game. As the box score shows, Sheldon Evans and Jason Gordon both had poor games. Joe Capalbo was out with an injury, and that might've made the difference in the game. The Vikings were down by as much as 15 in the second half, but pulled back to tie it up with :49 left. At that point IC guard Mark Gillingham hit a one-handed fifteen-footer from behind the backboard to put the Blueboys up by two with :24 left. NPU missed a trey at the other end and was forced to foul, ending the scoring with the Vikes on the short end of the stick.

[mr_b]

Illinois College finally posted the boxscore from the NPU game Saturday...

http://www2.ic.edu/athletic/mbasketb/2006-07/Results/NPU11-25.htm

The word I got from the coaches tonight was that NPU was completely flat in Saturday's game....

Greg, do you think intensity might be a determining factor with this year's squad?  They've already shown they can win when they don't come out flat.

[Gregory Sager]

As for this evening's game, it was truly a Doug Rader Special, since "winning ugly" is the only way to describe what happened. As Mr. B said, the Vikings looked totally listless for most of the second half, squandering a double-digit lead and almost giving away the game to a clearly inferior foe.

NPU led by as many as 13 in the first half, pulling out in front with some very stout defense, good boardwork, and a handful of timely treys. But after coming out for the second half ahead 36-26, it was as though someone had slipped Nyquil into the Gatorade jug on the NPU bench. It took the Vikings 3 1/2 minutes to score in the second stanza; fortunately, RMCS couldn't find the range and had only scored two points of their own in that span. But the North Park offense continued to be tentative and much too passive; RMCS alternated a man defense with a 1-2-2 zone, and the Vikings didn't look capable of solving either one. The ball movement was poor, drives to the basket showed no energy, and perimeter shooters were setting up very poorly for their shots. The only really aggressive player at this point for the hosts was forward Anthony Lenoir, who spent the better part of the half pulling NPU's chestnuts out of the fire.

RMCS finally caught the Vikings at 42-42 with about twelve minutes left in the game. The Vikings woke up a bit and managed to extend the lead back out to six at 54-48, but RMCS ran off seven unanswered points to take the lead at 55-54 with just over five minutes left. After that the two teams traded scores, with the Eagles' lead moving back and forth between one and three.

NPU was in serious foul trouble in terms of forwards; Jay Alexander fouled out with about four minutes left, and Mike Ventura and Stephano Jones were each saddled with their fourth foul in the waning minutes as well. Fortunately, after a pair of Lenoir FTs with just over two minutes left brought the score to 64-63, the Vikings managed to get a stop. Jason Gordon's running floater in the lane got back the lead for the Park, and with forty seconds left Sheldon Evans stole the inbounds pass and it looked as though NPU was in good shape. However, Jones missed a leaner with about twelve seconds remaining, RMCS rebounded, got the ball into the forecourt with 8.8 seconds left and called a timeout. The Vikings swatted away a pair of inbounds passes, eating up the clock until, with 2.9 seconds left, RCMS managed to get off a floater in the lane that Antonio Stevens partially blocked. The Eagles were unable to get off a putback before the final buzzer, and NPU escaped with the win.

RCMS really surprised me. In the past they've strictly been a playground team that runs up and down the court all night and shows no semblance of organization. This year they're markedly more disciplined; they cannily worked isolations for superstar big man Corley Lee (23 pts, 14 rebs) to great effect on the wing, and their guards made some really good baseline cuts off of upscreens that made the NPU defense look sick. The Eagles are now 1-2 against D3 competition this season, with a win over Roanoke and losses to Guilford and North Park, with eight more games against D3 teams to go. I have no doubt whatsoever that they'll win at least a few of those eight. The 6'6 Lee is a monster, right up there with Anthony Simmons as a force inside. It'll be interesting to see how the two compare when North Central takes on RMCS a week from Saturday (the Eagles can't match up with Simmons, Krumtinger, and Walton simultanously, though).

Still, North Park is a better team than RMCS, which is why tonight's narrow win was as annoying as it was nerve-wracking. Lenoir (19 pts, 9 rebs) played a superb, tough game (his taking of two or three charges in the lane were as valuable as anything that appeared in the scorebook), and Evans really came on at the end of the game and proved to be the difference. Jones, although victimized repeatedly on defense by Lee, made two huge layups in the low post that kept the Vikings within one point in the last four minutes. And both Joe Capalbo and Dan Oziminski played solid as well. But the Vikings have to bring more energy than they brought to the gym tonight. It's distressing to see a team drag its feet like that in its home opener.

Greg, do you think intensity might be a determining factor with this year's squad?  They've already shown they can win when they don't come out flat.

Absolutely. The Vikings are a defense-first team, and intensity is the defining characteristic of defense. They function best when they're getting points in transition, and the way that they were sitting back and not attacking on defense in the second half meant that they had almost no transition opportunities at all. The other key ingredient is initiative; they passed up lots of shots on the offensive end and didn't really attempt to penetrate the Eagles zone with any sort of gusto. They seem to defer to each other too much. What made them come alive in the last few minutes was the fact that Evans and Gordon took it upon themselves to drive to the basket and create something.

On the bright side, perhaps the Vikings were just pacing themselves for their game against an improved Eureka team tomorrow night.

[Gregory Sager]

Another point that the NPU coaches made after the game, one that I really think is true, is that a team needs to learn how to win. The losing culture around North Park basketball is considerable, and the blessing in disguise to having so many new players in the rotation this year is that it means that there's a lot of guys on the floor who are completely unaffected by that losing culture. But they still have to build up the confidence in themselves and the trust in each other that comes with wininng ballgames, even ballgames such as tonight's in which they had to hang on to beat a clearly inferior team.

I understand the need to beef up the non-conference schedule and play tougher comp in order to get the team ready for January and February. But at the same time, I also see the value in teaching a team how to win and in instilling a winning attitude in them.