MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[robberki]

is Schlemm a good player? I know nothing about him but he looks like a banger...

[AndOne]

Looks like lots of great battles in the 'ol CCIW this season. Just based on tonight's games who knows what might happen from from one night to the next-------------

Just look at the ranked teams tonight:

Elmhurst (at home) beats #12 Augie
North Central (on the road) beats #16 Wheaton
Wesleyan (at home) beats #17 Carthage
Sports----

Not sure which can be considered the biggest "upset,"
Maybe the North Central defeat of Wheaton based on the facts of the largest disparity in the rankings between the 2 teams and that its very tough to win on the road, especially against a ranked opponent.

At any rate, it should be a wild season. With NPU and Millikin also being able to knock off any other team on any given night, I don't think it would be very surprising for the eventual conference champ to have at least 4, quite possibly 5 conference losses by the time all the smoke clears.

Maybe none were "upsets" and the almighty D3 top 25 is A educated GUESS at it's best

Sports----

The NCC players & coaches would prob agree their victory wasn't an "upset," but I still think it qualifies as at least a mild one (winning on a ranked opponent's home floor). Thats why the word upset is in quotes. 

As far as the "almighty D3 top 25" I've read several complaints about its makeup, and even contributed to the criticism a little myself. However, despite any shortcomings it may have, I think the people voting on the teams generally do a good job. Until someone can come up with a better system, I think those of us who care enough to be involved here should be thankful that there are individuals who have the interest and knowledge they do, and are willing to take the time to come up with a weekly top 25 poll.

If you have any suggestions, I'm sure Pat would like to hear from you.   

[kenoshamark]

Bob, 

Nice recap of the game and the Carthage team this year.   As early as the scrimmage against Ripon I could see this was going to be a team with better chemistry.  Players were pulling for each other that night and you could see much better intensity and teamwork all the way around. 

Rob,

Yes, Schlemm is a very fine player, as long as he keeps his head.  He can have quite a short fuse and has a propensity to pick up some bad fouls.  If he could stay on the court for 30 plus minutes, Carthage would be tough to beat but he tends to play around 24 minutes due to foul trouble.  When he came to school two years ago, Bosko had some pretty high praise for him.  I think his comment was he was as talented as any player in the conference which led to some interesting comments on the board.  He started out well but he just couldn't pull things together and his minutes shrunk.  Last year was more the same and he eventually wasn't even playing.  I think the realization this was his final year helped him decide he wanted to show what kind of player he really was and he should end up as a first team all-conference pick if he stays consistent.

[kenoshamark]

BTW,  Now that our fantasy league has commenced (congrats to Greg on an early lead), does anyone know why Mike Gavic didn't play last night?   I had a good fantasy weekend going until not seeing his name in the box score.....

Thanks for the insight from any who might shed some light !!

[diehardfan]

First of all, I want to congratulate NCC for playing what must have been some wicked defense. Wheaton shot 32.6% from the floor, and 13.3% from behind the arc. Owwwwwwww!!! I honestly have no idea how Wheaton stayed in this game at all except for the fact that we must have put some fairly decent defense on NCC ourselves. Holy cow those are bad percentages. I can't believe, however, that Wheaton could possibly shoot that bad ever again, which gives me a little hope in the rest of the season...

Johnnie Standard only posted 22 minutes this game due to foul trouble. All of our starters have some major talent, but in so many ways our co-captain is the heart and soul of this team... in the same way that Jon Nielson was. We obviously needed his hustle and never say die attitude out on the floor last Saturday... I just don't see how he would have allowed the team to let this game slip away from us when were were ahead with only 2.5 minutes left. I don't think it's a coincidence that the guy who sparked the comeback against Nazareth while we were in NY has played limited minutes in two of Wheaton's losses (27 mins against Whitworth, 22 this weekend against NCC). Johnnie is not one who is prone to foul trouble (it's actually posted 0 fouls in at least three games this year!) but we obviously need to make sure it stays that way!

Secondly, congrats to my namesake Brian Lee, who posted 24 pts on 9-12 shooting, 4 boards, 6 assists (only one turnover!), and two steals... aside from the fact that this meant he posted the best numbers in the fantasy league of any player in any game, I have to believe that those absolutely insane numbers grant him at least a share of POW status. Thank you Brian for saving me from the awful week I would have had if I was only relying on the three starters I have from Wheaton!

[diehardfan]

Congratulations to Gregory Sager who is kicking rear in the CCIW Fantasy League thus far. Obviously it pays to be the smartest guy on the chat and have more inside connections around the league than a politician. Greg's team is running away with this thing early. Hopefully my boys in orange and blue can figure things out or this could get pretty ugly for me since I was such a homer in the draft.

For those of you who are curious to see how the resident gurus of CCIW chat (ie. everyone in the league besides me ) are doing, you can check it out here: wheatonhoops.googlepages.com/standings

[Greek Tragedy]

My league is better. :-) 

No stats?? lol

[Mr. Ypsi]

This fantasy league can really mess up a bball fan.  If Bill Shemerdiak of Carthage hadn't totally sabotaged my fantasy team (if I had subbed Antonio Stevens, I'd be a lot closer behind Greg, at 15.667) he might have sabotaged my real Titans!  I guess I can live with the trade-off!

But a request for the future: non-Titans on my fantasy team when playing said Titans - have an amazing night, and let your teammates owned by Greg or April or whomever lose the game!

And Zach (who finished just behind Brian Lee), keep it up!  Without you I'd be dead last!

[diehardfan]

My league is better. :-) 

No stats?? lol

I sent out a spreadsheet by email to the participants...but you are not cool enough to see it. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Those of us with players who scored a 3 (or, for one unfortunate, a -1) are most appreciative of April's discretion with the specifics!

[Pat Coleman]

Maybe none were "upsets" and the almighty D3 top 25 is A educated GUESS at it's best

Every poll is. That doesn't mean you have to be snippy about it.

[cardinalpride]

For those who haven't seen it already, here's the boxscore from the NCC/Wheaton game:
Big win to open the conference season!!!

http://www.wheaton.edu/Athletics/mbasketball/stats/MWHE12.HTM

[Gregory Sager]

EC meanwhile has 4 bail out guys led by Brian Lee who has to be the quickest player in the league. 

He isn't. I thought that NPU's Sheldon Evans was the quickest, but on Saturday night I got my first look at Vincent Brock, Millikin's sophomore transfer out of Parkland CC. That guy is bottled lightning. He may be one of the two or three quickest players with the ball in his hands that I've seen in the CCIW in this decade. At this point Brock's nowhere near being the complete player that Brian Lee is, but if he can refine his game ... watch out. Between Brock and Drew Gensler, Millikin's opponents are going to have a devil of a time stopping the dribble penetration of the Big Blue's guards.

[diehardfan]

EC meanwhile has 4 bail out guys led by Brian Lee who has to be the quickest player in the league.

He isn't. I thought that NPU's Sheldon Evans was the quickest, but on Saturday night I got my first look at Vincent Brock, Millikin's sophomore transfer out of Parkland CC. That guy is bottled lightning. He may be one of the two or three quickest players with the ball in his hands that I've seen in the CCIW in this decade. At this point Brock's nowhere near being the complete player that Brian Lee is, but if he can refine his game ... watch out. Between Brock and Drew Gensler, Millikin's opponents are going to have a devil of a time stopping the dribble penetration of the Big Blue's guards.

Nice, I have two of the fastest players in the league on my team. Vincent Brock was worth more on Saturday than my #1 draft pick (though I sure hope that when Kent is closer to 100% he gets a whole lot more points!!!)... Brocks's also one of only two people that I drafted that I haven't seen multiple times. It's nice to know from an eyewitness account that he's a good option in case my starters continue to tank.

Thanks Greg, for throwing a bone to us little people.

[Gregory Sager]

Some of us who were sifting through the league's results on Saturday night after the game were having a hard time trying to figure out what was going on with Carthage this weekend. For openers, what were the Red Men doing playing a non-conference game the night before their conference opener -- a conference opener that was on the road, no less? I could've sworn that at some point that Northland game was scheduled for Thursday night rather than Friday night, so perhaps at the last minute it got moved back a day due to extenuating circumstances. If so, I would've just scrapped the game altogether rather than have it interfere with the preparation for the infinitely more important game on Saturday in Bloomington.

The box score of the Northland game itself raised even more questions. Bosko played his rotation the entire game; in fact, starters Brian Schlemm and Joe Higgins played 28 and 27 minutes, respectively. What especially puzzles me is the fact that Carthage was up by 26 points, 84-58, with 4:40 left in the game -- and yet Bosko did not empty his bench. In fact, the last shot taken by a Carthage player was by Schlemm, a missed trey with 17 seconds left in the game.

So why were the regulars still in the game late in a non-conference matchup against an outmanned and clearly beaten foe the night before the conference opener? Granted, Bosko might've been trying to teach his regulars some sort of lesson about finishing off an opponent, but the 16-point run that Northland engineered in that last 4:40 could've just as easily come against the Carthage scrubs while the regulars rested and avoided any injury more serious than chafing the backs of their necks with their towels.

It's a head-scratcher. Of course, I'm sure that Bosko has a good explanation for it. I'm dying to hear it.

After looking at the PBP for Saturday's Millikin @ NPU game (all that I acquired after the game was a printout of the box score), the endgame woes of the Vikings from the charity stripe don't appear to be nearly as bad as I'd thought at first; they went 5-12 from the line in the last two minutes, rather than 1-8. Still, that's pretty poor, as was the 17-31 (.548) effort for the entire game. NPU is shooting .650 from the line for the season, second-worst in the league. That's a number that will cost them close games -- and this year's edition of the Vikings is a defensive-oriented team that isn't exactly dynamite on the offensive end, and that's a veritable recipe for one close game after another.

I (among others) suggested to the NPU coaching staff after the game that they might want to consider locking the team in the gym every day until every player makes 200 free throws. Their response proves just how elusive and frustrating FT shooting can be from a coaching standpoint. Each North Park player is required to shoot 50 FTs in practice, both before and after the session, and the coaches chart the results. Over the past week, the Vikings shot 80% as a team in practice! Stuff like that makes me glad that I didn't choose to be a basketball coach. Who needs that kind of frustration?