MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[79jaybird]

Augie up 12 late in the game.  Ruch has 32 already. What a player.  Augie just a step quicker tonight.

[79jaybird]

Augustana 86
Elmhurst 74    Final   
The only bright spot for Elmhurst was Brent Ruch who dominated inside scoring 32, but that was about it for the Jays.  Delp was unstoppable, wait Augie as a whole was unstoppable as the EC defense was swiss cheese tonight.
Well, it's not the end of the world, and there is plenty of time/games to be played for 1st place, but Augie is sitting pretty at 7-1 right now.  EC drops to 5-2 and (depending on the W/NC outcome) alone and/or tied for 2nd place..1 back in the loss column.   Somebody besides EC has to knock off Augie!!!!

Congratulations to Augie, NPU, and the other to be winners tonight.  EC has to regroup and remember what their game plan and identity is.

Lastly, good broadcast Jim.  I don't often get to listen to a broadcast. This was my first time tuning in to WRSE and although the reception was fuzzy, I could still understand you.

[knarocky22]

As jaybird mentioned, Augie was just the better team tonight.  Ruch had a good game, but other than that, not many bright spots for the Bluejays.  Delp dominated the game in the first half.  In the second half, Elmhurst tried to take Delp away, which opened up holes for the rest of the Viking offense.  I'm convinced Wessels is the best point guard in the conference even though he doesn't score that much.  His overall impact on the game is immeasurable.  I have nothing negative to say at all about Augie's performance tonight.  The CCIW race is still wide open with so many games left to play.  Augie put themselves in a very nice position with their performance tonight.   

[Dennis_Prikkel]

an entertaining game in cardinal land tonight if you were rooting for the dark red and white - which about 60% of the crowd were - the rest just got to sit around all night and look evangelical.

NC really exposed Wheaton's offensive woes, because for whatever reason Raymond spent most of the 2nd half on the bench (not in foul trouble) and with not very many points.

The cards had a 17 point lead early in the 2nd half and 13 point lead with 13 to play, when Mohan hit a couple of long range bombs and Standard hit a lay up to cut it to 5 with 7 minutes to play.  But the Cards took over again and stretched the lead to 16 with two minutes to play.  a meaningless trey at the buzzer cut the final deficit to 11 points.

It really was a nice crowd, the lower floor full and about a third of the upper deck, a far cry from the dark and dingy Merner Fieldhouse which used to feel like a mausoleum back in the 70's and early 80's when the Cards had trouble winning.

This was North Central's first home win in CCIW action this year.

continued....

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Wheaton really played hard and physical on both ends of the floor, but showed an amazing ability to be unable to finish offensively.  North Central showed amazing patience which often times resulted in prayer shots before the shot clock went off, but several times they went in.

With two of the league's marquee players, Kent Raymond and Anthony Simmons, being ineffective offensively and spending quality minutes sitting on the sidelines, it was really the talent of Brandon Smith who had 22 and Dan Walton who carried the day for the Cards.  Wheaton got a nice game from Standard and a gutsy performance by Mohan, but the rest of the team had little to show offensively.

Nice win for NC.

MW

[kenoshamark]

Final: 
Carthage 94
IWU         83


http://www2.carthage.edu/athletics/mens/basketball/iwu2.htm#GAME.BOX

[79jaybird]

Allright,  we have reached the halfway point of the season.  Most teams have played 7 games which is halfway.
Here is my outline:
Augie and Elmhurst are in good position right now to vie for the CCIW title.  I think these teams will finish either Augie on top, tied, or EC on top.  But I do think these 2 schools will be your #'s 1 and 2 in the CCIW Tournament.  After this, it is a mile long traffic jam with Carthage (who is playing real well right now), Wheaton (good day/bad day) and North Park (who needs to win those close ones).  
Congrats to the Cards for a big win tonight, but my gut feeling says that the Cardinals need to win most, if not all their remaining games to solidify a spot in the CCIW Tournament. 1 or 2 more losses and they might drift away, completely out of the picture.
Augie still has Wheaton and Carthage at home, and not easy roadies at NPU and Carthage.
Elmhurst has weathered past the real strenuous part of their schedule.  While there are no easy games in the CCIW, their schedule is a little easier with 2 vs. Millikin a toughy @IWU, and tough ones vs. Wheaton and @ NC.
I can see it finishing like this
Augie 12-2 or 11-3
Elmhurst 12-2 or 11-3
Wheaton 9-5
Carthage 9-5
North Park 8-6 or 7-7
but gosh,  Augie is looking real strong right now and although the score was a little lopsided tonight, beat a good Elmhurst team at home.

[dansand]

A great win for Augie tonight. They got contributions from everyone. Delp's was the most obvious with 24 points including 6-for-6 from behind the arc. I actually didn't think Wessels had one of his better games, but when I look at the box score I see he had his second straight 10-assist game and he did a very good job containing Brian Lee, who burned Augie for 24 in the first meeting.

Another key defensively was the job that Nate Swetalla did on Ryan Burks, who just couldn't get a good look at a three the whole night. The only one he made was when he picked up a loose ball on the wing with no around and drained it.

Dain Swetalla (14 pts/8 boards) had another solid game despite being hampered by foul trouble and Shaun Rose (12 pts) made himself a threat on offense tonight which was a nice bonus.

Despite Ruch's huge numbers, I thought the Viking front court guys did a pretty decent job defensively even though, with the exception on Dain, they don't match up very well physically. Ruch is just a huge match up problem, especially when Dain is out of the game. Rose gives up 3-4 inches, Chandlor Collins probably gives up 70 pounds, and Caricato has the big body but his mobilty is an issue when covering mobile big guys like Ruch and Michael. Despite that, I think they did about as good a job as could be expected. Much of the Bluejays offense, especially in the second half came on offensive rebound put backs.

Alex Washington and Pat Brusveen also gave them great minutes off the bench. Just a terrific team win over an outstanding Elmhurst team.

[79jaybird]

Dansand I agree with you completely.  Elmhurst actually came out of the gates stronger and outplayed Augie the first 2-5 minutes of the game, but after that, Augie just turned it up a notch and Elmhurst couldn't match that intensity.  I was not at the game, but listened entirely on the radio... but just from listening I could tell that Elmhurst was not up to match Augie's game tonight.  The scoreboard will read 7-1 and EC 5-2, with EC 1 game back in the loss column,  and frankly I felt like we were 1 "gear" in back of Augie tonight.

Delp to me was more of a factor and difference maker, because every time Elmhurst would cut it down to 9, Delp seemed to find an open 3 pointer and nail it. 

[kenoshamark]

After winning four straight games, Carthage sits tied for third place with Wheaton with a huge game Wednesday at Naperville.....

Carthage played quite well tonight knocking down some early shots from the perimeter (primarily by Bowens and Thompson) to eventually lead by 15 at half.  Bowens lead the way in the first half with 13, Schlemm with 10 and Thompson with 8.  Carthage came out quickly in the second half and streteched the lead to 25 after two minutes.  The lead stayed between 14 and 23 until six minutes left in the game with Carthage leading by 20 (77 - 57).  At that point the game turned into a foul fest to get Carthage to the line and IWU launching threes or driving to the basket.  Carthage proceeded to give up 26 points in the last six minutes and was able to hold on by making their free throws. 

It was not the way you would want to see a team play defense at the end of the game.  Granted, you don't want to foul, but IWU was given a free pass to the basket and took advantage of it.  They also hit some threes that they couldn't drop earlier in the game.  Fortunately the lead was big enough to weather the run IWU put on but the defensive strategy by Carthage down the stretch was shaky.

Schlemm lead Carthage with 24, Bowens with 23, Thompson with 15 and Hood/Fendley with 12.   Freeman lead IWU with 34.   Freemen really is a stud of a player - tough for anyone to handle with his moves and leaping ability around the rim and a nice shot from 15 feet in.  The player that surprises me from IWU is Gant.  You see his athletic ability and then you look at the box and see no field go attempts in 25 minutes and a total of four points....and four boards.   Gilmore works hard and he hit some tough shots but handling the point is definitely a struggle for him.   

[knarocky22]

As Dansand mentioned, it didn't seem like Wessels had a great game.  That is my point exactly.  He just has a major impact on the game even though you don't really notice it.  He limits his turnovers and quietly piles up assists. 

I know it's a little early, but who do you guys think is the early favorite for MOP?  I know it usually goes to the best player on the team who wins the regular season, but can you really deny Zach Freeman this honor just because IWU is down this year? 

[robberki]

Looks like NPU won in overtime at MU. Can you imagine if North Park's chances at the conference tourney came down to the final home game against IWU? That would be off the hinges!

[Late nite]

The Augie guards, Wessels, Delp, Brusveen and Washington, totally out-played the the EC guards---As I stated before, tournament-tested---Lee, Sayre and Burks were non-factors---Swetalla did a nice job on Burks---Nate was in early foul trouble at EC and played limited minutes---79Jay was right---What happened to Lee's shot?---Ugly

A great win for Augie tonight. They got contributions from everyone. Delp's was the most obvious with 24 points including 6-for-6 from behind the arc. I actually didn't think Wessels had one of his better games, but when I look at the box score I see he had his second straight 10-assist game and he did a very good job containing Brian Lee, who burned Augie for 24 in the first meeting.

Another key defensively was the job that Nate Swetalla did on Ryan Burks, who just couldn't get a good look at a three the whole night. The only one he made was when he picked up a loose ball on the wing with no around and drained it.

Dain Swetalla (14 pts/8 boards) had another solid game despite being hampered by foul trouble and Shaun Rose (12 pts) made himself a threat on offense tonight which was a nice bonus.

Despite Ruch's huge numbers, I thought the Viking front court guys did a pretty decent job defensively even though, with the exception on Dain, they don't match up very well physically. Ruch is just a huge match up problem, especially when Dain is out of the game. Rose gives up 3-4 inches, Chandlor Collins probably gives up 70 pounds, and Caricato has the big body but his mobilty is an issue when covering mobile big guys like Ruch and Michael. Despite that, I think they did about as good a job as could be expected. Much of the Bluejays offense, especially in the second half came on offensive rebound put backs.

Alex Washington and Pat Brusveen also gave them great minutes off the bench. Just a terrific team win over an outstanding Elmhurst team.

[Late nite]

Correction:
Augie has: Wheaton, Millikin and North Central at home
                  North Park, Carthage and IWU away

Allright,  we have reached the halfway point of the season.  Most teams have played 7 games which is halfway.
Here is my outline:
Augie and Elmhurst are in good position right now to vie for the CCIW title.  I think these teams will finish either Augie on top, tied, or EC on top.  But I do think these 2 schools will be your #'s 1 and 2 in the CCIW Tournament.  After this, it is a mile long traffic jam with Carthage (who is playing real well right now), Wheaton (good day/bad day) and North Park (who needs to win those close ones).  
Congrats to the Cards for a big win tonight, but my gut feeling says that the Cardinals need to win most, if not all their remaining games to solidify a spot in the CCIW Tournament. 1 or 2 more losses and they might drift away, completely out of the picture.
Augie still has Wheaton and Carthage at home, and not easy roadies at NPU and Carthage.
Elmhurst has weathered past the real strenuous part of their schedule.  While there are no easy games in the CCIW, their schedule is a little easier with 2 vs. Millikin a toughy @IWU, and tough ones vs. Wheaton and @ NC.
I can see it finishing like this
Augie 12-2 or 11-3
Elmhurst 12-2 or 11-3
Wheaton 9-5
Carthage 9-5
North Park 8-6 or 7-7
but gosh,  Augie is looking real strong right now and although the score was a little lopsided tonight, beat a good Elmhurst team at home.

[Greek Tragedy]

After winning four straight games, Carthage sits tied for third place with Wheaton with a huge game Wednesday at Naperville.....

Diehardfan text messaged me and told me I should meet you.  I have no idea who you are or what you look like...oh well.  I did "warn" the IWU and Carthage faithful I'd be there...oh well.  Had a quick hi with Titan Q and looked around for Hoosier Titan...

Anyway, IWU did not look very good, not impressed with their guard play, though Titan Q told me their backcourt is hurting.

The lead stayed between 14 and 23 until six minutes left in the game with Carthage leading by 20 (77 - 57).  At that point the game turned into a foul fest to get Carthage to the line and IWU launching threes or driving to the basket.

Hardly, Carthage was in the double bonus with more than 10 minutes to go!  So it was a foul fest way before that!! lol.