MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[cciwgrad]

I listened to the Score [670am] for the Augie game and find the comments from those who went interesting.  The radio did not say NIU lost intensity in the second half, but that Augie just looked better and kept chipping away. Always interesting on how D3 teams handle going into D2 or D1 and not panic being outmanned.   


Anyone here how MU did in their scrimmage with Wabash last Saturday??

[mr_b]

Just out of curiosity, how did North Central end up bringing World Harvest Bible College into their Season opening tournament?  Checked them out on Google, could not find any athletics on the site, and they are not in the NCCAA or the ACCA, the 2 college associations that bring together most of the small Bible schools in the country together....

Wow, this is a real puzzler!  World Harvest Bible College is listed on one website as being a member of the USCAA , a separate athletic association for small schools.  Members listed on the sites include New Hampshire Tech, La Sierra, and Hesser.  The WHBC site does not have an athletics link.

[AndOne]

Elmhurst vs. Whitewater in a scrimmage tonight at 6:00 at Elmhurst.....Will the Bluejays find the point guard they need. Has Strzemp after knee surgeries returned to 100%..... if so that will be an awesome junior threesome with Ruch and Burks. Go Bluejays!!!......

Will be very interested to hear how the Bluejays did tonight.

I may be behind the times on this one, but I recently heard Pat Bacon is not playing for EC this year. Can any EC fan and/or other poster confirm this and add the reason why if its true? Thanks.

Can anyone report on this scrimmage?
Who played well for EC?
Did Macias play for EC?
Any info on why Bacon is not playing?
Thanks

[Sakman 1111]

 Already reported on the scrimmage as did Goo 62......Bacon not playing is his personal decision......

[petemcb]

Elmhurst vs. Whitewater in a scrimmage tonight at 6:00 at Elmhurst.....Will the Bluejays find the point guard they need. Has Strzemp after knee surgeries returned to 100%..... if so that will be an awesome junior threesome with Ruch and Burks. Go Bluejays!!!......

Will be very interested to hear how the Bluejays did tonight.

I may be behind the times on this one, but I recently heard Pat Bacon is not playing for EC this year. Can any EC fan and/or other poster confirm this and add the reason why if its true? Thanks.

Can anyone report on this scrimmage?
Who played well for EC?
Did Macias play for EC?
Any info on why Bacon is not playing?
Thanks

I heard he was having trouble on the defensive end of the floor.  Something about bacon getting smoked..............

[augiefan]

I also made the trip to DeKalb to see Augie take on the NIU juggernaut. All in all a pretty disappointing effort by the Vikings, particularly their key returning players Swatalla, Delp and Rorer. All 3 of them were non factors in the game. The 3 point shooting was also really embarassing.

There were some positives in that the FT shooting was excellent, the team played hard in the second half and Chandlor Collins and Washington exceeded expectations. Wessels also looked respectable for his first outing as a Viking.

All in all there was nothing demonstrated by the Vikings that would justify a top 5 ranking in the DIII polls. NIU will be one of the worst teams in DI BB this year, and they pretty much went through the motions after building up a big lead. Augie will have to play a lot better to win the CCIw. Hopefully, Pelton will be a difference maker at PG. Anyone who can shoot a 3 will be welcome, but as I recall Augie was not that great from 3 point land last year either.

[augiefan]

I meant to mention that there were a quite a few Augie fans in the crowd. Kyle Waller is from DeKalb, so that may have accounted for some of the Viking turnout.

Query: I thought Augie recruited a second DI transfer not just Wessels. I think the kid was from Evansville, but I did not see the guy in the game or on the bench and do not recall his name. Anyone remember who that was and did he actually transfer to Augie? Since Evansville changed coaches maybe he returned to DI ball.

[kenoshamark]

Attended the Carthage - Aurora scrimmage tonight....

Carthage won the first 20 minutes by a score of 41-34, lost the second half by something like 51-35 and won the third session (JV's) by about 10.

Starters for Carthage were Steve Djurickovic at the point, Bowens and Fendley at the 2(a) and 2(b), Adam Stuart at the 4 and Neb at the 5.   

Carthage shot the ball very well during the first session with Bowens leading the way.  The majority of the points came from the three perimeter players through a variety of bombs and mid-range jumpers.  Stuart, a former volleyball player, is getting his basketball game back and did some nice things defensively and on the boards but turned the ball over way to much and Neb is working his way back after having nursed a sore ankle for much of the preseason. 

Logan Derrick and Billy Jacklin were the primary bench players in the first 20 minutes.  Joe Higgins was out with the flu. 

The second 20 minutes didn't start well for Carthage as they went down by 10 quickly and couldn't find their shot like they did in the first session.   This led to alot of dribbling and not the kind of movement they had shown early.  Aurora started to look like a team ranked 13th in the nation and Carthage had no answer for Welton all night.

I thought Carthage looked pretty good starting out tonight and if they are hitting their shots and doing a decent job on the boards, they will be fine but when the shots didn't go, they had no inside game at all.   They also had some real poor lapses on the boards which is going to be a concern all year.

All in all, to early to tell how good Carthage will be.....they were playing a very good team and showed some signs but whether they can play a 40 minute game will be interesting.

[cardinalfanrochelle]

Millikin33,
               Couldn't disagree with you more,a good D3 team could keep up with a bad D1 school. Size is a very big factor I agree, I'm new to the CCIW but put 6 inches on Kent Raymond and maybe somebody like Villanova University or West Virginia may have called. You can teach somebody to play ball but you can't teach him to be tall, there is alot of talent in D3 that could be good D1 players. Look at NIU's  Michael Hart I couldn't tell you how he played at Carthage but he was starting at Center the two nights I saw him and I think he will do well at NIU.Why should D3 schools lose by 20 points? If D3 schools had athletic scholarships you would see a smaller gap between D3 and D1, how many players did your school lose because they couldn't afford to go to schools like Millikin or North Central that ended up at a CC  or yet smaller D3 school? How many D1 players would rather play at a D3 school than sit at a D1? Maybe I'm getting off track but I really believe a good D3 can compete with bad or average D1 and not expect to lose by 20.

[Gregory Sager]

Augie could not have played worse in the first half.  Maybe it was the jet-lag from the China trip. 

Jet lag that lasts for ten weeks? Remind me never to fly to China.

Just out of curiosity, how did North Central end up bringing World Harvest Bible College into their Season opening tournament?  Checked them out on Google, could not find any athletics on the site, and they are not in the NCCAA or the ACCA, the 2 college associations that bring together most of the small Bible schools in the country together....

Rod Parsley spoke these words:  "Let there be a team" and it was so. 

Now that's funny stuff!

Todd Raridon was forced to scramble to find a last-minute replacement after UW-LaCrosse bowed out of the NCC Tipoff Tourney. Beggars can't be choosers, so NCC should be happy that there will be a fourth team representing any sort of educational institution whatsoever in the airplane hangar on opening weekend. However, when you can't find any indication on the school's website that it even has a basketball team, and the team doesn't appear to be a member of any known intercollegiate association ... well, that's a pretty ominous foreshadowing of the sort of quality that you can expect from that team.

My first prediction of the year is: North Central 105, World Harvest Bible 30

Moral clarity doesn't win basketball games, Rod.

(And I am breathing a sigh of relief that Paul Brenegan was able to scare up a game with Cardinal Stritch at the last minute after Oberlin's head coach bailed on his contract to have the Yeomen visit the crackerbox two weeks from this coming Saturday. I would not want my alma mater's team to be the one stuck playing the likes of World Harvest Bible College.)

The other two teams in the NCC Tipoff Tourney, Lindenwood and Taylor, are fairly well-established, although not outstanding, NAIA-2 programs.

Wow, this is a real puzzler!  World Harvest Bible College is listed on one website as being a member of the USCAA , a separate athletic association for small schools.  Members listed on the sites include New Hampshire Tech, La Sierra, and Hesser.  The WHBC site does not have an athletics link.

The USCAA is actually something of a known quantity in CCIW circles, because Robert Morris College-Springfield is a member of that organization. In fact, RMCS has reached the USCAA Final Four in each of the last four seasons, for what that's worth. RMCS has played Millikin, NCC, and NPU pretty regularly, in addition to Rose-Hulman, DePauw, and several of the SLIAC schools. This year the Eagles have eleven games against D3 schools -- NPU, Rose-Hulman, Blackburn (twice), Dallas, Principia (twice), MacMurray, Schreiner, Fontbonne, and UW-Platteville -- on their docket.

[Gregory Sager]

Anyone who can shoot a 3 will be welcome, but as I recall Augie was not that great from 3 point land last year either.

Your recaller ought to be recalled by the manufacturer, augiefan. Not only did Augustana lead the CCIW in three-point shooting last season, Augie led all of D3 in three-point shooting. The Doggies knocked 'em down at a .440 clip last season, well ahead of #2 Occidental (.422) and #3 UWSP (.415).

Query: I thought Augie recruited a second DI transfer not just Wessels. I think the kid was from Evansville, but I did not see the guy in the game or on the bench and do not recall his name. Anyone remember who that was and did he actually transfer to Augie? Since Evansville changed coaches maybe he returned to DI ball.

You're thinking of Keaton Frye. His D1 school was Valparaiso, not Evansville. He is listed on the online Augustana roster as a JV player, not as a varsity player. My guess is that the excitement on CCIW Chat when his transfer to Augie was disclosed several months ago might've been a bit premature.

Speaking of the Augustana roster, what has happened to Brandon Carleton? He traveled with the team to China this summer, and was supposed to be a sophomore this season. He played mostly JV last year for Augie, but got into three varsity games as well. I liked him a lot both times I saw him (once in HS, once last year for Augie's JV team), and I thought that he might have a nice CCIW career ahead of him. But he isn't on either the varsity or JV roster for Augie this season.

Starters for Carthage were Steve Djurickovic at the point, Bowens and Fendley at the 2(a) and 2(b), Adam Stuart at the 4 and Neb at the 5. 

Adam Stuart started? The volleyball player who transferred in from Baylor and who hasn't played basketball in two years? Bosko's full of surprises, as always.

Size is a very big factor I agree, I'm new to the CCIW but put 6 inches on Kent Raymond and maybe somebody like Villanova University or West Virginia may have called.

Put six inches on Kent Raymond, and the NBA might have called.

[dansand]

I also made the trip to DeKalb to see Augie take on the NIU juggernaut. All in all a pretty disappointing effort by the Vikings, particularly their key returning players Swatalla, Delp and Rorer. All 3 of them were non factors in the game. The 3 point shooting was also really embarassing.

There were some positives in that the FT shooting was excellent, the team played hard in the second half and Chandlor Collins and Washington exceeded expectations. Wessels also looked respectable for his first outing as a Viking.

All in all there was nothing demonstrated by the Vikings that would justify a top 5 ranking in the DIII polls. NIU will be one of the worst teams in DI BB this year, and they pretty much went through the motions after building up a big lead. Augie will have to play a lot better to win the CCIw. Hopefully, Pelton will be a difference maker at PG. Anyone who can shoot a 3 will be welcome, but as I recall Augie was not that great from 3 point land last year either.

Augie led the nation in 3-point shooting last year.

But, I do agree, finding three-point threats other than Delp (who struggled Monday) will be one of the keys for them on offense. Pelton did hit .565 on limited attempts last year.

The biggest problem Augie had with NIU was the pressure their guards were able to put on Augie's. They forced them to start their offense way out on the perimeter which made it difficult to get the ball inside. A healthy Pelton will help with that and also let Jordan Delp play off the ball, where he can be more of a scoring threat like last year.

[Titan Q]

You're thinking of Keaton Frye. His D1 school was Valparaiso, not Evansville. He is listed on the online Augustana roster as a JV player, not as a varsity player. My guess is that the excitement on CCIW Chat when his transfer to Augie was disclosed several months ago might've been a bit premature.

Frye suffered an injury in the late summer and has been out all of the practice season, as I understand it.

I've heard that Frye is no more than a CCIW role player.  Valpo offered him before his senior year of H.S. expecting a certain level of development, and that just never happened.  He should be a pretty good (but not great) CCIW player when healthy.

[Titan Q]

Two IWU-related articles from today's Pantagraph...

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/11/07/sports/doc47314c9e7ae0f256136453.txt

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/11/07/sports/doc4731525eab01b584130750.txt

[REDMENFAN]

KenoshaMark is right on.  Carthage's guards are very very good, but the challenge will be their inside game all year.  With Djurickovic, Bowens, Fendley, Derrick, and Higgins, that's about as good and as deep as you can get in Division 3.  Obviously the two Freshman will have to prove themselves, but those around the program know just how special these two can be together.  The guys on the inside dont' have to be scorers, but they have to consistently be solid rebounders and tough defenders for the Redmen to have a chance.  I believe Carthage is the darkhorse in the conference this year, and should be a lot of fun to watch. Good luck to all CCIW teams in the non-conference portion of your schedules.