MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Marty Peretz]

IWU played very well today. I was very impressed by their disciplined style and clutch shooting. Whereas last week, we (Wash.U). played poorly and were lucky to escape with a 2 point win over a weak Babson team, today we played quite well in the second half and couldn't afford to make mistakes against the Titans. That team will give squads fits this year and will compete nationally by next year. If things turn out according to plan, they will be in the running to  get back to Salem by 2010, 2011.

[tjcummingsfan]

Wheaton wins at Wartburg 69-66.

Wiele 18 pts 11 rebounds

Raymond around 16pts or so (was 4-15 from the field, hit 1 trey, and a few free throws).  Really couldn't get it going offensively for most of the game, but had 3 blocks, and I believe 5 assists. 

Wheaton moves to 7-1

[David Collinge]

The news blackout in DePere seems to have been lifted; St. Norbert is reporting that they lost to Augustana, 77-70, in double overtime.    Box score.

[augiefan]

Augie gave another uninspired performance against one of the weaker MWC teams tonight. Things are not clicking for Augie so far this season despite great expectations. Right now this looks like a down year in general for the CCIW. Only Elmhurst seems to be playing well enough to impress anyone.

[Jim Matson]

Good start for Wheaton this season.  I like Wiele's performance tonight on the road - he has stepped up this year and has become a consistent and reliable leader for this Thunder squad.

[Greek Tragedy]

Augie gave another uninspired performance against one of the weaker MWC teams tonight. Thinks are not clicking for Augie so far this season despite great expectations. Right now this looks like a down year in general for the CCIW. Only Elmhurst seems to be playing well enough to impress anyone.

Even though they lost to an unranked (and thus underrated) Oshkosh team...and yeah, St. Norb's isn't that good, IMO.

[markerickson]

North Park's tall and lean Jay Alexander saw some time at PG versus Judson two nights ago.  He played a very smart game against this improved NAIA squad, passing up a J to repeatedly giving his teammate a better shot.  Pressing the ball upcourt, Jay presents a very difficult matchup for any team, which is something I posted two years ago when Jay had several good games at the end of his sophomore year. 

Greg:  Remember when Michael Starks wanted to play the point?

[tjcummingsfan]

Jay had 7 assists Friday night, and he definitely spent some time guarding Judson's big men.  You're right mark I think he could pose some huge matchup issues for teams. 

I was wondering today, while listening to the Wheaton game, who the Wheaties might use to guard whom.  Who is Raymond going to guard was basically my question.  Jason? That would be one heck of a match-up to watch (though presumably Jason and Tone would split time on Kent).  But who guards Nick and/or Jay if they're in together.  The more I see stats around the league the more I liked the balanced attack North Park has to offer.  Between Nick, Jay, Jason, Bruce, Tone, and Joe there are 6 guys who are flirting with, or over the double digit scoring average.  If there's 4 guys on the floor who can score, I like having a defensive center like Ventura or Jorge there to shut down the 3 real good big men in the conference (I'm definitely including Wiele). 

I really can't wait for conference to start.

I'll add a note, that it's 12:30am, I'm about 1/3 of the way through my 3000+ word exegesis paper, so I'm in a pretty verbose mood right now.  I hope I don't eat all of my extremely optimistic words later.

[dansand]

I hate to have to report this, but bad news from Augie's win at St. Norbert. Jordan Delp ruptured an achilles tendon near the end of regulation after leading the Vikings with 22. It was good to see fellow senior Dain Swetalla step up take over in the overtime sessions. It'll be interesting to see if folks start writing Augie off now (some seem to be even before finding out about Jordan's injury). A tough break for Augie, but a tougher one for Jordan.

[Titan Q]

I hate to have to report this, but bad news from Augie's win at St. Norbert. Jordan Delp ruptured an achilles tendon near the end of regulation after leading the Vikings with 22.

My heart just sank when I read this.  Jordan Delp seems to be the heart and soul of that Augustana team.  That's just an absolutely awful way for his career to end. 

As someone who suffered this same injury 3 years ago, I also feel for him.  He's looking at surgery this week, followed by 4 weeks in a cast, 4 weeks in a boot, and then a long rehab process.  The recovered period for an achilles rupture is 9-12 months, and even after that it takes a while longer to feel 100% in terms of running, etc.

[augiefan]

I knew Jordan was hurt but had no idea it was bad enough to end his career at Augie. Truly tough for a senior who put his heart and soul into Augie BB for 4 years. He is close to irreplaceable, but someone usually steps up in these situations. Augie's team does have a lot of depth, so that should help them weather this storm.

The way they blew a big lead in the last 3 minutes last night is my concern.  They are having trouble putting weaker teams away so far this year.

[Titan Q]

Here is the Pantagraph's article on the IWU/Wash U game...

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/12/09/sports/doc475b565959e61706113681.txt

The great thing for me about this game was the improvement of this IWU team right in front of my eyes.  Wash U is better than Albion and while a Wash U/Olivet Nazarene game would be very close, I think the Bears are a better team than ONU.  The Titans lost by 20 and 18 to those teams respectively.  Yesterday they went toe to toe with the Bears for 40 minutes on their floor, in front of a good crowd (1097) w/ a hostile student section riding them the whole game.  The Titans played with a ton of intensity, they played smart, and they looked very talented out there.

A few things are starting to become clear about the 2007-08 Titans...

1) The inside game is much better than I ever imagined it would be.  Darius Gant (15.7 ppg, 8.6 rpg, .606 FG), Brett Chamernik (12.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, .700 FG), and Doug Sexauer (9.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg, .509 FG) all have to be accounted for on the low blocks, with their back to the basket.  This creates perimeter scoring opportunities for the Titans and a nice inside/outside balance (important for any team to have).

2) IWU has a fantastic point-guard in freshman Travis Rosenkranz.  Travis is struggling with his jumpshot in the early going, but as a ball-handler and floor general, he is so valuable.  Travis missed the entire 5-week practice season with a stress fracture in his back...he is just now settling in.  He should continue to improve steadily as the season goes on.  Travis gives the Titans what they did not have last year -- a pure point-guard.  When he is on the floor, the offense just seems to work so much more efficiently than when he's not.

3) Freshman 2-guard Sean Johnson has the ability to have a big year as the season goes on.  Sean came into yesterday's game in a bit of a shooting funk (like Rosenkranz is in now), but he broke out of it in a big way, making 6-10 3's vs a great defensive team.  Most of Wash U's defensive efforts down the stretch were centered around stopping the freshman guard, who was working extremely hard to get open and score.

4) Ron Rose seems to be getting comfortable with his rotation.  He is still tinkering a little bit, but I think he now knows who his players are and how he wants to use them.  The first four games, it was obvious he was experimenting and just trying to find combinations that worked.  With the rotation becoming more consistent, roles are being defined.  It is starting to become obvious who the primary scoring options are, what is expected of the bench players, etc.


I'm disappointed the Titans lost the game yesterday - with a couple bounces of the ball, they could have knocked off a very good team.  I saw a lot of very positive things, however, and I'm pretty optimistic about the potential of this team.  They have enough talent to play with anybody...or get bet by anybody. I don't see this Titan team finishing 7th in the CCIW.

The quote that Mark Edwards' gave the Pantagraph, is the basically the same thing I heard both him and Tyler Nading say to the Wash U radio team: "They've got a nice team. I'm glad we played them in December and not February."  Nading, their star 6-7 small forward,  was very complimentary of the Titans after the game, telling the Pantagraph, ""We knew they were very young, but they've got a lot of talent...they're developing into a great team."

[Titan Q]

In the preview I did for IWUHoops.com, I asked Ron Rose for the keys to the season....



http://www.iwuhoops.com/prev08.htm

"The first thing is realizing the level of play and at what level of urgency and intensity that you have to play every night out to be competitive," he said.  "That's the starting point."

Second, Rose pointed to role definition. "Roles will not be established right away, but we need to develop them throughout the non-conference season," he said.

Generating consistency is another key identified by the head coach of the Titans. "We need to develop a consistency this year," he explained. "Last year we knew Zach was going to get 20 (points) and 10 (rebounds), but after that we didn't know what to expect.  This year we need to have more answers than that on a nightly basis."   

Finally, Rose said his team needs to make progress throughout the season.  "There will be some bumps in the road and a lot of lessons learned when you have inexperienced and young guys playing," he said.  "It may not always be pretty, but what we will be looking at is how competitive are we, and are we making progress."


Still work to be done, but I sense improvement from game to game in each area.

[dansand]

The way they blew a big lead in the last 3 minutes last night is my concern.  They are having trouble putting weaker teams away so far this year.

Other than the LaCrosse loss, which was definitely disappointing, they won going away against Simpson, Webster, Coe, and St. Ambrose. I'd have a tough time considering pre-season #1 Wash U. a "weaker" team.

[Titan Q]

I hate to have to report this, but bad news from Augie's win at St. Norbert. Jordan Delp ruptured an achilles tendon near the end of regulation after leading the Vikings with 22. It was good to see fellow senior Dain Swetalla step up take over in the overtime sessions. It'll be interesting to see if folks start writing Augie off now (some seem to be even before finding out about Jordan's injury). A tough break for Augie, but a tougher one for Jordan.

So Dan, how do you see the Augie rotation changing now?  Is Alex Washington the logical replacement for Delp in the starting lineup? 

Jordan Delp, Augie's leading scorer (15.2 ppg), was also one of the team's top two 3-point threats - his 10 makes on the season is just one behind Brett Wessels.  Last year Delp was 53-118 (.449) from beyond the arc, which is about as good as it gets.  Alex Washington, a 6-2 junior guard, has played very well off the bench this year (10 ppg in 19 min/game of action), but he's a much different player.  Washington is a very impressive 24-38 (.632) from the field so far, but he has only shot 1 3-pointer.  More of a slasher, correct Dan?

Seems like losing Delp is an enormous blow to the Vikings.