MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

Now that I've been home long enough to consume mass quantities with my friend Beldar, my fingers are, as my mind is, ready to wander aimlessly over the keyboard in search of a thoughtful analysis of tonight's IWU-NCC "contest."

The Cards were down by 14 at half after scoring only 20 points in the entire 1st half. No matter how good a second half you have, the statistics for coming out a winner after tallying only 20 in the opening period can't be good. Too deep a hole to dig yourself out of unless you are an offensive machine, which the Cardinals are not (36 % FG), even with Chris Drennan's 19 ppg and 8 rpg in the lineup. The truth is this game was lost in the final 3:45 of the first half and the first 1:40 of the 2nd half when, with the score at 22-18 IWU, the Titans went on an 18-2 run, including scoring the first 6 points of the second stanza. Game over. To their credit, the Cards fought back and actually got within 7 at one point. Another positive was the fact they outrebounded the Titans 40-33. However, does this only mean they were either missing too many of their first shots, and/or giving up too many Titan shots?

Much has been made of the absence of Chris Drennan from the Cardinals lineup. Could his presence have made a difference in tonight's outcome. Titan fans will surely scoff at the mere suggestion. However, the addition of his 19 ppg and 8 rpg averages to the final total lends at least some credence to the possibility. Of course, the assumption is made that the other Cards would have performed as they did.   

The problem is that Chris' return is no guarantee of victory. While his points and rebounds will certainly help immensely, the likelihood that they will be forthcoming immediately upon his return is slim. As a human rather than a machine, it will take Chris a few games to regain his "game face" and pre-injury level of performance. Until then, the Cards will miss not only his stats, but the chemistry that had developed on the team. Right now, its missing and everyone needs to work together to get it back.   

[Viking Blue]

Question from the North Park-Augie game:  If Augustana has such superior size, did they attempt to run any offense out of the post?  With such a low FG percentage, it would seem as though they either did not, or it was just very inefficient. 

If they did, who from North Park was responsible for the defensive presence inside?

[Gotberg]

I think that's a BIG win for North Park (as I stated right before the tip) for more than a few reasons.  I'm very interested to hear how Oziminski fared at the point, and how big Nick Williams played.

And I'm still REALLY pissed that I missed it.  Hope the North Park crowd was alive and kickin!  How was the student section?

Oziminski did a good job of managing the game and hit crucial free throws in the final minutes to seal the win.  I must also note that Chris Brown did an excellent job when he was in for Oziminski.  Augie had a very difficult time dealing with his quickness on offense and defense.

[markerickson]

The Quad Cities Vikings rarely passed to the post, which is one surprising element, especially after the first half.  Augie looked like a 2006 and 2007 NP team with four guys hanging around the trey line.  The difference would be that Swetella and #52 routinely camp in the paint for at least five seconds.  #52 was in there once for close to ten seconds and the refs refused to make the call a single time the entire game.  We were extremely frustrated by the lack of calls, not only with the repeated lane violations, but also by the mugging of Player of the Game Nick Williams who went for a layup and got hammered from behind by the foe who made no effort to go for the ball.  It was such a clear intentional foul that NP Asssistant Coach Modzel Greer tried to speak to two refs at halftime, but they walked.  The third ref listened as Mr. Greer, in a most repectful manner, spoke to the ref about the non-call.

I had to go pick up my youngest son at the 6 minute mark - when NP went up by two (and ultimately held the lead for good).  We returned with 52 seconds and NP leading by 7 or 9.  Not sure what happened, but I do know that Augie, but not Swetella, got into foul trouble early in the second half.  I suspect NP made their free throws (what a concept!) in the last six minutes of the game whereas Augie didn't get to the bonus.

[Titan Q]

Now that I've been home long enough to consume mass quantities with my friend Beldar, my fingers are, as my mind is, ready to wander aimlessly over the keyboard in search of a thoughtful analysis of tonight's IWU-NCC "contest."

The Cards were down by 14 at half after scoring only 20 points in the entire 1st half. No matter how good a second half you have, the statistics for coming out a winner after tallying only 20 in the opening period can't be good. Too deep a hole to dig yourself out of unless you are an offensive machine, which the Cardinals are not (36 % FG), even with Chris Drennan's 19 ppg and 8 rpg in the lineup. The truth is this game was lost in the final 3:45 of the first half and the first 1:40 of the 2nd half when, with the score at 22-18 IWU, the Titans went on an 18-2 run, including scoring the first 6 points of the second stanza. Game over. To their credit, the Cards fought back and actually got within 7 at one point. Another positive was the fact they outrebounded the Titans 40-33. However, does this only mean they were either missing too many of their first shots, and/or giving up too many Titan shots?

Much has been made of the absence of Chris Drennan from the Cardinals lineup. Could his presence have made a difference in tonight's outcome. Titan fans will surely scoff at the mere suggestion. However, the addition of his 19 ppg and 8 rpg averages to the final total lends at least some credence to the possibility. Of course, the assumption is made that the other Cards would have performed as they did.   

The problem is that Chris' return is no guarantee of victory. While his points and rebounds will certainly help immensely, the likelihood that they will be forthcoming immediately upon his return is slim. As a human rather than a machine, it will take Chris a few games to regain his "game face" and pre-injury level of performance. Until then, the Cards will miss not only his stats, but the chemistry that had developed on the team. Right now, its missing and everyone needs to work together to get it back.   

AndOne, it was nice to finally meet you.

I don't think any IWU fan would "scoff" at the suggestion that NCC having its best player would have had an impact.  Regarding the final 9 point margin, however, I will add that if IWU knocks down 2 or 3 of these wide open 3's once NCC went zone, the final margin might have been 20+.

18:02  IWU 42-22

16:43  IWU  MISSED 3 PTR by Johnson,Sean
12:52  IWU  MISSED 3 PTR by Schick,Matt
12:16  IWU  MISSED 3 PTR by Dwyer,Sean
11:18  IWU  MISSED 3 PTR by Rosenkranz, Travis
10:29  IWU  MISSED 3 PTR by Morris,Jordan
08:47  IWU  MISSED 3 PTR by Johnson,Sean

Some pretty good shooters missing some wide open shots at home.

The story of the game was IWU's ability, finally, to defend the perimeter.  NCC came in to the game shooting a very impressive 42% from 3.  IWU came in giving up 3-pointers at a very unimpressive 39% clip.  Last night, IWU held NCC to 4-21 from 3 (19%).  The Cards did not hit a 3 in the 1st half...their first make was with 11:44 to play in the game.  And Reid Barringer made 2 in the final 1:35 with the game basically over.  IWU's perimeter players - Travis Rosenkranz, Sean Johnson, Jordan Morris, Sean Dwyer, and Matt Schick - all played very well on defense.  Most of those NCC misses were due to good defense - not a lot of open looks.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

A few morning thoughts before I go back and read last night's posts for the first time.

There's a point at the end of their pre-game warm-up where the entire Augustana team does belly flops in unison and slides across the floor - it's very well choreographed and very impressive.

But it was the North Park team which repeatedly had to pick itself off the floor (literally), looking like those old inflatible toys that you knock down, but won't stay down.  There were NP players lying on the floor at least a dozen or more times as the rugged and muscular Augustana players muscled their way inside for repeated putbacks and layups.

But the resilience of North Park in taking Augustana's best shots and still coming back for more and still having gas in the tank at the end - coming up with nearly all the rebounds in the final three minutes - as Augustana threw up brick after air-ball in a futile attempt to get back in the game.

There was a play in the 2nd half in a particularly rugged scrum near the North Park basket, where an NPU reserve inside player muscled the ball away from his Augustana opposite with a jarring elbow below the belt.  An Augustana fan yelled  "that's a personal foul, ref" - a very personal foul - as the Augustana player went to the bench for a breather and a readjustment of his equipment - but it symbolized for me, anyway, that this night NPU was willing to take it and give it in equal measure - and not stay down.

Congratulations to North Park a great team win.

DoS

Biggest stat for me, besides the clutch free throw shooting, was only 3 turnovers in the 2nd half and only 10 for the game.

Nick Williams 3-pointer with 3:11 to go and just seconds on the shot clock that gave North Park a 5-point lead electrified the home crowd, like few shots by the home team in the last 15 years.

Chris Brown 3-pointer which began the erasure of Augustana's 8-point 2nd half lead, may have been the biggest bucket of the game for North Park as Augie had all the momentum in the game at that point and North Park looked demoralized.  At that point NPU was tottering on the slippery slope looking downward.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

after reading the posts on the game - a few thoughts in response

I was sitting next to John Hodel the whole game - John is one of the senior officials in the league - and was on a "busman's holiday" after doing a Chicago Public League game down Kimball Avenue in the afternoon.  His only comment at half-time was on the disparity on the obvious strength of the Augustana players vis-a-vis North Park.  Even their guards looked like they've spent some time in the weight room.

While the officiating may have looked bogus at times - especially with North Park players flying to the floor after losing battles of strength inside - the home team benefitted from a very loosely called game as well.  There was a whole lot of mugging going on outside - especially in the final three minutes - and NPU came up with several crucial steals and rebounds where, in a more closely called game, the clock would have been stopped a lot more times for someone to shoot free throws by both teams.

I think that North Park's commitment to pack it inside - stick with their zone - and make Augie beat them from the outside (which they could not do) - and the fact that they did not panic when they went down by eight in the 2nd half was the difference.

Kudos again to the entire North Park team, players and coaches for a job well finished.

DoS

[Scream]

I don't post a whole lot here but I have to say that was probably the best NP win I've seen in several years.  Dating back to 01 when I started going to Park, this was a great win.  Like robberki said, I'm particularly happy for guys like Jay Alexander and Jason Gordon.  After having to sit most of the first half after picking up his 2nd foul, Jason came back to have a pretty solid 2nd half.  Jay on the other hand had a game.  As a fan, it's easy to appreciate the outward emotion and energy that guys like Jay and Nick Williams bring with them.

I can't remember a Park defense  that suffocated a good offense like we did last night.  Those sitting around me thought for sure that Augie would make adjustments at half time.  Maybe they did but if so to NP's credit, the changes weren't successful.   

Good win.  Good start to the conference season after a lackluster W against Knox.  Now, get back to business and don't let it go to your head. 

[AndOne]

TQ---

As you said, many of the NCC 3 point misses were indeed the result of good defense on the part of the Titans. However, as far as the Wesleyan misses that you refer to possibly making the final margin around 20, I think it can be said that those misses were the result of an effective zone defense on the part of the Cards.

To their credit, the Cards didn't throw in the towel after falling behind by a wide margin initially, and battled back, outscoring the Titans by 5 in the second stanza.
That non quit attitude can only result in positives as they enter future battles in what will unquestionably be several close encounters during the tough, and quite likely fairly well balanced CCIW season.

[REDMENFAN]

Here's the newspaper article from lastnights Carthage/Wheaton game.  Carthage didn't attempt a single free throw the entire second half! Wasn't at the game, so can't give the exact reason why, but that definitely needs to change.

http://kenoshanews.com/article_comments/view_comments.php?articleNum=2356381

[74impala]

Did NPU change it's colors?  The picture on the front page looks like blue and orange?

[wheels81]

74,
you'll have to wait to the wee hours of the morn to get a GS answer to that one.

[robberki]

Did NPU change it's colors?  The picture on the front page looks like blue and orange?

that's a picture from an away game a few weeks ago...but it does still look a little strange...not sure what exactly is going on there.

[Viking Blue]

North Park is doing something revolutionary this year to celebrate the conference.  They are wearing colors from all of the other 7 schools.  That particular game was Wheaton night.

[Pat Coleman]

I think the gym was kind of dark and the gold didn't pop as much as it should have.