MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[REDMENFAN]

AndOne-

I completely agree that its tough to find good bigs at the D3 level, and that most all teams are in need of them.  I just thought it was a good article that included Bosko's perspective of the situation this year, along with the next 3 years, and the improved play of Neb during the 2 conference games thus far.

[sac]

In Michigan I've seen about a dozen kids over the last 3 years get full rides to D2 schools who have no business playing at that level.  The only reason they get those schollies is because they're 6-10.

One kid got a full ride late in the summer, its unlikely he would have even made the varsity at the MIAA school that was recruiting him and was considered a project.  Thats just kind of the environment for D3's looking for big men these days.

[devildog29]

IWU fans on the L.A. trip might be interested to know that Claremont-Mudd-Scripps beat Occidental tonight 55-42 (@ CMS).

This seems pretty amazing.  I know it's tough to win on the road, but from the two games I saw out here, I thought Oxy was clearly a much better team than Claremont.  I'm not trying to compare scores of the two IWU games (the Titans shot horribly against Oxy which contributed to such a lopsided score), but I thought Oxy's inside-outside combination was tough to beat.  Q, I know we even said we thought Oxy could probably compete for the CCIW championship this year.  Any given night I guess.

[tjcummingsfan]

This might be the first time in conference history (Dennis?) that the whole league is 1-1 after two games.

Should be a great season.  Early congrats to Steve Djurokovich on his player of the week award.  Nick Williams would have had a great shot most weeks...

Looks like Nick was good enough this week... http://cciw.org/winter_bball_m/pow07_8.php

[Gregory Sager]

This might be the first time in conference history (Dennis?) that the whole league is 1-1 after two games.

Should be a great season.  Early congrats to Steve Djurokovich on his player of the week award.  Nick Williams would have had a great shot most weeks...

Looks like Nick was good enough this week... http://cciw.org/winter_bball_m/pow07_8.php

Congrats to Nick Williams upon being named CCIW Player of the Week. After watching the Raymond and Rogers Show on Saturday night, and hearing Djurickovic's 23-11-7 stat line as relayed to me over the phone by NPC-Alum while I watched people file out of the airplane hangar, I figured that there was no way Nick would win POW. I'm certainly pleased to have guessed wrong.

Since I didn't make the trip down to that delightful burg we all know and love as Decatur on Saturday night, I have no direct commentary to offer regarding NPU's loss at the buzzer to Millikin. A perusal of the box score, however, tells me that the Vikings settled for too many jumpshots and not enough drives on a night in which the jumpers weren't falling (.364 from the field, .286 from beyond the arc). If North Park is only getting to the line ten times in a game, chances are that the outcome will not be favorable for the Vikings; dribble penetration is a big part of what makes NPU tick. (I also noticed to my chagrin that the only one of those ten FTs that the Vikes missed all night was by their best free-throw shooter, Joe Capalbo -- not that I blame him, because you can point to almost anything in a one-point loss, but that's yet another morsel of agony to swallow from the night.)

I said on Friday that the NPU @ MU game made me very nervous. Turns out I had good reason to feel that way. It's been a cliche in this league for years that there are no easy games, but this season that statement will go beyond cliche and become an emphatic fact. With no national-juggernaut teams in the CCIW and no bad ones either, the gap between the top and the bottom of the league this season may wind up being as narrow as it's ever been. This could be a year in which everyone is sandwiched between 10-4 and 4-10, with the 10-4 team(s) winning a fistful of games by five points or less. That's not good for the league in terms of getting more than one team into the dance in March, but it's great for the league in terms of giving us what may turn out to be the most tense, balanced, and exciting CCIW season to watch since at least that amazing 1982-83 season in which Millikin won the league with a 12-4 record while four teams (Augustana, Illinois Wesleyan, North Central, and North Park) finished a game back with 11-5 records.

[Gregory Sager]

There's been plenty of commentary already offered about Saturday night's WC @ NCC game, but I'll offer my two cents:

After the game I wondered aloud to both NCC assistant Chad Murray and WC assistants Nate Frank and Owen Handy as to where Matt Rogers planned to take Andy Wiele for the steak dinner that he now owed him. The box score may show that Wiele earned a double-double with his 14 and 11 night, but he easily played the poorest double-double game I've ever seen. Rogers used and abused the significantly-larger Wiele all night, scoring layups at will against the Wheaton junior. Wiele was not alone in his transgressions, as Jacob Carwell was equally indifferent at the defensive end; Chris Drennan has yet to demonstrate that he can knock down jumpers with that damaged hand of his, but Carwell did such a poor job of defending Drennan that the NCC star still managed to score 23 points, all of it on layups, three-foot bunnies, and free throws.

North Central's .604 shooting percentage for the game is probably the worst ever surrendered by a Harris-coached Wheaton team, and the responsibility for that could be laid squarely at the feet of Wiele and Carwell. All you need to know about this game is that NCC attempted only six treys the entire night, made only one of them, and still won the game. Given the Swiss-cheese defense offered up by Wheaton's big men, there was no reason for the Cards to take any outside shots at all. The only Wheaton interior defender who seemed the least bit interested in playing D was Phill Denham, and his foul trouble rendered that point moot.

So why was Wheaton able to hang around and actually put itself in a position to win the game in the waning minutes? Two reasons, one small and one huge. The lesser reason was that the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance fronted the post late in the game and NCC proved unable to lob the ball over the front without turning it over. The much, much greater reason was that Kent Raymond had one of those Michael-Jordan-and-the-1980s-Bulls games in which he recognized the ineptitude of his teammates on that particular night and decided to simply do everything all by himself. His 37 points only scratches the surface of how dominant he was. NCC put four different defenders on him at one time or another (Mitch Raridon, Dominique King, Chris Drennan, and Reid Barringer), and none of them even came close to slowing him down (although Raridon probably left the gym with a lot of orange dye under his fingernails, judging by the amount of time he spent grabbing Raymond's jersey). Nor did the 2-3 matchup zone the Cards played late do much to stop Raymond. It was simply an amazing performance by the Wheaton superstar. The fact that NCC doesn't have a shutdown perimeter defender, among its other definite weaknesses, didn't help matters with regard to containing Raymond.

In spite of Raymond's fantastic performance, North Central clearly deserved to win. After that early 14-6 Wheaton start that had everyone in the gym wondering if the Cards were going to show up at all, NCC turned it around and outhustled Wheaton throughout the rest of the game. And as badly as Wheaton's interior D performed, Rogers and Drennan deserve due credit for their aggressiveness and hunger in getting the ball to the rim.

Great game, and probably one typical of what we'll see in any given CCIW gym on a Wednesday or Saturday over the next two months: Two spirited, smart, and determined -- but definitely flawed -- teams exposing each other's weaknesses and battling right down to the wire.

[Gregory Sager]

markerickson,

Steve creates in a number of various ways.  He will take guys off the dribble from outside of the trey line and get all the way to the hoop, he will take a pass off their offensive sets and break you down with a short jumper (trying to create body contact), they will run sets off of in-bounds plays where he will get the ball in the paint and draw contact or he could be driving to the hole off of transition.   

As I've mentioned before, he has the uncanny knack for looking for body contact depending on where he is on the floor.  He will drive and take a pull up jumper and create space using his body which sometimes will result in a foul off of his shot. 

Because he played so many different positions in high school, he has learned to handle the ball adeptly enough in traffic and his willing to attack the basket despite his slight frame.  He has a little bit of that Allen Iverson type of mentality when it comes to attacking the basket despite his size.   I'm not suggesting he is that quick or can jump that well but I've always been impressed with how Iverson likes to absorb the physical contact when it would be easier to just pull up and take jump shots. 

Sounds like Greg and I are thinking along the same lines...

You get credit for saying it first, K-Mark, but it looks as though it's going to take both of us saying it to get the point across.

[AndOne]

This might be the first time in conference history (Dennis?) that the whole league is 1-1 after two games.

Should be a great season.  Early congrats to Steve Djurokovich on his player of the week award.  Nick Williams would have had a great shot most weeks...

Looks like Nick was good enough this week... http://cciw.org/winter_bball_m/pow07_8.php

Not surprised. Mr. Williams is a very talented guy who can do many things. Thats why he is so hard to stop. All conference for sure this season!

[REDMENFAN]

Just got back from the Carthage game. Illinois Tech was no match for Carthage as the Redmen won by 40. Sean Fendley had an outstanding individual performance, going 9-13 from the 3-point arc, finishing with 29 points.  Carthage's bench played the final ten minutes of the game.  It was pretty clear from warm-ups that Illinois Tech wasn't the most skilled team around.  Two tough ones coming up this week, good luck Redmen!

[Titan Q]

I hate to say this but a FRESHMEN beat IWU - lets not keep talking about freshmen this and freshmen that - this is my 13th game and this Sean Dwyer kid should be playing in an overtime game, sorry. He also should be logging alot more minutes in future games if they are going to win against and good CCIW teams.

....and lets not forget to compare where these freshman originate - 4A vs 5A vs 6A
6A is the toughest and that is where this Sean kid is from. Come on now boys.

I have been looking at game re-caps and he has played half the minutes and scoring almost just as many points to those playing more - Come on now boys.

Just the facts - jmho~

OurHouse, I am a big Sean Dwyer fan too, but you continue to come across as a fool here. 

-jmho~

Mr. Dwyer, I know you think your son should be starting.  It is hard to be objective as a father but please try.

OurHouse is not a member of Sean Dwyer's family...it's not fair to Sean or his family to float that around.

[Titan Q]

IWU fans on the L.A. trip might be interested to know that Claremont-Mudd-Scripps beat Occidental tonight 55-42 (@ CMS).

This seems pretty amazing.  I know it's tough to win on the road, but from the two games I saw out here, I thought Oxy was clearly a much better team than Claremont.  I'm not trying to compare scores of the two IWU games (the Titans shot horribly against Oxy which contributed to such a lopsided score), but I thought Oxy's inside-outside combination was tough to beat.  Q, I know we even said we thought Oxy could probably compete for the CCIW championship this year.  Any given night I guess.

Occidental is a lot better basketball team than Claremont-Mudd-Scripps - and I do think they would contend for the CCIW title this year - but that result didn't surprise me that much.  Much like a less talented Hanover team can beat anybody on any given night, I'd imagine CMS pulls off its share of "upsets" (especially at home) with their incredibly physical style and great defense. 

On the season, CMS opponents are averaging 59.8 ppg, are shooting .416 from the field, and have 114 assists to 180 turnovers.  Those numbers probably stack up favorably with the best defensive teams in the country.  It's just hard to score 60 points against that team.

Former #21 Occidental fell out of the Top 25 this week (128 poll points in Week 6...32 points this week) after losing a tough conference road game in a gym they haven't won at in 5 years.  I was disappointed to see that.  They're a better team than some of those in the poll.  I think the Occidentals of Division III are almost in the same boat as the DI "mid-majors" - they have a hard time gaining respect, and when they do, it doesn't take much to lose it.

[Pat Coleman]

Occidental should try to win there on occasion if they're that good, really.

[cardinalpride]

There's been plenty of commentary already offered about Saturday night's WC @ NCC game, but I'll offer my two cents:

After the game I wondered aloud to both NCC assistant Chad Murray and WC assistants Nate Frank and Owen Handy as to where Matt Rogers planned to take Andy Wiele for the steak dinner that he now owed him. The box score may show that Wiele earned a double-double with his 14 and 11 night, but he easily played the poorest double-double game I've ever seen. Rogers used and abused the significantly-larger Wiele all night, scoring layups at will against the Wheaton junior. Wiele was not alone in his transgressions, as Jacob Carwell was equally indifferent at the defensive end; Chris Drennan has yet to demonstrate that he can knock down jumpers with that damaged hand of his, but Carwell did such a poor job of defending Drennan that the NCC star still managed to score 23 points, all of it on layups, three-foot bunnies, and free throws.

North Central's .604 shooting percentage for the game is probably the worst ever surrendered by a Harris-coached Wheaton team, and the responsibility for that could be laid squarely at the feet of Wiele and Carwell. All you need to know about this game is that NCC attempted only six treys the entire night, made only one of them, and still won the game. Given the Swiss-cheese defense offered up by Wheaton's big men, there was no reason for the Cards to take any outside shots at all. The only Wheaton interior defender who seemed the least bit interested in playing D was Phill Denham, and his foul trouble rendered that point moot.

So why was Wheaton able to hang around and actually put itself in a position to win the game in the waning minutes? Two reasons, one small and one huge. The lesser reason was that the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance fronted the post late in the game and NCC proved unable to lob the ball over the front without turning it over. The much, much greater reason was that Kent Raymond had one of those Michael-Jordan-and-the-1980s-Bulls games in which he recognized the ineptitude of his teammates on that particular night and decided to simply do everything all by himself. His 37 points only scratches the surface of how dominant he was. NCC put four different defenders on him at one time or another (Mitch Raridon, Dominique King, Chris Drennan, and Reid Barringer), and none of them even came close to slowing him down (although Raridon probably left the gym with a lot of orange dye under his fingernails, judging by the amount of time he spent grabbing Raymond's jersey). Nor did the 2-3 matchup zone the Cards played late do much to stop Raymond. It was simply an amazing performance by the Wheaton superstar. The fact that NCC doesn't have a shutdown perimeter defender, among its other definite weaknesses, didn't help matters with regard to containing Raymond.

In spite of Raymond's fantastic performance, North Central clearly deserved to win. After that early 14-6 Wheaton start that had everyone in the gym wondering if the Cards were going to show up at all, NCC turned it around and outhustled Wheaton throughout the rest of the game. And as badly as Wheaton's interior D performed, Rogers and Drennan deserve due credit for their aggressiveness and hunger in getting the ball to the rim.

Great game, and probably one typical of what we'll see in any given CCIW gym on a Wednesday or Saturday over the next two months: Two spirited, smart, and determined -- but definitely flawed -- teams exposing each other's weaknesses and battling right down to the wire.

There must have been a situation that caused NCC's guards to switch in order for Barringer to defense Raymond

It seems to me, the difference in the game was due to NCC's big two of Drennan and Rogers (combined for 53pts) slightly out performing wheaton's big two of Raymond and Wiele (combined for 51pts)!

[devildog29]

Occidental should try to win there on occasion if they're that good, really.

Pat, on the one hand, I certainly agree.  If they want respect in the polls, Oxy needs to take care of business, even on the road, bottom line.  On the other hand though, having watched both teams, Oxy really is a top 25 caliber team.  Q and I both agreed they could play with any team in the CCIW this year, and I think they compare favorably to the Trinity team from a couple years ago.  Sometimes, for whatever reason, a team has trouble winning in one particular gym.  I'm sure April can fill us in on Wheaton's record in the Shirk.  Granted the last few years they've fared well there, but since Shirk opened in 94-95, Wheaton hasn't had a whole lot of success there even though they were certainly a top 25 team.  Now obviously those IWU teams had a lot to do with that, but there were definitely years when Wheaton probably had just as much if not more talent than IWU, and they still couldn't win in Shirk.

[Titan Q]

Here are highlights from Zach Freeman's last game in Germany, when he scored 22 points and had 7 rebounds...

http://www.werthmedia.de/spielbericht.php?id=17

Zach is #7 - he has a nice breakaway dunk in the footage.

Seems like a great basketball atmosphere.