MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Naperick]

Ok, final post regarding the Carthage-North Central game. 
I think their was definitely more than 100 people at the game.  Maybe 250-300.
Coach Raridon said in an interview with WONC  89.1FM after the game that he wanted a double team on Steve D on that final possession.  It didn't happen and he hit a tough 10-12 foot jumpshot from the right side.  He seems to like the right side.

Carthage would have been in huge trouble with a loss tonight and their 5 game losing streak is over.

[RedMan1]

Since me being a Carthage fan, the game Wednesday will be the biggest game of the year. Carthage wins out, and Elmhurst loses, Carthage gets the 4th seed. Or maybe something happens!!!


It is late at night, What will be the final 4 in the conference? I still thing Carthage, Die hard till the end...... 

Carthage with the 4 seed, still think they will beat Augie if they face them.


Wait a second, The Redmen have to make it first....

[Titan Q]

Through Saturday, 2/16...

Home win = 0 points
Home loss = -1
Road win = +1
Road loss = 0


Augustana (9-3): +3 (road wins at IWU, EC, MU)
Illinois Wesleyan (9-3): +3 (road wins at MU, NPU, NCC, WC...home loss to AC)
Elmhurst (7-5): +1 (home losses to CC, WC, AC...road wins at NPU, NCC, MU, CC)
Wheaton (7-5): +1 (road wins at EC, CC, NPU...home loss to NCC, WC)
Carthage (6-6): +0 (road wins at EC, MU, NCC...home losses to NPU, WC, EC)
North Central (4-8): -2 (home losses to EC, IWU, NPU, CC...road wins at WC, MU)
North Park (4-8): -2 (home losses to EC, IWU, MU, WC...road wins at CC, NCC)
Millikin (2-10): -4 (home losses to IWU, CC, EC, NCC, AC...road win at NPU)



Location of remaining games (home/road):

Augustana (9-3): 1 home/1 road
Illinois Wesleyan (9-3): 1 home/1 road
Elmhurst (7-5): 1 home/1 road
Wheaton (7-5): 1 home/1 road
Carthage (6-6): 1 home/1 road
North Central (4-8): 1 home/1 road
North Park (4-8): 1 home/1 road
Millikin (2-10): 1 home/1 road

Wednesday:

North Central (4-8) @ Elmhurst (7-5)
Wheaton (7-5) @ Millikin (2-10)
Illinois Wesleyan (9-3) @ Augustana (9-3)
Carthage (6-6) @ North Park (4-8)

Saturday:

Millikin @ Carthage
Elmhurst @ Wheaton
North Park @ Illinois Wesleyan
Augustana @ North Central

[theseguysaregood]

Since me being a Carthage fan, the game Wednesday will be the biggest game of the year. Carthage wins out, and Elmhurst loses, Carthage gets the 4th seed. Or maybe something happens!!!


It is late at night, What will be the final 4 in the conference? I still thing Carthage, Die hard till the end...... 

Carthage with the 4 seed, still think they will beat Augie if they face them.


Wait a second, The Redmen have to make it first....

Assuming no upsets on Wednesday (big assumption this year), it looks like Wheaton is in and the fourth team will be Elmhurst if they beat Wheaton and Carthage if Wheaton wins.

If Elmhurst wins:

Elmhurst       9-5
Wheaton      8-6
Carthage      8-6

Elmhurst and Wheaton are in because of Wheaton's sweep of Carthage.

If Wheaton wins:

Wheaton      9-5
Elmhurst       8-6
Carthage      8-6

Carthage and Wheaton are in since Elmhurst and Carthage, they split with each other.  They both split with IWU, but Carthage split with Augie and Elmhurst got swept.  So Carthage would be in.

All of this assumes that I understand the tiebreaker rules, which is no guarantee...

[Titan Q]

Assuming no upsets on Wednesday

Having seen both teams, I don't think North Park winning at home over Carthage would be an upset.  That matchup seems to be toss-up to me.  And, of course, NPU won at Carthage.

Wheaton @ Millikin Wednesday will be interesting too - I wouldn't be shocked if that turns out to be a game.

[usee]

Q, I witnessed Mr. Crabtree's pre-school girls team launching some long range shots with success, this morning...how did Coach Crabtree do on his own in the alumni game?

With the excitement of the main event, I plumb forgot about the alumni game until seeing in the Pantagraph story that Keelan had 36 and IWU won 101-85(?).  Bob, any more details on the alumni game?

The prelude was a fun game to watch. some of these guys can certainly still play. For IWU Amelianovich was scoring at will but Dauksas, Lehan also played well. Among the older group Carmadella and Crabtree were very active. For Wheaton Jon Nielson and Jonathan Steven Let the younger group but Joel Kolmodin and Nate Frank can still fill it up. Tim Senif can jump above the rim and Jonathan Steven missed a one hand baselin dunk that would have brought the house down if it hadn't slipped from his hand. The Titan alums controlled most of the game with the team formerly known as Crusaders pulling close, even tying it in the second half but each time Keelan would launc a few threes from beyond the pro line and there was simply no answer to that. Fun game to watch.

[Titan Q]

The job Sean Dwyer has done defensively on Kent Raymond is a big reason Illinois Wesleyan is tied for first with two games to play.

Here is Raymond's line at the Shirk Center last year (Dwyer did not play last season due to injury):

2/9/07 @ IWU: 9-13 FG, 6-9 3-pt, 20-20 FT, 44 pts

Here is what he has done in two games vs IWU in 2008:

1/23/08: 6-13 FG, 1-4 3-pt, 4-4 FT, 17 pts
2/16/08: 7-18 FG, 1-8 3-pt, 2-2 FT, 17 pts

Raymond is one of the elite players in Division III, which is why holding him to an average of "only" 17 points is a big deal.  He is averaging 22.5 points vs the rest of the league (10 games...all but the two vs IWU).  With primarily Sean Dwyer on him, Raymond is 2-12 from 3-point range this year. 

Sean makes him work so incredibly hard for everything he gets that I think it starts to wear him out and frustrate him a little towards the end of the game.  In Bloomington, Raymond picked up the silly frustration technical foul late in the game.  Last night, he shot an air ball from dead at the top of the key with about 5:00 to play, and his next attempt from the right wing missed by about a foot to the right.  I do think a lot of that has to do with how much energy he has to expend when guarded by Dwyer.  Raymond only made 2 field goals in the 2nd half last night and the final was at the 7:40 mark.  He scored just 6 2nd half points.

Sean Dwyer has been one of the many heroes for the Titans this CCIW season.  I have a sneaking suspicion he is going to have to deal with Kent Raymond one more time before the season is over.

[Titan Q]

A real unsung hero for the Titans this year has been starting center Brett Chamernik, who had a big game at Wheaton (17 points, 10 rebounds, 7-9 FG).  Chamernik, who stands about 6-4, was primarily guarded last night by 6-8/230 Andy Wiele. 

Brett worked as hard in the off-season to get stronger and better as any IWU player I can remember.  He brings that same work ethic to each game, where he just battles as hard as he can.  He's such a good example for IWU's young post players like Doug Sexauer, Edmond O'Callaghan, and Duncan Lawson, who, quite frankly, are a lot more talented that Chamernik.  He is a testament to what hard work can get you.  He also exemplifies everything I love about Division III athletics - Chamernik is a pre-med major at IWU who is finding a way to balance academics and athletics very successfully.

Some around IWU's program suggested that Chamernik would never be able to get on the floor this year in front of the freshmen.  I'm glad Brett never believed that.

[Gregory Sager]

Assuming no upsets on Wednesday

Having seen both teams, I don't think North Park winning at home over Carthage would be an upset.  That matchup seems to be toss-up to me.  And, of course, NPU won at Carthage.

The big question is whether or not NPU is able to get up for that game. Last night's loss eliminated the Vikings from conference tourney consideration, so there is certainly an air of despair in the North Park camp right now. Whether despair becomes resignation and brings down NPU's effort in Wednesday night's game is another matter, but it's at least a possibility. Carthage, on the other hand, is still very much alive and thus has a lot more to play for.

We'll see what the Vikings are really made of on Wednesday night.

[Titan Q]

From WJBC.com, here is the postgame interview with Ron Rose from last night...

http://www.wjbc.com/wire2/podsports/00841_216ronrosepodcastweb_214916.htm

[usee]

The job Sean Dwyer has done defensively on Kent Raymond is a big reason Illinois Wesleyan is tied for first with two games to play.

Here is Raymond's line at the Shirk Center last year (Dwyer did not play last season due to injury):

2/9/07 @ IWU: 9-13 FG, 6-9 3-pt, 20-20 FT, 44 pts

Here is what he has done in two games vs IWU in 2008:

1/23/08: 6-13 FG, 1-4 3-pt, 4-4 FT, 17 pts
2/16/08: 7-18 FG, 1-8 3-pt, 2-2 FT, 17 pts

Raymond is one of the elite players in Division III, which is why holding him to an average of "only" 17 points is a big deal.  He is averaging 22.5 points vs the rest of the league (10 games...all but the two vs IWU).  With primarily Sean Dwyer on him, Raymond is 2-12 from 3-point range this year. 

Sean makes him work so incredibly hard for everything he gets that I think it starts to wear him out and frustrate him a little towards the end of the game.  In Bloomington, Raymond picked up the silly frustration technical foul late in the game.  Last night, he shot an air ball from dead at the top of the key with about 5:00 to play, and his next attempt from the right wing missed by about a foot to the right.  I do think a lot of that has to do with how much energy he has to expend when guarded by Dwyer.  Raymond only made 2 field goals in the 2nd half last night and the final was at the 7:40 mark.  He scored just 6 2nd half points.

Sean Dwyer has been one of the many heroes for the Titans this CCIW season.  I have a sneaking suspicion he is going to have to deal with Kent Raymond one more time before the season is over.

I am not sure comparing any games to Kent's 44pt night at the shirk is a sign of defensive prowess. I do think Dwyer was very aggressive off the ball getting between screens and in passing lanes. That said, Raymond sees at least that everynight and many of his misses were wide open looks. could it have been because he had to work hard to get the ball? maybe. but its not clear to me this was any tougher than any other cciw team plays him. I think he just had an off shooting night. I will say Sean Dwyer is a really good freshman guard and has a bright future.

The most dominant defensive performance seemed to come from Ben Panner and Raymond which is the only reason wheaton had a chance to come back from down 12. Wheaton's defensive effort gave up only 8 second half baskets to IWU. Raymond in the first have shut down Rosencranz including 2 impressive blocks midway thru the first half when Travis tried to take Kent to the basket and Raymond went up chest to chest to knock away his shot.

despite the efforts, wheaton dug themselves into too deep a hole in the opening stanza due to really poor post defense by wiele yielding 18 points in the paint in the first half. IWU did what they had to do to hang on and they certainly played better as a team throughout the 40 minutes which is why they deserved to win.

[Titan Q]

I will say Sean Dwyer is a really good freshman guard and has a bright future.

Sean Dwyer is actually a sophomore (missed all of last year with injuries).  Travis Rosenkranz and Sean Johnson are the freshmen guards who play.

[iwumichigander]

Raymond does not get enough recognition for his defense; however, he is a very big reason why Wheaton leads the CCIW in scoring defense.  Through games 2/16, Raymond is tied for 4th in the conference for blocked shots.  Really amzing when you consider he is a guard.

[usee]

I will say Sean Dwyer is a really good freshman guard and has a bright future.

Sean Dwyer is actually a sophomore (missed all of last year with injuries).  Travis Rosenkranz and Sean Johnson are the freshmen guards who play.

thanks for the correction. the 3 IWU guards are all really good players. IWU plays excellent help defense and their ability to limit Wheaton to 59 pts for the game was a huge reason for their tough road victory.

[Titan Q]

The CCIW and UAA are very similar this year with all of the depth and parity.  Right now, national #7 Wash U is in OT @ Emory and #6 Rochester is going to double OT @ NYU.

Fun leagues to follow.

http://www.d3hoops.com/conference/UAA/mens