MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[dansand]

Milikan, IWU, NP and NC will have a tough time this year because they do NOT play defense - no really good guards either.
Mark my word, please     

OurHouse, I want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly.  Are you saying none of those four teams you've mentioned have any really good guards?  IWU's guards are not as good as, say, Elmhurst's?

I seem to remember Johnson and Rosenkranz running circles around Wheaton's guards last year while Dwyer focused his attention on shutting down Raymond (and doing a better job than anyone else).

In IWU's conference tournament semifinal win over Wheaton, the thing that stood out to me was the Thunder's utter inability to control Rosenkranz. They were just completely unable to stop his dribble penetration.

[petemcb]

On a serious note, Sean Dwyer is about as solid a kid as any Illinois Wesleyan player I've ever been around.  I think it is unfortunate this clown has tied himself to Sean.

I'll second that.  Sean comes from a family of solid kids.  His younger brother, Griff, a freshman at Augie, is cut from the same cloth.

[Titan Q]

IWU's sophomore guards had very solid freshman seasons:

(Stats from all '07-08 CCIW games - regular season, conference tournament)

Travis Rosenkranz (PG) - 10.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.9 apg, 2.1 A:TO
Sean Johnson (SG) - 13.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.6 apg, 42-114 3-pt (.368)


Not only good seasons for freshmen, but I think when you stack those numbers up vs everyone outside of Raymond, Djurickovic, Wessels, and Burks, IWU's duo held their own vs every other top guard in the CCIW (guys like Pelton, Panner, etc).

Heading into 2008-09, I am most concerned about IWU's young post players - just a lot of youth and inexperience there and guys giving up 15-20 pounds of muscle most nights.  What I am not worried about is IWU's guard play, behind Rosenkranz, Johnson, Dwyer, Zimmer, Schick, Morris, and others.  I expect the Titans to have a very good perimeter game all season long.  In fact, if you asked Ron Rose (the guy who knows best) for the strength of his team right now (which I have as recently as yesterday) he'd quickly tell you the backcourt.

[petemcb]

Nope - DEFENSE wins games

Creates opportunities which enables teams to score points thus winning games because of GREAT DEFENSE.
Did the Bulls win games in their era because of points scored? Of coarse they did but only because they playes GREAT DEFENSE to create offensive opportunities.

Milikan, IWU, NP and NC will have a tough time this year because they do NOT play defense - no really good guards either.
Mark my word, please     

IWU's sophomore guards had very solid freshman seasons:

(Stats from all '07-08 CCIW games - regular season, conference tournament)

Travis Rosenkranz (PG) - 10.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.9 apg, 2.1 A:TO
Sean Johnson (SG) - 13.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.6 apg, 42-114 3-pt (.368)


Not only good seasons for freshmen, but I think when you stack those numbers up vs everyone outside of Raymond, Djurickovic, Wessels, and Burks, IWU's duo held their own vs every other top guard in the CCIW (guys like Pelton, Panner, etc).

So, using OurHouse's logic, we could surmise that the IWU guards, with those impressive offensive numbers, must have been playing some good defense to create those offensive opportunities.....

[petemcb]

Millikin @ Aurora @ 5 p.m., followed by Lake Forest @ Benedictine @ 7:00.  Any Chicagoland posters making the doubleheader?  I'm hoping to make both.  This is our chance to get first hand Millikin-related commentary on the board. 

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin @ Aurora @ 5 p.m., followed by Lake Forest @ Benedictine @ 7:00.  Any Chicagoland posters making the doubleheader?  I'm hoping to make both.  This is our chance to get first hand Millikin-related commentary on the board. 

I'd love to join you, but I'm keeping the book for the Carroll @ NPU women's game this afternoon, and after that I'm off to the South Side to catch Edgewood @ Chicago in the Midway Classic.

I'm looking forward to reading what you have to say about the always-mysterious Big Blue. I hope to see them firsthand myself next weekend at the River Forest Classic (Dominican, Concordia (IL), Millikin, and Greenville).

[petemcb]

Millikin @ Aurora @ 5 p.m., followed by Lake Forest @ Benedictine @ 7:00.  Any Chicagoland posters making the doubleheader?  I'm hoping to make both.  This is our chance to get first hand Millikin-related commentary on the board. 

I'd love to join you, but I'm keeping the book for the Carroll @ NPU women's game this afternoon, and after that I'm off to the South Side to catch Edgewood @ Chicago in the Midway Classic.

I'm looking forward to reading what you have to say about the always-mysterious Big Blue. I hope to see them firsthand myself next weekend at the River Forest Classic (Dominican, Concordia (IL), Millikin, and Greenville).

What time will you be done with the NPU game?  I'll be by Foster and Pulaski until 2 or 2:30.  I could stall a bit if you wanted to do the doubleheader, but can't wait any later than that.

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin @ Aurora @ 5 p.m., followed by Lake Forest @ Benedictine @ 7:00.  Any Chicagoland posters making the doubleheader?  I'm hoping to make both.  This is our chance to get first hand Millikin-related commentary on the board. 

I'd love to join you, but I'm keeping the book for the Carroll @ NPU women's game this afternoon, and after that I'm off to the South Side to catch Edgewood @ Chicago in the Midway Classic.

I'm looking forward to reading what you have to say about the always-mysterious Big Blue. I hope to see them firsthand myself next weekend at the River Forest Classic (Dominican, Concordia (IL), Millikin, and Greenville).

What time will you be done with the NPU game?  I'll be by Foster and Pulaski until 2 or 2:30.  I could stall a bit if you wanted to do the doubleheader, but can't wait any later than that.

The NPU game starts at 2 pm, so that won't work.

This is actually a pretty good schedule for me, since I'll get to see the Maroons in their season debut and at the same time I'll get a look at an upcoming NPU opponent, Edgewood. The only downside is that Mike McGrath wasn't able to get much of a matchup for the other Midway Classic game; Kenyon vs. IIT doesn't really strike me as an epic battle of hardwood juggernauts.

[Titan Q]

Veteran IWU assistant coach David Steinbrueck took it to rookie coach Chris Jones ('06) this morning as the White beat the Green. Leading scorers noted...

White 80 (Coach - David Steinbrueck)

G Eliud Gonzalez (Fr), 5-9 - 13 pts
G Jordan Morris (Sr), 6-3 - 17 pts
F Matt Schick (So), 6-4
F John Koschnitzky (Fr), 6-6
C Doug Sexauer (So), 6-7 - 24 pts

Reserves: Ryan Connolly (Fr, 6-9) - 10 pts, Michael Kempf (So, 5-11),


Green 65 (Coach - Chris Jones)

G Travis Rosenkranz (So), 6-0 - 16 pts
G Sean Johnson (So), 6-1 - 9 pts
F Jordan Zimmer (Fr), 6-5
F Duncan Lawson (So), 6-7 - 13 pts
C Edmond O'Callaghan (So), 6-6 - 16 pts

Reserves: Eric McCullough (Fr, 6-9), Steve Rudnicki (Fr, 6-3), Sean Siebring (Fr, 6-2)


Brett Chamernik (Sr, 6-5) DNP
Sean Dwyer (Jr, 5-10) DNP
Josh Sutton (So, 6-5) DNP
Dexter Walker (Fr, 6-5) DNP

[petemcb]

Veteran IWU assistant coach David Steinbrueck took it to rookie coach Chris Jones ('06) this morning as the White beat the Green. Leading scorers noted...

White 80 (Coach - David Steinbrueck)

G Eliud Gonzalez (Fr), 5-9 - 13 pts
G Jordan Morris (Sr), 6-3 - 17 pts
F Matt Schick (So), 6-4
F John Koschnitzky (Fr), 6-6
C Doug Sexauer (So), 6-7 - 24 pts

Reserves: Ryan Connolly (Fr, 6-9) - 10 pts, Michael Kempf (So, 5-11),


Green 65 (Coach - Chris Jones)

G Travis Rosenkranz (So), 6-0 - 16 pts
G Sean Johnson (So), 6-1 - 9 pts
F Jordan Zimmer (Fr), 6-5
F Duncan Lawson (So), 6-7 - 13 pts
C Edmond O'Callaghan (So), 6-6 - 16 pts

Reserves: Eric McCullough (Fr, 6-9), Steve Rudnicki (Fr, 6-3), Sean Siebring (Fr, 6-2)


Brett Chamernik (Sr, 6-5) DNP
Sean Dwyer (Jr, 5-10) DNP
Josh Sutton (So, 6-5) DNP
Dexter Walker (Fr, 6-5) DNP

Q, please tell us that Dwyer's DNP was not due to another foot injury.....

[Titan Q]

The North Park/Wash U live stats...

http://www.coloradocollege.edu/webcasts/athletics/mbasketball/xlive.htm

With 13:00 to play NPU trails 51-32. 

North Park started:

G Roshaw Russell (Fr), 5-10/150
G Clayton Cahill (So), 6-0/180
G Lewis Wilson (So), 6-4/190
F Nick Williams (Jr), 6-5/185
C Stephano Jones (Jr), 6-4/241

[Titan Q]

Q, please tell us that Dwyer's DNP was not due to another foot injury.....

No, just a little banged up from the MacMurray scrimmage - took a bad fall I guess.  He will be fine.

[AndOne]

The North Park/Wash U live stats...

http://www.coloradocollege.edu/webcasts/athletics/mbasketball/xlive.htm

With 13:00 to play NPU trails 51-32. 

North Park started:

G Roshaw Russell (Fr), 5-10/150
G Clayton Cahill (So), 6-0/180
G Lewis Wilson (So), 6-4/190
F Nick Williams (Jr), 6-5/185
C Stephano Jones (Jr), 6-4/241

I'm sorry, and I'll plead ignorance if I have to, but who the heck is Lewis Wilson?

GS--Perhaps this is the guy I was impressed with in summer league and asked you about?

[petemcb]

With about 4 minutes to go, Cahill leads NPU with 16 points.  The next leading scorer is Jones with 7, followed by Nick Williams with 6.  Sean Wallis looks to be all the way back from his injury with 20 points to lead Wash U.  Dylan Richter, freshman from Stevenson High School north of Chicago, has 11.

[mr_b]

Final score: Wash U 86, North Park 64

Leading scorers for the Vikings:

Cahill 17
Stephano Jones 10
Beigie and Williams, 6 apiece

The Vikings were down 37-29 at the half and the Bears went on a 17-3 run to start the second half.