WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Emily Czuhajewski is in a boot. NPU's looking at a steep uphill climb tonight without her.

Now I know how you felt when you saw Annie Tate in a boot, GP.

[GoPerry]

Emily Czuhajewski is in a boot. NPU's looking at a steep uphill climb tonight without her.

Now I know how you felt when you saw Annie Tate in a boot, GP.

Very unfortunate news for NPU and Emily.

Earlier in the year, Collin Uveges on the Thunder Men's team was in a boot but I think he missed only 1 or 2 games and he was back.  So I was hopeful for the same in Tate but her injury was obviously more serious.

Let's hope Czuhajewski's boot is the first kind, not the second. Especially for a senior.

[lmitzel]

NCC over Elmhurst 72-50. Cardinals led 19-3 after ten minutes.

Elle Sutter: 21 pts, 4 reb
IxChel Leeuwenburgh: 15 pts, 9 reb
Allison Pearson: 14 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast

Marissa Urso: 13 pts
Taylor Harazin: 11 pts
Kate Matthews: 4 pts, 8 reb

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois Wesleyan 68
North Park 49

Jayla Johnson: 20 pts, 13 rebs, 5 stls, 3 blks
Esther Miller: 15 pts, 3 stls

Brooke Lansford: 20 pts, 6 rebs
Catie Eck: 11 pts, 8 rebs, 3 stls, 4 blks
Kaia Bowen: 11 pts, 6 rebs
Mallory Powers: 7 rebs

This one went according to form. Mia Smith just had the Titans run and run and run, and the short-handed Vikings simply got worn down, as they faded from late in the third quarter on. Unfortunately, the one thing that NPU needed to be competitive tonight -- a big night from Lauren Lee beyond the arc -- didn't happen. The Vikings were 0-10 from downtown, as they were unable to fill the obvious gaping hole in their offense. The Titans didn't get particularly good performances from their freshmen, but their three seniors stepped up at both ends of the floor. And they simply had the numbers that allowed them to speed up the game and dominate the boards.

Jayla Johnson had a monster night. She is just a phenomenal player in every phase of the game. I shudder to think what the final score would've been without her.

The Vikings are just going to have to soldier on, because it doesn't look good for Emily Czuhajewski to come back soon, if at all.

[Gregory Sager]

Major upset in Waukesha tonight, as struggling Augustana led most of the way and ended up dispatching Carroll on the home floor of the Pioneers, 67-58. Gabby Loiz had a big 21-point night, while Lauren Hall finished with 16 and 10. Carroll was paced by Natalie Palzkill's 18, as Kate Christian tossed in 12 and Elizabeth Behrndt added 10 and 8 in the losing cause.

[RogK]

Attended the IWU / NP game.
Nice to meet you iwu70! You're surprisingly tall for an older fellow. Ha! Next time, you'll have to tell Greg and me about your many years in Hong Kong.
In addition to the performance described in Greg's summary, I was very impressed by Brooke Lansford, who not only had fine scoring stats but also handled point guard duties nicely, darting around while keeping the dribble alive.
Many guards stop their dribble when changing directions a lot. As I recently wrote about Carroll's Kate Christian, Lansford also contributes in ways that are not measured in the individual stats.
NP's Savanna Childress gave us an interesting peek at how she may provide more scoring down the road, using her quickness to score 5 in 11 minutes. Her 5 fouls in those 11 minutes were probably too many, though. 

[gordonmann]

11 pm Sunday night: [Votes for Carroll in Top 25] Yeah, I think this is a good pick. Those three losses are behind them!

11 pm Monday night: Oh. Hm.

[Gregory Sager]

NP's Savanna Childress gave us an interesting peek at how she may provide more scoring down the road, using her quickness to score 5 in 11 minutes. Her 5 fouls in those 11 minutes were probably too many, though. 

Savanna Childress is as quick, with or without the ball in her hands, as anyone I've seen in the CCIW in ages, and that includes recent NPU graduate Zakiya Newsome. Savanna also has sufficiently developed ballhandling skills that enable her to beat people off of the dribble practically at whim, provided that they're guarding her honestly. But that's just it -- there's no need to guard her honestly, because she can't shoot unless it's a layup. That's also evident in her 6-15 (.400) performance from the free-throw line this season. The entire league now has the book on her, so no CCIW guard is going to get within five feet of her when she has the ball on the perimeter.  They're simply going to sag off and dare her to shoot while giving themselves enough room to cut her off if she tries to drive past them. The fouling-out part bothers me less, because she's a freshman, and freshmen too often tend to play defense with their hands rather than their feet.

In other words, Savanna is terrific raw material, but at this point in her career, that's really all she is -- raw material. She needs to learn how to shoot and how to pass in addition to developing at the defensive end. If she's willing to put in the work and she pushes herself in the off-season, her ceiling is incredibly high. But she's got a long, long, long way to go. I'd love to see her get there and become the All-CCIW player that her footspeed and dribbling skills could allow her to be, but that's entirely up to her. I hope that she has the discipline and the self-motivation to take on the challenge.

[RogK]

Yep, gordonmann, this year's CCIW has a bunch of teams capable of humbling the other ones, particularly right after the latter get recognition in the national rankings.
We'll see how the rest of conference play settles out. In addition to whichever squad wins the conference tournament AQ, several others may be in reasonable consideration for the national tourney. The next month may clarify matters.

[iwu70]

A very enjoyable and satisfying trip to NPU tonight.  Glad to meet Greg Sager and RogK. 

Enjoyed the game and Greg has described it well.

Huber had an off night, but the three seniors for IWU really stepped up . . . esp. Catie Eck tonight.  What a great performance on defense.  I'm also a big fan of Kaia Bowen and she had another nice game, making many contributions that don't show up on the stat sheet.  Lansford doing her thing . . . shooting it well from trey tonight too -- 3 for 5.  The freshmen will come back for sure, esp. Powers and Palmer.  IWU's rotation well set and strong now -- with Heller, Carlson, and Palmer coming off the bench. 

Jayla Johnson is an awesome player.  If she catches it on the block, it's almost automatically a bucket.  The Titans did better fighter her off a bit in the second half, with a number of entry passes going astray . . .but still Ms. Johnson had 20, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks (I actually think she had more!) and 5 steals.  (I actually think Eck had more than 4 blocks too!).

IWU finally back home with EU on Wednesday . . . the way the conference race is shaping up, key games now are NPU visiting The Shirk, and IWU going to Decatur . . .  we'll see.  Nice to be 8-1 in the conference with just 7 games to play.  IWU has a bye week coming up soon too.  Likely needed and helpful after all the travelling. 

I introduced myself to Sager tonight as Lou Holz . . .  you will remember I said earlier that I doubted IWU would beat MU, WC or NPU . . .  so, I must now eat my words as the Titans have prevailed over all three in the first cycle of games. . .  and two of these wins are away wins.  So, to say the least, the Titans have over-achieved in my book as I truly didn't think they would compete for the regular season crown this year . . . after that 1-4 start and the issues they had earlier in the season.  But, as you can now see, they have figured out how to play with their style and their personnel . . . and a great credit to Coach Smith and the three seniors for bringing this team to this point.  I'm optimistic now that they can finish it off and win the CCIW regular season crown.  Finish strong and get the #1 for the CCIW tournament. 

Great IWU crowd tonight at the Cracker Box . . .  seeing a good win by the Titans.  I loved the NPU floor, with the Chicago skyline . . . very nice.  Glad to see vaccinations required for entry into this game, a Chicago-city requirement. 

Keep it rolling, Titans . . .  7 games to go, take them step-by-step, one game at a time.

IWU'70

[RogK]

Incidentally, I asked iwu70 why he spent so many years in Hong Kong, despite his obvious fondness for Illinois Wesleyan.
He said he felt the best thing he could do for the university was to stay 7000 miles away.
(that's my smar tass joke, not his!)

[iwu70]

Actually, RogK, during part of the time in Hong Kong, I served on the IWU Board of Trustees, and came back to campus quite often, esp. for key class reunions, meetings, sporting events etc. . . .  my folks were then alive and still living in Bloomington/Normal, so I came back many times so my son could know and spend time with his grandparents . . . my folks were IWU grads, and my brother and sister-in-law are, too . . .  we say we "bleed green."   Our family is about as loyal to IWU as one family can be . . . though we don't always agree with the directions, decisions or policies of the University. Yes, there are likely those at IWU that would wish me to stay 7000 miles away . . . .   Let's just say we are deeply, even fiercely loyal, though not always able to be supportive . . .  the Titan nation surely much larger than the Titan State.  Students come and go, faculty come and go, even Presidents and senior administrators come and go, but the loyal and attentive alums are always there, the Titan nation is always there . . .

It was great to meet you, talk basketball.  Let me know should you be down this way . . . and we'll go have a good pizza and a few libations together at Lucca's or Tobin's  . . . and talk about my 41 years in Asia, most of it in Hong Kong, though also some years in Taiwan and the Philippines . . . with tons of work and travel many months in the PRC too.

Be well . . . here we go, down the stretch, just 7-8 games left in the CCIW race.  I'm pretty optimistic now that my Titans can bring home the regular season CCIW championship.

All best for Tigers . . . the Year of the Tiger roaring in now in just a few days.

IWU '70

[RogK]

Wow, dozens and more dozens of trans-Pacific flights. Did you usually take United or Cathay into O'Hare?
I'm sure you have loads of travel misadventure stories to tell. Not that you should do so on D3boards of course.
Yeah, a lot of games coming up in the next few weeks.
I don't want Elmhurst to "go 0-fer" the CCIW, but of course no other teams are going to let them win out of sympathy. They did well vs Wheaton for almost a whole game. Hopefully they can avoid being discouraged and are able to get into the conference W column.

[Gregory Sager]

Jayla Johnson is an awesome player.  If she catches it on the block, it's almost automatically a bucket.  The Titans did better fighter her off a bit in the second half, with a number of entry passes going astray . . .

Those weren't really her fault. And, in fact, Jayla had a slightly better second half than first half at the offensive end, statistically speaking.

Targeting and executing a post entry pass is an acquired skill, and it's one that the young NPU point guard corps is still working to master. And, of course, the degree of difficulty is higher when the intended target is double-teamed, as Jayla was consistently on Monday night and as she will consistently be for the remainder of the season as well. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Tim Bernero throws the kitchen sink at Jayla tomorrow night in Tarble.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Jayla Johnson is an awesome player.  If she catches it on the block, it's almost automatically a bucket.  The Titans did better fighter her off a bit in the second half, with a number of entry passes going astray . . .

Those weren't really her fault. And, in fact, Jayla had a slightly better second half than first half at the offensive end, statistically speaking.

Targeting and executing a post entry pass is an acquired skill, and it's one that the young NPU point guard corps is still working to master. And, of course, the degree of difficulty is higher when the intended target is double-teamed, as Jayla was consistently on Monday night and as she will consistently be for the remainder of the season as well. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Tim Bernero throws the kitchen sink at Jayla tomorrow night in Tarble.

I hope he doesn't take you too literally - I'm pretty sure throwing the kitchen sink at a player would be a technical foul!