I know Cleveland is an immense talent, but if Grinnell gets past JCU on the other side of the bracket, I think you could make a case that he would slow IWU down against the system.

Pros: Talent, Glass cleaning, Inside game
Cons: Not going to be in game shape, not fully healed.

Just a thought.

Thoughts on tonight?  Elmhurst and Carthage are pretty evenly matched if you look at the stats and this season's matchups.

Both average 77.6 PPG
Carthage gives up fewer PPG by 5.
Season series split, both teams won at home.  Carthage won by 15 in Kenosha.  Elmhurst won by 12 three weeks later.  Since that game in late January, Elmhurst is 7-2.  Carthage is 7-1.

Both shoot it at roughly 45.5%.  Carthage holds opponents to 40% while Elmhurst gives up 45%.

Elmhurst led the league in 3 pt accuracy, while Carthage was the best in the league at defending the 3.

Elmhurst shoots better from the line (and this might be the difference).

Carthage has the edge on the boards.  Both teams turn it over as often as they cause turnovers.

My three big questions for Carthage.
1--Which Ryan Johnson shows up tonight?  This is not a knock. I'll take Double/Double machine RJ, but would much prefer, the RJ that showed up the last time they played at the Shirk.
2--Bench play. In the loss at Faganel Hall, the bench contributed 2 pts and 3 boards in 45 minutes. That can't happen again.
3--Free Throws.  Carthage is shooting .714 this season, while they shot .774 a year ago with mostly the same team.  They need to take free points when they are given the opportunity.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on February 25, 2026, 04:45:09 PM

Quote from: mwunder on February 25, 2026, 12:56:02 PMI, for one, have been super pleased with the CCIW network this season.  Aside from the blue tint of the Millikin half court camera, everything else has been remarkably well done.  There are so many more opportunities for students who want to go into video production or broadcasting now than back in the early 90's when I was a student.

Agree on all counts ... including the blue-tinted Millikin halfcourt camera. I feel like I need to take a Dramamine tablet every time that I watch a game from the Griz nowadays.

How soon until the CCIW goes to a pay model like the WIAC?

Quote from: Gregory Sager on February 25, 2026, 04:45:09 PMTurns out that they weren't NPU students at all. They were just hanging out in the section inhabited by the Vikings football players. The AD and a couple of other members of the athletics department staff cleared them out and got everybody away from the Wheaton players very quickly.

Thanks for clearing that up and I'm glad it turned out to be someone other than the student body.  Fixed my post above!

Mr Sager...great job on the broadcast last night.  I watched the first half of the other quaterfinal game and switched over to your game at the half.  Super atmosphere in the gym that came across on video.  Classy move on your part to mention the Wheaton seniors after their final game.  A great D3 contest.

I, for one, have been super pleased with the CCIW network this season.  Aside from the blue tint of the Millikin half court camera, everything else has been remarkably well done.  There are so many more opportunities for students who want to go into video production or broadcasting now than back in the early 90's when I was a student.

I am curious as to what consequences two outside agitators will face after they acted like fools after the game and proceeded to whip the floor with their belts near the Wheaton bench during the handshake line.  I believe Coach Schauer was the first to confront these students and was visibly upset for a few minutes afterwards...following them out of the camera shot from the one baseline camera. It's too bad that incident put a small blemish on this instant classic of a game.

Great work Greg and team at NPU on the broadcast.

Quote from: iwu70 on February 11, 2026, 10:17:13 PMIn an ugly scrappy game at the Griz, IWU over MU 53-52.  No one really playing well.

For IWU:
Funk 10 and 7
Colak 9
C. Williams 9
Cleveland 7 and 8

IWU at 36%/33% from three/ only 55% from the FT line

For MU:
Straughter 13
Thomann 12

MU at 40/27/ and 50

A road win is a road win.  Barely. 

IWU moves to 19-4, keeps pace with Carthage for the league lead.  Sometimes better to be lucky than good. 

'70

IWU survived this one after taking the lead 53-50 on a second or third look on an open 3 by Williams.  Straughter had two looks at a game winner but missed the first short, followed his shot and back rimmed the second at the buzzer.  Very surprised that Thomann didn't get the ball in his hands at the end of the game.

Cleveland took a nasty fall after a dunk that stopped play for a few minutes. He just held on to the rim too long and came down on his left side / arm / wrist area.  He returned to make an impact defensively but was clearly bothered on his left side.

Quote from: iwu70 on February 02, 2026, 09:54:55 PMNew Poll:   U of Chicago and Nick Roper at #1.

IWU at #16, with ORV Carthage.  (IWU beat Chicago and Nick Roper earlier at Shirk). 

Five games to go.

'70

That didn't age well.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on February 05, 2026, 12:41:58 PMMoral of the story: Experience matters. The Firebirds have it, and they demonstrated it last night.

Other morals of the story.

Win games you're 'supposed to win'. (Experience helps)
Protect the home court.
Crash the Boards.
Take better shots or go to the rim. (1-13 from 3 in 2nd half, ouch)
Free throws are free points. 64% for the game.

AJ Johnson was $$$ last season from the FT line (90%), this season, he's at 72%.  Not sure how a shooter as good as he is, drops almost 20% over the course of a year.

Fun game to watch. NCC battled to stay in it throughout the contest.  Bullock played a heck of a game for the Cardinals.

I disagree this week because his team went 1-1 instead of 2-0 and another player in the league had very similar stats and beat him head to head.

Congrats to Noah Cleveland for another Student Athlete of the Week award.  I believe this is his 4th on the season and will probably lock up the player of the year award.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on February 01, 2026, 10:52:13 AMFormer North Central head coach Benjy Taylor has learned that life in his current coaching situation can be even tougher than in the CCIW:

Seriously, this Morehouse rent-a-cop needs to go, tout suite.

Made ESPN's top headline today as well.  Open and shut case here.

As mentioned above, CC over IWU by 15.

Some quick thoughts:
--Ryan Johnson played his best overall game of the year and was the best player on the floor for this game.
--AJ starting to find his range and isn't afraid to shoot the 15' instead of the 3 ball.
--Daun was the x-factor in this game, providing a third scoring option
--IWU gets after it on defense, seemingly getting a hand on the basketball on every possession
--Refs let them play in this game.  Lot's of banging inside.
--Carthage won the rebound battle by 16.

Carthage continued it's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde season with an up and down week.

They dropped their Wednesday road contest at Elmhurst 72-60.  The Firebirds went cold for long stretches in this game where they didn't score for 2, 2, and 2.5 minutes in the first half.  They opened the second half by scoring 5 points in the first 5 minutes of the half.  Elmhurst won that important 8 minute phase of the game. Elmhurst's perimeter D was great as well, holding Carthage to 36%.

Brooks 27
R Johnson 11 and 15
AJ Johnson 11

Trelenberg 24 (7-11 FG, 5-6 3Pt)
Blachut 15
Boone 11
Cherry 10.


Saturday at home was a totally different story for the Firebirds with a 75-61 win over Augustana.  Carthage ran it's offense efficiently and consistently made the correct pass for an open look leading to 22 assists and shooting 50% on the night.  AJ Johnson hitting 6-10 3's opened up the inside game for quite a few easy buckets.  Carthage led by as much as 20 in the half even after a 4 minute scoring drought from 14:16 to 10:14.  The second half was back and forth with Carthage stretching it's lead to 23 at one point.  Oddity for the game...Carthage shot 3 free throws the entire contest.

AJ Johnson 22 6-10 3Pt and 7 boards.
Brooks 19
R Johnson 17 7 and 8 assists

Klaver 11
Parcel 11
Maurchie 8 and 10


Big matchup on Wednesday at the Shirk

Is it just me or is a 30 point night becoming the norm in the CCIW?  Just this past week, there were 6 different 30+ point performances by 6 different players.  On the season, there have been 15 30+ Point performances by 11 different players.  Cleveland, Trelenberg, Brooks, and Thomann have gotten to 30 twice.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on January 16, 2026, 02:47:05 PMSo, the last time NPU beat both on the road was a whole 3 years ago?

In a magical season for NPU no-less.  Before that was '07-08...18 seasons ago.  Point is, CCIW road wins are hard to come by.

Millikin showed why they are number 1 in rebounding in the CCIW and just dominated Carthage on the glass in their 77-74 win over the Firebirds at home on Saturday night.  The Big Blue hauled down 43 boards to the Firebird's 25.  Carthage didn't get off the bus until the 18 minute mark of the first half, and trailed until early in the second stanza.  I thought the 4th foul by Lane Thomann at 5:46 would be a turning point, but he played sensational the rest of the way, ending with 35 and 12.

Carthage had chances late to put this one away, but either made a bad pass or took a bad shot.

Thomann. 35 - 12
Straughter chipped in with 13.

Brooks. 20 on 15 shots
Daun. 14
R Johnson. 11

The 'and-one' dunk by Thomann at the 12:14 mark was highlight worthy and in my opinion, the turning point of this game.