MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Truth!

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to NPU's Mike Vuckovic for being named to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week.

[Gregory Sager]

CCIW overall: 34-19 (.642)
Home: 14-10
Away: 16-7
Neutral: 4-2

vs. ARC: 0-2
vs. C2C: 0-1
vs. CCS: 0-1
vs. HCAC: 2-0
vs. MIAA: 3-1
vs. MIAC: 4-0
vs. MWC: 8-0
vs. NACC: 9-1
vs. NCAC: 2-0
vs. SLIAC: 2-0
vs. UAA: 1-1
vs. UMAC: 1-0
vs. WIAC: 2-12

Wednesday's games:
Greenville (2-8) @ Elmhurst (6-2), 5 pm
North Central (2-5) @ Hope (5-2), 5 pm

[markerickson]

I went to the NPU game with a friend who knows more about hoops than I.  Regarding Greenville, Ron said they were a "bad team playing bad basketball."  NP consistently and fairly easily passed the ball past midcourt with designed rotations.  Then the FG% went waaay up:  Vance has so many EASY buckets.  Not a competitive game for over 75% of the time.

[GusD]

FINAL

North Central 65
@ Hope        58

The Cardinals took a ride around the lake this afternoon and came away with a hard fought win in Holland, MI. In a very physical game in which several more fouls could have been called than the 40 that were, the Cards never trailed. Building a 14 point lead at 10:39 of the 2nd half, they withstood a Hope rally that trimmed their advantage to two, but hit some key shots down the stretch to earn the 7 point victory.
The primary deciding factor was NCC's stiffening defense. They limited Hope to an overall shooting percentage of only 26.2% overall, and 14.3% from beyond the arc while surrendering Hope's 58 points. Conversely, NC shot 47% overall, and an even better 50% (10-20) from three.
The Cardinals were led in scoring by Alejandro Diaz and Tyler Swierczek with 16 and 13 respectively.

[Gregory Sager]

Two diametrically opposite games this afternoon.

First, the rugby scrum. North Central slugged out a gritty win on the other side of the inland sea, prevailing 65-58 over Hope in Holland despite turning over the ball a whopping 23 times. NCC played plenty of good defense as well, holding the Dutchmen to only .262 from the field ... although, admittedly, Hope did its part as well by refusing to sink any open looks from long range, going .143 (3-21) from beyond the arc. But the strong Cardinals D definitely made the butterfingers festival for NCC less costly, as Hope only averaged one point per Cardinals turnover. Alejandro Diaz led the way with 16, and Tyler Swierczek was the only other Cardinal in doubles, with 13.

Then, the track meet. Elmhurst beat Greenville, 137-100, duplicating North Park's feat on Monday by breaking their school record for most points. The old Bluejays record was 131, set on Dec. 9, 1972 against Carroll. That was so long ago that it predates R.A. Faganel Hall; Elmhurst set that old record back when the 'jays still played their home games at York High School in Elmhurst. The 'jays also shattered the school record for assists, as the 40 dimes they dished out today surpassed the 28 that they dished out against Buena Vista at Faganel, almost ten years ago to the day. (I was at that game.) Dom Trelenberg, as is customary for the designated cherry-picker when playing a System team, led EU in scoring with 30 on 12-17 shooting and also contributed 4 assists, while the alternate cherry-picker, Vinnie Adjahoungbeta, added 21 to go with his 9 boards and 7 assists. Other noteworthy number-makers for the Bluejays included EJ Marshall (13 pts, 6 rebs, 4 asts), Talen Pearson (13 pts), Luke Smith (12 pts, 6 asts), Seb Blachut (11 pts, 7 asts), and Aidyn Boone (10 pts). Oh, and speaking of cherries, Jack Cherry led the way for Elmhurst with 12 boards and also had 4 assists.

CCIW overall: 36-19 (.655)
Home: 15-10
Away: 17-7
Neutral: 4-2

vs. ARC: 0-2
vs. C2C: 0-1
vs. CCS: 0-1
vs. HCAC: 2-0
vs. MIAA: 4-1
vs. MIAC: 4-0
vs. MWC: 8-0
vs. NACC: 9-1
vs. NCAC: 2-0
vs. SLIAC: 3-0
vs. UAA: 1-1
vs. UMAC: 1-0
vs. WIAC: 2-12

WThursday's games:
Illinois Wesleyan (6-3) @ Washington MO (8-0), 2 pm
Cornell (0-8) @ North Park (7-2), 4 pm

[Gregory Sager]

I put very little stock in what the Massey Ratings have to say at this juncture, seeing as how it's still contaminated by 2024-25 data points that have yet to circulate out of the algorithm, but, nevertheless, Massey currently shows all nine CCIW teams in the top 100:

29 -- Illinois Wesleyan
32 -- Elmhurst
43 -- North Park
57 -- Millikin
66 -- Carthage
67 -- Augustana
87 -- Wheaton
92 -- North Central
96 -- Carroll

Since D3 has 409 men's basketball teams, that means that Massey has the entire membership of the CCIW in its top 25%.

[mwunder]

Had looked forward to watching IWU at WashU today, but seems like Flo is behind a pay wall.

[iwu70]

In a redemption win, perhaps a signature win to help the Titans turn their recent woes around, IWU over Wash U in St. Louis, 78-76.  Mason Funk gets the tip in winning shot with less than a second to go.

I know you are tired of me saying this, but get to 78 points and almost always win the game. 

This one was the Noah Cleveland show = 36 points, 12 rebounds.

For Wash U:
May 20
Oliff 16
Davis 9

For IWU:
Cleveland 36 and 12
Funk, with the winner, 15
Colak 13

Niego shooting poorly, but 5 steals

The Christmas break is going to feel a lot nicer for Coach Rose and the Titans with this win over #4 Wash U. 

IWU has games at the New Year in NYC -- Yeshiva @Yeshiva, then Hamilton, the game also at Yeshiva.  Hopefully some good times, good wins for the Titans in the Big Apple.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

A great win for IWU in St. Louis today.

IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 108
Cornell 86

Mike Vuckovic: 29 pts (10-17 FG, 5-10 trey)
Julian Campbell: 24 pts, 13 rebs, 3 stls
Marquis Vance: 22 pts (10-15 FG)
Kolden Vanlandingham: 11 pts, 11 rebs, 11:2 a:to
Jerome Smith: 10 pts, 4:0 a:to

An indifferent game by the Vikings, who registered probably the most disappointing 22-point win I've ever seen. I know, I know, don't look a gift horse in the mouth -- just take the win and shut up. But the Vikings let a winless team that was averaging 63 ppg and shooting only 38% from the field as a team score 23 points above their season average and 50% for the game. That will not get it done on Sunday when the Vikings travel up to Eau Claire on Sunday to take on an undefeated and 20th-ranked UW-Eau Claire squad.

Lots of good stuff happened at the offense end, especially Kolden's attainment of the exalted Triple-Double Club. He's only the fourth Viking to ever triple-double, and the first in 29 seasons to do so. But the Vikings really need to shore up the defense if they want to contend this season.

[Greek Tragedy]

Greg,

You can look at what Cornell is averaging, but is North Park a good defensive team? Just looking at the points against, they've only allowed less than 80 three times this season. They gave up 82 in regulation in their 3 OT win against Point. I realize points allowed isn't the only measure of a good defensive team, but it's something to consider. North Park was also up 20ish halfway through the 1st half, so it is natural to let off the gas, even on the defensive end. Yes, coaches don't want to hear that, but it does happen. The pressure defense that North Park plays does tend to allow easy baskets from their opponents if they break the press. It's hardly anything to be concerned about, IMO. Yes, Eau Claire will be a tough game. Are you going up there? They have a fancy new gym. EC beat Cornell by 44, for what it's worth.

[Gregory Sager]

CCIW overall: 38-19 (.667)
Home: 16-10
Away: 18-7
Neutral: 4-2

vs. ARC: 0-2
vs. C2C: 0-1
vs. CCS: 0-1
vs. HCAC: 2-0
vs. MIAA: 4-1
vs. MIAC: 4-0
vs. MWC: 9-0
vs. NACC: 9-1
vs. NCAC: 2-0
vs. SLIAC: 3-0
vs. UAA: 2-1
vs. UMAC: 1-0
vs. WIAC: 2-12

Friday's games:
Olivet (2-5) @ Carthage (5-4), 1 pm
Elmhurst (7-2) @ Coe (7-3), 6 pm
Greenville (2-9) @ Millikin (8-2), 7 pm
Augustana (4-4) vs. Calvin (6-1), 8 pm (@ Wisconsin Dells, WI)

[Gregory Sager]

This is, AFAIK, the complete list of CCIW triple-doubles. There are five CCIW schools that have no records of a triple-double, but I'm not sure if that's because the program in question has never had a player make a t-d before or because their SIDs have never put them in the record book. The latter seems unlikely, since the t-d has been a noteworthy achievement for at least since the NCAA began compiling official stats for assists and blocks (if I remember correctly, that was 1978). If there are that many CCIW programs that have never had a triple-double before, it only emphasizes just how rare an achievement a t-d is on the college level.

(If anyone knows of any other triple-doubles recorded by a CCIW men's basketball team besides these, please PM me. I'm trying to get Brainard Avenue to put triple-doubles in the CCIW MBB record book.)

CCIW triple-doubles

Lars Anderson, North Park	18 pts, 11 rebs, 10 blks vs. Carroll (Dec 12, 1984)*
Michael Starks, North Park	23 pts, 12 rebs, 13 asts vs. Illinois Wesleyan (Jan 31, 1987)*
Miguel Tharpe, North Park	19 pts, 10 rebs, 10 asts vs. Concordia IL (Dec 7, 1996)
Steve Djurickovic, Carthage	23 pts, 10 rebs, 12 asts vs. Wisconsin Lutheran (Nov 29, 2009)
Tim McCrary, Wheaton	35 pts, 18 rebs, 10 asts vs. Grinnell (Dec 12, 2009)
Connor Raridon, North Central	18 pts, 15 rebs, 12 asts vs. Greenville (Nov 15, 2019)
Fillip Bulatovic, Carthage	29 pts, 16 rebs, 15 asts vs. Greenville (Nov 23, 2021)
Kolden Vanlandingham, North Park	11 pts, 11 rebs, 11 asts vs. Cornell (Dec 18, 2026)

* CCIW game

[lmitzel]

This is, AFAIK, the complete list of CCIW triple-doubles. There are five CCIW schools that have no records of a triple-double, but I'm not sure if that's because the program in question has never had a player make a t-d before or because their SIDs have never put them in the record book. The latter seems unlikely, since the t-d has been a noteworthy achievement for at least since the NCAA began compiling official stats for assists and blocks (if I remember correctly, that was 1978). If there are that many CCIW programs that have never had a triple-double before, it only emphasizes just how rare an achievement a t-d is on the college level.

(If anyone knows of any other triple-doubles recorded by a CCIW men's basketball team besides these, please PM me. I'm trying to get Brainard Avenue to put triple-doubles in the CCIW MBB record book.)

CCIW triple-doubles

Lars Anderson, North Park	18 pts, 11 rebs, 10 blks vs. Carroll (Dec 12, 1984)*
Michael Starks, North Park	23 pts, 12 rebs, 13 asts vs. Illinois Wesleyan (Jan 31, 1987)*
Miguel Tharpe, North Park	19 pts, 10 rebs, 10 asts vs. Concordia IL (Dec 7, 1996)
Steve Djurickovic, Carthage	23 pts, 10 rebs, 12 asts vs. Wisconsin Lutheran (Nov 29, 2009)
Tim McCrary, Wheaton	35 pts, 18 rebs, 10 asts vs. Grinnell (Dec 12, 2009)
Connor Raridon, North Central	18 pts, 15 rebs, 12 asts vs. Greenville (Nov 15, 2019)
Fillip Bulatovic, Carthage	29 pts, 16 rebs, 15 asts vs. Greenville (Nov 23, 2021)
Kolden Vanlandingham, North Park	11 pts, 11 rebs, 11 asts vs. Cornell (Dec 18, 2026)

* CCIW game

This is great, thanks Greg! I know the North Central list is complete since they made a big deal about Connor Raridon's when he pulled it off as being the first in program history. I wouldn't know about anyone else though.

[mwunder]

Carthage beats Olivet 92-82.  Carthage led by as much as 22 in the second half.

Riley Brooks led the 'birds with 31 (10-17 overall) (9-14 3pt)
Ryan Johnson had 16 - 8 against the taller front line of the Comets.
AJ Johnson has 17-5-6 (4 TOs).
AJ Williams chipped in with 10 and played some good defense on the day.

Carthage shot 55% overall, 52% from 3, and 85% from the line.  They are tough to beat if they continue to do that.

I did not see Antuan Nesbitt during the broadcast.  Not sure what the situation is there.

The Comets are big in the front court and they bang away in the post.
Lee Hardy had 17, Nathan Richardson had 16, and Sean Shenker had 14 (two 3 pt bombs) to pace Olivet.