MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

IWU marches on . . . to the Elite 8, with an impressive 83-77 win over Endicott.

Is there any other big man in D3 who can stop Noah Cleveland?

Cleveland and Colak, it was the mighty duo last night.

Great pre-Spring break crowd at the Shirk, almost full.

Up next, #2 Emory on Thursday in Ft. Wayne.

'70

[Green Beer]

Ice cold shooting in the first half by Endicott. Once the Titans got some space they never let go. A strange altercation between Endicott coach and a fan during handshakes at the end. Security rushed over and made separations.

[iwu70]

Yes, pretty chippy at times.  Endicott shot themselves in the foot with the T. 

Noah's dunk was a total posterization of one of the Gulls top players, fouling him out . . . good Funk grabbed him and got him away from a taunting T. 

Endicott couldn't buy a basket in the first half . . . but Titan defense was awesome. 

Emory will be a higher, tougher challenge.  Neutral court, short week.

Wish I could go . . . but have to drive to Alabama to attend a funeral.

'70

[GusD]

IWU marches on . . . to the Elite 8, with an impressive 83-77 win over Endicott.

Is there any other big man in D3 who can stop Noah Cleveland?

Cleveland and Colak, it was the mighty duo last night.

Great pre-Spring break crowd at the Shirk, almost full.

Up next, #2 Emory on Thursday in Ft. Wayne.

'70

There probably is another big who can neutralize Cleveland. But unless IWU has to play his team it's a moot point. In truth, the best possibility of stopping Cleveland might be Mr. Cleveland himself. Good as he is, anyone can have a bad game on any given night.

[GusD]

Ice cold shooting in the first half by Endicott. Once the Titans got some space they never let go. A strange altercation between Endicott coach and a fan during handshakes at the end. Security rushed over and made separations.

Was Endicott primarily just missing open looks or were their misses mostly due to good
Greenie defense?

[iwu70]

The Titans did play great D, but Endicott did come out cold at first, seemingly ill-at-ease starting the game.  IWU took advantage to go out by 14 or so.

Anyone have an assessment, a view on Emory??  Seems a very well-balanced team with very little use of the bench.  Ranked #2, so should be a great challenge for IWU. 

'70

[GusD]

Not predicting, but here is a little view/assessment.........

It's doubtful IWU has faced a duo this season as dynamic as Emory's Ben Pearce and Jair Knight. Both were pre-season All-Americans. Pearce averages 24.3 PPG, and Knight's average is 18.9. Correspondingly, IWU's top two scorers are Cleveland at 18.8, and Funk at 15.3. IWU's third and fourth scorers average 13 and 10 PPG respectively, while Emory's come in at 15 and 10. Both teams shoot nearly the same percentages both overall and from distance.
Emory averages 89.8 PPG while IWU comes in at 74.7.

In closely contested games, turnovers often decide the outcome. Emory averages 10.4 TOs per game while IWU commits an average of 12.3 TOs PG.

Emory scores more than IWU, and makes less mistakes.

Emory scores 15 more points per game than IWU. However, IWU has not one but two superior defenders in Cleveland and Funk. Has Emory faced that stout of a pair of defenders?

As Iwu 70 said above, IWU has the advantage when it comes to depth. As with turnovers, this factor can sometimes make a difference in closely contested battles. However, while it would seem IWU might be able to employ their depth advantage to wear down Emory's smaller rotation, the additional media timeouts at this level will afford EU the opportunity to rest/recover and negate this advantage.

Lastly, if this game was at Shirk Center where it seems like IWU often enjoys an aura of near invincibility, I'd close my eyes to any statistical advantage Emory might seem to enjoy, and bet heavily on the Green side. But with this contest at a neutral site, might IWU be a little more vulnerable? As a whole it appears this game shapes up to be the basketball version of a rugby scrum with both teams in each others faces throughout. A blowout either way would be very surprising.

[Green Beer]

Proximity might be to the Titan's advantage in terms of fan support. Only a 4 hour drive, and there might be a fan bus. Wish I could make it, but it's not gonna work out.

[iwu70]

Green, yes, I wish I could go to Ft. Wayne, too, but won't be making the trip.

I did look further on common opponents -- IWU beat both Chicago and Wash U during the regular season, and Emory split 1-1 with both.  Two of their losses came to Chicago and Wash U, then beating them both the second try both in OT.  So it seems these two teams are very much in the same quality realm.  I do think defense and depth will play a part, even on a neutral court.  Perhaps Funk or Colak, both with great size, will be guarding Emory's top player.  Cleveland will guard their big guy.  Some great match ups.  In games like this TOs and rebounding often make the difference.

'70

[Gregory Sager]

Kramer Soderberg has taken the head coaching job at D2 (formerly D3 SLIAC) Maryville in his hometown of St. Louis.

Millikin is once more on the hunt for a new head MBB coach.

https://athletics.millikin.edu/news/2026/3/17/kramer-soderberg-hired-as-maryvilles-head-mens-basketball-coach-will-depart-big-blue-program-after-twelve-years.aspx

[iwu70]

I guess when it comes to the IWU - Emory game, whether offense or defense prevails may determine who wins.  If the game is played in the 60s or 70s, seems IWU has the advantage.  If in the 80s or 90s, perhaps Emory comes out on top.  Some really high-quality D3 players in this one.

A full day, four games in Ft. Wayne.  Wish I could be there.

Go Titans!

IWU'70

[iwu70]

The only other common opponent that IWU-Emory shared was Yeshiva.  IWU barely beat them during the holidays,in New York City, by one point.  Emory most recently beat them in the tournament, quite easily, 101-80.  The other loss that Emory has was to Trinity (TX), 90-78.

IWU's size and tough defense will have to be key if they are to prevail on Thursday.  Game time is 2:30 p.m. CDT.

'70

[iwu70]

Well, the Titans fought back, tied the game twice in the last 50 seconds, then it all came down to 10 seconds and one made-three by the Emory All-American.  A tough way to go out, fighting tooth and nail, to overcome #2 Emory.  A great season for the Titans, a sad ending, finishing out at 26-5 for the year.  Very proud of this team and thankful to them and all the Coaching staff.

The future of the IWU program is very bright.  Only Colak and Boldt depart to graduation, so a huge set of talented players with great experience coming back.

Congrats to Emory, a great team, especially from the three point line.  IWU played them tough, with Cleveland finishing off an outstanding first year with 17 and 8, Mason Funk on fire with a career-high 36 points. 

There's always next year . . .

IWU'70 

[Greek Tragedy]

Funk was unbelievable. My wife complained every time he got the ball he scored. LOL.

[Greek Tragedy]

https://x.com/i/status/2036503295729000557

Noah Cleveland in the portal. His bro just earned CPOTY in the CUSA. Unfortunately, Zach is a senior, so he can't go play with him.