IWU 79 Carthage 76

Whatever your rooting interesting was at the Shirk Center last night for IWU vs Carthage, I think you'd have to first ackknowledge that it was a wonderful college basketball game. I did have a chance to speak with several Carthage people I know after the game and one in particular put it well when he simply said, "Wow, what an amazing game," and just sort of shook his head slowly.

#17 Carthage is a very good team. Their wins over Division III powers Hope, Calvin, and Lawrence indicated how tough they'd be coming in, but it wasn't until I saw with my own eyes the improvement in 6-7/240 Brian Schlemm and the impact of newcomers like Milos Vukosavljevic (#40) and point-guard Joe Higgins that I realized just how improved they are. I'll be surprised if that team does not end up in the CCIW conference tournament field.

The Titans were really impressive last night. It's as proud of an IWU team as I've been in a long time, because the "supporting cast" had to carry the load for a long stretch and they did great. Darius Gant was a ton -- it was great to see him have a breakout game and to do it on that stage. Andrew Freeman has now had 3 great games in a row (@ Hanover, Albion, Carthage). He looks to me to be heading towards a big conference season. Andrew Gilmore - "playing on a couple of flat tires", as Ron Rose told the Pantagraph - is a warrior. Most don't realize how bad his knees are, but you'd never know it from watching him out there. I thought Brett Chamernik and Jason Bloom gave the Titans great minutes off the bench in the final 10 minutes of the 1st half when Zach was out -- their emergence is such a welcome sign. And what can you say about Zach Freeman? 18 2nd half points including big play after big play down the stretch. What a special player.

A tip of the hat to the fans at the game last night. The list of small colleges (NCAA Division II, Division III, NAIA) in the country that could have 2000 people at a game with the students on break is very small. In Division III, you are just talking about IWU, Hope, Calvin, Wooster, and maybe a couple others. I thought the crowd did a nice job providing energy to the team down the stretch. IWU fans are a bit spoiled because we get to see games like that at the Shirk Center over and over again, but that atmosphere is actually very unique.

I spoke with Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic on my out of the building and he probably summed it up best: "That was a terrific basketball game and I think the league is in for a whole bunch of these kinds of games this year."

Bring it on.