CCIW Conference Tournament, Feb 29 - March 1, 2008

I'm looking forward to the conference tournament in this weekend. A couple great matchups Friday evening...

6:00pm: IWU vs Wheaton
8:00pm: Elmhurst vs Augustana


We've all heard the saying - "it's hard to beat a good team 3 times." Wheaton certainly qualifies as a good team, so we'll see if the Titans can find a way.

2/16/08 game at Wheaton (boxscore)

1/23/08 game at IWU (boxscore)


In my opinion, the key to the first two IWU/Wheaton matchups has been Sean Dwyer's defense on Kent Raymond. Raymond is a 1st Team All-American-caliber player and Dwyer, and the Titans, have held him to 17 points twice. Raymond was 2-12 from beyond the arc in those two games combined. IWU has also done a great job not sending him to the line a ton of times - he has only shot 6 free throws vs the Titans this year (and made all 6 of course).

Speaking of Kent Raymond and free throws, check out his last 5 games vs IWU...

2/16/08: 2-2
1/23/08: 4-4
2/9/07: 20-20
1/17/07: 8-8
2/9/05: 11-11

That's 45-45 from the free throw line!! In his first game vs IWU, January 15, 2005, he was a real dog and only went 3-4.

Keys for the Wheaton game:

* More Sean Dwyer defense with good help from his teammates
* Simple - make shots. Can the Titans put the NPU game behind them and make shots? I hope so.

IWU is in a win or go home situation -- no chance for an at-large bid to the Division III tournament. It's been a great ride with these guys - let's see if they can keep it going. The guys will, of course, need Titan nation out in full force.

IWU 67 North Park 57 (OT)

I'm still speechless.

Senior Night '08

IWU will honor four impressive young men tonight at the Shirk Center - seniors (from left to right) Kevin Bryant, Jason Bloom, Darius Gant, and Brian Nussbaum.

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First a few thoughts on the three who have not played a lot this year -K.B., Jason, and Nuss. These three have been absolutely terrific leaders and role models this season. After falling out of the playing time mix, these guys could have left the team - I certainly wouldn't blame a senior who doesn't play for not being willing to put in all of the time and effort - or become negative. Instead, Bloom, Bryant, and Nussbaum have been three of the hardest workers on the team and three of the most positive influences on the bench. The coaches have all said numerous times this year that the work these three have put in on the "white" team in practice has had a tremendous impact on the "green" team. Just last Saturday, when the buzzer sounded at Wheaton, I remember seeing this trio get to the floor to celebrate a big win with the guys in the game before anyone else.As an alum I'd really like to thank Jason, Brian, and Kevin for everything they've done for the program. They're first-class young men and they're a big reason the Titans went into the final week of play with a shot to win the CCIW championship.

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As for Darius, what a season it's been. More than any single factor, the emergence of Darius as a leader on and off the floor is the reason this IWU team is having such a good season. I will always remember his 22 point, 20 rebound performance in the home win over Carthage on 2/2/08. When I think back about great Titan individual performances in big games, that one will always come to mind.

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The great thing about Titan basketball is the quality of the student-athletes. More than the CCIW titles, the Shirk Center atmosphere, and the trips to the Final Four, it's the players that keep our minds on something other than the weather for those winter months every year. IWU always has players we can be proud of and root for. Jason Bloom, Darius Gant, Brian Nussbaum, and Kevin Bryant have continued the Titan tradition of outstanding young men in the program. By passing on lessons in teamwork, leadership, and class taught to them by the great group of older players ahead of them, these four will all have contributed to the next CCIW title Illinois Wesleyan wins.

Did You Know?

Freshman 3-pointers made, IWU history:

1. Sean Johnson (2007-08): 53 (24 games)
2. Korey Coon (1996-97): 49 (31 games)
3. Adam Dauksas (2002-03): 45 (28 games)

Freshman assists, IWU history:

1. Brian Martin (1989-90): 102 (31 games)
2. Adam Dauksas (2002-03): 85 (28 games)
3. Travis Rosenkranz (2007-08): 82 (24 games)

Augustana 83 IWU 68 (2/20/08)

For the first time since the game at Elmhurst way back on January 19, the Titans seemed to be caught on their heels last night in Rock Island. In IWU's 7-1 run since that loss at Elmhurst, the Titans have done a great job of coming out as the aggressor, and that just wasn't the case last night. Augustana had all of the energy from the opening tip.
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There is no question that Augie is not a good matchup for the Titans due to their size and athleticism down low and how well they defend the perimeter. Elmhurst is huge, but the Bluejays don't guard the perimeter like the Vikings do...and while Wheaton has 6-8 Andy Wiele, the Thunder don't have much else in the way of big guys who make an impact on both ends of the floor. Against Augustana, IWU - with 6-4 Darius Gant and 6-5 Brett Chamernik - really does not have a consistent inside game. Then on defense, they really struggle to contain Swetalla, Collins, and Bertrand. All of that said, IWU still had a chance to beat Augie at the Shirk Center (up 5 with the ball with 2:57 to play), so last night's performance was disappointing.
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IWU's 2nd half defense was poor last night. Here is a list of points given up by IWU in the 2nd half since the Jan. 19 game @ Elmhurst:
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vs Wheaton 32
@ North Park 30
vs Augustana 36
vs Carthage 34
@ North Central 36
vs Elmhurst 41
vs Millkin 31@
Wheaton 36@
Augustana 49
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Certainly Augie's offensive gameplan and execution vs IWU was very good, but the Titan D was just not what it was been for a month now.
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Now, I guess the big picture is that back in December there is no way I could have envisioned being disappointed the Titans lost at Augustana. The Titans have clinched the #2 seed in the CCIW tournament and quite honestly, I wasn't sure this team could finish 6-8 coming into the year. They have played very well the last month of the season and I'm confident they will regroup and make a run at the CCIW's automatic bid.
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Kudos to freshman guard Sean Johnson who has broken IWU's freshman 3-point record. Johnson has now made 53 3's (Korey Coon 49 in 1996-97, Adam Dauksas 45 in 2002-03). Talk about elite company.
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Finally, a quote from Dain Swetalla in today's Quad City Times...

“We don’t want to share it. I’m not going to lie,” said senior forward Dain Swetalla, who led Augie with 17 points and eight rebounds. “And (Illinois Wesleyan) is one team, especially, that we don’t want to share it with. They played hard, but we feel like we’re a much better team. We’ve got better players, and we want to prove it.”

It'd be nice to get one more crack at the Vikings.

IWU 61 Wheaton 59 (2/16/08)

Wow, what a win. I couldn't be any more proud of this group than I am, and I suspect most of you feel the same. There may be more talented teams around, but the Titans just play so hard and so well together as a team. They're very easy to pull for.

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A real unsung hero for the Titans this year has been starting center Brett Chamernik, who had a big game at Wheaton (17 points, 10 rebounds, 7-9 FG). Chamernik, who stands about 6-4, was primarily guarded last night by 6-8/230 Andy Wiele.

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Brett worked as hard in the off-season to get stronger and better as any IWU player I can remember. He brings that same work ethic to each game, where he just battles as hard as he can. He's such a good example for IWU's young post players like Doug Sexauer, Edmond O'Callaghan, and Duncan Lawson, who, quite frankly, are a lot more talented that Chamernik. He is a testament to what hard work can get you. He also exemplifies everything I love about Division III athletics - Chamernik is a pre-med major at IWU who is finding a way to balance academics and athletics very successfully.

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Some around IWU's program suggested that Chamernik would never be able to get on the floor this year in front of the freshmen. I'm glad Brett never believed that.

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The job Sean Dwyer has done defensively on Kent Raymond is a big reason Illinois Wesleyan is tied for first with two games to play. Here is Raymond's line at the Shirk Center last year (Dwyer did not play last season due to injury):

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2/9/07 @ IWU: 9-13 FG, 6-9 3-pt, 20-20 FT, 44 pts

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Here is what he has done in two games vs IWU in 2008:

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1/23/08: 6-13 FG, 1-4 3-pt, 4-4 FT, 17 pts

2/16/08: 7-18 FG, 1-8 3-pt, 2-2 FT, 17 pts

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Raymond is one of the elite players in Division III, which is why holding him to an average of "only" 17 points is a big deal. He is averaging 22.5 points vs the rest of the league (10 games...all but the two vs IWU). With primarily Sean Dwyer on him, Raymond is 2-12 from 3-point range this year.

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Sean makes him work so incredibly hard for everything he gets that I think it starts to wear him out and frustrate him a little towards the end of the game. In Bloomington, Raymond picked up the silly frustration technical foul late in the game. Last night, he shot an air ball from dead at the top of the key with about 5:00 to play, and his next attempt from the right wing missed by about a foot to the right. I do think a lot of that has to do with how much energy he has to expend when guarded by Dwyer. Raymond only made 2 field goals in the 2nd half last night and the final was at the 7:40 mark. He scored just 6 2nd half points.

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So let's go win the CCIW title Wednesday in Rock Island. Hope to see Titan Nation out in full force!

First place

I was in Phoenix on a State Farm business trip, so I missed the Millikin game. It was great to listen to the WJBC broadcast and follow the live stats as the Titans dismantled the Big Blue though!

I was also following the Wheaton/Augustana live stats at the same time and as Wheaton got up 20 in the second half I started to think to myself, "The Titans are going to be tied for first with 3 games to go."

This has just been an amazing ride with this team. The Titans get key contributions from members of every class and they play so well together as a team. So many non-IWU people have come up to me after games and said something like, "They play so hard..." This truly is a special group.

So it's on to Wheaton Saturday for yet another big IWU/Wheaton game. Over the course of the last 13 years or so, it seems like every Titans/Thunder game has had big CCIW title implications. The evening will get kicked off with a celebration of sorts of the success of these two fine Division III programs as a group of IWU alums takes on a Wheaton alumni team at 5:00pm. The Titans will be led by a trio of former 1st Team All-Americans - Bryan Crabtree (1997), Adam Dauksas (2006), and Keelan Amelianovich (2006). Wheaton will be loaded as well, trotting out former CCIW M.O.P.'s Joel Kolmodin (2003), Rob Hamann (1999), as well as stars like Charles Ridley, Jonathan Steven, and Jon Nielson. If you are heading to the game, just make a full night of it and support the IWU alums at 5:00.

As far the varsity game, it should be another great IWU/Wheaton game...everytime these two teams hook up, it seems like it's a classic.

See you up there!

D3hoops.com All-Decade Team

D3hoops.com is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and today released its men's All-Decade Team. There are 3 former Titans on the squad:

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1st Team - Korey Coon (2000)

3rd Team - Adam Dauksas (2006)

4th Team - Keelan Amelianovich (2006)

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A great honor for three very special former student-athletes at Illinois Wesleyan. Boy do these names bring back some great memories of big Titan games.

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Check out the All-Decade piece - it is really well done.

IWU 75 Elmhurst 71 (2/9/08)

After IWU played at Wash U way back on December 8, Bears head coach Mark Edwards told the Pantagraph, "I'm glad we played them in December and not February." Tyler Nading was quoted in the Wash U student newspaper as saying, "That team is going to be good and they're developing and maturing as a team right now, but I think February and March they're going to be very tough."

Well here we are in February, and they were right - IWU is a good basketball team.

Despite a horrendous performance from the FT line (15-35 - how does that happen?), the Titans played exceptionally last night in a huge win.

Defensively, once again it was Sean Dwyer on an opposing team's best perimeter player, and 5-11 Dwyer frustrated 6-4 Ryan Burks all evening. Burks had just 2 points in the first half (2 free throws) and did not even attempt a 3-pointer. I think anyone who has seen Burks play knows how hard it is to hold him without a 3-point attempt. Elmhurst did a better job getting Burks looks in the second half - he ended up scoring 15 points - but he had to work extremely hard for everything he got. Brent Ruch, who did not start again for some reason, had a great game down low for the Bluejays - 25 pts, 11-14 FG in 29 minutes. IWU could not begin to stop Ruch one-on-one, but it seemed like Ron Rose & Co. were willing to give Ruch his points, in return for covering all of the perimeter shooters as best they could. After seeing the game at Elmhurst, I didn't think there was anyway the Titans could play the Bluejays man-to-man with all of their incredible size, but IWU played all man last night, and that really impressed me.

Offensively, the Titans played smart and efficiently. The gameplan became apparent in the first few minutes of the game as IWU spread Elmhurst out and let guards Travis Rosenkranz and Sean Dwyer get past their man and to the basket. The two point-guards who start for the Titans were able to get into the lane and either score or distribute time and time again. Darius Gant had another huge game, finishing with 20 points, to go along with 13 rebounds. Darius was great down low, even though giving up at least 5 inches to Ruch and Hintzsche. Sean Johnson was the one Titan who was never able to get going last night. Matt Ryder did a terrific job shadowing Johnson all night long and it was crystal clear Mark Scherer was not going to allow his guards to ever leave Johnson. The attention Elmhurst paid to Johnson at the perimeter (not allowing his man to help down low) created one-on-one opportunities for Gant, Brett Chamernik, and Doug Sexauer down low, and one-on-one, all three of those guys can score. Sexauer had another good game, scoring 11 points on 4-6 shooting. Rosenkranz was very good as well, scoring 13, as was Duncan Lawson in the 6 minutes he was in there (2-3 FG, 5 points).

The Titans led the final 30 minutes of the game and really just out-played the Bluejays. Ron Rose did a terrific job creating the gameplan and getting his team ready for this game, and his players executed almost perfectly (everywhere except the FT line that is!). Elmhurst is so much bigger and stronger than IWU it's ridiculous, yet the Titans were the aggressor all night long. IWU pulled down 13 offensive rebounds to Elmhurst's 3 and as I look at the boxscore, that may be the one thing that stands out more than anything.

Ron Rose is doing an outstanding job with this team.

Quick turnaround!

Another really nice road win for the Titans last night at North Central. After being a little tentative against the NCC zone in the first half, I thought the Titans did a great job of attacking it in the second.

And how 'bout Sean Johnson? 7 3-pointer and 24 points - quite a performance. Sean keeps getting more and more confident, and as he does, this IWU team keeps getting better and better.

So this now sets up a huge game in the CCIW race - 5-4 Elmhurst @ 6-3 IWU. The Bluejays were picked 2nd in the preseason coaches poll...the Titans 7th. Elmhurst has lost three home games (Carthage, Wheaton, and Augustana) in addition to their loss at Augie. They are a very good team, and they are huge, but they're not quite the dominant national power I thought they might be coming into the season.

In the game at Elmhurst, the Bluejays' size definitely gave the Titans a lot of trouble. IWU had to resort to playing a ton of zone, which did slow down the 'jays...and then Sean Johnson had a huge second half offensively to get the Titans back in it. While I'm not sure IWU can guard Elmhurst man-to-man, I'd like to see them try to start the game. The Titans need to really push the pace in this game and make Elmhurst run the floor, and it is just too hard to do that in a zone. Let's get things flying up and down the court and get the Shirk Center all charged up.

Should be a huge crown on hard tomorrow night. It is a big opportunity for this IWU team to really make a huge statement.

IWU @ NCC postponed

This evening's game in Naperville has been postponed until tomorrow due to the winter storm impacting the Chicago area today. The Titans will face the Cardinals Thursday at 7:30pm (5:15pm JV game).

IWU 87 Carthage 77 (2/2/08)

When we interviewed IWU senior Darius Gant immediately after the loss to Augie Wednesday - after an 18 point, 15 rebound performance - he was was very disappointed. Darius basically assumed responsibility for the inability of the Titans to close the game out, saying something to the effect of, "As a senior captain, this is on me."
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That's why last night was impressive to me. Gant was an absolute force the entire game, pulling down 20 rebounds, but especially down the stretch with the game on the line, in a very similar spot as the Augustana game. With IWU down 71-70 with 3:48 to go, Gant demanded the ball in the low post, got it, and scored to put the Titans up 1. After a Carthage miss, it was the same thing on the next possession to put IWU up 3 with 2:59 to go. Freshman Travis Rosenkranz scored to make it a 5 point game at 1:59, then Gant delivered the dagger -- a fast break dunk to push the Titan lead to 7 with 1:21 to go.
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Down the stretch, Darius got every big rebound and made every big offensive play necessary for the Titans to win an important conference game. We once again had him on the postgame show, and he said, "After the Augie game, I just really felt bad, and I felt like as a senior leader I had to do whatever I can. I know everyone that's come before me - Dauksas, Keelan, Zach - when there were situations like that, those guys stepped up and did amazing things, so as a senior leader I felt like it's my responsibility just to make sure tradition gets passed on."
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Bosko said in the Carthage press release, "We didn’t have a matchup for Darius Gant. He’s a wonderful player, I like the way he plays, and I give him all the credit.” The Red Men really just do not have an answer for Gant athletically. In two games vs Carthage, Darius has 34 points, 37 rebounds, and is 12-19 from the field. He helped IWU to an incredible 48-28 rebounding edge over the visitors last night, and when you out-rebound your opponent by 20, I gotta believe you're going to win just about every time.
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Steve Djurickovic was just a ton again. The kid made a number of tough mid-range jumpshots to stop IWU runs throughout the game and was his usual aggressive self in going to the basket. I actually think IWU did a pretty good job on him, holding him to 10-24 from the field, but the bottom line is he still scored 28 points. He just has such great balance with the ball in his hands and just knows how to play the game.
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This was a big win for the Titans. Darius Gant's 22 & 20 performance is on the long list of "special performances" I've seen from great IWU players over the years at the Shirk Center in important CCIW games. It was great to see a senior step up and lead the way to a win.
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Pantagraph article

Boxscore

Ron Rose postgame interview (WJBC)