Game Notes: (MBK) Elmhurst College @ North Central College (1/27/18)

Final Score
NCC 87, Elmhurst 74

Game Summary
Getting a shot at a quick Revenge Game, the Cardinals (14-5, 7-3) played pretty even with the Blue Jays (11-8, 4-6) for the first few minutes, overtaking an early 7-5 Elmhurst lead with a 9-2 run to grab control. The Blue Jays were able to keep it close, cutting the lead to one at one point, but a 9-1 Cardinal run extended the lead once again. North Central led by as many as 13, but thanks in part to a flagrant foul on Connor Raridon, Elmhurst was able to cut it to 10 by the break at 40-30. The Blue Jays came out of the locker room pretty strong, keeping the margin around that 10 point gap, though the Cardinals used a 9-0 run that included a Matt Cappelletti dunk to push the lead as high as 18. But like the prior matchup a week ago, the Blue Jays refused to go away and started hitting some outside shots, trimming the lead back down to eight, but that was as close as Elmhurst would get.

Key Stats

• Connor Raridon (NCC): 2-7 FG (1-1 3PT), 10-15 FT; 15 pts, 7 reb (2 off), 12 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl. Connor's had some subpar shooting nights this season, but he made up for it by getting to the line often in this one, while also doing a fabulous job of distributing the ball. His 12 dimes tied for the second most in a game in program history, while also breaking a pair of marks: the single season mark of 127, and the all time mark of 273, both held by Adam Teising.
• NCC: Six players in double figures. It was hard to pick just one more Cardinal to go alongside Connor, who was one of the six. Alex Sorenson did his usual thing (17 points, 12 rebounds), Erwin Henry led all scorers with 18 points on an efficient 6-10 shooting night, Matt Cappelletti added a monster 14 point, seven rebound, four block night, and Mike Pollack and Aiden Chang added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Normally for the Cardinals it's been one guy really going off to help give them their wins, but this was a very balanced attack with everyone getting involved.
• Jake Rhode (ELM): 5-11 FG (2-6 3PT), 6-6 FT; 18 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl. There were a few guys I could have gone with here for Elmhurst, but the freshman guard really impressed in this one. He hit a couple shots late in the second half to help keep Elmhurst in it, and he made his presence known on the other end of the floor with three steals. He'll be someone to watch next year when the Blue Jays will be really good again.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• CAR 81 (11-7, 6-3), @ AUG 78 (15-4, 7-3)
• @ IWU 87 (16-3, 9-1), NPU 47 (4-14, 1-9)
• @ MIL 94 (9-10, 2-8), WHE 75 (13-6, 6-4)
• Bye: CRL (6-12, 2-7)

Final Thoughts

This was a big win for North Central after the prior Saturday's loss to this same Elmhurst team. The Blue Jays did what they do again, hitting some long range shots to stay in the contest, but the Cardinals had too much firepower and in the second half made the Jays pay for some of their mistakes. It was a fitting end, as the Cardinals were able to hold the ball to run out the clock, giving me a chance to announce that Connor had broken both the single season and career assists records. The scary part: dude still has two more years of eligibility left. His one downside to this game was the flagrant foul he was whistled for late in the first half (which personally I thought was ticky-tack, though I can see why they called it). The problem was that they gave the wrong guy the free throws for it (Derek Dotlich took the shots, but Justin Fox was fouled on the play). The Cardinal bench protested, and the officials consulted with us at the table to see if we saw who was fouled, but it happened behind the play so we didn't. In the second half, one official came to the table and admitted his mistake, which I give him credit for.

Big picture wise, this weekend went about as perfectly for the Cardinals as you could ask it to. Other than Illinois Wesleyan winning, the other major contenders for the top of the league all lost, with Carthage leapfrogging Wheaton for fourth place in the conference. NCC remains in third, but is now in a tie with Augustana for second place just two games out of first place. The Wheaton loss was a shocker, especially given the margin. Both our official scorer and Clark, our SID, gave comparable shocked reactions to my showing them the scores in progress. It's still a five, maybe six, team race for the four tournament spots depending on how you feel about these Blue Jays (my take: they're a year away, but can still play spoiler this season).

The Cardinals have a tough one ahead, as they head north of the border to take on Carthage on Wednesday. Their regular season matchup there last year saw the Cardinals blow a late lead and lose in overtime, though they followed that up with a buzzer beater in the CCIW semifinal before knocking off Augie up there to win the tournament and get an invite to the NCAA Tournament. It will be a tough game against a Red Men team that has wins against Illinois Wesleyan and now Augustana this season. They'll be back home on Saturday for Senior Night against North Park.

Game Notes: (WBK) Elmhurst College @ North Central College (1/27/18)

Final Score
Elmhurst 61, NCC 41

Game Summary
The game started out much better for the Cardinals (4-15, 2-8), who opened the scoring and took the early 2-0 lead. Unfortunately the Blue Jays (11-8, 7-3) scored the next eight to take control and grabbed a 21-8 lead after one quarter. The second saw the Cardinals clamp down a bit on defense and close the gap to eight, but Elmhurst scored the last five points on the frame and took a 31-18 lead into the locker room. The Jays went on an extended 12-0 run to start the second half and effectively end the contest, as Maya Walls put the Cardinals on the board in the second half five and a half minutes into the frame, and the Jays took a 50-27 lead after three. The Cardinals didn't give up though, opening the fourth quarter on a 15-2 run to make it 52-40 with 4:25 left, but Natali Dimitrova's three to cap that run was the last field goal the Cardinals could muster, as Elmhurst pulled away again in the final minutes.

Key Stats

• Mikaela Eppard (ELM): 6-13 FG, 6-7 FT; 18 pts, 11 reb (1 off), 4 ast, 2 stl. A week before, Eppard went off for 24 and 16, so for the Cardinals to limit her damage a little bit was an encouraging sign. Eppard finished under 50 percent shooting, and found herself running the offense a little bit through the high post, but she still got hers before the night was done. Eppard is certain to be a First Team All-CCIW player, but the question remains of how much consideration for Most Outstanding Player she'll get.
• Kaela Jones (ELM): 3-8 FG (2-4 3PT), 3-4 FT; 11 pts, 6 reb (2 off), 6 ast, 1 stl. There were a couple other options for good Elmhurst players on here, but Jones definitely sticks out with her strong all around game, and she scored some key points off the bench in the second half. I was surprised she's not a starter, but she's a key piece for Elmhurst's second unit, which will help keep them in games.
• Mayson Whipple (NCC): 6-13 FG (2-5 3PT), 3-3 FT; 17 pts, 4 reb (1 off), 4 ast, 3 stl. Mayson's had some games where she struggled a little bit, but she had a solid performance in this one. She attacked the basket a little more rather than settling for stepback threes, while also pulling up from the elbow or free throw line a couple times. All in all, a pretty good performance, especially noting the three steals she had.

North Central "System" Watch

• Elmhurst Turnovers: 17. I wish this number were a little higher, obviously, but it's not a bad total. The Cardinals did force a ten second count in the backcourt in the first half, while tacking on nine steals. Mayson Whipple had the aforementioned three, while Bekah Foley added a pair.
• NCC 3PT: 5-27 (18.5%). Really, you could argue that this was the game. North Central had some good looks, and they just didn't fall. They didn't hit their first three until the second quarter, and really only got a boost during that 15-2 run in the fourth. Had they shot a little better, obviously it would have been a closer game, but I would have been interested to see just how much closer.
• NCC FT: 4-8 (50%). The Achilles heel of this team reared its head again, albeit in limited fashion. If you take Mayson Whipple away, the team went 1-5 at the line, which isn't acceptable. It didn't cost the Cardinals the game, but it's a momentum killer to miss out on three point plays or chances at free points. For the season, the Cardinals do remain above the 60 percent mark, and 60.6.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• CAR 80 (14-5, 7-3), @ AUG 74 (12-7, 5-5)
• @ IWU 105 (17-2, 10-0), NPU 53 (8-11, 3-7)
• WHE 75 (15-4, 8-2), @ MIL 53 (5-13, 0-9)
• Bye: CRL (5-13, 2-7)

Final Thoughts

Photo by Steve Woltmann (North Central College)

This one went about as expected for the Cardinals, who are all but guaranteed a losing record in the CCIW for the first time since 2013-14. But I was proud of the way the team fought back in the fourth quarter to make it interesting. Had they just been able to hit a few more shots, it could have come down to the wire. Alas, it was not meant to be.

Big picture wise, the Cardinals are now alone in eighth place in the CCIW, half a game back of Carroll and ahead of only winless Millikin. Elmhurst remains tied with a hot Carthage team for third place (and the Lady Reds have the head to head tiebreaker). But really, everyone is looking up at Illinois Wesleyan who is running away with the conference.

The Cardinals have two more in a row at home, and both are winnable games. They get a shot at revenge with Carroll coming to town on Wednesday before North Park comes in on Saturday for Senior Night. Hopefully in a week's time I'll be talking about the 4-8 in CCIW North Central Cardinals.

Game Notes: (MBK) Millikin University @ North Central College (1/24/18)

Final Score
NCC 75, Millikin 49

Game Summary
This game had a very unique start, as the Big Blue (8-10, 1-8) were assessed an administrative technical foul before the opening tip due to their failure to submit their starting lineup on time. Mike Pollack sank the technical free throw to put the Cardinals (13-5, 6-3) on top from the very get-go, and it was all North Central from there. The Cardinals opened the game on a 12-0 run, technical free throw included, and kept it up defensively en route to a 17-2 lead eight minutes in. The Big Blue started to get some offense going after that stretch but couldn't survive an all out barrage from beyond the arc, as the Cardinals pushed the lead as high as 21 before taking a 44-25 lead into the break. Millikin came out of the locker room reasonably strong, cutting North Central's lead to 13, but the Cardinals pulled away again, pushing the lead back to 20 about six minutes later. The Cardinals would lead by as many as 27, with Todd Raridon calling off the dogs in the final couple minutes.

Key Stats

• NCC: 17-40 3PT (42.5%). This was the major storyline of the game for the Cardinals. Faced with a changing zone defense from Millikin (they started with a 3-2, went to a 1-3-1 for a while before returning to that base 3-2), the Cardinals opted for a long range barrage from beyond the arc. It was incredibly effective, as the Cardinals finished the first half 11-20 from deep. They cooled off in the second half, but it was still an effective weapon. Their 17 threes set a new program record.
• Matt Cappelletti (NCC): 7-13 FG (5-10 3PT), 0-1 FT; 19 pts, 7 reb (2 off), 2 ast. On a night where Alex Sorenson was held in check (8 points on 3-8 shooting, but a game high 9 rebounds), Cap was the main offensive force for the Cardinals, burying multiple corner threes to help the Cardinals pull away early in this one. He also did a good job on the glass, with the second highest rebounding total on the team and matching Millikin's best rebounder.
• Korbin Farmer (MIL): 5-5 FG; 10 pts, 3 reb (1 off), 1 ast, 1 blk. Farmer had an excellent game off the bench for the Big Blue, doing a good job defensively down low on guys like Alex Sorenson while also contributing a perfect shooting day on the offensive end. He had a good blend of jumpers and post moves to get to double figures.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• AUG 86 (15-3, 7-2), @ WHE 84 (13-5, 6-3)
• IWU 93 (15-3, 8-1), @ ELM 76 (11-7, 4-5)
• CRL 84 (6-12, 2-7), @ NPU 66 (4-13, 1-8)
• Bye: CAR (10-7, 5-3)
• WBK: @ IWU 108 (16-2, 9-0), NCC 54 (4-14, 2-7)

Final Thoughts

As I mentioned up in the Game Summary, I've never seen a start to the game like last night's. Per the NCAA rulebook, rosters and starting lineups must be entered into the official scorebook by the ten minute mark of warmups. Our official scorer always gets the rosters in in time, but we make sure the coaches get the lineups in by that time. At about the 16 minute mark, he asked their head coach, who said he was still thinking about it. Granted, Millikin was missing its top scorer Elijah Henry last night, and that threw a monkey wrench into things, but you have to be aware of that rule. The scorer even went to check outside their locker room to see if an assistant was out there to come mark starters down in time, but no one was there. As such, they were assessed an administrative technical foul before the opening tip, which resulted in one free throw. Mike Pollack came out to take that free throw and immediately went back to the bench, which is allowed by the rule. I've only worked one other game where an administrative tech was called (a women's game a few years back where I think NCC didn't have correct uniform numbers for some of the players), so this is pretty rare.

Big picture wise, this was a game the Cardinals needed to win after a tough loss at Elmhurst this past Saturday. Millikin hasn't been very good this season, and you have to defend your home court, especially against an inferior team. The Cardinals did this last night, although they did commit more turnovers than they probably should have. They could get away with it last night, but they won't on Saturday, as they welcome Elmhurst to Gregory Arena for a revenge game.

Once More Into the Gauntlet

I'm running a little behind on this feature, but it's one that I need to run.

Ever since I took over the PA gig at North Central, I've always taken a look at the conference standings at the halfway point of the schedule. It's good to get a look at what's going on and see where everyone stands with seven (or now, eight, with Carroll's return to the conference) games to play.

In a week and a half I'll have a look at where North Central stacks up regionally, but that's only because that's when the NCAA releases its regional rankings. For now, we're going to stick with the conference standings, for both the men and the women. Pictured at the start of each section will be a screenshot of the conference standings pulled from the Confessions of a Sportscaster sidebar as of Monday, January 22nd.

2018 NFL Conference Championship Preview

After a decent picking weekend in the Wild Card round, I whiffed pretty badly in the Divisional Round. I went 1-2-1 against the spread and 1-3 straight up. Clearly, I needed to listen to Gregg Easterbrook's continued wisdom about the higher seeds being more successful in the divisional rounds.

And thus Championship Weekend is upon us, as we have our final four teams left. Three of the four quarterbacks still standing are quarterbacks who, before the season, I would have laughed at you for saying made it to this point; the fourth is Tom Brady.

But what happens from here? Let's take a look at each of the conference championship games.

Game Notes: (MBK) Wheaton College @ North Central College (1/13/18)

Final Score
NCC 75, Wheaton 66

Game Summary
This was a fantastic game. Alex Sorenson got the Cardinals (11-4, 5-2) off to the early 2-0 lead, but the Thunder (11-4, 5-2) answered with an 8-0 run to take early control of this one. About four minutes in, it was a 13-4 lead for the Thunder and they seemed poised to make it a laugher. But the Cardinals found their poise and hit some key shots to get back into it, finally tying the game at 28. It turned into a back and forth affair the rest of the half, ending with a tie at 41. Wheaton took the early advantage in the second half, escaping a 43-all tie to take a four point lead, but the Cardinals fought back to trade a couple leads before Wheaton took another four point edge with 8:06 left. Over the next six minutes, the Cardinals embarked on a 10-0 run to take a six point lead and force a timeout, then scored six of the next seven over the next couple minutes to end the contest.

Key Stats

• Alex Sorenson (NCC): 9-15 FG (1-2 3PT); 19 pts, 10 reb (4 off), 2 ast, 3 blk, 1 stl. After having three straight monster performances at home, Alex has come back down to earth the last few games. He was still a key part of this win, notching nine points and four boards in the first half, while not having to worry about foul trouble. He then was a key part of North Central's offense in the second half, scoring the basket that gave North Central the lead for good, then added the insurance bucket for good measure. He also played phenomenal defense, and again, didn't have to worry about playing conservatively, as he finished the night with just two fouls.
• Connor Raridon (NCC): 2-8 FG, 3-4 FT; 7 pts, 6 reb (1 off), 6 ast, 2 blk. Connor seems to have settled in this season primarily as the facilitator. He didn't have a particularly good night, having to work pretty hard to get into a good shooting position in the post, but he hit a key jumper that capped the 10-0 run and forced a Wheaton timeout with 2:20 to play. The fact that he keeps going in and getting rebounds, finding open players for baskets, and playing excellent defense just adds to his work.
• Aston Francis (WHE): 10-26 FG (8-18 3PT), 3-4 FT; 31 pts, 7 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. Francis has been an absolute monster this season, and coming off a 40 point outing at Augustana on Wednesday, he was the player to watch tonight. He was hot early on, hitting a bunch of contested threes that really got Wheaton in the driver's seat in the first half. But the Cardinals kept getting bodies on him and made him work, as shown by the fact that he needed 26 shots to get his 31. Also a key factor: Francis had six turnovers in this one.

Mike Schauer Watch

The Wheaton head coach is getting his own mini feature this season because he's one of the more fiery in-game coaches in the CCIW (though nowhere near the top of the list). Last year he demanded an out of the box warning to get the refs to listen to him (he was granted said warning) and would later do his best Grey Giovanine impersonation complete with suit coat rip off regarding what probably should have been a shot clock violation. This year, he got upset with some of the foul calls. I can't totally blame him; North Central jumped out to a 10-2 advantage in fouls early in the first half before Wheaton got the benefit of six of the next seven foul calls. The anti-Wheaton trend carried over into the second half as the Cardinals got into the bonus fairly early. Again he complained about the clock, as supposedly it started way too early in the final minute. I didn't get a good enough look, but he made a major scene of it, yelling at the table about how "this happens every time we come here!"

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ AUG 66 (12-3, 4-2), CRL 62 (4-11, 0-6)
• IWU 76 (12-3, 5-1), @ NPU 75 (4-10, 1-5)
• @ CAR 63 (9-6, 4-2), ELM 57 (10-5, 3-3)
• Bye: Millikin (8-7, 1-5)

Final Thoughts

The atmosphere in this game was absolutely fantastic. Given the rivalry between the schools and the proximity, it's no surprise that Wheaton brought a ton of fans, including a very rowdy student section that really got into the game. Honestly, I think they outworked the North Central student section by quite the margin, with really only the band and the group of alums and former players sitting behind the table getting their shots in. But this was the kind of atmosphere that makes basketball a lot of fun. It was loud, which is awesome.

Big picture wise, this was a huge win. Wheaton has been the resurgent team in the conference this year and came into tonight in first place. They end the night in third with the tiebreaker, as Illinois Wesleyan survived a monster night from Colin Lake and North Park to grab first place. North Central settles into second with one more to go in the first round of the double round robin and a key head to head victory for the tiebreaker.

The Cardinals have the bye on Wednesday, and close out their non-conference schedule with Finlandia University on Tuesday. I won't be able to work that game, so there won't be a Game Notes post Tuesday night/Wednesday morning about the contest. I leave my seat and microphone in capable hands though, and I'll be back for the next home contest, which will be Wednesday the 24th against Millikin.

Game Notes: (WBK) Wheaton College @ North Central College (1/13/18)

Final Score
Wheaton 72, NCC 55

Game Summary
I was worried this game was going to end up a lot like last year's matchup, as the Thunder (11-4, 5-2) scored the game's first six points and seemed to be in total command. But the Cardinals (4-11, 2-4) bounced back and ended up tying the game at eight. Wheaton started to pull away again with the next eight points, but the Cardinals kept it around that margin, trailing 20-13 after one. The Cardinals scored the first four points of the second quarter to cut the lead to three a couple times, but went into a scoring drought for the final 5:43 of the half. The Thunder couldn't pull away though and took a 28-20 lead into the break. Wheaton got the lead into double digits almost immediately into the second half and began to pull away in the third as they got hot from the floor. They led by as many as 26 before settling in with a 55-31 lead after three. Midway through the fourth, the Cardinals went on a 13-3 run to bring the margin back to the mid-teens, and the Thunder couldn't push the lead back over 20, while the Cardinals ran out of steam.

Key Stats

• Wheaton: 27-66 FG (40.9%). I'm running the full game lines here, but I'm going to break this down by halves, because it really tells the tale. The Thunder shot 11-36 in the first half (a 30.6% clip), missing quite a few jumpers, which helped keep the Cardinals in the game. They went 16-30 (53.3%) in the second half and started hitting those jumpers. It was a bad three point shooting night (6-26, 23.1%), but they hit more than enough mid range jumpers to pull away.
• Jordan Myroth (WHE): 2-4 FG (0-1 3PT), 0-2 FT; 4 pts, 6 reb (3 off), 5 ast, 1 blk, 4 stl. I could have gone a number of directions with this one. Jennifer Berg had seven points and a game high 13 rebounds, Hannah Frazier scored a game high 15, and Maggie Dansdill added 12, but Myroth did all the little things really well in this one, filling the stat sheet in a number of categories. She earns the nod today.
• Lyndsay Brennan (NCC): 4-7 FG, 2-4 FT; 10 pts, 8 reb (1 off), 2 ast. Brennan had the best day offensively for the Cardinals, doing a decent job getting to the basket and getting a few layups to fall. On a night where Mayson Whipple didn't really have it as much (3-15 FG, including 2-8 from deep), Brennan needed to do a little more, and just didn't quite do enough. She had a pretty good game overall though.

North Central "System" Watch

• Wheaton Turnovers: 13. Wheaton always played very well against The System, and while the Cardinals don't run it traditionally anymore, they still use a lot of full court pressure, and unfortunately 13 turnovers isn't good enough. The Cardinals notched five steals, paced by two from Bekah Foley. For reference, North Central had 15 turnovers.
• NCC 3PT: 8-28 (28.6%). This is about par for the course for the Cardinals. I have to credit Wheaton for playing suffocating defense on the perimeter and limiting the damage, especially in the second half holding the Cardinals to 3-12 from outside.
• NCC FT: 9-14 (64.3%). North Central seems to be starting to figure out its free throw shooting. Part of it once again was getting its actual good shooters to the line, but they just plain shot a little better today. This should put them over 60 percent for the season.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ AUG 89 (10-5, 3-3), CRL 54 (5-10, 2-4)
• IWU 83 (13-2, 6-0), @ NPU 53 (8-7, 3-3)
• @ CAR 71 (10-5, 3-3), ELM 67 (8-8, 4-3) (OT) 
• Bye: Millikin (5-10, 0-6)

Final Thoughts
In past years, I've gotten really bummed after the inevitable losses to Wheaton. I feared the worst tonight. The worst didn't happen. Wheaton missed a bunch of its jumpers early, and that helped keep the Cardinals in the game. Unfortunately, and what wasn't really covered up above, was that the Cardinals missed a ton of layups in this one. By the third quarter Wheaton figured out the shooting backgrounds and started to hit their shots again, which enabled them to pull away. I really have to credit the Cardinals though for refusing to give up, making that late run to turn a laugher into something a little more reasonable. I can live with a 17 point loss to Wheaton, especially when the team gave their all.

This was an emotional night, as before the game we had a ceremony to honor the late Helen Muleya, who played for North Central from 2010 through 2012. I didn't really know Helen, but hearing about her passing last May broke my heart. Michelle Roof gave Helen's family her jersey from her time at NCC, which was a very moving moment. It was also alumni night, and it was good to see a lot of players I've gotten to know over the years.

Big picture, falling to 2-4 in the conference isn't great. But amazingly, the Cardinals are only a game out of a CCIW Tournament spot. It seems way too optimistic to still be talking this for North Central, but even though they've struggled this season they're starting to figure things out as we go along. They close out the first half of conference play at Augustana on Wednesday and at Elmhurst Saturday afternoon.

2018 NFL Divisional Preview

Twelve teams entered, and now only eight remain in the hunt for the Lombardi Trophy. I've missed out on a quest to hit 11-0 against the spread and straight up. Clearly this is my punishment for correctly guessing the score of Super Bowl XLIII.

I did a decent job picking in the Wild Card round, getting three of the four winners, though underdogs ruled the day in terms of the point spread, leaving me 2-2 in that regard. We'll see what ends up happening this time, as historically the bye favors the home teams to the tune of a nearly 3 in 4 chance of advancing to the conference championship round.

So without further ado, let's look at the matchups for this weekend.

Game Notes: (WBK) Millikin University @ North Central College (1/10/18)

Final Score
NCC 91, Millikin 78

Game Summary
This was a little nerve wracking at the very beginning as the Big Blue (5-10, 0-6) jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but the Cardinals (4-10, 2-3) had an answer with a 12-2 run to grab the lead. It was fairly back and forth from there, with the Cardinals leading 20-18 after one. North Central led for a chunk of the second quarter but couldn't pull away, and the Big Blue took control in the latter part of the frame, leading by as many as five before taking a 39-37 lead into the locker room. Millikin opened the second quarter strong with an 8-2 run to push their lead to eight and got it as high as nine with 4:14 left in the stanza. But the Cardinals answered with an 11-0 run to get back into the contest, though they would trail 56-55 after three due to a foul at the buzzer. The teams traded the lead a time or two early in the frame, with Millikin grabbing its final lead with 6:36 to play before a 13-2 Cardinal run effectively sealed the deal. The Big Blue padded the final score with a ton of fouls in the final two and a half minutes but were unable to mount a comeback.

Key Stats

• Mayson Whipple (NCC): 11-19 FG (5-11 3PT), 9-10 FT; 36 pts, 3 reb, 6 ast, 3 stl. Mayson's had some decent games this year after coming back from that knee injury, but this was far and away her best. She was able to get to the basket with ease and added an excellent stepback game from beyond the arc. She ended up padding her final totals thanks to Millikin going foul happy late en route to a tie for the third-highest scoring game in program history.
• Michaela Reedy (NCC): 6-6 FG (5-5 3PT), 2-2 FT; 19 pts, 7 reb (1 off), 1 ast, 1 stl. Fun background story in this one: apparently Michaela's boyfriend bet her ice cream depending on her scoring output last night; ten points and it was his treat. Needless to say, he's paying up after one of the best outputs I've ever seen. She hit three in the early going of this one and put me on record watch, but she only played 20 minutes in this one and didn't get a ton of opportunities, but she made the most of them.
• Yanni Sadler (MIL): 9-14 FG (0-3 3PT), 5-7 FT; 23 pts, 4 reb (1 off), 4 ast, 3 stl. Sadler did a good job getting to the rim and running Millikin's offense last night, while also wreaking some defensive havoc with the three steals. She couldn't really stop Whipple on the other end, but all in all had a good game.

North Central "System" Watch

• Millikin Turnovers: 23. North Central's full court pressure did its job in this one as they harassed Millikin into a fair number of turnovers. This total includes a shot clock violation early where Millikin failed to get a shot off when inbounding with three seconds to go, an inexcusable ten second count in the backcourt, and a five second inbounding call. Of the remaining 20, ten came on steals, with Mayson Whipple and Jessica Dahle each posting three.
• NCC 3PT: 14-33 (42.4%). After an abysmal shooting performance four days ago up at Carroll, the Cardinals absolutely caught fire in this one. Michaela Reedy was a big part of this, but you had Whipple's excellent game combined with pretty good performances from other players as well. You're going to have games like this here and there, and if they can keep it up, they can get back into a competitive race.
• NCC FT: 19-27 (70.4%). I think it's very important to note here that these numbers are somewhat skewed. The Cardinals were around their season average through three quarters with a 4-7 night, a 57.1 percent clip. But with Millikin fouling a ton in the final couple minutes, in particular fouling players on the Cardinals who are good free throw shooters, brought this number up significantly. The Cardinals' season clip improves greatly as they're almost up to 60 percent for the year, but they need to keep this up.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• ELM 65 (8-7, 4-2), @ NPU 53 (8-6, 3-2)
• @ WHE 73 (10-4, 4-2), AUG 56 (9-5, 2-3)
• CAR 66 (9-5, 2-3), @ CRL 53 (5-9, 2-3)
• Bye: IWU (12-2, 5-0)
• MBK: NCC 71 (10-4, 4-2), @ MIL 54 (8-7, 1-5)

Final Thoughts

I talked with Michelle Roof after the game, who lamented the lost opportunity this past Saturday up in Waukesha (the Cliff Notes: NCC fell behind by a bunch early but fought back, held Carroll to three second half field goals but missed their last 11 field goals and lost by eight). She said they needed this one, which they absolutely did, and while it wasn't necessarily pretty at times, they got the job done. Mayson Whipple looked like her old self and Michaela Reedy got free ice cream, as the Cardinals took care of business. They've lost both of their road conference dates but are 2-1 against CCIW opponents in Gregory Arena.

The win puts them in a four way tie for fifth place, just one game back of North Park for the fourth and final CCIW Tournament spot. I feel like this team is starting to figure things out and they're going to be a tough opponent the rest of the way, but it's not easy coming up. The Cardinals welcome in Wheaton on Saturday, a team that's won 16 straight against the Cardinals. I keep saying it every year, but hopefully this time things will be different.

2018 NFL Wild Card Preview

I had a mediocre performance in the finale of the 2017 Pigskin Pick 'Em, which was enough to get me to .500, but not enough to overcome Adam catching fire to win the contest. Kudos to him. And now, my attention turns to the NFL playoffs.

It's weird following a playoff that doesn't have my Packers in them, something that hasn't happened since I was a sophomore in college. I'm old.

But even with them not in, we've still got 11 exciting games on tap, and I want to make sure I get a look at them all. I'll go a little more in depth than we did for the Pigskin Pick 'Em contest, but come the Super Bowl I'm hoping Adam and I will have our usual prop bets thing again.

In the meantime, here's a look at the four games coming up this weekend.

Game Notes: (MBK) Carthage College @ North Central College (1/3/18)

Final Score
NCC 77, Carthage 67

Game Summary
The Cardinals (8-4, 2-2) took early command in this one as they scored the game's first 11 points. It took the Red Men (7-5, 2-2) five and a half minutes to get on the board, but the Cardinals remained in total control, not letting the lead dip back down into double digits in the first half and leading by as many as 18, but the Red Men closed the half on a 7-2 run to make it 40-27 at the intermission. Carthage came out of the locker room stronger and used an 8-0 run fairly early in the half to make it 51-46, but the Cardinals responded with an 11-0 run to regain command. The Red Men didn't give up, cutting the lead back down to six with about five minutes to play and again a minute later, but the Cardinals put the game away with a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to win their fifth straight and even up their CCIW record.

Key Stats

• Alex Sorenson (NCC): 13-21 FG (0-2 3PT), 2-2 FT; 28 pts, 7 reb (2 off), 4 ast. As far as encores go, this was pretty good. Alex fell in love with his midrange jumpers a little bit too much, but still dominated in the post as he's been doing. Carthage doubled a lot more than Robert Morris did, but Sorenson was still able to find his looks while also dishing out to open teammates for baskets. Sorenson also did quite a bit of damage against Carthage's backup big men.
• Erwin Henry (NCC): 8-14 FG (2-4 3PT), 1-1 FT; 19 pts, 6 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 2 stl. The last few games, Connor Raridon and/or Sorenson have done the heavy lifting and Henry has kind of faded into the background, but he broke through in a pretty big way tonight, hitting a couple threes at critical moments to help the Cardinals take command of this one. He also did a great job on defense with his two thefts and did an excellent job helping the Cardinals control the glass.
• Brad Kruse (CAR): 4-6 FG (1-2 3PT), 5-5 FT; 14 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 4 stl. There were a few options I could go with for the Red Men, but I think Kruse had the best overall game, leading the team in rebounding and wreaking a little havoc on the defensive end. Late in the game as Carthage was pressing to try and force mistakes, he intercepted a bad crosscourt pass in the backcourt and took it home with a dunk for emphasis.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ IWU 72 (10-3, 3-1), Augustana 53 (10-2, 2-1)
• @ North Park 70 (4-7, 1-2), Millikin 69 (8-5, 1-3)
• @ Wheaton 97 (9-3, 3-1), Carroll 92 (4-8, 0-3)
• @ Elmhurst 87 (9-3, 2-1), Edgewood 60
• WBK: NCC Bye (3-9, 1-2)

Final Thoughts

Photo from NCC Athletic Department

I think we all knew that this one was going to be a tougher contest than what the Robert Morris game ended up being, and a lot of people were expecting this to be a really good one. The Cardinals surprised with how strong they came out on both ends of the floor. Carthage really struggled early, taking some ill-advised shots, but they really did a great job in their comeback effort. The Cardinals just had an answer for every run, and despite a subpar free throw shooting night, took home a solid win.

This now creates a nice little log jam in the CCIW standings, as the Cardinals are just a game out of first place and half a game out of a CCIW Tournament berth. Obviously it's still very early in the race and a lot can happen, but this Cardinal team is clicking right now. Their next two are on the road, but they're both winnable games against Carroll on Saturday and Millikin on Wednesday, before they return home to take on a resurgent Wheaton team on the 13th.