North Central and the NCAA Regional Rankings: Week 3 Edition

For the final time this season, the NCAA will pull back the curtain of its selection process. The third set of regional rankings is the final time we get to see anything for NCAA Tournament purposes, but it's worth getting a look with conferences tournaments underway.

When I checked these last week, both teams were coming off some struggles, but both the NCC men and women held firm in their regional rankings from Week 1, then proceeded to win their regular season finales to seal their respective places in the CCIW Tournament.

This is not the final set of regional rankings; the NCAA does re-rank teams one more time on Sunday, but that one is kept private. Even so, this set will be a pretty good indicator of teams' chances to make The Dance.

2015 CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament Preview

Yesterday was a preview of the women's side of CCIW Tournament play. Today, we preview the men.

The process of getting here was a good one, as the double round robin set up some interesting clinching scenarios that made for a fun final day of the regular season.

The men's tournament has a slightly weird bracket; only 62 teams make The Dance (something about fewer conferences earning auto bids), with 43 teams earning automatic invites. This leaves 19 spots open for at-large invitees, which the CCIW could take some advantage of.

Like yesterday, this isn't a look at possibilities of making the NCAA Tournament, other than for the purposes of the automatic bid. I'll also take a look at the venue for this weekend's action. Later today once the final public regional rankings drop, I'll take a look at those.

2015 CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament Preview

The 2014-15 regular season is complete following Saturday's slate of games, including NCC's 21st win of the year. Now, the stakes are raised.

Four teams advanced from the double round robin portion and get to face teams a third time for more marbles. Whoever wins two games this weekend gets one of 44 automatic bids into the NCAA Tournament. If any of the losing teams are lucky, they will get one of the 20 at large berths into the field of 64.

This isn't a look at NCAA Tournament pictures; that will come later this week when the final public regional rankings drop. Instead, I'm going to take a look at the venue for the CCIW Tournament and each of the four teams that will be playing this weekend.

Game Notes: (MBK) North Park University @ North Central College(2/21/15)

Final Score
NCC 82, NPU 72

Game Summary
Playing for the final spot in the CCIW Tournament, the Vikings (15-10, 6-8) came ready to play, going on a 9-0 run to open up an 11-2 lead as the Cardinals (18-7, 8-6) struggled to take care of the ball or get anything going offensively. North Park led for almost the entire first half with the Cardinals cutting it close a few times, but not forcing a tie until there were 28 seconds left in the half. The Vikings got a bucket with just three ticks left before the break to go up 36-34 at the break. North Central tried to keep pace early in the second half, but the Vikings would push the lead back up to 49-41 with 15:39 left. The tide began to turn from there though, as the Cardinals tightened up the game and finally took the lead at 58-56 with just under ten minutes to play on a couple corner threes. The Vikings kept pace, making it a one possession game a couple times, but the Cardinals had answers each time, and late stalling tactics from North Park's coach were too little, too late.

Key Stats

• Jack Burchett (NCC): 8-14 FG, 5-6 FT; 21 pts, 14 reb (1 off), 1 ast, 2 blk. North Park really had no answer inside for the senior big man, who had a final game at Merner to remember. I got pretty amped after an early and-1 to answer that 9-0 North Park run to the point where I had to be calmed down so I could last for the rest of the game. Anyway, he continued that pace for the rest of the game while I paced myself. Jack also had the exclamation point of the game late: taking an outlet pass with a wide open lane and throwing down a thunderous dunk with just under a minute to play to make it 76-65 and draw a huge roar from the Merner faithful.
• Kevin Honn (NCC): 7-9 FG (2-3 3PT), 4-6 FT; 20 pts, 7 reb (2 off), 1 ast, 1 stl. Kevin had a fairly quiet first half with just six points, but he was a key part of the second half rally. With the game at 56-52 North Park, he went into the far corner by the band and drained an open three to cut the lead to one. 46 seconds later, he had an open look by the Cardinal bench, and with the whole gym on its feet in expectation, drained it. It's been a long time since I've heard Merner get that loud.
• Juwan Henry (NPU): 15-22 FG (2-6 3PT), 2-4 FT; 34 pts, 4 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 3 stl. Man, this guy. He showed why he won back to back CCIW Player of the Week awards this season, draining multiple step-back jumpers and being a huge reason why North Park led at halftime, considering he also hit the go-ahead layup. All of this said... I don't have much respect for this guy. I counted at least two flops, and there were probably more, while he got the call at least once.

Around the CCIW

• @ Illinois Wesleyan 96 (18-7, 10-4), Elmhurst 66 (19-6, 9-5)
• Augustana 89 (21-4, 11-3), @ Wheaton 55 (11-14, 4-10)
• Carthage 70 (10-15, 5-9), @ Millikin 68 (8-17, 3-11) (OT)

Final Thoughts
My dislike extends beyond just Juwan Henry; I really don't have a lot of respect for this North Park team. Head coach Tom Slyder tried to be like Grey Giovanine (who I do respect) in terms of yelling and the jacket removal, but from what I heard from fans seated behind me, he should have been T'd up for swearing at the refs at one point. Then late in the game with the outcome decided, he started calling unnecessary timeouts to extend the game. I get the idea of "Play till the buzzer", but this seemed a little too much. He called timeout with three seconds left and the score here to get his end of the bench guys in for all the good that did. All in all, just not the way you should end a game like this.

Enough sour grapes though; the Cardinals had a must-win game at home, and they delivered. After a one year hiatus from CCIW Tournament play, they're back. Augustana awaits on Friday night in the semis, but I'll have more about that this coming week in a CCIW Tournament preview post.

Since odds are this was my final men's game of the season (I mean, the odds of Merner hosting a set of men's game in the NCAA Tournament are all but nil), I want to take the opportunity to thank athletic director Jim Miller, sports information director Clark Teuscher and men's basketball coach Todd Raridon for the opportunity to be their public address announcer full time this season. I had a blast, and got to be a part of some fantastic basketball games this season. Hopefully, I'll be able to come back and do it all again next year!

Game Notes: (WBK) North Park University @ North Central College (2/21/15)

Final Score
NCC 103, NPU 70

Game Summary
It was a slow start for the Cardinals (21-4, 10-4), who couldn't get much going offensively as the  Vikings (13-12, 5-9) jumped out to an early 10-4 lead. North Central worked its way back into the game with three point shooting and some free throws, eventually retaking and trading the advantage before leading by as many as 13 before settling into a 43-34 halftime edge. The threes continued to fall in the second half as the Cardinals built their lead with no North Park answer in sight, eventually seeing the Cardinals lead by as big as the final margin. They got the Big Macs with about a minute and a half to play, marking the 12th time this season they reached the 100-point plateau, which I'm pretty sure is an NCAA record.

Key Stats

Poster given to the seniors yesterday

• Tess Godhardt (NCC): 11-15 FG, 8-11 FT; 30 pts, 7 reb (5 off), 4 stl. The leading scorer in the CCIW cemented her place there with a phenomenal outing, especially in the second half. She went into intermission with only nine points on 2-6 shooting, largely because she was getting mugged down low with few whistles. She took over in the second half though and helped the Cardinals pull away.
• Maryssa Cladis (NCC): 3-11 FG (all 3PT), 3-4 FT; 12 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl. Her Senior Night performance was a good one as well, even if her three point shooting wasn't outstanding. Scoring in double figures and adding three triples to her total that ranks second all time in North Central history is no small feat. She had a good overall floor game too.
• Bobbi Johns (NCC): 0-3 FG (all 3PT), 2-4 FT; 2 pts, 3 reb (2 off), 7 ast, 2 stl. I'll keep up with the senior theme for this post. Bobbi passed up multiple layup opportunities, but she's done a great job this season allowing her driving to open up shots for teammates, and her seven dimes makes it the ninth season of at least 100 assists, and she's the fifth Cardinal ever to reach that mark.

North Central System Watch

• NPU Turnovers: 30. I thought this might be higher; the officials called traveling a ton last night. At one point early in the game, the two teams had combined for 16 turnovers, then the Cardinals started a long stretch without one. Among these 30 turnovers was a five-second inbounding call, not one that happens too often.
• NCC 3PT: 13-53 (24.5%). Not the best shooting outing, but certainly nothing to sneeze at. Anita Sterling had another good outing, hitting three of four from beyond the arc, while Maryssa tied for the team lead with three triples.
• NCC Charges Drawn: 2. They didn't get any in the first half, but picked up a couple late. Jamie Cuny drew the first one (that I actually didn't have a good vantage point for), and then Therese Pettersson drew the other one while she had four fouls. I'll have to run the numbers through again, but I'd bet T won the home side of the charges race, which I continue to maintain needs to be kept as an official statistic.

Around the CCIW

• Elmhurst 82 (16-9, 9-5), @ Illinois Wesleyan 75 (10-15, 4-10)
• @ Wheaton 71 (22-3, 12-2), Augustana 35 (9-16, 3-11)
• @ Millikin 76 (14-11, 5-9), Carthage 59 (15-10, 8-6)

Final Thoughts
This is how you want to go out as a senior. They had a phenomenal game, and with the win, clinched the number two seed in the CCIW Tournament. This was also kind of a bittersweet night, as it's the last game I announce for this year's squad. I had a great moment post game with both Coach Roof and Bobbi Johns with big hugs from both since during any future games I do this year, I have to be neutral per the NCAA.

The CCIW Tournament is this coming weekend, and I'll have a tournament preview coming up early this week with a look at all the participants. I'm just glad the ride isn't over yet. Elmhurst awaits Friday night with their win and Carthage's loss to Millikin, and we have to beware either Carthage or Wheaton on Saturday should they advance. Either way, hopefully an NCAA Tournament bid is also in the cards for this squad. They've earned it.

North Central and the NCAA Regional Rankings: Week 2 Edition

We're onto the second week of the NCAA releasing regional rankings at the D-III level for both men's and women's basketball. These were supposed to drop yesterday, but technical issues pushed the revealing of the rankings back a day. The men's regional rankings dropped this morning, with the women's side coming a little bit ago.

Last week, things seemed a little brighter for both North Central teams as they approached the end of the regular season. Now, some tough losses have changed the equation a little bit.

I touched on this on Monday in looking at all the CCIW scenarios regarding the tournaments. I won't rehash all of that too much, instead focusing on the changes from last week and what it means for North Central with regards to their chances of getting the proverbial golden ticket.

One More to Play: A CCIW Update

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day/Singles' Awareness Day/whatever you end up celebrating on February 14th! It saw the second to last game on the schedule for every team save Carthage's men's team, who has a random game with IIT coming up on Tuesday. With it, this means we are just a couple weeks away from the CCIW Tournament.

Following those games, I'll do a preview of both conference tournaments because of the involvement I've had with North Central basketball this season, even if NCC doesn't make it (which on one side has some danger to it). We've only seen minor changes to the standings on both sides since the halfway point of CCIW play. Let's take a look at the scenarios.