Legendary Aurora Christian basketball coach Don Davidson had a saying, one that I first heard as a senior in high school when we won a regional for the first time in a while and made it to the sectional final: "Good teams play in March." We played in March that year, losing to the hosting Byron Tigers, future home of North Central point guard Mayson Whipple. Mayson got to play in March once at the collegiate level: as a freshman on the legendary 2015 team. The men have gotten to this level in each of thepast two years. And now in 2018, the Cardinals return to The Dance.
The Cardinals are one of three CCIW teams to make it to The Dance, along with auto bid winner Augustana, who picked up their sixth CCIW Tournament championship over the weekend, and Illinois Wesleyan, who was a bubble team after dropping a pair of games to North Central over the weekend but had a strong enough resume to make it in. This makes eleven years running of the CCIW getting at least one extra bid, and the sixth time in seven years that the conference has gotten two at large berths.
So with all this in mind, let's take a trip up I-94 to see where North Central will be playing, and who will be joining them.
I suppose it has technically already begun; many conference tournaments around Division III are already well underway. But the CCIW, with just four teams surviving beyond the 25 game gauntlet, waits until the weekend to decide its automatic entrant into the NCAA Tournament. Enjoy this; it's the last time the top four are guaranteed entry into this contest.
These are always the posts I don't like writing. It means my job of yelling is done as I hibernate my homerism for seven or eight months.
At the same time, putting this season in the rear view mirror will probably be a little therapeutic. And so with that thought in mind, let's look at the 2017-18 North Central Cardinals women's basketball season.
In this third set, records against regionally ranked foes comes into play as they did last week, but with this set, there's an important caveat to take into it, especially with regards to the CCIW: these rankings only take into account games played through Sunday. Yesterday's results have no bearing on these rankings. This week's results will get compiled into the fourth set of rankings, which will come up once the NCAA Tournament brackets have been released.
So with all of this in mind, let's take a look at the third set of regional rankings.
Game Summary
This one started okay for the Cardinals (5-20, 3-13), who were able to keep pace early with the Vikings (15-10, 8-8) and even held a four point lead at 14-10 with about two minutes to play before taking a 16-15 lead into the second quarter. Augie opened the second quarter with back to back threes though to open up a 21-16 lead, though the Cardinals wouldn't stay down for long as Siarra O'Neill went on a personal 8-2 run to give the Cardinals the lead back. But after Andrea Dickerson tied the game at 29 again, the Vikings went on a 12-0 run to open the game up, though a Hannah Vitkus three made the margin a single digit one before the break. Then the Cardinals went cold, failing to score for over four minutes of the third while the Vikings slowly started to pull away, leading by as many as 21 before taking a 64-46 edge into the final quarter of the season. Augie pushed the margin as high as 27 before Mark Beinborn called off the dogs, and Michelle Roof was able to get both Mayson Whipple and Michaela Reedy off the floor with about a minute to go to standing ovations for their four years of service to the program.
Key Stats
AUG: 30-35 FT (85.7%). This was one of the biggest stats to take away from this one. North Central was in foul trouble pretty much all night and Augustana took full advantage of it. It's hard to pick out just one player for this, because they were all pretty phenomenal.
Siarra O'Neill (NCC): 5-18 FG (0-9 3PT); 10 pts, 4 reb (1 off), 2 stl. Siarra all but singlehandedly kept the Cardinals in the game in the second quarter with that aforementioned personal 8-2 run that included some pretty impressive fallaways and a nice layup. The three point line kind of tainted the night a little bit, but it wasn't just her. More below.
Mayson Whipple (NCC): 5-14 FG (2-10 3PT), 0-2 FT; 12 pts, 4 reb (2 off), 6 ast, 1 stl. I'm sure she wished she hit a couple more shots, but all in all it was a fairly nice sendoff for the senior leader. She was able to attack the basket with some success and had some good looks from deep, but they just weren't falling last night. All told, she finishes her career with 946 points (she would have joined the 1000 point club had she not gotten hurt last year) and 334 assists (3rd most in program history, and probably would have finished second, again, without that injury).
North Central "System" Watch
Augie Turnovers: 11. Not a good enough total. Augie played a press defense as well that helped force 21 turnovers for their part, though the Cardinals did wreak a little havoc. Siarra O'Neill had two of North Central's seven steals.
NCC 3PT: 5-41 (12.2%). Really, this was the game. The Cardinals got plenty of open looks, but when O'Neill is 0-9, senior Michaela Reedy goes out with an 0-8 night, and even Mayson Whipple only went 2-10, you're gonna have a bad time.
NCC FT: 6-11 (54.5%). The Achilles heel reared its head again tonight. Mayson lamented missing her two attempts in her final game, but the rest of the roster struggled as well. For the season, the Cardinals clocked a 60.5 percent clip at the line. This has to improve next year.
CCIW Scoreboard Watch
IWU 82 (22-3, 15-1), @ ELM 61 (13-12, 9-7)
Illinois Wesleyan clinches the #1 seed and hosting rights for the CCIW Tournament
North Central clinches the #3 seed in the CCIW Tournament
Augustana clinches the #1 seed and hosting rights for the CCIW Tournament
Final Thoughts
As much as I'd love to point at the free throw and foul disparity and scream about how the Cardinals got screwed, it wouldn't be true. Going 5-41 from deep will kill you every time. This isn't to say that the officiating wasn't questionable last night (the clues are all here on Confessions of a Sportscaster if you know where to look), but it didn't impact the outcome of the game. Michelle Roof got a warning very early in this one for calling out the officials for some poor calls early, but as the game went on she was imploring the team to stop fouling.
This mercifully ends what ultimately was a bad season. It's the fifth 20 loss campaign in program history but the first since 1994. Michelle Roof did express her optimism for next year with the pieces coming in (of which one is confirmed, but I'm sure there's more in the pipeline). One thing I will say: even though I watched a lot of games that went very poorly for the team in red and white, these ladies never gave up. Even last night, they played their hearts out and really, they did all season. I'm proud of this group for keeping their heads up all year long.
Augustana, meanwhile, follows up a conference tournament year with an 8-8 campaign, though they still have some good pieces in place especially on the perimeter. They missed the tournament though, with Elmhurst edging them out with a 9-7 mark, though the Blue Jays are all but certain to be the sacrificial lamb to Illinois Wesleyan, who went 15-1 in the conference this year and are probably on a collision course with Wheaton for the CCIW title.
Later today I'll have a look at the NCAA's third set of regional rankings. I'll very briefly touch on the women's side of Cardinal basketball with more of a look at the rest of the conference (i.e. Illinois Wesleyan and Wheaton) as well as the men's rankings. Then, probably tomorrow, I'll do a season recap for the Cardinals' season and bring everything full circle.
It's an annual tradition, though maybe not unlike any other.
Tomorrow is the final day of the regular season in the CCIW, and actually the final time that we'll have regular season games on this day after just two years of the return to nine teams in the conference. Next season, the conference tournaments will expand from four teams to six in both men's and women's basketball. It's going to make more games matter at the end and possibly bolster resumes when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. But that's next year.
With the final day approaching, I always take the time leading up to it to look over the conference and see what the tournament scenarios are. This is where it's handy to have access to the list of CCIW tiebreakers, which was last updated in the fall of 2014 and may need to be updated slightly with Carroll's return. Fortunately, any updates that would need to be made won't impact either race. Also, compared toprioryears, this year's post will be so much simpler than any other. As with last year, my thanks goes to the D3Boards community for helping sort through all of this.
Game Summary
This one started well enough for the Cardinals (16-7, 9-5), who put the clamps down defensively and opened an 8-0 lead on the Pioneers (10-13, 5-9) five minutes in. Carroll worked its way back in a little bit before the Cardinals started to pull away, making the lead double digits about 10 minutes in. After a Carroll timeout, Blaise Meredith forced an open court steal and dunked it home to make it 20-7 and seemingly putting the Cardinals in total control. North Central pushed the lead as high as 19 with a minute and a half to go, but Carroll closed the half on a 6-0 run to make it 40-27 at the break. After a Carroll three to open the second half, the Cardinals went on an 11-0 run to push the lead to 21 just three minutes into the second half. Then the bottom started to fall out. The Pioneers slowly chipped away at the lead, though the Cardinals still seemed to be in control, leading by 14 with about five and a half minutes to play. With just over three to go the Pioneers cut it to single digits, but even then the Cardinals still looked to be in pretty good shape, leading by six with just under a minute to play. But Troy Howat buried a three with 38 seconds left, the Cardinals blew a transition opportunity, and after a stop, Alex Sorenson came up empty at the free throw line, and Kale Maupin buried the tying three with eight seconds to go. Connor Raridon missed a desperation leaner at the buzzer, and the game went to overtime at 69-all. The Cardinals took a pair of two point leads in the extra session, but couldn't extend the advantages. Joel Heesch put the Pioneers ahead for good with 13 seconds left, Blaise Meredith rimmed out a go-ahead three on the ensuing possession, and Tanner Zaeske split four free throws to put it out of reach.
Key Stats
Tanner Zaeske (CRL): 5-9 FG (3-5 3PT), 3-7 FT; 16 pts, 6 reb (1 off), 1 blk. Zaeske didn't have a great night at the line, but did enough in the extra session to put the game away. He did most of his damage early in the game though to keep the Pioneers from getting blown out of the gym.
Troy Howat (CRL): 5-8 FG (4-5 3PT); 14 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast. Howat was a spark off the bench for the Pios, as he went 4-4 from beyond the arc in the second half, including the clutch one with 38 seconds left to cut North Central's lead to three. There weren't a lot of other stat-filling guys on Carroll's roster, but Howat was one of the clutch guys.
Alex Sorenson (NCC): 9-15 FG (0-1 3PT), 3-10 FT; 21 pts, 8 reb (3 off), 3 ast, 4 blk. Sorenson had a quiet 21, stemming largely from the fact that he only had five points at the break. He broke out in the second half and was excellent on the defensive end before fouling out. The big problem is that glaring 3-10 mark at the line. Sorenson missed his final six free throw attempts of the night, including those two in the closing seconds of regulation that could have put the game out of reach.
NCC: 11-22 FT (50.0%). The team itself gets a dishonorable mention, because this wasn't all Sorenson. Connor Raridon split a pair late that could have avoided the extra session and finished 4-7 for the night, and Mike Pollack proved he's human and split a pair. Sorenson's line is obviously the key problem, but it's far from the only one.
CCIW Scoreboard Watch
@ WHE 85 (17-6, 10-4), CAR 77 (12-11, 7-7)
Wheaton has clinched a CCIW Tournament berth
Augustana has clinched a CCIW Tournament berth
North Central has clinched a CCIW Tournament berth
IWU 65 (18-5, 11-3), @ MIL 56 (11-13, 4-11)
Illinois Wesleyan has clinched a CCIW Tournament berth
The reason I hold off on the Game Notes until the day after is twofold: I need to get to bed at a decent time, but also because I need to let the game sink in a little bit and not write this post in a fit of anger. Last night's game deserves peak rage: the Cardinals blew a 21 point lead, the largest blown lead in a game I've ever worked (beating out the legendary time UW-Eau Claire blew a 19 point lead). I'm trying to make that the focus of my rage, because the officiating last night was absolutely horrendous. The Pioneers took advantage of at least two North Central fouls on shot attempts that were either all ball or no contact whatsoever their opportunities at the free throw line to help get back in the game, combined with hot shooting while the Cardinals couldn't put the game away. Carroll earned this win, and and rage I take out on the bad officiating is just pathetic excuse making on my part trying to look for other reasons why the Cardinals couldn't pull this one out.
This also meant that two postgame announcements I was planning on making didn't get made, because the fact that you blew a 21 point lead to lose in overtime overshadows them. The Cardinals hit eight threes last night, bringing their season total to 211, which breaks the program record of 210 set just last year. And thanks to Wheaton's win over Carthage, the Cardinals clinched a CCIW Tournament berth despite the collapse. You can't celebrate a berth after a loss like that.
Alas, the Cardinals end the season on the road with back to back tough games: they head to Wheaton on Saturday with the Thunder thinking revenge for earlier this season, and end the regular season on Tuesday at Illinois Wesleyan, where they may end up heading right back to a week from tomorrow for the CCIW Tournament.
