That spreadsheet includes correct standings, which show our top three pickers, myself included, all separated by one game, with my dad not terribly far behind. Adam took three of our five disputed games last week to give himself a little cushion, but it's not a lot. That didn't stop him from sending me this week's picks with this proclamation:
Who’s in first…This guy. Haha, back up on top…
Not only is Adam back on top, he is back from Beaumont and ready to go. We disagree on just five games out of the 16 on the docket again. This week we have some Saturday games to mess with the schedule, games that would conflict with the Death to the BCS Playoffs were they being played in reality. Alas.
Game Summary
In a game I'd like to forget, the Pointers (4-3) were able to grab the early lead and never relinquished it, though the Cardinals (1-7) were able to keep it reasonably close for part of the quarter, though the Pointers led 23-13 after one. The Cardinals were unable to get the lead back down to single digits, struggling from outside and not getting their first triple until Mayson Whipple hit with 6:19 to go in the half. The Pointers kept up the pressure and led 37-20 at halftime. The effort and energy picked up a bit after the intermission, but the Pointers were still able to push the lead to 53-29 after three, and the fourth quarter turned into garbage time, with coach Michelle Roof getting her end of the bench players some minutes for the second straight outing.
Key Stats
UWSP: Outrebounded NCC 55-25. That includes 21 Pointer offensive rebounds, nearly equaling the total number of Cardinal rebounds. The Pointers had decent size, but a lot of this was just related to not boxing out and getting out-hustled.
Taylor Barrett (UWSP): 5-12 FG, 3-4 FT; 13 pts, 11 reb (3 off), 2 stl. I could have gone with Ashley Leiterman (13 pts on 5-7 shooting, but only four rebounds) as my choice here because she was more efficient, but Barrett dominated the glass in addition to having a pretty good day from the floor.
Mayson Whipple (NCC): 5-10 FG (1-4 3PT); 11 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast. It's an improvement over the Wesleyan loss, for what it's worth, but not by a ton. She really struggled in the first half, shooting just a pair of threes and making one, spending most of her time with the ball dribbling around the perimeter. She started to attack the basket a little more in the second half, showing that she still can beat anyone off the dribble. I'm just not sure why she's not doing it more.
North Central "System" Watch
UWSP Turnovers: 19. One thing I will give the Cardinals credit for is that they are still causing some havoc on defense. The team recorded nine steals, paced by two apiece from Lyndsay Brennan, Page Desenberg, and Diamond Calicott, who played just six minutes last night.
NCC 3PT: 3-27 (11.1%). You're going to have off shooting nights... but not like this. Last night was just awful. It took almost 14 minutes for the Cardinals to get their first three, and that was it for the first half. They hesitated to shoot for much of the night, and even when they did shoot, everything was off. You know they're due for one of those games where they get red hot, but I don't know when that game is coming.
NCC FT: 5-10 (50%). And we're still around the season average. They actually hit their first three as a team last night, impressing basically the entire table, before regressing to the mean. A slight improvement in this game wouldn't have affected the outcome, but through eight games I think we can safely say: this team isn't good at the line.
Final Thoughts
It's pretty telling when the high point of your night was having a stoppage in play because a player lost her hair extensions. I think we were laughing way harder about it than we should have, but in a game like last night's, I don't know what else you can do.
I was cautiously optimistic going into last night. Before the season I'd chalked this one up as a loss, but when I went to prep for the game yesterday I saw UWSP's record and stats, and wasn't overly impressed. I figured with an effort similar to what was put in against Carthage last week a win was possible, but it became apparent pretty quickly last night that the Cardinals just didn't have it.
I've said this multiple times already this season, and others have confirmed with me: we're all getting flashbacks to the 2011-12 season, which is not a season you want to have flashbacks from. That year was awful, and the 2017-18 campaign is shaping up to be just as bad, if not worse. But Michelle Roof put it well last night before I left: "This is why we coach: to figure this crap out." They have a few days to figure this crap out before getting back into action on Saturday as we close out the four game home stand against Dubuque.
Game Summary
This one started out okay as the Cardinals (3-4, 1-2) scored the game's first four points and held the Titans (7-1, 2-1) off the board for the first three and a half minutes. But North Central's offense struggled to build off the early momentum, and the Titans shook off any rust they had and built a 16-8 lead just over ten minutes in. They poured it on with an assault from beyond the arc, using an 11-0 run to build a 17 point lead. The Cardinals were unable to really cut into that lead and the Titans took a 39-23 advantage into intermission. Wesleyan would push its lead as high as 19, but the Cardinals made a game of it again with a 9-0 run. The Titans would push the lead back to 17, but the Cardinals wouldn't go away, hitting back to back threes just after the midway point of the half to trim the deficit to seven. They cut it to two with just under six minutes to play, but missed a couple gimme layups that could have tied the game, and the Titans were able to preserve their lead. An Aiden Change three with about a minute to play made it 66-65, and after a Titan miss, the Cardinals got the ball back with 38 seconds to go. Mike Pollack missed a contested mid range jumper from the left wing, but Connor Raridon grabbed the offensive rebound and the Cardinals called timeout to set up a final play. Rather than hold for the last shot though, they got it in quickly to Alex Sorenson by the basket, where he was fouled. He hit his first free throw to tie the game, but missed the second, and Colin Bonnett of the Titans grabbed the rebound, threw it to a teammate before he fell out of bounds, then off a perimeter pass broke through the defense to kiss home a layup at the buzzer to break the hearts of every fan in red.
Key Stats
Colin Bonnett (IWU): 5-9 FG (1-2 3PT), 4-4 FT; 15 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast. Bonnett isn't the first option on this Titan team, but he's a key piece in the backcourt, and he showed why with a solid outing, leading his team in scoring, and serving as the center of the mob scene after his game-winner. It was a fantastic individual effort that saw him grab a rebound off a missed Sorenson free throw, find Jaylen Beasley to save a turnover, then beat Erwin Henry one on one to save the win for the Titans.
Jaylen Beasley (IWU): 4-7 FG (3-4 3PT); 11 pts, 5 reb (1 off). It's possible there were other guys I could have gone with here, but Beasley earned the mention with his early work to build that huge lead. He's been kind of an underrated player in the conference for a couple years, but has really turned into a key piece for this Titan team. After his heroics at Wheaton on Wednesday, I was worried every time he launched from deep, and he showed why in this one by hitting his first three attempts from out there.
Connor Raridon (NCC): 6-14 FG (1-2 3PT), 7-9 FT; 20 pts, 8 reb (3 off), 7 ast, 3 stl. I almost went with Alex Sorenson here (15 points on 6-8 shooting, 14 rebounds, all apparently with the flu), but Raridon had a phenomenal all around floor game. He did most of his damage in the second half, with 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals in the final 20 minutes, though the two were probably both just as responsible for keying the comeback. Raridon's key offensive rebound with about 18 seconds left set the stage for Sorenson's potential heroics. Alas.
I'll start with the fun note first. I've embedded the video from Saturday's doubleheader above (something I've done the last two years so you can watch the full game for yourselves). Obviously, the women's game precedes the men's, so you'll have to skip forward to watch this thriller. But there was a great hustle play captured by NCTV and tweeted out as the short clip by Illinois Wesleyan alum and basketball guru Bob Quillman. Commentary to follow. (You can also skip ahead to it on the YouTube video).
On a North Central offensive possession with the score 22-10 Illinois Wesleyan, Erwin Henry tried to deliver an entry pass to Kane Wildermuth in the post. Titan defender Jason Gregoire jumped up and knocked it away, then gave chase, saving it before taking a tumble over the scorers' table. The NCTV cameraman did a perfect job following the play and capturing the hustle. What that camera, sadly, can't show you is the reality of being up close and personal to a play like that. I'm right at center court on top of the action. Basketballs come out our way from time to time (I made a nice play on one last year that earned a shoutout on both NCTV and WONC). We've also had players come running full speed towards the table, but in every prior circumstance I've been involved in, they've been able to brace themselves at the table before vaulting over. That did not happen this time. Gregoire was able to use his momentum to catapult over right in between myself and SID Clark Teuscher. We tried to brace his fall as best we could, with the only casualty of the play being Clark's chair. Nothing really prepares you for that moment, and even though a player is coming at you full speed, everything kind of slows down. I knew it was coming, but nothing really prepares you for a 205 pound man coming right at you when there's nothing you can do about it. This is now something I can cross off my bucket list, though.
Big picture, this one hurt. The Titans were figured to contend for a CCIW Tournament spot, but with the CCIW appetizer schedule out of the way, they're in one of the best spots in the conference to this point. Meanwhile, North Central is in a bad 1-2 hole; they beat a bad North Park team they were supposed to beat, but have lost back to back games to contenders in Augustana and the Titans. The fact that North Central put itself in a huge hole early didn't help matters. They did a great job coming back, but they missed a couple open layups that could have completely changed the outcome of this one. I'm also haunted by Sorenson playing defense up in the high post on the final possession and being unable to slide down and help Henry defend Bonnett's game-winner. I don't blame either player for it; it was a perfectly drawn play by head coach Ron Rose, and Bonnett executed that last play perfectly. All you can do is tip your cap.
The Cardinals get a pretty quick opportunity to rebound though, as they head out west of the Fox River for the annual non-conference rivalry game with Aurora University tomorrow at 7. While a win in this one wouldn't help their CCIW situation, it would be a key win in region and also serve as a confidence booster going into the rest of the non-conference slate.
Game Summary
This one started out reasonably enough as the Titans (7-2, 3-0) scored nine of the game's first 11 points. The Cardinals (1-6, 1-2) showed resolve though, scoring seven unanswered to tie the game. Wesleyan regained control and despite a late three that cut North Central's deficit to three, the Titans answered with one of their own at the end of the frame to make it 19-13. After those fairly optimistic first ten minutes, plus a Lyndsay Brennan jumper to cut it to four, the Titans went on a 12-2 run and put on a continued offensive clinic from there, taking a 46-22 lead into the locker room. It was more of the same in the third as after Natali Dimitrova opened the second half with a layup, the Titans scored 20 unanswered points to turn the game into a laugher. In garbage time, North Central at least proved competitive, only getting outscored 23-18 in the final ten minutes.
Key Stats
IWU: 40-72 FG (55.6%). Combine this with the fact that 56 of the Titans' 94 points came in the paint, you do the math. The Titans got way too many open looks at the basket, and converted on basically all of them. They also had an efficient day from deep (6-16, 37.5%).
Ashley Schneider (IWU): 7-8 FG (1-1 3PT), 1-3 FT; 16 pts, 5 reb (1 off), 2 stl. You could basically take your pick of any of the Titan regulars and they would be a fit in the key stats section. Schneider earned the nod after having the most efficient day out of anyone, and she did all this damage in just 25 minutes of action.
IWU: Outrebounded NCC 54-30. With no Cardinal really having a good day by any stretch of the imagination, this was another number I was curious to see about, and wasn't terribly surprised by, other than maybe that the disparity was this great. Part of it was a poor shooting night by NCC, but the Titans also grabbed 14 offensive rebounds. The amazing thing is how spread out the rebounding duties went. Four different players tied for the team lead with five boards apiece, four other players grabbed four, three grabbed three apiece, and the team low was two, tied for by two guards who play towards the bottom of Mia Smith's rotation. North Central's Brennan led all rebounders with seven, for what it's worth.
North Central "System" Watch
IWU Turnovers: 14. Just your usual, disciplined outing for a fundamentally sound Titan team. The Cardinals were able to rack up eight steals, led by a pair from Bekah Foley. For comparison's sake, the Titans picked up 14 steals on their end as a part of forcing 20 Cardinal turnovers.
NCC 3PT: 4-24 (16.7%). Occasionally you'll have bad shooting days, even like this, but I can't remember the last time the Cardinals shot this poorly from deep. They didn't take a ton of shots, but they also made very few of them. It's hard to win on a day like this, though this wasn't the sole reason they lost.
NCC FT: 5-11 (45.5%). Again, not a major factor in the defeat, but the alarming trend continues. This is a team that will lose close games because of things like this (and they have already this season). For the year, the team is at 51.0%.
CCIW Scoreboard Watch
@ Elmhurst 71 (4-4, 2-1), Wheaton XX (4-3, 1-2)
@ Carthage 74 (5-3, 1-2), Augustana 67 (5-2, 1-1)
Carroll 69 (2-6, 1-1), @ Millikin 65 (3-4, 0-3)
@ Chicago 78, North Park 36 (5-2, 2-0)
Final Thoughts
During the five years North Central ran The System, they sported a 5-6 overall record against the Titans, with the difference being their 2016 CCIW Tournament meeting. The Cardinals only won a pair in Gregory Arena, but boasted three victories down in Bloomington in their last four trips. This game, however, harkened back to the 2012 and 2013 matchups with the Titans, when Illinois Wesleyan won a national title and carried over a bunch of players from that team the following year. The talent level isn't quite that disparate, but I think the energy level definitely was. Sadly, this isn't the first time these Cardinals have come out flat at home. But after the thrilling win on Wednesday, I expected some level of momentum to carry over. I wish I had an answer for why it didn't.
North Central closes out the first part of their CCIW schedule at 1-2. It matches last year's mark at this stage, and honestly is about where I would have pegged them, even going into the campaign. If you look at the standings on the main page (if you're reading this on mobile, scroll to the bottom and cBut I fear the team that I'd pegged for a minimum six wins in the conference (and officially predicted nine for) may be fighting to even hit that threshold of six. They've got a few weeks to continue to get the kinks out, but it won't be easy.
The Cardinals are right back at it tonight, taking on a UW-Stevens Point team that doesn't have as strong a record as I feared they would, but I'm sure will still pose a very tough test for a Cardinal team that desperately needs to find a spark.
Game Summary
This was a good one last night as the Lady Reds (4-3, 0-2) were able to hit some threes early to take control. But the Cardinals (1-5, 1-1) were able to get the ball inside for some easy baskets and keep the game close, trailing 21-17 after one quarter of play. The game turned into a bit of a seesaw affair in the second quarter, with the Cardinals grabbing a couple one point leads, but the Lady Reds were able to bounce back and took a 40-34 lead into the break. North Central didn't score in the final 2:07 of the first half, then went about five minutes into the third before finally scoring, but the Lady Reds were up by as many as 11 midway through the frame before taking a 52-43 lead after three. In the fourth though, the Cardinals stormed back, opening the frame on a 14-2 run to grab the lead, and the game turned into a tight one the rest of the way. North Central was unable to put the game away at the line, giving up a tying layup with about six seconds left and forcing an extra session when Mayson Whipple missed a three at the buzzer. North Central got a Maya Walls layup a minute into overtime, then added a three a couple minutes later to go up five. Carthage got four Autumn Kalis free throws to trim the lead to one, but the Cardinals got another layup from Walls and some free throws to put the game away for their first win of the season.
Key Stats
Maya Walls (NCC): 10-14 FG (3-7 3PT), 2-4 FT; 25 pts, 10 reb (5 off), 1 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl. Maya had easily the best game of her collegiate career to date, more than doubling her previous career high, and she did it both inside and outside. She hit some key threes to help keep the Cardinals in it, and helped put the game away down low. Her 10 rebounds were a team-high, as she picked up her second double-double of the season.
Lyndsay Brennan (NCC): 6-9 FG (0-1 3PT), 1-1 FT; 13 pts, 4 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 1 stl. Lyndsay was a key catalyst as well for helping keep the Cardinals in this one, relentlessly attacking the basket and getting several layups to go. She's a lefty, which adds to the difficulty of guarding her, and those lefty floaters were huge, including the go-ahead three point play in the fourth quarter.
Mayson Whipple (NCC): 4-13 FG (2-9 3PT), 3-4 FT; 13 pts, 5 reb, 8 ast, 1 blk. In terms of shot selection, not the best outing; I'd like to see more layup attempts than three attempts, but Mayson got some buckets when she needed to. More impressive was the fact that she did a beautiful job distributing the ball. Not only did she have eight assists last night, she didn't turn the ball over. When your star point guard takes care of the ball like that, you're going to win a lot of games.
North Central "System" Watch
Carthage Turnovers: 16. Again, given the nature of the Cardinals going away from the System a little bit, the turnover numbers won't be as high as they were in years past, but forcing 16 while only committing 11 is pretty good. The Cardinals got nine steals, paced by three from Jessica Dahle. Natali Dimitrova also took a charge, though not in the Anita Sterling sense; she got bowled over on a post move by Rachel Szydlowski.
NCC 3PT: 12-44 (27.3%). We're back into System territory in terms of offense, with a ton of threes getting jacked up, and they're hitting at about the clip they were in the System years, with roughly the right number of attempts. Ideally, you'd like to shoot better here, though a number of misses were of the in-and-out variety.
NCC FT: 7-12 (58.3%). I'm pretty sure this is an improvement on the season rate, but it's still not all that ideal. North Central could have put the game away with a little better free throw shooting down towards the end, though a 3-5 clip in the second half isn't awful. Nonetheless, it could have avoided the extra session. All in all though, the Cardinals hit at the end when they needed to, and I can't complain about that.
Final Thoughts
I'm not going to lie: I didn't have high expectations coming into this one. Carthage is a good program, and the way the Cardinals had been playing I wasn't feeling particularly great about this one. But North Central kept it close the whole way and I felt okay in the halftime intermission. But this overtime thriller ended in fun fashion with a nice little mass celebration at midcourt after all was said and done.
After the handshake line, they met at midcourt again, and before I got into my end of game spiel, I let them celebrate, because they deserved it. They've played quite a few teams pretty well, but didn't play particularly well in their last two. This was a nice win, not only because they finally got into the win column, but also because of this fun little nugget.
I retweeted this again after the game with the note that it was still true and still making me smile. Tarble Arena in Kenosha has been a house of horrors for the Cardinals, who haven't won there since 2006, so to return the favor to a senior class of Carthage's by keeping them winless in Naperville is a fun little dish of revenge.
We close out the December portion of conference play on Saturday as Illinois Wesleyan comes to town. This has turned into a great rivalry in the last few years, and hopefully the Cardinals can carry the momentum from last night into that game.
This week, we disagree on just five games out of 16. Adam is hard at work in Beaumont, Texas this week, but still found time to pass along his picks for the week.
And so after 14 weeks, it has all come down to this. The College Football Playoff field is set, but I needed an extra day with commitments yesterday to process all of the happenings from Championship Saturday and build the field for the Death to the BCS Playoffs.
I'm okay with what the College Football Playoff has done, because it allows for more settling things on the field than the old BCS did. That's why Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter, and Jeff Passan wrote the pictured book tearing the BCS to shreds and offering up their solution, which I've adopted as my hope for the eventual playoff. This is a 16 team field where every conference champion makes it, thus making the regular season more meaningful for more teams and allowing access to all teams. We then fill the field with six at large teams, which for some may seem like a lot, but I think it's a fair number and it makes the bracket even.
So how are these teams decided? Wetzel, Peter, and Passan recommended a selection committee, but in its absence I took on that role singlehandedly, though I didn't do so alone. I use a number of metrics, which are explained to some degree in every mock bracket post but gone into greater detail back in my season introduction post. For your reference, my NCSS and Playoff Points scores can be found here, while the computer rankings can be found here, here, and here.
Armed with this information, and seeing all ten automatic bids awarded, I can build out the playoff field. In the rankings below I'll have each team's record and their relevant scores and rankings. As a new feature, after showing where each team was seeded last week, I will also share how many times each team has made the playoffs before. You can find a full archive of that, along with postseason records by team, conference, and seed, here.
And so, without further ado, here is the official field for the 2017 Death to the BCS Playoffs!
