Congrats to Ron Rose.  In talking with many Wesleyan supporters over the last few weeks, everyone gave glowing reports about him as a first class coach and as a person with impeccable character in how he treats his players.  Sounds like another great hire for Bridges. 

Congrats to Paul Ferguson for landing the head coaching job at Wheaton Academy.  A huge loss for the Thunder but a big plus for the Academy!  A nice article appears on the back page of today's sport's section in the Daily Herald.

Congratulations to Illinois Wesleyan for their superb effort in the Final 4.  You have a right to be very proud of your performance in Salem.  I cannot get over how good a player Zach Freeman has become the past several weeks and am looking forward to seeing him play next season.  It has been a delight to watch him, Keelan, and Adam the last few years.  Great players and first class kids! 

Augustana and North Central are also to be congratulated for their outstanding play during the season and into post-season.  What a great conference we have!

A belated congrats to Keelan Amelianovich for this well-deserved honor.  His parents should receive part of that award....what a great family!

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention how proud Wheaton fans are of Tony Bollier and Jordan Kemper for their making 2nd and 3rd CCIW Teams respectively.  Bill Harris did an amazing job of coaching this team, and Bollier and Kemper believed in their coach and themselves that the Thunder were going to succeed.  Can't wait 'til next year!

Q:

Any videostream of your games tomorrow at Whitewater?  I noticed where CSTV is doing some pay-per-view package of the NAIA tournament games.

Q: You and Jim did a terrific job last night.  The video quality was not as good as the Augustana at Illinois Wesleyan game in January, but the audio was outstanding.  Your analysis during the game was "right on."

All three CCIW teams are deserving of making the tournament.  

Wheaton wins the regular season CCIW championship outright for the first time since 1999.  The Thunder will host the conference tournament this weekend.  #2 IWU will play #3 North Park and Wheaton will play #4 Carthage on Friday.  The championship game will be played on Saturday afternoon.  Congrats to the Thunder!

Wheaton has won all of their conference road games this year and have a 4-3 conference home record.  All Thunder fans are hoping that they stay unbeaten on the road Tuesday!

According to the North Park website, Illinois Wesleyan defeated North Park this afternoon, 63-49.  So Wheaton needs to defeat Carthage on Tuesday to win the regular season conference championship outright.

Wheaton clinched at least a tie for the CCIW regular season championship with a 15 point win over Elmhurst this afternoon.  Both teams struggled with their shooting, but Wheaton's bench helped them hold Elmhurst to no field goals in the last several minutes of the game. 

Final:

Wheaton 63
Illinois Wesleyan 49


A great defensive effort by the Thunder.  Jill Trenz had a huge offensive effort.  Wheaton is in 1st place with three games remaining.

What a great night for a CCIW junkie:

Got to see Millikin at Wheaton on Local Channel 72
Watched the Augie-IWU game on videoscreen (Q was awesome)
Listened to the end of the Elmhurst-North Central game on the radio.

Wheaton played awesome, Augie was sensational in the 2nd half, and Elmhurst had to come from behind to win their game on the road.  

The Augie at Elmhurst game on Sunday could be THE game of the year.  What a great conference we are in!

Great job, Wheaton Thunder!  You guys are playing with alot of heart.  Three players had career nights in scoring:

Andy Wiele        22 points
John Mohan       21 points
Michael Fiddler   21 points

Coach Harris may not have as many victories this year as in most years, but he sure is having alot of fun coaching this team.  

Hiker:

On the post-game show last night with Bill Harris, he said that Johnny Standard was injured in the Benedictine game and will be out for 3-6 weeks. 

Wheaton lost to Franklin this afternoon in the championship game of the tourney in Indiana.

Congrats to Augustana for winning the conference.  Your team is so deserving after manhandling the Thunder today.  Hope both the Vikings and Cardinals go far in the playoffs.