MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[NCF]

According to the geriatric IWU fan that was sitting across from me, the Titans never foul.  Well at least he complained about every call that went against them.

This isn't news, though. One of a couple of ongoing jokes regarding IWU that've circulated around the CCIW for a long time is that Illinois Wesleyan has fans who have somehow managed to follow the Titans for eighty years without ever seeing them commit a foul. The other joke, which a former Titans player who shall remain nameless once shared with me, is that IWU is the only school in all of college basketball whose fan bus doesn't have a keg in the back ... it has a defibrillator.

I thoroughly enjoy the 'geriatric fan' jokes about IWU, except that Mark and I are rapidly approaching the targeted age!  We ALL (if we survive ) are gonna get old, so maybe the emphasis should be on their loyalty, not their age!

The defibrillator joke brings bitter memories to mind.  After Wes Leonard's death, his family is trying to get EVERY high school in Michigan to have a defibrillator on the bench at every game.  They can be for 16-year-old star athletes, not just the geriatric set.

OK, off the soapbox - but all you kids get off my front lawn!

The Wes Leonard video was so hard to watch and I'm surprised that all schools in Michigan don't have the AED machine. We have them here in IL and all coaches are required to have regular training in their use. Your lawn is the best looking on the block-it begs to be played on.

[Gregory Sager]

for the records

augie's 70 point win is the largest in cciw history eclipsing north park's 108-52 win at carthage in january 1980.

the 28 points scored by millikin is the 2nd lowest in cciw history.

carroll 6, augie 12, 1973
millikin 28, augie 98, 2012
carthage 34, augie, 37, 1973

game #1 and #3 three occured on consecutive nights with augie winning at carthage on friday night and carroll on saturday.

dgp

Millikin is also currently suffering through the longest losing streak in CCIW history, 28 games and counting. The old record was North Central's losing streak of 26 straight losses that began in the 1978-79 season and was finally snapped in the 1980-81 season.

[veterancciwfan]

Regarding the IWU fan bus. And this is both real and funny. A local funeral home brings several boxes of doughnuts to the Shirk Center parking lot before the fan bus departs! On a serious note, I looked at the Augustana season box score tonight. If an uninformed D3 statistics guru analyzed these stats without knowing any scores, I think it probable that the analyst would conclude that Augie would be at worst 17-2 rather than 15-4. I realize that Augustana's strength of schedule isn't great, but their overall stats compared to their opponents are eye-popping. The one stat that is the most unbelievable is that Augustana has committed over 100 fewer fouls than their opponents. I think Augustana has made more free throws than their opponents have attempted. I don't how that is possible considering the type of defensive pressure Augustana applies for 40 minutes a game.

[Mr. Ypsi]

According to the geriatric IWU fan that was sitting across from me, the Titans never foul.  Well at least he complained about every call that went against them.

This isn't news, though. One of a couple of ongoing jokes regarding IWU that've circulated around the CCIW for a long time is that Illinois Wesleyan has fans who have somehow managed to follow the Titans for eighty years without ever seeing them commit a foul. The other joke, which a former Titans player who shall remain nameless once shared with me, is that IWU is the only school in all of college basketball whose fan bus doesn't have a keg in the back ... it has a defibrillator.

I thoroughly enjoy the 'geriatric fan' jokes about IWU, except that Mark and I are rapidly approaching the targeted age!  We ALL (if we survive ) are gonna get old, so maybe the emphasis should be on their loyalty, not their age!

The defibrillator joke brings bitter memories to mind.  After Wes Leonard's death, his family is trying to get EVERY high school in Michigan to have a defibrillator on the bench at every game.  They can be for 16-year-old star athletes, not just the geriatric set.

OK, off the soapbox - but all you kids get off my front lawn!

The Wes Leonard video was so hard to watch and I'm surprised that all schools in Michigan don't have the AED machine. We have them here in IL and all coaches are required to have regular training in their use. Your lawn is the best looking on the block-it begs to be played on.

Obviously, you are not one of the kids I need to chase off my lawn!  I readily admit that my front lawn is third or fourth WORST in the neighborhood!  I'm thinking Astroturf.

[cardinalpride]

Finally, just my annual reminder that the CCIW conference tournament, most likely, will hurt the resumes of the CCIW's Pool C candidates - two teams are going to go 0-1, and another 1-1.  The UAA's Pool C candidates won't hurt their in-region records via a conference tournament.  I know the CCIW conference tournament is fun, but is it really good for the league?

Excellent post!  I was excited when the CCIW added a conference tourney in 2006.  I thought it was a great move.  I was wrong.  I think it hurts more than it helps as 'Q' explained in his post.  The only way I think it helps is if a struggling team gets hot and sneaks into the CCIW tourney and then wins it.  That gets them into the D3 dance.  That gives coaches and players something to shoot for in the rough days of late January and early February.  It just seems like that doesn't happen.  It seems like the top seed wins the conference tourney around 50% of the time which really does the CCIW no good.  It actually hurts.

I do not believe a concrete argument can be made for or against the conference tournament hurting or helping our league.  There are pros and cons.

[cardinalpride]

Rob and I will be back on the air tonight at 7 pm, as NPU hosts Elmhurst:

http://athletics.northpark.edu/index.aspx?path=mbball&tab=basketball

For those of you in the Chicago area who want to stop by earlier than that for a fun afternoon, check out North Park's Rick Alspach Memorial Alumni Game that will be held in the crackerbox at 1 pm. There will be plenty of vintage Vikings on hand to show us what they've still got, or what they think they still have but they've lost. It's the perfect opportunity to see the Berki Theory put to the test. The Berki Theory is that slow-moving big men get better with age on the basketball court, because everyone whose game was predicated upon speed and/or quickness when they were younger slows down, while slow-moving big men can't possibly get any slower than they already were.

except when he shuffled his feet, berki was the slowest of them all - can only think of a couple of "near-Berki" slower Viking starters: center Rich Swanson in 1970 and guard Dan Hill.

Dan "the Thrill" Hill was a forward, not a guard. That's his semi-excuse.

Hill, who was 6'3, 190 back in the day, is the slowest player I've ever seen in a North Park uniform -- he made Berki look like a gazelle -- but he's also the only North Park player that I've ever seen dominate a game to the point where the opposing coach made his team play a box-and-one defense just to stop him. Hill dropped 43 points on Rust that day back in '91, I think, and the fact that a player who was slower than molasses flowing downhill in January had a lightning-quick opponent trailing him everywhere he went, plus a double-team from the player in whichever zone he happened to be sauntering through, was absolutely hilarious. It shows you, though, what kind of a shooter he was. I've never seen a better one, and there's been some great shooters that've come through this league over the years.

Just go back to the way things were as recently as 2004-05, and the way things currently are in the UAA (25 games, no conference tournament).

I'm sure the CCIW coaches have examined this.  I wonder if this would be a good question for the CCIW chat in November?

Most CCIW coaches over the years have supported the tournament. They're much more concerned with the every-team-gets-another-chance angle than they are with the three-teams-get-another-loss-and-hurt-their-Pool-C-chances angle.

I believe in some years it may hurt and in some years it won't make a bit of difference.  See IWU and Wheaton in 2010 both suffered losses in the tourney and still got selected.  Also see IWU and Augustana in 2006.

[cardinalpride]

I'm an Elmhurst fan and I still think the conference tourney cost them a bid to the D3 tourney in 2007.  That 1-1 record on the final weekend hurt their 'in region' record enough to keep them out.  I think the 'Jays were 22-5 that year overall.  I don't remember their 'in region' record.

It might have helped them in 2009 when they were 19-6 and went 1-1 in conf tourny.  They got into NCAA tournament and lost in first round to whitewater finishing 20-8. In 2007, Elmhurst was 20-5 finishing 21-6 and didn't receive a bid. So you never know.

Probably the biggest snub occurred pre CCIW tourney.  In 2004, Wheaton finishes 21-4 and doesn't get in.  The very next year Wheaton finishes 20-5 and gets selected.  Go figure! 

[cardinalpride]

Most CCIW coaches over the years have supported the tournament. They're much more concerned with the every-team-gets-another-chance angle than they are with the three-teams-get-another-loss-and-hurt-their-Pool-C-chances angle.

I do understand the value in that.  For an example, lets take a look at my alma mater, Elmhurst.  I don't think they are a top 4 CCIW team.  In fact, I would rank them 6th right now.  But they still have a chance to qualify for the CCIW tourney.  I know the 4-4 record is not great and they have some very tough games to play in the final 3 weeks.  But the team still has something to play for.  Prior to 2005-2006, the season would pretty much be a 'playing out the string' scenario.

I know the odds of the Bluejays making the CCIW tourney are slim.  They would need a few big surprises in their final 6 games.  I'm sure Augie is looking for some payback when EC travels to Rock Island on February 11th.

Bingo, That's the reason i like the tournament.

[NCF]

According to the geriatric IWU fan that was sitting across from me, the Titans never foul.  Well at least he complained about every call that went against them.

This isn't news, though. One of a couple of ongoing jokes regarding IWU that've circulated around the CCIW for a long time is that Illinois Wesleyan has fans who have somehow managed to follow the Titans for eighty years without ever seeing them commit a foul. The other joke, which a former Titans player who shall remain nameless once shared with me, is that IWU is the only school in all of college basketball whose fan bus doesn't have a keg in the back ... it has a defibrillator.

I thoroughly enjoy the 'geriatric fan' jokes about IWU, except that Mark and I are rapidly approaching the targeted age!  We ALL (if we survive ) are gonna get old, so maybe the emphasis should be on their loyalty, not their age!

The defibrillator joke brings bitter memories to mind.  After Wes Leonard's death, his family is trying to get EVERY high school in Michigan to have a defibrillator on the bench at every game.  They can be for 16-year-old star athletes, not just the geriatric set.

OK, off the soapbox - but all you kids get off my front lawn!

The Wes Leonard video was so hard to watch and I'm surprised that all schools in Michigan don't have the AED machine. We have them here in IL and all coaches are required to have regular training in their use. Your lawn is the best looking on the block-it begs to be played on.

Obviously, you are not one of the kids I need to chase off my lawn!  I readily admit that my front lawn is third or fourth WORST in the neighborhood!  I'm thinking Astroturf.

That's because we PLAY on it all the time. LOL

[Gregory Sager]

Regarding the IWU fan bus. And this is both real and funny. A local funeral home brings several boxes of doughnuts to the Shirk Center parking lot before the fan bus departs

I think that in marketing they call that "targeting a primary consumer group."

The one stat that is the most unbelievable is that Augustana has committed over 100 fewer fouls than their opponents. I think Augustana has made more free throws than their opponents have attempted. I don't how that is possible considering the type of defensive pressure Augustana applies for 40 minutes a game.

It does seem counter-intuitive, but there's always the fact that, because Grey Giovanine espouses a slower, defense-first style of ball in which Augustana is typically ahead but doesn't usually go on fast and lengthy scoring runs (Saturday's massacre of Jimmy Millikin notwithstanding), Augie tends to be out in front late in most games but not by a prohibitive amount. That leads to lots of opponent fouls as Augie's foe tries to either force turnovers or stop the clock. Just one factor, I know, but in Augie's case it's relevant.

[Gregory Sager]

According to the geriatric IWU fan that was sitting across from me, the Titans never foul.  Well at least he complained about every call that went against them.

This isn't news, though. One of a couple of ongoing jokes regarding IWU that've circulated around the CCIW for a long time is that Illinois Wesleyan has fans who have somehow managed to follow the Titans for eighty years without ever seeing them commit a foul. The other joke, which a former Titans player who shall remain nameless once shared with me, is that IWU is the only school in all of college basketball whose fan bus doesn't have a keg in the back ... it has a defibrillator.

I thoroughly enjoy the 'geriatric fan' jokes about IWU, except that Mark and I are rapidly approaching the targeted age!

My favorite concerns the long-standing Carlson Crazies chant used to distract opposing players at the FT line: "Your mom is hot! Your mom is hot! Your mom is hot!" (They employ this chant because, a lot of the time, many or most of the opposing fans are the parents of the opposing team's players.) When IWU visits North Park, however, the Crazies chant instead, "Your grandma's hot! Your grandma's hot! Your grandma's hot!"

[Mr. Ypsi]

According to the geriatric IWU fan that was sitting across from me, the Titans never foul.  Well at least he complained about every call that went against them.

This isn't news, though. One of a couple of ongoing jokes regarding IWU that've circulated around the CCIW for a long time is that Illinois Wesleyan has fans who have somehow managed to follow the Titans for eighty years without ever seeing them commit a foul. The other joke, which a former Titans player who shall remain nameless once shared with me, is that IWU is the only school in all of college basketball whose fan bus doesn't have a keg in the back ... it has a defibrillator.

I thoroughly enjoy the 'geriatric fan' jokes about IWU, except that Mark and I are rapidly approaching the targeted age!

My favorite concerns the long-standing Carlson Crazies chant used to distract opposing players at the FT line: "Your mom is hot! Your mom is hot! Your mom is hot!" (They employ this chant because, a lot of the time, many or most of the opposing fans are the parents of the opposing team's players.) When IWU visits North Park, however, the Crazies chant instead, "Your grandma's hot! Your grandma's hot! Your grandma's hot!"

Now THAT is funny!

[NCF]

According to the geriatric IWU fan that was sitting across from me, the Titans never foul.  Well at least he complained about every call that went against them.

This isn't news, though. One of a couple of ongoing jokes regarding IWU that've circulated around the CCIW for a long time is that Illinois Wesleyan has fans who have somehow managed to follow the Titans for eighty years without ever seeing them commit a foul. The other joke, which a former Titans player who shall remain nameless once shared with me, is that IWU is the only school in all of college basketball whose fan bus doesn't have a keg in the back ... it has a defibrillator.

I thoroughly enjoy the 'geriatric fan' jokes about IWU, except that Mark and I are rapidly approaching the targeted age!

My favorite concerns the long-standing Carlson Crazies chant used to distract opposing players at the FT line: "Your mom is hot! Your mom is hot! Your mom is hot!" (They employ this chant because, a lot of the time, many or most of the opposing fans are the parents of the opposing team's players.) When IWU visits North Park, however, the Crazies chant instead, "Your grandma's hot! Your grandma's hot! Your grandma's hot!"

Now THAT is funny!

Very... and a little creepy.LOL Now back to the regularly scheduled bball talk.

[Titan Q]

I guess I now understand why one would discourage the mention of high-profile, non-CCIW games on this board with all of the hard-hitting CCIW conversation that takes place at all times.

[unanimous22]

I've always been in agreement with Bob that the tourney is a bad idea. I would support it if it: a) raised some money for the league and/or the host; b) drew some media coverage that might help the league's programs; or c) both. But it doesn't.

Greg, would you just expand on this a bit?  How come there's no money raised, just low attendance?

It's my opinion that the tournament is certainly exciting to follow; but in a league like the CCIW where the 2nd and 3rd place teams are usually in line for a Pool C, it just doesn't make sense.

If North Central were to hold on this year and Wheaton/IWU/Augie finished 2-4 with similar or the same records pre conference tournament, would all 4 get in??