Thanks to all posters for your insights.  It is clear that the CCIW is certainly one of the strongest conferences in the country.  Mr. Ypsi's comment about Elmhurst destroying many teams in the field is right on the money.   The Bluejays handed Carthage two of their four losses and were within a half-court shot from beating the Lady Reds three times.  They also blew out IWU's first-round opponent, Franklin College (21-6), by thirty on Franklin's home court back in November.

Best of luck to IWU and Carthage this weekend.  While I anticipate that IWU has an excellent chance to go all the way, it would be nice to see both CCIW teams do well.

Congratualtions to Lyndsie Long and Christina Solari for the Josten's nomination and to all of the CCIW All-Conference selections. 

Thank you!  We appreciate the early heads up!!!!!

Thanks Bulldog!  Would you consider your source reliable?  Anyone have an idea when the teams will be on website?

Initially, I want to commend all posters for your in-depth analysis of MOP candidates, All-Conference selections, etc.  You are all students of the game, and I have really enjoyed reading your points of view. 

In my opinion, Lyndsie Long wins the MOP hands-down.  No disrespect to Christina Solari, Diana Jacklin, or Elise Wildman, but Lyndsie is in a class all of her own this season.  I must commend Moser on his analysis of this debate along with his analysis of what must happen to effectively compete against IWU in general.  I had the pleasure of watching Larry Bird compete while I was in college, and Lyndsie's performance this season has brought back many memories of the sheer dominance that I witnessed at Indiana State from 1977-1979.  Whatever the defense throws at her, she simply finds a way to solve it.   Again, all posters are to be commended for your insight and debate.

Lastly, with respect to the All-Conference selections, can any of you clarify what coaches look to?  I am assuming that the teams that finish higher in the standings typically secure more selections?  Do they look more at the entire season or more at the player's performance within the CCIW?  I would appreciate any insight that any of you may have into the process.

Good luck to all participants this weekend.

That is the beauty of this forum, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.   Good arguments can be made from several perspectives, but Lyndsie's numbers really speak for themselves.  Minutes notwithstanding, as impressive as Christina Solari has been, if your talking Player of the Year honors, it is very hard to select her over Lyndsie from a global perspective.   

From statistics, consistency, impact on all games performance-wise, I cannot see the CCIW Player-of-the-Year going to anyone but Lyndsie Long.  I also believe that the second and third-team All-Conference selections could go to a variety of players.  I am assuming that the ultimate selections will be based upon how the teams finish in the conference standings.  Clearly, IWU and Carthage will be well represented, Millikin's Wildman is a lock for first team, and Elmhurst could put at least one player on a second or third team with a strong finish to join Lyndsie in post-season honors.

Elmhurst also had good contribution from Megan Ney with a double-double (14pts/10 rebs) and Kelsey Monroe with 10 first-half points.

As an add-on to the Elmhurst-Millikin contest, I thought that the officials interjected themselves too much into the game on a very inconsistent basis.  What was a foul on one end, was not on the other.  The crew seemed out of sync with one another as well as confused on many occasions throughout the contest.  While it was not one of the Bluejay's better efforts, Millikin seemed to get the better end of very poor officiating.

I completely agree about Millikin;  they always play Elmhurst tough, and they present defensive challenges both inside and out.  This is a big game for both teams at this point of the conference season.

Just a quick note on the Elmhurst-Augustana game this past Saturday.  The final stats are a little misleading as Lyndsie Long scored 20 of her 24 points in the first half.  The halftime score was fairly close (31-24- I believe), and it was actually many contributors to the second-half dominance that sealed the win (Ney, Merklein, Monroe, McTeague to name a few).  The Jays did a nice job of getting more players involved in the second half. 

While I agree with Rog K that the officials did not favor either team, I thought that they called the game far too close on both ends of the floor.  My view is that officials need to enforce the rules on a consistent basis and make the obvious calls while letting the players play the game.  That did not happen yesterday.  I also agree that the IWU bench is much deeper than EC, and that was the difference in this game.  I was most impressed with the way the Bluejays starters (along with Kelsey Monroe) matched up with the IWU starters.  The officiating nothwithstanding, it was a fun contest to watch. 

I attended the Elmhurst-Carthage game last night.   It was a dog fight with the Bluejays prevailing in an extremely hostile environment.  Lyndsie Long, Meghan Merklein, and Megan Ney proved too much for the Lady Reds to handle at the end of the day.  The offensive punch of Long and Merklein and the defensive effort of Ney were the keys to the victory.  I believe that Ney held Jacklin to one basket the entire second half, and the excellent interior defense forced Carthage to resort more to the perimeter game.  The Elmhurst starters played heavy minutes, and I was most impressed with their conditioning and strength down the stretch.  Looking forward to watching IWU vs. Elmhurst on Sunday!

IWU is clearly the class of the league again this season.  The Carthage-Elmhurst game tomorrow will be a good barometer as to where Elmhurst is in the pecking order early in the conference season.  When the Bluejays are patient on offense, push the ball in transition, and lock in defensively like they are capable of, I believe they can compete at a high level.  They tend to have difficulty when they turn into a jump-shooting team early in the shot clock, and that plays into the hands of the defense.  The Jays have both inside and outside scoring threats and they have been most successful this season when they utilize both.  The resurgence of Kelsey Monroe has been huge for the Jays the past few games.

I was at Elmhurst last night.  They scrimmaged the team of former D-1 players that won the summer league this past summer.  The Jays lost won half and won the other.  Very impressive outing for the first scrimmage!

I attempted to log into the chat, but my office computer would not cooperate.  From what I observed during summer league along with my knowledge of the rosters, I believe that the top three picks could be in any order in the first three spots.  It should be a very competitive season at the top, and I agree that many newcomers and sophomores will make big impacts this season for the stronger teams.