BB: MWC: Midwest Conference

[TurtleHead]

Big win for the Carroll program - let's see if they can get another one from Norberts.  Hopefully they can take 1 or 2 from Ripon as well.

It should be interesting to see how this last week or so pans out...advantage lies in whatever team has the most arms.  Beloit got 2 complete games last night, which should help out going into 6 more games over the next 6 days.

Hillsheim allows another 6 unearned runs...just about half his runs are unearned at this point in the season.

Informant- you are obsessed with Hillsheim.  Do you have a man-crush or something.    J.K.

Beloit seems to be the one with the schedule issues right now.  This week they will be playing 4 double headers (mon/Tue/Thr/Sun).  St. Norbert and Carroll have not re-scheduled their doubleheader so they will only have to play 3. 

[ballfan55]

Two things....Errors did lead to unearned runs for Hillsheim BUT after the error in the 7th it was his pitch that was hit out (into the wind BTW) for the game winner.

Carroll and SNC are trying to schedule the last two games for next Monday.  The issue is, at least for Carroll, that a number of players have finals that day, and it is the last day of finals.  What they are trying to do is find a field with lights so they can have a late start like yesterday.  That would mean possibly West DePere HS or Joannes Park in Green Bay. 

Finally, right now long range forecasts show rain Monday-Wednesday of next week.

[TheInformant]

No man crush - TurtleHead - cmon now!  Just interesting stuff I like to look at...

After a pretty calm Spring, the weather sure has made things "fun" the last 2 weeks.  This time of year always kills me when it comes to finals.  At the D1 level you got kids that almost never go to classes and it's okay, but at the D3 level you run into teachers that refuse to allow kids to miss...

It's gotta be tough on everyone to work out these schedules and give the team the best chance to win.  Beloit vs. Lawrence - round 2 tonight at Pohlman Field in Beloit.  Having an accessible minor league field definitely has its advantages...will post as results become available.

[ballfan55]

Carroll's website now shows the SNC game next Tuesday.  First game at 4:00.  It doesn't show what field, but it can't be SNC's because of the lack of lights.  Also it shows that what was to be a single game at Elmhurst on Sunday has changed to a DH.

[TheInformant]

Beloit takes 2 from Lawrence tonight...

13-3 in game 1.  11-1 in game 2.

Current Standings in the North
tie 1) Beloit (8-4)
tie 1) St. Norbert (4-2)
     3) Ripon (4-4)
     4) Carroll (4-6)
     5) Lawrence (2-6)

[TheInformant]

I also agree with TurtleHead on taking out the North and South and having everyone play everyone in the MWC.  If I were planning/arguing for that, I'd position it as a DH vs everybody to equal the same 16 conference games they'd usually play.  If you're worried about too much travel, just do every other year for home games so, for example, If Grinnell traveled to Ripon in 2010, Ripon would go to Grinnell in 2011.  Ultimately, while the distances for travel are longer, you're still only getting 4 trips a year for each team.

I just think that gives us the best idea of who the "best" in the conference is.  In any given year, there could be 3 of the top 4 teams in one half and 1 team misses out.  Factor in only 4 teams in the South and it almost just makes more sense to do it this way.

Any thoughts?  Cornhusker?  Knox got hot 2 years ago, but I'd rather send the team that earned it throughout a year, not a team that went .500 in conference and got hot.

[hickory_cornhusker]

I also agree with TurtleHead on taking out the North and South and having everyone play everyone in the MWC.  If I were planning/arguing for that, I'd position it as a DH vs everybody to equal the same 16 conference games they'd usually play.  If you're worried about too much travel, just do every other year for home games so, for example, If Grinnell traveled to Ripon in 2010, Ripon would go to Grinnell in 2011.  Ultimately, while the distances for travel are longer, you're still only getting 4 trips a year for each team.

I just think that gives us the best idea of who the "best" in the conference is.  In any given year, there could be 3 of the top 4 teams in one half and 1 team misses out.  Factor in only 4 teams in the South and it almost just makes more sense to do it this way.

Any thoughts?  Cornhusker?  Knox got hot 2 years ago, but I'd rather send the team that earned it throughout a year, not a team that went .500 in conference and got hot.

I would like to see it combined. I just don't know how feasible it would be. The travel isn't the biggest concern for me. It's the weather. I'd imagine the longer road trips you would have two doubleheaders that weekend. If Grinnell came up to Lawrence and St. Norbert this past weekend they would have been completely rained out. The biggest questions are: 1) would the games have been called early enough for Grinnell not to come to come to Wisconsin? Because that is a long ways to travel to not play at all and 2) How do you make those games up? You're trying to coordinate three schools' schedules and the travel is a lot more difficult than say St. Norbert and Carroll needing to make up a doubleheader and its a simple two hour drive.

I think it's a great idea to combine them and for football this type of thing works but fall is kinder to outdoor sports than spring and football can play in almost (lightning, hail) any kind of weather. I just see the concerns about weather as too great to overcome.

And yes I would like to see the best team representing the MWC in the NCAA Tournament rather than a team who got hot at the right time.

[ballfan55]

Who do Lawrence and SNC split with when they go to Grinnell?  Do they play a non conference game against Dubuque or Loras?  After all one team would need a bye as it is on any given weekend anyway.

Earlier this year Carroll was scheduled to go to Futon, MO for a game and they were able to call the games off a day ahead based on the forecast...that is a possibility.

Earlier in the year there was some talk that Carroll might leave the MWC and go, I believe, to the CCIW.  That decision was to have been made by now and I haven't heard anything new so maybe it is dead.  Add in the fact that they have a new AD coming in an any discussion of that may be put off.  That was projected for three years down the road anyway.

[BigPoppa]

Carroll was originally a member of the CCIW (from 1966-1992). It might make sense for them, but I think they might need another team to come with them or the balance of the league would be off with 9 teams (unless a CCIW team is leaving).

[TurtleHead]

Earlier in the year there was some talk that Carroll might leave the MWC and go, I believe, to the CCIW.  That decision was to have been made by now and I haven't heard anything new so maybe it is dead.  Add in the fact that they have a new AD coming in an any discussion of that may be put off.  That was projected for three years down the road anyway.

This may have been due to the ACM conference talk in the early part of the year. I do not believe Carroll is a member. If the ACM had gone ahead with plans to form a new conference Carroll would have had to find a new conference to join.

[Just Bill]

Carroll made initial inquries with the CCIW late last year, but the CCIW informed them they were not interested in adding members at that time.

The most common rumor I hear on a regular basis has LU, RC, BC, LFC, KC, MC and GC joining with Cornell and making a new 8-team league. Illinois College would then join the SLIAC and Carroll would go to the NathCon.

Of course, that would leave St. Norbert College S.O.L.  They'd have to decide whether to try and join the WIAC (which would be very difficult with state legislature and stuff), the NathCon, the UMAC, go independent or maybe go D-II.

No idea if any or all of that will go down or when, but where's there's smoke...

[TheInformant]

Wow - that's a lot of really good info to consider JustBill.  Thanks for the update.

I think weather is a HUGE concern when trying to break up the North/South structure, but there's ways around it.  Beloit cancelled both their doubleheaders with Lawrence this past weekend before any team boarded a bus to avoid that.  I think if they tried hard enough, they could make things work.

That being said, I'm sure anybody in the South would be opposed to an idea that decreases their chances of qualifying and winning the tournament.  Not taking anything away from their teams or talent, but when 2 of 4 make it from the South, you'd think the coaches down there would be opposed to any types of changes that could hurt their chances.

[BigPoppa]

How come other conferences do not seem to have the "North/South Issues" that the MWC has? The CCIW has just as much travel as does the WIAC and both of those leagues deal with the weather as well.

Carthage to Millikin is 3.5-4 hours
Whitewater to Superior is about 5-6 hours

I think the MWC just needs to suck it up and deal with it. It would really help their league as the three best baseball squads are in the north and one of them will not even make the post-season. Taking the top four in the 9 team league (no divisions) would solve this problem and let the best face off for the title.

[TheInformant]

Agree w/ya 100% Big Poppa...obviously I'm Beloit biased, but the South half of the conference has never impressed me as deserving more than 1 bid - atleast not in the past handful of years.

[TurtleHead]

How come other conferences do not seem to have the "North/South Issues" that the MWC has? The CCIW has just as much travel as does the WIAC and both of those leagues deal with the weather as well.

The main issue as you already know is missed class time.   With a 3 game format the mid-week game will cause issues.  2 game format would cause far fewer issues.   The conference already has shortened seasons to deal with this, but I know the students continue to run into issues when they have to miss classes. 

However, the conference seems to be turning around.  Baseball season has been increase by 4 games over the past 2 years and now basketball will be playing a true round robin during the regular season. 

It just really seems weird to me that so many MWC schools have not played each other in baseball for such long periods of time.   I know I have mentioned before that Beloit has not played Grinnell  while DeGeorge has been the coach.  He is currently in his 20th year at the helm.