MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[79jaybird]

At Aurora or up the road at Lake Forest College  (Lake Forest, Maryville, Manchester, and Wash U)

[Hoosier Titan]

The IWU-Carroll game is scheduled to be on WJBC:

http://www.wjbc2.com/

For those in the B-N area, I believe it's going to be on air as well.  The broadcast goes on at 5:55 (AM 1230).

[Mr. Ypsi]

OUCH!  In less than 24 hours, former CCIW member Carroll (1956-92) has eliminated two-thirds of the CCIW post-season representation, demolishing IWU this evening by 27(?).  Only the Wheaton women are still alive, and it took them 2OTs to do it.

Carroll left the conference only six years after the CCIW sponsored women's bball, and did quite respectably - they still have the 3rd best all-time record (behind Millikin and Wheaton).  But in men's bball their 37-year record of 187-364 (.339) is by a sizable margin the worst of any school, past or present.  I guess they got at least a bit of revenge this weekend.

[Jim Matson]

Wheaton sent the game into the 1st OT on a trey with 33 seconds remaining.  Wheaton then hit another trey at the buzzer to send the game into the second OT.  In the second OT, Wheaton took the game in a more conventional fashion.

Wheaton was the 4th seed in this opening weekend and will have an excellent chance to move on against Simpson tomorrow.  Wheaton is playing well right now.

I was surprised by the Wesleyan score.

[cciw watcher]

Well its really looks like Aurora and Chicago were very overrated. Hope and Calvin and put a whipping on them this evening.  Makes me think back to December when Carthage abd Wheaton beat both Hope and Calvin.  Nice job tournment committee!

[TheHerr]

Well its really looks like Aurora and Chicago were very overrated. Hope and Calvin and put a whipping on them this evening.  Makes me think back to December when Carthage abd Wheaton beat both Hope and Calvin.  Nice job tournment committee!

I wouldn't say Calvin put a whipping on Aurora, as they only won by 1. Aurora had a chance for the win at the buzzer.

[John Gleich]

It you're going to qualify the AC/UWSP game like this...

But, Augustana only lost by 3 @ #1 UW-Stevens Point in a game that Augie led for 30 minutes...

then the IWU/UWW game should be qualified as well.

http://www.uww.edu/athletics/mbasketball/statistics/iwuuww.htm

Whitewater led this game for 41 minutes, and if not for SERIOUS fundamental breakdowns, would have won the game.  Missing the front end of the bonus up 4 with :56 to go, two more up 2 with :27, and then missing two more down 1 with no time on the clock in OT.  Whitewater did not make a shot for the final 8:32 of the game (which includes OT).

WW was quite a strange team this season.  They had UWSP seemingly beaten, up 4 with :32 seconds and Point had committed just 3 fouls.  Over the next 16 seconds, Point committed 4 fouls, and sent Mlachnik to the line.  He missed the front end of the bonus, Point came down and Krull nailed a 3 with 10 seconds.  With 7 seconds to go, Point fouled again, and again Mlachnik missed the front end.  Bryan Beamish nailed a 3 at the buzzer for the win.  Mlachnik is an 82% free throw shooter on the year.  

Whitewater had the potential for big games, that's why they were picked #4 in the preseason Top 25.  They showed it in some games, upsetting Oshkosh and beating Carroll, playing tough against Point, but then they turn around win by just 1 against Eau Claire and Marian (WI) by 4.

It's so hard to compare two leagues by just a few single games.  How many of the games were close?  Well, depending on your definition of close, they ALL were.  And yes, the CCIW did win more this season, but UWSP has a lot of things going for them that will make them very hard to beat.

[ecdubb420]

The Herr had it right, Calvin escaped with a win, Aurora fought hard, but put up too many terrible shots to make good on a great comeback. (Calvin 44 points in first 19 min, 20 in next 18, ouch).
Hope looked good, but the other three teams playing at Aurora did not play well.  Calvin put together a nice 20 minutes and Aurora about 12.  Left a very bad taste in my mouth knowing the BlueJays had to sit at home while three (very beatable) teams played poorly tonight.
Hopefully game #5 of Hope-Calvin will help erase those bad feelings.

[petemcb]

The Herr had it right, Calvin escaped with a win, Aurora fought hard, but put up too many terrible shots to make good on a great comeback. (Calvin 44 points in first 19 min, 20 in next 18, ouch).
Hope looked good, but the other three teams playing at Aurora did not play well.  Calvin put together a nice 20 minutes and Aurora about 12.  Left a very bad taste in my mouth knowing the BlueJays had to sit at home while three (very beatable) teams played poorly tonight.
Hopefully game #5 of Hope-Calvin will help erase those bad feelings.

I second those sentiments.

[Greek Tragedy]

I saw Aurora down in Milwaukee when they lost to Wisconsin Lutheran and the Spartans basically played the same way as they did against Calvin.  They got beat by a team more fundamentally sound, but it's amazing what pure athleticism can do for a team.  Calvin, like WLC, had all the passing, shooting, and other "team" oriented stuff going for them, but when Aurora put on their running and jumping shoes, it showed.  Man, some of those guys like Welton can fly (in the air).  It was an entertaining game, but sloppy.  Calvin has some great shooters from their guard play. 

Aurora drove the lane and thew up some ridiculous shots and the 'ME" in "Team" really showed again. 

boxscore...25 field goals but only 9 assists.

In the first half, it did look like Calvin was going to blow them away, but in the 2nd 20 minutes, the crowd got into it and really helped the Spartans make their run to make it a game.  Like I said over in the MIAA board, at the end, Calvin did everything in their power to throw the game away, turnovers, missed free throws etc. (12 for 20 from the charity stripe?  Ouch!)

[Gregory Sager]

A couple corrections...

1) In 1999 when IWU traveled to Ripon and lost in Round 1, the Titans were an at-large selection (not sure if the term "Pool C" existed then).  Wheaton, the league champ, beat Wash U in Round 1 and then lost to Manchester in Round 2.

2) The CCIW also exited without winning a game just two years ago (2005) when Pool C Wheaton lost at home to Calvin in Round 1 and Pool A IWU lost to Hanover in Round 2, after a bye.


The fact that is eye-opening is that this is just the third time in 32 years of the Division III tournament that the CCIW has not had a team in the second round.  The other three seasons were...

* 1977 when 12-4 Augustana lost to Central (Iowa) in Round 1*
* 1984 when 14-2 IWU lost to UW-Whitewater in Round 1
* 1991 when 15-1 IWU lost @ Ripon

(all Round 1 losses)

Nice catch, Bob. I'd forgotten about those two Wheaton teams (and I'm surprised that nobody from Wheaton posted to remind me about them). But you left out that in 1984 North Central also made the tournament, and that the Cards were also eliminated in the first round (by St. Norbert). The Cards then went on to beat Illinois Wesleyan in the regional third-place game, so the CCIW did actually have a  tourney win that year ... albeit an extremely hollow one.

[Ralph Turner]

...
The simple fact is that while the CCIW had a couple teams good enough to make a deep tournament run this year, the league's lone tourney rep. Augustana just was not a powerhouse.  The 2006-07 Vikings separated from the CCIW field by making big plays down the stretch in several games, but they just weren't a team that took the floor with so much more talent than the other team that even on a down night could win easily.  Last year when IWU faced Carroll, the Titans were just simply so much better that they weren't going to lose.  This year's Augie team won with great defense, hustle, big plays, etc, but they weren't by any stretch as talented as those 4 CCIW teams last year. 

As I have said on Hoopsville several times this year, the CCIW was the best conference in Division III in 2006-07 because of the parity and talent level 1-8....but the league just didn't have one powerhouse team.  I feel strongly that Augustana and Elmhurst were both good enough to win 4 games and get to Salem with the parity out there this year, but unfortunately they were both susceptible to off nights too -- Elmhurst lost to #8 Millikin at home (a loss that probably kept them out of the NCAA field) and Augustana, of course, fell at home in Round 1 of the NCAA tournament.
...

Excellent summary for the 2007 CCIW season!  +1! 

[Gregory Sager]

Well its really looks like Aurora and Chicago were very overrated.

Hardly. Chicago is a good team, albeit one with a serious deficiency inside, that got caught on a hot night by a better team. Aurora, as others here have commented, played a sloppy and mostly-undisciplined game, but demonstrated a lot of moxie and took a very polished Calvin team right down to the final buzzer.

[Titan Q]

A couple corrections...

1) In 1999 when IWU traveled to Ripon and lost in Round 1, the Titans were an at-large selection (not sure if the term "Pool C" existed then).  Wheaton, the league champ, beat Wash U in Round 1 and then lost to Manchester in Round 2.

2) The CCIW also exited without winning a game just two years ago (2005) when Pool C Wheaton lost at home to Calvin in Round 1 and Pool A IWU lost to Hanover in Round 2, after a bye.


The fact that is eye-opening is that this is just the third time in 32 years of the Division III tournament that the CCIW has not had a team in the second round.  The other three seasons were...

* 1977 when 12-4 Augustana lost to Central (Iowa) in Round 1*
* 1984 when 14-2 IWU lost to UW-Whitewater in Round 1
* 1991 when 15-1 IWU lost @ Ripon

(all Round 1 losses)

Nice catch, Bob. I'd forgotten about those two Wheaton teams (and I'm surprised that nobody from Wheaton posted to remind me about them). But you left out that in 1984 North Central also made the tournament, and that the Cards were also eliminated in the first round (by St. Norbert). The Cards then went on to beat Illinois Wesleyan in the regional third-place game, so the CCIW did actually have a  tourney win that year ... albeit an extremely hollow one.

I actually did notice that North Central win over IWU, but I guess I don't consider the old regional 3rd place game to be advancing to the 2nd round.

[Gregory Sager]

I wasn't implying that it was. I just brought it up in order to mention that the Cards were in the tourney that year as well, and that they also bowed out in the first round.