MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[petemcb]

Sorry if this has been asked or discussed before, but with this kind of performance, why is Maryville moving to D2 for next year when they're not competing well at the D3 level?  What is considered the draw of D2?  It certainly doesn't seem to be about academic prestige or even recognition.

[petemcb]

Besides that, have you seen D2hoops.com?  I didn't think so.

[dansand]

Besides that, have you seen D2hoops.com?  I didn't think so.

http://www.d2basketball.com/

http://www.d2hoops.net/

Not nearly as comprehensive, but they do exist.

[Titan Q]

Sorry if this has been asked or discussed before, but with this kind of performance, why is Maryville moving to D2 for next year when they're not competing well at the D3 level?  What is considered the draw of D2?  It certainly doesn't seem to be about academic prestige or even recognition.

That has been debated and discussed many times on the SLIAC board, Pete.  Scroll back over there to check it out if you want.  Bottom line, Maryville feels it fits better in NCAA Division II than Division III.  My position on the matter has always been that the university knows best and the rest of us, who are primarily looking at it through men's basketball glasses, should respect that decision.  The matter of division affiliation is a comprehensive institutional decision.  The following document highlights a lot of the considerations:

Division II as a Possible Membership Destination

Also a reminder, just two nights ago Maryville led the #21 team in Division II, GLVC power Drury, with a minute to play and lost by 3.  I realize that was probably an anomaly, but I'm guessing so to was IWU's 46-17 lead with 5:32 to play in the 1st half today.  When Maryville can start giving scholarships and attracting Division II-caliber talent from St. Louis, Illinois Metro East, etc., I don't see any reason they can't become a competitive D2 team.

http://drurypanthers.com/news/2008/11/28/MBB_1128081849.aspx

[Titan Q]

A little love for the Millikin Big Blue, who I think we all expected to be awful this year.  Millikin is now 5-0 after a 49-45 win in Terre Haute, Indiana. 

Seems like the transfer from Milwaukee Area Tech, Corey Mitchell, has been contributing quite a bit.  He starts and had 10 pts in the win vs Rose-Hulman today.

The CCIW is now 25-5 (.833) in non-conference play.

[petemcb]

Besides that, have you seen D2hoops.com?  I didn't think so.

http://www.d2basketball.com/

http://www.d2hoops.net/

Not nearly as comprehensive, but they do exist.

Well, my basketball universe has just been expanded.  But after a look-around, it makes me even more appreciative of the level of activity and information available on this site, and appreciative of what Pat has put together here.  Thanks Pat.

[Pat Coleman]

You're welcome.

This is no longer anywhere near a solo effort, though. If not for Gordon Mann practically running the site for the first two weeks of the season we might not have much in the way of news around here. Football keeps me pretty busy.

[Gregory Sager]

A little love for the Millikin Big Blue, who I think we all expected to be awful this year.  Millikin is now 5-0 after a 49-45 win in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Marc Smith deserves credit for getting his team to close out tight ballgames. Of the five wins for the Big Blue, four of them have been by six (Aurora), one (Dominican), two (Franklin), and four (Rose-Hulman). It's still a team that has a pile of weaknesses, but a strong November and December will at least make the Big Blue's final record look quasi-respectable come the end of February.

Seems like the transfer from Milwaukee Area Tech, Corey Mitchell, has been contributing quite a bit.  He starts and had 10 pts in the win vs Rose-Hulman today.

Mitchell's a nice piece to the puzzle. He's very quick, and he has a terrific motor. He's strictly a 6'0 slasher, as almost every shot he attempts is a layup, and he's still figuring things out at the defensive end, but Smith will be able to make good use of him come CCIW time.

The CCIW is now 25-5 (.833) in non-conference play.

It's actually 27-5 (.844) now, Bob: Five wins apiece for Elmhurst and Millikin, three wins apiece for Augustana, Illinois Wesleyan, North Central, North Park, and Wheaton, and two wins for Carthage.

Here's the breakdown:

CCIW vs. NAIA-2:	0-1
CCIW vs. USCAA:	2-0
CCIW vs. D3:	25-4 (.862)
...	vs. D3 non-region:	2-0
...	vs. D3 region:	23-4 (.852)
...	...	vs. HCAC:	5-0
...	...	vs. IIAC:	3-0
...	...	vs. MIAC:	1-0
...	...	vs. MWC:	1-1
...	...	vs. NAthCon:	6-0
...	...	vs. SCIAC:	2-1
...	...	vs. SLIAC:	3-0
...	...	vs. UAA:	1-2
...	...	vs. WIAC:	1-0

This will be an awfully difficult pace to maintain, as it's well beyond anything that the CCIW has ever achieved, non-conferencewise, in its previous 62 seasons. But it's a heckuva start.

[Viking Blue]

Wow....that, also, was extremely well-formatted, Greg.  Mercy.

[Titan Q]

Augie (3-1) @ St. Ambrose (5-3), 7:30pm CST...

http://www.hearitfromhome.com/stream.php


In the pre-broadcast music on the stream, Dan Sand & Co. break out a little Steely Dan.  Very nice, boys.

[augiefan]

Augie wins 89-61 per St. Ambrose website. No stats posted yet.

[Titan Q]

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/

#3 Augustana
#4 Wheaton
#8 Elmhurst
#13 Illinois Wesleyan

[Gregory Sager]

Wow....that, also, was extremely well-formatted, Greg.  Mercy.

Thanks. Maybe I could submit it to Sundholm and get a retroactive A for it.

In the pre-broadcast music on the stream, Dan Sand & Co. break out a little Steely Dan.  Very nice, boys.

What Steely Dan song fits as pregame basketball music? "Bad Sneakers"?

Too bad that Steely Dan never recorded a followup to "Black Friday" called "Cyber Monday".

[dansand]

Nice win for the Vikings tonight. They definitely carried over the momentum from the big win over Oshkosh. A 28-point win on their worst shooting night of the young season (43%) is very encouraging. Defense (30 SAU TO's) and rebounding (48-33 edge with 24 offensive boards) were the keys.

St. Ambrose is very talented but very young (two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior in their starting lineup and a freshman sixth man). They came in 5-3, including a 14-point win over NAIA Div. II 13th-ranked Northwestern of Iowa, but tonight the senior-dominated Vikings controlled from start to finish.

Chandlor Collins (18 points and 14 rebounds--10 on the offensive glass) and Brett Wessels (18 points) were the ring leaders. Wessels was all over the place in the first half, scoring 10 points and drawing four charges. Although he was only credited with two steals, I think the actual number was significantly higher.

Sophomore Kyle Nelson had another nice game as well with 13 points and eight boards in 21 minutes. He loves to get out and run the court.

Saturday the Vikes will try and avenge last year's loss to UW-LaCrosse. Road games at WIAC schools are always tough, even when you're not playing one of the league's elite teams.

http://www.augustana.edu/athletics/mbasketball/stats/2008-09/09mbb05.htm

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/

#3 Augustana
#4 Wheaton
#8 Elmhurst
#13 Illinois Wesleyan

Very impressive. Also three WIAC schools in the top seven.

In the pre-broadcast music on the stream, Dan Sand & Co. break out a little Steely Dan.  Very nice, boys.

What Steely Dan song fits as pregame basketball music? "Bad Sneakers"?

Too bad that Steely Dan never recorded a followup to "Black Friday" called "Cyber Monday".

I believe it's "Peg" that's on Chris' iPod.

[Gregory Sager]

Saturday the Vikes will try and avenge last year's loss to UW-LaCrosse. Road games at WIAC schools are always tough, even when you're not playing one of the league's elite teams.

I'm always wary of playing the comparative-scores game, but the fact that Elmhurst and Augustana are playing UWL only three days apart should be a little more indicative of where those two CCIW teams are relative to each other than you'd usually get from a common opponent.

I believe it's "Peg" that's on Chris' iPod.

I've always loved Jay Graydon's guitar solo on that one.