MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

They may have dug themselves too deep a hole, with 6 regional losses already.  IF they win out thru the regular season, they would still only be 16-6 (.727).  If they win the conference tourney, they're pool A and the rankings are moot (for them); if they don't, that's another loss and probably the death knell on pool C.

I'd take "probably" out of that last sentence of yours, Chuck. Lawrence may be a victim of the MWC's insistence upon playing a truncated schedule of only 22 regular-season games. There's a big difference between going into Selection Sunday as a Pool C aspirant with a 20-7 (.741) regional record and going into Selection Sunday as a Pool C aspirant with a 17-7 (.708) regional record. I can't remember there ever being a Pool C team with a regional winning percentage as low as .708.

To sum it up, the only way that Lawrence is getting into the big dance is via the Pool A route.

How soon they forget!  Unless I miscounted the in-region games, just last year Wheaton got in at 15-7 (.682).

(But as surprised as Bill Harris was that the season continued, I wouldn't count on the 'Wheaton exception'!)

Nice catch. I'd forgotten about last season's Wheaton team. That's by far the lowest that any Pool C team has ever finished in terms of a regional winning percentage, though; I'd bet a bundle that nobody else has ever had a RW% lower than .708. Wheaton, of course, had a stratospheric OWP and OOWP that Lawrence certainly can't match this year, as well as a 3-2 record against regionally-ranked teams (split wiht Augie, wins over Loras and Chicago, loss to Hope).

Have 4 CCIW teams ever made the tournament? I don't recall it. Perhaps the WIAC has had as many as 4 qualifiers, but I do not recall that happening either. Titan I'm sure has the answer.

The CCIW has never had four teams make the tournament. It had three entries in 1990 (North Central, Illinois Wesleyan, and North Park), 2001 (Elmhurst, Carthage, and Illinois Wesleyan), and 2006 (Augustana, North Central, and Illinois Wesleyan).

Both the WIAC and the NJAC have had four teams make the tournament on at least one occasion.

[Titan Q]

Here are the Pool C teams from last year, listed in order of in-region winning %...

Amherst (NESCAC), 23-2 (.920)
Centre (SCAC), 20-2 (.909)
Mass-Dartmouth (LEC), 25-3 (.893)
Gettysburg (CC), 20-3 (.870)
Wooster (NCAC), 16-3 (.842)
Brandeis (UAA), 19-4 (.826)
Capital (OAC), 22-5 (.815)
Buena Vista (IIAC), 17-4 (.809)
Va. Wesleyan (ODAC), 21-5 (.808)
Worcester Poly (NEWMAC), 20-5 (.800)
Rochester (UAA), 19-5 (.792)
Bowdoin (NESCAC), 21-6 (.777)
Occidental (SCIAC), 14-4 (.777)
UW-Stevens Point (WIAC), 20-6 (.769)
Wash U (UAA), 16-5 (.762)
Middlebury (NESCAC), 18-6 (.750)
Wheaton (CCIW), 15-7 (.682)

By conference...

NESCAC – 3
UAA - 3
CC – 1
CCIW - 1
IIAC - 1
LEC – 1
NCAC – 1
NEWMAC - 1
OAC – 1
ODAC - 1
SCAC – 1
SCIAC – 1
WIAC - 1


Both the NESCAC and UAA had 4 teams in the field in 2008.

[titan2000]

They may have dug themselves too deep a hole, with 6 regional losses already.  IF they win out thru the regular season, they would still only be 16-6 (.727).  If they win the conference tourney, they're pool A and the rankings are moot (for them); if they don't, that's another loss and probably the death knell on pool C.

I'd take "probably" out of that last sentence of yours, Chuck. Lawrence may be a victim of the MWC's insistence upon playing a truncated schedule of only 22 regular-season games. There's a big difference between going into Selection Sunday as a Pool C aspirant with a 20-7 (.741) regional record and going into Selection Sunday as a Pool C aspirant with a 17-7 (.708) regional record. I can't remember there ever being a Pool C team with a regional winning percentage as low as .708.

To sum it up, the only way that Lawrence is getting into the big dance is via the Pool A route.

How soon they forget!  Unless I miscounted the in-region games, just last year Wheaton got in at 15-7 (.682).

(But as surprised as Bill Harris was that the season continued, I wouldn't count on the 'Wheaton exception'!)

BTW, in addition to the unpredictablilty of such things, I said 'probably' in order to (in Pete's words) let him down gently!

One of LU losses is to Cal Lutheran.  That seems to be out of region.

[Titan Q]

One of LU losses is to Cal Lutheran.  That seems to be out of region.

Lawrence vs Cal Lutheran is in-region.

[Titan Q]

Carthage 74
IWU 67

[usee]

Wheaton 75
Millikin 55

NCC 71
NPU 61

Elmhurst 65
Augie 63

all finals

[Titan Q]

Home win = 0
Home loss -1
Road win = +1
Road loss = 0

Through Wed., Feb 4...

Elmhurst +2
Carthage +2
North Central +2
Wheaton +1
Augustana +0
Millikin -1
Illinois Wesleyan -2
North Park -4

Sat., February 7 
Carthage @ Augustana 
Elmhurst @ Millikin
Ill. Wesleyan @ North Central 
North Park @ Wheaton 

[thunderstruck88]

Some stats out of King Arena:

Wheaton shot 93% at the FT line (14-15), with 5 players shooting foul shots. Raymond was 6-7. Millikin shot 50% (4-8)

While Wheaton is returning to their FT shooting form, the Thunder were 18% (2-11) from 3-point land. The Big Blue went 3-5.

Wheaton won the rebounding battle 34-27 against the undersized Big Blue and the turnover battle 8-13.

Millikin only had 5 assists tonight, and indeed, most of Millikin's scoring tonight came from players who had to create their own shots. This seems to be more or less a trend, at least against Wheaton, since Millikin had only 5 assists in the last meeting with the Thunder as well. Millikin is definitely athletic, but they don't play together extremely well.

Raymond still looks rusty but had a nice night around the basket to finish with 21 pts, Panner had a quiet 18, Wiele had 10 w/ 8 boards and McCrary had 12. Jahns dished out 8 assists.

Ogunleye had had 13 and Corey Mitchell had 14 for the Big Blue. 

[voxelmhurst]

The Elmhurst/Augie game was a near repeat of the contest in Rock Island, with Elmhurst having a 10 point lead with about 7 minutes to go....only to see it shrivel down to 1.   EC then bounced back with a key Stzremp bucket, a Burks three, and a defensive stop leading to two made free throws from Burks, to lead 63-55 with 1:05 to play.

Again, they appeared to have the game, but again, they let Augie come back.

Augie stormed right back and Alex Washinton converted a three point play.  Stzremp turned the ball over in the backcourt and Washington again hit the layup and was sent to the line, where he converted.  63-61.  Elmhurst was unable to hit a shot at the other end, and Augie got the rebound...poised to steal another one form Elmhurst.  This time, however, Augie missed a driving layup with about 15 seconds left that would have tied the game and Ruch made two free throws on the rebound foul, to give Elmhurst a four point lead.  Augie was allowed to score on a layup but there were only .7 seconds left and all EC needed to do was throw the ball long to seal the win.

Elmhurst also squandered  leads in the first half and early on in the second half.  At one point....Augie hit a three, only for Elmhurst to inbound the ball directly to an Augie player under the basket, who hit the layup.

21 for Ruch....including two blocks (one of these was an absolute belter) which makes Ruch Elmhurst's all time  blocks leader.  Stzremp with another key contribution on offense.  Burks and Bainter 11 each.  Childs had an off night, but hit a key three in the second half.

Whew!  Not pretty...but the Jays pick up their 7th in a row.

[Mr. Ypsi]

cciw.org has:

Feb 11:

Augie @ Millikin
Millikin @ Carthage

I don't think the Blue can pull that off!

Am I correct in concluding that the latter game is actually NCC @ Carthage?

[Gregory Sager]

NCC 71, NPU 61

Chris Drennan: 28 pts
Mitch Raridon: 13 pts, 7 rebs
Reid Barringer: 12 pts
David Twyman: 7 rebs

D.J. Cooper: 23 pts
Ro Russell: 16 pts
Phil Schniedermeier: 11 pts
Nick Wiliams: 11 rebs

Another ugly night in the crackerbox for NPU. The Vikings never let NCC pull away, but aside from early in the game they never led (they briefly tied the game early in the second half), and one never sensed that the game was going to get away from the vastly more experienced Cards.

In spite of the relatively low score, North Park played awful defense. NCC shot 54% from both the field as a whole and from three-point range. The Vikings at least made Chris Drennan earn most of his points down low; on the outside, however, every single one of NCC's 13 trey attempts was wide open, as the Vikings guards failed to close out or follow their man from one side of the court to the other, and Reid Barringer and Mitch Raridon made them pay for it. A stop here or there and the Vikings might've made more of a game of it, but North Central seemed to score at will. They simply held the score down to their favored deliberate pace.

This game was right up NCC's alley, a grind-it-out affair. The Cards pushed North Park around on NPU's offensive end, and their physicality really took the Vikings out of any sort of rhythm. A large percentage of NPU's missed shots were contact misses, and most of NPU's turnovers were contact turnovers. The Vikings just aren't strong enough, either physically or mentally, to fight through what a physical opponent can dish out. When NCC did get called for the foul, the Vikings were, as is their m.o., unable to make NCC pay for it at the stripe (13-20, .650).

There were some bright spots for the Vikings. They have been unable to get any sort of offense at all out of the two-guard spot since Clayton Cahill got hurt, but tonight freshman D.J. Cooper went wild and had an outstanding game -- 23 points on 9-15 shooting, most of it midrange jumpers created off the dribble. It was a breakout game for him, and a glimpse of what he might be able to do in the future. He, Ro Russell, and Cahill are a promising backcourt collection for 2009-10 and beyond. Phil Schniedermeier was effective when he was able to get an entry pass thrown his way, and although Nick Williams had an awful night on offense he was at least effective on the boards. He's got to put the ball on the floor and take it to the hole, though, rather than settling for trey attempt after trey attempt after trey attempt. His lone FG of the night came towards the end of the game, when he took the ball at the right elbow, circled down to the baseline with it, and then blew past David Twyman on the baseline for a huge dunk. That's what NPU needs more of from Williams.

It seemed to be a winnable game going in from the NPU perspective, as the Vikings have the better of it over NCC in terms of raw ability. But it was seniors and juniors vs. sophomores and freshmen, and the team with the experience won. No surprise there. Kudos to the Cards for playing the game that they wanted to play, at the pace that they wanted to play it.

Just one more painful lesson in a year that's been full of them for NPU.

[Ralph Turner]

The first regional rankings of the season are out. Here's the Midwest Region's rankings:

team	overall	in-region
1. Washington	17-1	16-1
2. Elmhurst	15-4	15-4
3. Wheaton	16-3	12-3
4. St. Norbert	16-1	15-1
5. Transylvania	14-4	11-2
6. Augustana	15-5	14-5
7. North Central	13-6	11-4
8. Carroll	13-5	13-5

NCC gets a win versus a regionally-ranked opponent (McMurry  #4 South Region).

Point of clarification...

Do wins/results against "in-region opponents" that are regionally ranked in other regions count towards the criteria?

Thanks.

[Gregory Sager]

The first regional rankings of the season are out. Here's the Midwest Region's rankings:

team	overall	in-region
1. Washington	17-1	16-1
2. Elmhurst	15-4	15-4
3. Wheaton	16-3	12-3
4. St. Norbert	16-1	15-1
5. Transylvania	14-4	11-2
6. Augustana	15-5	14-5
7. North Central	13-6	11-4
8. Carroll	13-5	13-5

NCC gets a win versus a regionally-ranked opponent (McMurry  #4 South Region).

Point of clarification...

Do wins/results against "in-region opponents" that are regionally ranked in other regions count towards the criteria?

Thanks.

Yes.

[markerickson]

I stayed home with the kids and watched the Gophers v MSU instead of rooting in person for the Vikings.

Greg echoed my previous posts concerning NP's lack of defense.  Once again, a team shot very well against NP.  I repeat Titan Q when I say that NP has the worst defense in the CCIW.

Too many uncontested treys...what's new?

[Gregory Sager]

I stayed home with the kids and watched the Gophers v MSU instead of rooting in person for the Vikings.

Greg echoed my previous posts concerning NP's lack of defense.  Once again, a team shot very well against NP.  I repeat Titan Q when I say that NP has the worst defense in the CCIW.

Too many uncontested treys...what's new?

Defense is usually an outgrowth of experience and physical maturity. It's not an accident that the two worst defensive teams in the league, NPU and IWU, are also the two youngest teams in the league. NPU, in particular, needs to get physically stronger as a team, and the Vikings desperately need to focus better on the defensive end as well. Too often they let their man get away from them off the ball, and they don't close out well on shooters, or cut off drivers, or help inside.

As I said, if NPU could've just gotten a stop here or there tonight, the Vikes might've closed a gap that was around 5-to-8 points for most of the second half. But they couldn't, and it's not as though NCC is some sort of offensive dynamo.

NPU's got a lot of weaknesses, but defense is by far the biggest.