MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

I'm a long way from being sold on that, Chuck. I'm going to need a lot more evidence -- visual, park-my-butt-in-the-stands-at-Ratner evidence -- before I go making what I would consider a pretty radical tipping of the D3 applecart in terms of the relative strengths of various conferences.

I will make a point of asking Chicago coach Mike McGrath what he thinks of this year's UAA the next time that I talk to him. He knows the overall D3 scene as well as anyone, and I trust his judgment.

[martin]

The CCIW has always gotten a lot of good players who excelled in high school playing for Class A schools.  Now, the IHSA has decided to go to four classes for basketball.  My initial reaction to this is that I do not like it.  I think two classes is fine for basketball.  While one class basketball has some mythic history attached to it (Hebron in Illinois, Milan in Indiana),  I think two classes gives the smaller schools something to compete for every year.  I think four classes just waters it all down.  Not really sure why - just a gut feeling that we are losing something. 

[dansand]

The CCIW has always gotten a lot of good players who excelled in high school playing for Class A schools.  Now, the IHSA has decided to go to four classes for basketball.  My initial reaction to this is that I do not like it.  I think two classes is fine for basketball.  While one class basketball has some mythic history attached to it (Hebron in Illinois, Milan in Indiana),  I think two classes gives the smaller schools something to compete for every year.  I think four classes just waters it all down.  Not really sure why - just a gut feeling that we are losing something. 

Martin,

I agree wholeheartedly. I hate the 8 classes in football (6 was too many) and now they're moving in the same direction in the other sports, including basketball. Why not just make 1500 classes (or how ever many schools are in the IHSA) and give everyone a state championship?

* Augustana has issues. They did beat NPU last week without ever being seriously threatened, but they couldn't put them away -- and they were certainly trying their best to do so. The Doggies haven't shown anyone yet that they have more than two options on offense, and Harrigan in particular seems to be carrying the team on his shoulders. Having to come back from a six-point deficit in the last ninety seconds of a home game against an inexperienced and crippled Wheaton team speaks volumes about Augie's vulnerability.

I hate to admit it, but I have to agree. I keep waiting for them to start clicking, but they just haven't so far.

[Titan Q]

A couple articles from the Pantagraph on the IHSA's decision to go to 4 classes...

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/01/12/sports/103537.txt

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/01/12/sports/103547.txt

The enrollment bands will be:

Class 1A: 289 and under
Class 2A: 289 - 714
Class 3A: 714-1628
Class 4A: 1628 and above


I'm not a fan of the move to 4 classes at all.

[Ralph Turner]

Altho' I was unable to find the exact breakpoints in the University Interscholastic League for Texas High School Activities (from Prose Interpretation and One-Act Play to Football and Basketball) for its 1200+ members, they are roughly

Class 1A-1 26-100
Class 1A-2 101-190
Class 2A     191-385
Class 3A     386-899
Class 4A     900-1929
Class 5A    1930-5221.

Furthermore the UIL tries to break down the classification in more sports into Division I and Division II so that they declare a champion for about 100 schools.

Post-season competition and the ticket sales for the playoffs can boost many school athletics budgets.  I think that economics is the major driver in this decision.

www.uil.utexas.edu

[mwunder]

Other thoughts:

* Bosko's had some technicals called on him since he came to Carthage, but they're still very rare occurrences. I wonder if Reuben Norris was the ref who handed Bosk the T-bone with 3:15 left and the Red Men up by three? Ol' Reuben don't take no mess.   Still, so much for the idea put forth in this room that Carthage got fired up last Saturday just because they were playing Wesleyan, and that they'd lose by twenty this evening.

You got that one right...apparently, the other two simply swallowed their whistles in the second half, but Ol' Reuben didn't.

[MWCSID2005]

The Midwest Conference will webcast four contests with live audio and video free of charge on Friday, January 13.

The matchups feature Grinnell College at Lawrence University and Lake Forest College at Ripon College. The women's contests tip-off at 5:30 p.m. with the men's contests to follow at 7:30 p.m. Links to the webcast are available at www.midwestconference.org and on the athletic websites of each participating institution.

The release linked below gives more information on the webcast, as well as previews for each contest.

http://www.midwestconference.org/wbasketball/WebStreamJan12.pdf

[iwumichigander]

Four battles similiar to last night's contest shape up for Saturday, Jan. 14:

Augustana @ Carthage
North Park @ Wheaton
Illinois Wesleyan @ Elmhurst
North Central @ Millikin

Given the current CCIW standings, every team is in a "must win" situation.  For home teams Carthage, Elmhurst & Millikin a 3rd loss would likely put them into a very deep hole to climb out of (as it would visiting North Park). Will home teams have a home court advantage?

For the visiting teams, those are tough home courts to play in.  Augustana, Illinois Wesleyan and North Central need a win to stay on top and to put some distance between them and the remaining teams.

Confused? Try this possibility -- wins by Carthage, Millikin, Elmhurst & North Park would end up with 6 teams with two losses and Augustana & North Central with 1 loss each!  This possibility, while I do not think probable, could level the playing field for everyone.

[Gotberg]

I don't know if this has been addressed already(too lazy too look back too far), but a number of players are no longer listed on NPU's basketball roster:

Eric Allen
Eric Samuelson
Uriah Rice

They also have a new player:

Mike Gergovich

Additionally, Glen Woodside was not dressed for last night's game, but is still on the roster.  Is he injured?

Although there's still a long way to go, I was extremely encouraged by the progress of the team from the beginning of the year through at least last night.

Except for about 4 minutes per half when the team struggled on the defensive end, the team played quite well given their talen level.

[Gotberg]

I stand corrected on Uriah Rice, he's still listed on the roster, but dont' remember seeing him last night.

[iwumichigander]

... IWU has lost something. I think it may be the lack of great defense. IWU used a  smothering zone in CA in the 1st half of both games against very good teams to deny good shots and to create easy transistion baskets. IWU has played more man defense since CA and the intensity has been inconsistent to say the least.

I agree something had been 'lost'; and, with another poster that IWU maybe out of 'sync'.  I do not think its defense. When you seperate out the stats conference versus non-conference what stands out the most is -9.8 FG% (53.2 non-conference 43.3 conference) with IWU FG AVG/Game almost even (55 non-conference 53 conference).  I think the three areas that need improvement are 1) better shot selection decisions, 2)working/sharing  the ball (assists too low) and 3)taking the shot inside the perimeter (where an old fashioned 3 is still a 3).   With this team's size and athleticism, the inside game needs to be established first to open up the outside game.  Against Millikin, Carthage and North Central IWU went inside at the end of the game.  Why not establish that at the beginning of the game?

Could IWU hit the defensive boards a little harder and limit 2nd chance shots?  Yes, still room for improvement here. But, in listening to the three conference games what has stood out is the number of times IWU turnovers the ball after a defensive rebound (steal, bad pass, butter fingers) or in transition (no control).  Simply put - Value the Ball.

[Gregory Sager]

Samuelson and Allen have left the team, as have Mike Haehn and Steve Reynolds. Woodside is medically redshirting this season; after a couple of cameo appearances in mid-December games, it was determined that his knee was not healing quickly enough. He'll sit out the remainder of this season and come back in 2006-07 with freshman eligibility.

[Brick]

Since technical fouls are getting brought up, does any one know why Bill Harris got the big T last night at Augie?  From where I was sitting I couldn't tell if it was because he was out of the box or if he was trying to call a time out without possesion of of the ball.

[Gregory Sager]

Since technical fouls are getting brought up, does any one know why Bill Harris got the big T last night at Augie?  From where I was sitting I couldn't tell if it was because he was out of the box or if he was trying to call a time out without possesion of of the ball.

Good question. I hadn't noticed the bench technical against Wheaton last night when I looked at the Wheaton @ Augie box. Techs called against Bosko are rare, but techs called against Harris are like solar eclipses. I notice that it occurred right after an offensive rebound and putback by Augie's Oliver Rorer, so I wonder if that's what spurred Harris to induce the T.

It doesn't appear to have affected the flow of the game. Augie was ahead 38-32 at the time, with 13:07 left in the game, and after Harrigan canned the two technical FTs it was a 40-32 game. However, Wheaton went on a 17-5 run at that point to take a 49-45 lead. If the T did have any effect, it looks as though it was a motivational one in favor of the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance.

[titantruth]

I agree that the Titans are not in the flow and I cant help but notice that this has happened when the line-up changed!  I think things would be back on track if the Fisher/McGraw duo was back in the off guard spot and Arnold was subing at point.
Fisher is stronger and more effective on the deffensive end and the duo was generating more points than the new rotation is now.  Also you have to consider Fisher's strong deffensive presence  on the court not only with his energy, but size as well.