MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

I laughed a little bit last night listening to ESPN radio and an interview with the coach of Texas Tech, Pat Knight, after their big overtime win over Washington.  He kept refering the big "preseason" win, and how important it was to have these "preseason" wins heading into the Big 12 conference play.  I know that there has been a debate on this board (or maybe no debate, just a stickler ), and now we have the son of Bob Knight give us his view on it.  (For the record, I do not think that out of confrence games are "preseason")

He probably has some residual brain damage from being hit in the head by his father so many times.

[petemcb]

But excellent reflexes from dodging all those flying chairs....

[petemcb]

Wash U looks like they could march right through the CCIW.......at least tonight.

[Titan Q]

Wash U looks like they could march right through the CCIW.......at least tonight.

Wash U would not have much trouble in the CCIW this year...13-1 or 12-2.

[WUPHF]

I love how there is more McKendree-Washington University talk in the CCIW thread than in the UAA thread which had only two or three posts.  I do understand, of course.  The two schools feature heavily in the CCIW non-conference schedule.  It makes sense.

I did go to the game, but it seems that many of you watched the game.  The Bears had complete control in the first half.  The Bearcats looked uncharacteristically out of control and could do nothing on offense.

Good coaches are good at getting teams to play their game and McKendree did, as best they could, in the second half.  McK did step up the defense in the second half, but WUSTL had a lot of good looks in the first eight minutes of the second half, but for whatever reason, went cold.

Overall, a strong performance, considering it was only the fourth game of the year, after a long break and the Thanksgiving holiday.

I wish I would have watched the first game which feature Pomona-Pitzer taking a 55-54 win over Whitworth.

[petemcb]

Wash U looks like they could march right through the CCIW.......at least tonight.

Wash U would not have much trouble in the CCIW this year...13-1 or 12-2.

Because it's that tough to go undefeated in the CCIW in any given year, or because you really see two likely losses on their fictitious CCIW schedule?  They seem to be a notch above everyone this year.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Wash U looks like they could march right through the CCIW.......at least tonight.

Wash U would not have much trouble in the CCIW this year...13-1 or 12-2.

Because it's that tough to go undefeated in the CCIW in any given year, or because you really see two likely losses on their fictitious CCIW schedule?  They seem to be a notch above everyone this year.

They only beat IWU by 5 - chances are someone would beat them sometime.

IWU's national title team didn't go undefeated.  None of NPU's 5 title teams went undefeated.  No one since Augie (1973) or IWU (1970) has ever gone undefeated in the CCIW.  Even WashU would have lost to someone were they to play a full season here.

[steve d is the man]

it looks like a rough day in michigan for the CCIW...  however, wheaton looks way in worse shape than carthage. at least we only lost to ripon by 3. it's apparent that without brent caveman, wheaton are struggling. i anticipate steve d to win it all

[petemcb]

You might want to wait till the effects of the post-game libations have abated and then try that one again.........

[Titan Q]

Wash U looks like they could march right through the CCIW.......at least tonight.

Wash U would not have much trouble in the CCIW this year...13-1 or 12-2.

Because it's that tough to go undefeated in the CCIW in any given year, or because you really see two likely losses on their fictitious CCIW schedule?  They seem to be a notch above everyone this year.

They only beat IWU by 5 - chances are someone would beat them sometime.

IWU's national title team didn't go undefeated.  None of NPU's 5 title teams went undefeated.  No one since Augie (1973) or IWU (1970) has ever gone undefeated in the CCIW.  Even WashU would have lost to someone were they to play a full season here.

Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking -- no one ever goes undefeated in the CCIW.   It's just too hard to get through all 14 games without tripping up once or twice.  I think back to IWU's 1997 national championship team (Bryan Crabtree, Brent Niebrugge, Korey Coon, etc), which was way better than any other team in the CCIW that year.  They lost on the road to North Central, a team they beat by about 20 at home.  The Wiertel/Garnes/McDaniel group at Carthage never went 14-0, neither did Dauksas/Amelianovich/Freeman at IWU, Simich/Crabtree/Litwiller at IWU, North Park's 5 national champs, Jack Sikma's teams, etc.

Wash U plays in a great league too, and the national championship Bears weren't able to run the table in the UAA last season.  After beating Rochester by 31 at Rochester, they fell to the Yellowjackets at home by 1.  Wash U's first national championship team (2007-08) didn't even win the UAA...they went 10-4 and finished second to Chicago.  I'd guess they will fall somewhere along the way this year in UAA play too.

[Titan Q]

it looks like a rough day in michigan for the CCIW...  however, wheaton looks way in worse shape than carthage. at least we only lost to ripon by 3. it's apparent that without brent caveman, wheaton are struggling. i anticipate steve d to win it all

Maybe if we hold this post up to a mirror, it will reveal something significant.  Or maybe we have to play it backwards.

[Titan Q]

No huge surprises for me last night in the MIAA/CCIW, although I expected Wheaton to play Hope tough.  I don't know what the blowout means, but am interested to see how Wheaton bounces back today vs Calvin on a neutral court.  My sense is that #6 Wheaton is much closer to the top teams "receiving votes" than they are to the top 5 teams.

I considered Calvin/Carthage to be a "pick 'em" going in, and it looks like it played out that way.  By most accounts, this is not a powerhouse Calvin team.  A good team that will finish in the top 2 of the MIAA, yes...a top 15 kind of Calvin team, probably not.  If Carthage is ready to step up and win the CCIW, I would have thought they'd win this game on a neutral court.

Three weeks into the non-conference, and the 2010 CCIW race still looks wide open.  It still appears the top 4 are (listed in order of the preseason poll) Wheaton, Augustana, Carthage, and IWU, but there are still questions with all 4 (and big injuries/player losses have not helped).  North Central looked pretty good to me on video @ Albion, but their lack of low-post presence probably puts them in the #5 spot at this time.  Elmhurst and Millikin seem to be 6-7 (not sure what order), and North Park #8 until they demonstrate otherwise.

Games in the next week that we will learn from:

• Calvin vs Wheaton, at Hope (today 12:00pm)
• Carthage @ Hope (today, 2:00pm)
• IWU @ Chicago (today, 4:00pm)
• Wheaton @ Wash U (12/9)
• Augustana @ Wash U (12/12)
• Elmhurst @ UW-Stevens Point (12/12)

[Titan Q]

IWU @ Chicago, live video (4:00pm)...

http://athletics.uchicago.edu/mensbasketball/mbk.htm

(Live video of #1 IWU women vs #22 Chicago also available.)

[Titan Q]

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/sports/x1355822802/Calvin-edges-Carthage-to-open-CCIA-MIAA-Challenge-at-DeVos-Fieldhouse

"Nothing against Carthage, but their frontcourt players are all freshmen," Mantel said. "I think the experience was to our advantage."

http://www.carthage.edu/athleticspages/mens/basketball/release.html

"I was frankly surprised that Calvin let Steve Djurickovic take an eight-foot shot in the lane in the last second," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic, "and surprised that he didn't make it.  He's going to make that shot nine times out of 10.  Maybe it's because he's playing 40 minutes.  There has to be a way to get him some rest.  We've not found that yet.  Calvin is a very good team, and we'll have to do a better job on Saturday against Hope.  Hope is better than Calvin, and we're playing in Hope's building."

[Titan Q]

Interesting score from the region.  Illinois College defeated Carroll last night in Jacksonville, 74-59...

http://www.ic.edu/athletics/teams/Mens/Basketball/ICMB_09/12-4cu.htm


The Blueboys defeated DI SIU-Edwardsville in exhibition play, beat SLIAC favorite Westminster by 21, and now Carroll (picked 2nd in the MWC) by 15.

IC's only loss is @ North Central in OT.  They appear to have emerged as a contender in the MWC.