MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[79jaybird]

This is going to be a great CCIW Tournament and I would persuade fans of all 8 schools to make their plans to be in Rock Island, whether or not your favorite team is involved in the tourney.
Though Elmhurst breezed past  Wheaton, I thought the  Thunder had a good year.  Nobody gave them a chance, and the Thunder deserves to be praised for their year.  They will be much better next year.
Good luck to all 4 teams at the tournament next week.  All 3 games I think will go down to the wire.

[cardinal20]

My bad iwufans...i was looking at a different poster that said dumben down. i apologize. i agree harrigan was a huge part and probably should be POY, but i think simmons was a huge reason ncc finished second.

[iwufans]

My bad iwufans...i was looking at a different poster that said dumben down. i apologize. i agree harrigan was a huge part and probably should be POY, but i think simmons was a huge reason ncc finished second.

No problem.  I agree with you that Simmons is a huge part of the NCC success this year and their 2nd place finish. 

[cardinalpride]

Which begs the question - at this stage, with each team having three weeks left (who's first team).

Harrigan, AC
McAdams-Thornton, AC
Daukas, IW
Amelianovich, IW
Simmons, NC
Jefferies, CT
Martin, EC

at least two on that list of the top seven players in the league aren't going to make it.

MW

At this point , the odd men out would probably be Jeffery and McAdams-Thornton. I hate to admit it in Jay's case, 'cause he's so steady and was the best player on the floor in the biggest CCIW game so far this year (AC @ IWU). But Simmons and Harrigan have just been too good this year to not move up to first team. Harrigan, the last two games not withstanding, has got to be the frontrunner for POY at this point. If Augie ends up winning the league by a large margin, say 3 games or more. They may drop someone in favor of Jay (I know he was a first teamer last year, but I think his incumbency is a little more tenuous than Amelianovich's, Dauksas', or Martin's). Anyway, there's a long way to go and nothings decided yet so it's all speculation at this point. 

I think Simmons is a pretty sure bet for first team All-CCIW, but cardinalpride, I think you miss the point a little with Harrigan. Augie won the league in large part because of Harrigan. If he wins POY (and I think he should) it won't be because he just happened to play on the team that won the regular season title, but because he was instrumental in winning that title.

Dansand, I totally agree with you.  I should have elaborated more on my point because I feel Simmons deserves first team for the same reasons.  He was instrumental in the Cards being 9-5 and finishing 2nd in the league.

[Titan Q]

Am I correct that Penn Atlantic will be video broadcasting the CCIW tournament games over the internet?

I haven't heard that, but Penn Atlantic has some significant logistics to work through if they're going to do a webcast from the Carver Center.  Their setup requires the camera to be in close proximity to the radio station they take the audio from...at Augie, the radio perch and the camera are miles apart.  The radio stations are positioned on the top floor, in a corner.  The camera is on the main concourse level at mid-court.  For the IWU/Augie webcast, we had to move from our usual spot on the south side of the Shirk Center to the north to accomodate Penn Atlantic.  That was no big deal, but at Augie there's not a simple fix like that.

In addition to the location issue, there were some pretty significant things Penn Atlantic (and IWU's I.T. department) had to scramble to do at the last minute for the webcast of the IWU/Augie game in Bloomington.  Penn Atlantic made certain assumptions about access to high-speed lines in the gym, etc that they shouldn't have.  I hope they ask the right questions of Augie's people well ahead of time if they are going to do another one.  It is a wonderful opportunity for CCIW fans to watch the games so I hope there is something to that speculation.

[Titan Q]

As far as the 1st Team goes, I think it is almost set in stone...

Rick Harrigan, Augustana (Fred Young M.O.P.)
Keelan Amelianovich, IWU
Adam Dauksas, IWU
Chris Martin, Elmhurst
Anthony Simmons, North Central


Yesterday afternoon, the following post was made:

"Though it is still too early to give out my CCIW teams, can anyone convince me as to why Anthony Simmons deserves to be a first team player?  Harrigan, Martin, Dauksas, Amelianovich sounds good, but adding Simmons to that just seems to dumben down the team." -ecdubb420

Simmons proceeded to go for 30 & 14 last night vs the CCIW champion.

Anthony Simmons has been the best big guy in the league this year by far.  He averaged 20.0 ppg in conference play while shooting .532 from the field.  To suggest that he should not be on the 1st Team is nuts.

When Pat Coleman's crew goes about picking the 2005-06 D3hoops.com All-American squads they will have give some consideration to Mr. Simmons at one of those post spots.

[Titan Q]

Wash U won at NYU today 63-59 to stay tied for the UAA league lead.

Carnegie Mellon 9-4 (vs Rochester Saturday)
Wash U 9-4 (@ Chicago Saturday)

The Bears can only win the Pool A bid if they defeat Chicago and CMU loses at home to Rochester.  Most likely Wash U will be a Pool C candidate. 

It would be interesting to see what would happen if IWU and Wash U were both fighting for a Pool C bid.  IWU won at Wash U 83-56.  In addition to the "primary criteria" of in-region winning % and Quality of Wins Index, head-to-head play is also listed.  IWU's win over Wash U may end up being very significant come selection day.

Wash U's win today means they are guaranteed to finish the year with an in-region winning % of .667+.  IWU's win at Wash U is locked in as a "15 pointer" in the QOWI.  Those 15 pointers are obviously big.

[Jim Matson]

To the earlier poster on the CCIW dinner: it is an invite only event.  Save your toll money for the trip out I-88 to Rock Island!  Only 2 hrs and 8 mins from Wheaton to the Augie gym...

[Titan Q]

Not that it counts for anything, but another team IWU defeated soundly won a big game this weekend.  Olivet Nazarene completed a season sweep over NAIA I #2 ranked Robert Morris (Chicago) yesterday.  The CCAC stands at...

Olivet Nazarene 9-1
Robert Morris 8-2
St. Xavier 6-3

IWU defeated ONU 87-68 and St. Xavier 81-61.

In my opinion, Augustana, North Central, and Elmhurst are significantly better teams than the top non-conference opponents IWU faced -- NAIA's Olivet Nazarene, St. Xavier, and Westmont and D3's Puget Sound, Wash U, Wabash, Hanover, and Chicago.  At the conclusion of the non-conference season, I thought Augie, Elmhurst and NCC would be about on par with the likes of ONU, St. Xavier, and Westmont (the best 3 in that group above) - that is about where I felt those teams were last year.  Augie is much improved with the Swetella's though...Elmhurst with freshmen Ruch and Strzemp, continued improvement from 6-10 Michael, and the steady play of Lee at the point...and NCC is also quite a bit better this year in Raridon's second season.

The CCIW's top 4 is tough...and Wheaton and Carthage are a real solid 5 and 6.

[augie_superfan]

Q, you make a good point about the Wash U vs. IWU situation.  Another thing to keep in mind is that all possible Pool C candidates should be hoping that CMU takes the AQ.  I think CMU would be a better Pool C candidate than Wash U so hopefully CMU can take that automatic bid.  CMU has got a pretty high QOWI...like 0.9 above IWU, whereas IWU matches up much better than Wash U.

[True Basketball Fan]

Simmons should be on the first team (even though he scored 0 points vs. EC last week.....BTW, when was the last time a first teamer scored 0 points in a game? Maybe GS knows.)  Anyway, I actually think he might have a chance at an all-american selection.  Wouldn't that be something!  All 5 first teamers as all-americans.  I wonder when the last time that happened or ever happened?

How about predictions for the second team?  Or does anybody really care.

[Titan Q]

Q, you make a good point about the Wash U vs. IWU situation.  Another thing to keep in mind is that all possible Pool C candidates should be hoping that CMU takes the AQ.  I think CMU would be a better Pool C candidate than Wash U so hopefully CMU can take that automatic bid.  CMU has got a pretty high QOWI...like 0.9 above IWU, whereas IWU matches up much better than Wash U.

Absolutely.  Wash U winning the Pool A bid would be somewhat like a conference tournament upset (the UAA does not have a tourney).  CCIW fans should be pulling for Carnegie Mellon to win that Pool A...they're probably a lock C.

[Titan Q]

How about predictions for the second team?  Or does anybody really care.

As far as the 2nd Team, 5 of these 6...

Tony Bollier (Sr), Wheaton - 14.8 ppg, 4.5 apg
Kyle Jeffery (So), Carthage - 21.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg
Drew Gensler (Fr), Millikin - 19.2 ppg, 3.6 apg
Jay McAdams-Thorton (Sr), Augustana - 13.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg
Nick Michael (Jr), Elmhurst - 15.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg
Zach Freeman (Jr), IWU - 15.1 ppg, 7.2 rpg

(CCIW only stats)

[cardinalpride]

How about predictions for the second team?  Or does anybody really care.

As far as the 2nd Team, 5 of these 6...

Tony Bollier (Sr), Wheaton - 14.8 ppg, 4.5 apg
Kyle Jeffery (So), Carthage - 21.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg
Drew Gensler (Fr), Millikin - 19.2 ppg, 3.6 apg
Jay McAdams-Thorton (Sr), Augustana - 13.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg
Nick Michael (Jr), Elmhurst - 15.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg
Zach Freeman (Jr), IWU - 15.1 ppg, 7.2 rpg

(CCIW only stats)

How about throwing this name in the mix for 2nd team.
Dan Walton (Jr)- 14.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg, .528 fg% 
He also is an Academic All-American candidate!  Very Nice!

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Is anybody on this board going to the CCIW 60th anniversary dinner tomorrow? Miles Brand is the keynote speaker.

Yes - I have been invited as a guest of North Park.

Haven't you noticed how mellow I've been lately ?!

MW