MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[79jaybird]

Elmhurst falls to #6 and considering how they lost to NC,  that is probably higher in the poll that I would have thought.  I hope to see a strong showing in RI.  Going to have to shoot better than 34% to beat Augie and many others still left on the slate.

[Ralph Turner]

2016 will be the 43rd consecutive season without an undefeated CCIW MBB champion (Augustana 1973).  The CCIW has had 6 national champions and 10 other Final Four teams in those 43 years...none went unscathed.

That's a cool stat. Maybe I'll add that to the conference guidebook for next year -- last time a team was undefeated in regular season conference play. I could add last time a team was winless, but that seems cruel.

I agree. Don't do winless.

[Gregory Sager]

2016 will be the 43rd consecutive season without an undefeated CCIW MBB champion (Augustana 1973).  The CCIW has had 6 national champions and 10 other Final Four teams in those 43 years...none went unscathed.

That's a cool stat. Maybe I'll add that to the conference guidebook for next year -- last time a team was undefeated in regular season conference play. I could add last time a team was winless, but that seems cruel.

I agree. Don't do winless.

Seconded. Winless would be a bad idea, Gordon.

[iwumichigander]

2016 will be the 43rd consecutive season without an undefeated CCIW MBB champion (Augustana 1973).  The CCIW has had 6 national champions and 10 other Final Four teams in those 43 years...none went unscathed.

That's a cool stat. Maybe I'll add that to the conference guidebook for next year -- last time a team was undefeated in regular season conference play. I could add last time a team was winless, but that seems cruel.

I agree. Don't do winless.

Seconded. Winless would be a bad idea, Gordon.

Agree.  It also might be interesting to see how far undefeated teams got in the NCAA tournament.

[kiko]

2016 will be the 43rd consecutive season without an undefeated CCIW MBB champion (Augustana 1973).  The CCIW has had 6 national champions and 10 other Final Four teams in those 43 years...none went unscathed.

That's a cool stat. Maybe I'll add that to the conference guidebook for next year -- last time a team was undefeated in regular season conference play. I could add last time a team was winless, but that seems cruel.

I agree. Don't do winless.

Seconded. Winless would be a bad idea, Gordon.

What would be moderately interesting is listing the number of different teams have won the conference title over the past 10 years, or whatever timespan interests you.  This gets to relative dominance versus competitiveness of a conference.  Regular season would be more interesting, but Pool A would probably be easier to calculate.

On the 43-year streak... only twice in the past 17 years has there been a one-loss CCIW regular season champion.

[Gregory Sager]

From the Carthage @ Wheaton gamer on the Carthage website:

Carthage travels to Chicago on Wednesday, Jan. 23 to play North Park University (12-6, 4-3 CCIW) in a 7 p.m. game at the North Park Gym. The Vikings won at home over Illinois Wesleyan University, 82-70, on Saturday night. "North Park is probably playing as well as anyone in the league, "said Djurickovic. "That's exciting stuff for them, and they're my second-favorite team. How many places name a court after you? I hope they win every game they play, except when they play us."

Nothing makes me more nervous than an opposing coach killing us with kindness.

[CCIW >]

Half way through the CCIW slate and I am curious who you guys have for 1st Team All-CCIW??

PG: ?
SG: J Henry (no debating)
SF: Connor Raridon (no debating)
PF: J Robinson (no debating)
C: Alex Sorenson (no debating)

As far as the PG spot is concerned, I am not sold on Hunter Hill or Kyle Wuest. If NCC makes a push to win conference I really believe Jagger Anderson should be up for that last guard spot. Without him, NCC might be a .500 team. His skill with the ball and penetrating the lane is unmatched by anyone in this league but Henry. Over the last 5-10 years of watch NCC play, they have always struggled to handle ball pressure and it has driven me crazy. A full court press would almost cripple our point guard and really hurt the team (not able to get into the offense). With Anderson, it is incredible, no one can take the ball from him and that is a something that you won't see on a stat sheet, but is more valuable then almost anything he does. Also, whenever NCC needs a basket, it seems to always be Jagger with a few slick moves and a tough finish in traffic to get the guys amped up. If you haven't been following him, i suggest you do. Absolutely the best true point guard in the CCIW, but i understand Hill and Wuest are going to most likely battle for the other guard spot.

But i will say:
After watching Wuest take horrible shots all night, and fail to defend with any effectiveness, I can't imagine why he is a 1st Teamer? Felt the same way last year.

[Gregory Sager]

You have to chuckle at a guy who asks people to pick their respective All-CCIW first teams ... and then informs us that four of his five picks are not open for debate.

[iwumichigander]

Yeah, particularly when there is room for debate

[kiko]

... and none of the picks are from the defending national runner-up and current #2 team in the nation, or from the current #6 team in the nation.

While we should put great weight on Saturday's performance by Elmhurst's players, and dismiss them accordingly, it's pretty clear that we should dismiss that 35-2 start in Rock Island 12 days ago as ancient history and just go ahead and put three Cardinals on the first team, right?

[Gregory Sager]

Somewhere in this great land of ours is a kid with 32 posts to his credit on d3boards.com who is saying to himself, "Why is kiko making fun of me? I thought that he was supposed to be a Cardinals fan, too! Why isn't he getting behind my three-Cards-on-the-first-team idea?

"And how does he get his posts to change fonts like that?"

[WUPHF]

[Laughing out loud]

[Augie6]

Hard to even respond to NCC's post.  He most know something that none of the coaches in the league know, since he's not sold on Hunter Hill, despite being the conference co-player of the year last season.  Since nothing is up for debate, why don't we just crown NCC the CCIW champ and national champion right now?  With 3 CCIW first teamers, there really seems no reason to play the remainder of the games this season.

[AppletonRocks]

Hunter Hill is the answer.   

[CCIW >]

... and none of the picks are from the defending national runner-up and current #2 team in the nation, or from the current #6 team in the nation.

What does being national runner up or current #6 have to do with being the best players in the conference??
I really don't see any correlation at all to be honest.
Your logic is stating that no good player could play on a bad team. And no matter how average a guy is, if his team is the best, he is a superstar?
Sounds a little goofy to me.

Augie wins because they are a great team, their team defense may be unmatched in the country and their offensive discipline is incredible. But i am not sure how that is at all related to the picking of the All-CCIW Team??

And i would LOVE to hear an argument against Henry, Raridon, Robinson, and Sorenson as 1st Teamers. If anyone even tries to argue or debate it, i am at a loss for words. I question how you watch basketball so regularly and don't see what the entire world sees. The only one that is a little "iffy" is Sorenson. But the CCIW lacks bigs, and I am going to take him over these other centers all day. The 3 point percentage is what gives him the front runner spot.