MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[kiko]

If there's someone to blame for December conference games, it's the Northern-most school rather than the Southern-most one...

And much as we all are cold to the idea of starting conference games this early, it really is the lesser of two poisons:

(a) Play basketball conference games in December, or

(b) Continue the current death spiral as it relates to non-conference football scheduling.  Absent the recent changes, that challenge would only continue to get worse.

Football isn't the driver of league policy that I suspect the football posters think it is -- that's a D1 mentality, not a D3 mentality -- but there's no doubt that the accelerating difficulty of finding non-conference opponents for CCIW football teams is a problem. Thing is, that's really not a problem for the other sports, Sure, the men's basketball coaches will get grumpy about coaches from other leagues not answering their calls, or having contracts get canceled on them in the eleventh hour, or their being forced to clump games together at the beginning of the season or over the holidays when school's on break in order to make the schedule work. But filling out eleven non-con dates (now nine) isn't nearly the problem for them that getting two (now one) is for their football brethren.

Oh, I don't think football is the straw that stirs the drink when it comes to CCIW policy -- as you suggest that is a D1 mentality, and it stems from the massive delta in revenue generation that football represents relative to other sports.  That's certainly not what we see in D3.  But there is no question that the struggles teams were having in filling out what was then three non-conference games for football was a big factor in the decision to add Carroll.  I obviously follow North Central most closely, and this has become an increasing challenge during the Thorne era as the program has gotten stronger, but it is not a problem exclusive to the conference's power schools.

Filling out the non-conference slate for basketball is less of an issue than it is for football because there are more dates to choose from, there are tournament options that can fill multiple scheduling slots in one fell swoop (including destination tournaments in far-flung locales), and, when thinking about playing a power school, the impact of a potential loss is not as magnified because there are more games on the schedule (a loss would weigh less on your resume) and there is greater access to post-season play than there is in football (64 teams rather than 32, and correspondingly, more Pool C berths).

I'd rather that the league's presidents had either accepted another associate member as the tenth CCIW football program, or denied Carroll entry as a full member until it had a partner with which to come into the league and bring it up to an even ten full members.

This is the 'beggars can't be choosers' part of the equation.  Carroll was ready to move now; I don't know that the CCIW poobahs could realistically completely dictate the timing of a move by Carroll.  It take two to tango, and the window of opportunity to add Carroll may not have been open-ended to the point where they could keep the Pioneers in the green room for an extended period of time.

That said, if the new arrangement were that Wash U and Chicago were added as associate members for football, with Carroll being told 'thanks, but no', that would have been IMO an ideal solution.

[iwumichigander]

Just random thought regarding Carroll.  As noted above, Carroll was ready to make a change.  From the CCIW viewpoint, Carroll was skew hat of a known quantity with pretty much a full sports offering compared to say adding more associate members. 
If CCIW expansion was contemplated (and I do not know one way or the other), again a known quantity was probably better than another institution that would not have been as good a fit.  If prior experience with Carroll an indicator then  Carroll will be a fit that likely competes in some sports and I the middle in other sports.q
I think Carroll might potentially help Carthage (and perhaps entire conference) in getting a little more CCIW exposure to Wisconsin perspective students - Tranlatebthat to athletic recruits.
But groan, the travel is brutal.
I suspect the scheduling might get a little better in another one or two seasons.  I do not know how many non conference home and away contracts (or non conference tournament commitments for out of town) were out there.  I suspect not a lot but maybe enough to complicate this season.

[lmitzel]

Hot take that's not a hot take alert:

Trevor Seibring is a flopper.

We now return to your regular banter.

[4samuy]

For all CCIW followers, don't not give NPU open treys.  I believe they shot 70% against Augie in the first half:  Could be wrong, but it was pretty close.

[iwu70]

T. Seibring got the foul on NC's big man, and the refs believed it.  LOL.  Too bad.

He was also the leading scorer in the first half.  Just say'in. 

IWU70

[lmitzel]

T. Seibring got the foul on NC's big man, and the refs believed it.  LOL.  Too bad.

He was also the leading scorer in the first half.  Just say'in. 

IWU70

Tied with one Mr. Sorenson. 

[4samuy]

Augustana playing like a bunch of high schoolers

[GoPerry]

Wheaton 82
Elmhurst 69

Francis 24 pts, 6 reb, 6 asst
Eichelberger 18 pts,
Samuelson 17 pts
Jones 10 pts, 10 rebs

Mowry 17 pts
Tennant 13 pts
Loving 9 pts 7 rebs
Plunk 11 rebs

Very solid road win for the Thunder.  Kobe Eichelberger had a terrific game, using his quickness to aggressively drive the lane on the offensive end and getting to the line.  I think teams will confront a very agile and athletic Wheaton squad that played very confidently today.  I think they are on an improving trajectory and it's fun to watch.  Big test @ Augie coming up on Wed.

Expecting several players back from the football team.

[mr_b]

Final from Rock Island: North Park 87, Augustana 78

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Carver:

North Park 87
Augustana 78

[mr_b]

For the Chicago Vikings: Juwan Henry, 23 pts; Jordan Robinson, 22; Colin Lake, 14.  North Park was 11-17 from 3-point range, 30-51 in field goals and 16-19 from the charity stripe.  For Augie, Nolan Ebel had 16 points, and Chrishawn Orange, 15.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Final from Carver:

North Park 87
Augustana 78

And the veil of the temple was rent !!!

[Titan Q]

#6-North Central 84
#16-Illinois Wesleyan 75

Very tight game in which NCC made big plays late to pull away.  IWU led 66-65 with 4:24 to play, and was within 67-66 at 3:51...Raridon was great down the stretch.

* Sorenson: 25 pts, 5 reb
* Raridon: 19 pts, 8 reb, 6 assists
* Henry: 17 pts, 13 reb, 5 assists
* Anderson: 12 pts, 5 reb, 2 assists

* Seibring: 16 pts, 6 reb
* Rose: 13 pts, 2 reb
* Coleman: 11 pts, 2 assists
* Stempel: 10 pts, 5 reb, 3 assists
* Bonnett: 10 pts, 2 assists

The Titans (5-0, 0-1) host North Park (5-0, 1-0) Wednesday.

[iwu70]

Hard fought game, a bit chippy.  Can't say I admire the officiating.  Titans played poorly in the last 3 minutes, and NCC took advantage well, coming on strong down the stretch.  To be honest, I was not that impressed with NCC.  I think they are beatable and without much depth.  Had Sorensen or Raridon fouled out, it would have been different.  But, they played well enough to get the home win tonight.  Brady Rose fouled out with about 3 minutes to go on a very questionable call.  Both coaches in a constant heated dialogue with the crew all evening.  Haven't seen the stats, but can't say either team was at the top of their game.

NPU up next, another challenge.  Congrats to them on taking down Augie.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Jordan Robinson dished out a career-high 12 assists to go with his 22 points, as Augie collapsed on him every time he even thought about driving and he did a nice job of dumping it off with underhand passes to the open man underneath. Juwan Henry didn't shoot well, but he made a pile of FTs at the end of the game to at least get into the neighborhood of his season average, finishing with 23, while Colin Lake added 14.

As Mr. B mentioned, the Vikes shot very well in all three phases tonight. Those .588/.647/.842 team splits are practically unheard-of against a Grey Giovanine team.

Every time that I see this Augustana squad I'm impressed by how much talent it has. It's even more true seeing them live. But it's still young and somewhat raw talent. I said as soon as this schedule came out that I was happy that NPU was going to get to play at Carver in early December; by mid-January this is going to be a really, really hard Augie team to beat on any floor by anybody.