MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

Ypsi, as far as I know all of Augie is in Rock Island. 

'70

[lmitzel]

New poll has Augie at #9 with 368 points and Illinois Wesleyan at #14 with 279.  That's a 197 point swing, so... yay, progress?

Obviously I'm not a fan of either program, but I'd assume an average gap of about 3-4 places difference is at least somewhat palatable for our green-clad friends. I'm still really curious for next Wednesday to see how the regional rankings shake out, especially with how the WIAC looks.

IF IWU wins in Rock Island (yeah, the gym is actually in Moline!) on Wednesday, and Augie is STILL ranked higher next week, some voters need to be fired!

BTW, lmitzel, a 3-4 place average gap in FAVOR of IWU would be palatable - the gap the other way is still reflecting last year and pre-season expectations at the expense of THIS season's reality.

Just to play devil's advocate, Augie's SOS is about 50 points higher than Illinois Wesleyan's. Granted, I don't know how much of a factor that is in a lot of people's ballots, and I'm sure we'll get some explanations from our couple voters that have done so the last couple weeks. Or maybe there's still some inherent anchoring bias, but I can't speak for the voters.

[Greek Tragedy]

New poll has Augie at #9 with 368 points and Illinois Wesleyan at #14 with 279.  That's a 197 point swing, so... yay, progress?

Obviously I'm not a fan of either program, but I'd assume an average gap of about 3-4 places difference is at least somewhat palatable for our green-clad friends. I'm still really curious for next Wednesday to see how the regional rankings shake out, especially with how the WIAC looks.

IF IWU wins in Rock Island (yeah, the gym is actually in Moline!) on Wednesday, and Augie is STILL ranked higher next week, some voters need to be fired!

BTW, lmitzel, a 3-4 place average gap in FAVOR of IWU would be palatable - the gap the other way is still reflecting last year and pre-season expectations at the expense of THIS season's reality.

Just to play devil's advocate, Augie's SOS is about 50 points higher than Illinois Wesleyan's. Granted, I don't know how much of a factor that is in a lot of people's ballots, and I'm sure we'll get some explanations from our couple voters that have done so the last couple weeks. Or maybe there's still some inherent anchoring bias, but I can't speak for the voters.

That's a pretty big gap. I don't know if that goes into the voters minds for the poll, but it definitely will come NCAA Regional Rankings.

[AndOne]

IF IWU wins in Rock Island (yeah, the gym is actually in Moline!) on Wednesday, and Augie is STILL ranked higher next week, some voters need to be fired!

Where in Moline is the game being played on Wednesday, or is this some long time running joke newbies wouldn't recognize?

I was going to ask the same thing because Carver is definitely not in Moline.

My apologies if I was (am) misinformed.  While Augie is definitely in Rock Island, my understanding was that Carver was just across the city line in Moline.

Perhaps I'm mixing things up and the football stadium is in Moline?

The address of the Carver Center is 3500 5th Ave., Rock Island, IL. 61201 

[augie77]

The Moline city line is roughly a mile east of Augustana's campus.  As far as I know, the college owns no property in Moline, and never has.

[GoPerry]

The good news about the Wheaton – MU game from Saturday was that I couldn't watch it or follow live stats.  While mildly surprised at the outcome, the result clearly demonstrates the Francis-dependent nature of this Wheaton team. Every squad has their top performer(s) but the importance of Francis to Wheaton's nightly success I think is more critical than say NCC (Sorenson, Raridon),  IWU (Rose), or Augie (Sortillo).  Like I said, I didn't see the game so I'm not sure how much of Aston's performance was MU defense or just one of those slightly tough shooting nights. Rebounding a problem once again.  Now they're in a top 4 dog fight and can probably only afford to lose 1 more game to have a chance.

Your comment reminded me of a couple of weeks ago when the Wheaton faithful was effusively praising Spencer Peterson against North Central; I'm pretty sure I watched the same webstream as everyone else, and I thought he was a liability more often than not.  We all come at this with different biases and depth of information, so we sometimes view the game through differently colored glasses.

. . . and we obviously interpret posts with the same different glasses since I don't recall any such praises of Peterson except in the context of being a better option than Jay Spencer which hardly qualifies as effusive.  Practically the opposite considering how critical the comments have been against his (still) horrible 3 pt shooting. 

[kiko]

The good news about the Wheaton – MU game from Saturday was that I couldn't watch it or follow live stats.  While mildly surprised at the outcome, the result clearly demonstrates the Francis-dependent nature of this Wheaton team. Every squad has their top performer(s) but the importance of Francis to Wheaton's nightly success I think is more critical than say NCC (Sorenson, Raridon),  IWU (Rose), or Augie (Sortillo).  Like I said, I didn't see the game so I'm not sure how much of Aston's performance was MU defense or just one of those slightly tough shooting nights. Rebounding a problem once again.  Now they're in a top 4 dog fight and can probably only afford to lose 1 more game to have a chance.

Your comment reminded me of a couple of weeks ago when the Wheaton faithful was effusively praising Spencer Peterson against North Central; I'm pretty sure I watched the same webstream as everyone else, and I thought he was a liability more often than not.  We all come at this with different biases and depth of information, so we sometimes view the game through differently colored glasses.

. . . and we obviously interpret posts with the same different glasses since I don't recall any such praises of Peterson except in the context of being a better option than Jay Spencer which hardly qualifies as effusive.  Practically the opposite considering how critical the comments have been against his (still) horrible 3 pt shooting.

I don't understand the Wheaton coach taking out Spencer Peterson.  They controlled the inside when he was in and got out rebounded big time for the time he was out in the second half.  Either the coach was mad at him or didn't resize what he was doing.  He should never shoot from the three and isn't an offensive threat but he was essential in all the time Wheaton lead.  Wheaton had no chance do to the inside match-ups when they took him out.

I agree. No more 3's for Spencer Peterson.  He should have been on the floor way more down the stretch, though, when NCC took control of the game.  He was Wheaton's best defender again Sorenson who had several easy baskets in the last 6-7 minutes of the game with Peterson out.  It made no sense to have him on the bench.

Peterson was the only person who could box out Sorenson.  He was getting into his head while he was in.  For this match-up he needed to play 25 plus minutes.  I don't think Gunther was bothering Sorensen that much.

I'm sticking with effusive.  At the risk of re-litigating a game from back in the day when there are important matchups on the horizon, Sorensen finished with 19 and 10, which is pretty much right on his average for the year.  I didn't see anything suggesting he was struggling  with Peterson on the floor, though admittedly (a) I watched the game through red-tinted glasses, and (b) I don't have Go Thunder's superpower ability to figure out which guy was getting into the other guy's head.

[iwu70]

Imitzel, surely head-to-head, esp. a big score win, should count more that some difference in SOS.  And, IWU has the better overall record now too, and leads the CCIW by 2 games on the loss side.  I  think some poll voters are just not paying attention. Yes, I know Augie is a good team and all that -- but shouldn't the voting be on performance this year, with these teams, not some notion of reputation or anchoring from last season's fine performance by Augie? 

'70

[AndOne]

The good news about the Wheaton – MU game from Saturday was that I couldn't watch it or follow live stats.  While mildly surprised at the outcome, the result clearly demonstrates the Francis-dependent nature of this Wheaton team. Every squad has their top performer(s) but the importance of Francis to Wheaton's nightly success I think is more critical than say NCC (Sorenson, Raridon),  IWU (Rose), or Augie (Sortillo).  Like I said, I didn't see the game so I'm not sure how much of Aston's performance was MU defense or just one of those slightly tough shooting nights. Rebounding a problem once again.  Now they're in a top 4 dog fight and can probably only afford to lose 1 more game to have a chance.

Your comment reminded me of a couple of weeks ago when the Wheaton faithful was effusively praising Spencer Peterson against North Central; I'm pretty sure I watched the same webstream as everyone else, and I thought he was a liability more often than not.  We all come at this with different biases and depth of information, so we sometimes view the game through differently colored glasses.

. . . and we obviously interpret posts with the same different glasses since I don't recall any such praises of Peterson except in the context of being a better option than Jay Spencer which hardly qualifies as effusive.  Practically the opposite considering how critical the comments have been against his (still) horrible 3 pt shooting.

Go,

You were only mildly surprised that Millikin thoroughly throttled your Thunder? 
I, frankly, was pretty amazed. 
That must have been one hell heck of a 3 and a half hour bus ride home. 🤬

With regard to Peterson's horrible 3 point shooting, I seem to recall that a couple weeks ago, a very strong WC fan or two posted about wishing he would just stop shooting threes altogether, and instead take his bulk inside and establish a low post presence, do some rebounding, and pick up some easy baskets.

[iwu70]

Congrats to Brad Kruse on CCIW Player of the Week.  More to come for him, I'm sure.  Some great numbers and perhaps a claim on first team CCIW?

'70

[mr_b]

The Moline city line is roughly a mile east of Augustana's campus.  As far as I know, the college owns no property in Moline, and never has.

Swanson-Brunner Stadium (baseball) is located at 1031 43rd Ave., Moline, Illinois.  I'm not sure if the college owns or leases the property.

[GoPerry]

The good news about the Wheaton – MU game from Saturday was that I couldn't watch it or follow live stats.  While mildly surprised at the outcome, the result clearly demonstrates the Francis-dependent nature of this Wheaton team. Every squad has their top performer(s) but the importance of Francis to Wheaton's nightly success I think is more critical than say NCC (Sorenson, Raridon),  IWU (Rose), or Augie (Sortillo).  Like I said, I didn't see the game so I'm not sure how much of Aston's performance was MU defense or just one of those slightly tough shooting nights. Rebounding a problem once again.  Now they're in a top 4 dog fight and can probably only afford to lose 1 more game to have a chance.

Your comment reminded me of a couple of weeks ago when the Wheaton faithful was effusively praising Spencer Peterson against North Central; I'm pretty sure I watched the same webstream as everyone else, and I thought he was a liability more often than not.  We all come at this with different biases and depth of information, so we sometimes view the game through differently colored glasses.

. . . and we obviously interpret posts with the same different glasses since I don't recall any such praises of Peterson except in the context of being a better option than Jay Spencer which hardly qualifies as effusive.  Practically the opposite considering how critical the comments have been against his (still) horrible 3 pt shooting.

Go,

You were only mildly surprised that Millikin thoroughly throttled your Thunder? 
I, frankly, was pretty amazed. 
That must have been one hell heck of a 3 and a half hour bus ride home. 🤬

Yes - using "mildly" in the same way one would express "surprised but not shocked."  That is to simply acknowledge a reality not lost on Thunder faithful (or at least not this WC fan) of how vulnerable Wheaton is to a poor game from #1 who was 4-16 from the field and 2-13 from trey.  Furthermore, while I didn't think they would lose by 20, I was concerned about this still relatively young squad coming off a hugely emotional home loss to Augustana and heading to Decatur for an "expected road win," a term that should never enter a player's mind in this league.

With regard to Peterson's horrible 3 point shooting, I seem to recall that a couple weeks ago, a very strong WC fan or two posted about wishing he would just stop shooting threes altogether, and instead take his bulk inside and establish a low post presence, do some rebounding, and pick up some easy baskets.

Exactly my attempted point to Kiko.  I won't speak for my fellow "Wheaton faithful".  But I didn't read their comments as believing Peterson was Dennis Rodman in a Wheaton jersey but more like the better/only option vs Sorenson who lit us up with a double/double.  Considering my own overt criticism of him shooting 3s, joined by others practically begging him not to shoot them, I hardly considered these comments as effusive praise.

By the way, he's still shooting them and has actually made a couple where now his % has risen to 20%.

[WUPHF]

While Augie is definitely in Rock Island, my understanding was that Carver was just across the city line in Moline.

No need to apologize.  If you are driving in from the East, you get signs for Moline, but you do not necessarily get a sign that you are entering Rock Island.  And, in the neighborhoods around campus, there is no other way to distinguish between the two communities.

[mwunder]

New poll has Augie at #9 with 368 points and Illinois Wesleyan at #14 with 279.  That's a 197 point swing, so... yay, progress?

Obviously I'm not a fan of either program, but I'd assume an average gap of about 3-4 places difference is at least somewhat palatable for our green-clad friends. I'm still really curious for next Wednesday to see how the regional rankings shake out, especially with how the WIAC looks.

Our green-clad friends have zero to complain about since the team directly behind them in the rankings has the same number of losses and a victory over the same green-clad team.

[AppletonRocks]

While Augie is definitely in Rock Island, my understanding was that Carver was just across the city line in Moline.

No need to apologize.  If you are driving in from the East, you get signs for Moline, but you do not necessarily get a sign that you are entering Rock Island.  And, in the neighborhoods around campus, there is no other way to distinguish between the two communities.

The entire state is bankrupt. But I appreciate the geography lesson. Details matter.