MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[GoPerry]

Congratulations to Aston Francis for being named Player of the Week

In other news, the sun came up today.

Fair enough 😂

Do we have a new entry for the gold medal in the category of grandiloquent promotion?
Is a new orange - green rivalry emerging for the top spot? 

Pls, may it never be so.  "Great day to be a Thunder!!"??    No thank you.

[GoPerry]

Also have been encouraged through my following of Aiden's twitter updates of his recovery process. He's a fighter for sure and I'm happy to see him making positive strides in what will be a long and difficult road to recovery.

Duck,

Another factor in Aiden's recovery process has been his very positive attitude since the onset.
I know for a fact that he deeply appreciates the awesome support, physical, emotional, and spiritual that he received from Wheaton staff and fans. They were the majority present at the time of the injury, and their prayerful thoughts and support surely helped Aiden in his darkest moments, and continue to do so.

Glad to hear he's doing well.  No surprise really - He's a heck of a competitor.

[Titan Q]

5 CCIW teams in Massey's top 50...

2. Augustana
24. Illinois Wesleyan
27. Wheaton
28. North Central
49. Elmhurst

https://www.masseyratings.com/cb2019/ncaa-d3/ratings

[Gregory Sager]

Congratulations to Aston Francis for being named Player of the Week

In other news, the sun came up today.

Fair enough 😂

Do we have a new entry for the gold medal in the category of grandiloquent promotion?
Is a new orange - green rivalry emerging for the top spot? 

Pls, may it never be so.  "Great day to be a Thunder!!"??    No thank you.

I think that everybody knows my feelings about Wheaton, but I'll say this: Grandiloquent promotion is not the normal Wheatie style. Sure, you'll encounter plenty of Wheaton fans that express pride in their school's teams, and Wheaton fans are not always scrupulously objective when it comes to their orange-clad favorites, but in those respects they're completely normal when it comes to college sports fans. A one-sentence congratulations with an exclamation point from one fan is hardly the sort of chest-thumping that merits ridicule.

Let's be honest, Mark. If Aston Francis was wearing a red uniform with "North Central" in script across his chest, you'd be the CCIW Chat equivalent of his press agent. If he sported NPU livery, I'd be the one trumpeting his accomplishments here on a regular basis. A player like Aston Francis doesn't come along every day.

[Mr. Ypsi]

New poll is up.  Augie rises from 3rd to 2nd, but otherwise the conference is really hurting.  IWU is now down to 17 points (that home loss to Carroll is the real killer); Wheaton has only 7 points; and NCC, despite only three losses, is completely shut out (I suspect the NPU loss is the main culprit there).

[Gregory Sager]

New poll is up.  Augie rises from 3rd to 2nd, but otherwise the conference is really hurting.  IWU is now down to 17 points (that home loss to Carroll is the real killer); Wheaton has only 7 points; and NCC, despite only three losses, is completely shut out (I suspect the NPU loss is the main culprit there).

I don't. That's old news. That game took place almost exactly a month ago, and two entire poll cycles have come and gone since then.

If NCC is being penalized at all, it's because of the Cardinals' loss ten days ago to Ohio Northern (4-9, and all alone in the OAC basement at 0-6), since that game took place within the last poll cycle. Likewise, Illinois Wesleyan already took its hit from the Carroll loss a poll ago, when it dropped from #15 out of the Top 25 altogether.

The bigger picture for those two teams is that: a) North Central may be 12-3, but the Cards have only one win over a team that's receiving votes, and that team (Wheaton) isn't on very many ballots (seven points) -- plus, the Cards weren't even remotely competitive against Augustana last week; and b) Illinois Wesleyan is 9-5, and the only ranked team with as many as three losses is Wooster (barely hanging on by its fingernails at #25, two points ahead of ORV Loras). Even though three of those five Titans losses were close calls against ranked teams, there are a lot of people out there -- presumably including some of Pat's Top 25 pollsters -- who have a "don't tell me about your close losses, tell me whom you've beaten" mentality. And the truth of the matter is that the Titans don't have a win against anybody who impresses the pollsters this season.

[AndOne]

Congratulations to Aston Francis for being named Player of the Week

In other news, the sun came up today.

Fair enough 😂

Do we have a new entry for the gold medal in the category of grandiloquent promotion?
Is a new orange - green rivalry emerging for the top spot? 

Pls, may it never be so.  "Great day to be a Thunder!!"??    No thank you.

I think that everybody knows my feelings about Wheaton, but I'll say this: Grandiloquent promotion is not the normal Wheatie style. Sure, you'll encounter plenty of Wheaton fans that express pride in their school's teams, and Wheaton fans are not always scrupulously objective when it comes to their orange-clad favorites, but in those respects they're completely normal when it comes to college sports fans. A one-sentence congratulations with an exclamation point from one fan is hardly the sort of chest-thumping that merits ridicule.

Let's be honest, Mark. If Aston Francis was wearing a red uniform with "North Central" in script across his chest, you'd be the CCIW Chat equivalent of his press agent. If he sported NPU livery, I'd be the one trumpeting his accomplishments here on a regular basis. A player like Aston Francis doesn't come along every day.

Well then, let's be totally honest, Greg. If ridicule was my intent I certainly wouldn't have bothered to add the smiley    emoji.

Besides, we all know that nobody could really top the Green promotional team. 

[Gregory Sager]

Well then, let's be totally honest, Greg. If ridicule was my intent I certainly wouldn't have bothered to add the smiley    emoji.

Besides, we all know that nobody could really top the Green promotional team. 

Sometimes I fail to give you enough credit for your subtlety, Mark.

[AndOne]

Well then, let's be totally honest, Greg. If ridicule was my intent I certainly wouldn't have bothered to add the smiley    emoji.

Besides, we all know that nobody could really top the Green promotional team. 

Sometimes I fail to give you enough credit for your subtlety, Mark.

And coming from someone as subtle yourself that's very surprising, Greg. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

New poll is up.  Augie rises from 3rd to 2nd, but otherwise the conference is really hurting.  IWU is now down to 17 points (that home loss to Carroll is the real killer); Wheaton has only 7 points; and NCC, despite only three losses, is completely shut out (I suspect the NPU loss is the main culprit there).

I don't. That's old news. That game took place almost exactly a month ago, and two entire poll cycles have come and gone since then.

If NCC is being penalized at all, it's because of the Cardinals' loss ten days ago to Ohio Northern (4-9, and all alone in the OAC basement at 0-6), since that game took place within the last poll cycle. Likewise, Illinois Wesleyan already took its hit from the Carroll loss a poll ago, when it dropped from #15 out of the Top 25 altogether.

The bigger picture for those two teams is that: a) North Central may be 12-3, but the Cards have only one win over a team that's receiving votes, and that team (Wheaton) isn't on very many ballots (seven points) -- plus, the Cards weren't even remotely competitive against Augustana last week; and b) Illinois Wesleyan is 9-5, and the only ranked team with as many as three losses is Wooster (barely hanging on by its fingernails at #25, two points ahead of ORV Loras). Even though three of those five Titans losses were close calls against ranked teams, there are a lot of people out there -- presumably including some of Pat's Top 25 pollsters -- who have a "don't tell me about your close losses, tell me whom you've beaten" mentality. And the truth of the matter is that the Titans don't have a win against anybody who impresses the pollsters this season.

Yeah, your analysis is much deeper than mine, and probably a lot closer to the truth.  I knew IWU would drop (I'm a little surprised they didn't drop even further than they did) even with only ONE truly embarassing loss, because five total losses regardless of opponents or scores is just too many to overcome for many, if not most, voters.  As to NCC, I forgot that NPU was so long ago, and didn't realize ONU was such a bad loss - I'm still a bit surprised that a 12-3 CCIW team would not get even a single vote; I guess we just don't have the rep we used to have.

[iwu70]

I guess we'll see more clearly after IWU and NCC square off soon.  I, too, was surprised that NCC at 12-3 was not getting any attention from the poll voters.  I do agree with Greg on the IWU season so far -- close only counts in horseshoes and the TITANS, though very close to some great teams and with a very strong SOS, have not had a signature win yet this season.  There are more chances, esp. against Augie upcoming.  Titans need to go 9-2 as Q suggested or 10-1 the rest of the way to be in the mix for post-season play, get to 18 or 19 wins -- unless of course they win the AQ in the CCIW tournament.  That's a very tall order given the strength of so many other CCIW teams.  Road wins will be hard to come by and IWU already has 2 home losses.  Not a very happy scenario to face.   Perhaps Q will soon post his + / - formula and we can see more clearly the steep hill IWU has to climb to get back into the CCIW race and to a post-season bid.

IWU'70

[kiko]

New poll is up.  Augie rises from 3rd to 2nd, but otherwise the conference is really hurting.  IWU is now down to 17 points (that home loss to Carroll is the real killer); Wheaton has only 7 points; and NCC, despite only three losses, is completely shut out (I suspect the NPU loss is the main culprit there).

I don't. That's old news. That game took place almost exactly a month ago, and two entire poll cycles have come and gone since then.

If NCC is being penalized at all, it's because of the Cardinals' loss ten days ago to Ohio Northern (4-9, and all alone in the OAC basement at 0-6), since that game took place within the last poll cycle. Likewise, Illinois Wesleyan already took its hit from the Carroll loss a poll ago, when it dropped from #15 out of the Top 25 altogether.

The bigger picture for those two teams is that: a) North Central may be 12-3, but the Cards have only one win over a team that's receiving votes, and that team (Wheaton) isn't on very many ballots (seven points) -- plus, the Cards weren't even remotely competitive against Augustana last week; and b) Illinois Wesleyan is 9-5, and the only ranked team with as many as three losses is Wooster (barely hanging on by its fingernails at #25, two points ahead of ORV Loras). Even though three of those five Titans losses were close calls against ranked teams, there are a lot of people out there -- presumably including some of Pat's Top 25 pollsters -- who have a "don't tell me about your close losses, tell me whom you've beaten" mentality. And the truth of the matter is that the Titans don't have a win against anybody who impresses the pollsters this season.

Yeah, your analysis is much deeper than mine, and probably a lot closer to the truth.  I knew IWU would drop (I'm a little surprised they didn't drop even further than they did) even with only ONE truly embarassing loss, because five total losses regardless of opponents or scores is just too many to overcome for many, if not most, voters.  As to NCC, I forgot that NPU was so long ago, and didn't realize ONU was such a bad loss - I'm still a bit surprised that a 12-3 CCIW team would not get even a single vote; I guess we just don't have the rep we used to have.

Here is who and where those 12 are against:

4-9 Heidelberg at the Hangar
7-6 Benedictine
3-11 Alma at the Hangar
0-11 Finlandia
8-5 Millikin at the Hangar
5-10 Carroll at the Hangar
5-8 Aurora at the Hangar
10-4 Wheaton
9-4 Albion
4-10 Illinois College at the Hangar
8-5 Husson in Vegas
9-5 Elmhurst at the Hangar

There's maybe two or three solid wins over good or above-average programs in that mix, and much of the rest is against variations of Duncan Hines University.  The schedule is what the schedule is, and it is more underwhelming than I think would be expected in a vacuum as some of the Cardinals' opponents are well down from their usual level.  But this slate will do the Sons of Warden no favors come regional ranking time.

Couple this with losses to 4-8 Ohio Northern (neutral court) and 4-11 North Park (at home), and there's not a great case there.  We all know what color I wear, but I'd be hard pressed to rank a team with this body of work at this juncture of the season.

[WUPHF]

Dear old DHU...

Oh, man that is funny.

Also, Alma has three wins?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Yep.  They started 0-11, but are a legitimate threat to make the MIAA tourney, and perhaps even win the AQ.  Despite the cliche "you are what the scoreboard says you are", they are definitely better than the record says they are.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I've seen good portions of three NCC games and lesser portions of several others.  I'm just not sure they've shown the consistency to be ranked right now.  I have voted for them this year and I think they've got the talent to be there - results matter going forward.

As for IWU, I actually moved them up in my last ballot.  I thought they looked better losing to Whitman and UWSP than they did in their other losses (and most of their wins, for that matter).  I think that team is good - they were playing well early and seemed to have regained form over the break.  I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt right now.

It's still a crap shoot until conference plays evens things out, anyway.  You could have four CCIW schools in your ballot easily or it could be four NESCAC schools - or some combination of both or many fewer.