MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

My favorite part about the Illini message board is how they are all assuming Fisher is the best player on the Titan team.  I would guess there might be some shocked orange-clad fans at Assembly Hall Thursday night.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Q,

Any update on Cory's healing?

[emeritusprof]

To revisit the issue for the last time, Carthage has dropped Redmen, adopted Red Man, and eliminated feathers from the C logo.

I suspect news items will appear, altho there is more info on the Carthage website.

[Titan Q]

Chuck, Cory had surgery Monday and everything sounds fine.  He is on track to play in the opener at the Wabash "Little Giant Tipoff."  It is too bad he is going to miss the Illini game, but it sounds like he will be ready to go when it counts.

Some "probable starters" for the IWU/Illinois game...

http://www.iwuhoops.com/

[Titan Q]

From Mark Tupper's Illini blog...

Illinois Wesleyan will be a much better test than some of the club or AAU teams we had before the ruling changed last year. In Wesleyan you'll get a disciplined team that has depth, knows how to win, runs plays with precision and is ranked No. 1 nationally in Division III.

Who cares if they're not as athletic as some of the old AAU teams? Those teams often showed up with six or seven players in different uniforms and looked ill-prepared to do much but run around and take a beating. Plus it had gotten to a bad point on the money. An AAU coach who was running one of those teams could hold Illinois hostage for $40,000 or $50,000 as their portion of the guarantee. And because you were recruiting players influenced by the AAU coach, you felt you had to ante up. The NCAA recognized this and took everyone off the hook by putting an end to it.

Now you can schedule an in-state school or a decent regional opponent from the Division II or Division III ranks and feel better about the matchup. It's a great opportunity for Wesleyan, a game that will help them down the road. And it's a good chance for a young Illinois team to play someone other than themselves.


http://www.herald-review.com/blogs/marktupper/?p=138

[Mr. Ypsi]

Q,

Why is everybody talking about Dee Brown - dang, Adam is taller, heavier, and leads him in every statistical category you posted!  It sounds like a total mismatch the other way!

Um, you mean they didn't face the same opponents?  (Doing best Emily Litella imitation):  Never mind.

Being serious, unless Illinois takes this seriously, I think it could be a whole lot more interesting than most people assume.

[Greek Tragedy]

Just curious what the original intent or original whatever of the nickname Red Men, as opposed to Redmen means.  I mean, what's the difference, aside from the fact it sounds like they are trying to associate it with fire.  Are they going to wear red socks, like the Red Legs of Cincinnati, which just shortened it to the Cincinnati Reds?  Just curious.  I guess I don't know the history of Carthage.  Sorry...thanks.

[augie_superfan]

Couple questions about the upcoming season for some CCIW teams

First, haven't been in here for awhile so I probably missed it or just dont remember, where did Kent Raymond go?

Secondly, I don't know much about any of the teams in the CCIW except that IWU will be amazing, Augie should continue to improve upon last year and Elmhurst shall be good again.  Does anyone have any info on how teams like Wheaton, Carthage, and North Central will be.  I assume Wheaton will be much worse than the past few years.

[Gregory Sager]

Raymond is still at Wheaton, but he's chosen not to play basketball this year. It's all right here in CCIW Chat's back pages, Augie Superfan. Just click on the numbers.

[dansand]

augie_superfan,

Page 30 has my take on Augie's line-up possibilities (take it for what it's worth). Page 33 has Q's league review and a few comments by some others.

[MilkMan25]

The Preseason conference poll is in...Any thoughts on the outcome???

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Ripon lost to Wisconsin Green Bay last night 97-81 in an exhibiton.  Ripon led by one at the half and by two with ten minutes to go, but they didn't react well to hometown officiating and lost on the free throw line (30 attempts to 8).

Not that Ripons a bad team, or that Green Bay is all that great for their respective divisions, but doesn't this bode well for IWU tomorrow?

Ripon succeeded, initially by playing defense and keeping the score low.  The bigger front court players of GB had trouble with the smaller Ripon forwards because of their skilled and varied moves. 

Foul trouble is to be expected when your guards are undersized comparatively.  IWU doesn't necessarily have mismatched guards and their big men are very disciplined on offense.  If Ripon can keep it close for 30 minutes and still end up within 16, I'm upping my expectations of the Titans.

Although I'm still concerned about how they stop Augustine on offense.

[mactitan]

So, Illinois Wesleyan is No. 1 and the University of Illinois is No. 17, so IWU should be the favorite on Thursday, right?  I thought it was interesting that yesterday at 2:00, about five hours after the tickets went on sale, the game between the U of I and IWU was sold out.  Several regular season games still had tickets available, but the Titans were sold out.  Anyone in Bloomington have a pulse on how many people are going.  I thought about making a trip up from STL, but don't want to go without a ticket.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

That's true.  With  the way IWU travels, could there be a really large contingent supporting the underdog?

[Titan Q]

CCIWfan, no real surprises in the CCIW Coaches Poll...

Illinois Wesleyan- 49 (7)
Augustana- 39 (1)
Elmhurst- 37
Carthage- 32
North Central- 26
Wheaton- 18
Millikin- 16
North Park- 7

All 7 non-IWU coaches picked the Titans to win the league and all 7 non-North Park coaches picked the Vikings to finish last.  Scott Trost's #1 vote obviously went to Augustana.  I think that #2 preseason slot is up for grabs between Augie and Elmhurst, which the poll reflects.

I think it is a pretty fair assessment of where things are at this point.