MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[TheHerr]

Looks like the match ups are set:

Elmhurst Vs Wheaton @ 6pm
Augie Vs North Central @8pm


Should be a great tournament.

[Jim Matson]

I sure would have loved to see that final basket by Raymond tonight.

Now it is time for Coach Harris and the Thunder to pull a "Coach Bean."

[kenoshamark]

Box score:

http://www2.carthage.edu/athletics/mens/basketball/wc2.htm

[Titan Q]

Tonight I saw my fourth CCIW Senior Night in the last 7 days as Millikin hosted Elmhurst.  The Bluejays pulled away from Millikin early in the 2nd Half and won by 16 over the Big Blue...

http://www.millikin.edu/athletics/mbasketball/m-mil25_002.htm

Ryan Burks had a huge game for the Bluejays, finishing with 29 points and making all 13 of his FT's.  Burks is now 83-86 from the FT line in CCIW play!

The Big Blue's talented trio of 6-7 freshmen played a lot like freshmen this evening...a lot of missed shots, turnovers, and other costly mistakes.  Millikin is going to be very good next year and the year after though - they've got a ton of talent coming back.

Elmhurst is really lacking production at the 2.  Mike Sayre started and played 16 minutes, but didn't take a shot.  Burks provides a great perimeter presence, but the Bluejays could use another pure shooter out there -- just someone who can catch and shoot and make a good percentage.

There is no question in my mind Elmhurst is a tournament-caliber team.

[kenoshamark]

Hiker, 

It was a nice length of the court drive for an uncontested layup .  Carthage was down by six with under 40 seconds to play when Trey Bowens hit two threes sandwiched around two free throws by Wheaton.  Carthage stole the ball after the second three and Bowens was fouled and sunk both free throws to tie it up with 11 seconds to go. 

After the timeout, Carthage manned up with Bowens on Raymond.  Raymond proceeded to go hard down the left side of the court and went in for the layup with 3.5 seconds to go.  Carthage inbounded and Nav Thompson was able to get an eight foot floater off in the lane that came up short. 

After a last few seconds loss to NC on an inbounds play and now this ending, it was certainly tough to see both games go down the way they did.   Sure would have thought the defense would have been set up to deny Raymond the ball and make someone else win the game! 

As Carthage has done a number of times this year, they mounted a very good comeback in the second half.  They certainly achieved more than what most would have thought possible.

Congrats to the seniors - Schlemm, Thompson and Hood....

[Titan Q]

Congratulations to Augustana, Elmhurst, Wheaton, and North Central on making the tournament.  These are the four teams most of us predicted would make the field way back in November and December...just a little different order.

I get the feeling that North Central is not the matchup Augustana wanted on Friday night.  Grey Giovanine's teams have had trouble with Raridon-coached NCC teams.  The two schools have split the last 6 games...

2/17/07 -- NCC 85 @AC 81

1/20/07 -- AC 60 @NCC 59

2/18/06 -- @NCC 86 AC 61

1/21/06 -- @AC 85 NCC 79

1/26/05 -- @AC 59 NCC 55

1/15/05 -- @NCC 86 AC 76


Except for the NCC blowout last year in Naperville, these have all been thrillers.  Should be another good one.

[Jim Matson]

With the Carthage women upsetting the Thunder tonight, we'll also have a great women's tourney this weekend in Wheaton.

The Illinois Wesleyan/Millikin match-up will be a great game, and should Wheaton beat Carthage, a Wheaton/Wesleyan rematch would be highly desirable.

[Titan Q]

With the Carthage women upsetting the Thunder tonight, we'll also have a great women's tourney this weekend in Wheaton.

The Illinois Wesleyan/Millikin match-up will be a great game, and should Wheaton beat Carthage, a Wheaton/Wesleyan rematch would be highly desirable.

Jim, IWU's 1st Team All-CCIW candidate point-guard Mallory Heydorn (16.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 4.1 apg) is out for the year with a broken right thumb.  IWU isn't the same team right now.

[usee]

Congrats to the Thunder for winning a tough road game to get into the tourney. they have played the last two road games (@ augie and @ elmhurst) well enough to win but faded in both down the stretch. It is nice to see them hang on in a close road game against an excellent CCIW team. I was worried because they hadn't won any real big road games this season but I was comforted that they played Kenosha against quality teams early this year and won (hope and calvin). that may have given them an extra confidence boost in that building tonight. Either way we are set for what should be a great conf tourney. I am just glad the Thunder don't face NCC first as that has been their toughest matchup this year. I like the Wheaton/Elmhurst undercard this Friday. the rubber match with high stakes.

I wish I could be there.

[cardinalpride]

Congrats to Wessels and Z. Freeman on being Jostens award finalists. 

[Gregory Sager]

I have seen a lot of CCIW teams as well as a lot of WIAC teams and it is hard to argue against the WIAC being the best year in and year out.  If you look at post-season success, it pretty much says it all.  I think the WIAC has around 2X the number of national championships than the CCIW.  Most impressively, those championships are spread between several teams.  The CCIW championships are tied to the long lost dynasty of North Park.

You are incorrect, LU_nut. The WIAC does not have "around 2X" the number of national championships that the CCIW has.

1978: North Park
1979: North Park
1980: North Park
1984: UW-Whitewater
1985: North Park
1987: North Park
1989: UW-Whitewater
1991: UW-Platteville
1995: UW-Platteville
1997: Illinois Wesleyan
1998: UW-Platteville
1999: UW-Platteville
2004: UW-Stevens Point
2005: UW-Stevens Point

The count currently stands at eight WIAC national titles, six CCIW national titles. As for the titles being "spread between several teams," there's only a difference of one school; the CCIW has two schools that own Walnut & Bronze (NPU and IWU) and the WIAC has three (UWW, UWP, UWSP).

Heading west makes perfect sense since it obviously cuts down on the amount of time kids spend away from school, and clearly keeps the travel budgets down.

And the great thing about that as far as westbound CCIW schools are concerned is that they don't have to take the magic ferry.

Sounds like this system needs some work. A complete overhaul.

Just about every Posting Up regular has said that at one point or another. File under: "Preaching to the choir".

There is no question in my mind Elmhurst is a tournament-caliber team.

Not only that, I think that most people who have seen the Bluejays this season would agree that they're a team that could go deep into the tournament. Heck, if Brian Lee were to find his outside shot again (which would keep other teams more honest on the perimeter), I think that they're a Final Four caliber team.

I pretty much agree with everything Ryan Knuppel posted today. It would be a travesty if Elmhurst got left out in the cold on Sunday, and there's something inherently wrong with a system that would keep the second-place team in the best conference in the nation out of a 59-team tourney that has a whopping 19 at-large slots available for also-rans from member conferences. However, the tournament selection process is what it is. It's designed to emphasize regional play, so as to goad coaches into scheduling most or all of their games close to campus in order to prevent missed class time. As Pat and others have said today, the rules have been in place for several years now. Every coach understands them and knows how to tailor a schedule to meet the quirks within the process.

Nobody can fault Mark Scherer for taking his team on a snowbird trip to Orlando to play a couple of games. A lot of D3 coaches here in the cold-weather states view snowbird trips as an important perq for their players, both to reward their hard work with some sun 'n' fun and to act as a recruiting inducement. So it's hard to hold the Gwynedd-Mercy and Albion games against him. But those IIT and Alma games ... those are real head-scratchers. As I mentioned last night, I'd like to know if those games were forced upon Scherer because he couldn't schedule anyone else, or if he willingly chose to schedule those teams. Those two completely worthless games are really hurting the 'jays right now.

Incidentally, fair warning to all CCIW head coaches: If Elmhurst ends up with no ticket to the dance this year for want of a couple more regional wins, keep in mind that every CCIW team will be deprived of one non-conference game when the new CCIW tournament system kicks in. Careful, error-free scheduling will become that much more important ... and we can already see via Elmhurst's example, and the Wheaton example of a few years ago, just how important it already is to tailor the sked to D3's regionally-oriented specs.

All the more reason for me to beg Paul Brenegan to never schedule Judson again.

[AndOne]

However, the tournament selection process is what it is. It's designed to emphasize regional play, so as to goad coaches into scheduling most or all of their games close to campus in order to prevent missed class time. As Pat and others have said today, the rules have been in place for several years now. Every coach understands them and knows how to tailor a schedule to meet the quirks within the process.

Greg----

Just asking-----Did someone tell you thats the reason "regional" play is emphasized or is that just your interpretation of the reasoning behind it?

Also, I seem to remember a case that was discussed on one of the boards earlier this year where a game 1000 miles away from home was considered "in region" but when the same team played 200 miles away, it wasn't considered in region. It seems like thats something that needs to be addressed as it is certainly contrary to scheduling games close to campus in order to prevent missed class time. 

[AndOne]

I would like to extend congrats to North Park on a winning season. I know their final record was prob not as good as they hoped for, but it certainly is a great improvement over the past several seasons, and I believe shows the coaching staff at NPU is on the right track. They certainly have some talented rookies.

[AndOne]

Additionally, congrats to Augie for winning a 2nd regular season title in a row and also to Elmhurst, Wheaton, & North Central for qualifying for the conference tourney along with host Augie. It should be a very exciting weekend.

[Gregory Sager]

However, the tournament selection process is what it is. It's designed to emphasize regional play, so as to goad coaches into scheduling most or all of their games close to campus in order to prevent missed class time. As Pat and others have said today, the rules have been in place for several years now. Every coach understands them and knows how to tailor a schedule to meet the quirks within the process.

Greg----

Just asking-----Did someone tell you thats the reason "regional" play is emphasized or is that just your interpretation of the reasoning behind it?

The minimizing-missed-class-time statement is right there in black-and-white on page 12 of the D3 men's basketball championship handbook: "The Division III championship philosophy is to field the most competitive teams possible while minimizing missed class time; to emphasize regional competition in regular-season scheduling; and to provide representation in NCAA championship competition by allocating berths to eligible conferences, independent institutions and a limited number of at-large teams, realizing that this may be done at the expense of leaving out some championship-caliber teams."

Also, note that last CYA phrase -- it's one that the Bluejays may yet rue.

While there isn't an explicit reference to avoiding missed class time with regular-season contests the way that there is with postseason contests, the intent is very strongly implied throughout both the handbook and the bylaws. The D3 bylaws make constant mention of the importance of minimizing missed class time, starting with section 2.14 of "Principles for Conduct of Intercollegiate Athletics" and especially emphasized in D3's mission statement in 20.11 (m). Keeping student-athletes in class isn't given a wink and a nod and then outrageously flouted with cross-country plane trips in the middle of the week in order to appear on ESPN the way that it is in D1; in D3, keeping your student-athletes close to campus as much as possible is a central tenet of the division's mission.

Also, I seem to remember a case that was discussed on one of the boards earlier this year where a game 1000 miles away from home was considered "in region" but when the same team played 200 miles away, it wasn't considered in region. It seems like thats something that needs to be addressed as it is certainly contrary to scheduling games close to campus in order to prevent missed class time. 

Yeah, there's a certain arbitrariness to the geographical boundaries used to determine regional games. This year the NCAA was carved into four administrative regions, and each game played by two teams who share a common administrative region is now considered "regional" for D3 tournament selection purposes. Region IV consists of Illinois and Wisconsin and all states west of the Mississippi; therefore, Wheaton's game against Spokane-based Whitworth College in the season-opening Lee Pfund Tourney is considered a regional game. However, since Calvin's Grand Rapids campus lies about 201 to 205 miles distant from Wheaton's west suburban campus, the Wheaton vs. Calvin clash in the annual CCIW/MIAA Challenge is not considered to be a regional game, since Calvin is in administrative Region III and D3's Great Lakes Region and therefore shares no affinity with Wheaton under D3's rules.

It's arbitrary, and it's silly, but it is a fixed standard (the NCAA uses Microsoft's travel software, so the 200-mile rule is therefore adjudicated by an outside source), and like all fixed standards it at least has the virtue of objectivity.