MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

A couple of weeks ago North Central's back was up against the wall as, with a 4-6 conference record, the defending conference tourney champs were in serious danger of not even qualifying this season.

All they have done since is win four games in a row. All four were against teams that had defeated them the 1st time the teams played this year. The first 3 were against the number 15, 12, and 9 ranked teams in the country. Quite an accomplishment to beat three top 15 teams in an eight day period. I think its doubtful that you can find another team that did that this season. Additionally, this was all done without their sixth man who was unavailable due his sustaining torn ankle ligaments and being placed in a knee high fiberglass cast.

The late season charge is due to the combination of the coaching staff finding the right "fit" and combination of players to effectively handle changing game situations, their substition rotation and utilization of the players, and the players themselves accepting their roles and continually stepping up in key situations. In summary, the Cardinals really came together and played as a TEAM. It would have been easy to throw in the towel after a narrow loss to North Park, but the coaches and players refused to accept that notion and never quit on themselves or each other.

However, there are some who refuse to give the Cards credit for their late season  charge. They would argue the team was the coaches pre-season pick to win the conference, and they only finally did what they should have done all year. To this, I would reply that maybe the coaches didn't really know who was the favorite. As NCC had the standout frontcourt of Walton, Simmons, & Krumtinger returning, the        coaches just went ahead and voted them the favorites. The one thing they forgot was the Cards had virtually no experience returning at the guard position due to the fact that the graduated Ray Vicario and Adam Teising played about 95% of the minutes there last year. If you know basketball, you know you don't win at any level without good guard play. Many different combinations had to be tried before the current lineup picture became clear. This all took some time. So, even if you don't like them for one reason or another, give the Cards some credit. They did it the hard way-they earned it.

[cciw watcher]

I want tip my hat to Wheaton for the victory last night in Kenosha.  Wheaton was in control of the game until a late rally by Carthage fell short.  I thought Schelmm would play a big role in this game to carry the Redman to victory.  However, Schelmm was just 1-3 from the field and missed his only 3-point attempt.  Not the way to go out on Senior night!  I agree with USEE comments that Wheaton would (and did) feel comfortable in Carthage's building after having played twice in it back in December.  The four best CCIW teams are in the tournment and I would not be surprised if the #3 and #4 seeds both win Friday.  I can only think about what a joke the CCIW will become in a few years when all 7 teams compete in a conference tournment.  CCIW fans will no longer be on the edge of there seats as was the case in the final moments in this game.   >:(In the end, the regular CCIW season will not mean much except seeding.  

[AndOne]

CCIW---

I agree that there is certainly more incentive during the regular season when only the top 4 teams make the conference tourney.
I wasn't aware that in a few years there would only be 7 teams in the CCIW.     

[cciw watcher]

Sorry its late,  make that 8 teams

[Titan Q]

Congrats to Zach Freeman on winning both the scoring (22.4 ppg) and rebounding (8.1 rpg) titles in the CCIW.  A player winning both doesn't happen very often.  Here is the complete list in the 61-year history of the conference (rebounding records weren't kept until 1958):

2007 - Zach Freeman, IWU (22.4 ppg, 8.1 rpg)
2005 - Chris Martin, Elmhurst (18.4 ppg, 8.7 rpg)
2003 - Joel Kolmodin, Wheaton (21.6 ppg, 10.4 rpg)
1996 - Erik Smith, Millikin (21.3 ppg, 11.1 rpg)
1966 - Jesse Price, Millikin (14.8 ppg, 15.2 rpg
1959 - Tom Lewis, Lake Forest (23.7 ppg, 18.3 rpg)


Jack Sikma, a 7-time NBA all-star and IWU's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, never did it...interesting.


http://www.cciw.org/winter_bball_m/200607_Statistics/CONFONLY.HTM

http://www.cciw.org/winter_bball_w/BB_06guide.pdf

[REDMENFAN]

http://kenoshanews.com/articles/index.php?articleNum=726066

Here's the link to the article in the kenosha news about the game. A great effort by the Redmen, the PEC was absolutely electric in the last few minutes. If Carthage could have gotten the game to overtime, I think they would have had all the momentum and took this game. Hats off to Wheaton and Kent Raymond, good luck in the tournament

[AndOne]

RED---

The article you have a link to says Carthage is prob thr best DIII team in the country not to qualify for its conference tourney. I think it would be hard to argue with that.

Do you think Schlemm's ankle gave him that much trouble, or did he just have a bad game?

[coebball70]

[quote author=AndOne link=topic=4592.msg682960#msg682960 date=1172159582

The article you have a link to says Carthage is prob thr best DIII team in the country not to qualify for its conference tourney. I think it would be hard to argue with that.

Do you think Schlemm's ankle gave him that much trouble, or did he just have a bad game?
[/quote]

[Late nite]

AndOne---That would be me that you are referring to---You don't have to skirt the issue---It is just my opinion (and I know you are aware of what constitutes an opinion) that NCC has put together a very good run at the end of the year---But, that does not change my mind---Even with backcourt questions, there was more than enough returning talent in the stable to be THAT far behind with 6 games to go---Four returning frontcourt players and a senior point guard would make most coaches feel pretty good---I will give them credit for their run---I just don't feel it should have been that much of an uphill battle for them

A couple of weeks ago North Central's back was up against the wall as, with a 4-6 conference record, the defending conference tourney champs were in serious danger of not even qualifying this season.

All they have done since is win four games in a row. All four were against teams that had defeated them the 1st time the teams played this year. The first 3 were against the number 15, 12, and 9 ranked teams in the country. Quite an accomplishment to beat three top 15 teams in an eight day period. I think its doubtful that you can find another team that did that this season. Additionally, this was all done without their sixth man who was unavailable due his sustaining torn ankle ligaments and being placed in a knee high fiberglass cast.

The late season charge is due to the combination of the coaching staff finding the right "fit" and combination of players to effectively handle changing game situations, their substition rotation and utilization of the players, and the players themselves accepting their roles and continually stepping up in key situations. In summary, the Cardinals really came together and played as a TEAM. It would have been easy to throw in the towel after a narrow loss to North Park, but the coaches and players refused to accept that notion and never quit on themselves or each other.

However, there are some who refuse to give the Cards credit for their late season  charge. They would argue the team was the coaches pre-season pick to win the conference, and they only finally did what they should have done all year. To this, I would reply that maybe the coaches didn't really know who was the favorite. As NCC had the standout frontcourt of Walton, Simmons, & Krumtinger returning, the        coaches just went ahead and voted them the favorites. The one thing they forgot was the Cards had virtually no experience returning at the guard position due to the fact that the graduated Ray Vicario and Adam Teising played about 95% of the minutes there last year. If you know basketball, you know you don't win at any level without good guard play. Many different combinations had to be tried before the current lineup picture became clear. This all took some time. So, even if you don't like them for one reason or another, give the Cards some credit. They did it the hard way-they earned it.

[coebball70]

Sorry for the posting mistake.  I, too, attended the Wheaton vs Carthage game last evening.  IMHO Schlemm's performance was not as much injury-related as it was just strong defense by Wheaton's two postmen Fiddler and Wiele.  Carthage appeared to have repeated difficulty initiating their offense due to excellent pressure-on-ball defense.  Schlemm was open many times but Carthage's guards just didn't have a chance for entry passes and were afraid of the lob passes that were quite effective when Carthage played at Wheaton.

On another note, I believe that Kent Raymond should be the CCIW's MOP based on his contribution to Wheaton's success.  I would wager that Raymond was not happy with his performance last evening.  5-12 FGA, including several really open looks at the arc, and 5 turnovers is not at his normal playing standard.  Yet, in the last 3 minutes of the game, his line would read something like this...1 block, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 basket(game winner).  Even on an off night, he finds a way to lead his team to a win.
Carthage should be credited with an outstanding effort in coming from 7 points down to tie in the last 75 seconds!  You knew with 11 seconds to go just who on Wheaton would get the ball ...and he did.  

[petemcb]

LU_nut,

Most of us would agree that usually the conference pecking order is WIAC, CCIW, then a cluster of OAC, NJAC, perhaps UAA, perhaps others.  But this year it is pretty widely agreed that the CCIW is a clear #1, with WIAC and UAA neck-and-neck for second.

Back when there were only 5 pool C slots, both the WIAC and CCIW pretty regularly bemoaned the fact that they would beat each other up (internally) so much that each conference often got only one slot (this may still be the case with the OAC this year).  With 19 pool Cs, we can generally count on at least two teams, and probably (like last year) often 3.  One thing we probably won't see, which the UAA might accomplish this year, is 4 or 5 teams - they have the unique advantage of being spread across 3 regions, so may often have 2 or 3 teams 'at the table' at the same time.

This never occurred to me:  if the UAA is spread across 3 regions, then do some of their conference games NOT count as in-region games?  Seems crazy.  The composition of their conference seems to fly in the face of the spirit and stated intent of DIII, doesn't it?

[petemcb]

Sorry for the posting mistake.  I, too, attended the Wheaton vs Carthage game last evening.  IMHO Schlemm's performance was not as much injury-related as it was just strong defense by Wheaton's two postmen Fiddler and Wiele.  

So are you saying the postmen delivered?

[Mr. Ypsi]

pete,

Conference games are always in-region - even for the UAA!

Since I'm not personally an adherent of the who 'regions' concept, I won't comment on your last question.

[Titan Q]

http://kenoshanews.com/articles/index.php?articleNum=726066

Here's the link to the article in the kenosha news about the game. A great effort by the Redmen, the PEC was absolutely electric in the last few minutes. If Carthage could have gotten the game to overtime, I think they would have had all the momentum and took this game. Hats off to Wheaton and Kent Raymond, good luck in the tournament

Another interesting quote from that article...


Earlier this season, Carthage and Wheaton both went 2-0 against Hope College and Calvin College in the CCIW/MIAA Classic at the PEC. After that successful CCIW weekend, Djurickovic and longtime Wheaton coach Bill Harris had a conversation that Harris recalled on Wednesday outside of his team's jubilant locker room.

"I said to Bosko, 'Hope and Calvin will go back and finish 1 and 2 in their conference, guaranteed. We're going into a conference where we might not even make the top four,' " Harris said. "The CCIW is a great conference. We know how the ACC coaches feel in Division-1.

[AndOne]

Coebbell---

Thanks for the explanation concerning the question I asked about Schlemm. I was pretty surprised when I read how few points and rebounds he had and just wondered what the cause may have been.