MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Congrats also to the Wesleyan women who finished the season without a loss.  When was the last time a CCIW basketball team went undefeated?  Wow.

It's [It HAD] never happened. All seven men's national championship teams (North Park -- 5; Wheaton  -- 1; Illinois Wesleyan -- 1), and both women's national championship teams (North Central -- 1; Millikin -- 1) each lost at least one game. (The NCC women's national championship team in '82-'83 actually predates CCIW sponsorship of that sport.)

Fixed it for you, Greg.   Now we've just got to finish business with the 10th Walnut-and-Bronze.

[usee]

Congratulations to Wheaton and Elmhurst. For the Thunder to go 11-3 and win the conference tourney in this league, this year is something special. And if you had said Elmhurst would be 10-4 in conference before the season, I think most of us would have predicted that woule win the regular season conference title. Some great basketball has been played to get to this point but here's hoping the best is yet to come for both teams.

[Naperick]

Great game and great atmosphere at King Arena tonight!  I was hoping for a Bluejay win but it was not to be.  Wheaton made a fantastic comeback!  Coach Mark Shearer said on WRSE 88.7FM after the game that free throw shooting cost them the game.  The two misses after the technical foul on Coach Harris were huge.  He also said that the statistics were fairly even.  Wheaton just made more plays down the stretch.

Congrats to Wheaton on winning the CCIW regular season and tournament titles.  I think the Thunder are good enough to win the national title. 

I just hope Elmhurst also gets in and is seperated from Wheaton a bit in the brackets.

[Naperick]

By the way, I'm still hoping Augustana also makes it.  I think the odds are slim but I never thought Wheaton would make it last year.  Even coach Harris seemed shocked.  Then they advanced to the "Elite 8." 

[thunderstruck88]

I'm looking forward to seeing how the CCIW teams fare in the postseason after 2 months of grueling conference play. Big tests loom for whichever CCIW team(s) make it in, but it's hard to get much more battle-hardened for the playoffs than after a run through the CCIW gauntlet.

Excellent game in King Tonight in front of an electric crowd. The Elmhurst fans have come alive the last few games... even as a fan of the other guys, it's good to see them supporting their team so vocally after being almost a non-factor in some big conference games. It made the whole atmosphere tonight that much better.

I can't really pick out a play of the game, because I think the game simply came down to poor execution by Elmhurst down the stretch. Elmhurst really looked poised to knock Wheaton off tonight, but they made a few bad mistakes that set Wheaton up for the big plays it needed to get back in the game. Call it poor usage of time by Elmhurst, or great defense by Wheaton (probably a bit of both), but it seemed like many of Elmhurst's shots in the second half came with the shot clock winding down. Never a great time to be trying to get offense and avoid mistakes.

Wheaton was patient enough to chip their way back in to the game and was helped by clutch 3-point shooting to keep the game within reach. Obviously the two dunks were huge, but give credit to Ben Panner for coming out of nowhere for that steal with 1:05 left which set up Carwell's slam to give Wheaton the room to breathe it needed. Kent Raymond had an 'off' night (not sure if you can call 24 points an off night, but he was definitely not as 'on' as usual). Maybe it had to do with getting his shot stuffed twice on fast breaks... a bit of an unusual day at the office for Mr. Raymond.

While we're on Kent, perhaps the most memorable part of the night for me was watching Kent Raymond follow up one of those blocked shots by sinking a 3-pointer right in front of the Elmhurst student section while they chanted "overrated" right at him.

Last things... very impressed with Ruch tonight against the Thunder, being able to assert himself down low and have his way no matter what Wheaton threw at him. Wiele is a great post player, but I don't see him as the physical and imposing force that Ruch is, which is extremely important as a big man. I can only dream of seeing Ruch and Raymond play together on the same team. It would be crazy.

GO Thunder! GO CCIW!

[usee]

Projections are up: http://www.d3hoops.com/salem/09/projected.htm

Interesting, Pat and co. have Wheaton, WashU and Platteville all in the same bracket. I guess you have to put them somewhere. Yikes.

[Titan Q]

I think 15 of the 18 Pool C's are basically accounted for at this point:

(in no particular order)

1. UW-Whitewater
2. Buena Vista
3. St. Mary's (Md)
4. Guilford
5. UW-Platteville
6. Elmhurst
7. Capital
8. Rhode Island
9. St. Lawrence
10. Salem St.
11. Trinity-Tx
12. Ithaca
13. Farmingdale St.
14. Worcester Poly
15. Puget Sound

Candidates for final 3 spots:

(in no particular order)

* Randolph-Macon
* St. Lawrence
* Augustana
* Carnegie-Mellon
* Calvin
* Amherst
* Hamilton
* Brandeis


Bubble Burster games today (first team listed would be a Pool C lock or probable should they lose):

(all times CST)

Middlebury vs Amherst, 11:00am
Texas-Dallas vs Mississippi Coll, 1:30pm
Franklin & Marshall vs Gettysburg, 2:00pm
Centre vs Southwestern, 2:30pm

[Titan Q]

If you are an Augustana fan, here is a list of teams you need to root hard for today (all are hosting conference tournament games and would probably be ahead of Augie in the Pool C line with a loss):

Conference tournament championship games
St. Lawrence (vs RPI, 2:00pm) lost
Widener (vs Elizabethtown, 2:00pm) won
DeSales (vs Manhattanville, 3:00pm) won
Farmingdale St. (vs St. Joseph's L.I., 6:00pm) lost
Wooster (vs Wabash, 6:00pm) won
Transylvania (vs Franklin, 6:30pm) won
Calvin (vs Hope, 6:30pm) lost
St. Thomas (vs Bethel, 7:30pm) won
Puget Sound (vs Whitworth, 8:00pm) lost

Conference tournament semi-final games
Middlebury (vs Bowdoin, 1:00pm) won
Franklin & Marshall (vs Muhlenberg, 2:00pm) won
Ithaca (vs Nazareth, 3:00pm) lost
Worcester Polytech (vs Springfield, 3:30pm) lost
Texas-Dallas (vs Mary Hardin-Baylor, 3:30pm) won

Scoreboard: http://www.d3hoops.com/schedule/mens/2009-02-28

Just so many upsets yesterday in those games I identified, with the last one being Puget Sound falling to Whitworth.  I said Augustana could only afford 1-2 to even been seriously considered, and there were 6.

Elmhurst is going to get selected in the 7-10 range, at which point Augustana will be on the board as the Midwest's next Pool C candidate and be evaluated vs the teams from others regions, most of which have gaudy in-region records.  Like Farmingdale St and Salem St.

For Augie to get in, there is going to have to be the same kind of common sense approach (as opposed to just looking at numbers) that got Wheaton in last year.  And if Augie gets in, it will be as Pool C #18 (of 18), just as Wheaton was #17 of 17 last year.

It is very dicey for the Vikings.

[Titan Q]

D3hoops.com Pool C projections by region:

Northeast (5)
WPI, Rhode Island, Brandies, Salem St, Amherst

West (4)
Puget Sound, UW-Whitewater, UW-Platteville, Buena Vista

East (2)
Ithaca, St. Lawrence

Great Lakes (2)
Capital, Carnegie Mellon

South (2)
Guilford, Trinity (Tx)

Atlantic (1)
Farmingdale St.

Mid-Atlantic (1)
St. Mary's (Md)

Midwest (1)
Elmhurst

[WahooThunder]

Interesting, Pat and co. have Wheaton, WashU and Platteville all in the same bracket. I guess you have to put them somewhere. Yikes.

I guess the good news for Wheaton in that scenario is that they only have to play one of them, and they get the bye to make up for it. I would really hate to be Wash U. or Platteville in that scenario, having to beat a pair of top 5 teams just to make it to the Elite Eight.

[voxelmhurst]

I agree with the above posters - I think the game turned around when Childs missed the two technical free throws.  They had a 12 point lead at the time, for the record, 49-37.

A very bitter and polarizing loss for Elmhurst, considering all they had going for themselves in this game.  At the same time, if and when the tournament bid comes their way, I don't think this loss will be sticking with the players all that much.

I think the loss is polarizing because on one hand, Elmhurst showed that they can hang and compete with a team like Wheaton in a tense setting.  After Wheaton ran Elmhurst out of their own gym earlier in the season, I questioned whether Elmhurst could compete with such a high caliber team.  I think last night proved they can hang with the best of Division III.  On the other hand, I am really worried over how many times it seems Elmhurst falters down the stretch in games where they've had some pretty sizable leads late.  This has not been limited to just this season either, and its the sort of thing that probably makes any Elmhurst fan just cringe when they see a player missing two technical free throws despite being up by 12. 

Congratulations to Wheaton.  It was a fun weekend of basketball.

[Late nite]

Over an extended period many of us have commented that while we personally don't care for Augie Coach Grey Giovanine's demeanor and antics, we recognize he is an excellent tactician and coach. However, in last night's CCIW tourney semifinal, I felt he neglected to capitalize on a huge advantage he was presented by the Elmhurst defensive alignment which may well have cost Augie the chance to win the game.

Let me explain---frequently during the 2nd half, I noticed Augie's 6'7" Chandlor Collins being defended by Elmhurst's guards. At the times I noticed this, Collins was usually being guarded either by 6'2" Zack Boyd or 6'2" Joe Acosta. To my amazement, when these EC players were defending him, Collins was most often hanging around the 3 point line, particularly on the right side of the basket. Why in the world didn't Giovanine instruct Collins to set up down low? All it would have taken was an indefensible lob in to Collins over the much shorter defenders for an almost automatic 2 points given Collins' huge height advantage. Instead, Collins spent much of his time camped out on the arc, as if awaiting the opportunity to launch a 3 point bomb, which surely isn't his weapon of choice.

Augie (and EC) fans---did any of you also notice this? If so, do you think it may have made a difference in the final outcome? Thanks. 

AndOne---I know this is old news but I'll respond on your observations:

   I agree---Collins spent WAY too much time on the wing this entire season, not just this ballgame---You would think that someone who is capable of 20 boards would be  utilized a little closer to the basket, especially with the mis-matches that you noted---My other question would be---How can you Offense-Defense substitute for a First Team All Conference player in the most important game of the season at the most important time in that game??---Not on my team---He could have captured some added possessions on the offensive glass instead of Ruch dominating inside against the 2 underclassmen
   Where was DeSimone?---Augie played their most effective ball while he was in the game, pushing the tempo and creating good looks for his teammates---He left the game with Augie up 4 and they immediately went back into their milk-the-shot-clock plodding offense that produced a bunch of bad and forced shots (many of them Ruch blocks) as the shot clock expired

[Thunder Dutch]

Projections are up: http://www.d3hoops.com/salem/09/projected.htm

Interesting, Pat and co. have Wheaton, WashU and Platteville all in the same bracket. I guess you have to put them somewhere. Yikes.

that would be a crazy bracket - 3 legitimate title contenders. that would be nuts, even if Wheaton does host. that weekend is the beginning of spring break too, so there won't be nearly as much student support for wheaton even if we host.

[WahooThunder]

that weekend is the beginning of spring break too, so there won't be nearly as much student support for wheaton even if we host.

That is unfortunate. I thought spring break was usually the first week of March. They should just push it back another week so the students can all make a stop-over in Salem on their way down to [insert warm southern destination]. I was very impressed  and pleased by the student support this weekend. I think the attendance was reported as a King Arena record, but regardless I don't think it had seen a crowd anywhere close to that since the 2004-05 season.

[Titan Q]

Another upset, as Gettysburg beats Franklin & Marshall in the Centennial title.  I think 16 of the 18 Pool C's are basically accounted for:

(in no particular order)

1. UW-Whitewater
2. Buena Vista
3. St. Mary's (Md)
4. Guilford
5. UW-Platteville
6. Elmhurst
7. Capital
8. Rhode Island
9. St. Lawrence
10. Salem St.
11. Trinity-Tx
12. Ithaca
13. Farmingdale St.
14. Worcester Poly
15. Puget Sound
16. Franklin & Marshall

Candidates for final 2 spots:

(in no particular order)

* Randolph-Macon
* Hamilton
* Augustana
* Carnegie-Mellon
* Calvin
* Amherst
* Brandeis