MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Thanks, Q!  I guess my memory was slightly off (Stephen F. Austin was 3 points closer, and 2 other teams had the same 8-point deficit as the Titans).  Problem was, I had the Titans 3 or 4 points closer than that!  The older you get, the better you were, and, apparently, the closer the losses!

[iwu70]

Q, thanks for all that data on the NAIA history, tournaments.  Great to see Jack Sikma's name there and the scores of the various times the TITANS got to travel to KC.  And, who knew Dennis Rodman was such a prolific scorer in his earlier NAIA life?  Travis Grant was one of the more amazing players I've ever seen at any time at any level.  Our TITANs stood tall in that game, in 1970, especially Fred Evans and Sheldon Thompson.

IWU70

[iwu70]

That Travis Grant career point total is, well, unbelievable. 

Ypsi, nothing quite like a vague memory and revisionist history, heh?  My memory is far more vague than yours, but I do remember the good times and the delight at our Titans' trips to KC.  That part is always very clear!  Great to see Tommy Gramkow and Sheldon Thompson at The Shirk, watching games with me, from time to time these days.  Lee Short has been there, too, looking pretty well at 94 or 95, clear of his cancer now.  What ever happened to Fred Evans?  We need to find out where he is, get him back to IWU and some games at The Shirk.  He would enjoy watching our Titans, I'm sure.  I'll have to ask Dennie where Fred might be.  Bryan Crabtree often in attendance at home games now, too.     I guess there's an alumni game vs. the Titan JV coming up in February. 

More later,
IWU70

[Titan Q]

New D3hoops.com Top 25:

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2011-12/week8

20. Augustana
21. Illinois Wesleyan
22. Wheaton


I think Augie, Wheaton, and IWU are right where they should be - clustered together somewhere in the 20-25 range.

NCC isn't getting any votes, which I absolutely understand based on non-conference results - I've addressed that a few times here.  But there is a very good chance that North Central is the best team in the CCIW this year.  I'm still not quite sure what happened to the Cardinals in the non-conference, but they now appear to be the team we all expected them to be coming in.

[iwu70]

Q, I think the poll has the order Augie, IWU, then Wheaton -- 21, 22, 23 -- not that it matters at all, or all that much.  Yes, three strong teams in the top 25, but not riding high.  Only one undefeated team now in the top 25 = Middlebury.  I agree, Q, that NCC may be the best team in the league right now, but as you say, they'll probably have to win the CCIW tournament to get into the tourney as AQ.  Key away games for contenders coming up as we go through the schedule for the second time in the next four weeks.  Down the stretch we go.

IWU women moving up the rankings -- from 25th to 22nd.  Olivia Lett earns CCIW Player of the Week for the second week in a row.   

[Gregory Sager]

Check out the brutal missed shot clock violation call at the end of the NYU @ Wash U women's game...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEgn-L8MKZQ&feature=youtu.be


What a tough way to lose a game!

Wow, there is just no excuse for missing that.

That's the worst blown call I've seen in years.

[Gregory Sager]

New D3hoops.com Top 25:

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2011-12/week8

20. Augustana
21. Illinois Wesleyan
22. Wheaton


I think Augie, Wheaton, and IWU are right where they should be - clustered together somewhere in the 20-25 range.

Agreed. I wouldn't put any of the three any higher than where they are right now, but they're all at least worthy of Top 25 consideration by the pollsters.

NCC isn't getting any votes, which I absolutely understand based on non-conference results - I've addressed that a few times here.  But there is a very good chance that North Central is the best team in the CCIW this year.

I've seen Augie, IWU, NCC, and Wheaton each play multiple times now, either live or on the computer, and Augie's the only one of the four that I have yet to see at least twice in person. My take is that North Central is the best of the four -- not by much, but by a discernible amount. The problem for the Cardinals is that they're the thinnest of those four teams in terms of depth. That's the major reason why they performed so poorly in non-conference play, when missing this player or that player seemed to make such a major difference in losing to three teams that currently sport losing records (Aurora and Simpson are 8-9, and Albion is 7-10). The Cards did a great job of overcoming the absence of C.J. Goldthree during the first two weeks of the CCIW portion of the season, but, in a way, that just highlighted the problem when it comes to playing quality opponents; if the Cards had had Goldthree available, I'm certain that they would've beaten Wheaton at King Arena two Saturdays ago.

They're just one twisted ankle in practice, one bout of the flu, or one more concussion away from falling behind the other three. But, if they can stay healthy, I think that the Cardinals are the team to beat.

(As I commented to former Wheaton forward Andrew Lettinga on Saturday after the WC @ NPU contest, how odd is it to see a CCIW race in which Wheaton, for a change, is not the team that's struggling with depth issues?)

[Titan Q]

Article on Millikin's A.D. search...

http://herald-review.com/sports/millikin/millikin-s-search-for-new-athletics-director-progressing/article_b4393d80-3cdf-11e1-a3a0-001871e3ce6c.html


Becoming an NAIA institution does offer some benefits, most notably being the ability to offer scholarships.

But it also offers a different perception of the university.

"The thing you have to look at in NAIA in this region would be who would you play. Who would be your peer institutions from an athletic conference standpoint. And rightly or wrongly, the general public tends to lump you as an institution as a quality institution based on your athletic conference.

"So we feel very good about being in a conference with such high quality academic institutions and we're part of that. We help make that a great conference. It's not that there are not good NAIA schools out there. But I think a very careful assessment would have to be made of what is to be lost or to be gained from a prestige factor from an academic point of view."

The ability to offer scholarships is attractive to coaches and prospective student-athletes. But scholarships require an additional sizable budget, especially if the goal remains to win championships.

"In every scholarship program, the school with the most money to use for athletic scholarships are almost always the winner. Period," Jeffcoat said. "That's the great leveling factor in NCAA Division III. The different between the top schools competitively in intercollegiate athletics in NCAA Division III and the school that is in last place is not that much in terms of athletic ability."

So any talk of becoming an NAIA school will likely be tabled.

"If all you were interested in was just winning, that might be an option," he said. "We're interested in winning, but we're not just interested in winning."

[Gregory Sager]

Yeah, I read that article last week but forgot to link to it. Thanks for doing it, Bob.

[Titan Q]

I've seen Augie, IWU, NCC, and Wheaton each play multiple times now, either live or on the computer, and Augie's the only one of the four that I have yet to see at least twice in person. My take is that North Central is the best of the four -- not by much, but by a discernible amount.

Through 6 games, I am in the same spot.  By a very thin margin, I think North Central is the best team in the league. 

Despite depth issues, the simple fact is that the Cardinals are leading the CCIW is both FG% (.498) and Opponent FG% (.369) -- that .369 defensive number is really, really impressive. 

NCC has the great inside presence with Landon Gamble, but they are also shooting .422 from 3-point range in CCIW games.  Aaron Tiknis is 11-15 (.733) from 3 for pete's sake...Kevin Gillespie 15-26 (.577).

You could easily argue that NCC has...

* The best point-guard
* The best forward combination
* The best 5-man

And then there are the results.  NCC won @ Augie (very tough to do), should have won @ Wheaton, and pasted IWU.

I think the margin between NCC, IWU, Augustana, and Wheaton is as thin as it gets, but right now it looks to me like North Central is the best team.  Depth is a very real concern for the Cardinals though - there will be a game at some point where a couple key guys pick up 2 early fouls, or something like that, and it will hurt NCC.

[Titan Q]

Looking at the top 4...

* IWU is the deepest

* Augustana is the biggest

* North Central has the best starting lineup

* Wheaton has the best 1-2 combo (McCrary/Garriott)


It's really a great race to follow.

[Titan Q]

An absolutely enormous game for 3-3 Augustana tomorrow, as the Vikings host 5-1 Wheaton.  A loss knocks Augustana out of the championship picture -- someone is going to finish 11-3 or better.

Without question a "must win" for Augie.  For Wheaton, a huge chance to steal one on the road...but Wheaton is still OK with a loss.

[cciwrabblerouser]

the article about the millikin a.d. search was, to say the least, is interesting.

while they have plenty of goals in what they are looking for, i think that the president is unrealistic in many areas.  millikin's location is the worst of the eight cciw schools in terms of recruiting -- and recruiting is the lifeblood of any small institution.  he talks about turning people away at the gate.  i don't see that happening anywhere in d-3, even at the schools with premier results.  and raising money, especially in this economy, is a wonderful goal -- but is it realistic?

i think this president can talk a good game, but when the rubber meets the road, he may have unrealized expectations.

good luck, big blue.

[iwu70]

Q, totally agree with you about Augie and their game tomorrow vs. Wheaton at home.  They need this one badly if they are going to climb back into the championship race!

My take on the top four so far:

Augie is the under-achiever

IWU is the over-achiever

NCC is finally achieving as most expected it would (but not me) -- even running the table, they can't get to 20 wins.   

Wheaton is the luckiest so far, esp. the win over NCC in OT.

Agreed, a great race . . . but still I think one of the bottom tier teams is going to put a bad, even embarrassing or surprising loss on one of the top contenders. 

11-3, even 10-4? may win/tie for the conference, right?   

IWU70 

[Titan Q]

11-3, even 10-4? may win/tie for the conference, right?   

I don't think there's any way 10-4 gets a piece of the title.  I'm very confident there will be an 11-3...maybe even two teams at 11-3.