MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[D-3 watcher]

When talking about the IWU vs Hope classic, I would hope nobody will forget what kind of game Stephen Rudnicki had. His play was instrumental in the outcome of the game. Yes Victor had a big game as well, and a good playoff run, but so did coach Rudnicki.

[D-3 watcher]

If Carthage is any good at all,  and I think they are ( have not seen them play), IWU is not a lock for making the CCIW 4 team tourney. IWU will get better, but so will everybody else.

[D-3 watcher]

Say Iwu runs the table and goes 9-2. Yeah I know Hope is waiting. Then they go 10-4 in the conference, an attainable goal, lose the semi, ending up 19-7. Pool C pick?? What I'm getting at is Iwu really can't afford any more bad games. And I thought the season was young.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Ypsi, I won't give up on Victor Davis.  I know how good a player he is and how well he played, superbly, in the latter part of last season.  Surely hope he performs at the level we all expected, an All-CCIW level, but that just hasn't happened so far.  I'd take an average performance from him at this stage, like 10 and 10 each night,

A little hard to call 10 & 10 "average."  Here are the CCIW's rebounding leaders the last 10 seasons (all games, not just conference):

2011-12: Tim McCrary, 8.4 rpg
2010-11: Tim McCrary, 9.4 rpg
2009-10: Tim McCrary, 8.9 rpg
2008-09: Chandlor Collins, 9.8 rpg
2007-08: Andy Wiele, 10.5 rpg
2006-07: Dan Walton, 9.2 rpg
2005-06: Korte Long, 9.2 rpg
2004-05: Chris Martin, 8.6 rpg
2003-04: Christ Martin, 9.8 rpg
2002-03: Joel Kolmodin, 10.1 rpg


A player averaging 10 rebounds per game is generally at the very top of the league.  Averaging a double-double is a very rare thing.

In defense of Mark, he may have meant 'average' for the Victor Davis of late last season!  But I just checked the boxes, and my memories from Holland were exaggerated - while he scored 28 in those two games, he had but 10 rebounds total.  I could have sworn it was twice that!

[iwu70]

Q, I was being "ironical."  Let's just hope we can get Victor back in the line-up, in a healthy fashion, playing reasonably well, and get 5 and 5 out of him initially, or at least play up to the very good, consistent level that Kevin Reed is currently playing.  Reed is as close as we are getting now to a double-double.  Otherwise, I truly think other combinations and rotations would be more "productive," shall we say.  Mike Mayberger surely can't do it all on his own, as surprising as his production has been so far.

Yes, sorry about those Huskers.  That was some thrashing they took from the Badgers.  Amazing.  That was up at the Mt. Union level.

Agree with D-3 watcher that IWU's "margin for error" is getting smaller and smaller for post-season consideration.  Yes, it's early.  But, not easy going 10-4 in conference even when playing well, let alone how the Titans have played to date.   

IWU70

[Pat Coleman]

It must be a difficult coaching decision at this time of the year when you are trying to establish rotations and effectiveness, while at the same time dealing with in region competition.  Hard to give your bench quality minutes in order to develop them when your goal is to make the tournament.

But I'm not always sure when I'm watching, if it's in region or not.

What are the rules?

FAQ summarizes it nicely.  Also, scoreboard indicates in-region status for all games (occasionally there are errors, but rarely).

More often there are errors in November and December, until we've had a chance to look at all the schedules.

[Titan Q]

Say Iwu runs the table and goes 9-2. Yeah I know Hope is waiting. Then they go 10-4 in the conference, an attainable goal, lose the semi, ending up 19-7. Pool C pick?? What I'm getting at is Iwu really can't afford any more bad games. And I thought the season was young.

Remember that the Hope game is not in-region.  IWU has just two in-region non-conference games left:

* vs Chicago (12/15)
* @ Franklin (12/30)

http://www.iwuhoops.com/schedule12-13.html

IWU is 4-2 in-region right now.  The best the Titans can finish the non-conference season is 6-2 in-region.  The games against Tufts, Mississippi College, and Hope are all out-of-region.

The Titans were 7-2 in-region last year before conference play started.  The in-region win against Wash U helped a lot - the Bears went on to win the UAA.  Out-of-region wins against Bethany and Staten Island actually ended up helping quite a bit too.

IWU really need to get one of games between UW-Whitewater and Wash U.  Would have been huge from both an in-region winning % standpoint and a "wins vs regionally ranked" standpoint. 

[Titan Q]

Where IWU is right now - both in terms of the two losses and how they have played - I believe 2012-13 is all about the CCIW portion of the season for the Titans.  Coming into the season I obviously hoped the Titans would put the pieces together quickly and get off to a 6-1 or 7-0 start and really build a great Pool C resume, but that just hasn't been the case. 

The effort to find the right perimeter personnel (to replace Eliud Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmer, John Koschnitzy, and Stephen Rudnicki) has been a challenge -- and not helped by key injuries in the preseason (B. Zimmer, Molinari, Sodemann).  Where teams like Augustana and Wheaton have meshed their new rotations together quickly and played well, the Titans have not.

I'd like to see Ron Rose find the right rotation and combinations in these last 4 non-conference games.  If, in the process of evaluating some things that need to be explored, IWU drops two more non-conference games, honestly I can live with that...because I just don't sense IWU's Pool C situation being too strong this year. My goal is for the Titans to have all questions answered, and a rotation that is locked in stone and ready to roll on January 2 @ Wheaton. 

IWU could finish anywhere from 1st to 5th in CCIW this year.  There is a lot to figure out and improve on.

[Titan Q]

Given the performances to date, I can't see why Victor Davis would be in the starting line-up, so just call me silly. 

Again, I just don't think you have enough appreciation for 1) the attention the opposing team has to pay to Victor (he gets double teamed every time he touches the ball...this is good for IWU's offense...it creates good scoring opportunities for others), 2) his rebounding ability, and 3) his ability to defend the post and just the general strength and athleticism he brings to the floor.  Not to mention his offensive upside and the fact that at some point the ball is going to start going in the basket.

Victor Davis could average the 6 ppg he is now and he would still be an absolute no-brainer to be in the starting lineup.  There isn't a single player on the IWU roster than you could justify starting at the 4 over Victor when you consider both sides of the floor and all aspects of the game. 

[petemcb]

Not so unrealistic to think we might see four CCIW teams in the poll later today?  Augie and Wheaton are both making strong cases at this point.

[toooldtohoop]

Given the performances to date, I can't see why Victor Davis would be in the starting line-up, so just call me silly. 

Again, I just don't think you have enough appreciation for 1) the attention the opposing team has to pay to Victor (he gets double teamed every time he touches the ball...this is good for IWU's offense...it creates good scoring opportunities for others), 2) his rebounding ability, and 3) his ability to defend the post and just the general strength and athleticism he brings to the floor.  Not to mention his offensive upside and the fact that at some point the ball is going to start going in the basket.

Victor Davis could average the 6 ppg he is now and he would still be an absolute no-brainer to be in the starting lineup.  There isn't a single player on the IWU roster than you could justify starting at the 4 over Victor when you consider both sides of the floor and all aspects of the game.

I agree that you keep Victor in the starting lineup.  While his scoring is not what you might wish, I'm not sure he is the problem.

  The Titans will have a hard time replacing the defensive pressure that Gonzalez brought last year-he literally took teams out of their offensive rhythms with his pressure.  And they don't appear to have anyone that can get shots off with accuracy like Zimmer did last year.  There are guys that can hit open 3's, but Zimmer was amazing at times with his ability to create and score under pressure.  These seem to be two very significant changes from last year to this season.

[iwumichigander]

Given the performances to date, I can't see why Victor Davis would be in the starting line-up, so just call me silly. 

Again, I just don't think you have enough appreciation for 1) the attention the opposing team has to pay to Victor (he gets double teamed every time he touches the ball...this is good for IWU's offense...it creates good scoring opportunities for others), 2) his rebounding ability, and 3) his ability to defend the post and just the general strength and athleticism he brings to the floor.  Not to mention his offensive upside and the fact that at some point the ball is going to start going in the basket.

Victor Davis could average the 6 ppg he is now and he would still be an absolute no-brainer to be in the starting lineup.  There isn't a single player on the IWU roster than you could justify starting at the 4 over Victor when you consider both sides of the floor and all aspects of the game.

Victor averaged 10.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in 2011-12 per 2012-13 Roster Info.  He is currently pulling an average 5.0 RPG in 2012-13 with 6 ppg being double and triple teamed - much more so than last season when Zimmer was the offensive threat - which might just be why IWU70 that Reed and your Z-man are getting a few more PPG? IWU needs continuity and production at the 1 and 2: and, when it gets that opponents are not going to be able to double and triple up Davis.  And, Victor will then make them pay.

And, overall, the Titans as a team need to cut down the turnovers.

[iwu70]

Q and guys, I, too, hope Victor gets it going . . . all Titan fans, supporters hope so.  I would love to see Victor "make the pay."   Yes, I recognize the things Q has outlined . . . but Victor is not the only one who has been doubled on the low block -- Zman, Anderson and Reed get doubled sometimes too.  I've never seen Victor triple-teamed in all the games so far this year, though perhaps I was out for a hotdog when it happened.  The key overall for me is production and avoiding bobbles, silly errors, errant passes, and, as many have mentioned, all the TOs, seemingly not valuing each possession.  Yes, the perimeter as yet  is not what it was last year with Eliud and J. Zimmer.  No doubt.  So there are many issues to address if this team is really going to contend for the CCIW crown.  When was the last time you saw CCIW all-game stats with IWU last in scoring, last in shooting percentage, very poor FT shooting, very low as always in steals, and last in blocks?  Well, that's where we are just now through seven games. 

Sure hope all the other potential pieces of this Titan edition get healthy, back into the swing of things, within December, so that overall the Titans are playing better with a full cast of characters available to Ron Rose by that first CCIW game with WC.  WC, Augie and NCC are surely not waiting around to get their rotations together and playing well.   If Carthage gets Malcom back, well, there's another possibly strong CCIW team, potential contender too.   Yes, for the Titans, "There is a lot to figure out and improve on."  Indeed so.

Titan men off now for almost two weeks, given exam week next week, so not playing again until a home game vs. U Chicago on December 15th.  Maybe they need the break to clear their heads, shake off the early woes, and prepare to enter into a new and better phase of the season.  Let's hope so.

Titan women continue to play this week, with two games -- Tuesday and Thursday -- both away @ONU and @St. Francis.  Again, some pretty good opponents.  Titan women also still have a very tough game upcoming in December vs. WI-Stevens Point (12/15) then two games at a Wartburg, IA. tournament during the Christmas holiday break.  Would love to see the Titan women go 9-2 or 8-3 in this pre-CCIW stretch.  Point and Wartburg likely to be the biggest challenges. 

Happy holidays upcoming to all CCIW chatsters. 

IWU70

[hopefan]

 Wash U at Wheaton on Saturday......   wheaton entertains Westmin midweek, Wash U goes to Webster..... unless one of my SLIAC teams throws a monkeywrench into the picture, we'll have a battle of the undefeateds on Saturday....

Wife is working Saturday and Sunday... a roadtrip from St Louis may be in order... Sager, will you make it over from the North Park game?

Heck, maybe I should come up early and see North Park vs Trine in person!!!!!

Yep, wife definitely thinks I'm nuts

[AndOne]

If Carthage is any good at all,  and I think they are ( have not seen them play), IWU is not a lock for making the CCIW 4 team tourney. IWU will get better, but so will everybody else.

Perhaps the biggest question throughout CCIWland is whether Carthage will regain the services of Malcom Kelly. It certainly seems like an entire semester is an excessive amount of time to clear up mere "paperwork issues" as Bosko termed the problem during a preseason interview.
As far as IWU making the conference tourney, I think thats a pretty safe bet.