MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[sac]

WashU's loss to NYU makes Sunday's WashU/Brandeis game pretty huge in the Pool C landscape, the loser could find themselves on the bubble.

WashU 5 in-region losses, Brandeis 6 in-region losses.

[Titan Q]

The Pantagraph on Kevin Reed...

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-wesleyan/iwu-s-reed-oswald-to-be-honored-at-senior-night/article_a142fe36-77e0-11e2-af5a-0019bb2963f4.html


Reed is just very fundamentally sound.  He has great feet and just always seems to know how to position his body on both ends of the floor.  He's a great passer and he also knows how to pick his moments to shoot.  And he's really a strong rebounder - seems like in big situations when the ball comes off the rim, Reed ends up with it.

Kevin was a two-year JV player who worked hard to get stronger and better.  He's really become a very good basketball player.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Yes, if IWU can hold serve (probably even if 3-1 thru the conference tourney), they should now hold #1 seed and likely play all home games until Salem (barring upsets).

Pat, partly out of loyalty and partly because no one has done it in the CCIW since 1973, I voted for the CCIW on the front page poll.  But I just checked the UAA season results - they have a bigger home/away difference than I can ever recall seeing in any conference (I suppose the distance of travel is a good part of that).  I now think going undefeated in the UAA is probably even harder, because road games are SO difficult.  (For each of the teams I checked, the difference between home and away results was usually MORE than 10 points, sometimes more than 30 - talk about home-court advantage! )  Once posters have voted, is there any way for them to change their vote?

[Titan Q]

IWU's other senior is a case of "what could have been."  Co-captain Dan Oswald was a big recruit for the Titans - he was recruited heavily by a lot of small colleges, including many in the CCIW.  He was really a great shooter and scorer at Riverside-Brookfield H.S.

Unfortunately Dan has literally never been healthy a day in his college career.  He developed severe knee problems early on at IWU, and has just never been able to get past it.  I remember talking to Ron Rose before the season and hearing him explain just how completely shot Oswald's knees are. 

I give Dan a ton of credit for sticking with it and being a good leader, despite not being part of the varsity rotation.  IWU is very lucky to have a kid like this on the team.

[Titan Q]

An interesting thing about NYU is that even though they came into the game tonight 3-8 in the UAA, they are a "regionally ranked" team.  NYU was ranked #4 in the East in the first ranking, behind Rochester, Cortland St, and Stevens...and of course, "once ranked, always ranked."

The UAA has five regionally ranked teams, across 4 regions...

Wash U - Midwest
Rochester - East
NYU - East (fell out of the 2nd ranking)
Brandeis - Northeast
Emory - South

So that's automatically 8 games played vs regionally ranked if you're one of these teams (just within the conference).

Of course, the CCIW has 4 regionally ranked teams...and when you add the conference tournament games, two have a chance to play 8 games vs regionally ranked inside the conference as well.

[WUPHF]

Illinois Wesleyan and Washington University are rivals in basketball, soccer, golf and more.  But, in a twist of fate, it seems, Bears fans need Illinois Wesleyan to win out in order to (hopefully, maybe) avoid Shirk in round one.  Damn!

[iwu70]

Love watching Kevin Reed play.  He's surely one of, if not the best passing big man in the CCIW.  Has very sure hands accepting passes from all over the place at all different angles and speeds, from Eliud last year and often from Overstreet and Sodemann this year. A good interior post passer too.  Really great foot work and great soft hands for catching the ball.  I hope he's tutoring all the other IWU big men for next year . . .

Agree with Q on the dedication and loyalty of Dan Oswald.  Sure wish he'd been healthier and on the floor more for the Titans, over his years in Bloomington. 

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

Illinois Wesleyan and Washington University are rivals in basketball, soccer, golf and more.  But, in a twist of fate, it seems, Bears fans need Illinois Wesleyan to win out in order to (hopefully, maybe) avoid Shirk in round one.  Damn!

Unless WashU suffers a total collapse next week, the meeting shouldn't be until at least round 2!  (And if they DO suffer a total collapse, there probably will be no meeting, as the Bears won't even make the tourney. )  IF IWU wins out, they'll presumably be a #1 seed, and no way will WashU get in, but be a #8.  (8s, and generally 7s, are reserved for AQs from really bad conferences, not Pool C teams; Pool C teams are nearly always sprinkled in the 2-6 ranks.)

With no 4-team pods this year, matchups should go almost entirely by seeding (no doubt, slight variations for the left coast and deep south) - the silver lining on what I otherwise fear is NOT a good way to run the tourney.

[iwu70]

Ypsi, sure will be interesting to see how this tourney, with new format and pace of games scheduling, plays out.  I'd love to see IWU play Wash U again, in a round 3 or 4 game.  I'm hoping our Titans win out, get a #1 seed, even perhaps a bye, then some easier games in round 1-2, before running into what will likely be some pretty good opponents -- Wash U, WIAC teams, North Central?, Transy, who knows?  Sure would be nice to get a good draw, get to Salem relatively unscathed.  We'll see.

IWU has to focus, play game to game, even vs. MU this weekend.  MU is much improved and have a better, brighter future even in CCIW play in the coming few years.  Of course, the NCC-IWU game next Tuesday will be a very good bell-weather of where the two top 10 teams are with their play, their injuries, as we begin the Dancing, Begin the Beguine! 

IWU70 

[Mr. Ypsi]

I suspect the byes will go to left coast or deep south teams - with no pods, the NCAA can probably avoid ANY first weekend plane flights!  Gotta keep the bean counters happy!

It will be interesting to see how the brackets play out, with the first three weekends all being simply single games.  My hunch is that the first three rounds may be even more regional that usual, but there might be some interesting pairings in round 4, where distance is no longer an issue.  With everyone already heading to Salem, they can (if seeds hold) pair anyone with anyone.  They could even (gasp!) set up (barring upsets ) national #1 vs #8, #2 vs. #7, etc.

Quite a contrast to a few years ago when the West/Midwest sectional was far stronger than the final four (according to the poll).

[Titan Q]

Millikin @ Illinois Wesleyan (7:00pm)...

(CCIW-only stats)

Illinois Wesleyan (20-3, 12-0)
G - Dylan Overstreet, 6-3/180 So - 8.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 5.8 apg, 2.1 A:TO
G - Pat Sodemann, 6-3/190 So - 11.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.4 apg
F - Andrew Ziemnik, 6-4/230 Jr -  11.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg
F - Victor Davis, 6-5/235 Jr -  10.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg
F - Kevin Reed, 6-6/230 Sr - 9.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.8 apg

F - Mike Mayberger, 6-6/220 Jr - 4.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg
C - Nick Anderson, 6-9/220 Jr -  3.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg
C - Parker Musselman, 6-8/250 So - 3.5 ppg, 1.3 rpg
F - Eric Dortch, 6-3/210 Jr - 3.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg
G - Bryce Dolan, 6-0/155 Fr - 2.3 ppg


Millikin (8-15, 4-8)
G - TJ Griffin, 5-9/180 Fr - 10.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.2 A/TO
G - Rodney Clark, 6-0/170 Sr - 4.1 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.3 apg
G - Chase Robbins, 6-2/180 Fr - 8.2 ppg, 1.3 rpg
F - Deavis Johnson, 6-6/205 Fr - 12.1 ppg, 8.6 rpg
C - Mitch Wilfer, 6-8/240 Fr - 4.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg

G - Trent Windemuller, 6-2/190 Fr - 7.3 ppg, 2.2 rpg
F - Elihan Kinmon, 6-5/190 Fr - 5.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg
F - Jaylon Owens, 6-5/235 Fr - 4.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg
G - Tommy Pilackas, 6-3/195 Fr - 3.7 ppg, 1.4 rpg


Pantagraph: http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-wesleyan/iwu-s-reed-oswald-to-be-honored-at-senior-night/article_a142fe36-77e0-11e2-af5a-0019bb2963f4.html

Game program: http://www.iwusports.com/custompages/MBB/MBB2013/Millikin_final.pdf

Video/stats: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/iwu.portal#

WJBC: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wjbc.portal#

Massey predicts: IWU 80 Millikin 55 (IWU #4, Millikin #213) - http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=cb&yr=2013&sub=11620

[Titan Q]

A look at Pool C - http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.4305

[Titan Q]

Rose-Hulman @ Hanover - http://www.hanover.edu/about/events/live

30-25 HC, early in 2nd half.

[Titan Q]

Final from Elmhurst...

Augustana 66
Elmhurst 61

[Gregory Sager]

Ugh. The NCC broadcaster is not bad with play-by-play, but he didn't do his homework on NPU. He's pronouncing Zach Cassita's name as "KASS-uh-tuh" instead of "Kuh-SEE-tuh".

I know that I've harped on this before, but it's every broadcaster's and P.A. announcer's responsibility to check pronunciations before the game.