MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Iwufan]

Pantagraph article on IWU's transfers.

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/former-division-i-players-rossi-nelson-feel-welcome-with-titans/article_29474e64-3d33-11e3-87fe-0019bb2963f4.html

[WheatonFanChris]

Wheaton has posted it's season preview:

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2013/10/25/MBB_1025130941.aspx?path=mbball

Nothing unexpected. should be a battle among the bench guards for playing time (Miller, both DeMoss's, Kvam, and Fisher). Hopefully it's a healthy season for the Thunder!

[AndOne]

North Central will scrimmage against the D3 counterpart of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim when they face the Concordia-Chicago Cougars of River Forest next Tuesday, 10/29, at 7:00 in Naoerville.
They will also play traditional scrimmage rival, University Of Chicago in Chicago on a yet to be determined date. 

[Titan Q]

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2013-14/preseason

#2 IWU
#5 Wheaton
#6 North Central


Tough league!  (I think Augustana will be a Top 25-caliber team.)

[WheatonFanChris]

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2013-14/preseason

Preseason #2, #5, #6 and Augie with lots of votes! Can't wait to get this party started!

[AndOne]

Wheaton has posted it's season preview:

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2013/10/25/MBB_1025130941.aspx?path=mbball

Nothing unexpected. should be a battle among the bench guards for playing time (Miller, both DeMoss's, Kvam, and Fisher). Hopefully it's a healthy season for the Thunder!

Fairly easy call as it seems obvious that the 2 biggest obstacles Wheaton will face will be finding a competent backup for the talented Nate Haynes, and learning the answer to the question of whether Michael Berg can come within a planet's range of approaching the all-galaxy status he was projected as having coming out of high school. Berg showed a couple of instances of high potential last year, but was virtually invisible on several occasions. His development will be a major factor in the determination of how far the Wheaties will ultimately go.

A secondary concern revolves around the question of what level of perimeter defense can be played by their supremely offensively talented backcourt corps.

Tyler Peters will surely be an All-American this year. Hell, excuse me Wheatie fans, make that heck, he should have been All-American last year.   

[iwu70]

Wow, tough league for sure.  I didn't expect three CCIW teams in the top six.  I also think Augie is a top 25 team this year.  Thought IWU would be about #5 or #6 and WC and NCC in the #10-20 range.  Let's hope the pre-CCIW phase shows this strength and keeps all these teams in a top 10 category. 

Of these four teams, who has the toughest schedule for the first 11 games?

I will be checking out the Titans' scrimmages tomorrow at Shirk -- both men and women's programs.

IWU70

[WheatonFanChris]

Of these four teams, who has the toughest schedule for the first 11 games?

Wheaton plays #8 Wooster (most likely), #11 Wash U., and #17 Calvin all on the road and most likely plays, what would be #27 if it existed, Wittenberg in the season opening tourney.

Also, I find it very interesting that the Thunder got a first-place vote. For me, the front court has to be seen before making that high of a judgment.

[AndOne]

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2013-14/preseason

#2 IWU
#5 Wheaton
#6 North Central


Tough league!  (I think Augustana will be a Top 25-caliber team.)

#2 IWU--------------> Way too low!   
#5 Wheaton---------> Hmmm 
#6 North Central----> Come on! Not even 1 first place vote? All they lost was an All-American, arguably the best all around player in the league, and a 3rd player who would have been all-conference this year.   

[Titan Q]

I think Wash U is low relative to North Central and Wheaton.  The Bears are loaded again this year and I'd have them ranked right with Wheaton and NCC (wherever that right place is in the poll).

[Titan Q]

I posted this recently...

I'm not sure what the resumes of all of the preseason #1 candidates look like, but the defending champs might be a stretch to be the choice.  I'm sure Amherst will be great again this season, but they lost a bunch.  The D3hoops.com voters typically don't just automatically put the defending champs back in the #1 spot to start the season.

G Aaron Toomey, 6-1 (17.3, 4.8 rpg, 5.0 apg)
G Allen Williamson, 6-4 (11.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg
F Tom Killian, 6-4 (7.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg)
F Willy Workman, 6-6 (12.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 3.9 apg)
C Peter Kaasila, 6-9 (12.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg)

G David Kalema, 6-0 (9.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg)
F Ben Pollack, 6-7 (4.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
G Connor Green, 6-4 (9.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg)


I'm pretty sure IWU will be ranked ahead of Amherst in the preseason poll.

Obviously I was wrong.  But I'm definitely surprised to see Amherst ranked ahead of NESCAC rival Williams -- it seems on paper Williams should be ranked a little higher in the preseason.

13 1st votes seems a little high based on what the Lord Jeffs lost.

[Gregory Sager]

It's flattering that the pollsters think highly enough of our league to put three CCIW teams in the top six, but they really went overboard on the two DuPage teams. Wheaton should be in the second ten, probably in the 12 to 15 range (I agree with Mark and WFChris that the frontcourt of the Orangies is suspect beyond Haynes), and North Central shouldn't even be in the top 25 in the wake of losing Raridon, Tiknis, and Rosenberg. The Cards are an ORV team at best; I'd put Augie ahead of them in a preseason poll.

I have to say that, after sticking up for these guys whenever any of those bogus preseason magazine predictions were posted on d3boards.com, the pollsters missed the mark on at least the CCIW portion of their Top 25. I mean, we all know how much of a throwing-darts-at-names-tacked-to-the-wall sort of exercise the preseason poll is, but it still doesn't seem like they did their homework on Wheaton and North Central. And as far as non-CCIW teams go, I don't think they got the NESCAC order right; I think Williams rates higher than Amherst at this point.

I think that Wash U is fine right where it is. I wouldn't be averse to moving up the Bears a spot or two, but I don't want to seem as though I'm being Mr. All Midwest All The Time here. I respect what Worcester Polytech and St. Mary's (MD) have done over the past few seasons.

[Gregory Sager]

Looks like Bob beat me by a few minutes on the Williams-over-Amherst thing.

I suppose that if I looked at it long enough, there's other nits I could pick with the preseason poll. F'rinstance, the WIAC people seem to think that UW-Platteville's probably the third-best team in that league, not UW-Stout. But the CCIW and NESCAC items are what jumped out at me at first look.

[AndOne]

I posted this recently...

I'm not sure what the resumes of all of the preseason #1 candidates look like, but the defending champs might be a stretch to be the choice.  I'm sure Amherst will be great again this season, but they lost a bunch.  The D3hoops.com voters typically don't just automatically put the defending champs back in the #1 spot to start the season.

G Aaron Toomey, 6-1 (17.3, 4.8 rpg, 5.0 apg)
G Allen Williamson, 6-4 (11.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg
F Tom Killian, 6-4 (7.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg)
F Willy Workman, 6-6 (12.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 3.9 apg)
C Peter Kaasila, 6-9 (12.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg)

G David Kalema, 6-0 (9.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg)
F Ben Pollack, 6-7 (4.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
G Connor Green, 6-4 (9.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg)


I'm pretty sure IWU will be ranked ahead of Amherst in the preseason poll.

Obviously I was wrong.  But I'm definitely surprised to see Amherst ranked ahead of NESCAC rival Williams -- it seems on paper Williams should be ranked a little higher in the preseason.

13 1st votes seems a little high based on what the Lord Jeffs lost.

Now Bob. Quit yur bitchin' Its only 60% of their starting lineup. 
Reputation plays a big role. 

[Gregory Sager]

The CCIW is adding both men's and women's lacrosse as sponsored sports in 2014-15. Five CCIW schools will compete in women's lacrosse, four in men's lacrosse. I figured that this would be coming somewhere down the line -- the MIAA just added lacrosse as a sponsored sport as well -- and CCIW SID/assistant commish Mike Krizman told me a few weeks ago that he's already trying to figure out how to handle stats for that sport.

I don't expect NPU to add lacrosse for either gender anytime soon. Heck, it's already a chore trying to accommodate five different teams at Holmgren Athletic Complex as it is.