MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwumichigander]

My prediction:   IWU over CC, Augie over WC, then IWU over Augie for the AQ.  WC and AC get bids, Carthage stays home.  IMHO.  Of course, I hope Q is right with his usually correct, annual calculations and the CCIW gets four teams in.  That would be grand.

A great, safe basketball-filled weekend to all.

IWU70

I think iwu70 has it accurately. IWU should dispatch Carthage. The Augie-Wheaton looks very close. I believe they split this season. Winner will likely be the one who rebounds and takes care of the ball best.
Either way, the winner will come away with a fairly empty tank which should allow for another IWU win Sat night.

In addition to their talent, IWU will enjoy the advantage of having home court. Surely the odds must be astronomical that IWU won't fail to seize this advantage for the the second year in a row after also having the advantage last year but failing to capitalize on it by losing to Augie the 1st night.

Should IWU win both nights, can they still emerge ranked 1st in the region going into the national tournament and have home court throughout?

The only sure way I see IWU ranked 1st would be 2 wins for IWU and 1 loss for WashU in which case home court throughout might be a possibility.  There are a couple of other scenarios wherein someone on the committee(s) would have to insist on looking at head to head results.

[USee]

I don't understand the WashU/IWU debate. Are we seriously making HTH results deminimus? I understand IWU lost 2 games and WashU lost none since that game. But IWU lost 2 games on the road to tougher opponents than WashU played (this season anyway). WashU also has a loss to one of the IWU opponents. If the stats are at all close, and they are, this is a no brainer to give the HTH winner a higher seed. Why am I wrong?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Well as of the last rankings, Wash U has a .595 SOS and IWU has a .556... and both have 6-2 vRRO. So, Wash U has one less loss and a very strong SOS. IWU has a head-to-head win in their favor. Wash U appears to "win" the most categories.

[izzy stradlin]

I don't understand the WashU/IWU debate. Are we seriously making HTH results deminimus? I understand IWU lost 2 games and WashU lost none since that game. But IWU lost 2 games on the road to tougher opponents than WashU played (this season anyway). WashU also has a loss to one of the IWU opponents. If the stats are at all close, and they are, this is a no brainer to give the HTH winner a higher seed. Why am I wrong?

Wash U has both a better Win% and SOS than IWU (SOS by a decent margin).   That's why they are ranked #1 in the region and rightly so.  Much more data than a N of 1 in a head-to-head result.

That said, I'd put money on IWU over Wash U in Bloomington or St. Louis.

[kiko]

I am green thru-and-thru, but totally agree it has the appearance of a conflict of interest.  It should not have happened.  But assuming it is true that O'Boye notified the league office and that IWU was aware of said notification, I do not agree that either O'Boye or Coach Rose are at all to blame.  Whoever assigned O'Boye to ref that game is the one to blame.

Based on his actions at the game, the official is not blameless in this, Ypsi.  He has an obligation to put on a face of impartiality while at the game site.  From all accounts, he clearly did not do this, and that is an egregious breach of his professional responsibilities from my perspective.

[kiko]

Yes the CCIW uses an assigner for the officials and from everything I can gather, the assigner was in the dark about the O'Boye-IWU connection. Whether it is deemed worthy of discussion or not, this is a big deal. Not because it had any outcome on last Saturday's game, because it didn't, but because it's a huge oversight and lapse in judgment on behalf of Mr. O'Boye, Illinois Wesleyan and the CCIW office. Remove whatever-tinted glass you happen to be wearing and realize that there is a lot of weightiness to this:

Disclaimer: This is not in the least an indictment of Illinois Wesleyan or of Mr. O'Boye. I'm sure I will be accused of both at some point.

- Whether or not Mr. O'Boye failed to report the situation regarding his daughter to the conference office, Illinois Wesleyan should have made the CCIW office aware of the situation after they had Mr. O'Boye as an official at Elmhurst.

- How is it fair to Mr. O'Boye or his daughter for him to have to go from being a fan of the first game to an impartial participant of the second game on a night like Saturday night? If a few of Mr. O'Boye's calls happen to go Wheaton's way while the game is unfolding, all of a sudden Ms. O'Boye's father is the one who helped Wheaton earn a conference title and she has to face that angle on bus ride home to Bloomington. That's an extremely unfair burden for her to have to bear.

- It becomes extremely hard to say that women's basketball is not the same sport as men's basketball and claim that Mr. O'Boye is not officiating the same sport as his daughter plays when the above is considered as well as the fact that they played the same game, on the same floor, on the same night.

- Some of this was easily swept under the rug on Saturday night because Ms. O'Boye was not listed in the program. She was a late write-in to the score book and did not appear in the game, thus the relation was brought to light by AndOne's sources.

- Undoubtedly Mr. O'Boye has financially supported the Titan Athletic Department at some point this year whether it be to support a possible fundraising cause of his daughter's or to be able to have his Titan gear on while he supports his daughter. If that is the case, you now don't just have the father of a Titan doing the game, you now have an Illinois Wesleyan booster officiating the game.

- Keep in mind that a lot of this conversation is being generated because of the weight that was placed on Saturday night's game and the implications at hand. I'd have found as equally out of line if it was an early January matchup between Illinois Wesleyan and North Park.

It just looks bad for everyone involved. With the number of officials available, there's no way that these kind of things should be happening, especially in a game with the magnitude of Saturday night's.

To be fair and even things up-----why doesn't the CCIW let one of the parents of a Wheaton player officiate the championship game should IWU and Wheaton both advance?  I'm sure the IWU people won't care since they seem to think the whole incident is no big deal.

I too have no dog in this fight but seriously..............it doesn't look good (or fair).

I am green thru-and-thru, but totally agree it has the appearance of a conflict of interest.  It should not have happened.  But assuming it is true that O'Boye notified the league office and that IWU was aware of said notification, I do not agree that either O'Boye or Coach Rose are at all to blame.  Whoever assigned O'Boye to ref that game is the one to blame.

The part that bothers me is that incident looks so bad that I felt compelled to write a post supporting the Crusaders.  I feel so dirty.  I'm going to sign off and take a shower now.

That'll take more than one shower to scrub off, unfortunately.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I am green thru-and-thru, but totally agree it has the appearance of a conflict of interest.  It should not have happened.  But assuming it is true that O'Boye notified the league office and that IWU was aware of said notification, I do not agree that either O'Boye or Coach Rose are at all to blame.  Whoever assigned O'Boye to ref that game is the one to blame.

Based on his actions at the game, the official is not blameless in this, Ypsi.  He has an obligation to put on a face of impartiality while at the game site.  From all accounts, he clearly did not do this, and that is an egregious breach of his professional responsibilities from my perspective.

While you are correct in general, who can blame a proud father for hugging his daughter and congratulating her teammates.  IF he high-fived any of the men's team (I don't know one way or the other), THAT would IMO be a breach.

But the fundamental blame is with the assigner.  IMO O'Boye should probably not officiate any conference games, to avoid an appearance of conflict of interest - after all, the outcomes of other games also affect IWU.  There are plenty of d3 and NAIA contests in the area besides CCIW.

[Titan Q]

Based on his actions at the game, the official is not blameless in this, Ypsi.  He has an obligation to put on a face of impartiality while at the game site.  From all accounts, he clearly did not do this, and that is an egregious breach of his professional responsibilities from my perspective.

Because he hugged his daughter?

If he was really partial to IWU, wouldn't he have made calls for IWU and against Wheaton (something, through all of this chatter, that no one has said he came close to doing)?  By all accounts and observations, that game was officiated very fairly.

[Hardwood]

Based on his actions at the game, the official is not blameless in this, Ypsi.  He has an obligation to put on a face of impartiality while at the game site.  From all accounts, he clearly did not do this, and that is an egregious breach of his professional responsibilities from my perspective.

Because he hugged his daughter?

If he was really partial to IWU, wouldn't he have made calls for IWU and against Wheaton (something, through all of this chatter, that no one has said he came close to doing)?  By all accounts and observations, that game was officiated very fairly.

This is exactly why O'Boye should have recused himself in the first place.

[kiko]

Based on his actions at the game, the official is not blameless in this, Ypsi.  He has an obligation to put on a face of impartiality while at the game site.  From all accounts, he clearly did not do this, and that is an egregious breach of his professional responsibilities from my perspective.

Because he hugged his daughter?

If he was really partial to IWU, wouldn't he have made calls for IWU and against Wheaton (something, through all of this chatter, that no one has said he came close to doing)?  By all accounts and observations, that game was officiated very fairly.

Because he sat in and amongst the Titans traveling contingent, and yes, because he hugged his daughter.  I presume he cheered for the Titans in Game 1 as well, and if he did, I would add that to the list of breaches.

Look, I know you Titan types think everything green is pure and virtuous, but the optics on this are not good.  He needs to be impartial at the game site -- period.  Not from the time the second game starts, but from the time he walks in the door.  No exceptions for family or any other mitigating factors.  If he can't do that, he has absolutely no business officiating that game.  It creates an illusion of bias that puts an unnecessary sheen over the game.

You seem to think that the absence of bias that everyone present -- including AndOne -- is attesting to should resolve the issue.  It doesn't.  The issue is not his calls -- it is the conflict of interest and lack of professionalism on the part of the official.

[Pat Coleman]

Yes the CCIW uses an assigner for the officials and from everything I can gather, the assigner was in the dark about the O'Boye-IWU connection. Whether it is deemed worthy of discussion or not, this is a big deal. Not because it had any outcome on last Saturday's game, because it didn't, but because it's a huge oversight and lapse in judgment on behalf of Mr. O'Boye, Illinois Wesleyan and the CCIW office.

I don't see why IWU needs to be blamed here. IWU was aware that the official notified the conference. What more needs to happen other than the official notifying the conference? Due diligence was done there. It's not IWU's responsibility here one bit, guys.

[veterancciwfan]

Maybe Mr. O'Boye needs to ref all the games he can get to help pay the IWU tuition. Enough of this unending controversy. This  discussion of which team will get to host Rounds 3 and 4 (the 2nd weekend of the tournament on Mar. 14 & 15) is futuristic. It's not a given that IWU and Wash. U. will win 2 games on the first weekend (on Mar. 7 & 8). Look at Wash. U's recent record in St. Louis in Rounds 1 and 2. Of course, Wash. U. probably has a better chance to win this year in St. Louis on the first weekend because IWU will be playing in Bloomington.  I don't know much about the relative quality of UAA teams, but if Chicago can go 8-5 in the UAA (their record to date), my opinion is that the CCIW must be a superior league. That, of course, means absolutely nothing to the Midwest Region Committee and shouldn't. However, Wash. U's superior SOS must be based on the conclusion that the UAA does have a lot of quality teams. Is my logic wrong? My guess is that the Midwest Region Committee wants to keep Wash. U. #1 in the final rankings and that is one of the reasons Chicago was ranked at the bottom (#8) of the next to last rankings released earlier this week. Who is the Chairman of the Midwest Region Committee?

[Hardwood]

Maybe Mr. O'Boye needs to ref all the games he can get to help pay the IWU tuition. Enough of this unending controversy. This  discussion of which team will get to host Rounds 3 and 4 (the 2nd weekend of the tournament on Mar. 14 & 15) is futuristic. It's not a given that IWU and Wash. U. will win 2 games on the first weekend (on Mar. 7 & 8). Look at Wash. U's recent record in St. Louis in Rounds 1 and 2. Of course, Wash. U. probably has a better chance to win this year in St. Louis on the first weekend because IWU will be playing in Bloomington.  I don't know much about the relative quality of UAA teams, but if Chicago can go 8-5 in the UAA (their record to date), my opinion is that the CCIW must be a superior league. That, of course, means absolutely nothing to the Midwest Region Committee and shouldn't. However, Wash. U's superior SOS must be based on the conclusion that the UAA does have a lot of quality teams. Is my logic wrong? My guess is that the Midwest Region Committee wants to keep Wash. U. #1 in the final rankings and that is one of the reasons Chicago was ranked at the bottom (#8) of the next to last rankings released earlier this week. Who is the Chairman of the Midwest Region Committee?

You almost had the subject changed but then you brought up "relative" quality

[Titan Q]

Nice article on Andrew Ziemnik...

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/unique-ziemnik-gets-job-done-for-iwu-men/article_bca497ed-2856-58e4-831e-780e0fc3aebf.html

He's been a real pleasure to watch and root for.

[iwu70]

Other articles in the Pgraph today about IWU's tournament games, both men and women.  Nice to see Mike Mayberger providing leadership, speaking for the team/ program in this article.  IWU women have a tough task beating WC for the third time in the tournament semis in Kenosha on Friday. 

I'm done with this talk, discussion of the officiating.  Let the league and the "assigner" deal with it all.  I'm sure if any rules were broken or procedures not fully followed, some corrections can be made.  I too don't think this was IWU's deal -- but then again, I'm just a Greenie with Green glasses.  I stated my views on this earlier.  Let's get back to basketball.  AndOne can continue with his investigations and keep us all informed -- whether we wish to hear him or not.

If IWU wins two games this weekend, I think they will be #1 in the last regional rankings.  Both Wash U and IWU likely to host the first weekend, if not also the second.  Would be great to have The Shirk host two weekends, four games this year.  The Titan faithful, the members of the B/N community will come out and provide the support (and the revenue).  If IWU and Wash U meet again, well, it will be a great game, one in a long series of great national tournament games between these two D3 programs.  I hope it happens.  Point and Whitewater likely down the road too -- or games with the top programs from Ohio.  So it goes . . .   

Zman is truly "unique."  Love his play, his work ethic and his quirky, unique personality.  I miss the long hair, but you can't have everything!  Apparently he misses it too, but doesn't want to be bothered as he focuses on the final run of his senior year as a Titan. 

Go Zman!  Go TITANS!

IWU70

P.S.  No word yet on the women's All-Conference team?     Guess the CCIW office is too busy investigating officials hugging their daughters.  Good grief!  ms