MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

I think Chicago will finish third in the UAA, behind Rochester and Wash U. Emory does not look that impressive, at least at this point.

Carroll is definitely the wild card of the CCIW this season. It will be very interesting to see how the Pioneers interact with their new league foes. I've watched parts of two of their games against SLIAC opponents, but it's hard to get a good feel for how they'll fare against CCIW competition from that. The Pios draw the bye on the CCIW's opening day this coming Saturday, and then they host Elmhurst and travel to NPU next week.

[AndOne]

JV game in The Hangar in Naperville tonight between victorious NCC and Dominican was, as is often the case, not otherwise remarkable with one notable exception. When the contracted officials failed to show, for reasons unknown, one of the most esteemed and acclaimed crews in college basketball stepped in, at the last moment, to save the day-or in this case, night. 

No aspersions, doubts, or even raised eyebrows were cast in the direction of any of the notorious crew of T. Raridon, A. Tiknis, and V. Kmiec who called their usually flawless game from the opening tip to the final buzzer. 👍 🏀

[Titan Q]

FYI - my point about being "down" was not a negative or to make it seem it the conference is below other teams or conferences. I just mean the standard that Augustana and Elmhurst set last year, Augustana set the year before, etc. may be a bit down. That doesn't mean it still isn't very, very good. I just don't think the top of the CCIW will be head and shoulders better like it has in the last few years. The middle is damn good and I have said that for years. So the top comes back to the middle a little bit (the middle probably improving as well) making for a bit different than it has been over the last few years. Again, that is not a knock on the conference... I just mean to say there isn't anyone in the conference I look at and say - damn, those teams are far better than the rest of the conference and majority of the teams out there. Now I look and say, there are very good teams, hard to gauge how good, because that upper echileon is a little bit "down" and down by past standards - not down compared to other conferences. I certainly didn't say it was down and now below the WIAC, or below the MIAA, or below the NESCAC... I just meant down a bit from where I saw it last year. Again, not a negative. I just don't think the top of the CCIW is as good as it was last year or the year before. Maybe the season will prove otherwise.

It's really too early to know how strong the top of the CCIW (or any league for that matter) is.  But I'll say this -- the top of the CCIW is typically pretty consistent.  The best team in the league is usually a legitimate Final Four contender, the second best team a Sweet 16 contender, and the third best team a candidate to make the NCAA tournament a win a game.  Last 5 years...

2016
Augustana - Elite 8
Elmhurst - Round of 32
North Central - Lost in Round 1

2015
Augustana - national championship game
Illinois Wesleyan - Round of 32
Elmhurst - Round of 32

2014
Illinois Wesleyan - Final Four
Wheaton - Sweet 16
Augustana - Round of 32

2013
North Central - Final Four
Illinois Wesleyan - Sweet 16
Wheaton - Round of 32

2012 
Illinois Wesleyan - Final Four
North Central - Sweet 16
Wheaton - Sweet 16

From the games I have watched so far, I don't see any difference in 2016-17.  I think North Central - with two All-Americans, great depth, and really no weaknesses - is an elite team that is as good as anybody in Division III.  I see no separation at all between the talent level of North Central in 2016-17 and the CCIW's last 4 Final Four teams - Augustana '15, Illinois Wesleyan '14, North Central '13, Illinois Wesleyan '12.

From this year's grouping of Illinois Wesleyan, North Park, Augustana, and Carroll, I believe two NCAA tournament teams will emerge -- one of which will be good enough to win 2 or 3 games, the other good enough to win Friday night in Round 1.

As I am looking at this, it's another typical year in the CCIW.  I guess we'll see.

[Titan Q]

I admit to being a little surprised that Carroll got seven points in the poll while Chicago didn't get any, seeing as how both teams are 4-1 and the Maroons beat the Pioneers by 11.

I thought the same thing -- seems like Chicago should be getting more votes than Carroll.  That seems strange.

[badgerwarhawk]

I'm really surprised you guys seem think Carroll will be competitive in the league.  I don't see them finishing above .500. 

[D3_Commenter]

From the games I have watched so far, I don't see any difference in 2016-17.  I think North Central - with two All-Americans, great depth, and really no weaknesses - is an elite team that is as good as anybody in Division III.  I see no separation at all between the talent level of North Central in 2016-17 and the CCIW's last 4 Final Four teams - Augustana '15, Illinois Wesleyan '14, North Central '13, Illinois Wesleyan '12.
[/quote]

I think that is a very fair assessment of North Central thus far this season. They have the talent and depth for a tournament run (pending injury/ eligibility issues). This Saturday should be a good gauge for both IWU/ NCC in regards to where that are at so far in this young season.

ALSO:

December CCIW league games??!? Must have had to do it for the national broadcast schedule.....

All jokes aside, I am excited and Saturday at the hangar will be electric!

[lmitzel]

Looking ahead to tonight's NCC-Platteville matchup, this is a case of a deceiving record. Platteville's four wins have come against a pretty good NAIA team in Lindsey Wilson College and the remaining teams they've beaten have a combined three wins on the season. Their one loss was at Wheaton.

Platteville has played pretty good defense on the year (allowing 65 points a game on under 40 percent shooting). Offensively, a majority of their scoring comes from their backcourt (all three double figures scorers are guards) and they've controlled the glass pretty well so far. But again, other than Wheaton they haven't really faced any teams that are that good. We'll see how having to deal with Raridon and Sorenson goes, considering this Cardinal team beat the Pioneers by 30 at their place last season.

All jokes aside, I am excited and Saturday at the hangar will be electric!

Don't want to totally look past tonight, but I'm excited for Saturday as well, on both the men's and women's fronts. Will be fun to see a Seibring-Sorenson battle, and I'm curious to see how NCC's women stack up against the Titans.

[Gregory Sager]

I'm really surprised you guys seem think Carroll will be competitive in the league.  I don't see them finishing above .500.

Do you mean .500 in the CCIW, or .500 overall?

The Pioneers are currently 4-1, and their four remaining non-con games are:

@ MSOE (1-1)
@ Loras (2-2)
@ Dallas (1-4)
@ Austin (2-3)

Even though they're all on the road, I think it's reasonable to project that the Pios will go either 3-1 or 4-0 in these contests. That would mean a non-con record of 7-2 or 8-1, which would mean that they'd have to go either 5-11 or 4-12 in CCIW play -- or worse -- to finish under .500 for the season.

Considering that Millikin is looking as though it might be an automatic two-fer in the win column (barring a dramatic improvement between now and the beginning of January by the Big Blue), that doesn't leave much wiggle room for your prediction ... unless, of course, you're talking CCIW-only in forecasting an underwater season for the Pioneers. That prediction looks more tenable, particularly if young teams such as Wheaton and Carthage continue to display better-than-expected performances. I still think that Carroll will do better than 7-9, but I wouldn't lay the proverbial all-the-corn-in-Manito down on such a bet.

Don't want to totally look past tonight, but I'm excited for Saturday as well, on both the men's and women's fronts. Will be fun to see a Seibring-Sorenson battle, and I'm curious to see how NCC's women stack up against the Titans.

Which will be higher: Seibring's and Sorenson's combined points and rebounds in the men's game, or the combined number of turnovers in the IWU @ NCC women's game?

[badgerwarhawk]

My bad Greg.  .500 in your league. 

Obviously I'm no where near as familiar with your league as you guys are but I generally put it at least on par with our league from top to bottom.   I just don't see how Carroll could play .500 in our league.   Without researching it I would suspect that many of the teams in our league have played and beaten them comfortably in out of conference competition.  I know we've never had any sort of problem with them in the multiple times we've met.  No offense intended but the athletics at Carroll just aren't that good. 

[Gregory Sager]

My bad Greg.  .500 in your league. 

Obviously I'm no where near as familiar with your league as you guys are but I generally put it at least on par with our league from top to bottom.   I just don't see how Carroll could play .500 in our league.   Without researching it I would suspect that many of the teams in our league have played and beaten them comfortably in out of conference competition.  I know we've never had any sort of problem with them in the multiple times we've met.  No offense intended but the athletics at Carroll just aren't that good.

I agree that Carroll's overall athletics is not really up to snuff in terms of CCIW competition, at least as of the moment; only the Pioneers women's soccer team managed a top-three CCIW finish this fall in this, the school's first year back in the league after a quarter-century spent in the MWC. But it's a little too early to hand Carroll a report card, particularly since the school hasn't had a CCIW-oriented graduation cycle yet.

Men's basketball is another story, though. This season the Pioneers returned three starters, including their top two scorers, and four of their six regular reserves from a team that went 20-5 a year ago. (Last season's Pios split their two contests against WIAC competition, beating UWEC and losing to UWO.) I've seen parts of two of their games online thus far, and, while the competition was subpar and it was thus a bit hard to get a good read on Carroll, it looked to me that the Pios will be more than able to hold their own most nights in the CCIW.

[Gregory Sager]

It's waaaay too early to take Massey seriously yet, so I'm just throwing this out there for the sake of conversation:

    2. North Central
    5. Augustana
  11. Illinois Wesleyan
  17. North Park
  76. Elmhurst
  80. Carroll
  81. Wheaton
126. Carthage
347. Millikin

Re: tonight, Ken's magic algorithm sez:

@ Carthage 74, Calvin 71 (Carthage 59%, Calvin 41%)
Millikin 70, @ Earlham 66 (MU 61%, EC 39%)
@ North Central 75, UW-Platteville 65 (NCC 82%, UWP 18%)

[Mr. Ypsi]

It's waaaay too early to take Massey seriously yet, so I'm just throwing this out there for the sake of conversation:

    2. North Central
    5. Augustana
  11. Illinois Wesleyan
  17. North Park
  76. Elmhurst
  80. Carroll
  81. Wheaton
126. Carthage
347. Millikin

Re: tonight, Ken's magic algorithm sez:

@ Carthage 74, Calvin 71 (Carthage 59%, Calvin 41%)
Millikin 70, @ Earlham 66 (MU 61%, EC 39%)
@ North Central 75, UW-Platteville 65 (NCC 82%, UWP 18%)

As you say, Massey should not be taken seriously yet.  But one thing jumped out at me - I wonder if a last place team in the CCIW ever been 221 slots behind the next worst team??!!

[Mr. Ypsi]

In line with the post immediately above, Millikin trails freakin' Earlham by 11 at halftime.  Might they be the worst CCIW team in the last quarter century?  (And yes, I know they were truly god-awful in 2010-11 and 2011-12, going 1-24 and 0-14 both years.)

[4samuy]

I think Massey may be the second cousin of Giovanine.  C'mon really?  As a fan of the Augie program I've gotta take a look at that.

[Gregory Sager]

What in the wide, wide world of sports happened to North Central tonight? Forty points? Lose by 17 at home to a team that the WIACers have all written off? A team that lost to Wheaton just seven days ago?

Actually, this is exactly why I love college basketball. There's always some result that comes across the wire that just screws with your head when you first see it.