MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[WUPHF]

But the other side of that equation is that Illinois Wesleyan doesn't travel as well as it used to. The Titans still get more road support than any team in the league other than Augustana, but there's noticeably less green in opposing gyms this year at IWU road games -- and I don't think that it's because the Titans are having a down year, either, as that's never kept their fans away in the past and it's also part of a subtle but undeniable trend in recent seasons.

I was thinking about this phenomenon earlier in the season.

In 2010-2011, over 1,000 fans watched the IWU-Washington University game compared to just 500 or so this season.  No way to break those numbers down between the teams, but there were far fewer Titan fans in attendance. 

In both cases, fans had to decide whether or not it was worth the drive to watch a ranked IWU team play a rebuilding Washington University team, so its not as though the stakes had changed.

[voxelmhurst]

Wheaton 58
Elmhurst 55

Elmhurst's pursuit of the coveted Big CCIW Win On The Road^TM has required a lot of patience.

[Titan Q]

1. Augustana: 12-1  (vs Wheaton, vs Millikin, at Carthage)
2. North Central: 10-2  (vs IWU, vs Wheaton, at Carthage, at Elmhurst)
3. Wheaton: 9-4  (at Augustana, at North Central, vs Millikin)
T4. Illinois Wesleyan: 6-6  (at North Central, vs Elmhurst, vs North Park, at Carroll)
T4. Elmhurst: 6-6  (at North Park, at IWU, vs Carroll, vs North Central)
6. Carroll: 5-8  (vs Carthage, at Elmhurst, vs IWU)
----------------
7. Millikin: 4-9  (at Augustana, at Wheaton, vs North Park)
8. Carthage: 2-10  (at Carroll, at North Park, vs North Central, vs Augustana)
9. North Park: 2-10  (vs Elmhurst, vs Carthage, at IWU, at Millikin)

The expansion of the CCIW tourney to 6 teams has expanded the drama.  Still so many things to be determined.

The format of the tournament is:
* 2 top seeds get a bye
* Tuesday: #3 hosts #6, #4 hosts #5
* Friday (at #1 seed): #1 vs lowest seed remaining; #2 vs highest seed remaining
* Friday (at #1 seed): championship

As has been mentioned here, every spot you can move up has significant advantages.

NCC has the best shot at a Pool C bid should the Cards not win the conference tourney...but NCC's very weak .517 SOS means they don't have much room for error.  With 2 more regular season losses, NCC would almost certainly be on the wrong side of the bubble...with 1 more things get dicey.

I believe Wheaton has to run the regular season table to get a Pool C - meaning they have to win at Augie and at NCC (very tough).  Most likely, Wheaton's only path to the NCAA tourney is winning the conference tourney.

IWU and Elmhurst are not Pool C candidates.  They are do or die in the CCIW tourney.

The CCIW conference tournament will be intense.

[voxelmhurst]

the other side of that equation is that Illinois Wesleyan doesn't travel as well as it used to. The Titans still get more road support than any team in the league other than Augustana, but there's noticeably less green in opposing gyms this year at IWU road games -- and I don't think that it's because the Titans are having a down year, either, as that's never kept their fans away in the past and it's also part of a subtle but undeniable trend in recent seasons. One wonders if the Grim Reaper has been taking its toll on the fan bus regulars, or if that Bloomington funeral home is no longer handing out the free donuts when the regulars board the bus.

Agreed. I have family history at both EC and IWU. Many of the IWU side are still around but no longer fit to spend 6-8 hours of their Saturdays traveling through Illinois and Wisconsin. As this was definitely a generational trend, I don't see the crowds replacing themselves with the same numbers as time moves forward. Live sports attendance at all levels is losing out to time and technology.

[AndOne]

With regard to the above Bosko-Steve discussion at Carthage...........

If MS. Athletic Director forces Bosko out, even if he was offered the job, how comfortable would Steve be working with her? 🤔

[AndOne]

Baltimore -- just amazing, 31-11
Johnson 10
Kedrowski 10

You sold Sean Johnson way short, Mark. The kid had six rebounds and eight blocks tonight to go with that ten points. I think that it's been seven seasons since anybody's had that many blocks for a CCIW team (He Who Shall Not Be Named had nine for Carthage against Geneva in a 2011 game), and, while I know that it's not a CCIW game record (Lars Anderson had 10 in his triple-double game for North Park against Carroll back in 1985), I'll wager that it's been a good long time since anybody's swatted eight shots in a CCIW game.

Ready a room at the Hotel California memory loss center.

Its only been less than 3 weeks ago! On Wed., 1/16/19, Sean Johnson of Carthage had
8 blocks vs. North Central in a game in the Airplane Hangar in Naperville. You can look it up. 💻

I assume your check is in the mail! 😏

[Gregory Sager]

With regard to the above Bosko-Steve discussion at Carthage...........

If MS. Athletic Director forces Bosko out, even if he was offered the job, how comfortable would Steve be working with her? 🤔

I don't know Michelle Manning, but I can't imagine her, or any other AD, forcing out Bosko. He's by far the most successful coach in Carthage history. For all intents and purposes, he is Carthage basketball. Short of some unforeseeable situation, I can't believe that he wouldn't leave on his own terms, rotten season or not.

Baltimore -- just amazing, 31-11
Johnson 10
Kedrowski 10

You sold Sean Johnson way short, Mark. The kid had six rebounds and eight blocks tonight to go with that ten points. I think that it's been seven seasons since anybody's had that many blocks for a CCIW team (He Who Shall Not Be Named had nine for Carthage against Geneva in a 2011 game), and, while I know that it's not a CCIW game record (Lars Anderson had 10 in his triple-double game for North Park against Carroll back in 1985), I'll wager that it's been a good long time since anybody's swatted eight shots in a CCIW game.

Ready a room at the Hotel California memory loss center.

Its only been less than 3 weeks ago! On Wed., 1/16/19, Sean Johnson of Carthage had
8 blocks vs. North Central in a game in the Airplane Hangar in Naperville. You can look it up. 💻

I assume your check is in the mail! 😏

I have a ready alibi, which is that the poster who typically does the postgame breakdown of NCC games on this board neglected to do so for that game.

[AndOne]

As I hope you're able to remember, the "poster who typically does the postgame breakdown of NCC games on this board," is a retired investigator. 🕵️‍♂️
Without being able to go into detail, the fact is he isn't fully 100% retired and very occasionally assists, to varying degrees, on some surveillance work and other undercover/sting operations. Such was the case on that particular evening which of course means that he was unable to view the contest either in person or on line. 

Additionally, I would be surprised if your only source of information regarding CCIW contests is the write ups various observers/analysts post here. I would think you also regularly peruse the AD recap articles as well as the box scores. 

[Titan Q]

Drew Pasteur, aka Fantastic50 here, tweeted some projected regional rankings.  For the Central he has...

1. Augustana
2. UW-Oshkosh
3. UW-La Crosse
4. North Central
5. UW-Whitewater
6. UW-Stevens Point
7. Wheaton
8. Wash U

By the way, if you are Twitter you should follow him at @d3bubble.  Great stuff.

Matt Snyder, aka KnightSlappy, has...

1. Augustana
2. UW-Oshkosh
3. UW-La Crosse
4. UW-Stevens Point
5. North Central
6. Wheaton
7. UW-Platteville
8. UW-Whitewater

https://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/p/division-iii-mens-regional-rankings.html

[Titan Q]

Both guys have the following top of the West region...

1. Nebraska Wesleyan
2. Whitman

These two teams are most likely the overall #1 and #2 seeds in the country at the moment.

Then consider overall #3 and #4 could be Augustana and UW-Oshkosh (both from the Central).

Gonna be real interesting to see this bracket.  I am still projecting a 10-year anniversary Bracket of Death.

[Gregory Sager]

As I hope you're able to remember, the "poster who typically does the postgame breakdown of NCC games on this board," is a retired investigator. 🕵️‍♂️
Without being able to go into detail, the fact is he isn't fully 100% retired and very occasionally assists, to varying degrees, on some surveillance work and other undercover/sting operations. Such was the case on that particular evening which of course means that he was unable to view the contest either in person or on line. 

Additionally, I would be surprised if your only source of information regarding CCIW contests is the write ups various observers/analysts post here. I would think you also regularly peruse the AD recap articles as well as the box scores. 

Oh, absolutely. But I  usually only bother doing so if it's a game with major implications, or if there's a post here that indicates that something interesting, controversial, or unusual happened.

[John Gleich]

MHO is that the T on Peterson was completely bogus. I mean geez, he slapped the ball hard while holding it in his hands but that hardly merits a T. As far as "slamming" it down, that "slam" was about as hard as a 3 month old baby can hit. Really not much more than him just dropping the ball.
I can kind of see the one on Adom. Again, it wasn't very hard, but he did give the Carroll player a little push. The problem was Adom was holding on to the guy for a long time before the ref called the personal foul. Had he called Adom when he first grabbed his guy the T probably would never have happened.

I think the ref interpreted Peterson dropping/rolling the ball as tossing it at the ref. I don't think that's what he did... But the man in stripes did a bit of a double take when he called the T.

I think the Adom one was worse in terms of calls. The ref who called the foul want there one who called the T... The original ref was handling the situation and talking to the players. Ref #2 also want standing right there, and given that the players were tied up, couldn't have had a view of what actually happened.

Both calls sure seemed suspect to me.

[AndOne]

Drew Pasteur, aka Fantastic50 here, tweeted some projected regional rankings.  For the Central he has...

1. Augustana
2. UW-Oshkosh
3. UW-La Crosse
4. North Central
5. UW-Whitewater
6. UW-Stevens Point
7. Wheaton
8. Wash U

By the way, if you are Twitter you should follow him at @d3bubble.  Great stuff.

Matt Snyder, aka KnightSlappy, has...

1. Augustana
2. UW-Oshkosh
3. UW-La Crosse
4. UW-Stevens Point
5. North Central
6. Wheaton
7. UW-Platteville
8. UW-Whitewater

https://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/p/division-iii-mens-regional-rankings.html

So what's more important SOS or winning %?

Both guys have the following top of the West region...

1. Nebraska Wesleyan
2. Whitman

These two teams are most likely the overall #1 and #2 seeds in the country at the moment.

Then consider overall #3 and #4 could be Augustana and UW-Oshkosh (both from the Central).

Gonna be real interesting to see this bracket.  I am still projecting a 10-year anniversary Bracket of Death.

I seem to remember hearing a lot of talk about a Bracket of Death in 2013—NCC, UWW, IWU

[Titan Q]

So what's more important SOS or winning %?

https://www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/archives/2018-19/marathon

6:29:45

Sam Atkinson, D3 Men's National Committee Chair

[iwu70]

Greg, I give all credit to Johnson.  He had a great game on D, but was absent at the crucial moment when Rose drove through the lane for the winner.  Baltimore is a ton.  Great game for him at 31 and 11. 

Seems to me my Titans likely finishing 15-10 or 16-9 or so.  Very disappointing given the talent and the expectations.  Too many lost games in the last 1-2 minutes this season.  A real problem with finishing and with putting teams away when up by 10 or more mid-way through the second half. As Q has indicated, only post-season pathway for them now is to win the AQ.  Doable but rather unlikely at this stage, given recent form.

Yes, demographics of live attendance changing, surely at IWU and on the fan bus.  My folks, now deceased, were on the bus for years.  So many loyal and special friends from that era.  I joined them all on many occasions.  So many of that generation of avid fans and loyal Titans have passed from the scene, or become less willing to make the long trips, especially in old age.  Student attendance also way down . . . Crowds of over 2,000, even in stronger and more competitive seasons, are now a thing of the past.  Most crowds well-under 1,000.  Plus, many IWU fans are now more loyal to the women's program than to the men's.  This year, myself included!

Bonnett had his best game all year against Carthage.  A great career for him, so tough and reliable over many years.  IWU will be hard-pressed next year to replace Rose, Bonnett and Gregoire. 

Seems Coach Rose is playing the underclassmen more now -- giving them more experience leading into next season -- true of Wallen now starting, and Leritz and Lambesis.

Wishing all the CCIW Chatster a most happy, healthy and prosperous Year of the Pig, flying in tomorrow.  The city has exhaled here in Hong Kong, billions and billions of trips underway, the flower markets jammed, and the feasting and festivities beginning.  The campus has emptied out, roller suitcases all clattering down the cobblestone sidewalks of campus to the trains bound for the interior, heading for Mainland and overseas "home villages" and family reunions.  I'm staying on campus, out of the way  -- a kind of "age appropriate" behavior, with always some work to do, some CCIW basketball to watch.   This is the biggest human migration of all  . . . to welcome in the Pig Year. Kung Hei Fat Choi to all.

IWU'70