MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Pat Coleman]

I'd have assumed they'd do a lowest remaining/highest remaining thing.

That setup is quite rare in D-III.

[WUPHF]

the Cardinals slowly pulled away enough to where they were able to get all four of their seniors in, including Hikaru Fukuda seeing his first career varsity action

I've noted this name on the roster for the past few years since it is so unusual to have a player hailing from Japan.  Was wondering if he would get a chance to see some game action before year end as a reward for a lot of time invested in the program, and I'm glad to see Todd Raridon was able to make that happen.

Hikaru is a great guy who is truly loved by his teammates. Came to the USA and NCC to major in Exercise Science. Don't know how much basketball he had played previously, if any, but he fell in love with the game and team. Knowing, through open gym at the beginning of his first year that there was virtually no chance of his ever being a regular varsity team member, he nevertheless came out for the team and a place on the JV squad where he spent the entirety of his career before last night. Hikaru gave it his all in practice every day for four years, definitely earning his reward last night, which several NCC fans began calling for minutes earlier. We're all familiar with the popular phrase that's particularly applicable to D3, he plays for the love of the game. Hikaru personified this principle to the max.

+1 for sharing...

[iwu70]

Congrats to Matt Leritz on Player of the Week -- a truly momentous week:  the game-saving block, then the buzzer-beater winner at Millikin, then a career night 31 points vs. Wheaton to clinch at least a share of the CCIW regular season championship for the Titans.

Two games to go:  at home vs. NCC Wednesday night and @Augie on Saturday. 

Keep in rolling, Titans, . . . keep it rolling, Matt!

IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

the Cardinals slowly pulled away enough to where they were able to get all four of their seniors in, including Hikaru Fukuda seeing his first career varsity action

I've noted this name on the roster for the past few years since it is so unusual to have a player hailing from Japan.  Was wondering if he would get a chance to see some game action before year end as a reward for a lot of time invested in the program, and I'm glad to see Todd Raridon was able to make that happen.

Hikaru is a great guy who is truly loved by his teammates. Came to the USA and NCC to major in Exercise Science. Don't know how much basketball he had played previously, if any, but he fell in love with the game and team.
Knowing, through open gym at the beginning of his first year that there was virtually no chance of his ever being a regular varsity team member, he nevertheless came out for the team and a place on the JV squad where he spent the entirety of his career before last night. Hikaru gave it his all in practice every day for four years, definitely earning his reward last night, which several NCC fans began calling for minutes earlier.
We're all familiar with the popular phrase that's particularly applicable to D3, he plays for the love of the game. Hikaru personified this principle to the max.

That's a great story, and to my mind it illustrates what D3 is all about.

[iwu70]

At present, my vote goes to Matt Leritz for conference MOP this year. 

Two games to go for the Titans . . .  NCC at home, and Augie away.

IWU will likely see WC again in the CCIW Conference tournament, luckily at the Shirk, it would appear.  The rubber match.

IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

Augustana is most likely going to make the CCIW tournament this season as the sixth seed, keeping the Doggies' remarkable record intact of qualifying for every CCIW tourney since the league first adopted it for the 2005-06 season.

However, gone by the boards will be a couple of even more impressive Augustana streaks, while another one besides those two is threatened. This will mark the first time since the 1999-00 season (the first season under Grey Giovanine) that Augie will finish outside of the CCIW's top four. In tandem with that, Augie's streak of winning CCIW campaigns dating back to 1999-00 now ends, as a win in their regular-season finale against Illinois Wesleyan would leave the Rock Islanders at 7-9. In terms of overall record, beating IWU would bring Augie up to 12-13 for the season, which would make a winning season, or at least a .500 one, doable if improbable by virtue of a tournament run.

Having said all that, I still think that the Augustana program is in very good hands with Tom Jessee, who is a proven recruiter. Augie has a very good freshman class this season, and a great player in Dan Carr to build around. I think that this season will go down as an anomaly rather than the start of a downward trend for Augustana basketball.

[iwu70]

Congrats to Matt Leritz on four awards, forms of recognition this week.  A momentous week for the Titans . . . and for Matt. 

I agree with Greg that Augustana will likely stay at the top tier of the league.  Carr is a remarkable big man, his rebounding and his range of shooting.  IWU will need to do a better job on him this final game to win up at Carver on Saturday.  Always a tough place to play. 

Thinking ahead . . . IWU loses a lot in Lambesis, Noe and Leritz . . . but many good players waiting in the wings for their turn and many of the current underclassmen with lots of experience.   IWU has some very good bigs in the wings waiting for their turn (Hardy and Schneider) . . . and some pine-sitting shooters too.  Coming back from the current rotation:  Yoder, Mitchell, Heflen, Sroka, Roper, Wilmsen and Heaton, . . . others from the second group likely to play a major part next year.  We'll see later about recruiting . . .  one has to be pretty optimistic about the coming few years at IWU.

Here comes March . . .  it's gonna be fun.

'70

[Gregory Sager]

I'd have assumed they'd do a lowest remaining/highest remaining thing.

That setup is quite rare in D-III.

That's because it defies logic. I suppose that if the league was far-flung enough to require travel plans to be made further out it might make sense, but no such problem exists in the CCIW. It's not asking too much of the #1 and #2 seeds that they wait until 9 pm or so on Tuesday evening to know which victor from which quarterfinal game they'd each be playing. After all, they have to wait until the quarterfinals are done before they can start preparing for their next opponent, anyway, so it's not as though a predetermined bracket was some sort of time-saver for them.

All that aside, it appears to be a moot point, because the CCIW tournament page is now showing the standard lowest remaining/highest remaining format for the semifinals.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Week 2 Regional Rankings - which are ranked now: https://d3hoops.com/notables/2022/02/men-regional-rankings-first

[robertgoulet]

Week 2 Regional Rankings - which are ranked now: https://d3hoops.com/notables/2022/02/men-regional-rankings-first

Probably not going to be unusual now that there are a billion regions but it's funny seeing the top 4 in a region all hailing from 1 conference.

[WUPHF]

Week 2 Regional Rankings - which are ranked now: https://d3hoops.com/notables/2022/02/men-regional-rankings-first

Probably not going to be unusual now that there are a billion regions but it's funny seeing the top 4 in a region all hailing from 1 conference.

Out of curiosity, which region is that?

[Gregory Sager]

Week 2 Regional Rankings - which are ranked now: https://d3hoops.com/notables/2022/02/men-regional-rankings-first

Probably not going to be unusual now that there are a billion regions but it's funny seeing the top 4 in a region all hailing from 1 conference.

I wouldn't be surprised if four of Region 8's top five next week will be CCIW teams, since the three HCAC teams in this week's ranking -- Hanover, Anderson, and Defiance -- all lost on Tuesday. Of course, one of the four CCIW teams will have to absorb a loss as well tonight, since North Central and Illinois Wesleyan are playing each other. But the loser is not likely to drop as dramatically as the three HCAC teams will.

Speaking of Region 8, St. Norbert is likely to carry the flag for that league in next week's regional ranking as well, since the Green Knights have only a game with MSOE (9-13, 5-10) remaining. But what a race that league is having! In the 13-team league there are four teams (including St. Norbert) that are tied for first at 10-6, three teams tied for second at 9-6, and two more teams tied at 10-7. That's nine teams that are within a half-game of first place ... which is just plain nuts.

[robertgoulet]

Week 2 Regional Rankings - which are ranked now: https://d3hoops.com/notables/2022/02/men-regional-rankings-first

Probably not going to be unusual now that there are a billion regions but it's funny seeing the top 4 in a region all hailing from 1 conference.

Out of curiosity, which region is that?

I lumped Wash U into the CCIW bc of their football affiliation 

[WUPHF]

I lumped Wash U into the CCIW bc of their football affiliation 

+1 I figured as much and had to give you a little trouble.

[iwu70]

All regional rankings up now . . . IWU #1 in region #8.

Good game tonight at the Shirk, IWU hosting NCC, another regionally-ranked team. 

IWU'70