MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[augiefan]

I want to add my praises to those of others that expressed their appreciation for the in game updates last night and throughout the season. Until Pat created this board and Al Gore invented the internet most of us would be waiting anxiously for the morning paper to get final scores with no details about the game. For those of us who are D3 sports junkies, this board is pleasant addiction.

It also now looks like virtually every CCIW team except NPU broadcasts at least their home games over the internet. I wasn't aware of Millikin's broadcasts until last night thanks J. Augie, so perhaps I'm wrong about NPU. Since I really can only attend the Chicago area Augie games, it's good to be able to listen in to the other games on the computer. I just wish that once in awhile an Augie game was decided with more than 30 seconds left in the game.

[rpknupp]

Re: A couple pages back, Korey Coon and Ryan Knuppel playing together.. It's awfully fun to watch, that's for sure..

The conference tournament is going to be a heck of a tournament!!

[dtown2]

TITAN Q...


The ball was inbounded to Harrington at half court. Augi was very late getting back on defense. Harrington was wide open out near center court. He's a very quick player. Dribbled, missed a lay up and was immediately tipped back in to beat Augustana.

Most of the people were getting ready to sit down becuase we thought there was no way the ref would count it. The ref signaled it went in and the place went nuts. Giovanine went nuts!

[Greek Tragedy]

The problem with all this what-if scenario analysis is that we have a conference tourney to play.  In a "normal" year, the tourney could be somewhat predictable, but with the upset prone nature of this year's CCIW, its all a toss up as far as I'm concerned.

Ironically, that's why they added the tournament, to give themselves a better shot at more than one bid.  As we all know, every team is quaranteed one more loss (except one), so it actually hurts their chances, at least this year!

[iwumichigander]

I posted this last night in the in-game updates room: An unbelievable night Augie, IWU & NC go down for the count.  This is not going to be settled until the last reg season game of season.

Only one item got settled last night:  The CCIW tournament will be at Augustana.  Even if in their last two reg season games Augie were to drop two more and IWU were to win two, Augie still wins out in head to head v. IWU W/L 2-0 to host the tournament and share the conference title.

Wheaton is still very much in this race.  It likely needs to win its remaining 3 games.  A really tough task.  Yet, the Thunder should have a lot of momentum coming off two wins against CCIW #1 & 2 NCAA ranked teams.

[dansand]

With the lower half having their way with the upper half lately, how interesting would a conference tournament with all eight teams have been?

As I step back and put this week in context of the whole season, the disappointment isn't quite so great. Augie still has a chance to have (or, I should say continue) a very special season. As I've said earlier, they've played to the level of their competition all year, so maybe it's a good thing that they face the prospect of playing their next three, or, hopefully four, games against the league's upper half. They'll definitely need a healthy Rick Harrigan. I think they're certainly capable of winning isolated games against the CCIW's upper half without him, but I don't think there's any way they can string together several in a row without his firepower.

The word I heard on Harrigan was a deep thigh bruise, which is consistent with what I saw on the play he got hurt. He got pounded by a huge pick in the Wheaton game and my guess is he maybe took a knee to the thigh. I don't know who it was for Wheaton that set the pick but it looked legal and needless to say, very effective.

[cciwrules]

Sac: Stupid X 3 = Mickey Mouse. That's what the D3 tournament selection process is and always will be. The driving force behind the politically correct process is that fans from the super conferences like the CCIW and the Wisconsin league cannot be allowed the smugness to think that their teams are somehow better from teams from the have-not and top heavy conferences. Case in point: Lawrence, who is a lock for a C bid even it loses in the Midwest conf. tourney. Why? Because the play in the inferior (this year which may be an exception to the general shape of the league) Midwest league instead of in the CCIW or the WI league. What would Lawrence's record be if they played IWU's schedule? Or WI-Stout's schedule?

Lanny, your woe-is-us rant about the power conferences being persecuted by the collective might of all those downtrodden plebeians in the non-power conferences would hold a lot more water if you weren't using Lawrence as an example. The Larries beat preseason WIAC favorite UW-Oshkosh back in November; it's the third year in a row that they've beaten the Oshies. Plus, Lawrence crushed Carthage by 13 in December ... in Kenosha. Need I remind you that your Titans barely walked out of the Carthage PE Center with a one-point win? Or that Augie only beat the Red Men by three in Kenosha? Next time, find a better example if you're looking for an overrated have in a have-not league. Lawrence can hang with the big boys. Heck, Lawrence is a big boy, and it makes no difference that their league is a notch below the big-boy leagues.

Yes it does make a difference sorry to say,but Lawrence would have problems finishing in the top 4 in the CCIW

[robberki]

It also now looks like virtually every CCIW team except NPU broadcasts at least their home games over the internet. I wasn't aware of Millikin's broadcasts until last night thanks J. Augie, so perhaps I'm wrong about NPU. Since I really can only attend the Chicago area Augie games, it's good to be able to listen in to the other games on the computer. I just wish that once in awhile an Augie game was decided with more than 30 seconds left in the game.

You are correct, NPU does not broadcast their games...don't get me started on this either! ha!

[Mr. Ypsi]

I posted this last night in the in-game updates room: An unbelievable night Augie, IWU & NC go down for the count.  This is not going to be settled until the last reg season game of season.

Only one item got settled last night:  The CCIW tournament will be at Augustana.  Even if in their last two reg season games Augie were to drop two more and IWU were to win two, Augie still wins out in head to head v. IWU W/L 2-0 to host the tournament and share the conference title.

Wheaton is still very much in this race.  It likely needs to win its remaining 3 games.  A really tough task.  Yet, the Thunder should have a lot of momentum coming off two wins against CCIW #1 & 2 NCAA ranked teams.

Two corrections:  Augie has clinched the tourney even if they lose their last two but not because they would win the head-to-head against IWU (if they lose their last two, that means IWU beat them on Wed!), but because they swept Elmhurst.

Wheaton MUST go 3-0 to have a chance at the tourney.  At 2-1 the best they could do is tie NCC at 7-7 if NCC lost both, but NCC has the head-to-head over them.  So the Thunder HAS to get to 8-6 in which case they are in if NCC loses both, OR could tie IWU or Elmhurst if either goes 0-2 this week.  In the latter case, they would have a split on the head-to-head against either (since Elmhurst goes 0-2 this week only if Wheaton beats them Sat), but there are still so many scenarios as far as the next tie-breaker, I haven't checked who would make the tourney (especially since 8-6 could be a three-way or even four-way tie).

[79jaybird]

Mr. Ypsi,  Wheaton has to go undefeated the rest of the season to have a shot at that #4 seed and the tournament.  Can it be done?  Sure and I wouldn't be surprised if it does the way this season has gone. 
2-4 is unsettled and as we have been talking about the "what ifs" are plentiful.  I think IWU and EC have all but sealed their way into the tournament. 
Who is still in the hunt to tie Augie for the reg. season title?

[Mugsy]

Actually, NCC beating Augie in football last year was one of my favorites along with Beating Wheaton in Football in 1987 and ANY victory over ANY IWU team!  Take it as a compliment.  We always strived to beat Augie in football because they were the best!

Just had to do it didn't you CardAlum?  Bring up the 87' game against Wheaton... ARRRGHHHH!!!

[dansand]

Who is still in the hunt to tie Augie for the reg. season title?

IWU and Elmhurst both still have a chance at a share of the regular season conference championship.

[maddog]

veterancciwfan, I will admit to being tired, frustrated and cranky when I posted after the game on Saturday night, but please reread my post because I did give credit to Coach Harris and the Thunder players.
"First I'd like to congratulate Coach Harris, who coached a great game, and the Thunder players, who over came a 15 point 2nd half Titan lead to get the win. The Thunder played hard on both ends of the floor and made the big plays down the stretch. It was a combination of really good coaching and execution that resulted in the Thunder victory."
While Trost does have a good win/loss record with IWU, don't forget, he has yet to make it to the final 8 or a Final Four despite coaching two very talented groups of players. And I would say that a lot of people would say his teams have underacheived 3 of the last 4 years and it looks like the real possiblity of that happening again this year.

[doesitmattter]

Since we are all coming up with this possiblity and that possibility how would this one work out:

N. Central loses to Elmhurst and Augie
Wheaton beats Millikin and Elmhurst then loses to Carthage
Carthage beats N Park and Millkin and Wheaton

This highly unlikely yet extremely possible outcome would put all three teams at 7-7 in league play.  What would the tiebreaker be in that scenario?

[Mr. Ypsi]

doesitmatter,

If I've interpreted it right, the winner would be NCC.  Wheaton is immediately out because NCC swept them.  NCC wins the tie-breaker over Carthage because they were 1-1 vs IWU while Carthage was 0-2.

Does that look right to others?  I think Carthage is mathematically eliminated.