MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[martin]

It was my understanding that SWC stood for both Southwest Conference and their standard recruiting pitch - So you Want a Car?

[bluemom]

Ralph, Warren......  the age of those of us who remember the SWC real days....basketball, what was that?

Some say it was the bladder of a football after an Aggie-UT game!  Cut the Arkansas connection, r u kidding!.......  when Arkansas and Texas played whether it was in Fayetteville or Austin, commerce stopped completely in Arkansas.  Not to date myself but I do recall the 14-13 1963 UT-UA game in Austin at nite  (I think that was before television sports, but the radio did just fine!)  Couple that with the 15-14 UT win at Fayetteville in 1969, and there were some good Arkansas games sprinkled in conference play.  Being Baptist, and with Arkansas kin, it really stung when Baylor would get the best of the Hogs, but rather enjoyable the few times they stole one, (and probably only one) from Texas.  Since the bonfire problems at A & M, and a few swords drawn from the sabres while protecting the field at Aggieland---and the aftermath of those events, I wonder if the buildup for UT=A&M is filled with the intensity that it used to have?   But here I go, in my rocking chair and afghan around my shoulders, thinking of ole' SWC football.......  (and to tell the truth.....baseball in there a little too!)

But I do digress:  THIS IS A BASKETBALL BOARD!  I KNOW...I KNOW!

NCAA D-III All-Americans

Let me congratulate Rick Harrigan on the NABC All-American team.  Without taking anything away from Rick's accomplishment (his CCIW awards are proof enough for this CCIW watcher), I am surprised at some of the names on the list and some of the names which were not on the list!  It appears in part as a cap placed on a conference as to how many All-Americans could be named from a given conference to one, maybe two.  While we some I could response with an absolute Yes...there are many others quite frankly I would have to say, NO WAY! or WHO?  

Knowing the answer, but merely to imply what can be freely implied,  Who picks these teams???

[Mr. Ypsi]

bluemom,

The NABC AA selections are generally regarded as a farce - just for one example, each team has precisely one player per region (with NO concern about position played).  Like the East has exact equality in players with the Midwest or Great Lakes?!  And any AA teams with NO IWU or Witt players or Chris Martin (and Kyle Myrick on the third team) has ZERO credibility.

[bluemom]

And in conitnuing one thought about the buildup of the A& M - UT game, and turning my thoughts to the over publicized Hollywood production of after game activities,  I wonder how much one of those coins for admission to the BLW in Texas is worth today?

Heard about them, but never saw one....that wasn't a topic that Texas Ladies said much about!  But I have heard stories about ladies who found those coins in their husbands pocket on wash day......  word was that such nice ladies as that looked the other way, never talked about such things in private and never publicly, but poorly was widowed soon thereafter!

[bluemom]

Mr. Ypsi, thanx for the info.  I agree with you.  There are some names well deserving there.......  but.....  as you have said and I have agreed, I regret the credibility factor.

[emeritusprof]

This, too, isn't D3 -- BUT with Minnesota's fall to Cinci last night (NIT), all Big Ten teams are now done for the season.  Not one left in either NCAA or NIT, and it is touted as the nation's toughest BB conference.

I'm glad I didn't pick for a pool this year, as I'm pretty certain most of my picks would already be gone.

[Titan Q]

The Massey Ratings are not updated through the Final Four, but through last weekend Illinois Wesleyan's 2005-06 schedule was rated as the toughest out of almost 400 NCAA Division III teams.  When games vs Virginia Wesleyan and Amherst are factored in, that strength of schedule rating will only improve.

http://masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=cb&sub=III&mid=6

Here are the 10 toughest schedules per Massey (through games of 3/11):

1. Illinois Wesleyan (CCIW)
2. Carthage (CCIW)
3. Wittenberg (NCAC)
4. Calvin (MIAA)
5. Augustana (CCIW)
6. UW-Stout (WIAC)
7. UW-River Falls (WIAC)
8. UW-LaCrosse (WIAC)
9. UW-Platteville (WIAC)
10. UW-Oshkosh (WIAC)

How does Massey determine the toughest schedules?  What are the factors figured in?

http://masseyratings.com/theory/massey.htm#sched

http://masseyratings.com/theory/sched.htm

[Knightstalker]

The NABC AA team is more like a list of the Regional POY's.

[Pat Coleman]

The NABC AA team is more like a list of the Regional POY's.

That's exactly what it is.

First team is each region's POY, second team is each region's No. 2 vote-getter and third team is each region's No. 3 vote-getter.

Anyone remember Devean George? His senior year (you know, the year the Lakers drafted him) he was on the NABC second-team.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Anyone remember Devean George? His senior year (you know, the year the Lakers drafted him) he was on the NABC second-team.

That just goes to show you how the NBA has always looked down on D-III; I mean they passed on those eight other guys; that was just unfair and mean-spirited.

[bluemom]

Hoops Fans, great post I think.  I may have either missed something or read it properly.  If I did read it properly, it was one of the best understated "slams" at the NBA that I have heard for a while.  And that I can take more of anytime.

Of course, I prefer College hoops over watching the NBA.  The players of the NBA are professional and have the abilities to be proclaimed as professionals, but to me their game is sloppy and they get so far away from the rules as they were meant to be that it makes a mockery of the game itself.  Please don't get me wrong.  They are "Professional" athletes and their talent is well above the average good to almost great but I aways come away disappointed.  It has become strictly "hollywood" entertainment rather than basketball the way basketball was meant to be played. 

With the popularity of WWF as great entertainment value, give me a college basketball game that holds to the rules the way it was meant to be played anytime!  There again, as you saw in my previous posts about the SWC, I admit to being a dinasaurus.  And the closer the college game get to the pro's, the more disgusted I get. 

As I say that, I cannot help but think fondly and with the greatest admiration and respect to Coach Meyer's passing, who in my book ranks equal to the Knute Rockne's in football, Naismith, Smith, and others in basketball, and the Brooke Robinson's and Campanella's in baseball.........

Hoops Fan, great slam if it was meant to be that.  Remember I have admitted I am kinda' slow....  In fact I am so slow that I just heard on the news the other day that the United States was going to send a man to the moon and back before the decade was out!

[Knightstalker]

The Massey Ratings are not updated through the Final Four, but through last weekend Illinois Wesleyan's 2005-06 schedule was rated as the toughest out of almost 400 NCAA Division III teams.  When games vs Virginia Wesleyan and Amherst are factored in, that strength of schedule rating will only improve.

http://masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=cb&sub=III&mid=6

Here are the 10 toughest schedules per Massey (through games of 3/11):

1. Illinois Wesleyan (CCIW)
2. Carthage (CCIW)
3. Wittenberg (NCAC)
4. Calvin (MIAA)
5. Augustana (CCIW)
6. UW-Stout (WIAC)
7. UW-River Falls (WIAC)
8. UW-LaCrosse (WIAC)
9. UW-Platteville (WIAC)
10. UW-Oshkosh (WIAC)

How does Massey determine the toughest schedules?  What are the factors figured in?

http://masseyratings.com/theory/massey.htm#sched

http://masseyratings.com/theory/sched.htm

Now could someone explain it in english to a non-statistician?  To me how the schedules are ranked make no sense.  I don't understand how two teams from the same conference who only have maybe six or seven OOC games can be so far apart in strength of schedule.  I was looking at the rankings and Massey has TCNJ's schedule as 116 and NJCU's as 147.  I don't get this when they each have nine common opponents accounting for 17 games.  The only highly ranked opponent for either is Wooster and I don't see one game at a neutral court as pushing them that much higher.

[Gregory Sager]

But I do digress:  THIS IS A BASKETBALL BOARD!  I KNOW...I KNOW!

Bluemom, during the off-season we've always had an understanding that any topic is fair game on CCIW Chat, except politics. So don't restrain yourself! 

I am surprised at some of the names on the list and some of the names which were not on the list!  It appears in part as a cap placed on a conference as to how many All-Americans could be named from a given conference to one, maybe two.

It's not a conference cap, but as Pat indicates there is a regional cap placed upon the NABC All-American teams. The slots are apportioned with equal representation for each of D3's eight regions. I wouldn't agree that the NABC All-American teams are a "farce," since these players are all deserving of recognition, but the equal-representation rule severely compromises their validity.

School SIDs and media relations people will always use NABC selections to suit their purposes, of course, but I suspect that most in-the-know people within D3 basketball circles consider Pat's D3hoops.com All-American teams to be more legit. The only constraints put upon the All-American teams assembled by this website have to do with player position (i.e., each team has to have three forwards and two guards). There are no team, conference, or regional caps whatsoever.

[bluemom]

Thanx also to you Greg.  As the season winds down I am just about to get to understand more and more about how to communicate on this board.   But,  although D-III is now off-season, I still am in the basketball mode until the NCAA and the NIT are completed.

And before we do get away from basketball, as a reader from a distance, an interloper from time to time on the board, let me say thanx to all the people who have made the CCIW Chat, needlessly to say interesting, and sometimes as competitive as that which is occurring on the floor. 

Pat, as I have looked at many of the NCAA sites this year, I always see D3hoops polls and information popping up here and there.  You and those who have worked for or with you to make this board the respectable "definitive source for NCAA Division III basketball" are deserving of greater recognition than you receive.  I tuly feel that without D3hoops, our niche in  the world of college basketball would almost be insignificant nationally...oh hum! there is a tournament for those who can't make the big leagues kind of a perspective on our teams quality of play and quality of experience.  You have made it far from the later ho-hum stage into a more significant place in the NCAA.

I don't blow anyone any smoke.  I mean that sincerely and with great appreciation.  Whereas I can only seak for myself, somehow and at some point, those of us who do gain from this site that you provide owe you a huge debt of gratitude.  Sincerely, Thank You for allowing all of us to pop a few buttons and strut our stuff when our teams and our young men break out of the pack for their fifteen minutes of fame, and also for allowing us the opportunity, yes the opportunity, to be taken down a peg or two when it is necessary.  You have added to the game, the competition, the fanfare, and the rivalries that make College sports so enjoyable.

A sincere thank you from one who has enjoyed the experience of D3 basketball and especially CCIW hoops!  Thank You Pat for making it happen!

[augiedad]

Anyone know where Hersey H.S. point-guard Sean Dwyer is going?  I've seen him play quite a few games and I think he'd start for every CCIW team at the point next year, except maybe Augie which has a returning all-CCIW point, but he is way better than Wessels.  I recently heard Scott Trost and IWU are all over him.  Augie too.  This kid is fantastic and would be a great D3 point-guard.  Dwyer has outstanding grades I guess which would seem to favor Illinois Wesleyan.

Have heard Seneca point-guard Garrett Callahan has a full ride from D2 Lewis.  Does that take him out of the CCIW mix? I've only seen Callahan on TV, but I might give the slight edge to Dwyer if I had to pick.

What is word on Glenbrook North's Zach Kelly?  Is it Wash U, IWU, or Lafayette?

What other recruiting news do we have??