MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[proudofLU]

Do the Illinois Wesleyan basketball boosters stick together on political issues or do they just all follow the AARP guidance they inevitably receive regularly?

[dansand]

Not making any assertions here, just looking at the interesting head-to-head numbers from last year:

Player    G    FG     3P     FT   OR  DR Reb  TP  A TO Blk S MIN
Freeman   3  16-27   0-1   17-27   4  15  19  49  4  6  3  2  89
Swetalla  3  16-26   0-0   19-23  10  16  26  51  4  6  0  0  84

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

That's a pretty cool comparison, especially when you take into account that Freeman had more help in the post.

[mr_b]

I guess we're back to this being the IWU chat again.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

well this IS the College Conference of Illinois Wesleyan.

And to think that all these years I was getting it wrong!  Thanks for the clarification.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I guess we're back to this being the IWU chat again.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

well this IS the College Conference of Illinois Wesleyan.

Dennis,

I confess that that particular acronym never occurred to me!

Since there is only one Wisconsin school, I DID propose (a year or so ago) that the conference be redesignated the CCIIIIIIIW.

This heat and humidity is getting to me - by Tuesday we are expected to be over 100.  Ta ta to all that - we will be on our way to Lake Missinaibi in northern Ontario, in our (new to us) 2003 Aero Cub RV.  Predicted temperatures for the next two weeks: upper 60s to upper 70s (and usually sunny).

Only on our next trip will we fully appreciate the RV's potential, since Missinaibi has no elecrical, telephone, cable TV, or internet (or even water) hookups (thank God)!  But it should still prove its worth - I just don't handle (inevitably) leaky tents and sleeping on rocky ground like I used to!

[cardinalpride]

And, BTW, the regular-season champ is still declared the CCIW champ. Augustana has the 2006 CCIW championship trophy to prove it. The league didn't go to a tournament to "declare a champion"; it went to a tournament as a new method to determine the recipient of the league's automatic bid to the big dance, which is a different thing entirely than determining the league championship.

Some leagues may hand over their versions of the big trophy to the winners of their respective postseason tournaments. Ours doesn't. We give the hardware to the team that earned it over the fourteen-game span of the regular season, which to my mind is the way that it should be.

A smaller piece of hardware was awarded to NCC.

[Mr. Ypsi]

And, BTW, the regular-season champ is still declared the CCIW champ. Augustana has the 2006 CCIW championship trophy to prove it. The league didn't go to a tournament to "declare a champion"; it went to a tournament as a new method to determine the recipient of the league's automatic bid to the big dance, which is a different thing entirely than determining the league championship.

Some leagues may hand over their versions of the big trophy to the winners of their respective postseason tournaments. Ours doesn't. We give the hardware to the team that earned it over the fourteen-game span of the regular season, which to my mind is the way that it should be.

A smaller piece of hardware was awarded to NCC.

I haven't measured the various trophies, but IWU may have gotten the biggest with its national 3rd place finish.

But Augie is still the CCIW champ for 2005-06.

[Knightstalker]

And, BTW, the regular-season champ is still declared the CCIW champ. Augustana has the 2006 CCIW championship trophy to prove it. The league didn't go to a tournament to "declare a champion"; it went to a tournament as a new method to determine the recipient of the league's automatic bid to the big dance, which is a different thing entirely than determining the league championship.

Some leagues may hand over their versions of the big trophy to the winners of their respective postseason tournaments. Ours doesn't. We give the hardware to the team that earned it over the fourteen-game span of the regular season, which to my mind is the way that it should be.

A smaller piece of hardware was awarded to NCC.

I haven't measured the various trophies, but IWU may have gotten the biggest with its national 3rd place finish.

But Augie is still the CCIW champ for 2005-06.

Trophy envy is never a good thing.

[veterancciwfan]

dansand: Great post. I saw Augie play 6 games last year and I  thought that Nate Swetella was generally more effective than Dain, but you changed my opinion.

proudofLU: You should be very appreciative of this site as obviously not much is happening on your own MWC site during the summer.

[cardinalpride]

I haven't measured the various trophies, but IWU may have gotten the biggest with its national 3rd place finish.

But Augie is still the CCIW champ for 2005-06.

They should have won it! 

[dansand]

dansand: Great post. I saw Augie play 6 games last year and I  thought that Nate Swetella was generally more effective than Dain, but you changed my opinion.

proudofLU: You should be very appreciative of this site as obviously not much is happening on your own MWC site during the summer.

It probably depended on when you saw the Vikes play. After missing almost seven full games with an ankle injury, Dain struggled a little bit coming back, but by the end of the year he was really playing well.

I don't recall the exact numbers, but over the last eight games or so, I think he averaged about 14.5 points and 9.5 boards and shot about 66% with two big games against the Titans in that stretch (including 23 points and 15 rebounds in their CCIW tournament loss to IWU). It looks like he had a pretty solid summer season in the University of Iowa's Prime Time League, playing against a lot of D1 competition, so hopefully he can carry that momentum over into this season.

[titan2000]

dansand: Great post. I saw Augie play 6 games last year and I  thought that Nate Swetella was generally more effective than Dain, but you changed my opinion.

proudofLU: You should be very appreciative of this site as obviously not much is happening on your own MWC site during the summer.

Most  LU fans are busy in the summer overseeing our CCIW grad gardeners to have much time to post here.

[Greek Tragedy]

proudofLU: You should be very appreciative of this site as obviously not much is happening on your own MWC site during the summer.

If "happening" means talking about players from 20+ years ago, how big your trophies are and the mere mention of Phoebe Cates, well then yes, even the WIAC doesn't have much "happening" on it's site! lol. 

Big news out of Stout is that two junior starters have decided to leave the program (Adam Chandler and Ryan Stangl, I believe).  I won't post the speculation here, you can head over to the WIAC board if you feel like it) 

[diehardfan]

Trophy envy is never a good thing.

Next year, Wheaton will win them all, and then we won't have to argue about it!  8)  

If "happening" means talking about players from 20+ years ago...

The really long term posters and followers of CCIW feel the need to pull rank every so often, just to prove how they will always know the conference better than certain other younger people. It's just something they do every once in a while. I've gotten used to it by now. It's probably some subconscious overzealous assertion of the idea that "you can love only what you know." That idea's probably true, but it could also be argued that greater knowledge doesn't necessarily translate to greater love.

Someday I too will be showing my age by talking about players from 20 years ago... "Remember Chris Martin? That kid was really something... he was so fast he could pass the ball to himself and rebound his own three pointers! (Ha, I'm pretty sure I've actually seen him do the latter!!! )"  The only problem is that then, they'll be talking about players from 40+ years ago.

Basically I lose. 

[diehardfan]

I know this is really late in coming, but you'll have to excuse me, as I was in Oregon, Washington, and Northern Cali for the last two weeks and haven't had time to post. I do have some pretty sweet pictures of Mt. Ranier, Mt. St Helens, Crater Lake, and Redwoods National Parks, some pretty nice bruises, and some funny camping stories, however, if you want to see/hear them. 

That's a pretty cool comparison, especially when you take into account that Freeman had more help in the post.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your point, but couldn't more help also translate to smaller numbers? 

Without the Jones brothers to provide low post defensive pressure and protection, Zach Freeman will probably find that staying out of foul trouble will be much more difficult in 06/07. Plus he will be double teamed by every opponent. Zach has outstanding talent but it's easier to be dominant when you have 8 seniors in the class ahead of you. Using my naturally pessimistic Cub fan approach, I doubt if the 06/07 IWU season will be a duplication of the 96/97 season.

Lanny, I just wanted to say thanks for this level-headed analysis of the upcoming season for the Titans in this particular area. I love that your logic doesn't get strayed by your greenness. 

I hope this doesn't ruffle any feathers, but it should probably also be mentioned that the 96-97 team wasn't dealing with a coaching transition in addition to the huge loss of starting and contributing personnel. 

I'm not necessarily saying that the Titans will finish in the bottom half of the conference or anything. I sure as heck remember how fast they transitioned after losing Kasten, Camardella, Hubbard, and co. And I remember how quickly Raridon took charge of the NCC squad. (blah blah etc etc)

I just think it's extremely unrealistic to say that they even have a vague shot at repeating anything like what they did 10 years ago.