MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

IWU alum Jim Molinari will be the interim head coach at Minnesota, following the resignation of Dan Monson...

http://www.startribune.com/512/story/844947.html

Molinari transfered to IWU from Kansas State after his sophomore season and was part of CCIW titles in 1976 and '77 behind Jack Sikma.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Good luck to IWU alum (and former Bradley and NIU coach) Jim Molinari.  I haven't followed the situation at Minnesota, but from the comments on the MIAC board it sounds like he will need it!

(Reading between the lines on the article, it appears Minnesota was willing to shell out $200K to force Monson's resignation rather than having to fire him - wonder what THAT'S about?!)

[Titan Q]

Eureka won at Millikin tonight, 68-62...

http://www.millikin.edu/athletics/mbasketball/m-mil03_054.htm


Millikin was 2-15 from 3 and 6-18 from the FT line...ugh.

[Mr. Ypsi]

My, oh my!  I don't want to read TOO much into single games, but I suspect that Millikin may have just replaced North Park at the bottom of most people's predictions.

[fcnews]

From the SLIAC room-

Thanks Titan Q - From the box score, the obvious question has to be:

How do you go 1-7 in the first half ( 6-18 for the game ) from the free throw line at home?

[John Gleich]

From the SLIAC room-

Thanks Titan Q - From the box score, the obvious question has to be:

How do you go 1-7 in the first half ( 6-18 for the game ) from the free throw line at home?

With your non-shooting hand?  Or maybe granny-style, with your eyes closed while standing on only one foot?

... You'd have to think that after a while, they'd just start taking jumpshots...  I mean, they shot a better percentage from the floor...

[AndOne]

My, oh my!  I don't want to read TOO much into single games, but I suspect that Millikin may have just replaced North Park at the bottom of most people's predictions.

The other team I think several people picked to finish near the bottom of the standings was Carthage. Anyone have any thoughts on that possibility?

Actually, several CCIW teams have already lost a game or games this season that most posters seemed to feel they would win. Should make for a very interesting season.

[Gregory Sager]

That's premature, Bob. The CCIW was 21-5 after Monday's games, which was a record-setting pace for cumulative non-conference performance.

Here are the CCIW's wins: Clarke, UW-Whitewater, Illinois College (2), Judson, MacMurray, IU-Northwest, St. Norbert (2), Rockford, Grinnell, Gustavus Adolphus, Franklin, Benedictine, Kalamazoo, Concordia-Chicago, Robert Morris-Springfield, Eureka, Beloit, Washington U, East-West, Bluffton.


"Record-setting pace" or not, I just don't know how many of the above teams are very strong.  3 or 4?

That's a pretty representative sampling of any segment of a CCIW non-conference schedule, Bob. It's really no better or no worse than what you'd usually see from any two weeks' worth of non-conference games.

I understand the CCIW has less "finished products" coming in than last year.  I am also pretty sure though - based on my experiences around the CCIW and Division III - that the league just isn't nearly as strong as last year.  That is to be expected when you graduate 4 All-Americans (Dauksas, Amelianovich, Martin, Harrigan).

You're overstating the importance of four players. There are eight teams in this league, which means forty starters and anywhere from sixty to eighty players who will see time on a regular basis. The league is much, much bigger than its top stars.

Yes, but in conferece play...

#5 Wheaton -- lost in OT at IWU, beat IWU at home, beat Augie at home, nearly won @ Augie

#6 Carthage -- lost by 1 pt vs IWU, played Elmhurst very tough at EC, lost by 3 at home to Augie, and played Augie tough at Augie

#7 Millikin -- won @ Elmhurst, lost at home in OT to IWU


I'm not sure how much more competitiveness you'd have to have from teams 5, 6, 7 - in a league with four teams as good as IWU, Augie, NCC, and Elmhurst were - in order to be able to call the conference "loaded."

More than you think. The second division beat the first division six times last season, which is below the annual average since the CCIW went to an eight-school format in 1992-93. But there's more than numbers at work here. Conference play tends to even out the competition somewhat, because the intensity level ratchets up considerably. We've all commented numerous times on the ol' "throw out the records" syndrome that tends to make, say, a 5-14 conference opponent much more dangerous to a good team than a 5-14 non-conference opponent.

The bottom line is this: Three of the four CCIW teams in the league's bottom half had losing non-conference performances last season. One of those four teams, Wheaton, improved as the calendar turned from 2005 to 2006. Two others, Millikin and NPU, actually got worse due to midseason injuries to key players (Byron Graven and Mike Gavic for MU, Jason Gordon for NPU). The bottom half of the league was nowhere near good enough for the CCIW to be considered "loaded" last season.

My, oh my!  I don't want to read TOO much into single games, but I suspect that Millikin may have just replaced North Park at the bottom of most people's predictions.

Uh, Chuck, that's exactly what you just did. You read too much into a single game. 

Don't get me wrong -- Jimmy Millikin should've been on the fat end of the scoreboard tonight, and I have no doubt whatsoever that Tim Littrell is kicking himself for letting this one get away. But Eureka is not as bad as their reputation would have us believe. More to the point, the Big Blue are the quintessential example of a work in progress; they're starting a freshman (Robert Rexroade), and three of the five players off the bench who've averaged double-figure minutes for them thus far are also freshmen (Zach Ott, Joscar Demby, and Charles Warren), with a fourth (Vincent Brock) being a sophomore juco transfer. I'm pretty sure that Millikin will be a significantly better team two months from now than they are at the moment.

Having said that, I think we can pin a big portion of tonight's loss on Millikin's veterans. That anemic FT performance was largely the doing of Korte Long (1-7) and Byron Graven (1-4), and Drew Gensler only went 3-12 from the field. Of the 2-15 shooting from deep that plagued MU tonight, the veterans (Gensler, Keanon Harrington, Graven, and Mike Gavic) were 2-12.

[sac]

The MIAA travelers are counting on you CCIW gurus to keep us informed about any possible game cancellations tonight.

Pretty steady freezing rain/ rain all night here in Holland, I imagine its much worse over there.

[Gregory Sager]

Yeah, it's pretty nasty already here in the Loop. I'm definitely going to call Carthage and make sure that the games are still on before I hop on the train to Kenosha today.

[Titan Q]

All State Farm facilities in Bloomington (Corporate, Illinois Operations Center, Corporate South) are closed today.  14,000 people with nothing to do all day long!  Just heard on WJBC that Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan have also cancelled all classes...first time in 22 years ISU has cancelled classes due to weather.

Seems like back in the day, I could blow a snow day watching some Great Space Coaster, Banana Splits, and Courtship of Eddie's Father...are those shows still on?

If anyone in CCIW-land has to travel today, be safe -- we certainly got hammered here in B-N.  I gotta believe the Windy City got it bad too?

[Gregory Sager]

If anyone in CCIW-land has to travel today, be safe -- we certainly got hammered here in B-N.  I gotta believe the Windy City got it bad too?

It's terrible here in the Loop, Bob. Ron just showed up and said that he couldn't even see out the windows on the el coming into work.

I'm going to call Carthage around noon just to make sure, but I'm betting that the doubleheader in Kenosha is not going to happen this evening.

[TitanBacker]

All State Farm facilities in Bloomington (Corporate, Illinois Operations Center, Corporate South) are closed today.  14,000 people with nothing to do all day long!  Just heard on WJBC that Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan have also cancelled all classes...first time in 22 years ISU has cancelled classes due to weather.

Seems like back in the day, I could blow a snow day watching some Great Space Coaster, Banana Splits, and Courtship of Eddie's Father...are those shows still on?

If anyone in CCIW-land has to travel today, be safe -- we certainly got hammered here in B-N.  I gotta believe the Windy City got it bad too?

Back in my day, we had to walk uphill both ways 4 miles to school in three feet of snow with only flip flops and a sweatshirt.  Oh and i had to carry my brothers and sisters on my back.    I couldn't resist.

Just to give you guys a heads up on the weather down south.  St. Louis has 300,000 residents without power and today's high will be 25 degrees (already achieved at 6am this morning).  Word is that winds will increase in the area from the north/northwest and the wind chill should be somewhere around ZERO by the afternoon.  Ice and sleet have frozen on power lines causing the transformers to blow up and lines to fall. 

And this comes after the storm we had this summer where 500,000 people were without power on the 5 hottest days of the year.

All schools (SIUE, SLU, UMSL, Mizzou) are also closed today. Yet i sit at work.

[robberki]

If anyone in CCIW-land has to travel today, be safe -- we certainly got hammered here in B-N.  I gotta believe the Windy City got it bad too?

It's terrible here in the Loop, Bob. Ron just showed up and said that he couldn't even see out the windows on the el coming into work.

I'm going to call Carthage around noon just to make sure, but I'm betting that the doubleheader in Kenosha is not going to happen this evening.

An even worse tragedy is afoot as I'm supposed to go to kansas city for the big 12 title game but due to the weather and a variety of other factors i probably won't be going now...darn it all.

[joehakes]

A further note on the St. Louis weather forcast.  The Division I Men's Soccer Final Four is in St. Loo this weekend.

Last weekend, the Division III Soccer Final Fours were in Orlando at a balmy 75 degrees. 

Once again, the intelligence of those of us in DIII rises to the top!!