MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Ralph,

Those programs are SO silly (ALMOST as silly as the rule itself)!

I'm pretty sure that by the NCAA standards, Wheaton over Hope is the only game that officially ever happened (by pool C rules).  The rest of the CCIW sweep was, alas, just a figment of our imaginations!

[mr_b]

Final from the Crackerbox: North Park 87, Loras 69

[mr_b]

This was a pleasant surprise for the North Park faithful: a convincing victory over a quality opponent (Loras came in at 3-1).  The Vikings played coast-to-coast with the intensity that was sporadic in this past Monday's victory over Robert Morris Springfield. They led at the half, 47-35, and kept up the pace throughout for a well-deserved 87-69 win.  Jason Gordon led the way with 18 points, while Anthony Lenoir (16) and Sheldon Evans (14) were the other two North Parkers in double figures.  Joe Capalbo and Stephano Jones each added 9, while Jay Alexander chipped in 8 and Nick Williams, 7.  For the visiting Duhawks, Brian Centella scored 16 and Luke Slater added 10.  Greg is no doubt looking forward to writing up the analysis, so I'll cede the floor to him.  Congratulations to the team and coaching staff on registering their 5th victory of the young campaign, thereby surpassing last season's win total!

[hopefan]

What strange, irresistable force drew Titan Q to St Louis today to witness the Wash U - Pomona Pitzer game  -  Don't worry TQ, what happens in St Louis, stays in St Louis.   Good to see you.....

[ac_fan]

Augie squeaked by with a win tonight against Simpson. It appears that Dain Swetalla tipped in a rebound with 1 second left for the victory. Augie was up as much as 14 points and blew the lead down the stretch. Like I said earlier today there was some shake up in the lineup for Augie tonight. Dan Rukavina started in place of Dain. This appeared to send him the message because he responded with 18 points off the bench in 24 minutes. He is still turning the ball over way too much though, 6 turnovers tonight. Oliver Rorer did not play tonight because he is out with an injury. The Vikings return to action Monday night against Clarke College. Here is the boxscore from the game ....

http://www.simpson.edu/storm/men/basketball/AUG-SIM.html

[rknuppel]

Looks like Elmhurst beat IIT 87-77 tonight in their home opener.

http://athletics.elmhurst.edu/home/news/4811396.html

Nick Michael emerged tonight with 26 and 9.  Ruch and Bacon both chipped in with 10.  Looked like a balanced attack tonight.  Elmhurst was 30-37 from the FT line while IIT was just 6-11.

Elmhurst moves to 3-1.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 87
Loras 69

http://www.northpark.edu/athletics/mbasketball/stats/2007stats/12022006.htm

This was one of the best NPU performances that I have seen in ages. The Vikings played absolutely relentless defense, went to the hole strong, and really took it to a Duhawks team that I figured coming in had a very solid chance to snatch a road victory in the crackerbox.

It was a game of runs. NPU roared out to a 15-7 lead, but a parade of fouls called against the Vikes blunted their momentum, and Loras capitalized by coming back to tie it at 15. NPU then moved out in front, 25-20, but again a flurry of whistles put the Park in park while Loras shifted into high gear. It was 25-24 on the scoreboard -- with the foul situation 10 fouls against NPU to 2 against Loras -- when Anthony Lenoir got pushed from behind while driving to the basket and fell to the floor in a sprawl. TWEET! Traveling! Paul Brenegan had seen enough. The sportcoat came off and went crashing to the chair, earning him a T that I suspect was as strategic as it was impassioned. Why? Because this uncharacteristic display of hot-headedness turned the situation around. The refs eased up on the whistles against NPU for the rest of the half, and even threw in a couple of makeup calls to even out the foul imbalance. And the Vikings simply stepped up the intensity and played through their frustration, a real sign of maturity on their part. After Loras made one of the two tech FTs, the Vikings went on a 22-10 run to end the half with a 47-35 lead.

In the second half they simply suffocated the Duhawks defensively. They negated screens, gave their men no daylight when cutting off the ball, and challenged every drive to the basket. Lenoir, who got another double-double with 16 and 10, and center Stephano Jones were beasts underneath the basket. And Loras simply had nobody quick enough to handle Jason Gordon and Sheldon Evans on the perimeter. Not only did the two NPU guards have great shooting nights (both 7-10 from the field, for 18 and 14 points, respectively), but they logged nine assists between them to only two turnovers. We're starting to get an inkling of just what a special backcourt combo they might become.

The best part of the evening was the way that the Vikes responded to the major Duhawks run in the second half. I knew that Loras was good enough to make a run, and indeed they made one -- a 64-44 NPU lead with 12:14 left was cut to 64-53 with 9:22 remaining. Rather than panic, a productive timeout got the Vikes focused, and they proceeded to go on an eight-point run and never let the Duhawks any closer than 16 from that point onward.

Loras is no slouch. The Duhawks, who came into the night with a 3-1 record, own a win over 2006 tourney team UW-LaCrosse and a 16-point win over Simpson in the Simpson gym in their most recent contest last Tuesday night -- and that same Simpson team beat Elmhurst by 11 two weeks ago and required a buzzer-beating layup by Dain Swetalla to succumb to Augie this evening. That's why this is a much better victory than the record-setter against Concordia (IL) -- this was the toughest test yet for the Vikings, and they passed with flying colors.

Good energy in the gym tonight, too. It was "Borat Night" for the Carlson Crazies ... use your imagination as to what that entailed. 

This is going to be a really fun Vikings team to watch this season. They're giving their fans many cultural learnings for make benefit of glorious nation of North Park.

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to both Wheaton and Carthage. I knew that both teams would play the MIAA's Big Two tough, but I freely admit that I would've been very happy if they'd even managed a split of the four games. A four-game sweep goes far beyond anything I'd hoped to see -- and it sends a strong message about the CCIW's depth. It's a great weekend for the league that balances out a difficult week.

Which leads us to the ongoing debate about whether or not the league is down this year. I'm just puzzled that there are people out there -- and I'm not singling out Q, since Saturday's various posts have revealed that he's not alone in thinking this -- that are just focused on the top four teams from last year, to the exclusion of the rest of the league. I've said from the beginning that I thought the top four would be down a bit, although there's still plenty of time for one or more of them to step forward. But this is an eight-team league, folks, not a four-team league. I think it's pretty clear that the second division from 2005-06 is making some pretty significant strides forward.

(Although, if you want to keep writing off NPU, as Chuck continues to do, please ... be my guest. By all means, keep that bulletin-board material coming.  )

Let's not stick a fork in the CCIW and call it done when we're only two days into December.

[Gregory Sager]

I've gone through the all-time records before, but have forgotten the answer and hope someone will know without having to dig - has the CCIW EVER had a winner with 5 losses?  Chances are, SOMEONE will emerge and go 12-2 or 11-3, but right now it looks like parity run amuk!

Worst conference record ever for a CCIW champion: 7-3 (Illinois Wesleyan, 1960-61)

Worst conference record for a CCIW champion over a 12-game schedule: 9-3 (Illinois Wesleyan and North Central, 1959-60; Carthage and Illinois Wesleyan, 1963-64)

Worst conference record for a CCIW champion over a 14-game schedule: 11-3 (Illinois Wesleyan, 1993-94; Wheaton, 1998-99; Carthage, 1999-2000; Augustana, Carthage, and Illinois Wesleyan, 2002-03; and Augustana, 2005-06)

Worst conference record for a CCIW champion over a 16-game schedule: 12-4 (Augustana and Illinois Wesleyan, 1970-71; Millikin, 1982-83)

[Titan Q]

What strange, irresistable force drew Titan Q to St Louis today to witness the Wash U - Pomona Pitzer game  -  Don't worry TQ, what happens in St Louis, stays in St Louis.   Good to see you.....

Hopefan, good to see you too.

Wash U. is a solid Division III team, but not quite as good as I thought before seeing them.  The Bears have a ton of size and a ton of depth -- you get the sense they have 3 pretty good options at almost every spot on the floor. 

Wash U. is about as unathletic of a Top 25 candidate as you'll find.  They don't have an Alexander or Jeffries from years past that wows you, and they just don't ever seem to have anyone on the floor who can jump (like IWU's A. Freeman, D. Gant, and Z. Freeman, for example).  But again, Wash U is solid at each spot and they are very deep.  What IWU would give to have a couple of their 6-7 kids on the bench.  6-6 sophomore wing Tyler Nading is becoming a very good player, 6-6 junior Troy Ruths is a very productive low post player, and freshman point-guard Sean Wallis is steady.  (I've heard the Bears lost their good starting 2-guard to an achilles tendon rupture in the Augie game...I feel his pain.)

The IWU/Wash U game will be interesting -- contrasting styles and personnel.  I think IWU is a lot better than the Bears, but we'll see.

I am not sure where Pomona-Pitzer is picked to finish in the SCIAC (I'm on the road and don't have time to research it), but I am quite sure they would not finish 6th in the CCIW.  Maybe not even 7th.  They have some talent, but as a whole they just wouldn't be competitive in this league.  Certainly not as good as Millikin and North Park if those are indeed the bottom 2 of the CCIW right now.

[Ralph Turner]

I loaded Wheaton College in Wheaton, Chicago, IL and Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI (shortest distance) into www.mappoint com and get 187.8 miles.

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?wip=2&v=2&style=r&rtp=~&&msnurl=home.aspx?%26redirect%3dfalse&msnculture=en-US

I will appreciate someone double-checking me.  I have posted the end-URL for confirmation. 

I get 205 miles when I use "Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI" to "Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL."  Maybe the problem, if there is one, is that you used "Wheaton, Chicago, IL"--Wheaton is in Wheaton, which is a good deal west of the city of Chicago.
Here's my url, FWIW:  Link

Ralph,

Those programs are SO silly (ALMOST as silly as the rule itself)!

I'm pretty sure that by the NCAA standards, Wheaton over Hope is the only game that officially ever happened (by pool C rules).  The rest of the CCIW sweep was, alas, just a figment of our imaginations!

When I re-ran it this morning, I got 209 miles on the first attempt.

Mr Ypsi is right.

What is the p value of the inaccuracy of your statement?

Those programs are SO silly (ALMOST as silly as the rule itself)!

p<0.000000001 ? 

[dansand]

Oliver Rorer did not play tonight because he is out with an injury.

I had heard a rumor that Oliver had broken a hand. Apparently, it's true. That's especially disappointing given that he was the only player who gave them anything in Wednesday's embarrassing loss to St. Ambrose. He's also been at the front of Augie's full court zone press that has keyed much of their best stretches of basketball this year.

As far as last night's game, just looking at the box score, it didn't look like it was very pretty, but I'm just glad to get a road win over what should be a pretty decent Simpson team.

Augie only shot 39% (although the Storm was credited with 17 blocks!, so they actually shot 55% when their shots weren't getting blocked ) and turned it over 27 times, mostly by their big guys. On the positive side though, they held Simpson to 37% shooting and forced 27 turnovers as well as outrebounding them, 40-32. Those are encouraging numbers, particularly after what I thought was a very weak defensive effort against St. Ambrose.

I think having Dain come off the bench was a good move by Coach G. Not as punishment, but just to give him a little different perspective. It seems to have worked, although, as ac fan said, six turnovers are still way too many. Dain is really a big key to Augie's success this year. They won't play at their full potential unless he gets to the level he was playing at the end of last year. If he can do that it will open up so much on the perimeter for Nate, Delp and Brusveen, etc.

(I've heard the Bears lost their good starting 2-guard to an achilles tendon rupture in the Augie game...I feel his pain.)

Q, Danny O'Boyle did get hurt in the Augie game. I thought he had rolled an ankle, but obviously it was more serious than that. In my post about that game, I said that losing him hurt the Bears. He can really shoot it. He lit Augie up pretty good in the first half.

Also, kudos to Wheaton and Carthage for their impressive sweep this weekend, saving some face in what was otherwise a rough week for the league.

[Titan Q]

Greg, I am not writing the CCIW off at all and certainly not overlooking the depth of this year's teams.  Just simply conveying my opinion that league probably does not have a team as good as those top 4 were last year.  I think there is a chance that 4 of the top 15 teams in the country last year were in this conference.

As the season plays out, we may find that the CCIW has four Top 25-caliber teams again this year.  My guess is that they are more in that 15-25 range though, as opposed to 1-15.  We'll see, maybe someone will emerge as a Top 5 type team.   

What happened this weekend in Kenosha really says it all about the CCIW -- this a tough league.

[usee]

So a game against Calvin is an "out of region" game and a game against Whitworth is an "in region" game??

And this happens as a result of a change in the regional criteria?

was this supposed to be an improvement in the selection criteria??

[David Collinge]

So a game against Calvin is an "out of region" game and a game against Whitworth is an "in region" game??

And this happens as a result of a change in the regional criteria?

was this supposed to be an improvement in the selection criteria??

Prior to the change, they were both out of region.  There are those who would say that this is an improvement.