MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[The Roop]

An upset win at Beloit gets you ranked every time 

[OurHouse]

I know it doesn't mean much right now, especially since conference play has not started yet, but I just wanted to congratulate Carthage, along with Augie and Wheaton on their rankings.  After losing their leading scorer to UW-Parkside and a rough few years, I don't think anyone could have predicted that they would be in the top 25 a few weeks into the season. Will they be able to keep it up, who knows, but reguardless its nice to see them doing well again up to this point.

It is real early in the season but of the bunch that you mentioned, Wheaton is the only one that has a chance this year to advance the furthest in the playoffs - isn't that the thing that matters most? It is not who leads in ranking but who can gets a bid for the NCAA tournament and who goes the furthest in the playoffs....who cares about ranking other than bragging rights?

[dansand]

I know it doesn't mean much right now, especially since conference play has not started yet, but I just wanted to congratulate Carthage, along with Augie and Wheaton on their rankings.  After losing their leading scorer to UW-Parkside and a rough few years, I don't think anyone could have predicted that they would be in the top 25 a few weeks into the season. Will they be able to keep it up, who knows, but reguardless its nice to see them doing well again up to this point.

It is real early in the season but of the bunch that you mentioned, Wheaton is the only one that has a chance this year to advance the furthest in the playoffs - isn't that the thing that matters most? It is not who leads in ranking but who can gets a bid for the NCAA tournament and who goes the furthest in the playoffs....who cares about ranking other than bragging rights?

Jeez, I guess everybody but Wheaton should just quit right now, 'cause they're the only ones that have "a chance this year to advance furthest in the playoffs." I'm not even sure what that means exactly, but I guess Carthage and Augie should just quit playing now, they have no chance. Does the rest of the league have a chance? They weren't mentioned in the bunch.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Given a new coach, and almost all new players, I have high hopes that IWU will be an opponent's nightmare by February!  (Granted, right now they are this Titans' fan's nightmare! )

I predict: 1. they will make the CCIW tourney. 2. they will win the CCIW tourney (or at least make the finals if that will be good enough to make the national tourney). and 3. they will go to AT LEAST the sweet sixteen in the national tourney.

I'm confident on #1, cautiously optimistic on #2 and 3.

[Titan Q]

Given a new coach, and almost all new players, I have high hopes that IWU will be an opponent's nightmare by February!  (Granted, right now they are this Titans' fan's nightmare! )

I predict: 1. they will make the CCIW tourney. 2. they will win the CCIW tourney (or at least make the finals if that will be good enough to make the national tourney). and 3. they will go to AT LEAST the sweet sixteen in the national tourney.

I'm confident on #1, cautiously optimistic on #2 and 3.

Chuck's got IWU in the Sectional, and here I am just hoping they can beat Chicago at the Shirk Center Saturday.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Given a new coach, and almost all new players, I have high hopes that IWU will be an opponent's nightmare by February!  (Granted, right now they are this Titans' fan's nightmare! )

I predict: 1. they will make the CCIW tourney. 2. they will win the CCIW tourney (or at least make the finals if that will be good enough to make the national tourney). and 3. they will go to AT LEAST the sweet sixteen in the national tourney.

I'm confident on #1, cautiously optimistic on #2 and 3.

Chuck's got IWU in the Sectional, and here I am just hoping they can beat Chicago at the Shirk Center Saturday.

+k to you Q!  Great smack-down!

'Cautiously optimistic' is Mr. Ypsi-speak for c. 25% chance.  Add in the (hopefully remote) possibility that a CCIW team would lose the first round or two (yeah! yeah! I know it is, alas, not ALL that remote!), and we're down to 10-15% for the sweet sixteen.  A fan can dream, can't he!

Curses on Nussbaum's shoulder!!  I really think this starting five, once they 'meld' and get 'in sync' with the coach are as good as anyone.  Any foreseeable help for the bench?

[REDMENFAN]

OurHouse: as I stated I know it doesn't mean much at this point in the season, but obviously people do care or they wouldn't have rankings. My point is that it is nice to see Carthage turning it around after 2 rough seasons in a row. Sorry I'm not only talking about Wheaton or how far they will go. I saw them play at Carthage against Hope and they have a very solid team. But for you to say they are the team that will go farthest in the playoffs this early in the season is even more ridiculous to me than rankings are to you.

[Jim Matson]

Anyone going to the Wheaton/Northwestern game on Thursday evening?  Think we can stay within 20 points?

[robberki]

I'm calling my shot right now. Wheaton isn't winning the CCIW OR getting a tourney bid, and IWU isn't winning the CCIW. It'll be somebody else. Chalk it.

[knarocky22]

Augie wins 64-60 at Cornell.  Cornell hit a 3 at the buzzer to account for the final difference.  Delp and Wessels combined for 33 points.  Wessels also led the team with 8 rebounds and 7 assists.  Sounds like the Vikings didn't play particularly well, but Delp and Wessels wouldn't let them lose tonight.  Any win on the road is a good win.  Next up, Wartburg on Sunday.  Augie will have to play better to win that game, even though it is at home. 

[Mugsy]

Anyone going to the Wheaton/Northwestern game on Thursday evening?  Think we can stay within 20 points?

I'm thinking about going to the game.  Depends on whether or not my wife has a meeting at church that night.  I'm intrigued to see the difference in play between a decent D3 program and a D1 team from a major conference (granted a weaker Big 10 team).

Given how well I'm doing in the pick-em's contest... I'll pass on prognosticating on how Wheaton will fare on Thursday.

[Titan Q]

FYI, Northwestern starts...

G     Craig Moore (6-3/190, So) - 11.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg
G/F  Sterling Williams (6-3/190, So) - 6.7 ppg, 4.0 apg
G/F  Tim Doyle (6-5/215, Sr) - 10.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg
F      Kevin Coble (6-8/190, Fr) - 10.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg
C     Vince Scott (6-11/240, Sr) - 6.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg


http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/nw-m-baskbl-body.html

[ac_fan]

Augie Box Score:

http://cornellcollege.edu/athletics/mens_basketball/stats/game-06.htm

Wonder why Dain Swetalla only played 5 min? Hopefully he didn't get injured in the game.

[augiefan]

Dave Wrath's summary of the Augie game does not mention Dain Swatella at all, but given that he started the game for Augie, there must have been an injury. Hopefully, it was not serious, as Augie will not go to far in the CCIW without Dain playing big minutes.

[Gregory Sager]

Given a new coach, and almost all new players, I have high hopes that IWU will be an opponent's nightmare by February!  (Granted, right now they are this Titans' fan's nightmare! )

I predict: 1. they will make the CCIW tourney. 2. they will win the CCIW tourney (or at least make the finals if that will be good enough to make the national tourney). and 3. they will go to AT LEAST the sweet sixteen in the national tourney.

I'm confident on #1, cautiously optimistic on #2 and 3.

Chuck's got IWU in the Sectional, and here I am just hoping they can beat Chicago at the Shirk Center Saturday.

That one's going to have me laughing all night, Bob. 

'Cautiously optimistic' is Mr. Ypsi-speak for c. 25% chance.  Add in the (hopefully remote) possibility that a CCIW team would lose the first round or two (yeah! yeah! I know it is, alas, not ALL that remote!), and we're down to 10-15% for the sweet sixteen.  A fan can dream, can't he!

You don't happen to have a squire named Sancho Panza, do you, Chuck? 

Millikin fell at home tonight to Illinois College, 81-72. The Big Blue was down by a whopping 22 points with 13:14 left in the game, but a furious comeback brought them back to within two at 64-62 with 5:46 left. Unfortunately, the hosts shot their bolt in making that big comeback, as IC went on a nine-point run to put the lead back into double digits by the two-minute mark. Gassed or not, Millikin did manage to cut the lead down to six with ten seconds left, but the Blueboys made enough free throws to seal the win against the Big Blue. IC shot 74% from the field in the second half and 58% for the game, including 60% from downtown -- Tim Littrell can't be too happy with his team's defense tonight.

Drew Gensler scored 16, but fouled out after only 27 minutes of action. Vincent Brock had 14 off the bench, Mike Gavic added 11 and 9, and Zach Ott chipped in 10. Korte Long didn't score (0-3 from the field, 0-3 from the line) and had only three boards in 21 minutes on the court.

The loss tumbles Jimmy Millikin to 4-3 on the year.