MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

Late Nite----

Its not just you. I think there are some others reluctant to give the Cards credit too.
Yes, I DO understand your opinion as I hope you understand mine. Thanks for your reply.

[79jaybird]

Congratulations to all the CCIW teams as the reg. season has concluded.  I think we can all agree that this year has been exciting/agonizing/spirited week in and week out.  Glad to see North Park get back in the mix and the CCIW title not a runaway by one school as we have seen in years past.
Elmhurst finishes 20-4 in the regular season which is close to the Bluejays school record of 21-4 that was under the Ryan Knuppel's Sweet 16 (2001) team. This also makes 3 straight years of 2nd place finishes for Elmhurst.  Hopefully, we can start converting these runner-ups into Conference Titles here in the upcoming years!
Glad to see Elmhurst get a win in Decatur.  I know it's in the past, but that home game vs. Millikin (and really just 5 minutes of poor play) cost the Bluejays a share of the CCIW Title.. oh well, maybe next year. 
Augie/EC/W/NC in the tourney and I think any of these teams can win the tournament.  I think it is a matter of who is going to play the best fundamental basketball for 2 games?    I think you can also throw out all the regular season stats and stories, because playoffs/tournaments is an entire different playing field.  Who is going to rise to the occasion and play smart? 

[LU_nut]

Mr. Sager

As usual, you are correct.  I was thinking that Oshkosh had won one title, but I was mistaken.

When you think that the WIAC has only been playing D III since the mid- 80's, their run is more impressive.  Of the last 8 titles won by the two conferences, 7 have been won by the WIAC.  I still do not understand how Ill Wes did not win the title last year.  In my humble opinion, they clearly had the most talent in the country and the best team I have seen other than possibly the back to back team that Point had a few years back.

Lu Nut

[Hoosier Titan]

There was a nice moment near the end of the IWU/NCC game at North Central Tuesday night:  as Ron Rose removed his four seniors in the last minute, a fair number of NCC fans joined the IWU crowd in giving them a standing ovation.  Well done.

[REDMENFAN]

Andone- I would say it was a good mixture. Schlemm didn't look to be moving around at 100%, but Wheaton's guys did a great job denying him the ball as well. There were a few times Carthage tried to lob it in to him with Wheaton players fronting him, and the passes weren't high enough and the Thunder would intercept the pass. Also, I don't know the exact minutes, but Schlemm didn't play a whole lot in the second half. With around 12 minutes left he came out of the game and didn't go back in til there was about 2:30 left. Not sure if Bosko thought he wasn't effective because of his ankle, or if Schlemm was just not into it mentally, or lastly maybe he liked the way the team was playing with out him the previous 2 games. Whatever the reason, it was definitely a surprise.  I've only made it to a handful of games this year, the good news for Carthage is the future looks very bright. Higgins and Fendley got 3 more years, and if Bowens can play another full season that would be huge. With Bosko's son coming in (he is truly going to be something special in this league) Carthage should be very competitive over the next 3 seasons. They need to find another post player, hopefully they can land a few solid recruits for down low.

[Pat Coleman]

Pool C shocker, news on front page.

[TheHerr]

Pool C shocker, news on front page.

Looks like if you want to make it to the big dance, you better win your tournament. I think will even suprise Coach Sherer who said last night after the game he felt Elmhurst was just one win away.

[rknuppel]

Pool C shocker, news on front page.

YUCK!   

[79jaybird]

So if Ohio Northern and Elmhurst were battling for a Pool C bid, I guess I have a question here.  ONU has 7 regional losses, Elmhurst would have 5 (if they were to lose 1 more game) I would think Elmhurst with 2 less losses, would have the go over ONU?

[ecdubb420]

In the spirit of basketball, I hope we have some great games this weekend.  Also, I'm hoping the CCIW gets more than one team in the tourney or else this site could get interesting.

Gregory, Titan Q, as usual, thanks for the information.  You two and everyone else have really allowed me to furthur my D3 education and attempt to sound semi-intelligent.

"The Division III championship philosophy is to field the most competitive teams possible while minimizing missed class time; to emphasize regional competition in regular-season scheduling; and to provide representation in NCAA championship competition by allocating berths to eligible conferences, independent institutions and a limited number of at-large teams, realizing that this may be done at the expense of leaving out some championship-caliber teams."

This is shocking.  I agree with the purpose, but disagree with how its enacted.
Something makes me think that robbing a student athlete the chance of having what could easily be his/her greatest athletic moment for the sake of a few days of missed classes or two needs to be re-evaluated. 
A day of missed classes can easily be made up, but missing out on a chance of playing for a chance of calling yourselves the best team in the land CANNOT be replaced.
Academics should come first, but knowing how professors operate, I think they would be willing to accomidate for a team being ambassadors of the school and taking time off to play in a tournament elsewhere.  Those same professors have no problems with bands going on trips, Student Government reps from going to conferences, or the hundreds of other SCHOOL sponsored trips during the school year that takes many kids away from school for several days. 
Schools should be able to govern themselves and be mindful that these trips are great ways of exposing their school to new students, recruits as well as giving many athletes an opportunity to travel when they would not usually be able too.
I know people will rip me apart for this (keep in mind, I'm not a student and know much more than most students and alums about the infrastructure of small schools), but knowing how simple it is to make up work and also  work out special accomidations with professors, the way D3 decides its tournaments needs to be revisited.

Would I be arguing this as heated if EC weren't on the hot seat, that is unknown, but being an extremely passionate person. I'd venture to say Yes.
PS: I would love to know who is on this board that decides these rules.  Additional response will follow based on said individuals.

[AndOne]

79jay----

Are you sure Ohio Northern is EC's main competition for a Pool C bid?

WC & NCC already had to win the CCIW tourney to advance to the nationals. Now its looking like EC has been pushed into the same boat by today's NCAA ruling.

[79jaybird]

Andone I did not say ONU is the main competition for EC.  I was posting is as a "hypothetical" if the final pool C spot boiled down to ONU or EC.

[79jaybird]

I would love to know what Raridon said to his team to kick the mule in the *** and get them to squeeze into the tournament.  And,  with all the talent on NC why are they so inconsistent?  I think NC is playing very well right now and has MO on their side heading into the Tournament, by why is this all of a sudden happening now, and not in the beginning of the CCIW slate?

[sac]

Ohio Northern is done

they lost in the QF of the OAC tournament, they won't even be discussed as a Pool C team.

[TheHerr]

I know this would probably be a giant list, but does anyone have a list of all the potential Pool C teams?