MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[sac]

I see Albion sitting at home with a 15-3 in-region record and a win over one of the top 5 seeds in the tournament.

The assumption is OWP played the biggest part in Wheaton entering the tournament at 15-6 in region.  How OWP trumps 3 more in-region losses is another story.  But last year we said OWP would put the better conferences in position to get more teams in and ...........here you go.

[iwumichigander]

I don't really understand how the process played out, and how Wheaton obviously ended up ranked higher in the Midwest region final poll than IWU (based on IWU's 3-0 vs Wheaton and IWU's better OWP), but I am happy for Wheaton and glad to see a second CCIW team in.

Good luck to Wheaton and Augustana.

I'm not sure how this played out either.  I am happy, at least,  to see the CCIW with two teams in the NCAA tournament. 

Just guesses as I don't have the time to run numbers - Bob, I think it was you that pointed out many pages ago that IWU's loss to WashU and Wheaton's win over UChgo (IWU loss - common opponent) could come back to cause problems for IWU. 

Assuming both teams were in the final ranking - I have the feeling the committee may have offset the three wins IWU had over Wheaton with its three losses to Augustana; and, then you see Wheaton 1-1 with Augie (IWU 0-3) and a win over Loras.  It's possible they could have also gone all the way to the last 25% of the season (I doubt it - but, the last two losses in the regular season don't help either).

[Titan Q]

Here is my best guess as to what happened...

The Midwest regional committee knew that Illinois Wesleyan had no chance to be competitive in the Pool C discussion with an in-region winning % of .625 (15-9), even with IWU's great strength of schedule (OWP).  So they gave the CCIW its best chance at getting a Pool C bid by:

1) Ranking Wheaton as the region's #2 Pool C candidate, behind Wash U...getting Wheaton to the table for discussion as soon as Wash U got selected (early).

2) Keeping Elmhurst in the regional ranking, which gave Wheaton another 2-0 vs regionally ranked teams.

3) Excluding IWU from the final regional ranking, which saved Wheaton from 0-3 vs regionally ranked teams.

Wheaton probably got in due to their 5-1 record vs regionally ranked teams (1-1 vs Augustana, 1-0 vs Loras, 1-0 vs Chicago, 2-0 vs Elmhurst), and this record was due in large part to how I suspect the Midwest region structured their final poll.  Again, if IWU is regionally ranked instead of Elmhurst, Wheaton is 3-4 vs regionally ranked teams, instead of that 5-1.

Again, I honestly don't think IWU had any chance - the Titans lost too many in-region games - so I think the Midwest region committee gave the CCIW a fighting chance by getting Wheaton to the table with as good of a resume as possible.

I have not heard this explanation from anyone...it is simply my best guess.

[WahooThunder]

Whatever the reason, it's NEW LIFE!  And now the Thunder better prove the committee right and represent the strength of this conference well on the big stage.

[WLCALUM83]

Aurora's 2007-08 Season Stats are here:

http://northernathleticsconf.com/sports/basketball_men/statistics/2007-08/AU.HTM

[Mr. Ypsi]

Here is my best guess as to what happened...

The Midwest regional committee knew that Illinois Wesleyan had no chance to be competitive in the Pool C discussion with an in-region winning % of .625 (15-9), even with IWU's great strength of schedule (OWP).  So they gave the CCIW its best chance at getting a Pool C bid by:

1) Ranking Wheaton as the region's #2 Pool C candidate, behind Wash U...getting Wheaton to the table for discussion as soon as Wash U got early (early).

2) Keeping Elmhurst in the regional ranking, which gave Wheaton another 2-0 vs regionally ranked teams.

3) Excluding IWU from the final regional ranking, which saved Wheaton from 0-3 vs regionally ranked teams.

Wheaton probably got in due to their 5-1 record vs regionally ranked teams (1-1 vs Augustana, 1-0 vs Loras, 1-0 vs Chicago, 2-0 vs Elmhurst), and this record was due in large part to how I suspect the Midwest region structured their final poll.  Again, if IWU is regionally ranked instead of Elmhurst, Wheaton is 3-4 vs regionally ranked teams, instead of that 5-1.

Again, I honestly don't think IWU had any chance - the Titans lost too many in-region games - so I think the Midwest region committee gave the CCIW a fighting chance by getting Wheaton to the table with as good of a resume as possible.

I have not heard this explanation from anyone...it is simply my best guess.

I love it - a sneaky conspiracy theory from one of our most level-headed anti-conspiracy theory gurus!

How they could keep Webster ahead of IWU, I'm not sure.  (And if Webster DID drop out, who was #8 if not the Titans?)

None-the-less, I can't come up with any other explanation than that IWU remained unranked.

[Titan Q]

I love it - a sneaky conspiracy theory from one of our most level-headed anti-conspiracy theory gurus!

How is that a conspiracy theory?  It is simply an explanation.

[larry_u]

UW-Whitewater Pod Links:

Wheaton:  http://athletics.wheaton.edu/index.asp?path=mbball

Lawrence:  http://www.lawrence.edu/athletics/mbasketball/

Loras:  http://depts.loras.edu/sports/mens/basketball/

Whitewater: http://www.uwwsports.com/index.asp?path=mbball

[andrewmp]

From the Wheaton Website:

Thunder head coach Bill Harris said of his team's selection. "I am surprised that we were selected. I don't know how Lazarus felt, but it may have been something like this." Harris added, "I am pleased that we were selected. We played a tough schedule and have some wins over teams that are in the tournament like University of Chicago, Loras and Augustana; I am sure that those victories helped us."

Seems like Harris is in the same boat as most of us when it comes to how Wheaton got in the Tournament.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I love it - a sneaky conspiracy theory from one of our most level-headed anti-conspiracy theory gurus!

How is that a conspiracy theory?  It is simply an explanation.

As your post (made more explicit in mine) suggested, the committee may have  manipulated the rankings (i.e., not directly followed the criteria) for selection advantage.  If the Titans were not at least #8 by the criteria, who was the mystery team?  Since they all suffered another loss, and had much lower OWPs, I can't see how Elmhurst, Aurora, and Webster could ALL stay above IWU by the criteria, but if one (or more) of them dropped out, who replaced them?

[sac]

I saw this game on November 30

http://www.miaa.org/mbb/stats/0708/cciw1.htm

No way I'd have guessed the Thunder would make the NCAA tournament.  I doubt any other tournament team was down by 41 points at any point during a game this season.

[iwumichigander]

I saw this game on November 30

http://www.miaa.org/mbb/stats/0708/cciw1.htm

No way I'd have guessed the Thunder would make the NCAA tournament.  I doubt any other tournament team was down by 41 points at any point during a game this season.

31 SAC not 41    Nor, I doubt any other tournament team had 33 turnovers in a single game yet plays their opponent almost even up in the second half.

[WahooThunder]

I saw this game on November 30

http://www.miaa.org/mbb/stats/0708/cciw1.htm

No way I'd have guessed the Thunder would make the NCAA tournament.  I doubt any other tournament team was down by 41 points at any point during a game this season.

You didn't happen to stick around for the game the next day, did you?

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/Sports/mbball/mbbstats/mwhe7.htm

Hope may be the best team I've seen this year, but that game was clearly a huge aberration, not to mention Wheaton's All-CCIW center missed almost the entire game and Andrew Jahns wasn't really in the mix for the Thunder yet.

[sac]

I saw this game on November 30

http://www.miaa.org/mbb/stats/0708/cciw1.htm

No way I'd have guessed the Thunder would make the NCAA tournament.  I doubt any other tournament team was down by 41 points at any point during a game this season.

31 SAC not 41    Nor, I doubt any other tournament team had 33 turnovers in a single game yet plays their opponent almost even up in the second half.

Scroll down to the play by play...........they were down 72-31 with 10:29 to play.

I'll also point out 20 of those turnovers were credited as steals, and Hope scored 3 points in the last 7 minutes of the game.  It was never even.

Calvin finished 16-11, a 1 point win over that team does not thrill me this year.  Under the circumstances it was a nice turnaround for Wheaton.

[thundermike11]

Yeah, I love the quote from Bill Harris as well. It is pretty safe to say that the Thunder were not exactly planning on playing this week as I played several games of pickup with a few of the players yesterday