MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[fcnews]

Very Good Post Titan Q +1 K
As this was not a published poll. It was just done for tournament purposes. Don't you think the Midwest committee did what they felt was best for the region. What ranking would give the midwest a chance to get a second team. And, the best candidate was Wheaton. Why put IWU in a positition where it could not be selected and cost the midwest anothe possible entry.

[WahooThunder]

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.

I'm not saying its the kind of win that makes them tournament worthy, but it was a nice road win and a better true indication of the kind of team they are and also of the difference Wiele makes, not to mention, again, they were still without Jahns.

[sac]

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.

I'm not saying its the kind of win that makes them tournament worthy, but it was a nice road win and a better true indication of the kind of team they are and also of the difference Wiele makes, not to mention, again, they were still without Jahns.

Well thats fair, and I didn't point this out to rail on Wheaton.  I just think its interesting and quircky that a team that lost by 31 made the field.

I had hoped Wheaton would make the tournament all year, I just didn't think they would given what I saw that day.  I'd have liked to see Wheaton play Albion, I think I know what would have happened.

[sac]

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. 

I hope not, because the tournament chair made it clear he wants integrity at the regional level (or something like that)

As its been pointed out, I think the assumption has to be IWU was not ranked in the final regional poll.

[iwumichigander]

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.

I'm not saying its the kind of win that makes them tournament worthy, but it was a nice road win and a better true indication of the kind of team they are and also of the difference Wiele makes, not to mention, again, they were still without Jahns.

Well thats fair, and I didn't point this out to rail on Wheaton.  I just think its interesting and quircky that a team that lost by 31 made the field.

I had hoped Wheaton would make the tournament all year, I just didn't think they would given what I saw that day.  I'd have liked to see Wheaton play Albion, I think I know what would have happened.

Having seen Albion, I don't think they could handle Mr. Raymond even on one of his 'off nights'

[sac]

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.

I'm not saying its the kind of win that makes them tournament worthy, but it was a nice road win and a better true indication of the kind of team they are and also of the difference Wiele makes, not to mention, again, they were still without Jahns.

Well thats fair, and I didn't point this out to rail on Wheaton.  I just think its interesting and quircky that a team that lost by 31 made the field.

I had hoped Wheaton would make the tournament all year, I just didn't think they would given what I saw that day.  I'd have liked to see Wheaton play Albion, I think I know what would have happened.

Having seen Albion, I don't think they could handle Mr. Raymond even on one of his 'off nights'

You don't have to handle Raymond, you have to handle Wheaton.

[WahooThunder]

You don't have to handle Raymond, you have to handle Wheaton.

It seems to me handling five is much tougher than handling one, particularly when the one is also adept at getting others involved.  If they can't handle Raymond, I can't imagine what happens when you throw Wiele and Panner in the mix.

[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.

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?

Well, here's the last published rankings (Wednesday)...

Midwest Region
1. Augustana  20-5  19-5 .575 .555
2. Washington U.  19-5  16-4 .647 .565
3. Lawrence  20-2  18-2 .555 .515
4. Wheaton (Ill.)  19-6  15-6 .577 .549
5. Chicago  17-7  16-7 .605 .568
6. Elmhurst  18-7  17-7 .505 .537
7. Aurora  20-5  18-5 .465 .496
8. Webster  19-5  17-5 .492 .481

I don't think it would necessarily take "manipulation" to simply leave the same 8 teams in (in a little different order), considering Elmhurst, Aurora, Webster, and IWU all lost in the final week.  It seemed clear to me when these rankings came out last week that Wheaton and Elmhurst were considered the CCIW's top two Pool C candidates by the regional committee.

Now, do I think IWU belonged in the regional rankings based on all 5 primary criteria?  Absolutely - especially that 3-0 vs Wheaton.  But from last week's rankings to the final (unpublished) ranking, I don't really see any funny business.  Afterall, last week Wheaton was ranked #4 and IWU was not ranked at all, yet IWU was 2-0 vs the Thunder at that time.

[Titan Q]

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.

6-8 center Andy Wiele (2nd Team All-CCIW, 15.0ppg, 10.2rpg) played 3 minutes (due to injury).  Wheaton is just not very good without Wiele.

Elmhurst beat Hope on a neutral floor this year, and Wheaton swept Elmhurst.  I think that goes a long way to illustrating that Hope's blowout of Wheaton was just one of those strange things.

[sac]

Albion beat IWU by 20

IWU beat Wheaton 3 times..........it is strange.

[usee]

I can't begin to comprehend the events that lead to Wheaton playing in the tourney and I can only imagine what IWU players and staff are feeling. While I am certain IWU would represent as well as any CCIW team it is my hope that Wheaton and Augie play well enough to show the conference strength and give the case that the CCIW has 3 or 4 teams that can compete in the tourney.

[thundermike11]

Albion beat IWU by 20

IWU beat Wheaton 3 times..........it is strange.

I think any CCIW follower would attest to the IWU team that lost to Albion on Nov. 17 (the second game of the season) was not the same Titan team that finished second in the conference. When you have a team with so many freshmen being called upon as IWU does, it takes a month or so to gel, and that's what happened with the Titans. You cannot really use that Albion game as an example.

[Titan Q]

Albion beat IWU by 20

At Albion on November 17, the IWU perimeter starters were...

PG Sean Johnson
SG Jordan Morris
F Matt Schick

Johnson was only playing point because IWU's point-guard (Travis Rosenkranz) was injured - Johnson is a pure 2.  Morris and Schick ended up being reserves for the Titans.

IWU didn't have starter Sean Dwyer (injury), who became the team's best perimeter defender.  And obviously, all of IWU's freshmen (5 in the rotation) were playing in their second collegiate game. 

Albion took it to the Titans that day, and certainly impressed me as a tournament-caliber team, but the IWU team that played so well come January and February was a different team than the one Albion faced.


http://www.iwuhoops.com/pant08.htm#albion



"They didn't shoot very well," Turner said. "They will certainly be good with all the young guys and depth they have."

[sac]

Other teams improve to..........

Hope's a better team than on Nov 30
Calvin's a better team than on Dec 1
Albion's a better team than on Nov 17

[Naperick]

I became an uncle for the first time Friday night (Leap Year Day).  I just read the last 7-8 pages of the thread and have caught up with the CCIW news.  Congrats to Augustana on their 2nd straight CCIW tourney title.  They deserve to host a mini-regional or whatever they call the 4 team pod.

I see a very good matchup with Wash. U. on Saturday for the Vikings.