MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[fcnews]

I totally agree with the nuetral court, for level playing field, ideas. I also think that four predetermined nuetral sites could also draw a respectable crowd. If marketed properly. A site like Chicago, St. Louis or even Memphis could all be accessible to a lot of fans. Also, to most teams in a midwest/south bracket.

Our current geographic situation will be a problem for the far west and Texas schools. But, by the time you reach the round of 16, air transportaion should not be that out of the question.

It just depends on how you want to market this product. As a national or more as a regional. The landscape of DIII basketball can only go up. But, campus sites for hosts in the final sixteen teams, seems to be a bit "small time", for a National Tournament.

Just my opinion.

[The Roop]

I've never been a big fan of a permanent site for the Final Four. Under the old way of doing things, moving it around every four years, might actually bring one close enough to me to see one. However, Salem seems to like it as does D3. So if Salem becomes a permanent site then I won't complain about it because it does seem to be working.

Sectionals........... It would require an NCAA rule change to allow a neutral site to host and since you never know who will make it that far, I just can't see it happening. Too big of  gamble financially. Besides, how much press is hosting a D3 sectional going to get in a major market anyway ?? Granted it sounds nice but I doubt there would be enough of a "walk up" crowd to sell many tickets.

As much as I love the game, it is still D3 and I can't imagine much of a bidding war to host games like this. Sorry 

[HopeConvert]

In my quite extensive experience with Wheaton people over the years, I have always found them to be good and decent people. I was similarly impressed with Wheaton's players. There was a telling moment on Friday night when Panner knocked over a Whitworth player and went over and helped him up and apologized. I was real impressed with the way he conducted himself. Similarly, despite one tense moment between Marcus VanderHeide and Andy Wiele, I thought the Wheaton players conducted themselves with real class and showed a lot of respect for their opponents. They don't wag their tongues, they don't swagger. Heaven knows Raymond had plenty of occasion to do so Friday night, but he never did.

[jschreur]

Some observations on the Wheaton-Hope game yesterday...
I was there, together with about 40ish other Wheaton students and maybe 200 some Wheaton alum... not a lot for only being three hours away from Wheaton... although most students weren't back from spring break yet...
It's a nice gym, it was nice to see 3000+ fans in orange and blue, unfortunately most of them were not Wheaton fans... haha

1) It's incredible how well Hope shot the three... not to beat a dead horse or anything, but they couldn't miss in the second half... heavily contested threes, long range threes, anything... It was hard for Wheaton to get any kind of run when every two was answered by a three... Hope never went on a huge run, their biggest run was 6-0 or something like that, I believe, but they built their lead trading twos for threes...

2) Hope's players were all pretty tall and long and that frustrated Wheaton's guards' shooting...

3) I have never seen Panner miss so many open threes (especially in the first half, I think he was 0/5). He did make that half-time half court heave at the buzzer, unfortunately that momentum didn't really carry over for the rest of the second half, we played them even for a while, tied it up, and then the threes really started coming.

4) Is it just me, or did it seem like Coach Harris was using Raymond as a decoy for much of the game. Hope did a great job defending him, true, but it didn't seem like Raymond was looking for his shot much.

5) I feel that Wheaton should have driven more, Hope's interior defense didn't seem to be that great; whenever we did drive, there was usually a foul or a good shot available...

Oh well, unfortunately Wheaton wasn't able to pull it out, they started so well too (10-0 run), but it wasn't to be.. they had us believing that they could go all the way...
We should have a decent team next year though, with Panner/Jahns/Wiele/Carwell.

Titan Q, a question...you said on the Hope sectional board:
"There is one final secret to beating Wheaton - by far the most important key and something IWU executed perfectly in all 3 games - but since I want Wheaton to win the Sectional, I can't release that information."

Since Wheaton is done now, do you mind revealing this secret? I'm really curious...

[Mr. Ypsi]

js, I'm pretty sure Q was joking.

[Titan Q]

Titan Q, a question...you said on the Hope sectional board:
"There is one final secret to beating Wheaton - by far the most important key and something IWU executed perfectly in all 3 games - but since I want Wheaton to win the Sectional, I can't release that information."

Since Wheaton is done now, do you mind revealing this secret? I'm really curious...

There is definitely something very specific, but I can only release this information upon confirmation that Kent Raymond is done playing.  A copy of his first pay stub will be sufficient.

Gotta run.  Told Sean Wallis I'd find him a high paying job effective June 2009 so he doesn't have to worry about that 5th year of eligibility in 2009-10.  And if something falls through with Raymond's job, I've got something in the works for him too (Hint - "A very pleasant good evening and welcome to Illinois Wesleyan basketball on WJBC.  I'm Eric Stock, joined as usual by Kent Raymond.  Kent, a big ballgame for the Titans tonight here at Millikin..."

[sac]

... Hope never went on a huge run, their biggest run was 6-0 or something like that, I believe, but they built their lead trading twos for threes...

Hope had a 15-2 run after being down 10-0., Hope also had an 8-1 run midway in the 2nd half, a 9-2 run.......and another 9-2 run in the closing minutes.   Wheaton strung together a few 5 and 6 point runs.  But neither team was able to hit more than 2 or 3 consecutive baskets on the other after the intial 10-0 and 15-2 runs.

Not huge, but runs that included good defensive stops for both teams.

[nwhoops1903]

Titan Q, a question...you said on the Hope sectional board:
"There is one final secret to beating Wheaton - by far the most important key and something IWU executed perfectly in all 3 games - but since I want Wheaton to win the Sectional, I can't release that information."

Since Wheaton is done now, do you mind revealing this secret? I'm really curious...

There is definitely something very specific, but I can only release this information upon confirmation that Kent Raymond is done playing.  A copy of his first pay stub will be sufficient.

Gotta run.  Told Sean Wallis I'd find him a high paying job effective June 2009 so he doesn't have to worry about that 5th year of eligibility in 2009-10.  And if something falls through with Raymond's job, I've got something in the works for him too (Hint - "A very pleasant good evening and welcome to Illinois Wesleyan basketball on WJBC.  I'm Eric Stock, joined as usual by Kent Raymond.  Kent, a big ballgame for the Titans tonight here at Millikin..."

Yes, I too, am awaiting this factoid with much curiosity, since that original reply was sent to me.  I haven't forgotten and obviously Whitworth never found the secret. 

[nwhoops1903]

js, I'm pretty sure Q was joking.

Here?!  About hoops!  The nerve. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

js, I'm pretty sure Q was joking.

Here?!  About hoops!  The nerve. 

Actually, the secret has now been (second-hand) revealed to me, but due to Q's qualification, I shall not reveal it.  Fortunately, despite my trepidations, it had nothing to do with food poisoning or knee-capping!

[Gregory Sager]

The last 5 Sectional final games played in by CCIW teams...

2006 - IWU 113 Puget Sound 99 (@ Lawrence)
2002 - Carthage 85 Lewis & Clark 70 (@ Carthage)
2001 - IWU 77 Chicago 68 (@ Chicago)
1997 - IWU 95 Methodist 63 (@ IWU)
1996 - IWU 77 Wash U 61 (@ Roanoke)

Alas, we weren't on quite that good of a collective hot streak in sectional finals. Ohio Northern beat Carthage, 66-64, in 2001 on ONU's home floor to propel the Polar Bears to the Final Four. That was the game in which Carthage's Tony Papanicholas had a potential game-tying shot opportunity on the baseline but lost control of the ball and had it tumble out of bounds on him as the final buzzer went off.

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to Wheaton upon a terrific run. And congrats to Kent Raymond for having had such a fantastic career there.

[Titan Q]

A great article by Bryan Burwell from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch yesterday.  It reminded me of this 2001 Dave Kindred piece in Sporting News.

[petemcb]

Bob, thanks for linking that.  That Kindred article is great.  I don't think I had seen that.

[petemcb]

And, FWIW, let me offer my congratulations to Kent Raymond and Wheaton on a great run, reinforcing what a great conference the CCIW is.