WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

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[RogK]

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[Fawkes316]

I would be very surprised, if Wheaton gives up 114 points or even 96. The last time they gave up more than 75 (and that was only once) was in 2003 when they lost to the defending Champion Stevens Point. Wheaton was ninth in the nation last year in scoring defense. I doubt that will change much this season.

Passiales is playing soccer this year, and doing pretty well. Woudenberg is playing golf. They'll miss her defensive intensity off of the bench. But, Wheaton will be much stronger up front this season. With Trenz returning and Edgecombe showing signs of improvement at the end of last season, as well as freshman Carissa Bacon, Wheaton will have a formidable front court. This should free up Fox to play guard more often. She is very athletic, might be one of the best ball handlers on the team and will give teams terrible matchup problems trying to guard her.

Wheaton should be fine at the guard position. They will miss Libby's conditioning and defensive intensity, but they don't need anymore offense. Pouns and Fidelia should be enough offense from the guard position to complement Cooper, Trenz and Fox. What they need off the bench is someone to play defense with intensity and take care of the basketball, since that's what they lost in Libby.

[RogK]

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[Fawkes316]

Sorry for the confusion.

Anyone notice that Wheaton is #5 in the preseason poll?

[RogK]

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[Fawkes316]

I haven't seen her play yet, but here is what Coach Baker said about her in the season preview.

"We are excited by Carissa Bacon. She is a little undersized in the pivot position, but she can score around the basket and is a very good rebounder. Hopefully she can continue to develop and by January she will be giving us some key minutes"

[RogK]

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[Illinihoops4]

Heard IWU lost a big post player in the pre-season to a knee injury. 
Anyone have any info???

[Gregory Sager]

NPU started off the year on the right foot, whomping MacMurray, 77-28, in the opening round of Lakeland's tipoff tourney last night. The Vikings play MSOE in the championship game today.

This should be an interesting year for NPU, what with 1,000-point scorers Megan Slattery and Shandrel Young both having graduated. Laura Mount is back, and she has an excellent chance to win all sorts of accolades this year. She'll be the Park's featured player and the leader of a strong backcourt that includes seniors Anna Mueller and Lauren Martin, the latter returning after missing last year to a torn ACL.

Evie Peterson is also back to bolster the frontcourt, and transfers Maggie Butler and Angela Perez should figure prominently in North Park's plans as well. The major problem for the Park this year will probably be the inside game, as Jack Surridge was unable to land a recruit with the size and interior presence to take Slattery's place. He's going to have to rely upon playing a more uptempo game, with better outside shooting (which NPU should get with Martin back) and a more team-oriented rebounding approach, if the Vikings are to return to the CCIW tournament again this year.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU defeated MSOE, 58-44, to take the crown in Lakeland's "Play With Grace" Tournament. No statistical details on either that game or the previous night's win over MacMurray, except that the MSOE website mentioned that the Vikings outrebounded the Raiders by a 39-24 margin.

[RogK]

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[RogK]

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[Just Bill]

Hi CCIW folks!  I'm looking forward to an unoffical WIAC/CCIW challenge this weekend when North Central and Wheaton travel north to play UW-Stevens Point and UW-Oshkosh.  I'd like to hear about your teams a little.  I know some about Wheaton, but not much about NCC.

Here's the (relatively) short version on UWO and UWSP:

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) you will not be playing a traditional UWO contender.  They are way down by any standard and especially by UWO standards.  They have two solid players in forward Tyriver (strong dependable) and guard Knapp (lightning quick, decent shooter).  They have a new freshman named Sharpee that has been playing well, but that's about it.  During their change in coaches they had about a two year lapse in recruiting and graduated a very solid nucleus of players.  Time will tell if the current coach (a VERY successful HS coach in her first college job) can put Oshkosh back in the national picture.

Stevens Point on the other hand will be one of the teams that will challenge UW-Stout for the league title.  They return virtually ever key player from a 20-win team last year.  UWSP shoots the ball very well (58.5 percent through 3 games) mostly due to their size.  They have 7 players listed at 6-0 and above and nobody on the roster at less than 5-9.  Guard Neuenfeldt is one of the top players in the league although she doesn't score a ton of points. Forward Houghton is a dynamic scorer who dropped 21 on the Wisconsin Badgers in an exhibtion game.  Their two centers starter Lechault and reserve Heuer block a lot of shots, and Heuer has found a scoring touch leading the team with 14.0 ppg off the bench.  The Pointers' Achilles heel is turnovers.  With the way they shoot the ball, if they keep the TO's under 15 they are VERY hard to beat.  But if they get careless and hand it over 25 times or so a good team will take advantage.

[Gregory Sager]

Hey Greg, you can find stats on NP's first game at lakeland.edu, women's basketball, "Tip Off Classic." There was a 29-4 half-time score!

Thanks, Rog. They weren't up when I checked out the Lakeland website the other day. The NPU website still doesn't have stats up for either game -- but, then again, NPU didn't even have a 2006-07 roster posted for the women's team until yesterday. The school's new SID only started on the job last week, so he's got his hands full already.