WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

Ypsilanti, in one of its earlier heydays (1974), was proud home to the World Football League's Detroit Wheels :
http://wfl.charlottehornetswfl.com/team_pages_1974/03.php

[Mr. Ypsi]

Ypsilanti, in one of its earlier heydays (1974), was proud home to the World Football League's Detroit Wheels :
http://wfl.charlottehornetswfl.com/team_pages_1974/03.php

Hey, now, notice we were a last resort!

(Oh, wait, that didn't sound so good. )

OK.  We are a small town (city); less than 25,000.  We DO have a few claims to fame (I won't bore you with the details), but we are not world-beaters (unless you count 3 Olympic gold medalists).

While I did my grad work at U of Michigan (and remain a fan), we live in Ypsi by choice.  Initially, we couldn't really afford Ann Arbor, but once we could, we discovered we liked Ypsi better.  While we have many friends in AA, we agree with the MSU coach (can't recall if it was Duffy Daugherty or George Perles) who said that AA stood for "arrogant a**holes" - a grotesque over-generalization, but kinda reinforces WHY we prefer Ypsi!

[BTW, 1974 was much closer to a nadir of Ypsi than a 'heyday'!   "Depot Town", now a thriving area, was then a 'biker' hang-out that EMU explicitly warned students to avoid.]

[thunder38]

Final from Kenosha...Wheaton dominates Carthage 68-50.  Carthage scored the game's first five points before the Thunder responded to run away to a 23-13 lead.  Carthage responded to cut it to 26-24 but the Thunder pulled out again to lead 36-29 at half.  Wheaton then ran Carthage out of their own gym in the second half and led by 17 or more from around the 10 minute mark on leading by as many as 24.  Wheaton held Jacklin to 10 points while Gilmore and Ripkey had nine each.  Kristi Schmidt came off the bench to score ten as well.

Brooke Olsen absolutely put on a show from deep going 5-7 from beyond the arc and stepping back to a few feet past the men's line for a couple.  She finished with 21 ponts.  Laura Karsten was equally impressive finishing with 17 points.  Kelly Brooks also finished with eight off the bench.

Impressive win for the Thunder and adding to their resume as a contender in the CCIW.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU beat Augustana in Rock Island tonight, 62-44. According to the Augie live stats, Amanda Reese was one of the three officials who adjudicated tonight's game. No wonder North Park won!

[RogK]

Ha! Good observation, Greg. She did not call a tech on herself.
Within the last two weeks :
Augustana defeated Elmhurst (1/29)
Elmhurst defeated Wheaton (1/22)
Wheaton defeated Carthage (2/3)
Carthage defeated Illinois Wesleyan (1/29)
Therefore, we can retroactively conclude that the 91-58 IWU win over Augustana (Jan 25) was an upset!

[Hoosier Titan]

Very good, Rog!    I started down that road this morning but you thought it through to the logical conclusion.

Definitely an interesting CCIW season.  Looking forward to the stretch run!

[thunder38]

Standings and remaining schedules  for the top 5 as we head down the home stretch

Illinois Wesleyan 7-1
Wheaton 7-2  .5 GB
Millikin 6-2 1 GB
Carthage 5-4 3 GB
Elmhurst 4-4 3.5 GB
North Central 2-6 5 GB
North Park 2-7 5.5 GB
Augustana 1-8 6.5 GB


Carthage
Sat. Feb. 5 @ Augie
Tues. Feb. 8 vs. Elmhurst
Sat. Feb. 12 @ North Central
Tues. Feb. 15 @ North Park
Sat. Feb. 19 vs. Millikin

Elmhurst
Fri. Feb. 4 vs. Illinois Wesleyan
Tues. Feb. 8 @ Carthage
Sat. Feb. 12 @ North Park
Tues. Feb. 15 vs. North Central
Sat. Feb. 19 @ Wheaton
Tues. Feb. 22 @ Millikin

Illinois Wesleyan
Fri. Feb. 4 @ Elmhurst
Tues. Feb. 8 vs. Millikin
Sat. Feb. 12 @ Wheaton
Thurs. Feb. 17 @ North Central
Sat. Feb. 19 vs. North Park
Tues. Feb. 22 vs. Augustana

Millikin
Sat. Feb. 5 vs. North Central
Tues. Feb. 8 @ Illinois Wesleyan
Sat. Feb. 12 vs. Augustana
Wed. Feb. 16 vs. Wheaton
Sat. Feb.19 @ Carthage
Tues. Feb. 22 vs. Elmhurst

Wheaton
Sat. Feb. 5 @ North Park
Tues. Feb. 8 vs. Augustana
Sat. Feb. 12 vs. Illinois Wesleyan
Wed. Feb. 16 @ Millikin
Sat. Feb. 19 vs. Elmhurst

[bblover]

Guess who is coming to dinner? Well, it was the Elmhurst A-team last night. After last weekend, you had to wonder if the Bluejays would phone in the rest of the season; it is that time of the year. Perhaps aided by the rescheduling of Tuesday's game, Elmhurst used its six days to regroup, and to the team's credit, played a very hard game before succumbing in the final 9 minutes to Wesleyan's continual blitzkriegs. Elmhurst was hampered by a number of injuries, most importantly, the loss of starter Rashida Joiner, their sure-handed point guard. Putting in relatively inexperienced underclassman guards against Wesleyan's pressure-cooker defense is usually a prescription for disaster. Not last night. If Elmhurst could shoot free throws, this contest might have gone down to the very end. Even behind by a dozen or so near the finish, the Bluejays were still fighting. Bravo. Even Spencer Tracy would have been impressed.

I missed the first several minutes of the game, but I understand that IWU never trailed. When I walked into the gym, IWU was up a few, which they increased to 8 by half-time. After half-time, Elmhurst came out ready to do battle; Wesleyan appeared flat. Slowly but surely, Elmhurst worked their way back into the game. With 10 minutes left, they were down just one, and if not for several missed free throws, including some front ends of one-and-ones, they clearly would have been up a few.

Elmhurst played with courage. A year ago at home, the Bluejays, with perhaps the most talent in the CCIW, had  a big lead against IWU with about 15  minutes left in the second half; they collapsed and lost badly. The Bluejays also lost last night, but unlike last year, they left it all on the floor; they did not play afraid. Undermanned against a poised, well-coached team, Elmhurst ran out of energy in those last several minutes. IWU stepped up as great teams usually do.

Two side points. One, the game was officiated by just two refs in the first 17 minutes of the first half; the two did a great job. The third official showed up late, one would assume because of the aftereffects of the storm.

Second, I have a pet peeve. I cannot stand it when fans, including parents, start yelling ugly comments at the refs and to the opposing fans. Last night, it was both sides, back and forth, and it was embarrassing to those that did it and unpleasant for the rest of us. To all the parents and fans, I can tell you one thing for sure: the players absolutely hate it, especially when it is their parents. Please be respectful. Nothing justifies this kind of behavior.

[Hoosier Titan]

bblover,
It was nice to meet you last night.  Enjoyable game, well played for the most part by both sides.

I missed the first several minutes of the game, but I understand that IWU never trailed. When I walked into the gym, IWU was up a few, which they increased to 8 by half-time. After half-time, Elmhurst came out ready to do battle; Wesleyan appeared flat. Slowly but surely, Elmhurst worked their way back into the game. With 10 minutes left, they were down just one, and if not for several missed free throws, including some front ends of one-and-ones, they clearly would have been up a few.

Elmhurst played with courage. A year ago at home, the Bluejays, with perhaps the most talent in the CCIW, had  a big lead against IWU with about 15  minutes left in the second half; they collapsed and lost badly. The Bluejays also lost last night, but unlike last year, they left it all on the floor; they did not play afraid. Undermanned against a poised, well-coached team, Elmhurst ran out of energy in those last several minutes. IWU stepped up as great teams usually do.

Sounds like we arrived at about the same time.  Getting to a suburban location at 5:00 P.M. on a Friday was always going to be difficult (especially having left Bloomington at 3:00), so that may have led to the tardiness of the third official that you referred to.

I wasn't at the game last year, but I would agree that this year's Bluejays played hard and well against the more experienced Titans.  Yes, free throw shooting was an issue for the Jays (16/28 for 57%), while the Titans were more efficient (20/27 for 74%).  Considering that some of the misses did come on the first of one-and-ones, that could indeed have made up a lot of the discrepancy.

Individually, Meghan Merklein seemed unstoppable in the low post; I was surprised that she was "only" 7/12.  Her 19 points led all scorers.  Megan Ney contributed 12 and Kelsey Monroe 10; Jordan Maisto had 5 assists.  One aspect of the Elmhurst strategy seemed to be not to led Stacey Arlis beat them and that worked well.  Arlis had to sit with foul trouble, ending up with only 7 points before fouling out.  Olivia Lett led the Titans with 16 points and Hope Schulte had a good game:  14 points, 5 assists, and 4 steals.   Holly Harvey and Karen Solari each contributed from the bench for the Titans; Harvey's two and then a three when the game had gotten to a one-point margin felt like a game changer, and Solari went 3 for 3, two of them down the stretch.

Second, I have a pet peeve. I cannot stand it when fans, including parents, start yelling ugly comments at the refs and to the opposing fans. Last night, it was both sides, back and forth, and it was embarrassing to those that did it and unpleasant for the rest of us. To all the parents and fans, I can tell you one thing for sure: the players absolutely hate it, especially when it is their parents. Please be respectful. Nothing justifies this kind of behavior.

I have to say, as an IWU fan, that I get very annoyed with the whining at officials that I hear from other IWU fans.  I'm as likely to shout "traveling!" as the next person, and I'll start counting when an opposing player camps out in the lane (just trying to help ), but yelling nasty comments at either officials or players is going too far.  Of course the players hate it!  I hate it too.  This is an apology for whatever you heard from the green contingent.

[thunder38]

nice summary of the Elmhurst-IWU game from Friday night bblover. that was a very entertaining game that gone thrown into the muck by the fans from both squads.  i thought the two officials handled the game well in the first half as that can sometimes be a daunting task.  unfortunately i'm not sure the fan behavior was helped at all by Mia Smith "accidentally" yelling "ignore the crappy officiating and play the game" in a quiet gym as Elmhurst was shooting a free throw.  i know that fans and players talk at the shooter but i think it reflects poorly on coaches when they stoop to that level.  i thought Smith probably deserved a technical in that situation.  just my honest opinion and i'd love to hear what other people thought of that situation.

[thunder38]

an ugly win for the Thunder tonight in the Crackerbox. thankfully not as ugly as last year when they only scored 14 first half points but yet still rough.  North Park led 41-30 with 17:35 to play before Wheaton switched into a full court 1-2-2 and fell back into a half court zone that led to three turnovers and a missed shot and threw North Park out of their offensive groove.  The Thunder then responded to go on a 26-3 run and never looked back in a 72-62 victory.

North Park had three very strong individual performances from Sarah Peterson, Roxxanne Jones, and Dana Christiansen that kept them in the game.  Peterson and Christiansen combined for an 8-13 night from 3 with Peterson going 5-6.  Peterson single-handedly kept them in the game when Wheaton finally hit the ground running in the second half.  Roxxanne Jones was fun to watch as she didn't play very many minutes in the game at King earlier this year but she owned the insides during the first half and did a nice job creating her own shot.

For Wheaton Lindsey Brenneman single handedly kept the Thunder together in the first half with 12 of her 21 points and controlled an offense that was without Brooke Olsen who picked up two early fouls.  Olsen struggled with foul trouble last year but has been able to play better defense without fouling this year and has rarely been in foul trouble and as a result has done a terrific job running this offense and it was apparent her presence was missed.  Upon her return in the second half the offense seemed to flow better.

Wheaton has an opportunity to build some momentum if they can turn in a dominant performance on Tuesday night and then take a run at the Titans on Saturday.

Make sure to tune in to WETN at halftime of the Wheaton-Augie game on Tuesday night for a 3-point shootout between Wheaton College President Dr. Philip Ryken and men's head basketball coach Mike Schauer who is one of the best three-point shooters in Wheaton history.  Should be a lot of fun to watch.

[Hoosier Titan]

nice summary of the Elmhurst-IWU game from Friday night bblover. that was a very entertaining game that gone thrown into the muck by the fans from both squads.  i thought the two officials handled the game well in the first half as that can sometimes be a daunting task.  unfortunately i'm not sure the fan behavior was helped at all by Mia Smith "accidentally" yelling "ignore the crappy officiating and play the game" in a quiet gym as Elmhurst was shooting a free throw.  i know that fans and players talk at the shooter but i think it reflects poorly on coaches when they stoop to that level.  i thought Smith probably deserved a technical in that situation.  just my honest opinion and i'd love to hear what other people thought of that situation.

I really would rather not be responding to this post, but a response is necessary.  

As I stated in my previous post, I don't slate officials for bad calls.  Every game has them; it's inevitable.  There were some bad calls the other night.  Over the course of the game, I think they evened out.  I didn't notice booing or commenting any worse than it usually is, and as I've said I don't like it.  (I was sitting in the IWU section, about three rows up).  Perhaps you were sitting elsewhere, and heard things in those parts that I couldn't hear. But I was well-placed to hear what was said from the IWU bench and section.

I distinctly remember Mia Smith yelling at her team about a call which did look like a bad one.  What I heard was "Stop complaining about the officiating and play the game."  No one was shooting, players were walking around, getting into position.  No epithets, and no trying to distract a player shooting.  That would be poor (although it is common amongst fans and even a few CCIW coaches on the male side).   But it didn't come from anyone on the IWU bench.

Can we please get back to discussing the games?  The conference is more competitive than ever this year, and that's good for everyone.

[iwu70]

Yes, big games for the Titans coming up . . . basically for the CCIW championship.  The rest of the games should be really great . . . and wishing the Titans all the best to clinch the conference championship and to host the CCIW tourney.   Total team effort, strong rebounding, and tough D . . . keep it all rolling.   

GO TITANS!

[RogK]

Having seen the IWU/Elmhurst and Wheaton/North Park games, I'll add some thoughts to those already posted here.
First, I was very impressed with Olivia Lett's game. Some of her scoring moves were practically impossible to stop, although Elmhurst tried. Mia Smith will certainly have her in mind when it comes time to nominate someone for conference player of the year. Obviously, several other Titans have been outstanding as well.
Assuming the Titans finish CCIW play with one or two losses, they would deserve 3, maybe 4, all-conf players.
If all-conf spots were apportioned according to team wins, a team would need 3.7 wins for each player that makes all-CCIW (56 wins divided by 15 all-conf spots). That formula is not followed exactly, of course, but it should not be strayed from too far. So, do I think North Park should get only one all-CCIW player, even though they have two pretty-clear choices in Roxie Jones and Sarah Peterson? Good question, Rog.
Getting back to the IWU/EC game, Elmhurst did have some major problems dealing with IWU's early full-court pressing. Later in the game, Jordan Maisto proved to be adept at dribbling through the press.
I did hear some yapping from Elmhurst and IWU fans. A good ref is not influenced, certainly not  favorably, by fans' griping. A good ref will listen to legitimate complaints from coaches and players. Coaches and players have to learn what amount of complaining is useful. Excessive pleading will annoy the ref and could be counterproductive.
The Wheaton/North Park game was feisty at times. NP's Shaina Yalda got hit in the eye early in the game: it was a loose ball situation, Brooke Olson was looking left and used her right arm to vigorously fend off Yalda in the other direction. The hit to the eye was not deliberate, from what I saw, but the fending off was overdone, enough to be a foul regardless. The North Park players saw it as a flagrant foul, understandably, as it looked bad initially, with Yalda suddenly fallen and in pain. Later on, to no one's surprise, Olson was deposited onto her back side, by Peterson, I think. Subsequently, Wheaton's Annie Bowen and Peterson shared an unfriendly series of contacts, necessitating some anti-inflammatory remarks by one of the refs . There may have been confrontational activities among others that I didn't see.
Anyway, Olson was clearly concerned for Yalda and was no doubt relieved, with the rest of us, when Shaina got back in the game. Shaina and Brooke are definitely among our more intense players, although they probably aren't best buddies at the moment.

[RogK]

In other CCIW action Saturday, Millikin won by one, thanks to an offensive reb and 2 FTs by Crystal Zeigler with :01 left. North Central gave 'em a good battle.
Augustana's home schedule ended on a sour note, as visiting Carthage won 85-60. C's Heather Gilmore, in 25:00, made 3/3 2FGs, 2/5 3FGs, 3/4 FTs, had 4 assists and 1 TO (how careless of her!), plus 7 steals.