WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Naperick]

Congrats Titans!  Good luck tomorrow!

[iwu70]

Wow, Point goes down x 2, both men and women.  Tommies take out the defending National Champions and now George Fox takes out the Pointer women.  IWU-GF match up should be a good one, two very experienced, senior-laden teams wanting to make their big moves to the Final Four.  Good luck to the TITANS and to Coach Smith and all the team. 

Some great match ups now again in Elite Eight --- Wash U vs. Chicago, Babson vs. Amherst, and IWU vs. GF. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Wow, Point goes down x 2, both men and women.  Tommies take out the defending National Champions and now George Fox takes out the Pointer women.  IWU-GF match up should be a good one, two very experienced, senior-laden teams wanting to make their big moves to the Final Four.  Good luck to the TITANS and to Coach Smith and all the team. 

Some great match ups now again in Elite Eight --- Wash U vs. Chicago, Babson vs. Amherst, and IWU vs. GF. 

And, be fair - Christopher Newport against (presumably) Lebanon Valley (they're up 18 w/ 3+ to go) may not have the historical 'chops' of the other three, but it ain't chopped liver!  Both are in the top 20.

[iwu70]

Very sorry to see in the Pgraph article on the IWU-Coe game that Karen Solari had a knee injury that Coach Smith thought might be serious.  She left the game in the latter part of the first half and did not return.  Hope Karen is OK, can continue to play and contribute to the TITANS run to the "home Final Four."  She's a great player, a tough competitor, and IMHO the best six women in the CCIW, by far.  Wishing her well that the injury is not too serious.

[iwu70]

Now the TITANS get to face one of the very few 6'5" women players in the nation, Ms. Mungar, from George Fox.  A good challenge for Stacey Arlis and the other quick interior post players for the Titans.

Good luck to Coach Smith and all the Titans Saturday!!!

[BruinFan]

IWU-GF match up should be a good one, two very experienced, senior-laden teams wanting to make their big moves to the Final Four. 

I might be misreading the comment, but George Fox does not have any seniors on the roster and starts 2 freshmen.  They have a new coach this year who was highly successful at the high school level and the team has spent most of the year learning and becoming comfortable with a new system.

[Hoosier Titan]

This may be slightly off topic, but I was stunned to see the score of the Penn State-Wisconsin men's game:  36-33 Penn State.  Sounds like a game from my father's time! And Olivia Lett scored 28.

[iwumichigander]

Nice win Titans! Terrific job by Lett and Arlis

[iwu70]

Bruin, thanks for the clarification.  My bad.   I assumed they had more seniors due to their appearance in the final four in 2009.  Sounds then like they have a wonderful new and dynamic team and will be around and a force in DIII hoops for some time.  If they can take down Point, they must be really good.  Why weren't they ranked in the DIII hoops ranking more this year, during the regular season? 

Should be a good game tomorrow.  Of course, all of the Titan nation is hoping for a "home Final Four" for our TITANS.

[BlueZoneBruin]

IWU-GF match up should be a good one, two very experienced, senior-laden teams wanting to make their big moves to the Final Four.  Good luck to the TITANS and to Coach Smith and all the team. 

Correction: George Fox has no seniors on the team. 4 juniors and the rest of the roster is all underclassmen. Starting lineup is made up of two juniors, a sophomore, and two freshmen. The Bruins also have a first year coach, as former head coach Scott Rueck left to take the helm at Pac-10 Oregon State this past summer.

Should be a great game though. Fox fans are looking forward to it!

Go Bruins!

[BlueZoneBruin]

Bruin, thanks for the clarification.  My bad.   I assumed they had more seniors due to their appearance in the final four in 2009.  Sounds then like they have a wonderful new and dynamic team and will be around and a force in DIII hoops for some time.  If they can take down Point, they must be really good.  Why weren't they ranked in the DIII hoops ranking more this year, during the regular season? 

Should be a good game tomorrow.  Of course, all of the Titan nation is hoping for a "home Final Four" for our TITANS.

Sorry IWU70...Didn't read all the messages first. I see that BruinFan beat me to the punch. The team that won it all two years ago had 11 freshmen and one senior. Only one of the starters from that team is still around, in wing Keisha Gordon.

As for why they weren't ranked, its hard to know. They lost two early pre-season games to top NAIA teams (DI #8 Westminster and DII #21 Concordia) both on the road. They got beat up pretty good by UW-Whitewater at a tourney in San Diego, and then lost its first two conference games in three years to Lewis and Clark (West #4) and Puget Sound (twice ranked in the West). On the second swing through the conference, Fox thoroughly dominated both L&C and UPS. They are now on a 14-game winning streak. Overall, this team is very talented, but has taken a while to come together with all the new faces, a new coach, and a bit different system. It is starting to click, but I would still say that this is probably the third best Fox team in the past five years. Bruinfan may have a different assessment, but that's my perspective.

BlueZoneBruin

[iwu70]

BlueZone, thanks for the background on GF.  Sounds like lots of talent com'in and go'in.  They certainly have me convinced if you took down Point.  Must be strong.  IWU also got beat up pretty bad by Whitewater.  I saw that game and wondered if the TITANS would pull it back together, but they have, esp. during the tough CCIW run where they went 13-1.  We did beat Chicago and Wash U earlier, too, so we've had some really good wins . . . at Kean too.   Of course, we are all hoping for one more step this year after being in Sweet Sixteen and Elite 8 the last two.  We want that "home Final Four" badly.  Should be a great match up, a great game.  May the best team win.

[Titan Q]

I watched the final 10 minutes of the IWU/Coe game last night.  Olivia Lett is quite a player -- hit an enormous 3 to put IWU back up 2 after going down 1, and then made 2 big FT's in a tight spot.

Good luck tonight, Titans!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Titans got off to a HORRIBLE start - they were down 25-4!!

With about 10 left, they have crawled back in, but so far haven't gotten to single digits.

[Mr. Ypsi]

W/ 8.5 to go, Titans have cut the deficit to 7!!

The 'big 2' from yesterday (Lett and Arlis) have combined for only 12 points and 3 rebounds.   Thank God for depth!