WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Bears went up by as much as 14, but Nikki Preston has gone unconscious from 3 - it's down to 6 w/ just under 7 to go.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Titans cut it all the way to 3, but went cold at the very end.  Bears win 87-77.

[Out_Of_My_Kitchen]

Great effort by both teams tonight.  Wash U gets IWU back again for another early season loss.  Looks like the the Title Game at the "Shirk Invitational" will be between Amherst and Wash U.  Should be a dandy. 

Interesting moment at the 46 second mark left in the game.  With IWU down by six, Coach Smith used her last timeout after a Wash U player knocked the ball out of bounds.  IWU had to go full court.  Just seemed like an interesting time to use that last timeout.  Would have been nice to have that one back, but probably didn't matter.  Wash U was the better team in the end. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

I've developed a bit of a complex about UWSP (who knocked out BOTH our teams last year, and which got me in hot water on the WIAC board after they lost to George Fox), but I'm really developing a complex about WashU!  In both 2009 and 2011 we beat them early in the season, then lost in the tourney.  Aaarrgh!!

Don't forget that although the men have abandoned the third place game, the Titans will still meet Christopher Newport tomorrow.  Some may scoff (and even Denny Bridges was not real fond of having to come back for the 'consolation' game), but I for one am proud that in four trips to the FF by the Titan men, they NEVER finished the season with a loss!  Go take out your frustrations on CN tomorrow, ladies!

[Hoosier Titan]

Just back from Shirk and not a lot to say other than it was a bad night for the Titans, and of course no one can afford a bad night now.

OOMK, that timeout had to be called because there was a lot of confusion about who was on the floor and who should be on the floor with subs on both sides going in and out.  The Titans were on the verge of starting play with only four players on the court.  That explains the "interesting" time out.

Good luck to all the teams tomorrow.

[Out_Of_My_Kitchen]

Well that makes sense then.  The guys doing the color and play by play didn't say that.  But nonetheless, that stuff shouldn't be happening in a Final Four game.  

Best of luck to IWU on the third place game today.  Two of the scorers in the country going head to head albeit at different positions.  

I think the Wash U coach should be National Coach of the Year.  The lost to Hope in the regular season, beat them in the tournament.  Lost to Chicago twice, then beat them in the Elite 8.  Lost to IWU in the season, then beat them in Final Four.  Couple that with beating the #1 ranked team in the country on their homecourt and wow.  Great adjustments.  Great coach with a championship pedigree.  

[Gregory Sager]

...Chelsie Schweers seems to be the women's equivalent Stevie D.

Except much better looking!  Whew!  Am I allowed to say that?  Sorry.

I suspect she wouldn't object.

And, actually, considering the numbers, it would be more accurate to say that Steve D. is the male Chelsie Schweers of d3!  I understand the reason for the comparison (I daresay more viewers here are familiar with Steve than Chelsie), but he could only dream of her numbers.

That's ridiculous, Chuck. Chelsie Schweers is a great scorer, but she isn't a distributor. Steve Djurickovic has been one of the top distributors, both in terms of raw assists totals and assist/turnover ratio, in the nation in all four of his seasons at Carthage.

[iwu70]

Warm congrats to Coach Smith and our Titans.  A superb season, first ever Final Four, 27 wins, and just a great superb run for four years, at something like 113-12.  What an outstanding group.  We shall dearly miss our top seniors as they have been the heart and soul of IWU women's basketball for these wonderfully successful four years!  All best wishes and thanks to them.

A tough weekend, as we didn't win the rebounding or TO battle, but shot the three like I've never seen -- setting an DIII tournament record with 15 treys in the semis.  Truly wonderful, but Wash U was just a bit better . . . we just tip our hat to them and know we'll be back in big important games with them again in future.  Agreat rivalry on both the men's and women's sides.   Two wonderful coaches, two great programs -- always doing battle, giving the fans more than their money's worth.

IWU women's basketball has a very bright future -- think next year with Hasselbring, Lett, Gardner, Solari coming back, joined by all the freshmen and sophomores.  IWU could again be very very good.  And, the men too -- think Gonzoles, a Zimmer on each wing, the Kman and Victor Davis at power forward and Connelly and Nick Anderson formidable in the post.  I like what I see coming next year . . . Augie will again be tough, but our Titans will be there ready for the challenge.

Congrats to Amherst and the Tommies on their National Championships.  Very worthy victors. 

Hate to see the DIII hoops season come to an end. 

[Hoosier Titan]

A warm "thank-you" to the graduating IWU seniors.  This class has achieved greater success than any previous group of IWU players, and the trend is set to continue.

Stacey Arlis--whose emergence this season helped to fill the enormous gap left by Christina Solari's graduation.

Sarah Cotner--whose fought back from an ACL injury to become a steady contributor in the low post and on defense.

Holly Harvey--whose defensive excellence and timely three-point-shooting helped turn the tide in many games.

Jessica Hinterlong--who came in, worked hard, and made the extra pass in many games.

Nikki Preston--who carried the Titans to the high point of this season in the miracle comeback at Stevens Point.

Hope Schulte--whose stats, although impressive, don't begin to tell the story of her contributions at both ends of the court.

Next season looks bright, with the return of Olivia Lett, Karen Solari, Melissa Gardner, Shelby Jackson; with a large, talented group of JV players ready to step up; and with several new players coming in.  The program should continue to be strong, even as the rest of the CCIW is getting stronger.  It should be an interesting year.

And thanks to Coach Mia Smith, who has built the program with support from Dennie Bridges.  This is my ninth year at IWU and I'm amazed at the progress and growth in community support.  Looking forward to many more years, and to more long tournament runs!

[Out_Of_My_Kitchen]

Congrats to the IWU team.  Great year.  Nothing to hang your head about even though it didn't finish quite like you wanted. 

[iwumichigander]

Thank-you to the Titans for a great season. 

Congratulations to Nikki Preston for making the NCAA All-Tournament team

[RogK]

Congratulations to the Titans on another top-notch season, especially all those seniors, each of whom gave four years of dedication and endless effort to Mia Smith's program.
Congratulations to Wheaton's Laura Karsten, who made 2nd team all=American. She was very good for the season as a whole and was particularly excellent in conference play.

[RogK]

Without knowing anything in regard to newcomers for next season, I'd say the league looks to be weaker overall in '11-'12.
Alphabetically :
Augie : loses their only proven scorer (Kristen Fox) and their 2nd best player (Natalie Runge). Will they be able to score 70 pts often? ever?
Carthage : loses Heather Gilmore (1st team all-conf) and starting point g Taylor Tondelli. At 8-6, they were under-achievers in CCIW play. But, Coach Bernero has much returning talent and is an outstanding recruiter. So, I'd expect Carthage to improve to 11-3 or better next season.
Elmhurst : ended in a bit of a mess at 5-9 and lost some good players. Can they gain at least 3 wins and make it to 8-6 next year?
IWU : it would be stunning if they don't fall back a fair amount, considering how many fine players are graduating.
Millikin : they should be good again, but losing Elise Wildman will make them less formidable.
North Central : like Augie, who is going put the ball in the hoop? Errico in particular will be missed.
North Park : getting better, but more depth has to be developed.
Wheaton : needs several new big players to help Hovee and Potts, to replace Bowen and Brooks.
So, I'd say that things look best for Carthage at this point, with Millikin in the vicinity. IWU and Wheaton have major questions to be answered. Can any of the others climb past those four teams to get into the top half of the league? Many teams need help.

[Gregory Sager]

Without knowing anything in regard to newcomers for next season, I'd say the league looks to be weaker overall in '11-'12.
Alphabetically :
Augie : loses their only proven scorer (Kristen Fox) and their 2nd best player (Natalie Runge). Will they be able to score 70 pts often? ever?
Carthage : loses Heather Gilmore (1st team all-conf) and starting point g Taylor Tondelli. At 8-6, they were under-achievers in CCIW play. But, Coach Bernero has much returning talent and is an outstanding recruiter. So, I'd expect Carthage to improve to 11-3 or better next season.
Elmhurst : ended in a bit of a mess at 5-9 and lost some good players. Can they gain at least 3 wins and make it to 8-6 next year?
IWU : it would be stunning if they don't fall back a fair amount, considering how many fine players are graduating.
Millikin : they should be good again, but losing Elise Wildman will make them less formidable.
North Central : like Augie, who is going put the ball in the hoop? Errico in particular will be missed.
North Park : getting better, but more depth has to be developed.
Wheaton : needs several new big players to help Hovee and Potts, to replace Bowen and Brooks.
So, I'd say that things look best for Carthage at this point, with Millikin in the vicinity. IWU and Wheaton have major questions to be answered. Can any of the others climb past those four teams to get into the top half of the league? Many teams need help.

NPU will get an All-CCIW player back who missed this past season due to injury in Kamauria Acree, plus two other experienced guards who had to sit out 2010-11 due to injury in Hilary Kuhl and Bridgette Gray. So that will help the Vikings roster in terms of both quantity and quality. What NPU does need next season is more help up front, as the only player who won't be back next year is senior center Lyndsey Thompson.

[RogK]

Incidentally, I certainly would have mentioned it here if Olivet Nazarene's WBB team had won the NAIA tourney. So, I probably should report that they were knocked out 81-69 by Union Univ. That 69 tied for their lowest output of the season. ONU ended up 27-7, averaging 103.9/g.
While I'd love to see some CCIW team(s) play that frenetic style, I realize that D3 can't give athletic scholarships like NAIA can, so it's difficult to assemble a group of 15 or 17 very athletic players, if a coach wanted to try that style.
And of course, it is a rare coach indeed who would try something out of the ordinary for one game, much less for a whole season. It is also a rare coach that expects/allows full participation from every freshman from day 1 and onward.