WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

If I attend, I will post a firsthand account!
Another topic :having previously discussed the so-called System here (even in the context of the CCIW!), I wish to report that the Knox women's team has implemented a version of it this season. So far, they are 1-9, being outscored on average 88.4 - 75.8.
They are getting the full-court trapping part of it to work fairly well, inducing 30 turnovers per game. But, they are committing 25 TOs of their own. They are doing the frequent 5-at-a-time subbing.
They are attempting 37.7 3FGs per game, but make only 8.2 (21.8 pct).
They average 41.2 2FG att, making 16.7 (40.5 pct).
I saw them lose 98-94 at Dominican on Monday. I'm not sure if they'll stick with the System all year or not. Clearly, the low 3FG pct is a problem and I don't know if any players can improve their 3FG shooting much in a matter of weeks or months. They may need to tinker with the plan.
Reliance on the 3FG is part of the System because you can generally get up a three sooner in a possession than a good 2FG shot; this keeps things going at a hectic pace, theoretically fatiguing the other team. Also, if you take a 3 early in a possession, you don't commit the turnovers that happen when you pass the ball around looking for a high-pct 2FG shot. Knox is nevertheless committing too many TOs; maybe they can reduce them.
Anyway, we'll see how it goes for them. I suspect the coach got interested by seeing the Knox men's team play Grinnell; and the local Galesburg High school has apparently used a similar style successfully for several years.

[iwu70]

BackSeatDriver, I agree with many of your points.  I, too, thought WC did a good job defending Olivia Lett and the Titans in the first half.  She did shoot a poor overall percentage, but got the job done at the key moments in the latter part of the game.  She was taking some bad and off-balance shots, in great part due to the WC defense.  I don't think WC has the depth and speed now to play with the Titans in an up-tempo game.  Perhaps it will be different on their home court and perhaps they will be better able to control the pace for the entire game.  The Titans are awfully good when they get things frenetic and wild, almost out of control, and running up and down.  Brittany just loves that kind of pace.  Depth makes such a difference when you can run fresh legs in and out.  That IWU-ONU game was truly one case in point.  Great speed, fitness, and high-quality of play at warp speed throughout, with IWU's depth again playing a key role.  I think the Titans can get frustrated when things slow, in half court sets, when shots aren't dropping and when the opposing defense is both clogging the lane and (if possible) defending the trey line.  I do wish Mia would develop a few offensive sets against M-to-M defenses where there would be a clearout, for some one-on-one sets with Olivia and Melissa Gardner, a kind of Utah Jazz two-player pick and roll set -- a la Stockton and Karl Malone.  Lett can breakdown almost anyone one-on-one.  This would isolate Olivia away from the congestion of the lane, let her do her magic, draw fouls, get to the FT line, score in one-on-one settings, and also often free up Melissa on a kick-outs for threes.  Just an idea.  IMHO.  (I also hope all the other Titans continue to improve, make contributions and that the Titans do get greater scoring from the post area, from Karen Solari especially, and from rebounding/put-backs more often from Shelby Jackson and Amy Burton.  Both have great potential for more post area scoring, defense, blocks and overall aggressiveness.  Again, IMHO.

Thanks for all the comments.  Didn't wish to be too harsh on the WC team, but they just didn't impress me that much, even when they were playing the Titans close and had a real chance to win a key road game.  Perhaps my expectations were too high.  Look forward to seeing Millikin and Carthage too.  Elmhurst is also playing pretty well, heh?  Should be a very good CCIW race.  Great start for Coach Smith and her squad. 

IWU70

[RogK]

Tomorrow will be a good day for North Central or Augustana, as one will even its record at 1-1. The losing team, at 0-2, faces a definite uphill course thereafter.
Another interesting confrontation is Millikin vs Carthage; the loser of that one will not be in any real trouble, but the winner will be quite happy, I'd imagine.
Wheaton - Elmhurst may clarify how good each squad is. A Jays' win would not only put them more solidly in 1st place, but could earn them some respect in the national ratings (they'd be 11-2 overall). Wheaton certainly doesn't want to be 0-2, so it should be a hard-fought game.
IWU is likely favored at North Park, but the Vikings could really invigorate themselves with a win, which will require all-out effort. We'll see what they can put forth.

[iwu70]

IWU putting a pasting on NP -- 48-29 at half in the windy city -- with the IWU women 9-10 from treyland.  13 Titans players are already in the game.

Melissa Gardner 5-5 from the far beyond, for 15 first half points.  Lett with 14.   

Go Titans.

IWU70

[iwu70]

Final from Chicago:

IWU 84 NPU 64

Lett 19 pts. 9 rebounds
Gardner 21 pts. 6-6 from treyland
Katy Seibring 14 pts.

Roxanne Jones 14 pts. 6 rebounds

IWU shot over 50% from the field, 70+% from treyland, and over 80% FTs.  Huge rebounding advantage.  Titans are getting better and better, deeper and deeper.

All 15 players on the bus ride to Chicago got good playing time in this game, which was never close.

Keep it rolling, Titans!

IWU70 

[iwu70]

Elmhurst is for real.  They are putting a pasting on Wheaton -- big second half run, great shooting.  Looks like Elmhurst is clearly joining the top tier for the CCIW race. 

IWU70

[Backseat Driver]

Augustana 66
North Central 65

Unbelievable ending to this game. I tuned in with 30 seconds left and NCC leading 63-58. Augie fouled three times, NCC split at the line each time and Augie hit a three, a two, and then a heavily contested three at the buzzer by Molly Etheridge. Congrats to the Vikings on an exciting victory.

[Backseat Driver]

Elmhurst 60
Wheaton 46

Only saw the last 10 or so minutes of this game on video. If there's a silver lining in this for Wheaton it's that they went 0-2 @IWU and @Elmhurst in the same week last year as well. Still a lot of basketball left. It turns Wednesday's game against Millikin into a must-win. Hopefully being back at home for the next three games will help the Thunder right the ship a little bit.

As iwu70 said, it looks like Elmhurst is clearly going to be in the hunt for the conference championship. They're getting good inside play and have improved greatly with their three-point shooting from last year.

[iwu70]

Elmhurst looked very good tonight.  I think they are going to be a significant challenge to Carthage and IWU. 

IWU's shooting was extraordinary tonight, especially from 3.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

NPU never gave itself a chance this afternoon. The Vikings were going to have to play their best just to compete with Wesleyan, and they fell far short of that. They didn't rebound at all -- IWU won the rebounding battle by 19 -- and the Vikings continue to shoot poorly. The one bright spot in what was otherwise a dismal 41% performance from the field was that Dana Christensen finally regained her stroke, hitting four treys in the second half (her four treys and 14 points were both season highs). By the time she got hot, however, the game was pretty much lost. Sarah Peterson was, again, clearly under the weather today, although even if she had been at full strength it wouldn't have been enough to keep the game close. Adding insult to injury, she got hit with a bizarre technical foul in the second half that had everyone at the scorer's table scratching their heads.

The Wesleyan press really wasn't much of a problem for NPU, except for a five-minute stretch at the start of the second half. The Vikings got a lot of easy layups and Roxie Jones free throws beating the press early, and in the end only five of NPU's fifteen turnovers were forced by the Titans. But not rebounding killed them -- nobody's going to win a basketball game when they get outrebounded by 19. Well, that and the fact that the first nine trey attempts by the opposition were not only all good, none of them even touched the rim. They were all swishes.

The Vikes have gotta pick themselves up and get ready for just as stiff a test -- Carthage up in Kenosha at the Toolshed -- this coming week.

[iwu70]

IWU hosting Augie @ Shirk on Wednesday night, 7:30 p.m.  Big men's game vs. Augie is Tuesday night, also 7:30 p.m.  Hope the Titan nation turns out bigtime for both games.  Both Titan teams playing very well.  Gotta love the trey shooting by the women = 90% in the first half, 75% overall for the game vs. NPU.

Let's give them strong support.

Keep it rolling Titans.

IWU70

[RogK]

In the Carthage win over Millikin, Diana Jacklin had 19 pts (5/8, 9/9), 3 blocks, 7 rebs in 25:00.
By the way, I attended zero games Saturday. I turned up at North Park at about 4:30 for the 5:00 game, which started at 2:00. Oops. I guess I better doublecheck my calendar which I compiled back in September. Things change.

[RogK]

Backseat Driver, I guess I should be quiet about Wheaton for a while. Lindsey B took 13 shots, but tallied only 6 pts. As a group, the Thunder went 1/18 from three land. Ouch. Last year, 3 pt shooting was their strength. Must be the absence of that Annie Bowen character.
On the Elmhurst side, Nicki Shaffer scored 11 pts on just 4 shots. Not bad.

[RogK]

Congratulations to Bluejay senior Meghan Merklein, CCIW Player of the Week!

[iwu70]

Yes, congrats to Ms. Merklein on Player of the Week.

Wheaton is looking very shakey for sure.  EC clearly a contender now.  Look forward to seeing Carthage play and see how good a team they are.  Coming in to Shirk soon.

IWU70