WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Wouldn't Wheaton drop out after the 'road record' tie-breaker, and just IWU/Millikin revert back to the first tie-breaker?

That's how most conferences do their tiebreakers, yes.

It's not spelled out either way in the CCIW women's basketball sports guide, which is where the tiebreaker rules are laid out. That's why I included Wheaton in tiebreaker e. -- just in case Wheaton didn't drop out.

[titan30]

Hoosier Titan-

I'm not trying to start anything about Crystal Dye and Coach Smith.  Don't imply that I have some major problem.  I am basing my information from my observations from Saturday's game.  When Dye comes out of the game, her head is down, she does not shake/slap the coach's hand when it is held out (more than one occasion), she shakes her head negatively after a coach's comment, and also turns her head and does not look at the coach during a timeout.  The other four players all were listening and making eye contact.  Coach Smith did yell at her to look up at her and she still didn't.  There just does not appear to be any respect present.  This definitely can cause problems.    Again, just my observations and opinion.  I am a Titan fan - always have been and always will be.

[Fawkes316]

Sager- I remember beating my head against the wall last year about tie-breaker scenarios. What I learned was that they are not clearly defined, and that an important factor is not mentioned. We learned last year that the interpretation of the commissioner (and generally what he decides the last time, because it often changes) is most important in these tiebreakers. I'm just going to show up wherever they tell me to be.

[Hoosier Titan]

titan30,

I didn't imply anything about you--I simply responded to your own words.  Do you know either Mia Smith or Crystal Dye personally?  Do you know what medical problems Dye has gone through to get back to playing regularly for Coach Smith?  Do you know that Crystal began at IWU playing both volleyball and basketball, and gave up volleyball to concentrate on playing for Mia Smith?

When things aren't going well--and it wasn't a great game for the Titans on Saturday (credit Wheaton for a lot of that too)--tempers can get a little short on both sides during timeouts.  I haven't witnessed any disrespect on either side, and I've been at every game save the two in Georgia.  The Titan women this year are one of the most team-oriented groups of players I've ever seen; that's a big part of their success to date.

I really agreed with everything else you said about the game.  Go Titans!

[RogK]

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[RogK]

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[Gregory Sager]

NPU found a way to nip Carthage this evening, 54-53, in spite of the fact that the Vikings led for less than a full minute of the game. The difference in the game was NPU's long-distance shooting, which was outstanding; the Vikes went 8-16 from downtown, and most of those eight treys came off of kickouts from Laura Mount after she had sucked in a Carthage triple-team on a drive to the basket.

Mount led all scorers with 20 points. Evie Peterson also came up big for the Park with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Carthage was led by Shana Lieberman, who had an off night from the floor, and by Katie Jarger, both of whom scored 11. Kristina Dredge added 10 for the Carthaginians.

The game was not without controversy. With North Park down 53-52 with less than ten seconds to go, Mount was called for traveling in the post. Stylianee Damianides immediately fouled Jarger on the inbounds play, and Jarger went to the line with eight seconds left. She missed the first FT, and her second FT was negated because her foot was over the line. Peterson took the inbounds pass for NPU and went coast-to-coast, sinking a five-foot runner with 3.4 seconds left.

Vikings center Cassie Christensen deflected the inbounds pass, which was picked up by NPU guard Anna Mueller. And here Mueller made the smart play that you'd expect from a senior; whereas under normal circumstances a player whose team was ahead by a point would simply dribble out the clock or smother the ball until the horn sounded, Mueller realized that Carthage had beaten NPU by three up in Kenosha in January, and that the Vikings thus needed two more points to even up a possible head-to-head-points tiebreaker between the Lady Reds and the Vikings, if it came down to that to determine the league's fourth and final tournament spot. So she banked in a fifteen-footer at the buzzer instead of letting the clock run out.

Unfortunately for the Park, and fortunately for Carthage, Mueller's shot was waved off as having come after the final horn began. There was a lot of arguing about that from the NPU side, as the Surridges tried to get the refs to reverse the call before they left the court, but to no avail. I was courtside working the book, and I honestly couldn't tell if the shot had left her hand in time or not. So, if it does come down to tiebreaker f. The point spread of the tied teams' head-to-head competition, Carthage gets the nod.

Regardless, congratulations to NPU on pulling off a hard-fought victory on Senior Night!

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage is now 7-5, and NPU is 7-6. The Lady Reds play at home against Millikin on Saturday afternoon, and finish the regular season @ Wheaton on Tuesday night. NPU's lone remaining game is @ Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon.

The Vikings and Lady Reds have split, and neither has beaten any of the three teams above them in the standings. If neither team can pull off an upset in any of those three remaining games, both will finish 7-7 and it'll come down to tiebreakers. Both teams would be 0-6 against the teams above them in the standings, both would be 6-0 against teams below them in the standings, both would be 3-4 in road games, and both would be 4-5 over their last nine games. So the remaining tiebreaker is f -- head-to-head points, which Carthage wins by a two-point overall margin. In other words, NPU has to win in Bloomington on Saturday in order to have a chance at the CCIW tournament.

Anna Mueller's basket at the buzzer being waved off may prove to be the biggest call made in the CCIW this season.

[Hoosier Titan]

Here's a link to the Pantagraph story about the Titans' 84-68 win over Augustana in Rock Island last night.

Mallory Heydorn set a school record for made 3-pointers with 11.  She ended up with 37 points, 8 assists, 5 steals, and only 2 turnovers.  Sarah Bull had 15 and Thea Rogers 10; Claire Sheehan and Crystal Dye each chipped in 8.  Dye had 9 rebounds and 5 steals.

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/02/15/sports/doc45d3e9757631a548037485.txt

[RogK]

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[Illinihoops4]

The IWU/Augie game was a lot of fun to watch. Augie got off to a great start and caused IWU some problems early on. It was a 6 point ball game at the half and it would have been tied if not for a couple lapses. Heydorn was on fire- shooting from anywhere and everwhere. She's one of the best shooters I've seen at the DIII level! Props to her for a great game and congrats on the new school record.
Augie's seniors played a good amount and did some very nice things early in the game. Rymer gives it everything she's got every time she steps on the floor. It was an emotional game for some of them, but Rymer has also got softball season ahead of her so I'm not sure it's quite hit her yet. She's had a solid season. Maybe they can pull one off at NCC Saturday.

As for the officials at the NPU-Carthage game...... I've seen many interesting calls this year and some games that I would say call for review. I usually don't say much about the officiating (because I've officiated myself at the h.s., DIII, and NAIA levels), but the games that I've seen have looked like they've gone through the standings and if a team "isn't supposed to win"- they gotten several questionnable calls-because the lower teams shouldn't be competing with the upper half of the standings (that's what it looks like to me sometimes). I've seen 3 Elmhurst games, 2 NCC, a handfull of Augie games, and several games in other conferences. I wonder if the coach's officials evaluations are being taken seriously. I personally always wanted copies of the games I called to better myself. That may not be the case with many of these. I wonder who will be calling the conference tournament............

[Titan Q]

Wheaton won @ Millikin tonight 76-73, so it looks like the Thunder have it just about wrapped up...

Wheaton 11-1 (vs Elmhurst, vs Carthage)
Illinois Wesleyan 10-2 (vs NPU, @ NCC)
Millikin 9-3 (@ Carthage, @ Elmhurst)
Carthage 7-5 (vs Millikin, @ Wheaton)
North Park 7-6 (@ IWU)

Wheaton owns the tie-breaker over IWU via the sweep of Millikin, so the Thunder can clinch it Saturday vs Elmhurst.

[Illinihoops4]

Speaking of Al Raya- is he officiating anymore or just assigning?

While Wheaton may have it just about wrapped up, this poster is going to pull for IWU the rest of the way.
Looking at overall records- are there any thoughts on getting 2-3 teams in the NCAA's? I know the WIAC always comments on how that conference is so tough and how they get slighted by only getting one team in. I'm just curious on everyone's thoughts.......

[Mr. Ypsi]

I haven't looked at it terribly closely, but I think IWU is probably in pretty good shape for a pool C if they don't win the tourney, but Millikin and Wheaton would definitely be long-shots as of the last QOWI postings and given their in-region losses.

[Gregory Sager]

Lindsey Johnson of North Park hit two early threes, rewarding Coach Surridge for starting her on Senior Night.
Greg, I neglected to ask you after the game -- what was all that disputation with about 38 seconds to go? Something to do with the clock? Two of the three refs were discussing it at length and Jack Surridge seemed moderately interested in the issue.

The rules say that the clock has to stop after every made FG in the final minute. The dispute was over whether or not the clock had re-started in a timely fashion when Carthage inbounded the ball following Laura Mount's layup with 37 seconds left that brought NPU to within a point of the Lady Reds.

There was a lot of chaos at the end of that game; Al Raya may want to have a look at the tape.

I've been saying for years that the CCIW should mandate the presence of courtside monitors so that video evidence can be examined on the spot by the referee crew in order to guarantee that they get last-second-shot calls right. In this case, the entire seasons of two teams hinge upon the fact that Anna Mueller's buzzer-beater was waved off.