WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[HCACBBALL]

Not to take away from all the great NCAA Tourney talk but what are the thoughts on the Augie Program?  Is it a untapped program?

[Backseat Driver]

Not to take away from all the great NCAA Tourney talk but what are the thoughts on the Augie Program?  Is it a untapped program?

Augie was the dominant program in the CCIW in the late 80s and early 90s, winning five conference titles. But since their last title in '93, the Vikings have had a winning record in CCIW play just twice, while Millikin, Wheaton, and now IWU have assumed "top dog" status. It seems like the Augie athletic program in general has dropped off quite a bit in recent years, men's basketball being a notable exception. But that horse has been beaten considerably on other boards.

[badgerwarhawk]

A sim-yu-lar review of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Carthage's first opponent:
UWW - 2FG .459 (564/1229 in 28 g), 3FG .340 (145/426), FT .762 (423/555);
opponents - 2FG .397 (454/1143), 3FG .303 (115/380), FT .681 (399/586);
rebounding - UWW 36.3, opp 37.1
TOs committed - UWW 18.7, opp 24.3.
Heights of players in descending order of minutes played : 5'7", 6'1", 5'10", 5'5", 5'9", 5'11", 5'6", 5'6", 6'1".
UWW's shooting numbers look good, especially the 76 pct at the foul line.
They and their opponents take a somewhat above-average quantity of FTs, seems to me.
Defensively, UWW combines a fairly low 2FG pct allowed with a fairly high TOs caused. Not bad.
As with any look a full season averages for teams or individuals, certain things may have been done better early in the year, or not. A useful scouting report would include who's hot and who ain't. That detail takes a lot more effort than I wish to put forth!

If you happened to see the 2010 tournament game between the two teams you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect.  Some of the names have changed but there's very little, if any, difference in style.  It will be uptempo offensively and man to man, or perhaps I should say woman to woman, 94 feet defensively.

[RogK]

badgerwarhawk, I didn't see the prior match-up.
Do I understand your description of the normal UWW defense as fullcourt, but not fullcourt trapping (chasing and double teaming the ball)?
My feeling is that fullcourt trapping is much more likely to induce a turnover, but also will result in some easy baskets at the other end. Fullcourt pressure without trapping will cause fewer turnovers, is not as risky (in terms of getting burned by a layup) and eats time off the shot clock (which may have some minimal value).
Your comments?
Does any team in your league do a lot of fullcourt trapping?

[badgerwarhawk]

We'll play full court and look to trap anywhere possible.  It's been referred to as the Tazmainian Devil defense which I think sums it up pretty well.  Of course the object is force a turnover but a secondary benefit is that it can cause a team to use a lot of time getting the ball into the front court and thereby having less time to run offensive sets.  Also we'll rotate players in regularly to keep fresh legs on the floor hoping that will create an advantage as the game progresses.  If an opponent has weak guard play they could be in for a long night.  Though in the post seson I assume most teams have pretty good guards.

UW-Stout plays a very similar system in our league.  They've slipped in terms of their competitiveness the past few years though they're very young.  Our coach was an assistant at Stout before she took the head job here.  Some other programs use it on occassion but not necessarily for 40 minutes.   

[RogK]

Sounds like it'll be an interesting matchup.
Carthage usually is able to control the pace of the game, keeping it moderate, definitely not fast. This season, they've played Illinois Wesleyan three times and allowed IWU to score 65 pts per game. In IWU's 24 other games, they averaged 80.2.
That is not to say that Carthage lacks the athleticism to play fast; they do have numerous excellent athletes. But, they have a major aversion to allowing any easy baskets, so their emphasis is on halfcourt play.
We'll see how things go. As a sporadically-loyal CCIW fan, I'll be attending the games at the University of Chicago (Monmouth, UW-EC, Simpson).

[Backseat Driver]

We'll play full court and look to trap anywhere possible.  It's been referred to as the Tazmainian Devil defense which I think sums it up pretty well.  Of course the object is force a turnover but a secondary benefit is that it can cause a team to use a lot of time getting the ball into the front court and thereby having less time to run offensive sets.  Also we'll rotate players in regularly to keep fresh legs on the floor hoping that will create an advantage as the game progresses.  If an opponent has weak guard play they could be in for a long night.  Though in the post seson I assume most teams have pretty good guards.

UW-Stout plays a very similar system in our league.  They've slipped in terms of their competitiveness the past few years though they're very young.  Our coach was an assistant at Stout before she took the head job here.  Some other programs use it on occassion but not necessarily for 40 minutes.   

Sounds similar to Illinois Wesleyan.

[iwu70]

BHawk, yes, your style of D sounds very similar to IWU.  The Titans use this "run and jump" pressing defense to great impact, wearing down their opponents and getting many easy baskets off of steals, trapping anywhere on the court where they can use the double team advantage or the sideline to create basically three defenders.  They do this pretty much all game, if it's working, and really keep pounding on D to get into their flow offensively.  Carthage handled it pretty well this year, though it seemed to surely have an impact late in the game.  Titans also run 8-9 players in and out quite effectively, and can go deeper if needed.  They have a very good bench.  We'll see how the teams in KY. react to this type of Titan pressure.  Will be interesting to see the clashes of differing styles of play and who can impose their will, their style on the other.

Carthage is a very good team, esp. Jacklin.  They are quick, well-coached and play very good half-court sets.  Several very strong trey shooters.  Any matchup of CCIW top teams with WIAC top teams, should be a good one.

Good luck to all the teams, players and coaches this weekend.  I sure hope the CCIW teams can make some noise, do the conference proud.

GO TITANS!!! 

IWU70

[RogK]

Rain here in Chicago, but I'm not complaining. Strong storms, maybe hail, in the vicinity of Greencastle IN, where Carthage plays soon. Strong storms not far from Crestview Hills KY, where IWU plays soon.
Good luck on the court and be safe!

[iwu70]

IWU up big all night.  Led by 47-12 at half.  Just cruis'in now. 

Gardner and Lett with strong games.  Tough D all throughout. 

IWU70

[iwu70]

IWU wins 84-42.  Too easy.  Lett with 26 and 13 TITANS scoring.

Big win for Carthage over Whitewater tonight.  Great with for the CCIW over WIAC.

Keep it going CCIW!!!

IWU70

[Hoosier Titan]

The biggest struggle for these Titan fans yesterday was getting to the gymnasium amidst heavy rain, hail, and tornado warnings!  We arrived about 15 minutes before the scheduled tipoff, only to be met by Thomas More officials and escorted to the basement due to tornado warnings.  The all-clear soon came, but the games got started an hour and a half late.  Small bother, given the devastation that hit other parts of Indiana and Kentucky.  My thoughts go out to them.

The Titans played a near-perfect first half against Maryville, shooting 65% from the field overall and 67% on threes.  Melissa Gardner was on fire, hitting 4 of 7 threes for the game.  Olivia Lett was her usual self, with 25 for the game, 4 rebounds, and a couple of steals.  Lexi Baltes hit 2 of 2 threes, and Shelby Jackson was 3 of 3 from the field (all 2's).  The Titans outrebounded the Scots 44-27, with Karen Solari the leading rebounder with 7.  No one played more than Britt Hasselbring's 28 minutes, and all the starters and first subs were resting on the bench for much of the second half.

The second game was weirdly fascinating.  Host school Thomas More has had a slew of injuries--leading scorer Katie Kitchen went down a few games ago.  Their opponent, Louisiana College, plays a wild, upscale style with ultra-frequent line changes (er, substitutions).  It's something like Olivet Nazarene's style of play, and also reminiscent of the John Carroll men's teams a few years ago.  RogK will know that this is not my favorite kind of basketball, so I may well be a biased reporter.  The changes for LC were so frequent--sometimes a group were on the court for less than a minute!--that in the second half they seemed to lose focus.  They led at halftime by 10, increased the lead to 18, and it looked as though Thomas More was toast, especially when TM starter Devin Beasley, who had 10 points at the time, went down with what looked like a serious knee injury.  But...TM hung in, led by junior guard Alison Long's ballhandling and scoring, and they took their first lead with just over a minute to go.  (Long finished with a career-high 36 points).  LC had no answer--they had been taking bad first shots and not following up for some time.  The game ended with LC turning the ball over and having to foul, making the final 94-91.  Kudos to the Thomas More determination and effort.  Although TM will clearly be tired tonight, and will be without yet another regular player, the Titans should be warned:  they don't quit.  Should be a good one!

Storms have passed here, and we're going into Cincinnati to visit Union Terminal, a masterpiece of Art Deco architecture.  I was taken there as a child when we came to Cincinnati Reds' games, and was totally blown away by the place.  Can't wait to see it again; the pictures look as beautiful as I remember.

[iwu70]

Good luck to Carthage tonight -- big game for them.  Great win last night.

IWU plays Thomas More today in KY. . . . Thomas More came back from 17-18 down to win 94-91 over Louisianna College.  The Titans were up 47-12 at the half and could cruise on in.  Starters were on the bench with 10 minutes to go in the game.  13 Titans scored, all 15 played significant minutes. 

GO TITANS!!!  GO CCIW!!!

IWU 70

[iwu70]

Hoosier Titan -- enjoy your time in KY. and OH.  Should be a much more pleasant and beautiful day today, with storms passed by.  Tough to see all the damage, devastation in southern Indiana.  My heart goes out to those who have lost family members and many many more who have lost their homes, businesses. 

Need another Titan "W" today.  CCIW goes 2-0, WIAC 2-2.  CCIW overall -- men and women -- goes 5 for 5!!!

IWU Men have a big mountain to climb vs. #1 Hope at Hope.  Jordan Zimmer is likely "doubtful."

IWU70

[mwunder]

Carthage gets a huge win at Depauw.  Two sweet 16 teams from the conference.  Nice job Lady Reds and Lady Titans.