WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Ypsi, let's hope the Titans make it to DeVos.  My dream Final Four would be IWU, Chicago, Amherst and George Fox -- three undefeateds vs. our Titans!    Then the place would be jumping!!!   

IWU70

That sounds good, but for 'jumping', it might be better to sub Calvin for Chicago.  It would be fascinating to see if Calvin could be the 'home' team, or if Holland/Hope fans would come to cheer for whoever is playing against Calvin!

[BruinFan]

Ypsi, let's hope the Titans make it to DeVos.  My dream Final Four would be IWU, Chicago, Amherst and George Fox -- three undefeateds vs. our Titans!    Then the place would be jumping!!!   

IWU70

IWU70, that is my Final 4 in my bracket. Will have to wait to see if it remains a dream or becomes reality. If it comes to be, not too many outside of family will be able to make the trip to Hope to cheer on the Bruins. Those that do, will have to make up what they lack in numbers with plenty of enthusiasm to represent the rest of us back in Oregon.

[iwu70]

BruinFan, nice Final Four picks.  I would love to see a rematch of the Geroge Fox-IWU game of last year.  I'm sure your team and program would like that as well.  (This year it would be in the championship game!!!).   I guess Mary Washington is still on an undefeated run too, though I actually thought Messiah would beat them.  Amherst and Chicago are going to be tough no matter when or where. IWU played UC about even earlier, losing to them 80-77 on their floor @Ratner.  We'd love another chance on that game too.  I guess Amherst has to be considered the favorite.  (Amherst seems to have the easiest road to DeVos).   Some tough games for everyone this weekend . . . IWU has Mt. Union, and then, perhaps, game #4 with CCIW running mate, Carthage.  Carthage is playing very very well, taking down Whitewater and DePauw, both tough, nationally-ranked teams.  Some great basketball, I'm sure, in these sectionals.  Hope your Final Four picks are spot on.

Hi to all the good folks out in Oregon, a most beautiful part of the US of A.  I have many friends there, from grad school and from my time in Asia. 

GF has quite a run going . . . good luck, safe travels to your team, your fans.

IWU70

[RogK]

Season (29 g) Mount Union stats:
2FG .482 (582/1207), 3FG .374 (219/586), FT .653 (313/479);
opponents 2FG .434 (512/1180), 3FG .274 (115/419), FT .700 (271/387);
rebs 37.8, opp 35.4
TOs 14.2, opp 21.0
heights of players most used : 5'8", 5'7", 5'10", 5'7", 5'8", 5'10"; five others play regularly too.

[RogK]

Centre 29g
2FG .457 (546/1195), 3FG .380 (170/447), FT .796 (437/549);
opp 2FG .385 (414/1074), 3FG .292 (173/593), FT .678 (326/481);
rebs 38.8, opp 34.9
TOs 15.2, opp 16.4
heights of most-used players : 5'9", 6'2", 5'11", 5'6", 5'10", 5'11", 5'8", 5'7".
The individual numbers of Maggie Prewitt (5'9") are very good and she was conference player of the year.

[iwu70]

Centre and Mount look very good, solid numbers all 'round . . . a stronger test than the teams in KY. for sure.  Carthage can truly say they've been "road tested" already, given their two tough tough games last weekend.

I hope we have an all-CCIW Sectional Final, two teams in the Elite 8.

GO CCIW, GO TITANS!!!

IWU70

[RogK]

Hoosier Titan, did you end up visiting Cincinnati Union Terminal? If so, do they still have the superb diorama of the city circa 1930-40? I remember that it included a large model of Crosley Field.
Did you see the Reds' new ballpark in downtown?
http://digitalballparks.com/Reds.html

[Hoosier Titan]

Hoosier Titan, did you end up visiting Cincinnati Union Terminal? If so, do they still have the superb diorama of the city circa 1930-40? I remember that it included a large model of Crosley Field.
Did you see the Reds' new ballpark in downtown?
http://digitalballparks.com/Reds.html

Rog,
Yes, we did go to Union Terminal and it is even more special than I remember from many decades ago.  There was some sort of teacher workshop going on, so the nice wide spaces were filled with tables and displays, but it was nice to see it in use.  We discovered a free tour, and that was one of the best tours I've done.  We got to go up into the office part of the building--the executive offices are quite posh.  They estimate it would cost over a billion dollars to build the terminal today, since most of the marble was imported.  It is all Art Deco in design, and everything was custom made for the building.  Just do a Google image search on "Union Terminal Cincinnati" to see photos.

I didn't see a diorama.  I went to Crosley Field many times as a child; my cousin played for the Cincinnati Reds.  When he was traded to the San Francisco Giants I thought the world had ended, but I was comforted by getting to meet Willie Mays!  Good times.

[Gregory Sager]

Who was your cousin?

[Hoosier Titan]

Who was your cousin?

Ed Bailey.  He was on the NL All-Star team five times and played on the 1962 pennant-winning Giants team.  Best career stats were in 1956 when he hit .300, had 28 HR, and 75 RBI.  He caught a Juan Marichal no-hitter in 1963 and had two unassisted double plays in 1963 and 1965. 

Funny, all this means more to me now than it did then!

[Gregory Sager]

I'm familiar with Ed Bailey. Very solid power hitter, didn't have much of a reputation as a defensive catcher. Played in the majors for a long time, especially for a catcher.

[Hoosier Titan]

That's been my impression.  However, I see that in 1957 he led NL catchers in Caught Stealing percentage at 46.2 and was second to Roy Campanella with a 0.992 fielding percentage--not too shabby.  So he was at least okay defensively.

On a women's basketball note--I'm not seeing anything but live stats listed for Mount Union this weekend.  Does anyone know whether there will be video?  I don't fancy "watching" the Sweet Sixteen games via live stats.

[Gregory Sager]

That's been my impression.  However, I see that in 1957 he led NL catchers in Caught Stealing percentage at 46.2 and was second to Roy Campanella with a 0.992 fielding percentage--not too shabby.  So he was at least okay defensively.

The Caught Stealing category wasn't much of an indicator of anything back in the Fifties, an era in which the stolen base was almost a forgotten play.

Admittedly, Ed Bailey was long before my time. I'm basing my impression of his lack of fielding skills upon the fact that Strat-O-Matic always listed him as a catcher-4 every year. Their fielding scale was 1 to 4, with 4 being the lowest.

[Hoosier Titan]

That's been my impression.  However, I see that in 1957 he led NL catchers in Caught Stealing percentage at 46.2 and was second to Roy Campanella with a 0.992 fielding percentage--not too shabby.  So he was at least okay defensively.

The Caught Stealing category wasn't much of an indicator of anything back in the Fifties, an era in which the stolen base was almost a forgotten play.

Admittedly, Ed Bailey was long before my time. I'm basing my impression of his lack of fielding skills upon the fact that Strat-O-Matic always listed him as a catcher-4 every year. Their fielding scale was 1 to 4, with 4 being the lowest.

I just found a really nice piece on him in The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, apparently written by someone else. Here's the link:  http://books.google.com/books?id=3uSbqUm8hSAC&pg=PA397&lpg=PA397&dq=Ed+Bailey+Bill+James&source=bl&ots=1ln2h52JAo&sig=byxuvrxb_Q-j640iCZxjMUqbGbo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-4FVT7zQJYbVgAfzit3hDQ&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q&f=false

He definitely was from my mother's side of the family.  I love the story about sitting with the black ballplayer in the segregated park and taking down the rope.  Yep, that's the Baileys and Franklins. 

[NCF]

Centre and Mount look very good, solid numbers all 'round . . . a stronger test than the teams in KY. for sure.  Carthage can truly say they've been "road tested" already, given their two tough tough games last weekend.

I hope we have an all-CCIW Sectional Final, two teams in the Elite 8.

GO CCIW, GO TITANS!!!

IWU70

What a great year for the CCIW that would be with both the men's and womens's teams flyin' high!