WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Hoosier Titan]

Current rankings and SOS numbers for the Final Four:

School         d3hoops ranking           Massey ranking          NCAA SOS              Massey SOS

Amherst       1                                1                               8                           34
George Fox   3                                2                              78                          21
St Thomas    12                              7                              110                        39
IWU             16                              4                               5                             1

To date, IWU has gone 8-5 against teams in Massey's top 25; four of those losses came early in the season when they were playing without starter Karen Solari and the fifth was a 2-point, double-OT loss at Wheaton.  Although they took their knocks early, it looks as though the tough schedule Mia Smith put together prepared the Titans well for this Final Four run.               
                         

[iwumichigander]

Congratulations to Coach Mia Smith and the Lady Titans - Good Job!  Go finish it in Holland!

[mark_reichert]

Although they took their knocks early, it looks as though the tough schedule Mia Smith put together prepared the Titans well for this Final Four run.               

Though I might be jinxing them, as a Bears fan, I'm rooting for the Titans.  They're the only one in the final four without a championship[1], and the only one of the Tip Off trio (with WashU and Depauw) without one as well.  After missing out on playing for the championship on their home court, it would be good for them to win now.

[1]Yes, the St. Thomas women haven't won for 20 years, but the men just won last year.  In fact, if the Titans win, the group of schools with men and women's championships will have doubled in two years, after St. Thomas and Amherst joined Scranton, Stevens Point and WashU last year.

[Titan Q]

Congratulations to Mia Smith and the Titans!  I was at Wooster this weekend, but we were able to follow the women closely via the magic of technology (iPad).

Good luck in Holland!

[Hoosier Titan]

Just saw that both Mia Smith and Ron Rose are scheduled to be on Hoopsville starting very soon (6:00 CDT).

http://www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/index

[Backseat Driver]

Back-to-back Final Fours. Very impressive for IWU. Best of luck to the Titans next weekend in Holland. I don't know much about St. Thomas, but I think IWU has a good chance. They have a superstar in Olivia Lett, and they have a very deep and talented squad overall. I thought their halfcourt defense last night was excellent.

I'm sure Carthage wishes they could have the first 6-8 minutes of last night's game back. That hole that they dug themselves was just too much to overcome against a a great team like IWU. To me, the Titans looked very much like a team that had "been there before," and Carthage seemed to be a bit rattled early on.

But congrats to the Lady Reds on a great year. It speaks volumes about the improving strength of the CCIW that its 3rd place team can make a run to the Elite Eight. Carthage was really impressive during the tournament -- a great run for their seniors to look back on.

[NCF]

Congrats to the Lady Titans and Good Luck next week-end.

[iwu70]

Any good assessments out there on St. Thomas?  They must be pretty darn good to beat Calvin, who had a great team and year too.  Would love to hear some views on St. Thomas.

We know pretty much what we are getting with Amherst or George Fox -- the defending national champs coming back again and a team with a 6'5" center and another All-American in the back court.  Looks like a "Holland worthy" group, all four teams, to be sure.

Congrats and big kudos to Carthage on a great year.  Happy for them that they got to Dance this year, and danced superbly, especially that first weekend against all top teams.  Jacklin, one of the best players in CCIW women's basketball history.   

Titans have played so so well, riding Olivia Lett, but also all the parts, all the role players doing their thing, doing their part.  Gotta love the "run and jump," the good trey shooting, the stronger rebounding now, and the tenacity of everyone whenever they get their minutes, they play hard.  Shelby Jackson is really coming into her own on the block and Karen Solari, in the back of the press and in the paint, is the rock.  Bilek and Baltes hitting big shots, playing so hard.  McMahon is surprisingly quick, making many contributions that often go unheralded.  Let's hope Melissa Gardner keeps on her current hot tear from treyville.  Her good overall defense esp. on the press.  Love it.

And, Britt is the field general, hitting the mid-range jumpers, dishing out the assists and getting more rebounds than most PGs.  How many years now has she been the court commander.  She'll be missed next year more than we know. 

GO TITANS!  All the way in Holland.  Thanks to Coach Smith and her staff for a tremendous job this year, under unique and trying circumstances. 

IWU70

P.S.  Ypsi, are you going back to DeVos, heading for Salem, or staying home so you can watch both teams, both Final Fours at once?  Hope all the CCIW board colleagues are able to make one of the Final Fours -- enjoying the culmination of another great season of D3hoops.  Needless to say, it's a great time of year to be a Titan fan, a Green Weenie on St. Patrick's Day at TWO, count them, TWO Final Fours.  As the Chinese say, Double Happiness!

Happy St. Patrick's Day soon to all CCIW chatsters.  ms

[Mr. Ypsi]

All-region teams have just been announced.  Mia Smith is COY.  Olivia Lett made first team, Diana Jacklin made second team, and Lindsey Brenneman made third team.

Congratulations to all!

[iwu70]

Warm congrats to Mia Smith on Regional COY, and to Olivia Lett on First Team, All Region.  (IWU's Ron Rose too!). 

Congrats to Jacklin and Brenneman as well.  Great job CCIW.

We need more info on St. Thomas?  Anyone have a good look at them this year? 

Amherst and George Fox will be tough, HUGE, and seasoned too.  Some great basketball coming up this weekend.

IWU70

[RogK]

iwu70, I saw St Thomas twice recently, but not since Saturday (ha).
On Friday, they didn't look like a final-four team, but they beat Tufts; and maybe Tufts's style of play made both teams look not-so-good. It definitely wasn't a scintillating game, although certainly hard-fought. UST made enough good plays to hang on and win. But after seeing Calvin impressively top the previously-undefeated Chicago Maroons, I didn't think St Thomas had a real big chance of defeating Calvin. I was way off with that impression.
Somehow UST had even more energy Saturday and pressed/trapped most of the game; Calvin proved (surprisingly?) to be vulnerable to the trapping and committed a lot of turnovers. When Calvin got through the pressure, they "burned" UST with lay-ups only 2 or 3 times that I recall. Usually, UST got back quickly to establish a halfcourt defense. I thought they did a good job containing Carissa Verkaik, even though she scored 25. Against a mediocre opponent, Verkaik could score 40 on any given night if Calvin asked her to.
UST's Taylor Young (an agile 5'11" forward) had a wonderful game Saturday. She has a bunch of teammates who are also talented and energetic. They subbed pretty often and took advantage of the extra time-outs that these games feature. They don't seem to look for 3FG opportunities often, but they made some bigs ones. UST will be a tough opponent, although IWU will be the same for them!

[iwu70]

RogK, thanks for the impressions on the Tommies.  Sounds like they have an excellent, hard-nosed team, and the style of play sounds decidedly similar to IWU.  Both are into the pressure, into strong half-court D.  Seems alot will turn on how the Tommies contain Lett and how the various backcourt players handle the pressure, handle the ball.  Tommies not a strong 3 pt. shooting style or team.  Looks like a game of constant pressure, and perhaps decided by who will win the turnover battle.  IWU hasn't played against too too many teams that press, but Lett, Hasselbring, Baltes, and Gardner do handle the ball pretty well, see the court well when a press is on.  Should be a very interesting matchup.  Whoever wins in the semis has a big challenge the next night in any case too -- against an undefeated team -- either George Fox (who IWU played in the Sectional Final last year) or Amherst, the defending national champion, now hitting on all cylinders.  Seems to be a very very very strong Final Four group of teams, programs. 

Let the games begin!!!

GO TITANS, GO TITANS, GO TITANS!!!

IWU70

[NCF]

RogK, thanks for the impressions on the Tommies.  Sounds like they have an excellent, hard-nosed team, and the style of play sounds decidedly similar to IWU.  Both are into the pressure, into strong half-court D.  Seems alot will turn on how the Tommies contain Lett and how the various backcourt players handle the pressure, handle the ball.  Tommies not a strong 3 pt. shooting style or team.  Looks like a game of constant pressure, and perhaps decided by who will win the turnover battle.  IWU hasn't played against too too many teams that press, but Lett, Hasselbring, Baltes, and Gardner do handle the ball pretty well, see the court well when a press is on.  Should be a very interesting matchup.  Whoever wins in the semis has a big challenge the next night in any case too -- against an undefeated team -- either George Fox (who IWU played in the Sectional Final last year) or Amherst, the defending national champion, now hitting on all cylinders.  Seems to be a very very very strong Final Four group of teams, programs. 

Definitely sounds like a game that could be won at the buzzer-great game for the fans to watch. Good Luck to the Titans.

Let the games begin!!!

GO TITANS, GO TITANS, GO TITANS!!!

IWU70

[RogK]

iwu70, although UST pressed/trapped most of the Calvin game, I don't think that was their normal method during the bulk of the season. They induced 26 TOs by Calvin, but in their previous 30 games, UST induced an average of 16.8 TOs. Compare that to IWU's average 22.1 TOs induced (or Olivet Naz's 35.1).
It could be that UST employs a press off and on in every game; I'd just be guessing on that.
On offense, UST has been a much slower team than IWU, having scored in the 40s twice, 50s seven times, 60s ten times. IWU's season low output was in the 50s (twice) and scored in the 60s only three times. The Titans have scored in the 70s or better in 26 of 31 games.
UST has scored in the 80s twice and 90s twice, so they can speed things up.

[RogK]

iwu70, in case you weren't aware of this :
http://www.titanpride.org/s/653/index.aspx?sid=653&gid=1&pgid=1209&content_id=1030