WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

The "baggage" doesn't come with it. What happens in Iowa stays in Iowa. Olivet Naz's players have used the System for their entire college careers and likely couldn't care if Arseneault is an unsportsmanlike nut or not. They haven't followed him down any publicity-seeking road. They don't need to answer for anything that Grinnell does. You can use a lawn mower without knowing or caring whether its inventor was a nut or a good guy or somewhere in between.
As you point out, the System's merits as a basketball strategy can be debated.
(spelling corrected)

[Gregory Sager]

Personally, I like the System, inasmuch as it adds variety to college basketball. The sport would be far less interesting if everyone used the same offensive and defensive styles. David Arseneault, on the other hand, I have issues with. I do not approve of his deliberate and frequently gimmick-ridden attempts to set individual and team NCAA records, which are often unsportsmanlike and more than a bit seedy.

[RogK]

Greg, you may even enjoy the challenge of being the official scorer when NC comes to Foster and Kedzie. Will you need an extra score sheet?

[Gregory Sager]

I'm not NPU's official scorer for women's basketball anymore, Rog. I've handed the reins to Aaron Coleman, who also scores NPU's men's games. I'm now the webcaster for both Vikings basketball teams, not just the men.

[RogK]

Uh oh. Now you have to worry about the Kremlin monitoring your broadcasts!

[Gregory Sager]

Da! Is very good basket!

[RogK]

Would anyone out there like to give us any sort of report on Augustana, Carthage or Millikin?
None of the regular crop of writers has seen these teams yet, as far as I know.
We could review their stats, but a first-hand observation is better.

[RogK]

Here are Millikin's FT attempts :
in wins - 34, 37, 18, 20, 16;
in losses - 15, 27, 9, 6.
If not for that 27, we could make wide-ranging inferences and conclusions. But, we can't.
They have won every time they've scored more than 50.

[RogK]

Carthage and IWU return to action this afternoon. Both play again tomorrow, as do Millikin, North Park and Elmhurst. Wheaton finishes its nonconference schedule on February 12. North Central has played their 11. Augie has played 10, with a game at Aurora (originally Dec 20) to be re-scheduled.

[RogK]

Carthage (7-3) lost to Howard Payne 62-54 in San Antonio. Kristi Schmidt had 16 pts (6/8 FG, 4/5 FT) and 9 rebs and teammate Michelle Wenzel (3/6 FG, 7/9 FT) added 13 pts and 6 rebs. The Lady Reds suffered somewhat from turnoveritis (25 of them).
IWU (6-4) topped Concordia "Chicago" in Waverly Iowa, 87-59. Colleen McMahon had 18 pts and 5 steals, Melissa Gardner scored 17 and Lexi Baltes rang up 10 assists.

[Gregory Sager]

It's always hard to get a read on the comparative strength of ASC teams, given their geographic isolation, but Howard Payne came into the game against the Lady Reds with a 7-1 record. That's worth noting.

[iwu70]

Strong game by IWU yesterday, with "run and jump" taking its toll on the opponent, with 30+ turnovers.  Seems Shelby Jackson is still out due to illness.  She did not play yesterday.

Wartburg today at 3 p.m., posing a more difficult test.  Good luck to the Titans in Iowa.  Hoping they are able to get to 7-4 for the pre-CCIW phase.


IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

But apparently not TOO difficult a test: IWU 80, Wartburg 62.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU disposed of Mount St. Joseph in a rather ragged affair, 51-37. The Vikings led from wire to wire, and were never threatened in the second half, but a persistent inability to score the basketball continues to linger for them after a cold-shooting trip to California. North Park shot only 34% from the field today, and of NPU's 53 field goal attempts only 11 were from downtown, so there was a ton of missed layups, bunnies, and open midrange jumpers. Worse, turnovers plagued NPU today, as the Vikes coughed up the ball an ominous 18 times. Fortunately, their defense continues to shine. They held the young and erratic Lions to only 27% from the field, outrebounded them by a 42-37 margin, and were the recipients of 22 MSJ turnovers.

Kamauria Acree and Nicole Kruckman were really the only two Vikings who had solid games at both ends of the floor; Acree had a game-high 13 points and 7 rebounds, while Kruckman had 9 and 7 and was a perfect 4-4 from the floor.

NPU is now 9-2, and I can't remember the last time that the Park had that good of a record going into conference play. However, the Vikes are definitely going to have to step it up now. Nobody left the gym feeling as though NPU is really clicking on all cylinders heading into the CCIW portion of the slate.

[iwu70]

Chuck, yes, a good showing by our Titans in Iowa.  Two more wins.  Vs. Wartburg, Lexi Baltes had a career game, career high 22, named tourney MVP.  Gardner and Seibring also good games, and the Titans winning 80-62.  Gardner also on the All-tournament team with Lexi.  Shelby Jackson again did not play, and this does make one worry more about the Titans' depth, rebounding etc. going into CCIW play. Hope Shelby is back soon . . . she's a very important player, post presence, and a great kid.  You can see from the minutes played that the Titans don't really have the depth, length of rotation so far this season that they've had in the past.  7-4 still a pretty good pre-CCIW phase, given the strength of teams played. 

On to the conference run . . . starting out @ Wheaton on Wednesday.  A very tough early test on the road.  I think WC is 9-1 now, right?

IWU70