WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

IWU picked tied for third in the conference pre-season coaches' poll.  Wheaton picked by the coaches to win the title, with two-time defending champions Carthage second.  Should be a good season.  Surely, IWU is in a re-building year, a re-building mode, with a lot of young players, a huge sophomore group, plus two very promising freshmen.  IWU plays a very tough, demanding pre-CCIW schedule and would be lucky to go 7-4 or 8-3, IMHO.  These new kids are going to learn very very fast about the speed and physicality of the college game.  I'm optimistic as always, as we have one of the finest coaches in D3 in Mia Smith, but it would be a stretch for me to think that this team will win the CCIW or make it to post-season play this year. We'll see.  WC and Carthage will be tough. 

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

Mark,

Are Mia Smith's health issues all in the past?

[Gregory Sager]

Wow. Seventh? If I were the NPU coaching staff and players, I would interpret the preseason poll as a total slap in the face of a Vikings team that returns seven players who averaged 18 minutes per game or better last season. Grist for the mill, I guess.

[iwu70]

Ypsi, yes, it seems so.  Mia has been healthy and cancer free for some time, as far as I know. 

She has a very young team, says it is one of her most athletic, though vertically challenged.  Very little size, but lots of speed, quickness, some skilled shooters, but many very inexperienced at the CCIW varsity level.  Only two seniors -- Reaber and Beoletto.  I heard 6-1 F Alex Norville is injured, perhaps out for the year.  But not confirmed.  Seems they must rely heavily on speed, pressure, and perimeter scoring.  That's not new I guess, but it would be nice to still have Karen and Christina Solari around, for rebounding and toughness.  Not so this year.  I'm sure Mia will adapt her approach and style of play to the talents of her squad.  I think the Titans will do fine against many teams, but struggle against big power teams like Whitewater, SP, and perhaps Wash U. or DePauw.  Many of these teams ranked in the D3 top 25 pre-season.  We'll see.  IWU plays another very tough pre-CCIW schedule, as is Mia's wont.  You can see the video interview she did -- linked off of the IWU website, in the story about the pre-season CCIW coaches' poll.  On the iwu.edu women's basketball sports site page now. 

Looking forward to what Mia and the team make of the season.  I'm optimistic, but especially for next and following seasons when this big sophomore and the two top freshmen are upper classpeople.  Bright future I think, but time needed for development and experience.  Ehresman and McGraw will be very good CCIW players, in time.  Need very big years this year from Reaber and Holness.

IWU70

[iwu70]

Titan women play an exhibition game tonight at 7 p.m. at SIU Edwardsville.  A new edition begins the journey.  Lots of underclassmen featuring in this years squad.  Looking forward to seeing how fast they development, how well they find a new identity for this season.


IWU70

[iwu70]

IWU played an exhibition vs. D1 SIU-E and got clobbered, something like 105-45.  Holness and Beoletto top scorers as I recall.  Freshman Molly McGraw in the starting line up.  Don't have a box.  Titans will be good against many D3 teams this year, but likely not against big strong teams with strong paint presence.   It's going to be an issue.  Vertically challenged, but with lots of perimeter speed.  We'll see how the shooters, how the freshmen (Ehresman and McGraw) develop.  Titans open on the 15th in Iowa, two games on 15 and 16, vs. Mount Mercy University and Cornell College.  Hope they get some momentum going early for tougher games later vs. Whitewater, Point, DePauw and Wash U.  Could be ugly.

Go TITANS!

IWU70

[Madison135]

I heard Kasey Reaber also has a injury but is trying to play threw it. Never can tell how a team is gonna be in a exhibition game. After next weeks game they will see how good they are when starters play more minutes. McGraw did not start. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

IWU played an exhibition vs. D1 SIU-E and got clobbered, something like 105-45.  Holness and Beoletto top scorers as I recall.  Freshman Molly McGraw in the starting line up.  Don't have a box.  Titans will be good against many D3 teams this year, but likely not against big strong teams with strong paint presence.   It's going to be an issue.  Vertically challenged, but with lots of perimeter speed.  We'll see how the shooters, how the freshmen (Ehresman and McGraw) develop.  Titans open on the 15th in Iowa, two games on 15 and 16, vs. Mount Mercy University and Cornell College.  Hope they get some momentum going early for tougher games later vs. Whitewater, Point, DePauw and Wash U.  Could be ugly.

Go TITANS!

IWU70

Wow, has SIU-E improved that much since Millikin beat them (in a real game!) a few years ago, or is this an ominous sign for the Titans?

(Oh, wait, that was a men's game - I don't know how the SIU-E women's team is historically.)

[iwu70]

Thanks Madison135 for further detail.  What was the starting line-up at SIU-E.  Any further details?  Sorry to hear about Reaber.  Hope she gets well, gets fit by season start.  Agree, these exhibitions don't show much about what the Titans will really be like in D3 play.  More to come in the early games, I'm sure.

Look forward to the season and wish Coach Smith and all the team members all success in the upcoming season.

IWU70

[Madison135]

Iwu started Reaber, beoletto, weber, holiness and lehocky. I think lehocky started because of her size against siue size. Iwu played 16 kids and siue only played 10. As for Reaber I heard she has a complete tear of the ucl in her elbow which she will need surgery ( tommy john).  She said she will wait on surgery and play with a brace on, but on Saturday she took brace off and had trainer tape her up and she went back in. I think she only played like 5-10 minutes since game didn't mean anything that's why she barely played. That's one tough kid.  Hopefully I will be able to see more games but as of now it will be about 7 games.

[iwu70]

Sounds very tough for Reaber.  Can't imagine she can play very well, even very much this season with that injury.  May need to throw the new freshmen into the fire and see what happens, see this as a re-building and experience-gathering year.  I'm sure Mia will figure it out and do the best she can with the talent that is there.  Is Norville out for the year?  Hope to see more of all the roster in early games, so we can really see what comes into focus for a starting line-up and rotation come CCIW time.  This team is going to have troubles in the paint, with rebounding.  Hope they have a fierce press and really know early on how to use "run and jump" to pressure the ball in the back court in near the half-court line.  Sound familiar?

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

d3hoops.com's preseason women's AA team has been posted - Wheaton's Ellie Zeller (3rd team) is the only CCIW rep.

[iwu70]

Reaber plans to play through the injury, braced or taped up.  She's spending time at the 4 now, given the Titans vertically challenged line-up. 

Titans open Saturday evening in Iowa vs. Mount Mercy.  Gonna depend a lot on speed and getting some better trey shooting, higher percentages shooting on offence.  The D, the fitness and the pressure will be there.

Looking forward to another season.

IWU'70

[Madison135]

Reaber started at the 1 but played 1-4 in the game. I think coach is trying to see what players fit. So Reaber might play all spots this year. I believe she's pretty versatile and a team player and will go where's needed. 

[iwu70]

Maybe the IWU line-up this year is truly closest to the 5 guard line-up that we sometimes joke about in the CCIW men's chat space!   

Good luck to the Titans out in Iowa this weekend, for the first two games of the regular season.  We'll be watching and cheering.

IWU70