WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

Madison, I take your points.  I think the Titans miss Beoletto more on D than on offense.  Surely senior leadership is important and the Titans only have K. Reaber now.  She is a good player and I've always liked her.  She can often be very good, then also very maddening, making silly mistakes that a senior should not make.   Don't mean to "bash" her, but just stating the obvious about her shooting percentage.  Yes, Ehresman shot poorly too.  I agree.  You are right that Reaber has to do a lot in many positions with an injury.  The Titans are a weak rebounding team, very vertically challenged, and need some bigger players in future to secure and protect the paint, rebounding the ball better.  Can't just be a perimeter team, just relying on the pressure, which they don't do as well this year either.   Overall, the Titans are at the bottom of most stats categories in the CCIW now, and shooting percentage both FG and FTs are pretty weak.  Some of this is surely a young, freshmen and sophomore dominated team.  I'm sure this will greatly improve in coming years.  No doubt, Titans missed McGraw out east.  Best overall player so far is Holness (and she doesn't live near Bloomington!).  Perhaps the tough schedule, playing some of the top programs, has toughened the Titans and made them more CCIW ready.  I hope so. They have been competitive against most of these top teams.  But, the CCIW looks very strong this year, esp. WC, EC, NCC and NPU.  Things don't get any easier.  I'll stick to my prediction that the Titans this year finish somewhere in the middle of the CCIW pack and will struggle to make the CCIW tournament, likely finishing the year about 16-9 or 15-10.  I surely hope they do better, even win the conference title.  We'll see, stay tuned.  A big challenge right off in NCC away, playing against a "system" team, now scoring over 100 per game, five games running.  NCC rebounds the ball well too.

Good luck to the Titans the rest of the way, esp. Saturday afternoon in Naperville.

Go TITANS!

IWU70

[Madison135]

IWU70 I do agree McGraw was really missed out east.  But I disagree with Holiness being the best so far.
Gabrielle Holinesss 51-123  .415 fg%. 22-28  .786 ft%. 33 reb  3.0 avg  26ast. 13 stl  2 blk. 13.3 ppg
Kasey Reaber.        42-86.  .488 fg%.  31-51  .608 ft%. 58 reb  5.3 avg  34 ast  23 stl  5 blk. 10.5ppg

Those are comparible stats so I do believe scoring isn't everything. So looking at those stats Reaber is so far more important. 
We will agree to disagree. I believe they will finish cciw 2 or 3.

[iwu70]

135, I agree both Holness and Reaber making key contributions to the overall Titan effort.  We need both to play well, continue to improve and shoot a better percentage with fewer TOs.  Other Titans need to step up more too.  Both freshmen playing well for their first year in tougher, faster college and CCIW play.  It will be good to have McGraw back, as she is really coming into her own early, me thinks.   I like our prospects for the future few years.  Do hope you are right and that we finish in the top four in CCIW, get to the tournament where anything can happen on that last weekend.  Agree the Titans have a decent chance of making the tournament, but surely need to shoot and rebound better to get there.  Esp. shooting FTs.  We'll see soon enough in the next 8 weeks.  CCIW women's side this year particularly strong.  Would be nice to steal one in Naperville or vs. WC these first two games of the year in CCIW play.

Happy New Year to all who follow CCIW women's basketball.  Should be a very competitive race for the CCIW crown.

IWU70

[Pat Coleman]

Gee, sorry professor. The 2 is right next to the 3 and, being late for the party, my fingers were flying! 

I don't know how tough NCC's pre-conference schedule has been but, with one more victory, the Cardinals will enter conference play with a perfect 11-0 record in only their 2nd season of running "the system."

This is the third season that NCC has run the Grinnell system, Mark, not the second. Two years ago the Cardinals went 13-13 in their system debut.

And how far is the R from the N?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Gee, sorry professor. The 2 is right next to the 3 and, being late for the party, my fingers were flying! 

I don't know how tough NCC's pre-conference schedule has been but, with one more victory, the Cardinals will enter conference play with a perfect 11-0 record in only their 2nd season of running "the system."

This is the third season that NCC has run the Grinnell system, Mark, not the second. Two years ago the Cardinals went 13-13 in their system debut.

And how far is the R from the N?

ZING!!  Another notch on the guru's belt!

[iwu70]

Happy New Year, Ypsi.  Here we go again on some great CCIW races.   Our men look pretty good, right there competing for another CCIW crown, but the women still struggling to truly find their identity.  Injuries have hurt.  The freshmen are very promising.  I hope they make the top four and get to the CCIW tournament.

IWU70

[iwu70]

Titans up over NCC 29-23 at the half in Naperville.  Handling the "system" pretty well so far.

IWU'70

[iwu70]

Titans go down in Naperville, 59-56.  Tough loss.  Leading the entire game, save for the last 30 seconds or so.  NCC pressure finally led to some Titan TOs in the last 2-3 minutes, leading to the win.  NCC now 12-0.  Titans are the best 6-6 team I've seen. 

IWU70

[Roundball999]

Titans go down in Naperville, 59-56.  Tough loss.  Leading the entire game, save for the last 30 seconds or so.  NCC pressure finally led to some Titan TOs in the last 2-3 minutes, leading to the win.  NCC now 12-0.  Titans are the best 6-6 team I've seen. 

IWU70

I watched this game and agree, very tough loss.  I believe IWU wins this game most of the time.  However it appeared to me that during the last 10-12 minutes Coach Smith allowed her team to go from being patient on offense to being passive.  The high post was always wide open, but the Titans failed to attack from there with either easy drives to the hoop or hitting cutters to the basket.  If your objective is to slow the game down and pass the ball around rather than finding good scoring opportunities, sometimes you become susceptible to steals as the shot clock winds down.  I think if they stayed aggressive on offense, IWU wins this one going away.

[iwu70]

999, totally agree with your assessment of the last 6-7 minutes.  NCC got more aggressive, got the TOs they needed, but IWU didn't adjust on offense.  Tough loss, as they played so well dealing with the system for 37 minutes or so.  A learning experience, bitter though it be, for the young Titans.  They will get better.  Kasey Reaber had an excellent game tonight.  You gotta hand it to North Central, they never gave up, even when shooting 20% from treyland.  Got a few key threes when they made their second half run, coming back from 12 or so down.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin 69
North Park 66

Annie Shain: 14 pts, 4 stls
Amani Davis: 13 pts, 4:0 a:to
Liz Rehberger: 13 pts, 5:1 a:to
Nicole Kruckman: 10 pts, 3 blks

Alyssa Saklak: 27 pts, 10 rebs
Holly Haskins: 14 pts
Hannah Millington: 10 pts
Emma Hoyer: 9 rebs
Rachael Weber: 7:1 a:to

This was a really bitter loss for the Vikings, as they blew an 18-point lead in this one. NPU went into the half with a 14-point lead, and led 44-29 with about 17 minutes to go, but MU went on a 16-0 run over the next five minutes and made a game of it. The contest seesawed back and forth down the stretch, but too much Alyssa Saklak -- she looks like a solid MOP candidate this season -- and too little rebounding by the Vikings (they were clobbered on the boards, 43-24) doomed the Park.

There's no time available for the Vikes to hang their heads, since they've got to turn around and get ready for defending champ Carthage up in Tarble on Wednesday. But, man, this one stung. Millikin just seems to have North Park's number. The two teams have played a number of close games over the past few seasons, both in Chicago and in Decatur, and MU always seems to find a way to scratch out the win at the end. Lori Kerans must have some sort of Viking voodoo doll stashed in her office.

[AndOne]

I think the primary consideration that NCC should take from last night's game is the fact that they are capable of winning even when an opponent conceives and executes a game plan which effectively takes them out of their comfort zone. Last night IWU spread the floor and slowed the frenetic pace the Cardinals are used to, and most comfortable, playing at. They eventually built a seemingly insurmountable 15 point lead in the 2nd half, from which the Cardinals, mainly through hitting some key threes, and applying tight ball-hawking defense, stormed back. Finishing with some clutch FTs, the Cards closed the game on a 17-4 run to take a 59-56 victory and remain undefeated on the season at 12-0. 

My understanding is that a new Top 25 poll comes out tomorrow. It is inconceivable to me that the NCC Cardinals not appear within it's perameters.

[Pat Coleman]

My understanding is that a new Top 25 poll comes out tomorrow. It is inconceivable to me that the NCC Cardinals not appear within it's perameters.

It definitely seems possible -- I will mention this, though, since I know you are primarily a men's poll watcher. The women's poll churns a lot more slowly. There are fewer losses by teams at the top of the poll (in any year, not just this year which has been a little topsy-turvy). So there aren't always as many entry points for women's teams.

Here's what North Central has accomplished so far and what voters will see -- not an automatic for inclusion, I don't think.

North Central (Ill.) (12-0)
Nov. 21   5:00 PM   St. Mary's (Ind.) (3-10) •   W, 100-84
Nov. 22   5:00 PM   Millsaps (8-3) •   W, 117-115 2OT
Nov. 26   7:00 PM   at Benedictine (6-5) •   W, 108-74
Nov. 29   2:00 PM   UW-Eau Claire (7-6) •   W, 101-89
Dec. 2   7:00 PM   at Redlands (4-7) •   W, 65-61
Dec. 4   7:00 PM   at La Verne (3-8) •   W, 92-74
Dec. 8   7:00 PM   at Trinity Int'l (0-3)   W, 119-53
Dec. 10   7:00 PM   at Carroll (7-3) •   W, 101-97
Dec. 16   7:00 PM   at Monmouth (3-7) •   W, 112-76
Dec. 19   7:00 PM   Dubuque (6-5) •   W, 110-93
Dec. 30   6:00 PM   at Eureka (5-6) •   W, 106-65
Jan. 3   5:00 PM   Illinois Wesleyan (5-6) * •   W, 59-56
Jan. 7   7:00 PM   Millikin (10-2) * •   
Jan. 10   5:00 PM   at Wheaton (Ill.) (11-1) * •   

[Roundball999]

I think NCC definitely deserves some consideration.  But if the voters didn't rank them previously, I'm not sure that barely winning on your home court vs. an unranked sub .500 team (sorry IWU) is going to change minds nor can the two other games since the last poll be considered statement games.  If they beat Millikin and make at least a strong showing vs. Wheaton, they should surely step solidly into the top 20.

[Pat Coleman]

Well, and Millikin is 10-2, but 7-0 vs. SLIAC schools. That's a super-misleading record they have right now.