WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Captain_Joe08]

WI Lutheran upsets WC in OT 70-67.  Great season for WC, but one and done.  CCIW women one and done.  Season over for all.  Tough loss for WC.

Great season for all the CCIW squads.  There's always next year.

IWU70

Great win for WLC. They have come close so many times to pulling off big wins (Losing to DePauw in the last seconds, giving George Fox a heck of a game) and this time they came through. Props to Wheaton for the good season.

[WLCALUM83]

WLC's win is the 2nd NCAA tourney win ever for that school (back in '11 the Warriors knocked off UW-LaCrosse in the opening round before losing to IL Wesleyan)

[GoPerry]

Tough loss for the Wheaton Women lastnight but lost to a solid Wisc-Lutheran team.  Congratulations on a great year of success despite the early exit. With all starters and key reserves returning, we have a lot to look forward to next season with a little more tourney experience under our belt.

[gordonmann]

That was a great win for the WLC program last night. The Warriors consistently challenge themselves in the non-conference schedule and it paid off last night.

[shepherd]

That was a great win for the WLC program last night. The Warriors consistently challenge themselves in the non-conference schedule and it paid off last night.

Yes it was a good win for them and a bad loss for Wheaton.  Wheaton has been slow to adjust to teams, the loss at NP was not knowing what to do against a zone defense except throw up treys.  Against WLC Wheaton underestimated the 6'3" center and got burned for 28 pts.
Wheaton only has two coaches and looking at other teams in the playoffs most have more.  Maybe some former players women or men with good basketball knowledge could help out the team like they do in other sports at Wheaton.  This team was too good and special to go out that fast.

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton has been slow to adjust to teams, the loss at NP was not knowing what to do against a zone defense except throw up treys.

There was more to it than that. NPU played really well at both ends of the floor that night.

[GoPerry]

That was a great win for the WLC program last night. The Warriors consistently challenge themselves in the non-conference schedule and it paid off last night.

Yes it was a good win for them and a bad loss for Wheaton.  Wheaton has been slow to adjust to teams, the loss at NP was not knowing what to do against a zone defense except throw up treys.  Against WLC Wheaton underestimated the 6'3" center and got burned for 28 pts.
Wheaton only has two coaches and looking at other teams in the playoffs most have more.  Maybe some former players women or men with good basketball knowledge could help out the team like they do in other sports at Wheaton.  This team was too good and special to go out that fast.

I was also disappointed to see Wheaton go out early and at home, but I would admit to not being totally surprised.  They did have some nice wins early(@ Hope, @ Chicago) but I'm not sure this year's league play served to keep them sharp in the later weeks.  I didn't get the sense the conference was quite as competitive this year and playing against North Central really doesn't prepare you for much else.  This year's Wheaton squad was a talented but young team with little to no tournament experience.  Zeller and Considine played 2 yrs ago in a blowout loss @ Hope but not much otherwise.  On the other bench was senior led Wisc Lutheran with 4 straight appearances.  So playing a solid team like that, with a problematic player (and I can't believe they would've underestimated Schultz), they needed to play at their normally high level and they just didn't quite shoot the ball well enough.  Perhaps they were caught looking ahead to a Hope rematch?  I'm thinking that Coach Madsen and crew will learn from this and determine to bring it next year when expectations will justifiably be even higher.

[Gregory Sager]

I was also disappointed to see Wheaton go out early and at home, but I would admit to not being totally surprised.  They did have some nice wins early(@ Hope, @ Chicago) but I'm not sure this year's league play served to keep them sharp in the later weeks.  I didn't get the sense the conference was quite as competitive this year and playing against North Central really doesn't prepare you for much else.

I agree with that. I think that the overall level of play in the league was down this year. Wheaton was right on target, and North Central finally had the personnel that allowed the system to click, but that was about it in terms of upper-echelon teams meeting expectations. Illinois Wesleyan was way down, of course, but North Park clearly underachieved as well. Carthage didn't spring back from last year's heavy graduation losses nearly as much as everyone thought the Lady Reds would, given the talent that Tim Bernero still had coming back, and, I'd argue, Elmhurst was not as good as it should've been, given what Tethnie Carrillo had on her roster. Millikin was a bit better than last year, but not dramatically so, and Augustana continued to be stuck in the mud.

I blame it all on RogK's absence.

[shepherd]

Wheaton has been slow to adjust to teams, the loss at NP was not knowing what to do against a zone defense except throw up treys.

There was more to it than that. NPU played really well at both ends of the floor that night.

I agree that NP played good but Wheaton was flustered as it was really the first time this year a good team used a zone against them most of the game. 
4-24 .167  most three attempts in a game this season.
4-9    .444    free throws the least they went to the free throw line this season vs
NP's  20-28    .714 the most free throw attempts against Wheaton this season.
http://athletics.wheaton.edu/cumestats.aspx?path=wbball&year=2014

[Gregory Sager]

I didn't say that Wheaton wasn't flustered. What I said was that NPU played very well, and that to leave NPU out of an explanation of the game's outcome is both inaccurate and does the Vikings a disservice.

[iwu70]

Two undefeated teams for the Walnut and Bronze -- George Fox vs. Thomas More.

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

Congratulations to Elmhurst's Fiona McMahon, 3rd team All American on D3hoops.com.

To no one's surprise, Sydney Moss of Thomas More became the first repeat winner of the women's* national PoY.  Since she is still only a junior, barring injury or other catastrophe I'd expect that next year she will become the first ever three-time winner.

*D3hoops.com has only picked national PoY's for ten years - she is the first repeat winner for either gender.  Last year she was the first sophomore winner of either gender.

[Gregory Sager]

Congratulations to Elmhurst's Fiona McMahon, 3rd team All American on D3hoops.com.

To no one's surprise, Sydney Moss of Thomas More became the first repeat winner of the women's* national PoY.  Since she is still only a junior, barring injury or other catastrophe I'd expect that next year she will become the first ever three-time winner.

*D3hoops.com has only picked national PoY's for ten years - she is the first repeat winner for either gender.  Last year she was the first sophomore winner of either gender.

Is it time for me to say "I told you so" yet, or should I wait until she wins it for the third time?

[gordonmann]

I've started to ask people I respect as coaches or D3 observers if Sydney is the best player they've seen at this level. We can wait for her last year to see what she does as a senior but no one has definitively said no yet.

I think this was the single best season of any D3 player ever on the women's side but I want to do some research before saying that for certain. I'd be curious if there's any parallel on the men's side-- player of year, record setting tournament, national scoring leader (I think) and passing the eye test in terms of wow plays.

Greg, I also had a chance to see Calvin's old gym and hear some stories about the 1980s tourney games held there, including NPU's title game against Potsdam State.

[Gregory Sager]

Greg, I also had a chance to see Calvin's old gym and hear some stories about the 1980s tourney games held there, including NPU's title game against Potsdam State.

North Park actually won two title games in Calvin's old gym, the one against Potsdam State in '85 (heckuva team, that Bears squad with Brendan Mitchell, Barry Stanton, and Pony Bullock) and the one against Clark in '87 (a Cougars team led by the phenomenal Kermit Sharp).