WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

Started by wheatonc, March 03, 2005, 06:18:19 PM

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Gregory Sager

North Park 49
Millikin 46

Liz Rehberger: 16 pts, 4 blks
Rachel Torres: 10 pts
Amani Davis: 10 rebs, 3 stls
Nicole Kruckman: 6 rebs

This game turned out to be much more interesting than it should've been, because NPU simply could not make a free throw. The Vikings were an abysmal 21-41 (51%) at the charity stripe last night, dropping them from fourth place in league play in that important category (.702) to seventh (.672) in one fell swoop. It stands to reason that any team that can get to the FT line 41 times should win handily, and that should've been the case last night. The fact that the Vikings simply couldn't convert at the line kept MU in it. Indeed, the Big Blue had the game tied up at 43 apiece going into the final two minutes, and they had the ball down three with nine seconds to go. But they inexplicably drove the lane in an attempt to get what would've been a useless two-pointer, missed it, got the offensive rebound, and tried a putback (which also missed) rather than kicking it out for a potential game-tying trey.

That was the bad news. The good news is that the Park really hustled defensively and made crucial plays when they absolutely had to. The best example of this was the play of Soly Román in the game's final minute. She had what would've otherwise been considered a horrible game; she was averaging 9 and 9 coming in, and she ended up only 2 and 4 for the game. But she grabbed an offensive rebound after Rachel Torres had missed two FTs with :50 left and the Vikes up by two, and then (after missing two FTs herself) grabbed a defensive rebound at the other end to get the ball back for NPU with :21 left, leading to two Liz Rehberger FTs that gave the Park a four-point lead. After MU cut the lead back down to two with :13 to go, Amani Davis was fouled on the inbound pass. Again, she missed both FTs -- and, again, Soly Román got the offensive rebound after the second miss, getting the ball to Davis, who made one of two FTs to create the final margin. In less than a minute, Román redeemed a bad game with tremendous effort when the game was on the line. (To be fair to Davis and Torres, they were both really solid everywhere for the entire game, except for at the FT line where almost the entire team just simply tanked.)

A win's a win, and NPU will take it. Everything broke North Park's way yesterday, including Wheaton's win over Elmhurst, as it puts the Vikings in sole possession of second place, only a game out of first, and the loss by Augie gives NPU a two-game cushion over the rest of the pack. The NPU @ EC game on Wednesday looms large now. If the Park can pull out the road win, the Vikes are poised to make a run at the top over the last two weeks.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

RogK

Greg (or others), having seen Millikin in person, would you consider it a surprise that they are winless in CCIW play?
In 11 games, their median loss was by 10 points. Closer margins were 8, 6, 4, 3 and 3.
Incidentally, their remaining games are vs teams to whom they've lost by 6 or fewer pts.

Gregory Sager

I do. It's not an untalented team at all. Alyssa Saklak, in particular, is a player I'd take on my team anyday.

The one thing that really separates them from the rest of the league, as far as I can see, is the lack of an outside game. Not only is MU dead last in the league in trey shooting %, the Big Blue have attempted 13% fewer treys than the next-lowest team in the league in that category; they've attempted only 122, while the next most conservative team, NPU, has shot 141. It's not just a CCIW thing, either; over the course of the season the Big Blue have attempted 199 fewer bombs than their opponents. That's more than nine fewer trey attempts per game, which is a glaring discrepancy. It's as though they know that they can't hit them and have therefore given up even trying them.

Against NPU the Big Blue were 0-6 from beyond the arc, and in their previous game against IWU they were 0-4. Their best shooter, Emily Schultz, works a perimeter that's about 17 or 18 feet away from the basket rather than 22 or 23 feet. That, and the fact that her teammates are reluctant to let it fly from distance, makes them much easier to guard as a team.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

RogK

Here's another statistical look at how things have gone in conference play (11 games at the moment).
team offensive rebound pct
TEAM     OReb     Opp DReb    Total      OReb%
IW          175           294         469        .373
NC          217           408         625        .347
W           154           302         456        .338
E            133           263         396        .336
CCIW    1152         2455       3607        .319
A            138          307          445        .310
M           121           271         392         .309
NP          139          316         455         .305
C            75            294         369         .203
team defensive rebound pct
TEAM      DReb     Opp OReb  Total     DReb%
E            291         109            400       .728
W           337         133           470        .717
C           322          148           470        .685
NP          291         135           426        .683
CCIW    2455       1152         3607       .681
A            330         155           485        .680
IW         263          128           391        .673
M           301         147           448        .672
NC         320         197           517         .619
What can we make of this (besides printing it and making a hat)?

iwu70

A strange year, RogK.  Don't think the stats tell the entire story of defensive pressure and effort by various teams.  TITANS surely have poor stats for the most part, but still stand 8-3 with a very good chance of getting to the CCIW tournament, even winning the title.  They have three games left now, all at home, so why not push hard and win out??  Could be a tie with WC, then tourney in WC due to tie-breakers, but WC could slip again and then the Titans win.  Pretty much everything can happen.  TITANS have been up and down, pretty inconsistent all year, but still in a pretty good position in the conference race.

Go TITANS!!!  Pink Zone game upcoming too -- always a good night, esp. given Coach Smith's history with cancer.

Still important basketball to be played.

IWU70

GoPerry

Alot of important ball to be played by the Thunder.  They absolutely must take care of business tonight at home vs Millikin and then a very dangerous game @ Carthage Saturday night that will test them at Tarble, a place where Wheaton Women and Men historically don't play well.  Women have lost 3 straight there.

Can't let up with this (virtually) 1/2 game lead over IWU.

Pat Coleman

Alright, folks -- the NCAA's first women's basketball regional rankings are posted. Check out the full list from D3hoops.com:
http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2016/02/10/first-2016-regional-rankings-released-today/
Publisher. Questions? Check our FAQ for D3f, D3h.
Quote from: old 40 on September 25, 2007, 08:23:57 PMLet's discuss (sports) in a positive way, sometimes kidding each other with no disrespect.

iwu70

Titans ath The Shirk crush Augie 72-43.  Now 9-3 in CCIW play with two games to go.  Key game at home now with NPU.  Pink Zone Game.

Ehresman 12
Weber 11
McGraw 22

Titans force 22 TOs, points off turnovers = 26.  Titans win by 29.  There you have it.

IWU'70

iwu70

Correction -- that was the score at the end of the third quarter, more to go!

:)

iwu70

Final final from the Shirk:  IWU 79 Augie 57. :)   25 TOs forced.

Titans now 9-3 in CCIW play.  Really.

IWU'70

iwu70

Pink Zone games at The SHIRK this Saturday evening.  Hope everyone comes out to support Coach Smith and the TITANS at 5 p.m. -- to beat NPU and to raise a lot of money for a very good cause.  Should be a full day at The Shirk -- JV - Alumni game early afternoon, then women's game followed by men's game vs. NPU at 7 p.m.  Varsity games very important for both squads. 

GO TITANS -- do well and also do good! 

IWU70

Gregory Sager

Vikings fall at Shirk, 63-55. After a horrific start to the second half, which began with a 14-0 IWU run to open up a 43-26 lead for the hosts, the Vikes did an admirable job of fighting their way back into it, cutting the lead to one on a couple of occasions in the fourth quarter. But they just left too many misses at the rim, which more than anything explained why they couldn't get over the hump in what was a good defensive game for both teams. Liz Rehberger led the way with 23, while Amani Davis had 12 and Soly Román grabbed ten boards. Molly McGraw led Wesleyan with 17, while Gabby Weber added 13 and Maddie Merritt chipped in 11.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

Gregory Sager

Making things worse is the fact that North Central beat Elmhurst today, which means that next Saturday's game between the Vikings and the Cardinals in the crackerbox is essentially a play-in game for the fourth and final CCIW tourney spot as far as NPU is concerned.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

iwu70

Yes, Titans over NPU 63-55.  A good crowd for the Pink Zone efforts.  More to come in the men's game.  Titans now 10-3 in CCIW play.  Who would have thunk it??  One more game to go, TITANS!  Keep it rolling.  Let's hope WC slips and we win the CCIW crown outright, get to host the conference tournament at The Shirk.   

Liz Rehberger one heck of a player. 

IWU'70

iwu70

My vote would be for Mia Smith as Coach of the Year. 

'70