WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

I'd expect all these games to go to previous form.  Road games tougher for IWU and EC.

IWU'70

[lmitzel]

Saturday's matchups and the results of the earlier encounters (none of which were close):
AUG at CRL (Augie won in Rock Island, 102-61)
IWU at CTG (Wesleyan won in Bloomington, 77-50)
ELM at NCC (Elmhurst won in Elmhurst, 103-81)
NPU at WHE (Wheaton won in Chicago, 85-42)
Millikin, which has completed its road schedule, has the bye.

And with this in mind, here are the clinching/elimination scenarios:
-Illinois Wesleyan clinches a tournament berth with a win.
-Wheaton clinches a tournament berth with a win OR a Carthage loss.
-Elmhurst clinches a tournament berth with a win AND a Carthage loss.
-North Central is eliminated from the CCIW Tournament with a loss AND an Augustana win.

[iwu70]

IWU over CC easily @Tarble, 80-49.

Ehresman 16 and 6
Merritt 15, again perfect from the charity stripe
McGraw, 11, in foul trouble
Schneider, stronger and stronger, 12
Kelly 9

Titans pulling away in the 2Q, 22-9.  As usual, winning the TO battle 30-12.  Therein lies the win.

IWU shooting 41%.  Plenty of rest for the starters.  Pine-sitters enjoying most of the 4Q.

Titans now 11-2 in Conference, overall 16-6.  Always good to get a road win in the CCIW.

IWU'70

[RogK]

A brief look at the other Saturday results :
Augie topped Carroll 72-51. Kaycee Kallenberger had 14 pts, 8 rebs, 3 blocks; Victoria Allen had 6 assists, while Jenn VanWatermeulen had 3 steals.
For the Pios, Brittney Wald had 22 pts and 6 steals, Morgan Lund scoring 11.
In the game I saw, Elmhurst defeated North Central 85-65. Mikaela Eppard defended the lane very well (as did Hannah Lipman, Erika Johnson and others) and had 22 pts, 15 rebs. Lipman had 9 rebs. Kaela Jones had another all-around fine game with 14 pts, 9 rebs, 6 assists. The Bluejays got efficient scoring help from Michaela Kumer (6/9 2FG) and Becca Gerke (5/6 2FG).
Paula Zerante did well for NCC, scoring 14 pts via 8 FG att and 4 FT att. Anita Sterling had 6 rebs and Michaela Reedy led with 4 steals.
Wheaton 90, North Park 58 : Devin Kyler had 8 pts, 12 rebs, a block and 3 steals. Chantal Meacham tallied 20 via 9 FG att for a 1.111 eFG%, not bad. Katie McDaniels scored 15. For NPU, Gabby Sandoval scored 10 on just 6 shots.

[iwu70]

Still looks like it's all coming down to that last game at WC, for the title.  IWU still has a big game at home vs. EC and then face "the system" again too.  Lots of energy always to defeat NCC, and shorter rest for the Tuesday night game @ WC.  A true test, a tough stretch run.  My Titans will really have to earn it.  And this is where their depth could really pay off.  WC has the easier road getting to that final game.

11-2, 16-6 going into the big game @ home vs. EC this Wednesday.

IWU'70

[lmitzel]

That IWU-Elmhurst game is going to be a good one. Elmhurst did a great job on Saturday working their way around NCC's trapping to get some easy looks. North Central shot well early on but there seemed to be a lid on the basket in the second and third quarters. Kind of a bummer.

The CCIW Tournament field is all but set, with Illinois Wesleyan, Wheaton, and Elmhurst all having punched their tickets. Augie needs Carthage to lose to North Park on Wednesday, otherwise they'll have to take matters into their own hands on Saturday against those same Vikings. That just leaves seeding to decide.

[GoPerry]

Massey has IWU favored by about 7 pts over Elmhurst and that feels about right to me.  My sense is that Elmhurst will have the best player on the floor but without quite the depth down the roster to match the Titans overall.  I think IWU wins and it wouldn't surprise me if they did so rather easily.  They seem to be hitting on all cylinders right now.

[RogK]

Congrats to Mikaela Eppard, the new CCIW Player of the Week!

[iwu70]

Eppard is surely tearing it up -- great job.  Congrats to her.  Third time she wins the POW. 

Yes, should be a good one -- EC vs. IWU at The Shirk.  I think a close game.  We'll see.

IWU'70

[GoPerry]

For the Titans, the game tomorrow vs Elmhurst is not too terribly important with regard to the top of the league race and hosting the conf tourney.  That is still coming down to a week from tonight in Wheaton. 

It is, on the other hand, fairly critical for their Pool C prospects.  Tomorrow's regional rankings will probably have IWU ranked 5th again, maybe even moving up to 4th if UW-Whitewater(who lost) drops 2 spots or more.  To me, this is good indication that the committee is giving IWU some good love right now with a strong SOS.  The unknown is whether they can come home with 2 more losses without the AQ and 1. Stay regionally ranked with 8 losses and 2. have a chance of getting in with a 19-8, .703 W/L %.   There are already lots of 6, 7 loss teams in the week one ranking so they have that going for them.  The one thing is their record vs RR is not strong, 2-5 by my quick and dirty count, and I'm not sure if that will negate the SOS consideration. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

BTW, in this week's poll, slight improvement for the CCIW.  Wheaton rises from 13 to 18 points, (but stays #26) as UWW falls out but Marymount jumps them; IWU goes from 3 points to 5 points.  With two wins, both on the road, by a combined total of 59 points, I kinda hoped for 6 or 7!

Not a ringing endorsement of the conference, but better than a sharp stick in the eye.

[gordonmann]

I have IWU on my ballot now if that's any consolation. I account for half of the increase in votes this week!

[iwu70]

Really important for IWU and WC to continue to win, to improve their resumes for Pool C consideration.  I hope the CCIW gets at least two teams in the Dance come March.   EC has a shot too -- though I expect the Titans to win at home tomorrow.  Titans then have to face "the system" again, and travel to WC for that big regular season-ending match up with Wheaton.  A truly testing, challenging stretch run . . . and I'm sure Mia will have her team ready.

IWU'70

[lmitzel]

I debated about trying to figure out all of the possible scenarios for how the conference tournament could unfold, but of the remaining 12 games, 11 of them right now have tournament consequences, and I'm not trying to sort through 2000-plus scenarios.

What was much easier was to come up with the clinching scenarios in tonight's games:
-Illinois Wesleyan clinches at least a #2 seed with a win
-Wheaton clinches at least a #2 seed with a win OR an Elmhurst loss
-Augustana clinches the final tournament berth with a Carthage loss (the Lady Reds play at North Park tonight)

Assuming I understand the tiebreaker procedures correctly, the only way Carthage can steal that last spot is to win out, have Augie lose out, and have Wheaton finish in first place. No pressure.

[RogK]

Well then lmitzel, I think it should be your duty to attend the one game that doesn't have tournament consequences. Can you now pledge unwaveringly to us that you will do so?