WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Unfortunately, there are no posters who carefully analyze Pool C for the women like there are several for the men.  IWU, being ranked #2 in the Central in the 2nd rankings, would seem pretty safe as a Pool C if they don't win the tourney (though I'm not really up on the national scene).  Wheaton is only #6, but would be second to the table after WashU - UNLESS UWW is upset in the WIAC tourney; that seems fairly safe for a Pool C also, but I just don't know.  Neither Carthage or Elmhurst is a viable Pool C candidate, so it is win the AQ or turn in the uniforms.  (Of course, if one of them DOES win, that pushes IWU to Pool C, and Wheaton down another slot in even reaching the table.)

My basic question boils down to: is the conference tourney a 'winner-take-all' scenario for IWU (and especially Wheaton), or is it a battle for seeding?

[lmitzel]

The men's tourney will be in Rock Island instead of B'town (IWU lost at home to NCC; Augie trailed Elmhurst at home for nearly the entire game, but pulled it out at the end).

Since ONLY the women's tourney will be in B'town, does that mean Fri-Sat after all?

Yes, the Thursday semis plan is a contingency. The women will be Friday/Saturday in Bloomington. Congratulations to the Titans on a phenomenal regular season.

NCC closed out its season with an 86-63 loss to Augie in Naperville. I'll go through the box more in the morning, but to indicate the night it was: the Cardinals hit just five of 41 threes tonight.

A year after going 14-11 and tying for fifth, the Cardinals lost 20 games. They haven't been that bad since I took a seat at the scorer's table, but from talking briefly with Michelle Roof, they've got good pieces coming in.

[iwu70]

Ypsi, given their strong resumes, I would think that IWU and WC are pretty much locks on Pool C, if needed.  Of course, would help both to at least go 1-1 this weekend.  I think that is likely.  I'm hoping the Titans get a chance to win the rubber match vs. WC on Saturday evening at the Shirk.  Two very strong teams, good records in the regular season.  WC still on a very long winning streak, just like the Titans' 16 game winning streak earlier. 

I think the Titans again handle EC on Friday, with WC having to work a bit harder to handle CC -- but I think we're in for the WC-IWU rubber match upcoming.   All good.

Titans played with intensity tonight -- and had great bench contributions, with such balanced scoring all 'round.  That's been their M.O. all season. Handling the WC bigs on Saturday will again be the challenge.  Home court should help.

Again, my congrats to all the Titan players and to Coach Smith and her staff on a great regular season run and CCIW outright regular season championship.

Keep it rolling, TITANS.

IWU'70

[GoPerry]

Unfortunately, there are no posters who carefully analyze Pool C for the women like there are several for the men.  IWU, being ranked #2 in the Central in the 2nd rankings, would seem pretty safe as a Pool C if they don't win the tourney (though I'm not really up on the national scene).  Wheaton is only #6, but would be second to the table after WashU - UNLESS UWW is upset in the WIAC tourney; that seems fairly safe for a Pool C also, but I just don't know.  Neither Carthage or Elmhurst is a viable Pool C candidate, so it is win the AQ or turn in the uniforms.  (Of course, if one of them DOES win, that pushes IWU to Pool C, and Wheaton down another slot in even reaching the table.)

My basic question boils down to: is the conference tourney a 'winner-take-all' scenario for IWU (and especially Wheaton), or is it a battle for seeding?

Looking at the #s, SOS, etc., I think IWU is a Pool C lock and Wheaton looks like a near lock also.  The one weakness in Wheaton's case is that I think they'll only be 1-3 vRRO.  But win % .824 and SOS .575 is pretty strong.

If IWU gets the AQ, I think they'll have a strong hosting case for rds 1 & 2.

[iwu70]

Agree with GoPerry's assessment.

For IWU to get the AQ, that would help greatly to have good favorable seeding and perhaps hosting a round or two.  Very crucial to get through the early games more easily.  Time will tell.  IMHO, WC played a bit better than the Titans in the last 7-8 games. 

When the Dance begins, everyone is 0-0.  (so seedings and pairings very important).  Hopefully, no early pods of death. 

'70

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin 85
North Park 66

Alisha Panthier: 15 pts, 10 rebs
Samantha Bloom: 11 pts
Shaylee Sloan: 9 rebs

Devin Curry: 24 pts
Emily Schultz; 16 pts, 7 rebs, 4:1 a:to
Haley Toohill: 13 pts
Yanni Sadler: 11 pts, 3 stls
Sarah Bailey: 10 pts
Lauren Moses: 14 rebs

Can't say that I'm shocked by the outcome of this game, given that it took place in Decatur and was the swan song of the storied career of Lori Kerans as Millikin's head coach. Given the emotion of the night, it's no surprise that the Big Blue played their best game of the season. The lone bright spot for NPU was the double-double for Alisha Panthier; I would've never predicted that the sophomore forward would've ever had a CCIW double-double, and it's a testament to her hard work that she's come this far this quickly. It was also good to see Samantha Bloom have another nice game for the Vikings; I like the young backcourt that the Vikings will be bringing back next season.

Thanks for all of the hard work and effort put in by the three departing seniors for the Vikings: Brie Lippert, Shaylee Sloan, and Clarissa Ramos. It's been greatly appreciated. Hope to see you all suit up for next season's alumnae game!

[lmitzel]

So just for fun, if the new conference tournament format were in place this season, here's what we'd have going on in Bloomington, Kenosha, and Elmhurst:

(6)Carroll (5-11) @ (3)Carthage (11-5)
(5)Augustana (8-8) @ (4)Elmhurst (9-7)

Highest remaining seed vs (2)Wheaton (14-2)
Lowest remaining seed @ (1)Illinois Wesleyan (15-1)

The 4-5 matchup with Elmhurst getting home court but having lost both matchups to Augie is intriguing, but I wish I could say the same for that 3-6 matchup. I mean no disrespect to Carroll, considering they beat NCC twice and had a nice bounceback from an awful 2016-17 campaign, but the optics of a 5-11 team making the conference tournament is... not ideal.

Hopefully, no early pods of death. 

There are three certainties in life, my friend: [pods of] death, taxes, and North Central winning the CCIW men's cross country title.

Honestly, I'd have to take a look at the regional and probably national picture. You might get a good round one matchup, but I'd have to think that second game would be a doozy.

[RogK]

Carthage 90, Carroll 67
Bailey Gilbert (.833 eFG%) and Madie Kaelber (.708 eFG%) score 17 each; three other Lady Reds in double figures including Morgan Harris (11, 6 rebs, 7 assists).
Carthage hit 13/24 3FGs. If that sounds familiar, it is -- they did so in both games vs Carroll and last week vs NC. It was the tenth game this season in which Carthage scored 30 or more pts from three-land. Their team 3FG% is an outstanding .375 (equivalent to .563 on 2FG%).
Carroll's Brittney Wald had 3 steals and scored 31 in 28:00, reaching 1000 career pts. Congrats to her! We CCIW followers didn't see the first half of her career, as they were in the Midwest Conf.
Delaney Sjong had 13 pts, 7 rebs.

[RogK]

AUG 86, NC 63
Alexis Jones 14 pts, 8 rebs in 19:00
Justice Edell 14 pts, 7 rebs in 23:00
Clare Kramer 10 pts 8 rebs; Scooter Lopez 4 stls, 5 assists; Sadie Roberts 4 stls and a block.
NC got 12 pts and 6 assists from Mayson Whipple. By the way, the Cardinals made 64% of their 2FG att. Since I criticized their rebounding last time, I'll note that they rebounded well in this game.

[RogK]

Having attended the IWU/ELM game last night, I'd say just about the entire IWU roster was impressive one way or another -- a high level of athleticism and fine effort.
One player we don't mention much here, but who contributes a lot at both ends of the floor is Ashley Schneider. Her .580 season FG% is rather good -- up there with teammate Raven Hughes and her superb .674.
Incidentally, the Titans finished the regular season with a .355 3FG pct. They've shot .495 on 2-pointers, also good. They average 22 FT att/game. This diversified offense is a lot to handle for opponents.

[thunder38]

So just for fun, if the new conference tournament format were in place this season, here's what we'd have going on in Bloomington, Kenosha, and Elmhurst:

(6)Carroll (5-11) @ (3)Carthage (11-5)
(5)Augustana (8-8) @ (4)Elmhurst (9-7)

Highest remaining seed vs (2)Wheaton (14-2)
Lowest remaining seed @ (1)Illinois Wesleyan (15-1)

The 4-5 matchup with Elmhurst getting home court but having lost both matchups to Augie is intriguing, but I wish I could say the same for that 3-6 matchup. I mean no disrespect to Carroll, considering they beat NCC twice and had a nice bounceback from an awful 2016-17 campaign, but the optics of a 5-11 team making the conference tournament is... not ideal.

Hopefully, no early pods of death. 

There are three certainties in life, my friend: [pods of] death, taxes, and North Central winning the CCIW men's cross country title.

Honestly, I'd have to take a look at the regional and probably national picture. You might get a good round one matchup, but I'd have to think that second game would be a doozy.

I think with an AQ bid, Illinois Wesleyan would be a likely first and second round host but I don't think they would like their draw. It would be a pretty easy conclusion to send Rose-Hulman to Bloomington along with the loser of Hope/Trine should they both advance to the MIAA title game. Titans could also be unlucky enough to have someone like Ohio Northern or one of the UW's sent down as well.

Chicago will host a pod and will get one of the UW schools. Whitewater hosting will be another so they have to send the third one somewhere. St. Thomas makes a lot of sense to serve as a flight pod so that's probably not going to be a UW host. Wisconsin Lutheran is an easy send to either of those two so the Titans should avoid WLC. Wheaton will be an easy send to either UWW or Chicago as well but more likely will be sent to Hope since the NCAA likes to do that with Hope and Wheaton. That does put WashU in the mix to possibly round out the IWU pod but I would think they would be more likely to be sent to DePauw, Wartburg, or Thomas More.

However, if IWU has to settle for Pool C, they're likely at the mercy of the committee and given their geography, I don't know that there's a lot of good options, even though they should get a very winnable first round draw.

[thunder38]

Most recent regional rankings are out.

CENTRAL                        
1   Wisconsin-Whitewater   22-3   22-3               
2   Illinois Wesleyan   21-3   21-3               
3   Chicago   22-2   22-2               
4   Washington U. in St. Louis   18-6   18-6               
5   Wheaton (Illinois)   19-4   21-4               
6   Wisconsin Lutheran   21-3   22-3               
7   Wisconsin-Eau Claire   17-8   17-8               
8   Wisconsin-Oshkosh   18-5   19-5               
9   Wisconsin-La Crosse   15-9   16-9

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The NCAA released the third set of women's basketball regional rankings with few changes from last week's version. This is the final set that we'll see before the Tournament bracket is released on Monday. Full list here: http://d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/women-regional-rankings-third

[lmitzel]

AUG 86, NC 63
Alexis Jones 14 pts, 8 rebs in 19:00
Justice Edell 14 pts, 7 rebs in 23:00
Clare Kramer 10 pts 8 rebs; Scooter Lopez 4 stls, 5 assists; Sadie Roberts 4 stls and a block.
NC got 12 pts and 6 assists from Mayson Whipple. By the way, the Cardinals made 64% of their 2FG att. Since I criticized their rebounding last time, I'll note that they rebounded well in this game.

Excuse me, I'm going to go bang my head against a wall.

They hit some nice shots in the process of being fouled last night and had a decent share of good looks inside. I don't even want to criticize their three point shooting because their looks were pretty good overall. It was just one of those nights (Whipple was 2-10 from deep, Siarra O'Neill 0-9, Michaela Reedy 0-8). If they hit even a few more of those Augie doesn't run away with this one. I thought the Cardinals still gave up too many second chance opportunities, but I'd still say the poor shooting night combined with 21 turnovers is what did them in.

Mayson's 12 point, 6 assist night gave her 946 points and 334 assists in her career. The assist mark is third most in program history. She would have been second all time and a lock for the 1000 Point Club were it not for her knee injury last year. Jamie Cuny came and asked me after the first quarter last night how many points Mayson needed to reach the mark. I told her it was sixty-some. Alas.

[RogK]

No, lmitzel, don't give yourself CTE.
The CCIW coaches preseason poll turned out to be fairly accurate this time :
     prediction   actual
IWU     1             1
WHE    2             2
CTG     3             3
ELM     4             4
AUG     5             5
CRL     9             6
NPU     8             7
MIL      7            8-9
NCC     6            8-9