WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

Which sport comes to mind with this distribution of scoring?
1st Q   2nd Q   3rd Q   4th Q
  2        7          3          0
19       9          26         7
Me too, but it wasn't football. That was Amherst's 61-12 victory over Becker yesterday.

[lmitzel]

Which sport comes to mind with this distribution of scoring?
1st Q   2nd Q   3rd Q   4th Q
  2        7          3          0
19       9          26         7
Me too, but it wasn't football. That was Amherst's 61-12 victory over Becker yesterday.

[Mr. Ypsi]

At the half: Trine 40, IWU 29.

[iwu70]

Trine D too good so far.  Titans have to pick up the pace and get them out of the half-court.  Tough to beat Trine with this kind of pace and grind.

'70

[RogK]

I'm trine to think of what the Titans could do better in the 2nd half. Guard the opposing 3-shooters more tightly. Look for a few 3 opportunities on offense. The refs seem to be rewarding anyone who drives to the hoop. Fewer jumpers? Je ne sais pas.

[iwu70]

IWU down 10 entering the 4Q.  Defensive breakdowns.  Trine is good, hitting a high %, better than normal from three.  Titans need to keep pressing, and, as you say, get some help from the arc.  Do or die now.

'70

[Mr. Ypsi]

Titans have cut the deficit to 4 w/ over 7 to go!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Titans cut the deficit all the way to two (63-61), but then Trine pulled away.  Final is 79-70.

McGraw had 20, Ehresman and Merritt each had 14.

[iwu70]

Well, all good things come to an end.  A great season for the Titans, one game short of the Sweet 16.  Trine too good on D, their role players stepping up hugely.  Titans with several key defensive breakdowns, down the stretch, with too many easy layups by Trine, run and jump having little impact tonight.  Trine is good, could go much further in the tournament, facing undefeated Wartburg next week.  Congrats to them on Sweet 16.

Congrats to Coach Smith, all the Staff, and the TITANs on a superb season, CCIW champions, CCIW tournament champions and 1-1 in the Dance.  Finishing 25-4.

For Trine:
Freeman (the key to the game after Dawson fouled out) 21
Williams 20
Dawson 14 (fouled out with 4 minutes to go)
Martin 13

For IWU:
McGraw, playing her heart out, 20
Merritt 14
Ehresman 14
Walsberg, key to the Titans comeback, 11

Warm congrats to the seniors and all their amazing contributions to the IWU program.   Ehresman and McGraw = two of the best Titan athletes ever.  You all will be greatly missed next year. 

No Sweet 16 this year -- but a superb season all round. Much enjoyed, much appreciated.

IWU'70

[RogK]

Congrats to IWU for an outstanding season. Exhausting effort by both squads tonight.
Trine certainly was a tough and very disciplined opponent.
A big WELL DONE in particular to the Titan seniors for their excellent careers. They set a very good example for the younger teammates to emulate in coming seasons.

[iwu70]

The TITAN seniors will be greatly missed.  Some of the best careers ever, in the history of the program. 

Titans can re-load, not re-build, as the roster is filled with highly talented, now experienced returnees.  Of course, very hard to replace Ehresman and McGraw, but Titans will be very good again, always well-coached.

I'd expect next year:  Munroe, Anderson, Schneider, Shanks/Hughes and Merritt -- with Sosa and Brovelli coming off the bench strongly.  Other newbies, new recruits, attracted by the success of the program, IWU's great athletic facilities and tradition.

The future is bright.

'70

[GoPerry]

Congrats to IWU for a great season.  Trine played very solidly all around.  I thought Dawson and Freeman were super tough in the paint.  Dawson especially good at low block positioning and back to the basket. 

[RogK]

Yep, iwu70, the Titans have a very good group ready for '18-'19. Carthage and Wheaton are well-stocked too.
As for the rest (2/3rds!) of the league, they all could use an influx of 4 or 5 very good players, to build roster depth and rack up a bunch of nonconference wins.
C'mon coaches, recruiting is easy, isn't it?

[iwu70]

I expect IWU,WC and CC to be the top three again next year.  Let's hope the rest have good recruiting years so that the league gets stronger in the middle and toward the bottom, too. 

IWU has 8 of the top 11 players coming back, though the loss of Ehresman and McGraw very hard to replace, of course.  Walsberg had a great senior year with many important contributions to this successful season.

Key will be improvement, conditioning and lifting during the off-season.  Several of the returning Titans have clear All-Conference credentials or potential.  Merritt and Schneider All-Conference players returning -- surely Anderson and Hughes have the potential . . . and Brovelli, too, in a year or so out.  Bright future, great group, that Coach Smith let play a lot and develop quickly this year. 

I'm sure WC, CC and IWU will all be out there recruiting strong as well. 

'70

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'm not in the least worried about the bigs next season (though, for depth, a quick recovery for Hughes, so she can make normal progress from frosh to soph rather than being a frosh all over again, would certainly be nice).  What concerns me is that we are graduating 3 of the finest guards in the league this spring, including the MOP and another first-teamer.  Hopefully the returnees and incoming frosh can have the Titans backcourt at its usual level at least by mid-season, but November and December may be kinda rough.

Of course, after viewing their graduation losses, I said the same thing every season during their amazing 66-4 run thru the CCIW from 2007-08 - 2011-12 - and they just kept improving each year 'til they won the Walnut-and-Bronze!   I suppose they will just reload and move on - "In Mia We Trust"!