WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

Congrats to Wheaton and Illinois Wesleyan for their very good seasons.
Looks like Wisconsin Lutheran forgot to be ashamed of their home conference.

[Captain_Joe08]

The teams combined for 60 turnovers. Yikes.

I figured that WLC has times where they are prone to committing a bunch of TO during the game but the Warriors D which has been on of their strengths throughout the season virtually shut down IWU for the entire game. Hats off to IWU regardless.

[iwu70]

Well, Ypsi, you were too optimistic. CCIW finishes 0-2 on the night.  Titans just had one of those nights when pretty much everything wasn't working.  Merritt and Shanks couldn't get into any kind of offensive flow.  Only player on IWU who played well was Raven Hughes.  Give credit to WI-Lutheran for the D, the slowing of the pace, the handling of the pressure reasonably well.  Just enough offense from their side to win.  IWU couldn't buy a basket at times -- 5 points in Quarter?   Come 'on!

Well, with those coming back, I think IWU has a good prospect for next year.  Hard to replace the Seniors always, but there are those in that sophomore group ready to step up -- Sosa and Brovelli to start, surely Munroe and Lansford playing more.  Should be OK for the next cycle.  Shanks back wanting redemption at PG.  Perhaps some exciting newbies. 

Sad to go out on that kind of sour performance.  If you going to get beat, best to go out on your best performance, but that was far from how the TITANS can play. 

There's always next year . . .

Spring, golf and baseball . . . up soon.  Titans baseball already 2-0 in February?   Titan softball will be very good, again.  One game short of the national title last year. 

Spring here already, in the "Hong Kong winter."  The azaleas are blooming on campus, having been fooled two weeks early by our very warm, historically warm "winter." 

All best from Hongkers.

'70

P.S.  I hope I spelled everything OK?    

[Gregory Sager]

Congrats to Wheaton and Illinois Wesleyan for their very good seasons.
Looks like Wisconsin Lutheran forgot to be ashamed of their home conference.

Considering that this is the second time in five years that WLC has knocked a ranked CCIW team out of the tourney in the opening round, perhaps we should list the Warriors up there with Wash U as notorious CCIW killers in women's basketball.

[Gregory Sager]

I tuned into the WLC vs. IWU game for five or six brief looks, especially since the game was stuck on 32-30 for so long that I wanted to see if there was a power outage in the gym up in St. Paul. And every time that I tuned in, a Titan was taking a jumper without setting her feet. That's the payoff of great defense: Even when the other team gets off a shot, they're rushing it and hurting their own chances. Big props to the Warriors for playing absolute lockdown D.

Checked in on the Wheaton vs. Hope a few times, too. WC seemed to degenerate into an "As Hannah Frazier goes, Wheaton goes" kind of team down the stretch this season ... and tonight she didn't have a great game and nobody else really picked it up for her. Even from my brief glimpses, it appeared to me that Hope was clearly the better team.

[GoPerry]

Hope 67 Wheaton 55

After a very sketchy first half for both teams, Wheaton led 27-21.  But it was all Hope after that as you knew Hope wasn't going to continue shooting that poorly. They also turned up the aggressive D and the Thunder couldn't respond.  It didn't help that Devin Kyler picked up fouls #2-4 in the first 3 mins of the third quarter. She then had to go to the bench forcing Jill Berg to play big minutes and forcing Wheaton to play zone.  Hope has a deeper bench and got good contribution up and down the lineup.

Yet another frustrating game to watch.  To be sure, the Flying Dutch are a more talented team and better coached.  They deserved the win.  Wheaton  played their hearts out and gave great effort.  Congrats to seniors Devin Kyler and Jen Berg for their great careers. 

Wheaton has Myroth, Williams, Berg and certain All-American Frazier returning.  But this team lacks basic fundamentals that the coaches are failing to teach.  I don't know if I can watch another season of bad passing and poor team defense when they can be so much more.  If Wheaton's only competitive ambition is to compete in the league then fine.  But they'll continue to be uncompetitive against the better non-con teams during the season and in the NCAA and that should not be acceptable with this program.

Note:  Thank you to Wartburg Athletics for a great video feed, and excellent pbp and color announcing for two visiting teams.

[Mr. Ypsi]

IWU and WI Lu both played GREAT defense (most of the time), but both teams also had a shocking number of unforced turnovers.  UST must be licking their chops.

The (record-breaking?) poor shooting by the Titans was partly due to the Warrior defense, but even more it was just crappy shooting.  Sydney Shanks partially redeemed herself by getting 6 of the Titans' 10 4th quarter points, but it was too little - too late after starting the game 0-8.  I vote that she owes us a CCIW MOP next season to atone!

Prediction for tomorrow: UST by 25+ over WI Lu.

A heart-breaking finish to a distinguished career by Maddie Merritt - FOUR points (though she was swarmed by up to four defenders every time she touched the ball down low).  Looking ahead to next year, I think the key is how well Brovelli can replace Merritt (Riley was pretty much invisible tonight - only 5 minutes and 3 TOs to 1 RB and 0 points).  I'm pretty confident that some combination of Sosa, Munroe, and Lansford will adequately replace Anderson and Schneider.  And I'm pretty confident that Mia Smith has players in the wings to re-stock the bench.

[iwu70]

Agree with you Ypsi about Riley Brovelli.  That will be key next year, as you can expect more of the same, solid play out of Raven Hughes.  I hope she diversifies her offensive game a bit and keeps up her great D and rebounding.  She had a great year.  Key also how much Sosa becomes a bigger and more consistent scorer.  Shanks will surely want to redeem herself after this one.  Lansford and Munroe scoring more, as we know they can.

One of those days, pretty much everything going badly.  I give credit to WI-Lutheran and their D, jumping screens to prevent good trey looks and surely bottling up the post and Merritt.  Neither team playing all that well.  So so many TOs on both sides.

23-5 a great season, but a very sad note to end on.  Congrats to IWU and WC for good seasons, many good memories of high-quality CCIW basketball.

IWU'70

[RogK]

the overall CCIW stats are complete :
https://static.cciw.org/custompages/CCIW_Links/WBasketball/Stats/1819/CONFLDRS.HTM
verify that it updates through March 2
individual leaders :
Pts/g - Hannah Frazier 20.0
Rebs/g - Alexis Jones 8.2
Assists/g - Alyssa Cruz 5.7
Steals/g - Sydney Shanks 2.4
Blocks/g - Hannah Frazier 3.2
Off Rebs/g - Josie Summerville 2.9
Def Rebs/g - Devin Kyler 6.6
3FG made/g - Theresa Wichser 2.7
Assists/TO ratio - Bailey Gilbert 1.75
overall FG% - Raven Hughes .619
3FG% - Hannah Frazier .467
FT% - Maddie Merritt .875

[RogK]

I've figured the "effective FG%" leaders from the full season stats. Decided to limit it to players who scored at least 100 pts* via field goals. Yes, some teams played more games than others.
For those who don't remember, effective FG% adds the appropriate credit for made threes to traditional overall FG pct.
One way to show the formula is : Pts scored from FGs / (FG att x 2)
Example : player A makes 5 two-point shots in 10 total FG att; 10 pts scored from 10 FG att = .500 eFG% (also .500 FG%)
Example : player B makes 2 twos and 2 threes in 10 total FG att; 10 pts scored from 10 FG att = .500 eFG% (.400 FG%)
Here are the players whose eFG% was at least .400
AUG : Mia Lambert .530, Alexis Jones .511, Scooter Lopez .483, Izzy Anderson .442
CRL : Theresa Wichser .571, Katie Rossetti .522, Kayla Stefka .480, Sierra Grubor .430
CTG : Autumn Kalis .549, Sammie Woodward .492, Rachel Szydlowski .489, Bailey Gilbert .469, Maggie Berigan .467, Madie Kaelber .441
ELM : Lauren Goff .536, Marissa Urso .450, Courtney O'Donnell .450, Kellee Clay .447, Kween Jean .414
IWU : Raven Hughes .628, Samantha Munroe .593, Riley Brovelli .548, Maddie Merritt .545, Kendall Sosa .535, Sydney Shanks .445, Ashley Schneider .440
MIL : Jordan Hildebrand .592, Aubrey Staton .492, Yanni Saddler .460
NCC : Lyndsay Brennan .529, Page Desenberg .529, Maya Walls .475, Alanna Newsome .435, Natali Dimitrova .422
NPU : Jayla Johnson .535, Josie Summerville .429
WHE : Hannah Frazier .550, Kristi Demski .524, Hannah Williams .465, Jordan Myroth .443, Devin Kyler .443
* honorable mention goes to Wheaton's Jenn Berg who scored 99 pts via 84 FG att, for a .589 eFG%.

[iwu70]

Thanks, RogK, some great stats and perspectives.

Amazing number that Raven Hughes put up.

'70

[RogK]

You're welcome, iwu70.
Raven definitely has a great shooting touch.
I imagine that you also find optimism for '19-'20 in the .593 mark achieved rather quietly by Ms Munroe.

[iwu70]

RogK, yes, I'm optimistic overall about the returning TITANS.  Sam Munroe had her ups and downs, started at PG, then demoted when Sydney Shanks took up the starting PG duties, but then came on later and played very very well in the last 8-10 games of the season.  She will surely be a big part of the TITANS rotation next season.  Maybe Mia Smith tries something new with Lansford at PG, and Shanks at the 2 or even three, with Sosa at the 2.  Hughes and Brovelli likely playing in the paint.  Just hope Brovelli comes on to match to some good degree the play of All-Conference Merritt and that Hughes diversifies her offensive game a bit, to match her superb defense, rebounding and high shooting percentage.  Brovelli can't match Merritt's FT% shooting as yet, but if she can give 10 and 6 on a consistent basis, getting more PT, then I think IWU has a winning combination next year.  She'll have to stay out of foul trouble.  Sosa, Shanks, Munroe and Lansford will all be expected to score more.  Quite a reasonable prospect.  No word yet on Mia's recruiting class.  I'm sure the Titans again will contend for the CCIW crown, tournament and the AQ next year.

'70

[GoPerry]

A nice post-season accolade for Maddie Merritt, named to WBCA All Star team to play in Salem next weekend.  Congrats to her.

https://wbca.org/about/press-releases/beyond-sports-wbca-announce-18-division-iii-women%E2%80%99s-basketball-all-stars-fans

[RogK]

My congrats, too, to Maddie Merritt for earning that honor. Have a fun weekend! Hopefully not too much of it waiting at airports.