WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

If the blue run the table and are fortunate enough to host, I'm pretty sure  nobody from the university will miss you, so you can mask up at home and light a candle in case the smell comes thru you laptop.

Gotta admit, that gave me a chuckle.

Not going out on a limb here, but with NP having injury issues, it will probably be MU vs IWU in the final game. Hopefully nobody will lose a player to "health issue's "

Not gonna lie: NPU is a serious underdog at Shirk tonight. I would love nothing more than to be proven wrong about this, but I suspect that the Vikings will endure a whipping this evening -- and I think that they're going to have plenty of trouble against Millikin, Wheaton, and Carroll to round out the regular season as well, given that coaches Lett, Madsen, and Schultz will no doubt have studied the Augie @ NPU game and will likely follow Mark Beinborn's lead by not only conceding the three-point line, as everyone has done to North Park since Emily Czuhajewski was hurt, but by collapsing entirely and giving every Viking aside from Jayla access to midrange shots from the free-throw line outward.

As to whether or not it will be Millikin and Illinois Wesleyan in the D3 tourney final ... well, it's not a given (Carroll is my dark horse as the team that could knock off one of the two in the tourney), but it's a reasonable bet.

I felt far more safe at NPU due to their policies of vetting for vaccination which were not a joke and were handled well, IMHO.  I give all credit to NPU and to the City of Chicago

I love my alma mater just as much as you love yours, Mark, but I'm not going to puff out my chest and brag that NPU is doing a better job at the gym door vis-a-vis masks, IDs, vax cards, what have you. North Park's administration views the situation as a matter of maintaining compliance with the city, which has tighter rules than other municipalities, for any number of good reasons. NPU's more stringent policies are something for which the athletics department has paid a price -- even as the transmission of the Omicron variant is receding in the city, eight Vikings men's volleyball players are currently shelved for tonight's match at St. Norbert due to contact protocols, including the team's top scorer -- but in the end it's all about being a school that isn't at loggerheads with its surrounding community. And that's nothing more than a sort of baseline-minimal virtue, if you ask me. (And, yeah, I know that nobody did. )

I share Greg's view that this will not be a happy chapter in our country's history . . . the division, the stupidity about common-sense public health measures

Look, I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of discussing public health policy with you, because that's not the purpose of this board ... but the fact of the matter is that there's been plenty of public health measures that have not been common sense, and have proven to be unhelpful or even deleterious and destructive. This issue has unfortunately taken on partisan political tones, and in 2022 America that means binary thinking is being imposed upon a vast and complicated crisis that doesn't necessarily lend itself to binary rhetoric.

We have to admit that the CCIW women's game is down a bit this year, no team at all getting votes in the top-25 D3hoops poll for a number of weeks now. 

On that, we definitely agree.

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage hosts 18-0 Wisconsin Lutheran tonight. The visitors are #15 in the latest D3hoops poll and have held every opponent under 70 pts.
WLC beat Millikin 66-56 in November.

I'm going to keep my eye on that game. Carthage certainly isn't going to become the first 2021-22 opponent of the Warriors to exceed 70 points, that's for sure. The Firebirds haven't topped 70 all season, other than their season opener against Lawrence and an outing a few weeks ago against Elmhurst and its sieve-like defense, and Carthage is currently averaging 55.7 ppg overall and 53.1 ppg in league play, both dead last in the CCIW. Tim Bernero has really put all of his eggs in the basket of team defense this year, and whatever success Carthage has had against decent opponents has been primarily the handiwork of its defense -- with a slight exception and nod in the direction of Ayanna Ester, who went off like gangbusters beyond the arc at King Arena last Wednesday.

[RogK]

Lauren Knight is their only scorer over 10 per game, at 10.9. Ester follows at 7.5.
But as you note, Carthage prefers low-possession games this season.

[GoPerry]

Wheaton        68
Augustana      65

Annika Richardson  24 pts, 4 rebs
Hannah Swider     19 pts, 6 rebs
Ellie Cassel             10 pts

Macy Beinborn   20 pts, 8 rebs, 2 blks, 2 stls
Gabriela Loiz       16 pts
Lauren Hall          7 pts, 8 rebs

The Thunder ladies really came through down the stretch in this one.  It was a very close game the whole way until a Beinborn three extended the lead to 8 for the Vikings.  But to Wheaton's credit, they didn't panic, they tightened up the D and started hitting some shots.  Richardson herself scored 13 of her team's final 19 pts and the Thunder got the win.  Wheaton committed only 10 turnovers.   Lily Schwen had a very good game with 5 assists against only 2 turnovers. 

At 7-6 in conference, the Thunder have been playing a little better of late but they have a tough 3 game finish: @ IWU, @ NPU and vs Millikin.  They only need one more win or a North Central loss and they'll be in the conference tourney.  If they can manage to win two of those and finish 9-7, they might even get to play another home game (depending how NPU and Carroll finish out).

If they can take care of the ball on Saturday at IWU, they'll have a chance.

[lmitzel]

Final from the hangar in an extra session.

NCC 70
Millikin 69

I am giddy.

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois Wesleyan 81
North Park 60

Jayla Johnson: 26 pts, 13 rebs
Lauren McKnight: 13 pts, 4 stls
Esther Miller: 3 stls

Kaia Bowen: 15 pts, 6 rebs
Catie Eck: 13 pts, 5 stls, 4 blks
Brooke Lansford: 13 pts, 3 stls
Mallory Powers: 10 pts
Katelyn Heller: 3 stls

Not a surprise, as NPU as currently constituted just doesn't have the personnel to stay with an uptempo pressing team.

The silver lining in my book was what appears to be a good night for freshman Lauren McKnight, who is gaining confidence as well as experience, and an outstanding effort tonight by Jayla Johnson. As I said a couple of weeks ago, Jayla is not going to make the CCIW MOP award a cakewalk for Elyce Knudsen.

[lmitzel]

As I said a couple of weeks ago, Jayla is not going to make the CCIW MOP award a cakewalk for Elyce Knudsen.

Especially when Elyce Knudsen goes *checks notes* 2-17.

This was a fun one. North Central led by 10 in the 2nd quarter before Millikin started fighting back, got within four at the break, and had a six point lead in the fourth, but couldn't hold it. North Central had a chance to win in regulation, but their design broke down, and Natalie Stavropolous came up short on a long three at the horn (and was probably fouled, but it wasn't called.)

Elle Sutter was fouled with 0.4 left in overtime (fifth on Knudsen), and after missing the first, got the second, and the Big Blue desperation heave didn't get off in time.

Allison Pearson: 15 pts, 8 reb
Elle Sutter: 9 pts, 12 reb, 5 ast
Mitrese Smith: 10 pts

Bailey Coffman: 24 pts
Jordan Hildebrand: 14 pts, 6 reb
Elyce Knudsen: 11 pts, 5 reb

[iwu70]

Thank you NCC . . . well now, that puts a different face on the CCIW race, doesn't it!   

Yes, IWU 81 NPU 60     A good bounce back game for the Titans.  Way too many TOs, for sure, by both teams.

For NPU:

Johnson 26 and 13, a tremendous player
McKnight 13
29 TOs

For IWU:

Bowen 15 and 6, 9-13 FTs, 2 blocks, 2 steals
Lansford 13
Eck 13 4 blocks 5 steals
Palmer 12, finding some clean trey looks tonight
Powers 10
Heller 7 and 3 steals

23 TOs, just ragged tonight, too much dribbling into traffic, too many sloppy passes.

But, Titans shooting 50% and 52% from three

With the MU loss, the race is back on for the regular season title, both now at 11-2, with three games to go?

I'll leave all the public health discussion to the side and stick with the basketball.  Just stay safe and vertical out there, guys, and try to stay away from Delta and Omicron, unmasked and unvaccinated crowds.  I hope all your players, coaches, staff and fans do, too.

IWU hosts Wheaton on Saturday, 2 p.m. (the key, big men's game IWU hosting Wheaton at 4 p.m.) -- with NCC at home and @Augie to wrap up the regular season.  14-2 is possible. 

IWU'70 

[RogK]

A 24-12 4th quarter won it for Wisconsin Lutheran at Carthage, yielding a 55-47 final.
WLC's Sam Leisemann and Jenna Mace each tallied 21, so those two accounted for 41% of all the points scored in the game.
Margueret Spear topped Carthage scorers with 10. Bridget Barrett had 8 rebs.

[RogK]

Carroll had no trouble with Elmhurst, up 54-12 at the half and winning 87-33.
Eight Pios scored 7+ , led by Megan Madsen with 15. Brook Foster had 10 pts and 4 steals.
Kate Christian also had 10, not missing any shot (made a 3, a 2, 5/5 FTs).
Allison Thompson was remarkably productive in her 16 minutes : 11 rebs, 9 pts, 2 stls, 2 blocks.
Late in the 1st Q, I had a quick laugh when her home announcer called her Elizabeth Thompson, borrowing fellow six-footer Elizabeth Behrndt's first name.
I didn't watch much of this game of course.
Marissa Urso led the visiting 'jays with 9 pts.

[GoPerry]

As I said a couple of weeks ago, Jayla is not going to make the CCIW MOP award a cakewalk for Elyce Knudsen.

Especially when Elyce Knudsen goes *checks notes* 2-17.

This was a fun one. North Central led by 10 in the 2nd quarter before Millikin started fighting back, got within four at the break, and had a six point lead in the fourth, but couldn't hold it. North Central had a chance to win in regulation, but their design broke down, and Natalie Stavropolous came up short on a long three at the horn (and was probably fouled, but it wasn't called.)

Elle Sutter was fouled with 0.4 left in overtime (fifth on Knudsen), and after missing the first, got the second, and the Big Blue desperation heave didn't get off in time.

Allison Pearson: 15 pts, 8 reb
Elle Sutter: 9 pts, 12 reb, 5 ast
Mitrese Smith: 10 pts

Bailey Coffman: 24 pts
Jordan Hildebrand: 14 pts, 6 reb
Elyce Knudsen: 11 pts, 5 reb

This is a result that I never would have guessed at.  Congrats to the Lady Cards.

It's about as strange a box score one could imagine.  The Big Blue had a whopping 72 shots, 15 more attempts (72-57) than the Cards, 17 more FT attempts (34-17), +13 on the offensive glass (21-8), +11 turnover margin.  They basically outplayed NCC in every facet except that one critical skill of actually putting the ball through the hoop.  Millikin 19/72 for 26.4% from the field while the home team was 27/57 for 47.4%. 

Maybe it's the effect of playing in the Hangar.  But for MU, it was clearly just one of those games shooting wise.  To their credit, NCC had a good night offensively and took advantage.

[RogK]

Yeah, GoPerry, North Central was +14 in points scored from 2FGs and +3 in points scored from 3FGs, edging Millikin's +16 in the "made free throw" category.
Millikin was 15-for-55 in 2FG shooting, while NCC made 22-of-43.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I checked the CCIW webpages, but couldn't find the tie-break procedure for seeding the conference tourney.  With NCC upsetting Millikin, a tie between IWU and Millikin looks highly possible, including that the two teams split their series.  So ... if they finish tied, is the tourney in Decatur or B-town?

[lmitzel]

I checked the CCIW webpages, but couldn't find the tie-break procedure for seeding the conference tourney.  With NCC upsetting Millikin, a tie between IWU and Millikin looks highly possible, including that the two teams split their series.  So ... if they finish tied, is the tourney in Decatur or B-town?

It's buried somewhere. I ended up Googling it and finding it.

As for the standings:

z-	Millikin	11-2
z-	Illinois Wesleyan	11-2
	Carroll	7-6
	North Park	7-6
	Wheaton	7-6
	North Central	6-8
	Carthage	5-8
	Augustana	5-9
e-	Elmhurst	1-12

Our friends downstate are guaranteed to finish 1-2 in some order. Since they split their two meetings, it goes to record against the next-best team. If the season ended today it would be in Decatur since the Big Blue swept Carroll (the Titans split). For reference, each team has a win over Wheaton with one still to go yet, and Millikin has a win over the Vikings with one to play; IWU swept them. Millikin at this point has the tiebreaker pending Wheaton results, though we could end up going further down the standings depending on how things shake out.

The NCC upset also gives the Cardinals the inside track to the 6 seed with that win over Millikin being something Augie doesn't have and would be the tiebreaker if Illinois Wesleyan has the same results against both the Cardinals and Vikings next week. (NCC already locked up the tiebreaker over Carthage thanks to a head to head sweep).

[Mr. Ypsi]

So the tourney location gets a whole lot simplified if NPU just does their duty and knocks off Millikin!

OK, Greg - you know your assignment!