WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Just Bill]

Official Travel Distances -

IWU-Wash U. - 171 miles
UWSP-St. Ben's - 288 miles
UWSP-IWU - 300 miles
UWSP-Wash U. - 469 miles
IWU-St. Ben's - 532 miles
St.Ben's-Wash U. - 628 miles

https://web1.ncaa.org/TES/exec/TES/exec/miles

St. Ben's beating UW-Whitewater may have cost IWU the chance to host.  If it was UWW in this field, it would almost certainly be IWU.

[Hoosier Titan]

IWU sports updates is announcing that the sectionals will be in Bloomington.  6:00 CDT St. Benedict v. Wash U; 8:00 UWSP v. IWU.  This comes from the office of the SID. 

[Just Bill]

If so, then good for the NCAA, going with seeding over geography.

[RogK]

Way to go, Titans! Don't forget your homework.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'm pleasantly surprised (bordering on shocked ) that IWU will host rather than UWSP.  In a discussion of host selection in the CCIW men's thread, Pat said he believes this is the first time ever that the NCAA has voluntarily ponied-up for a plane flight to maintain seeding integrity. 

I'll say something I may never have said before: bravo, NCAA!

[Just Bill]

Maybe the men's committee needs to take a lesson from the women's committee about placing competition and fairness over dollars.

[Hoosier Titan]

Looking at the season averages for IWU and UW-Eau Claire, it's almost startling how each team's performance last night closely tracks its season average:

For IWU:

Last night's scoring:  80     Season average  79.6
FG %                       50%                           45%
Opponent's points                                       55.8

For UW-Eau Claire:

Last night's scoring  63      Season average 63.3
FG%                       39.6%                        43.8
Opponent's points                                      51.8

It looks like each team pretty much played its game, offensively.  The big difference is that IWU simply scored a lot more than Eau Claire's previous opponents.

[veterancciwfan]

Regarding the bracket IWU is in, half of the top 10 teams in the country were in it and now three of the remaining top 6 teams advance to the IWU sectional (IWU #1, Stevens Point #4 and Wash. U. #6). The likelihood is that the winner of the IWU sectional will be national champs. Can you imagine the D1 Tournament committee setting up the men's or women's NCAA tournament so that the #1 team in the country would logically play the #4 team in only the 3rd round? Of course not, but the NCAA, which has billions, won't spend a little of it's wealth to reward seeding. And I'm well aware of the reasons behind the NCAA philisophy of D3 competion. Oh well, we all know that the NCAA merely tolerates D3, even though the true student-athlete (and I stress student) competes at the D3 level. Just happy that the D3 national committee is paying for the plane ride for St. Benedict to fly to Bloomington. Should be an exciting tournament. Did Stevens Point beat South Dakota or S. D. State on the road this year?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Regarding the bracket IWU is in, half of the top 10 teams in the country were in it and now three of the remaining top 6 teams advance to the IWU sectional (IWU #1, Stevens Point #4 and Wash. U. #6). The likelihood is that the winner of the IWU sectional will be national champs. Can you imagine the D1 Tournament committee setting up the men's or women's NCAA tournament so that the #1 team in the country would logically play the #4 team in only the 3rd round? Of course not, but the NCAA, which has billions, won't spend a little of it's wealth to reward seeding. And I'm well aware of the reasons behind the NCAA philisophy of D3 competion. Oh well, we all know that the NCAA merely tolerates D3, even though the true student-athlete (and I stress student) competes at the D3 level. Just happy that the D3 national committee is paying for the plane ride for St. Benedict to fly to Bloomington. Should be an exciting tournament. Did Stevens Point beat South Dakota or S. D. State on the road this year?

The women's committee still beats the heck out of the men's: the sectional at Wheaton consists of the national #1, #2, #3, and #7 teams!  (With #4, #5, and #8 having already been eliminated.)  And glad you mentioned the sectional being in B'town rather than UWSP as we all expected - the men's committee has NEVER voluntarily ponied-up for a plane flight to protect the integrity of seeds.  Given the d3 regionalism philosophy (and economic realities), I think the women's tourney is just about as good as it gets.

[But, yes, that sectional IS a doozy! ]

[Pat Coleman]

I'm pleasantly surprised (bordering on shocked ) that IWU will host rather than UWSP.  In a discussion of host selection in the CCIW men's thread, Pat said he believes this is the first time ever that the NCAA has voluntarily ponied-up for a plane flight to maintain seeding integrity. 

What I actually said was that I can't recall the men ever doing it. I didn't say anything about the women or whether this was the first time ever.

[Hoosier Titan]

Did Stevens Point beat South Dakota or S. D. State on the road this year?

It was Eau Claire who beat South Dakota on the road, 62-50.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Other than being the toughest opponent the Titans have faced (at least since Wash U in the second game of the season - and who is the likely opponent for the winner), does anyone know anything about UWSP?  Size or speed (or both )?  Defensive-minded or up-tempo?  Main threats?  Anything?

[Just Bill]

UWSP has a history of outstanding post players, but this team has been an exception to that tradition. They have good post players but their strength is in their guards (and their post players who step out and act like guards).  They take a lot of stuff off the dribble and are very quick.  They don't full court press per se, but they almost always pick up the point guard for the length of the floor.

Their biggest strength this year is their balance. They've had games where they score 80 points and nobody has more than 12.  They've had 8 different players lead the team in scoring at least once this year.  The kid who led them in scoring in the second round game (Flease) had never been their leading scorer all season until that game.  It's not possible to key on just 1 or 2 kids with them.

[Mr. Ypsi]

UWSP has a history of outstanding post players, but this team has been an exception to that tradition. They have good post players but their strength is in their guards (and their post players who step out and act like guards).  They take a lot of stuff off the dribble and are very quick.  They don't full court press per se, but they almost always pick up the point guard for the length of the floor.

Their biggest strength this year is their balance. They've had games where they score 80 points and nobody has more than 12.  They've had 8 different players lead the team in scoring at least once this year.  The kid who led them in scoring in the second round game (Flease) had never been their leading scorer all season until that game.  It's not possible to key on just 1 or 2 kids with them.

Thanks, Bill.  I gave my response on the WIAC board.

[RogK]

Here are the 2FG % and 3FG % for conference-only games (not counting the CCIW tournament) :
                             2FG                                 3FG
IWU           308/585  .526                   99/325  .305
CARTH       270/574  .470                    60/194  .309
MILL          223/487  .458                   89/252  .353
WHE          292/648  .451                   84/259  .324
ELMH         305/725  .421                   37/153  .242
NC             255/630  .405                   60/188  .319
AUG           220/549  .401                   47/187  .251
NP             206/582  .354                   43/161  .267

Elmhurst shot 52 two-point attempts per game, by far the most in the league (Wheaton next at 46) and took only 11 threes per game. IWU tried 23 threes per game.
IWU (910) and Wheaton (907) were at the top in total FG attempts and had the least turnovers (16.4, 16.1) per game.