WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

bbaskets · January 07, 2010, 04:27:57 PM

I was at the NCC/IWU game. I was overall impressed with NCC's and Errico's performance against top-ranked IWU. Considering the debth of IWU's bench having played 15 girls and NCC playing 7 girls, my accolades go to NCC!!! NCC needs to get off to a better first half as they were neck to neck in scoring in the 2nd half. That has been a problem in past games, as well.

RogK · January 08, 2010, 02:31:45 PM

I predict that after Saturday's games, there will be two CCIW teams at 2-0, four at 1-1 and two at 0-2.

Titan Q · January 09, 2010, 09:58:26 AM

Pantagraph article on the Titans, who have now won 50 straight regular season games...

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-wesleyan/article_759c3b8c-fcad-11de-b459-001cc4c002e0.html

Huge game today in the CCIW race.

Hoosier Titan · January 09, 2010, 04:00:26 PM

Following the IWU-Carthage game in an Internet pub/cafe surrounded by 20-something partiers on Saturday night in England. 45-23 IWU at halftime; looks like Nikki Preston is on fire. C. Solari's scoring numbers are down--maybe they're defending her and leaving others open?

iwumichigander · January 09, 2010, 04:45:44 PM

Final IWU 76 Carthage 48

An impressive win by IWU . Christine Solari turns in a double double playing just 29 minutes (high minutes for IWU). Coach Smith got every player into this game - nice with IWU's 100 years men's basketball being celebrated today.

Mr. Ypsi · January 09, 2010, 04:52:16 PM

I don't want to read TOO much into a single game, but if even red-hot Carthage couldn't give the Titans a game (I don't think the margin was ever less than 20 after late in the first half), I'm concerned whether IWU will be ready for the playoffs. They had a very tough non-con schedule, but will anyone challenge them over the last two months?

Maybe things will be different in Kenosha.

iwumichigander · January 09, 2010, 05:05:20 PM

Quote from: Mr. Ypsi on January 09, 2010, 04:52:16 PM
I don't want to read TOO much into a single game, but if even red-hot Carthage couldn't give the Titans a game (I don't think the margin was ever less than 20 after late in the first half), I'm concerned whether IWU will be ready for the playoffs. They had a very tough non-con schedule, but will anyone challenge them over the last two months?

Maybe things will be different in Kenosha.

It will likely be a tougher contest in Kenosha. I'm not all that concerned about IWU being ready for the playoffs. This season's situation not all that different than last season except for the non-conference schedule you noted.

I think two big challenges face the Titans: 1) Conditioning as not likely Titan starters will play for high minutes. 2) Improving efficiency

You can offset #1 in part with practice, weight room and running work. It still does not replace actual game time. Improving upon #2 means the top 7-8 players with minutes will need to try to improve their efficiency while playing less minutes; i.e. if you are scoring 20 point in 30 minutes can you score 20 points in 18 minutes? The remaining players will need to focus in the same way either improving production over less playing time or increasing their production with more playing time.

And Coach Smith seems to do a very good job assigning those type of challenges to the Lady Titans. Any way you look at it, a nice problem for a coach to have!

iwu70 · January 10, 2010, 06:21:03 AM

Congrats to the Titans on a good thrashing of Carthage. Great game to have during the 100 years of men's basketball celebration. Keep it rolling Titans. Work even harder, improve your overall game, keep things rolling for a CCIW championship.

Titan Q · January 10, 2010, 11:15:17 AM

I was at the IWU/Carthage game yesterday. Not much need for long-winded analysis...this was a complete blowout. I suspect the game in Kenosha will be very close though.

The Titans are outstanding. Not only do they have a tremendous offense, but their pressure defense is about as good as any I've ever seen (men/women, DI/D3, whatever). Through 13 games (against a great schedule), the Titans are averaging 31 turnovers forced per game. 31...that is crazy.

Where Mia Smith has this program is just incredible.

bflong · January 10, 2010, 11:41:19 AM

Congratulations to the Lady Jays as they defeated a much improved Augustana Vikings team (by 20). Meghan Merklein led the Jays with 24 shooting 8 of 10 from the field. Lyndsie Long had 19 with 9 boards-- they announced at the game that LL is now only 4 points away from 1500 in her career... congrats to her!! Kelsey Monroe had another consistant performance with 10 points and 4 steals!!!

Milikin and North Park played a close game, Milkin came away with the W, winning by 10 points. Congratulations to Wheaton as they defeated NCC... North Central's Erricko led the chace again with 22 points!!!

Good Luck to all the CCIW teams as we lead into the 2nd week of conference play!!

RogK · January 10, 2010, 03:41:06 PM

I saw the last 3/4ths of the Elmhurst game and agree with bflong's comments. Also, I'll add that Rashida Joiner had a smart game for the Jays, with 7 assists, 7 rebs and 11 pts. And Megan Ney again was a strong defensive presence.
Elmhurst has Carthage and IWU next.
Earlier in the day, I saw Millikin get past North Park.
The Big Blue's Cecily Aldridge had her way in the 1st half, getting 19 of her 22 pts and 8 of her 10 rebs. North Park sorely missed Sarah Peterson, as she would have been able to restrict Aldridge, scoring and rebound-wise. Peterson may return from a leg injury this week.
Aldridge and teammate Beth Wellbaum have been playing full games lately. Seeing them in person gives a clue how they manage it : they have the conditioning of soccer players, exhibiting no apparent fatigue until very late in the game.
Millikin's regulars had a significant height advantage over most of the North Park players. This was particularly useful when NP tried pressing, because Millikin was able to pass the ball around easily, over the defenders. And, North Park's press wasn't in-your-face enough to cause turnovers anyway; it ate up parts of Millikin's shot clock, but didn't accomplish much else. A more aggressive press could have induced turnovers, but risks fouls and occasional 2-on-1s for the other team.
Crystal Ziegler and Elise Wildman did some very nice give-and-go plays for each other. Ziegler, one of the conference's better forwards, has been limited by a nagging leg problem this year.
I heard that the Big Blue's Brooke Carlson has stopped playing due to too many concussions. Too bad for her, but a very wise decision. She is still very helpful to the team, voicing encouragement and assisting the coaching staff.

Wydown Blvd. · January 10, 2010, 04:08:41 PM

Im going to throw something out there (gut feeling). If Elmhurst is able to keep their confidence up, Id say watch out for them as the other candidate (other than Carthage) to pull the upset of IWU in the regular season. Coming after such a bad loss, Carthage will be fired up for the Blue Jays in their upcoming matchup, so I don't think an upset is brewing there, but I'll be checking the Elmhurst v IWU score next Sunday.

Hoosier Titan · January 11, 2010, 05:56:06 AM

Quote from: Wydown Blvd. on January 10, 2010, 04:08:41 PM
Im going to throw something out there (gut feeling). If Elmhurst is able to keep their confidence up, Id say watch out for them as the other candidate (other than Carthage) to pull the upset of IWU in the regular season. Coming after such a bad loss, Carthage will be fired up for the Blue Jays in their upcoming matchup, so I don't think an upset is brewing there, but I'll be checking the Elmhurst v IWU score next Sunday.

They certainly gave the Titans a tremendous scare at the end of last season, with a 20 point lead in the second half. They're certainly capable if the Titans come in overconfident. That hasn't happened with IWU yet this season, but it's got to be a concern for Mia Smith.

Old Hoosier Baller · January 11, 2010, 09:21:34 AM

IWU is clearly the class of the league again this season. The Carthage-Elmhurst game tomorrow will be a good barometer as to where Elmhurst is in the pecking order early in the conference season. When the Bluejays are patient on offense, push the ball in transition, and lock in defensively like they are capable of, I believe they can compete at a high level. They tend to have difficulty when they turn into a jump-shooting team early in the shot clock, and that plays into the hands of the defense. The Jays have both inside and outside scoring threats and they have been most successful this season when they utilize both. The resurgence of Kelsey Monroe has been huge for the Jays the past few games.

RogK · January 11, 2010, 01:07:08 PM

I'll direct this to Titan Q, since he attended the IWU-Carthage game :
Why do you expect that their matchup in Kenosha will be much closer?
Home court advantage? Did Carthage do some good things Saturday, despite getting whipped?
The Lady Reds' shooting stats were pretty crummy all around -- 13/36 on 2FGs, 2/8 threes and 16/24 FTs.
Carthage could take care of the ball better, reducing TOs from 30 to some lower amount. IWU had 25 TOs, so they too could improve that category next time.
I was way off, thinking that game would be 62-57 -ish, not specifying a winner.