WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

Just looked for any new roster info.
Millikin now lists four freshmen, plus 14 that aren't.
IWU has added two more freshmen, for a total of ten.
Practice starts one month from today, I think.

[Mr. Ypsi]

A deep roster will surely help North Park, Greg, even if it takes a while for them all to "get on the same page." And we may now get a better idea of what brand of play Coach Reese wants to implement.
Did any of our numerous IWU fans notice that the Titan web site now has a 25 player (8 freshmen) 2010-11 roster? Looks like everyone who could return has returned. Coach Smith again has an abundance of fine players.

Just caught this line.  Alas, not quite.  Christina Solari COULD have returned!

It's been known for a long time that she wouldn't, but she COULD have.

[RogK]

I sit corrected, Mr Ypsi.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU's 2010-11 schedule is now posted. The Vikings seem to have quite a year-to-year divergence in terms of the number of home non-conference games. Some years NPU plays as many as six home non-conference games, sometimes as few as one. This is one of those years in which the Vikings will play six non-conference games at home.

NPU's opener is on Wednesday, November 15, in the North Park gym against Roosevelt. This is the first year that Roosevelt has fielded a team since the school dropped intercollegiate sports twenty years ago. The revived Roosevelt athletics department has joined the NAIA, with an eye towards eventually joining the NCAA on the D3 level.

It's always an extra challenge to face an NAIA team at the very start of the season, since the NAIA basketball schedule starts before D3's in terms of both the preseason practice phase and the season phase. Their game at NPU will be the fourth game of the season for the Lakers.

[RogK]

The new Augustana roster (25 players) is posted on their site.
Most everyone is back, with the exception of the player who led them in five categories in last year's CCIW-only stats: as a sophomore in '09-'10, Lani Kasten averaged 11 pts, 5.8 rebs, 1 block (not a huge amount, but 4th best in the league) and shot .464 FGs and .831 FTs (4th best in the league).
We'll see who gets her minutes.
Augie has certainly not accomplished much in CCIW play lately. Do we attribute that to the players or the coaching? Who knows?
Hey Greg, you wrote that Roosevelt may be interested in switching to D3 down the road. That raises questions :
Does the CCIW want nine teams? Would a tenth school join simultaneously?
Would a current member school leave?

[Gregory Sager]

Hey Greg, you wrote that Roosevelt may be interested in switching to D3 down the road. That raises questions :
Does the CCIW want nine teams? Would a tenth school join simultaneously?
Would a current member school leave?

Short answers: No, no, and no.

If Roosevelt does indeed go D3, look for the Lakers to try to join the NAthCon.

[Mr. Ypsi]

A suggestion for wild speculation: IF a current school did leave, who (if anyone) would replace them?

My contention has always been that 8 is the ideal size for a conference.  Any odd number makes scheduling a nightmare; 6 loses the AQ; 10 leaves too few non-con games if you play a full round-robin (or double round-robin in bball), but not doing so makes for inevitable inequities in determining the conference champion.

So ... if someone left and we wanted 8, who would be invited?  Let Carroll back in?  Aurora?  Chicago (doubt they'd be interested in leaving the UAA despite travel costs; that's 'coins found under the sofa cushions' to U of C! )?

Anyone feel like playing my hypothetical?

[Gregory Sager]

Carroll might get the nod, although the downstate schools would rather not have to shlep all the way up to Waukesha all the time. Since the departure of one of the downstate schools would still leave two in the CCIW, that's a consideration.

Benedictine will never get in, no way, no how, because: a) North Central is adamantly opposed to having its next-door neighbor join the league; and b) even if NCC was the school that left the CCIW, there's the religious consideration. Chicagoland is heavily Catholic, with a not-inconsiderable percentage of CCIW student-athletes hailing from parochial schools, and having a Catholic school in the league would give the school in question (in this case, Benedictine) an unfair recruiting advantage.

Concordia (IL) just doesn't have the resources or the athletic tradition to merit a CCIW membership. Dominican is doing alright in some sports (soccer, particularly), but it doesn't offer one of the four men's sports that are mandatory for CCIW membership, football. Plus, Dominican has the Catholic thing working against it, too. Other NAthCon schools north of the border (Marian, Maranatha Baptist, Wisconsin Lutheran, Concordia WI, Edgewood, and Lakeland) have distance and competition level working against them, while the more CCIW-proximate Rockford is not a financially healthy school.

St. Norbert would like to join the league, and it has the best across-the-board athletic department in the MWC. But it's much too far away from even the Chicagoland Four, to say nothing of the Downstate Three. And it's not as though it's within easy distance of Carthage, either. Ditto Ripon and Lawrence, who haven't shown the same interest in CCIW membership as have Carroll and St. Norbert.

The University of Chicago? Forget about it. Chicago does not fit the CCIW profile of a small liberal arts college. It's a medium-sized school whose profile is that of a research university. Its mission, ethos, calendar -- heck, pretty much everything about it -- is dramatically different than the CCIW's schools. Of course, Chicago does recognize that CCIW schools have an affinity to it in terms of placing a high premium on both academics and athletic success, so it regularly plays CCIW schools in non-conference competition in numerous sports. But if the UAA were to vanish overnight, the Maroons would probably go back to playing in the MWC, which is where they were prior to the creation of the UAA, rather than join the CCIW. Milwaukee Engineering, too, is probably a bad fit for the CCIW because of its academic mission (i.e., the narrow focus upon engineering and related fields; MSOE only offers four majors).

Beloit, Knox, and Monmouth are all within the general geographic perimeter of the CCIW, but I've never heard of any of them evincing any interest in CCIW membership. Lake Forest and Illinois College, the two other schools besides Carroll that deserted the CCIW in favor of the MWC, likewise have not appeared to show much interest in joining the CCIW. All five schools would be good fits in terms of academics, resources, and facilities, but all five would trail badly in terms of competition level.

The only SLIAC schools that're geographically even semi-reasonable are Eureka and MacMurray, and both are definitely a no-go as far as the CCIW is concerned. Heck, the Red Devils are so bad at football that the last two times they played NPU they lost by four touchdowns (2006) and three touchdowns (2007) -- while the Highlanders were trounced on the gridiron this year by NPU to the tune of 70-7, and it could've been much worse if North Park hadn't called off the dogs early. If you get steamrolled by NPU in football, then you have no business considering CCIW membership.

The CCIW does have an associate member, Rose-Hulman, but that's strictly to fill out the league in men's and women's swimming so that the CCIW can have an automatic bid to the postseason. It does not participate in the CCIW in any non-aquatic sports. Terre Haute, IN is too far away for normal membership purposes.

Of all local current D3 members, Aurora would probably be the best bet to fill an empty slot in the CCIW.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Thanks for the very thorough run-down, Greg.

Any NAIA schools that would be likely options if they chose to migrate?  IWU has (had?) a long-standing series with Olivet Nazarene (though they are not on this year's schedule).  Care to do a run-down on them, maestro?

BTW, RHIT might be less a geographical outlier than Augie (they'd be closer to IWU and Millikin than any other CCIW schools, but I haven't checked total distances to ALL schools), though I have no idea whether they would be interested or overall appropriate.

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks for the very thorough run-down, Greg.

Any NAIA schools that would be likely options if they chose to migrate?  IWU has (had?) a long-standing series with Olivet Nazarene (though they are not on this year's schedule).  Care to do a run-down on them, maestro?

There's a couple of CCAC schools that would be worth considering as potential CCIW members. Olivet Nazarene is the obvious one. Trinity International is also worth mentioning, although it doesn't have the facilities or the athletic bona-fides of OliNaz. Plus, TIU would have to add two more sports in order to qualify for D3 membership (probably men's and women's track & field). Judson doesn't have football. Neither does Trinity Christian, which would also need to add a sport just to meet the D3 minimum. Cardinal Stritch, Holy Cross, CCSJ, St. Xavier, and St. Francis probably wouldn't be considered due to the religious reasons I've already mentioned.

The CCIW would never accept public institutions, so that crosses Purdue-Calumet, Purdue-North Central, Indiana-Northwest, and Indiana-South Bend off the list (among myriad other reasons).

Illinois Tech is shedding sports, not adding them. Any school that drops basketball is not a school worth considering for CCIW membership. Roosevelt is intriguing, because its size, academic status, and fiscal solidity are comparable to CCIW schools and it would definitely raise the league's media profile if it ever joined. However, we're talking about a commuter-based school whose dedication to athletics was so tenuous that it actually discontinued intercollegiate sports for twenty years -- and is only now starting them up again. That's not a school that's likely to add much to the mix in terms of CCIW competition. Plus, there's the added problem of athletic facilities: Roosevelt doesn't have them. The Lakers are going to play basketball and volleyball at IIT's Keating Sports Center, which is three and a half miles south of Roosevelt's Loop campus; it's using the Diversey Tennis Center for tennis, which is four miles north of campus; and their baseball, softball, and soccer facilities are still TBA (some of these sports won't get underway until the 2012-13 school year). Football, if Roosevelt ever chose to add it, would be even more problematic.

Even more intriguing is Robert Morris -- the main campus in the Loop, that is, not the Lake County or Springfield branch campuses. RMC fields a full slate of sports teams, and the school devotes a lot of resources to athletics and derives a lot of prestige from the success of the Eagles on the playing field. RMC is even in the process of adding a football program. However, RMC also has lots of drawbacks as far as the CCIW is concerned. It's well below par academically by CCIW standards, for one. For another, only 200 or so students live on campus; it's essentially a commuter school, so student interest is nil. And, like Roosevelt, its facilities are scattered hither and yon; the basketball teams play in Loyola's Gentile Center, for example, which is waaaay up in Rogers Park on the city's Far North Side, nowhere near RMC's downtown campus.

As I said, OliNaz is the obvious pick. However, that school has never showed the slightest interest in joining either D3 or the CCIW, as far as I'm aware. And why should it? It has achieved great success in athletics in the NAIA, where it owns a solid niche on the national level. Like St. Xavier, it can pursue the same type of high-quality student-athlete suited for small-college sports that the CCIW pursues -- and it can (usually) beat out the CCIW schools by offering those student-athletes scholarships. It doesn't need the CCIW. If the NAIA were to fold or merge into the NCAA, I'd expect OliNaz to go D2, not D3.

But the reason why I didn't include OliNaz or any of the other local NAIA schools in my initial response to your hypothetical is because your question piles one unlikelihood on top of another. That is to say, even if a local NAIA school or schools would be inclined to switch over to the NCAA and join D3 and the CCIW, that doesn't mean that it would necessarily follow. D3 has significantly ramped up its entrance requirements and restricted the number of annual applications for membership that it is accepting. The spigot that was once on full-blast has now been tightened to allow only a mere trickle. If the CCIW were to lose a member and therefore seek a replacement school, I can almost guarantee that it would seek it from among the current D3 membership.

BTW, RHIT might be less a geographical outlier than Augie (they'd be closer to IWU and Millikin than any other CCIW schools, but I haven't checked total distances to ALL schools), though I have no idea whether they would be interested or overall appropriate.

No, RHIT is definitely more of a geographical outlier than is Augie. It's closer to Millikin and IWU, sure, but the balance of the league's teams is in Chicagoland. The closest of the Chicagoland Four to Rose-Hulman is North Central, and it's still a four-hour trip from Terre Haute to Naperville. By contrast, the furthest of the Chicagoland Four from Augustana is North Park ... and yet it's only a three-hour trip from the NPU campus to Augie, or vice-versa. Plus, you have to take into consideration the fact that Carthage and Augie are even further away from RHIT than are the Chicagoland Four.

There aren't any D3 Indiana schools that're really suitable for CCIW membership in terms of geography -- which is a little strange, considering how heavily populated northwest Indiana is.

[RogK]

The first day of practice has arrived for the various teams around the CCIW.
I can already hear the cursing and swearing. It is a happy time of "accidental" tripping of teammates, elbows to their teeth and hiding of their shoes. All to impress the coaches.
Not to mention the coach patiently approaching each player and making her spit out her gum into Coach's hand.
It's a time of great optimism, including unbridled confidence that the bus drivers will be able to find all the road gyms.
So, good luck to all eight teams. May they all start the season 0-0.

[RogK]

The coaches did pre-season voting of their expectations today:
http://www.cciw.org/news/2010/10/28/WBB_1028104921.aspx
Bear in mind that they do not vote for their own team. I think it goes like this -- 7 pts for 1st place, 6 for 2nd et cetera. 28 points would be middle of the pack.
You can read through this morning's Coaches' Chat to see just how pessimistic all of them are.
The most notable news is that North Park's Kamauria Acree (2nd team all-CCIW as a freshman) wrecked an ACL and is out for the season. A rotten bit of luck for the Vikings (NP, not Aug). Her teammates will need to assert themselves more.

[Gregory Sager]

The most notable news is that North Park's Kamauria Acree (2nd team all-CCIW as a freshman) wrecked an ACL and is out for the season. A rotten bit of luck for the Vikings (NP, not Aug). Her teammates will need to assert themselves more.

"A rotten bit of luck" is a huge understatement, Rog. Kamauria Acree was the first freshman to make the All-CCIW second team since 2006. The sky was the limit for her coming into this year, although I'm very hopeful that she'll be back as good as new in 2011-12. Nevertheless, I've heard great things about NPU's ten newbies (haven't seen them yet, though), and with the eleven returnees they should make the Vikings a better team this year, even with Kamauria sidelined.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'm kind of surprised how close the poll came out for first place - I'm taking that as yet another tribute to Christina Solari!

Sheesh, we graduate ONE top player, and (after going 27-1 the last two years in conference) end up in a virtual dead-heat with a team who went 19-9!

The poll may be right - Christina WAS that good!  Of course, it may also be bulletin board material for all the remaining Titans!  I'm betting on the latter - Titans to win 13 or 14 games in conference.

[Gregory Sager]

As I said, I haven't seen NPU yet in a scrimmage setting. But, based upon Amanda Reese's comments in yesterday's coaches chat, it sounds as though the Vikings will rely heavily upon three juco transfers in the wake of Kamauria Acree's unavailability this season. Two of the three, who are all juniors, are 5'6 guards: Torey Walker from San Jose City College, who averaged 10.4 ppg and shot 78% from the free throw line last season; and Antoinette Collman from Oakton College, who averaged 12.4 ppg and 7 rpg and shot 35% from downtown last season and made the NJCAA All-Region team. I'm hoping that they'll bring some of the necessary athleticism and scoring punch that was lost to the NPU backcourt when Kamauria went down with that torn ACL last month.

The one of the three that really sounds like a player to watch, though, is 5'10 forward Roxxanne Jones from Wright College, four miles west of the NPU campus. Jones averaged a double-double last year for Wright, scoring 21.7 ppg (ninth-highest in the country) and pulling down 11.7 rpg (fifteenth-highest in the country) en route to being named to the NJCAA All-American team. Together with senior Lyndsey Thompson and sophomore Sarah Peterson, she could be one-third of a pretty solid rotation of bigs for the Vikings.