WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[thunder38]

you bring up a good point Greg in that a home loss to north central definitely is a big hit for any squad trying to make the conference tournament.  i was impressed last saturday's with ncc's improved guard depth from last season as that was definitely an area they needed to improve on.  did christine karl play for the cards cuz that was a pretty nasty collision she was on the receiving end of on saturday?

unfortunately for north park this probably isn't the right time to try to steal one from the thunder in King.  wheaton is playing pretty confident ball right now and from what i've noticed this year, with the exception of the season opener against saint mary's, they shoot the ball much better and take better control of the ball at home which i suppose is typical.  having karsten at full health is huge for this team and kent madsen has done a terrific job using his bench through the early season.  if they can get some more improved consistent scoring from potts, who has been seemingly out of the offensive loop lately, that's a fun offense to watch.  hopefully wheaton can take care of business saturday and then they can take their shot with the titans in bloomington.

[RogK]

In the Star Trek episode "Mirror Mirror" Capt Kirk lightheartedly said, "I'm not sure, but I think we've just been insulted."
That could very well be what North Central's players might think after reading the previous post or two.

[bblover]

Roger, as a MIT graduate and sci-fi fan, I love the captain Kirk reference. If there is a surprise in the CCIW playoffs (IWU, Carthage, Millikin, Wheaton), Elmhurst or North Central would clearly have the best chance of slipping in.

For Elmhurst to do it, they would seem to need a little more cohesiveness as a team; sometimes they work well together, sometimes they do not. More specifically, they seem to have these long droughts on offense. Some of it is due to bad shooting, which I would guess will improve; they have too many good shooters. However, some of it is that players stop moving on offense; that needs to stop. On the defensive end, Elmhurst is still pretty aggressive in a good way, but has been vulnerable to good inside play. Sometimes, helpside is there; sometimes it is not. If either of these teams (Elmhurst or North Central) is to make the playoffs, one of them will probably have to sweep the series between them.

[RogK]

When you say MIT, do you mean Montreal Institute of Trekkies?
Don't count North Park out quite so fast. They are improved from recent years. Augie, at 0-3, would have to go something like 8-3 or 7-4 the rest of the way; not impossible, but tres difficile.

[Gregory Sager]

In the Star Trek episode "Mirror Mirror" Capt Kirk lightheartedly said, "I'm not sure, but I think we've just been insulted."
That could very well be what North Central's players might think after reading the previous post or two.

Just telling it like it is. North Central was picked to finish sixth in the league in the preseason poll by the CCIW coaches, and the Cards finished in a last-place tie last season with a 2-12 record.

you bring up a good point Greg in that a home loss to north central definitely is a big hit for any squad trying to make the conference tournament.  i was impressed last saturday's with ncc's improved guard depth from last season as that was definitely an area they needed to improve on.  did christine karl play for the cards cuz that was a pretty nasty collision she was on the receiving end of on saturday?

Christine Karl not only played against NPU, she started and saw 25 minutes of action.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Earlier, Millikin handily beat NCC.

IWU has doubled up Elmhurst at the half, 44-22.

[iwu70]

IWU wins by about 20 over EC after being up 35 half way through the second half.

Very nice to see Hope Schulte have a solid game, better overall shooting evening. 

Put it all together Titans. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Today's games:

IWU over Elmhurst, 81-59
Millikin over NCC, 65-52
Wheaton over NPU, 72-49
Carthage over Augie, 71-33

Millikin's win was the CLOSE game!!

[bblover]

Looking at the week ahead. I would guess-estimate that there will be 3 competitive games (with no overwhelming favorite) and 2 potentially interesting games. Carthage at Milikin will clearly be the marque match up of the week. Wheaton at Elmhurst should be competitive; so should North Central at Augustana. On paper, Elmhurst, playing at home, should be the favorite, but an upset cannot be ruled out. Finally, Milikin will be the clear favorite at Augustana, but if Milikin looks ahead to the weekend, it might get interesting.   

[thunder38]

I think there might be a Wednesday night game in Bloomington that is getting overlooked.  Wheaton and IWU are the only remaining undefeated teams in conference play and they tangle at the Shirk.  Wheaton is a very confident team right now coming off one of if not their most impressive showing of the night.  Lately they've been thriving when opponent's choose to full court press as their transition game as been extremely effective the last few games.  I'm not belittling IWU at all because they are clearly still the class of the conference since they've gone on the road and throttled Millikin and Carthage and I would still favor them in the spread, but this is definitely a measuring stick game for the Thunder.  They were very competitive in the first half against the Titans in Bloomington last year until Brenneman went down and then the wheels fell off so that will be a fun game to watch.  IWU has very impressive depth and they will stretch a defense all night so Wheaton will have their hands full.  It's gonna be a fun couple of games in Blo-No on Wednesday night! Also I'm not sure how any win by an 11-3 road team over a 7-9 home team is considered an upset but I'm sure theres circumstances outside of Saturday night that fit.

Unless Millikin accidentally leaves Wildman and Roberts in Decatur on Wednesday night I don't see them losing to Augie.  How that Carthage/Millikin game shakes out is a toss-up at this point but I would think the edge at this point would go slightly towards Carthage.

[Mr. Ypsi]

In this week's poll, IWU continues to climb back up, moving from #9 to #7.  Millikin and Carthage both slide a bit - last week they each had 20 points; Millikin now at 9, Carthage at 2.  Wheaton enters the poll at 2 points.

[iwumichigander]

I think there might be a Wednesday night game in Bloomington that is getting overlooked.  Wheaton and IWU are the only remaining undefeated teams in conference play and they tangle at the Shirk.  ...

I really don't feel Titan fans are overlooking Wednesday night.  We are just not trying to look past them.  Big night for both Wheaton and IWU women and men teams.

[Hoosier Titan]

I think there might be a Wednesday night game in Bloomington that is getting overlooked.  Wheaton and IWU are the only remaining undefeated teams in conference play and they tangle at the Shirk.  ...

I really don't feel Titan fans are overlooking Wednesday night.  We are just not trying to look past them.  Big night for both Wheaton and IWU women and men teams.

I heartily concur.  I think bblover must have overlooked tonight's IWU-Wheaton matchup in his/her earlier summary of the week's games.  I'm quite sure that Mia Smith and her team are not taking anything for granted in this one.  (And neither are the men, of course).

[bblover]

I caught the North Park at Elmhurst game last night. The game was very competitive until the final minutes though by no means a work of art. North Park had the lead down to 4 with less than five minutes left. The final score was 70-57. Clearly, North Park missed Sarah Peterson, who was on the bench but did not play. Elmhurst, still looking for a rotation that works, ran almost the entire team in and out of the game. In the end, Elmhurst had nine (yes 9) players with 16 or more minutes. Meghan Merklein broke a scoring drought, hitting 18 with a nice mix of medium-range jumpers and inside play. Ceejay Harris started and scored 11 with 8 rebounds, 4 of them offensive; she was very active in her 27 minutes. Interestingly, Elmhurst only attempted three 3-pointers, relying their on their inside game, and given North Park's defense, they had a number of good looks from the outside. Elmhurst had been averaging more than 17 3-point attempts in their previous four conference games. They clearly have not shot well from the 3-point line the entire season, making about one out of every four. I suspect that fewer 3-pointers will be the norm for the remainder of this campaign.  North Park was led by Roxanne Jones, who scored 20 points, mostly from the inside, but she sat during the final several minutes of the games. Without Peterson and Jones, they simply did not have enough firepower in those waning minutes. North Park had 21 turnovers, many of them versus Elmhurst's full court press; the resulting steals led to a number of easy baskets. This, more than anything else, was the difference in the game.
   

[thunder38]

I think there might be a Wednesday night game in Bloomington that is getting overlooked.  Wheaton and IWU are the only remaining undefeated teams in conference play and they tangle at the Shirk.  ...

I really don't feel Titan fans are overlooking Wednesday night.  We are just not trying to look past them.  Big night for both Wheaton and IWU women and men teams.

I heartily concur.  I think bblover must have overlooked tonight's IWU-Wheaton matchup in his/her earlier summary of the week's games.  I'm quite sure that Mia Smith and her team are not taking anything for granted in this one.  (And neither are the men, of course).

I know Mia Smith will have her squad ready to go tonight and the Titans won't be looking past tonight.  They're too mature as a group for that but I was more referring to the "Carthage/Millikin game of the week"