WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

Congrats to Ms. Jacklin on CCIW Player of the Week.  Look forward to seeing her play at The Shirk in coming weeks. 

Titans vs. Wheaton tonight @ Shirk.  Time for "run and jump," to be sure.  Should be a good one.

IWU70

[Backseat Driver]

Big test for both Wheaton and IWU tonight. I think ultimately this game will come down to which team can dictate the tempo of the game. Wheaton scores 66 points per game and allows 53. IWU scores 81 and allows 70. Mia Smith's comment in the brief Pantagraph preview tells the story:

"It's something we've been looking forward to and we're ready for. Wheaton is pretty good. Our run and jump (press) will absolutely be a key. We don't want a half court game."

Wheaton's defense is a big key to this game. If Wheaton establishes its physical defensive style and makes it tough for IWU to score, then that will neutralize IWU's run and jump. You can't press if you don't score. Obviously IWU wants this game in the 70-80 point range and Wheaton wants it in the 50-60 range. It's a great clash of styles.

[Backseat Driver]

Wheaton/IWU is the marquee matchup tonight, but the other games should be pretty good too --and they also might help sort out some things.

#25-Carthage @ North Central: The Lady Reds should win this game, but they did lose at the Hangar last season (89-75).

North Park @ Elmhurst: A win on the road would be huge for the Vikings. Coming into the season I thought NPU could compete for a conference tourney slot. Tonight should be a good barometer of where these teams are right now.

Augustana @ Millikin: Augie beat Millikin in Decatur last year, arguably the biggest upset of the year in the conference. I would be surprised if that happens again, but how this game plays out will tell us just how improved the Vikings are.

[RogK]

Wheaton has lost 9 straight to IWU over the last 4 seasons. In those games, the Thunder has scored 57, 63, 69, 70, 57, 57, 47, 59 and 52.
That tells me that Wheaton has usually tried to slow things down against the Titans, but loses in the process. Wheaton has numerous talented and athletic players and can therefore run with the Titans. If you think the Thunder should slow it down in order to get the ball in to Lauren Graham a lot, I say she'd score plenty in a fast game, too.

[RogK]

My advice comes with a full 8 minute incomplete warranty. Those 8 minutes are almost gone. Valid in Trieste and Antananarivo only.

[Gregory Sager]

A frustrating loss for NPU tonight. It's hard to win on the road in this league, and when you've got a twelve-point lead three-quarters of the way through the contest you have to find a way to finish it out so that you can end the night with a leg up on everyone else in the league. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way for the Park. The Vikings chronically have trouble putting the ball in the basket, and tonight it cost them a win. They made fewer than a third of the shots that they attempted, and that, combined with Elmhurst's 44-32 advantage on the boards, spelled doom for the Vikings. Elmhurst nibbled away at that 12-point NPU lead until the 'jays finally caught up with a little more than three minutes to go, and you could see the anxiety in the faces of the Vikings as one open shot after another failed to go in. The other problem was that the Vikings defense faltered down the stretch, mostly because EC guard Devin Vaughn was able to get to the rim on multiple occasions.

Lest this turn into a full-blown jeremiad, I have to cite some very good things that the Vikings did. Elmhurst had 22 turnovers, 17 of which were North Park steals. The Vikings mostly got them by stepping in front of interior passes and by poking away the ball in the low post. Roxie Jones had seven steals and Sarah Peterson (who was noticeably under the weather tonight) pilfered the 'jays six times. You just don't see those sorts of steal numbers from bigs very often. Freshman Dominikque Williams continues to show that she belongs in the rotation, and reserve center Becca Heimsath had by far her strongest game of the year.

Nevertheless, the Vikings let this one get away. This would've been a great win against a solid team on its own floor. Instead, the Vikings are just going to have to pick themselves up and get themselves ready for Wesleyan on Saturday in the crackerbox.

[iwu70]

Great doubleheader @Shirk last eve, with our Titans winning both games in a great start to the CCIW season.   BackSeatDriver was exactly on target about the women's game, with the pace and style of the game determining who would win.  WC won the first half on pace and style, with the halftime score only 29-28, Titans, but the Titans using "run and jump" and finally getting in sync with better shooting and running, had their way with the pace and style in the second half, scoring 42 and getting in a more up-tempo game.  IWU got to 70 and won 70-55, though the game was closer than the score indicates.  Good games by IWU's bench and strong games as usual by Lett and Gardner, though the Titans didn't play particularly well in the first half.  Lots of miscues, bad passes, off balance shots etc.  Looked like a frustrating evening at first, though the Titans came through much better in the second half, especially with defensive intensity and harrassment.  To be honest, I was not very impressed with Wheaton, save for Ms. Karsten.  If WC is at the top tier of the league this year, then I feel the Titans have every good reason to believe they can win the CCIW championship again.  I know Carthage is strong, but WC was just not that impressive, physical or fast last evening -- nor were the Titans in the first half.  Perhaps too much holiday turkey or too much New Year revelry?  Olivia Lett is just an amazing DIII player, with her size, mobility, and skills . . . and no one could really match her on the court last night. However, she sometimes plays out of control, takes off balance shots and has an edge of frustration when doubled, even tripled.  IWU winning the conference will depend on her high quality play and scoring throughout, but also on improvement of all the role and bench players on the Titan squad.  Melissa Gardner was also a bit out of sync in the first half, though she hit key treys in the minutes down the stretch -- to celebrate her birthday!  Great start for the Titans, holding home court against one of the top teams in the CCIW race.   Better crowd with about 600 there for the women's game.  Good to see the students, especially the pep band, back. 

IWU70

[RogK]

Since I was at the North Park - Elmhurst game last night, I feel compelled to comment on the W - IWU game!
Wheaton was within 4 (59-55) until IWU ran off 11 points in 95 seconds(approximately), from 2:59 to go until 1:25 to go. In the first 17 minutes of the 2nd half, the scoring was 31-28, hardly up-tempo. Also, both teams had more FG attempts in the 1st half than in the 2nd. And there were very few FT attempts in either half. The major difference evident to me is that IWU shot better (16/33) in the 2nd half (vs 11/37 in the 1st), while Wheaton was roughly the same in both halves (11 for 30, 10 for 27).
I'll repeat my point from yesterday -- keeping the game slow has not produced any wins in 4 years for Wheaton vs IWU. IWU has now won 10 straight.

[RogK]

Carthage cruised past North Central, 72-48. Cailee Corcoran tallied 20 (9/11 plus 2 FTs) and Diana Jacklin had 16 (8/12), 6 rebs and 3 steals.
Millikin, up 28-18 at halftime, beat Augie 55-49. Cecily Aldridge topped all with 17 pts.
Greg's report on the game I saw is very good, so I can't add anything useful. I did have to look up what jeremiad means, though.

[Backseat Driver]

Ill. Wesleyan 70
Wheaton 55

I'm really not all that surprised by how the game turned out last night. For whatever reason, Wheaton really struggles to score at the Shirk Center, regardless of the opponent. Last night was a perfect example in that the Thunder missed a lot of open shots that they normally make just about anywhere else.

Now to the points made by iwu70 and Rogk. I'll concede that Wheaton was not very impressive last night, but last night is also not nearly the level that the Thunder is capable of playing at. Keep in mind, this was the first CCIW game, and it was on the road against an excellent team. There's a lot of basketball left.

I really just don't agree with the notion that Wheaton needs to play faster to beat IWU. In fact, when they tried to do that last night it got them into trouble with turnovers and rushed shots. Wheaton doesn't play very well when it's forced to play a frenetic style. Additionally, Wheaton had just 6 players play double-digit minutes last night (IWU had 9). You need to be deeper than that to play at IWU's tempo for 40 minutes. Last night came down to missing shots and not getting enough stops defensively.

This isn't a novel observation, but Olivia Lett is a great player. I actually thought Wheaton did a pretty good job defending her and making her take tough shots. She was only 8-22 (36%) from the field last night, but she came up huge when IWU needed her too (as did Melissa Gardner).

There's no question IWU was the better team last night. They executed better on both ends of the floor, they hit open shots, and played with more intensity. With that said, I really don't think IWU is significantly better than Wheaton (though they were last night). The overwhelming talent gap of recent years isn't there anymore (more because Wheaton has gotten better than IWU dropping off). I think Wheaton is capable of putting together a much stronger performance next time.

[RogK]

Backseat Driver, I definitely agree with you that if only 6 players are getting major minutes, it is wise to avoid a fast, high-possession tempo.
I was thinking that Wheaton had more than 6 good players. I see that Breanna Bohlen played only 3:00 and that others (McAlvey?) didn't play at all. Possibly they weren't at full strength.
I appreciate your blunt honesty that Wheaton has trouble playing at a frenetic pace. Fortunately for the Thunder, IWU is the only CCIW team that is interested in that type of play.
I have seen some instances of Wheaton fast-breaking very effectively, getting easy layups and open 3 point opportunities for L Brenneman and others. A great shooter like Lindsey needs to take more than 5 shots, don't you think?
We'll see how Wheaton responds vs Elmhurst Saturday. I can't decide whether to see that one or IWU/North Park.

[Gregory Sager]

Greg's report on the game I saw is very good, so I can't add anything useful. I did have to look up what jeremiad means, though.

I threw that one in there just for you, Rog.

[RogK]

And don't think for a minute that it went unnoticed, sir! It was a very considerable gesture on your part, perhaps even civic duty, to help us improve our vocabulary. It also activated memory of former NHLer Jere Gillis.

[Backseat Driver]

Backseat Driver, I definitely agree with you that if only 6 players are getting major minutes, it is wise to avoid a fast, high-possession tempo.
I was thinking that Wheaton had more than 6 good players. I see that Breanna Bohlen played only 3:00 and that others (McAlvey?) didn't play at all. Possibly they weren't at full strength.

My guess is that Wheaton was playing for specific matchups.

I have seen some instances of Wheaton fast-breaking very effectively, getting easy layups and open 3 point opportunities for L Brenneman and others. A great shooter like Lindsey needs to take more than 5 shots, don't you think?

Don't get me wrong, Wheaton likes to fast break when they can. As a matter of fact, there where times last night when Wheaton was able to crack the press for uncontested layups. Laura Karsten drove the length of the floor uncontested several times. A lot of the open shots the Thunder got in transition last night simply didn't fall.

Lindsey is a great shooter and I didn't see her pass up any opportunities last night. She's as consistent a player as you'll find.

We'll see how Wheaton responds vs Elmhurst Saturday. I can't decide whether to see that one or IWU/North Park.

Perhaps you can provide a firsthand account from Elmhurst since I wont be able to make it? 

[Hoosier Titan]

Both Backseat Driver (love the name!) and iwu70 gave very good and balanced accounts of the Wheaton-IWU game, IMO.  The tempo was definitely the determining factor.  IWU looked as poor as they have looked in recent memory in the first few minutes; as BD noted, when you don't score, you can't press.  The Wheaton defense was excellent in the first half, and that more than anything led to Olivia Lett trying to make hard shots (and occasionally doing so).  Once the run-and-jump press got going, the game went more to the Titans' liking.

The Titan bench added 24 points; Amy Burton's work in the post in the first half and Michelle Bilek's on the fast break in the second were especially timely and helpful.   

No question that the rematch will be a good game!