WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

Thanks, NewCard, yes, we are hoping for the best in California for the IWU women.  They do work hard, get better and better.  Good coaching.

Your guys have a good chance at the national T/F championship, right?  Good luck to them.

Softball done, golf almost done, T/F done soon . . . what's a CCIW fan to do?  Guess it's time to return to my damn Yankees!

Summer break. 

IWU70

[Backseat Driver]

Hey RogK, here's some recruiting news out of Wheaton:

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2012/5/17/WBB_0517122623.aspx

[RogK]

Thanks for that update, Backseat Driver.
I just did a quick look through the rest of the league and found a list of new IWU players:
http://www.iwusports.com/sports/2012/4/18/GEN_0418123914.aspx?tab=recruits-classof2016
Wheaton and IWU each expect a newcomer named Considine, though from different hometowns.
Those schools have preliminary 2012-13 schedules on their web sites, incidentally. Looks like the conference games will be just about all Wednesdays and Saturdays.

[Titan Q]

Article on IWU's recruiting class...

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/women/iwu-women-bolster-speed-with-basketball-recruiting-class/article_120cf714-a467-11e1-b2ba-001a4bcf887a.html

[iwu70]

Looks like a mighty fine recruiting class for Mia Smith and the Titans.  Seems they will be even tougher, quicker on the perimeter and with the trey, the "run and jump."  IMHO, key next season will be the development of Shelby Jackson in the post and the other returning or new post players, "bigs" in the post area.  No doubt, Titans will be very press, defensive oriented again, and will have to find ways to replace the scoring and overall court presence and range of Olivia Lett.  I'm confident that Lexi Baltes will be just as good, if not better than Britt Hasselbring in the longer term.   Seems again it is a reloading year, not a rebuilding year.  Other CCIW teams will have to really "bring it," as IWU will again be very very good.  Melissa Gardner set to have a big senior year, and with the further development, tenacity of Michele Bilek, the Titans will have lots of talent, weapons still.  Key again will be defense, and perhaps even more living and dying by the trey.  Alot of pressing, run and jump leading to fast break points.

IWU70

[RogK]

North Central's '12-'13 schedule:
http://www.northcentralcardinals.com/schedule.aspx?path=wbball&schedule=92
iwu70, you are again very optimistic about the Titans, even though they will have to replace some very fine players. At the end of the '10-'11 season, I thought they'd fall back somewhat in '11-'12, having lost really good players such as Stacey Arlis, Nikki Preston, Hope Schulte, Holly Harvey, Sarah Cotner. Turns out the Titans did alright in '11-'12! So, I have learned not to doubt how good they could be next season.
I agree about their pressing defense; as long as opponents remain vulnerable to it, keep using it.

[Mr. Ypsi]

North Central's '12-'13 schedule:
http://www.northcentralcardinals.com/schedule.aspx?path=wbball&schedule=92
iwu70, you are again very optimistic about the Titans, even though they will have to replace some very fine players. At the end of the '10-'11 season, I thought they'd fall back somewhat in '11-'12, having lost really good players such as Stacey Arlis, Nikki Preston, Hope Schulte, Holly Harvey, Sarah Cotner. Turns out the Titans did alright in '11-'12! So, I have learned not to doubt how good they could be next season.
I agree about their pressing defense; as long as opponents remain vulnerable to it, keep using it.

I'd worried annually about graduation losses ever since Mallory Heydorn, et.al., graduated years ago!  After Christina Solari (arguably the best ever) graduated, and they finally made the Final Four the next year, I've stopped worrying!  The players ultimately win or lose, but the key is Mia Smith (she WILL get the players, and coach them up well) - when she 'graduates', then I will worry!

[Mr. Ypsi]

BTW, 5 years ago IWU had a cumulative losing record in conference games.  Since then they are 66-4.  Millikin and Wheaton were the big guns ever since Diane Schumacher left Augie; watch out guys: Mia is coming on!

All-time wins and titles:

Lori Kerans  273  11
Beth Baker  248   6  (retired)
Mia Smith   145   6
Diane Schumacher 127  5 (retired)

(In the history of the conference, no other coach has more than 75 wins or more than 1 title.)

[Mr. Ypsi]

No, I do not expect to live long enough to see IWU take over the total wins tally!

1. Millikin  273 (yes, Lori Kerans IS the whole history of Millikin in the CCIW)
2. Wheaton 270
3. IWU   216

MAYBE in 20-30 years, the Titans could take over first place; my point was that  Mia Smith may be rapidly taking over first place in 'best coach ever' in the CCIW - with NO disrespect intended to the other three contenders.

Quite the reverse in the men's CCIW standings:

1. IWU  667
2. Augie 551
3. Wheaton 477

Here I could not possibly live long enough to see my Titans fall (especially since their immediate future looks good).  Since this is largely due to coaches Horenberger and Bridges, there is probably nothing short of 4-5 national titles that coach Rose could do to become a 'legend'!

[RogK]

The Carthage schedule is here :
http://athletics.carthage.edu/schedule.aspx?path=wbball

[iwu70]

I'm surprised the Carthage schedule does not have "the team that shall not be named" listed on the schedule, instead of IWU?!

Gotta be optimistic about the Titans' chances again next year.  Agree with Ypsi on the quality of Mia Smith's preparation, energy and coaching abilities.  Looks like a good recruiting class coming in.  If the pressing and pressure still works, why stop doing it.  I admit, very hard to replace Olivia Lett, Britt Hasselbring and Karen Solari . . . but recent years' experiences show that the Titans can reload, retool, adapt in a very adept way and still have an outstanding season.  Hard to top this last year, but I expect the Titans to again be very very good.  Don't think I'm being overly optimistic.

IWU70

[Backseat Driver]

Just a quick note, only 4 players from last year's all-CCIW squad are slated to return in '12-'13. That tells me that just about everybody has significant talent to replace.

[RogK]

Interesting observation, Backseat Driver. The five non-seniors who made All-CCIW were Cailee Corcoran, Melissa Gardner, Laura Karsten, Tess Godhardt and Brooke Olson. I think I heard that Karsten will play soccer in the fall and graduate in the winter. Allegedly, she will not use her fourth year of basketball eligibility. Is that what's expected?
Among the best who did not get all-conference honors, more seniors (mostly): Dani Ripkey (a senior), Megan Ney (a senior), Elisabeth Potts (a senior), Sarah Peterson (a junior) and Helen Muleya (a senior).
So, yes, lots of opportunity for others to shine next season.

[iwu70]

I expect Tess Godhardt to have a monster, perhaps even 1st team all-CCIW season next year.  Yes, lots of talent gone, so plenty of turnover and chances for newbies, rising upperclassmen to make their mark in the 2012-13 season. 

Several Titans have that potential too -- at least to become all-CCIW players.  I'd expect this potentially from Lexi Baltes, Michele Bilek, Shelby Jackson, and perhaps Whitney Scurlock.  And, of course, I'd hope/expect a repeat All-conference year from Melissa Gardner.   Strong class of newbies coming in too. 

Happy summer all.  Glad to see the Titans' athletic program finish 12th in the Lear Cup, old Sears Cup?  So 12th out of all 317 DIII programs in the country.  That's a fantastic and fantastically exciting year.  Well done TITANS! 

IWU70

[mark_reichert]

It took looking at the IWU Athletic Calender since the schedule isn't up yet, but the fourth team for the IWU Women's 2012 Tip Off Tournament appears to be Coe College, in Cedar Rapids IA.

I thought the name looked familiar and they have indeed not only played WashU but they played in the Tip Off Tournament in 2005 when the host WashU and IWU stomped them.

But as most of the IWU fans here should remember they've played much better recently.  In 2011, they lost to IWU 74-77 in the Sweet Sixteen.  This past season they lost 66-77 to IWU in the Eau Claire tournament early on and lost 45-51 to St. Thomas in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

YMMV, but I think close losses to Final Four bound teams two years running makes them a fit opponent for the first year in which all of the rotating host teams (IWU, WashU, Depauw) have a national championship.