WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Pat Coleman]

Wow, pretty free with the states taxpayers money. Bus trip that far will run you about a grand.

I don't believe they have to rent, if that helps.

[D-3 watcher]

It sure would,

[keith45]

Wow, pretty free with the states taxpayers money. Bus trip that far will run you about a grand.

How so? They dont get that much public funding, do they?

[badgerwarhawk]

Wow, pretty free with the states taxpayers money. Bus trip that far will run you about a grand.

Our athletic department's operating budget is funded through student fees not the state.  The basketball team's budget is a fixed amount so spending the money for the bus trip means that there is less money to spend on something else.

The reason for the game being changed to coincide with the men's game has nothing to do with the men's game originally being scheduled a day earlier than the women.  The reason the date was changed is so the womens team can attend the funeral of a player who was on the team last year.  That funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.  Were it not for the funeral the schedule would have remained as it was originally and two buses would have been used.

[RogK]

Our condolences to your team and school, badgerwarhawk. That's sad news for sure. It may be tough for them to fully concentrate on the game, or maybe the game will be a good distraction for a few hours. Either way, best wishes to them.

[iwu70]

My condolences to the WI-WW team on the loss of your teammate.  Sad to hear the news.  Titan football lost a player, teammate, and classmate to cancer earlier this year . . . tough for everyone.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.

IWU70

[iwu70]

The Titans had a great win tonight over #14-ranked WI-WW, a kind of get back your mojo, "steady-the-ship" kind of win after the loss to DePauw earlier.  The Titans fought back from ten down in the second half, finally got some shots to fall, and worked the pressure, and better half-court man-to-man D to get this impressive and important win.  Good to see the team bounce back and play well after having it handed to them earlier by DP.  They showed lots of character tonight. 

Gardner 19, 4-5 from treyland
Baltes a very good, aggressive game with 18
McMahon 17

McMahon is playing very well, moving with and without the ball, scoring in the paint, along the baseline.  She's quick and has good offensive moves.  If she keeps this up, she has a very good chance at a breakout, all-CCIW season.  IMHO. 

Bilek hit a key three in the last minute or so.  Titans shot FTs well, and finished it out.

Titans still struggling to rebound well, often undersized with opponents like WW.  You know you are in trouble when your sub PG leads the team in rebounding, = Mullarkey had 7 RBs. 

Word has it that Taylor Reaber is very soon to be back from her injured hand, can rejoin the Titans in upcoming games.  That will be a great help at PG and at the 2, another good sub to add to the mix, the rotation.  Seems Mia is still experimenting with various rotations, running people in and out all the time, seeing what the best mix might be.  She gave Katy Seibring her first start tonight, with Bilek subbing in as "sixth man," still playing lots of minutes, esp. in defensive situations.   Bilek also had key steals, and the key 3 down the stretch.  I love her energy and tenacity and "never quit" defense. 

The WW PG, Kaitlyn Thill, is a fabulous player, moving with the ball, defending, scoring, hitting shots from all over.  Gave the Titans lots of trouble in the first half especially.

A good struggle and the Titans coming out on top 72-69.  A good win.  Two very strong teams, well-coached, tonight.  Titans now 3-2, with U Chicago coming in on Saturday.  It will be time to lower another banner . . . this time for a national title!  Congrats again to Mia Smith and the women's basketball team/program at IWU.  Great job.  Fun to watch always, come rain or shine. 

IWU70

[RogK]

North Central topped Central College 88-83. NC shot 20/34 on 2FGs and nine different players had a steal. Jenny Swanson led NC scoring with 14 (4/8 FG incl 3 threes, 3/3 FT) in her 14:00.

[AndOne]

The NCC women's team is employing the Grinnell System this season. In last night's game, they put up 47 threes.

[RogK]

That is true, AndOne. No one style of basketball works for everyone. On the female side, NAIA Olivet Nazarene (where new NC assistant Doug Porter implemented it) has done very well with "System" basketball, but Knox (began it last season) has struggled to get wins.
We'll see how it goes in Naperville. One definite positive (in my view) is that the whole team gets to participate in every game, if healthy. Fifteen different players will probably play within the first 3 or 4 minutes. The better players are normally used most, but rarely for more than 20-22 (hectic) minutes.
Only the very best opponents will be able to run their regular game plan. Most teams will have their normal style of play disrupted one way or another.

[iwu70]

Yes, it will be interesting to see again IWU vs. ONU soon.  Seems when the opponent has an up-speed, fast break-oriented team, they can handle the ONU or Grinnell type system.  I'd expect our Titans this year to be able to adjust to it and take full advantage of it, as they did last year.  We'll see.  In any case, the ONU-IWU game will be good prep for the two NCC-IWU encounters during conference time.  IWU is not quite as deep or as talented (with Lett and Hasselbring gone) as last year.  But, they showed alot of character, got their mojo back last night against a very good WI-WW team.  This Titan team has a big upside again, in further development over the course of the season.

The WW guard was one of the best I've seen in D3 women's basketball = Kaitlyn Thill.  She was dribbling thru/past double-teams, almost like a hot knife through butter.  Titans went to a half-court, man-to-man, keep everyone in front of you, type of D in the second half and it slowed things down, got IWU in a better position to compete and, in this case, win in the half-court.  Baltes, Gardner and McMahon all had excellent offensive evenings.  Michelle Bilek is unrelenting on D.  Looks like against bigger teams when more rebounding is needed, Katy Seibring may be getting the starts. 

Very good to see the Titans get back quickly, and back into the winning column over such a high-quality opponent.

IWU70

[Pat Coleman]

The System is always a little interesting with D-III women's programs. Generally there's not enough outside shooting talent to make the goal but they make up for it by forcing more turnovers.

http://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/women/2012-13/box_scores/20121127_80cb.xml

This is definitely a System box score. It's not just the large number of threes but the balanced playing time. Generally I would say Central got too many offensive rebounds here but also, Central didn't shoot as well as a typical Grinnell opponent would.

General System goals:

    100 shots per game
    50 3-point attempts per game
    32 turnovers forced
    A shot differential of plus-30
    An offensive rebounding percentage of 33%

2003 Around the Nation column:
http://www.d3hoops.com/columns/around-the-nation/2003-04/grinnell-system-begins-to-take-hold

[iwu70]

Wheaton up over U Chicago 36-22 at the half.

IWU70

[iwu70]

@Ratner, WC over UC 77-62 Final.  Two very balanced, good teams . . . with both teams having five players in double figures.  Brooke Olson is going to be a ton.  Tonight she had 20 points, 7 rebourds, 5 assists. 

UC comes into The Shirk on Saturday, 2 p.m.   

IWU70

[Backseat Driver]

Wheaton 77
Chicago 62

Brooke Olson - 20 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast
Lauren Graham - 17 pts, 7 reb
Maris Hovee - 13 pts, 13 reb

All five starters reached double figures in scoring tonight for Wheaton, and Ellie Zeller scored 6 off the bench. A nice win for Wheaton on the road, over a Chicago team that is good, but not on the same level as the last few seasons.

I continue to be impressed with how Brooke Olson is playing. She had another great all-around performance tonight, running the Thunder offense at a high level and limiting turnovers. Moriah Reeves simply does not look like a freshman out there, very poised and she takes good shots.

Wheaton needs more games like this from Maris Hovee and Lauren Graham. They will be a tough team to beat when they are scoring inside and outside like they did tonight.

On the road against #20 Simpson (5-0) this Saturday will be a big test for Wheaton, and will tell a lot about where they are as a team early in the season.