WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Backseat Driver]

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

Carthage beat UC by 22 at home, Wheaton beat UC by 15 @ Ratner -- I would expect a similar result for the Titans. Chicago is working with a new head coach and a completely different lineup than last year. They have a decent team, but I think they'll be a much stronger team later in the season.

[iwu70]

Wheaton looks awfully good to me . . . seems there is much more parity in the CCIW this season . . . with IWU, WC and Carthage all looking very strong early on.  Titans have played a very tough schedule and looked good most of the time, except for the DePauw thrashing.  Should be an excellent CCIW race this year . . . perhaps MU and Elmhust coming into the picture as well?  Looks like CC, WC and IWU at the top of the race picture so far.

IWU70

[RogK]

I saw the Wheaton win last night. I've seen Lauren Graham play well before, but she was even better this time, very sharp and energetic.
And to add to the compliments toward Brooke Olson, this : since last night's attendance was not huge or loud and since I was seated near one basket, I could hear some of the conversation among the players; Brooke was really a player/coach because numerous times she reminded teammates to be aware of this or that, to watch out for certain things the opposition was doing, etc. Definitely an example of good senior leadership.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park beat Moody tonight in the crackerbox, 97-20, the most lopsided win in NPU history. The less said about this game the better, although it's worth noting that Amanda Reese tried to hold the score down. No NPU starter played more than 18 minutes. All thirteen Vikings who dressed for the game scored.

The best thing about a game like tonight is that nobody got hurt.

Rog, you made it into the highlight picture.

[RogK]

Thanks for not making any snide comments about me being out of focus!
NP surely could have piled up more points than 97, had they opted to. And even if they had used 25 or 29 seconds of each shot clock, they probably still would've scored 80. MBI was strangely standoffish defensively for a lot of the game, allowing NP to pass the ball around with ease. On offense, there were numerous occasions where MBI bypassed a brief open look and attempted to get a near-the-basket shot, which NP was not permitting. To add to MBI's troubles, their most talented player (Rani Parish) had a bad foot.
At some point in the 2nd half, NP (kindness toward the visitors) pretty much stopped contending for offensive rebounds.
This was my first look at North Park this season. They seem improved, with better depth and speed. Some newcomers are helping out already. Ten NP players had a steal Thursday.

[RogK]

The other Thursday result was a 94-77 North Central win at Luther. The Cardinals hit 17 of 40 threes; Lauren Hernandez and Jenny Swanson made 4 each. Bobbi Johns shot very well, too : 3/5 2FG, 2/2 3 FG, 3/3 FT; she also had 3 steals in her 16:00. Ten NC players had a steal.

[iwu70]

Titans host U Chicago, @The Shirk, 2 p.m. Saturday.  The 2011-2012 national championship banner will be unveiled at about 1:50 p.m.  -- hopefully with all the championship team seniors in the house -- Lett, Burton, Hasselbring and Solari.  Come one, come all to celebrate!!!

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

This was my first look at North Park this season. They seem improved, with better depth and speed. Some newcomers are helping out already.

Breaking my vow about not discussing last night's trouncing of the Archers, one thing I will comment upon is NPU freshman center Nicole Kruckman's poise and hustle. In spite of the fact that her low-post technique was sound, she nevertheless couldn't get anything to fall from close range early in the game last night. A lot of freshmen in that situation would've sulked or at least been thrown off mentally by their frustration -- but she never stopped playing strong defense or working hard at the offensive end of the floor. And she ultimately got her scoring game going, not by finally converting her bunnies in the halfcourt, but by running the floor on all of NPU's frequent fast breaks and getting either primary- or secondary-break layups.

She is going to have the usual hiccups of a freshman in 2012-13, but she is going to eventually become a very good center in this league for NPU.

[iwu70]

Nice outing for the Titans this afternoon.  Prior to the game, the banner came down and the natioanl championship squad enjoyed their festivities, laurels, and kudos.  Former players Hasselbring, Burton, and Solari were there to unveil the banner, along with Olivia Lett's father, from Pana, IL., as Olivia still in Spain playing pro ball.  A good time was had by all, and Dennie Bridges made a nice speech, commending Mia Smith and the wonderful achievements of the women's program in recent years, especially last year's big breakthrough to win it all. 

In the game, Titans over UC 67-57 in a good struggle, with UC up as much as 14 at one point.  Titans fighting back to get the win over what must be one of the best 1-4 teams in the country.  Truly.

Melissa Gardner had one of her best games of her career, especially penetrating and getting her short jump shot game going, IMHO:

Gardner 18
Jackson 12
Baltes 10
Seibring 9
Bilek 8

You get the picture . . . this is the way to victory in the post-Lett era.  Great D and great balance.  UC had 34 TOs, IWU only 13.  IWU had 12 steals and shot it pretty well, esp. from the FT line, at 85%.  Tayler Reaber came back but needs to find her game legs and normal game speed. Will take some time.  She's learned to shoot left handed, given her right hand thumb injury.    Pretty clear that Kaitlyn Mullarkey is going to see alot of minutes for the Titans with her speed, D, and nose for the ball.  She's the PG heir-apparent to follow on behind Lexi Baltes, who had a pretty strong game today too. 

UC player Morgan Donovan had a good game, with 21 points. 

IWU now 4-2 and has a real chance to improve on the record of last year's team which was, as I recall, 7-4, in the pre-CCIW tough row of games.  IWU plays Tuesday at ONU, against "the system."  Titans play six games on the road now, all the way 'til early January, when they finally return to Shirk for an early game in the CCIW schedule.  They will surely be challenged by all these tough opponents and surely "road-tested" if not "road weary" by the time they get back to their home environs in early January. 

A good game today, again coming back from being down to a pretty good oppenent.  UC has lots of young players and will, no doubt, continue to improve in the next year or two.  Titans just too too unrelenting and experienced for the young UC team today.

Great to see that lovely banner now in the Shirk, just as you come into the performance arena, on the left side, up in the rafters on the west end of the Shirk arena.

Congrats again to Coach Smith, all the Titan coaches and players on this wonderful achievement for IWU and the Titan basketball nation.

IWU70

P.S  ISU took #2 Louisville to the mat today, and came up just short, missing a trey for the tie in the last seconds.  And, ISU Football beat Appalachian State in OT, 38-37, on a blocked PAT, so they are in the second round of the FBS/DII football championships this year.  A good day in B/N sports.  Let's hope the Titan men can come out on top over Wash U tonight in St. Louis to top off a good day all 'round.  ms

[Backseat Driver]

Looks like Wheaton had a rough shooting night in a 74-52 loss to #20 Simpson tonight.

Box score: http://athletics.wheaton.edu/boxscore.aspx?id=2940

[iwu70]

IWU @ONU later this week, then exam week, before other games, holiday break games, and first away game of CCIW schedule.  Titans not back to The Shirk until early January.  Titans now 4-2, with losses to highly ranked DePauw and Mt. Union.  Hope the Titans again finish out the pre-CCIW season games at 7-4 or even 8-3, which would be a major achievement given the quality of all these opponents.   They will be very heavily and well-tested going into the CCIW race.

Good Luck TITANS . . . keep it rolling. 

IWU70

[Backseat Driver]

Congrats to IWU senior Melissa Gardner, the latest CCIW player of the week.

Some intriguing games this week:

Tuesday
North Park @ Chicago
IWU @ Olivet Naz.

Wednesday
Millikin @ Wash. U
Elmhurst @ Loras

Friday
Millikin @ Wis. Lutheran

Saturday
Loras @ Carthage

IWU's difficult non-conference schedule has been well-documented, but Millikin's is just as tough (if not tougher). With losses to #3 UWSP and #5 St. Thomas already, the Big Blue now face #8 Wash U and Wisconsin Lutheran (4-1; NCAA qualifier the last 2 seasons) this week. Yikes.

I am interested to see how North Park does against Chicago. The Maroons have lost by double digits to Carthage, Wheaton, and IWU, so I think this could be a winnable game for NPU--though, admittedly, it is tough to make projections based on other teams' results.

Not sure what to make of Elmhurst so far this year.

[Backseat Driver]

As far as Wheaton is concerned, the Thunder travels to southern California this week to play Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (1-5) on Friday and Pomona-Pitzer (0-4) on Saturday. If I wasn't working this weekend, I'd consider making the drive down there from Santa Cruz. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

[iwu70]

Yes, congrats to Melissa Gardner on CCIW Player of the Week.  

She had two excellent games this past week, esp. the 19 points vs. Chicago where she really showed her slashing, short-jump shot game, though most think of her as a treyball specialist, which she surely is as well.  I think that was the best game I've ever seen her play, offensively and defensively.

IWU plays U St. Francis on Thursday night this week too.

Yes, Millikin's schedule is very tough, very impressive --agreed.

U Chicago, even with a 1-4 record, is a pretty good team.  Very big. Will be interesting to see if NP can handle them. 

IWU70

[iwu70]

New D3hoops weekly poll, Week #2

IWU at #15, up from #17
CC #28 in ORV
WC in ORV

DePauw still rightly at #1, Mt. Union #2.

IWU70