WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Carthage picks up 12 votes this week. Wheaton lost all votes in latest Top 25.

Not surprising, really. Carthage is playing really well right now, and Wheaton had the major hiccup @ Augie.

I AM disappointed, however, that the CCIW seems to be immediately back to a 'little respect' conference.  Having the defending national champion in their conference seems not to be helping Carthage one bit - a team so dominating the CCIW should be getting more than 12 points!

A team wanting more than 12 points should consider beating St. Norbert, Loras or Howard Payne.

Perhaps true.  But those three teams ARE a combined 35-7.  Not exactly disgraceful.

I'll stand by my belief that the CCIW is getting Rodney Dangerfielded.

[Pat Coleman]

Carthage picks up 12 votes this week. Wheaton lost all votes in latest Top 25.

Not surprising, really. Carthage is playing really well right now, and Wheaton had the major hiccup @ Augie.

I AM disappointed, however, that the CCIW seems to be immediately back to a 'little respect' conference.  Having the defending national champion in their conference seems not to be helping Carthage one bit - a team so dominating the CCIW should be getting more than 12 points!

A team wanting more than 12 points should consider beating St. Norbert, Loras or Howard Payne.

Perhaps true.  But those three teams ARE a combined 35-7.  Not exactly disgraceful.

And they're getting a combined 12 points themselves, Chuck. Carthage should be happy to be a point ahead of a team with a better record that it has lost to.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Carthage picks up 12 votes this week. Wheaton lost all votes in latest Top 25.

Not surprising, really. Carthage is playing really well right now, and Wheaton had the major hiccup @ Augie.

I AM disappointed, however, that the CCIW seems to be immediately back to a 'little respect' conference.  Having the defending national champion in their conference seems not to be helping Carthage one bit - a team so dominating the CCIW should be getting more than 12 points!

A team wanting more than 12 points should consider beating St. Norbert, Loras or Howard Payne.

Perhaps true.  But those three teams ARE a combined 35-7.  Not exactly disgraceful.

And they're getting a combined 12 points themselves, Chuck. Carthage should be happy to be a point ahead of a team with a better record that it has lost to.

Point taken.  I'm just disappointed that the women are SO far behind the men in national respect that the undefeated (in conference) leader only garners 12 points, while among the men Augie loses TWICE and remains in the top 25.  (Mind you, I am NOT complaining about the respect for the men! )  While IWU has laid a bit of an egg this season, I just thought their success over several recent years might raise the profile of the whole conference.

[Pat Coleman]

CCIW women is not the same as CCIW men.

Like System women is not like System men.

[Mr. Ypsi]

CCIW women is not the same as CCIW men.

Like System women is not like System men.

Yes, but System (women or men) IS prone to total blowouts (either way).  NCC @ IWU on Wednesday.  If I spot you 30 points, wanna go for bar tab if and when we finally meet?

Women's sports didn't even exist when I was at IWU.  At some schools they are a century or more behind.  But I have hopes they are gaining!

[RogK]

I was looking to see which Titans did well in their earlier game vs a System team. Katy Seibring scored 18 in 17:00. It would not be surprising if she scored at a point-a-minute rate vs NC.
But, we may not be able to project what'll happen in the NC/IWU game based on the IWU/ONU game since NC and ONU have different personnel. In the IWU/ONU game, ONU shot only 17 FT att, but took 60 threes. NC is averaging 46 3FG att and 26 FT att, so their offense is a little different than what IWU faced vs ONU.
There is no doubt, though, that IWU vs NC will be an interesting game.

[Backseat Driver]

Carthage picks up 12 votes this week. Wheaton lost all votes in latest Top 25.

Not surprising, really. Carthage is playing really well right now, and Wheaton had the major hiccup @ Augie.

I AM disappointed, however, that the CCIW seems to be immediately back to a 'little respect' conference.  Having the defending national champion in their conference seems not to be helping Carthage one bit - a team so dominating the CCIW should be getting more than 12 points!

A team wanting more than 12 points should consider beating St. Norbert, Loras or Howard Payne.

Exactly. I think if you look at the overall performance of CCIW teams in non-conference play this year, there aren't any signature wins. Overall, I don't think you can make the case that any CCIW teams "deserve" a Top 25 ranking based on this year's results. Sure, IWU is the national champion. But that doesn't effect the status of Carthage or Wheaton, when those teams haven't distinguished themselves against other top teams. Wheaton's best win so far is probably against IWU, and the Titans are clearly in rebuild mode right now. I do think that Wheaton wins at Augie if fully healthy and keeps its votes, but you can't really play the what-if game. Carthage's best win is probably against Trinity (TX), but you add in the losses that Pat noted above and it kind of neutralizes that win.

So all that to say, it would be great for the CCIW to gain more recognition. I hope it does. But right now, I thinks it's hard to make a case that it's deserved. The only way to change that is to have CCIW teams consistently score big wins in non-conference play and advance deep into the NCAA tournament.

[Gregory Sager]

There is no doubt, though, that IWU vs NC will be an interesting game.

As interesting, perhaps, as IW vs. NCC?

[RogK]

Identical, only different.
I'm surprised that you don't refer to Wheaton as WC, given your slight but detectable animosity toward the Thunder.

[Gregory Sager]

I do refer to it as WC, on occasion. It's hard not to, what with that being another euphemism for the bathroom ("water closet"). I also will call it "that orange-colored school in DuPage County" whenever I'm feeling particularly salty.

I always refer to Wheaton as the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance rather than the Thunder, but that has nothing to do with the rivalry. When Wheaton switched nicknames from the Crusaders to the Thunder, a friend of mine who is a Wheaton alumnus was completely irate. He kept going on about how his alma mater was stepping on tradition, bending the knee to the forces of political correctness, etc. To mollify him, I told him that I wouldn't use the new nickname on d3boards.com ... and I haven't. However, I do call 'em the Thunder when I'm on the air. It'd be confusing and unprofessional not to.

[iwu70]

Good luck to the Titans vs. the NCC "system," whatever that really is now, in the women's game.  More difficult news for the Titans in the Pgraph piece today, with Kaitlyn Mullarkey, the backup PG going out "indefinitely" with a heart condition.  Not good.  With the loss of Shelby Jackson earlier, seems Mia Smith is going to have to dig deeper on rotations, ideas, and how she deploys her diminishing roster to still make a run at CCIW crown #6.  The margin for error, esp. on rebounding and post presence, was already pretty slim, now she faces additional pressures on Lexi Baltes at the PG.  Not sure who gets additional minutes that might be needed to give Lexi a few minutes break, esp. against a "system."  Should be an interesting game, which I would still expect IWU to win.  IWU needs to win as many games as possible, perhaps still steal one away from one of the top teams, WC, NP or CC.  Gonna be tough.  (Mia Smith is also losing one of her long-time assistant coaches, as well -- see pantagraph.com for the piece today on the NCC game).   

Go Titans, good luck vs. NCC tonight.

IWU70

[RogK]

My best wishes to Kaitlyn. She caught my attention with fine play in the Elmhurst summer league.
Her health is of course infinitely more important than basketball or any sport. Good luck, young lady!
Her absence is certainly a bad break for the team. As iwu70 stated, more will be asked from others.

[Backseat Driver]

Wheaton/NPU underway...all Hovee/Graham and Peterson/Christensen out again.

EDIT: Check that, Dana Christensen in off the bench for the Vikings.

[Backseat Driver]

Halftime:
Wheaton 28
North Park 19

[Backseat Driver]

Carthage leads Elmhurst 42-8 at halftime. Holy cow.