WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[keith45]

keith45, I heard that around this time last year, the NC women played a scrimmage against Coach Porter's previous team, Olivet Nazarene. If that happens again this fall and if you happen to see it, you could tell us how peculiar a game it is (one System team vs another). Also, I'd like to know what you observe regarding Olivet Naz's 6'4" freshman. Thanks.

The scrimmage is today actually, but it is at Olivet. As much as I love Roof, not making that drive for a scrimmage! I'll ask about the freshman though

[iwu70]

A few quick impressions from the Titan's scrimmage / game vs. Eureka today @The Shirk.  Just impressions:

Considine and the senior Reaber injured, not playing as yet.  Starters were: (as expected) Baltes, Seibring, Jackson, MacMahon (and newly) Beoletto.  I watched the first half or so, and saw again the usefulness of tenacious D, the "run and jump" trapping.  When I left, IWU was easily up 34-18 and likely running away with it all.  Shelby Jackson looks good in the post, had several nice turn-arounds, put backs, short jump-shots, blocks etc.  She's going to be an anchor in most games down low.  Seems she and Seibring are trying to work a bit of the old "high / low" routine, to get one of them open, ball in hand, very near to the basket.  Some good trapping, points off the press, as we 've seen now for some years.  Not much treyball presence that I saw from anyone, at least not  yet.  The junior Reaber came in early and had some good minutes, running the break, passing well.  Didn't see much of the newbies, so don't know much about their talent or level, who might be shaping up to be the 6-9 players off the bench in the rotation.  Not too too many players really looked in total game shape yet, but I'm sure that's coming.  MacMahon still has one of the best, quickest first steps driving to the base line of anyone I've seen -- and she blew by several defenders easily again in this scrimmage.  Baltes ran the team, ran the floor well, worked very hard at the front of the "run and jump."  The second tier "anticipators" for steals didn't quite have it yet, so that will require more work -- mostly MacMahon and Seibring.  Mia has to find some key players for the rotation -- still searching and testing, me thinks.  "Run and jump" will most often be effective unless the other team has a very good PG -- like the one at Wash U.  Then the Titans could struggle in turning defensive pressure into points.  This scrimmage did not show much of what the Titans may or can do in the half-court, when the pace slows.  A key will be developing a few players who have some shooting range and being able to effectively feed the post with Seibring and Jackson down low.  Could be a very productive post area this year.  This is only a start, only very iniitial impressions, with a long long way to go to settle in on a full rotation of 9-10 players.  Stay tuned.

Olivia Lett was calling the game -- so in Halloween Zebra attire.  Must admit, seeing Olivia running the sidelines in stripes just didn't seem right at all!     She's a much better, more confident player than she is an official! 

Again, Titans have one very tough schedule 'til CCIW time.  I'd be very happy if they are able to go 7-4 or better yet, 8-3.  That would be a HUGE accomplishment given the quality of teams they will be facing.  This team is pretty experienced, but still seems to have a long way to go to find its identity and flow.  I'm sure Mia and Olivia and the other coaches will do their best to do just that!

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

Interesting that Olivia was the ref!

I say, get her plastic surgery, make her a freshman, and let's go get it!!

Must drive Mia wild that even with a very good team, by far her best player is on the bench beside her.

[iwu70]

Ypsi, we won't be finding a player like Olivia Lett for a long long time.  Glad she's back and can coach, mentor and teach the current team members.  In the women's game, she's once in a lifetime for IWU -- a DI quality player with a tremendous drive and basketball sense, playing in D3.  Hope she finds a spot in Australia, gets to play at the pro level a few more years.  Quite successful in Spain last season.   In the meantime, I'm mighty glad to see her back @The Shirk.  She seemed very relaxed and very a happy today.  Not sure she has a future in officiating, but you never know. 

IWU women's team will be strong, but also a "work in progress" still for some weeks, in many ways.  They could be very good, but not sure they have enough horses, enough pieces to really challenge CC and Kusmanic.   Hope the returning four starters all have big years in CCIW play.  I'm looking for Jackson and MacMahon to be more the scorers this season.

IWU70

[iwu70]

CCIW coaches pre-season poll:  CC, WC, IWU, MU, EC, NCC, Tied- AU and NP. 

Sounds about right to me going in, untested.  I'd probably have IWU ahead of WC, but not to quibble.   I'd probably have NCC higher too. 

CC got 7 first place votes, IWU got 1 (likely from the Carthage coach!).  He probably put on his ballot =  "the school that cannot be named."

So now we know what the coaches think.

Let the games begin -- in 18 days now.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

CCIW Coaches Poll

1.	Carthage	49 (7)
2.	Wheaton	41
3.	Illinois Wesleyan	39 (1)
4.	Millikin	27
5.	Elmhurst	25
6.	North Central	23
T-7.	Augustana	10
T-7.	North Park	10

This is about what I expected from the poll, except that I thought they'd put NCC fifth and Elmhurst sixth, especially in the wake of the loss of Tess Godhardt for the 'jays.

NPU is the Rodney Dangerfield of this poll, which doesn't surprise me. NPU didn't make the CCIW tourney last season, and the Vikes lost eight seniors from last season's team. I've heard nothing but great things about NPU's newbies, but the fact of the matter is that it's really hard to put a value upon unknown players when you're doing a preseason poll. I don't think that Amanda Reese is the bulletin-board type, so I doubt that being picked for last in a dead heat with Augie is going to be a point of emphasis for NPU in terms of motivation. I think that she's probably more worried about getting her players acclimated, unified, and conditioned at this point.

[RogK]

Millikin made 31 threes in 14 conference games last season. That team total was surpassed singlehandedly by Wheaton's Breanna Bohlen (32) and Carthage's Haley Stercic (33). Can Millikin vastly improve in that area of offense?
If someone is to supplant North Central in the top half of the standings, I see Elmhurst as the more likely possibility. I think we'll see Fiona McMahon perform as a 1st team all-conference player and Karen Senette is an excellent point guard (only Stephanie Kuzmanic and Lexi Baltes are better in our league in my opinion, with Bobbi Johns at number 4). And I think the Jays will turn up the energy level a few notches this year.

[iwu70]

From what I saw at the IWU scrimmage Saturday, I think the Titans are going to struggle some from treyball-land this year.  Gardner will be missed.  They will probably rely on their strengths:  up-tempo play, strong post presence with Jackson and Seibring, terrific pressure defence and points off of TOs, off of "run and jump."  Still to develop an identity, a clear set of offensive sets in the half-court.  They will need to develop some depth, rotational players as otherwise, they are not a particular deep team.  Time will tell.  The veterans I've talked to are pretty optimistic about the play, the contributions of some of the newbies.  Seems key players in addition to the four returning starters, will be the junior Reaber and Beoletto.  Not sure on the rest, as yet.

IWU70

[keith45]

I dont see how Milikin is ranked above NCC, unless there are some transfers we dont know about! NCC beat Milikin handily I think last year, both games. I can talk myself into EC equal to NCC, but with Tess' departure, ECC has to bridge that gap (and they split last year)..and NPU played NCC to 2 1-point games last year, so who knows....

I had NCC 4th, EC 5th, Milikin 6th, and toss up between NPU and Augie. I think Augie can move up this year personally, maybe sneak into 5th

[RogK]

North Central's top five rebounders last year were Sophie Newson (135), Larynn Shumaker (121), Michelle Todd (121), Emily Murphy (91) and Callie Rezin (76). With all of them, NC still got outrebounded by an average of 12.5 per game. Four of those players are now gone.

[keith45]

North Central's top five rebounders last year were Sophie Newson (135), Larynn Shumaker (121), Michelle Todd (121), Emily Murphy (91) and Callie Rezin (76). With all of them, NC still got outrebounded by an average of 12.5 per game. Four of those players are now gone.

I wouldn't hold rebounding as a key stat for a system team..NCC takes so many more shots than opponents, inherently more chances for rebounding......NCC will win by shooting more shots then their opponents (while shooting around average to slightly below average) and causing turnovers. 4 of their 5 top shot takers are back, and 6 of top 10 scorers are back.... 3 of top 5 in steals are back, 3 of top 5 3point shooters are back too.
the Milikin ranking above NCC is one that still confuses me, especially when looking at head to head results and returners

[RogK]

What you say about NC's opponents having extra opportunities for defensive rebs is true. But, a System team does even better when it rebounds well. Exhibit A is Olivet Nazarene, which went 23-9 while getting outrebounded by 7 or 8 per game in '12-'13 and which went 27-4 in '11-'12 when they were outrebounded by only 2 per game.
Having lost so many key rebounders, it'll be a chore for NC to improve on the minus 12 from last year. With some quick newcomers grabbing a lot of steals, they might be able to offset the rebounds deficit.

[RogK]

In '10-'11, ONU had a guard Danielle Pipal (now an assistant coach there) who had 124 steals in 446 minutes; that's a fabulous rate of one every 3.6 minutes. If NC can find one or two like her...

[RogK]

keith45, did you hear anything about the NC/ONU scrimmage? It had to be a challenge for the refs, right?

[keith45]

keith45, did you hear anything about the NC/ONU scrimmage? It had to be a challenge for the refs, right?

I did. The first half was a struggle for NCC, to be expected as many key roles are filled by first time system players. They lost by 15 ish I think. 2nd half they won by almost 20. That was encouraging as ONU has been going at it for a few weeks already and this was NCC's first live competition. Some of the freshman impressed, and the returners were solid. I think they have Rockford in a week or so. Overall, a decent start