WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

Yes, I did see those rebounds, although a Metra delay caused me to miss the first 3+ minutes during which the Thunder scored the first 10 points.
I understand your wish for Wheaton to (urgently) maximize their efforts this season, given the fact that this is the senior season for starters Frazier, Myroth, Berg and Demski.

[RogK]

The conference web site has a new arrangement for basketball stats this season.
Unfortunately it does not include player stats by team, as available previously. I guess we'll need to find teams individually on ncaa.org (the official stats anyway) or look at school web pages.
Also somewhat peculiar are rankings within individual leaders, for example :
https://cciw.org/stats.aspx?path=wbball&year=2019
under Leaders, FG/3FG/FT, one finds Hannah Frazier listed 6th in the FT leaders, with 13/13, behind players who've made only 3 of 3 and 4 of 4. Frazier should be ranked 1st with 13/13, followed by Hall with 10/10, then Ahr with 6/6. Hall seems to be placed 1st because she's played in more games than the others.
Then I'm thinking the players who are at 100% and played 1 game are listed alphabetically by team.
That theory doesn't hold when one looks at the 3FG% leaders, where an IWU player is ranked ahead of an Elmhurst player, when each is 3 for 6.
Does this mean that these leaders stats are assembled "by hand" or is the program deficient?

[Gregory Sager]

Rog, the conference is using a new statistical software this season called Genius. It has a few bugs that need to be worked out in various sports.

[iwu70]

Good luck to the TITANS vs. #18 U of Chicago tonight, up in the windy -- and cold -- city.

'70

[iwu70]

IWU took down #18 U of Chicago tonight at Ratner.  A very promising win. . .

IWU:

Sosa 35  13-19 FG, 5-8 trey, 4-4 FT.  Another great game for Kendall.
Shanks 19
Brovelli, 14 and 11 (doing what is necessary)
Lansford 10

UC:

Steffens 22
Hynes 154
Burt 12

Titans shooting 51%, 42% from three. 

This team is not deep, starters playing lots of minutes, but they seem to be clicking well early.

Congrats to the TITANS on beating a top 25 team early, always a strong program.

'70

[RogK]

Yes, quite an outstanding scoring performance by Sosa in that 89-82 win. I was almost equally impressed by Shanks, who did a lot of positive energetic things for the Titans.
And Brovelli, Lansford and Munroe all made significant contributions toward upending a good UChicago team. Not many minutes for IWU's bench, but some help was provided from them too.
North Central fell to St Mary's Indiana, 69-63. NC was outrebounded 46-24.
NC got 17 pts from Alanna Newsome (.542 eFG%) and 11 from Page Desenberg (made 3/4 threes).
Congrats to first CCIW Player of the Week of the season, Hannah Frazier, whose Wheaton team defeated Lakeland 59-38 on Tuesday.
Frazier contributed significantly again : 0 TOs, 2 blks, 4 stls, 3 assists, 7 rebs, 12 pts.
Hannah Swider scored 13 pts from 8 FG att for an .813 eFG%.
Kristi Demski topped the Thunder scoring, hitting 5 of 7 3FGs = 15 pts.

[GoPerry]

Wheaton over Lakeland 59-38

The Thunder were completely lost for the first 12-15 mins against the Muskies' 2-3 zone which they stayed with the whole game.  But once they acclimated and started hitting some of their shots they pretty much cruised from there.  WC will probably face a lot of zone D's so they need to get comfortable with some better inside/out schemes to break it.  They also took advantage by attacking the offensive glass, picking up lots of 2nd chances.  Lakeland's 6'3" Megan Will is a handful to guard in the block but the overall talent level belonged to Wheaton.

A clear positive was the play of Hannah Swider ( 13 pts, 3 rebs) who is first off the bench.  She brings a welcome offensive minded presence onto the floor especially with Hannah Williams out.  This is the first game, inc last season, where she seemed comfortable on the floor and in the flow of the offense.  It would be a great boost to see her take this next step consistently this year.

[GoPerry]

IWU/Chicago

I watched some of this game and found myself wondering where Kendall Sosa was last year.  She won't average 32 pts/g but she's showing an offensive skill and confidence not in evidence last season ( 9pts/g, 17 mins) .  Maybe already there last year and now responding to necessity?  I still consider Sydney Shanks the best guard in the league.  But pairing her and Sosa is a pretty formidable pair.  The three guard lineup with Munroe will give teams problems as will the four guard lineup with Lansford.  Their challenge might come against teams with slightly more size (lots of teams) but can still match their speed (much fewer).

39 mins for Shanks and Brovelli, 37 for Sosa will probably hold for these tough non-con games upcoming.  They seemed to use less full court pressure last night and that might be to preserve some energy.  Less necessary for heavy minutes once CCIW play starts. 

It was a little bit of a track meet with the Maroons last night.  Lots of shots, lots of offense which plays to the Titans strength.  They look just as good as last year's team – just different.

[iwu70]

GoPerry, I agree with you about Shanks.  Very experienced, steady and poised.  A true Senior Captain.  On this rather small line-up, Shanks has to play the 4.  Sosa always had the offensive skills, abilities, but on previous teams she was not called on to be the key scorer, esp. when the Titans had the very athletic Molly McGuire and Ehresman at PG.   Shanks more last year.  A different mix.  Now, Shanks and Sosa will have to carry the scoring load.  So far, so good.  If Brovelli can consistently do 10 and 10, this team will be very good offensively.  I'm hoping Munroe will find her shot more soon, too.  Lansford a very good three point shooter, so the perimeter scoring can really be there, when the treys are falling, like 5-8 from Sosa vs. UC.  Titans are not deep and clearly need to develop 3-4 rotational players to play consistently solid 8-10 minutes in relief of the top five core.  May be Eck, when back from injury, surely Kaia Bowen to play a part, especially on defense and rebounding, and one or two of the freshmen.  I'm positive about Katelyn Heller.  Not clear yet who can really back up Brovelli.  Raven Hughes a huge missing piece.  Titans will likely go small and quick quite a bit this year.  Against really big teams, with strong rebounding, the Titans could really struggle.  Quickness kills, and the treys fall, then this team could go far.  Very encouraging first two outings. 

IWU'70

[RogK]

Molly McGraw was a very good player; not sure about Molly McGuire!

[GoPerry]

Molly McGraw was a very good player; not sure about Molly McGuire!

. .  Classic!

[ronk]

Molly McGraw was a very good player; not sure about Molly McGuire!

Molly McGuire was a very strong player in the Pennsylvania anthracite region. 

[RogK]

Must've been miner league basketball, not college.
Wednesday's only CCIW action : Aurora 80, Elmhurst 63. Halftime 45-22 Aurora.
Still shorthanded, Elmhurst saw the return of Courtney O'Donnell, who led them with 18 pts (6/8 2FG, 6/10 FT) plus 6 rebs. Becca Gerke had 11 pts, 11 rebs, 4 steals.
The game featured 53 fouls and 50 turnovers.
Elmhurst shot a bleak .347 eFG%, while Aurora's was .622.

[GoPerry]

Must've been miner league basketball, not college.

You're on a roll RogK!!

[RogK]

The unanswered (and heretofore unasked) question is if iwu70 deliberately misspelled McGraw in order to mess with our minds. One can only speculate at this point.