WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

Saw the UChicago / Carthage game. As Greg described it, outstanding games for Autumn Kalis and Sammie Woodward. I thought most everyone on both teams played at a rather good level or better. For Carthage that included Amanda Larson, Haley Ahr and others. The Lady Reds were without talented guard Madie Kaelber, who spent the afternoon at Powell's Used Books on 57th St.
Just kidding! She was present, but unfortunately has a leg injury, using crutches to get around. Here's hoping she can return to action later this (her senior) season.
A lot of UChicago's talent was evident, too. Starters did very well and four players came off the bench and casually sank some threes to help the Maroons' cause.
While the offenses of both teams looked good, it wasn't the result of bad defense. There was consistent effort on "D" and even some moderately hard fouls and feistiness. I can't say I saw any dirty fouls, nor would any be expected from these coaches' teams.
Two years ago the Carthage at Chicago game was 96-90 (I forget who won --- it was a great game anyway). Today's matchup was not quite as dazzling as 96-90, but featured admirable talent on both teams.

[GoPerry]

Finally able to watch Saturday night's game and I thought North Park played a great game.  They played aggressively not tentatively and were not at all intimidated by the moment.  They had an answer every time the Thunder came at them and deserved the win.  Having Jordan Myroth, Wheaton's best defender, guard Jayla Johnson was a good move by Coach Madsen which kept her in check for most of the game.  Johnson and mostly Josie Summerville played Hannah Frazier very well.  It didn't help that Frazier got into some foul trouble which I think affected her offensively.  Emily Czuhajewski was a dagger from three.  When Wheaton tried to mix things up defensively by going zone a few times, she really made them pay.  If the Thunder weren't aware she was shooting nearly 50% from the arc then that was a costly oversight.

Despite the loss I liked that Wheaton tried to play closer to the basket offensively.  Way more cuts to the hoop and passers actually looking to feed it down there instead of passing on the outside and settling for treys. They weren't able to finish all of them well but I think that will improve which will serve them come the new year.  At 8-4(1-2) I doubt anybody is writing them off.  But they'll have to string a few together come first week of January.

[Gregory Sager]

Despite the loss I liked that Wheaton tried to play closer to the basket offensively.  Way more cuts to the hoop and passers actually looking to feed it down there instead of passing on the outside and settling for treys. They weren't able to finish all of them well but I think that will improve which will serve them come the new year.

Well, Wheaton hasn't done too badly for itself by shooting a lot of trey attempts. WC is at .380 for the season from downtown, trailing only NPU's .392, and in conference play Wheaton's .406 trails only Augie's .533 and is ahead of NPU's .388. (Granted, three games apiece makes for a small sample size.)

But "live by the three, die by the three" is a dicey basketball philosophy upon which to hang your hat, especially when having all that size -- and a dynamic all-over-the-court scorer in 6'2 Hannah Frazier -- means that you don't have to employ it. However, the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance are actually increasing their percentage of shots taken from behind the arc since moving to CCIW play. Wheaton's shot a whopping 284 trey attempts this season, which is by far the most in the league; the second-most trey attempts have come from Augie, which has shot 19% fewer of them than Wheaton. In conference play (i.e., the most recent games), Wheaton has shot 69 times from behind the arc, still the most in the league but not that much more than Augie's and IWU's 64.  But Wheaton's percentage of trey attempts among all FG attempts has increased from 34% to 39% in CCIW play.

North Park is accelerating its trey rate as well, but for a different reason. NPU has attempted only 120 treys this season, lowest in the league by far (Elmhurst is next-lowest at 161). But the Vikings have attempted a middle-of-the-pack 49 trey shots in CCIW play, increasing their percentage of trey attempts among all FG attempts from under 27% to almost 30%. That's in part because they're doing a better job of spacing and using the whole floor, but it's mostly because in Emily Czuhajewski they have found their first bona-fide threat from downtown since Hannah Rehfeldt graduated in 2017. Her presence on the perimeter is going to help get open shots for her teammates from downtown as well.

[Gregory Sager]

I'm dusting off my crystal ball and trying to see if I can guess who gets named CCIW POW.

Autumn Kalis and Riley Brovelli both had good weeks, but each of their respective teams lost, and that's typically the kiss of death as far as POW goes. Only three teams emerged unscathed in last week's play -- Augustana, North Central, and North Park -- and I think that we can disregard NCC, since the Cardinals played a weak opponent and Maggie McCloskey-Bax emptied her bench in the rout and therefore prevented any of her players from putting up gaudy numbers. Augie and NPU, by contrast, came up with impressive victories over the league's two recent standard-bearers. And the most impressive performance between those two teams was that of Augie's Alexis Jones (in spite of her nine turnovers) over NPU's Emily Czuhajewski, so I'm betting that Jones wins POW.

[GoPerry]

Despite the loss I liked that Wheaton tried to play closer to the basket offensively.  Way more cuts to the hoop and passers actually looking to feed it down there instead of passing on the outside and settling for treys. They weren't able to finish all of them well but I think that will improve which will serve them come the new year.

Well, Wheaton hasn't done too badly for itself by shooting a lot of trey attempts. WC is at .380 for the season from downtown, trailing only NPU's .392, and in conference play Wheaton's .406 trails only Augie's .533 and is ahead of NPU's .388. (Granted, three games apiece makes for a small sample size.)

But "live by the three, die by the three" is a dicey basketball philosophy upon which to hang your hat, especially when having all that size -- and a dynamic all-over-the-court scorer in 6'2 Hannah Frazier -- means that you don't have to employ it. However, the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance are actually increasing their percentage of shots taken from behind the arc since moving to CCIW play. Wheaton's shot a whopping 284 trey attempts this season, which is by far the most in the league; the second-most trey attempts have come from Augie, which has shot 19% fewer of them than Wheaton. In conference play (i.e., the most recent games), Wheaton has shot 69 times from behind the arc, still the most in the league but not that much more than Augie's and IWU's 64.  But Wheaton's percentage of trey attempts among all FG attempts has increased from 34% to 39% in CCIW play.

North Park is accelerating its trey rate as well, but for a different reason. NPU has attempted only 120 treys this season, lowest in the league by far (Elmhurst is next-lowest at 161). But the Vikings have attempted a middle-of-the-pack 49 trey shots in CCIW play, increasing their percentage of trey attempts among all FG attempts from under 27% to almost 30%. That's in part because they're doing a better job of spacing and using the whole floor, but it's mostly because in Emily Czuhajewski they have found their first bona-fide threat from downtown since Hannah Rehfeldt graduated in 2017. Her presence on the perimeter is going to help get open shots for her teammates from downtown as well.

Yes - the Thunder are shooting way more three's this year (37 atts @ Cornell, 30 two other times) and yes at a better % this year(earlier post).  I have no problem making this a weapon.  But it can be too one-dimensional and if those outsides shots aren't falling then you have to score posting up, driving, getting to the line.  This would be especially true vs a quicker/faster and perhaps smaller team that can defend the perimeter much better.  Fyi, Cornell played a zone for a lot of the game.

By now every team should know not to leave WC Kristi Demske to shoot threes.  The same should be true of Park's Czuhajewski.  Allowing her 9 attempts, several wide open looks, makes me suspect that WC just wasn't aware.

[RogK]

Congrats to Alexis Jones, new CCIW Player of the Week!

[Gregory Sager]

[Gregory Sager]

The new poll is out. Wesleyan drops out of the Top 25, and is in the ORV category with 15 points. North Park appears for the first time in ORV with 8 points. It's the first time in seven seasons that NPU has received votes in the poll. Nobody else from the CCIW got any votes.

[RogK]

North Park has definitely earned those votes.
Thought of something for Wheaton : when Jill Berg is defending, she stays near the basket, no wandering. A few years ago when Augie had 6'5" Kallenberger, I could not understand when she left the lane defensively. Stay near the hoop, blocks shots, discourage layup attempts.
GoPerry -- agree?

[GoPerry]

North Park has definitely earned those votes.
Thought of something for Wheaton : when Jill Berg is defending, she stays near the basket, no wandering. A few years ago when Augie had 6'5" Kallenberger, I could not understand when she left the lane defensively. Stay near the hoop, blocks shots, discourage layup attempts.
GoPerry -- agree?

I would agree for the most part RogK although I wouldn't say that Jill just camps down low defensively.  It's not always the case that she's guarding someone of similar size or even 6'0" +.  She's often guarding a taller forward and there are plenty of those whose primary weapon is the 12-15 footer.  So she really has no choice but to go out and deny that.  Naturally, she's quick to help on any drives to the hoop like she did on one Zakiya Newsome drive Saturday.  I think her blocked shots are actually down this year tbh.  Same for the team probably.

[RogK]

Wait a minute, you don't agree at all. What I'm saying is that she should be a 1 person zone. She's not guarding anyone specifically. She is not responsible for following a specific player all over the floor. She does end up guarding anyone that drives to the basket. If someone gets an open 15 footer, so be it. Very few can make more than 35 or 40% of those.
And there's probably a teammate in that vicinity.
Meanwhile she discourages layups, blocks many, and should do so until she fouls out, if she happens to. Unused 5th fouls have no value at the end of a game. She is also in position for a load of defensive rebounds, which she has done in some games.

[GoPerry]

Wait a minute, you don't agree at all. What I'm saying is that she should be a 1 person zone. She's not guarding anyone specifically. She is not responsible for following a specific player all over the floor. She does end up guarding anyone that drives to the basket. If someone gets an open 15 footer, so be it. Very few can make more than 35 or 40% of those.
And there's probably a teammate in that vicinity.
Meanwhile she discourages layups, blocks many, and should do so until she fouls out, if she happens to. Unused 5th fouls have no value at the end of a game. She is also in position for a load of defensive rebounds, which she has done in some games.

What you describe makes sense in principal to some degree.  Granted, she should rarely defend beyond the free throw line but stay close to the basket for the reasons you stated.  Practically though I think it'd be tough to let an opponent roam pressure free all the time.  This would be especially difficult if the opponent were a ball screener.  She would need to step out and deny the easy path around the screen which is critical in defending screen/roll schemes.  One example anyway. 

In any case, I'm all for whatever works at this point.

[Gregory Sager]

What you describe makes sense in principal to some degree.  Granted, she should rarely defend beyond the free throw line but stay close to the basket for the reasons you stated.  Practically though I think it'd be tough to let an opponent roam pressure free all the time.  This would be especially difficult if the opponent were a ball screener.  She would need to step out and deny the easy path around the screen which is critical in defending screen/roll schemes.  One example anyway.

This. Ball screens are becoming increasingly more important on this level of women's basketball. It used to be that for the most part D3 women's basketball players simply lacked that aspect of the game in their toolkit when they came to college -- but now the teaching at the junior high and high school level is so comprehensive for girls, and so many of them have spent a half-dozen or so years in organized ball, that every single one of them is expected to know how to set and hold proper screens of all types when she shows up on campus. And that expansion of the offensive abilities of their players means that more coaches are employing screen-roll offenses or just simple ol' high screens to spring drivers to the basket or flare screens to free up a shooter to receive a skip pass.

Nowadays, if you chain a slow big to the stanchion on defense so that she can't move out past six or seven feet from the basket, you're running the risk that the big she's guarding is going to go up top and free up a shooter or spring a driver.

[RogK]

Where is the driver going to drive? Right at Berg, who is going to swat the ball away.

[GoPerry]

What you describe makes sense in principal to some degree.  Granted, she should rarely defend beyond the free throw line but stay close to the basket for the reasons you stated.  Practically though I think it'd be tough to let an opponent roam pressure free all the time.  This would be especially difficult if the opponent were a ball screener.  She would need to step out and deny the easy path around the screen which is critical in defending screen/roll schemes.  One example anyway.

This. Ball screens are becoming increasingly more important on this level of women's basketball. It used to be that for the most part D3 women's basketball players simply lacked that aspect of the game in their toolkit when they came to college -- but now the teaching at the junior high and high school level is so comprehensive for girls, and so many of them have spent a half-dozen or so years in organized ball, that every single one of them is expected to know how to set and hold proper screens of all types when she shows up on campus. And that expansion of the offensive abilities of their players means that more coaches are employing screen-roll offenses or just simple ol' high screens to spring drivers to the basket or flare screens to free up a shooter to receive a skip pass.

Nowadays, if you chain a slow big to the stanchion on defense so that she can't move out past six or seven feet from the basket, you're running the risk that the big she's guarding is going to go up top and free up a shooter or spring a driver.

Yes - what Greg said  . . . but much better than I - thoroughly and descriptively.

One of the lost screen/roll skills is the dribblers ability to deliver the ball to the screen-roller A. around his/her own opponent guarding them and B. in a position where the roller can receive the pass easily and get to the basket hopefully for a layup.  I've noticed that Shanks, Munroe, Lankford and Sosa do that well for IWU where Brovelli can finish the play.