WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Enginerd]

I knew IWU was in trouble when the Hope coach spent 5 minutes drilling the officials over a couple seconds on the shot clock (that they didn't deserve) and didn't get his way - but as soon as the ball was in-bounded and the Hope player started to dribble across the lane, the official whistled Brovelli - just for running alongside her...

[Mr. Ypsi]

Kendall Sosa sure looked like an all-American last night . . . very impressive player, inside and out.

Sosa was/is amazing . . . but I repeat myself . . . ok to put her on your preseason all-American list, Titan Q.

A heartbreaking loss for IWU team and fans, when victory was at their doorstep . . . but Hope fans feel your pain. We remember when your men were last here. Congrats on taking Hope to the wire, and scoring more on Hope's defense than has any other team this year.

Hope's coach Morehouse has expressed great respect for your coach. And with both teams returning their top players next year, perhaps we can meet again?

I'm hoping that enough voters have Sosa on their AA ballots THIS year!  Next year (the way she keeps improving) she may be a solid national POY candidate.

Since Sydney Shanks is the only senior (though a major loss), a return clash does not seem unlikely.  But since the Titan men's win in 2012 and the Titan women's loss in 2020 both came in the second round, could we schedule our next get together for the FF?

[Flying Dutch Fan]

What a heart-breaker!   Titans led most of the game, and were up 67-58 with 4:30 to go.  The Hope announcers kept talking about the 'short Titan bench' - indeed, the absence of Eck and Lowis might have been crucial.

And while I usually deride complaining about the officiating as 'whining' - I'll have to agree with Enginerd about the final minutes of this game.  I DO think the Titans got hosed.

But congratulations to Hope.  I HOPE you go all the way - it relieves the sting somewhat if the team that beat you wins the title!

No, the officials didn't "hose" you in the 4th anymore than they "hosed" Hope in the first half on several blatantly missed calls. 6 turnovers (4 steals by Hope) and some very good D in the last 4 minutes is what decided this game.

[iwu70]

Flying Dutch, very dubious calls at key moments turned the game.  The call on Brovelli, not a foul, the travelling call on Shanks in the corner, not a travel, she made the basket, and the elbow to Brovelli's face with 15 seconds to go.  Also the foul calls on Sosa and Shanks, both of which were clearly a held ball.  We'll I don't normally "whine" about the zebras either, but you have to admit these were bad calls at a more crucial time than whatever missed calls you are talking about in the first half.  IWU outplayed your team for all but those 3-4 key minutes, when these calls were made. Your floor has a "homer" reputation, I guess for good reason.  Great crowd, great atmosphere always, very similar to The Shirk.   Two great programs fighting it out.   Good luck to your team the rest of the way, they did play great D and had a good comeback.  But, I think IWU has reason to feel that this ending was not exactly fully chipper.  That's basketball . . . but, a very tough loss for IWU and IWU fans to swallow.  Sorry.

Good luck to your team the rest of the way.  You surely dodged a bullet tonight.

'70

[Roundball999]

I have to think depth played a role in the final minutes.  All Titans starters played more than 30 minutes with 3 playing 38 or more.  Only Schoonveld played more than 30 for Hope and 9 of the Dutch played at least a quarter.  They seemed fresher at the end but that makes the effort of the Titans starters that much more impressive.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

70-believe what you want -and I'm sure there were calls missed on both teams. My point is that a missed call and the points that may change due to that call have the same impact in the first minute as well as the last. Points are points.

I'm also not sure how we got "homer" calls from officials we've never had before and are not from our league.

[Dee43]

Calls at the end of the game do not have the same impact as those in the first quarter, I don't care what anyone says. The officials felt the pressure of the crowd late in the game- and knew who the higher ranked team/who was "supposed" to win was. It is human nature and part of a home court advantage. The travel calls that were called in the last couple of minutes but were ignored on Hope's end were an example. Was Shanks' a travel in the corner with 3 min left? I think it was, but so were Hope's EVERY time their guards shot faked on the perimeter against the zone and then put the ball on the floor after picking up their back foot. Hope's pressure defense was very aggressive and how many fouls were they called for in the last 4/5 minutes? None. The officials felt the crowd and that is part of the game. But do not try and act like the officials "evened this out" by not calling some fouls on IWU in the first half.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I have to think depth played a role in the final minutes.  All Titans starters played more than 30 minutes with 3 playing 38 or more.  Only Schoonveld played more than 30 for Hope and 9 of the Dutch played at least a quarter.  They seemed fresher at the end but that makes the effort of the Titans starters that much more impressive.

The Titans are not generally as 'thin' as they were tonite.  Both junior Anna Lowis and her high school teammate Catie Eck (a sophomore and a CCIW PotW) were on the bench in street clothes.  In such a close game, that could well have been the difference.  NOT intended as an excuse (by this time, all teams have some banged-up players), but a possible explanation.

[Gregory Sager]

I have to think depth played a role in the final minutes.  All Titans starters played more than 30 minutes with 3 playing 38 or more.  Only Schoonveld played more than 30 for Hope and 9 of the Dutch played at least a quarter.  They seemed fresher at the end but that makes the effort of the Titans starters that much more impressive.

The Titans are not generally as 'thin' as they were tonite.  Both junior Anna Lowis and her high school teammate Catie Eck (a sophomore and a CCIW PotW) were on the bench in street clothes.  In such a close game, that could well have been the difference.  NOT intended as an excuse (by this time, all teams have some banged-up players), but a possible explanation.

Hope lost its top scorer, Sydney Mueller, to injury earlier this season. Injuries are part of the game.

[GoPerry]

Was monitoring livestats and wasn't able to watch ( so no opinion on officiating which I'm pretty happy about right now!).  Saw the Titans up by 8 or 9 with 4 mins left and then checked back later to see the surprising final.

Had to be a real heart-breaker for IWU.  I really doubt the team had the season that they all expected coming in.  But they finished it out well despite the close loss to the top ranked team in the country tonight.  I'm not at all surprised it went down to the wire.

You all know my allegiances.  Wins over IWU these days are especially gratifying and the losses especially grating(esp in conference finals).  But I have nothing but respect for the program and this would've been a nice one to get. 

[Gregory Sager]

Holy cow. So. Much. Whining.

On a night in which Chuck is musing about a 2021 Final Four run for Illinois Wesleyan and is already writing Kendall Sosa's acceptance speech for the 2021 d3hoops.com Player of the Year award, he ends up looking like the reasonable one in the Greenie fanbase. Some of the rest of you seem determined to angrily litigate every single whistle and non-whistle from the last five minutes of tonight's game.

Perhaps a bit of perspective is in order. If Augustana's Macy Beinborn doesn't gift-wrap the CCIW semifinal and lay it right at IWU's feet with that incomprehensible halfcourt foul at the end of the game, the season would've ended for the Titans eight days ago, and you all would've been doing something else tonight.

To their great credit, the Titans took that gift they'd been handed and did impressive things with it, registering quality wins over Wheaton and Berea and taking what may be the best team in D3 right down to the wire on their own floor. Kudos to them for that. But make no mistake -- they've been playing with house money since that CCIW semifinal game. I figure that some of you could use the reminder.

[iwu70]

Thanks, GoPerry.  Yes, it would have been a nice upset win for IWU and the CCIW.  So close.  Can't imagine anyone in the IWU camp is happy about the calls in the last 3-4 minutes.  I'm certainly not, as posted earlier.  But, that's basketball and the "home court" advantage, to some degree.   I share Dee43's views in large part posted below.   Tough tough loss, after being up 9, basically outplaying Hope almost the entire way.   IWU starters and Kaia Bowen too left it all out there . . . the short bench tonight a factor, with no Lowis or Eck.  Starters playing tons of minutes.   Sosa was magnificent. 

IWU will need some greater depth next year, improved FT shooting by some.  13 of 14 of this roster returning. Shanks will be greatly missed, on many levels and in many ways.  We'll see what Mia Smith cooks up for the next edition.  I'm sure this one is going to stick with her a long long time.

Good luck to Hope the rest of the way. 

IWU'70

[Enginerd]

Flying Dutch, very dubious calls at key moments turned the game.  The call on Brovelli, not a foul, the travelling call on Shanks in the corner, not a travel, she made the basket, and the elbow to Brovelli's face with 15 seconds to go.  Also the foul calls on Sosa and Shanks, both of which were clearly a held ball.  We'll I don't normally "whine" about the zebras either, but you have to admit these were bad calls at a more crucial time than whatever missed calls you are talking about in the first half.  IWU outplayed your team for all but those 3-4 key minutes, when these calls were made. Your floor has a "homer" reputation, I guess for good reason.  Great crowd, great atmosphere always, very similar to The Shirk.   Two great programs fighting it out.   Good luck to your team the rest of the way, they did play great D and had a good comeback.  But, I think IWU has reason to feel that this ending was not exactly fully chipper.  That's basketball . . . but, a very tough loss for IWU and IWU fans to swallow.  Sorry.

Good luck to your team the rest of the way.  You surely dodged a bullet tonight.

'70

I am not an IWU fan, and only watched the game out of boredom tonight, so I'm likely the least motivated observer on this thread. That said, Hope benefited from some uneven 2nd-half officiating.

IWU were responsible for a great deal of what happened over the last four minutes, like the two missed free throws, but there was some suspect officiating in the 2nd half. I watched most of the game, and I only recall the one travelling call on Shanks, yet saw far worse examples throughout the game from both teams, without a call. I do not think Shanks even came close to travelling - and to make that call, at that point in the game, after not having made it a priority the entire game to that point, is just inexplicable - like the phantom call on Brovelli after Hope's coach chewed on the officials' ears over three lost seconds on the shot-clock. To me, THAT is the call that says it all. The officials weren't cheating or consciously trying to help Hope, but the crowd and the atmosphere really got into their heads - they weren't up to it and didn't do a great job. As another poster pointed out, it's human nature when there are 6,000 screaming people in the same building.

Did it cost IWU the game? Who knows? Would IWU have gotten anything out of that possession had Shanks not been called for travelling? Would Munroe have made her free throws if the (very) obvious foul had been called on Voskuil when she blocked her shot and knocked her to the ground under the basket around the 4-5-minute mark? Would Brovelli have made both free throws with the game on the line and 15 seconds left on the clock (after she was clearly fouled at the basket-but no call)? Who knows?

Would have been a monumental upset, too. IWU is an elite program - but a win tonight vs. such an obscenely talented team in their own building would have been one for the ages. Hope is an above-average D-II team playing D-III basketball. I'd bet they could win 15-18 games per year, without too much trouble, as a member of the GLAC - much as Thomas More was immediately a Top-20 NAIA team this year with essentially the same roster that won the D-III title last year.

I haven't ever bothered to really watch any of the East Coast / NESCAC teams - but I will this year because I want to see how Hope's talent and length stacks up against them, because that's where this is headed.

[shepherd]

Holy cow. So. Much. Whining.

winning the whining war
Winning is whining without the h and another n then actually winning. 

[Jester1390]

i will simply state what i learned from serving in the military ad what i have taught to my players and kids.  Losers make excuses. Winners own it no matter what the outcome.   Having my daughter play both Wesleyan and Chicago I am quite sure those players are owning it.  Have no clue if bad calls or not didn't see the game but a good coach would say you know what we need to play better and take it out of the refs hands,  A officer  once told me Airman were looking for solutions not excuses. Never forgot  those words and they have served me well.