WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

With all the chaos from the pandemic, it seems downright sadistic that Mother Nature is now taking shots at us as well!

[RogK]

this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0IlN4ENKiA
should cheer you up, Mr Ypsi

[iwu70]

Pretty funny, Rog K.  The great Walter . . . in these times, we can always use a good laugh. 

Let's see if we get in an IWU-MU game tonight.  Pretty ugly rain-snow mix out there right now . . . 

One lives in hope . . .

'70

[iwu70]

Trying to get the video feed from IWU for the MU game, but can't seem to get it?  Any advice?

'70

[Mr. Ypsi]

this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0IlN4ENKiA
should cheer you up, Mr Ypsi

Thanks, I needed that!

But I still think Mother Nature is often a sadistic b....!  We've just started what is predicted to be THE snowstorm of this winter, and are expected to get downright arctic weather for the next week or so (after so far having never gone down to single digits this season).

[iwu70]

Finally some Titan basketball!

MU over IWU at the half 41-36.  Two offensively minded teams.  Sosa with 17 first half points.

Can't seem to get the video stream, a new service interface.  Tried to log in, create an account, but no luck.  So just checking the LiveStats from time to time. 

Tough initial game for IWU -- after four postponements, really five counting the scheduled game with NCC tonight, put off by the weather.

Gonna be hard to get the 12 games in . . .

'70

[Gregory Sager]

Both road teams won tonight. At Faganel Hall:

Wheaton 76
Elmhurst 55

At Shirk Center:

Millikin 90
Illinois Wesleyan 82

[iwu70]

At The Shirk:

MU 90 IWU 82

Sosa 32  15-17 FTs
Lansford 21
Munroe 15
Brovelli with 12 rebounds

For MU:

Knudsen 23
Coffman 15
Hildebrand 13
Nice group of role players, so MU with depth

Titans playing their first game of the season, hurt themselves with 22 TOs and big disadvantage on the offensive glass, 11-21.  Had a let-down in the second Q.  Looks to be plenty to work on defensively, allowing 90.

Well, it's a start, tough game to play after all these delays and postponements.  I couldn't actually watch the game, as the new IWU video streaming interface didn't work for me tonight.  So, this just from the Stats.

IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

The WC @ EC game was a walkover from very early for Wheaton, so I watched the game at Shirk. MU looks very impressive; the Big Blue just ate up IWU on the offensive boards (21-11), and they distribute the ball very nicely. Lots of people contributed for MU -- 32 bench points for the Big Blue in this one, and they didn't really look like they were losing anything when Olivia Lett went to her bench. The Knudsen kid is more scorer than shooter (or that's how she looked tonight), but she's extremely active at both ends of the floor. Millikin kept at least a five-point lead throughout the entire second half, and it was double-digits as often as not, in spite of the fact that Lansford and Munroe got hot from three-point land in the fourth quarter. Kendall Sosa did a nice Pete Maravich imitation with 32 points, but for much of the night she was a one-(wo)man band for IWU.

Millikin is going to be a tough team to stop this year. Personally, I'm glad that Wheaton picked up an early W over the Big Blue, because, from a North Park perspective, that game could be key in the standings against MU.

[Gregory Sager]

Based upon what I've seen (live, livestream, and photos), it appears that this is how the teams are approaching the Covid-19 situation when actually on the floor playing the game:

Augustana -- unmasked
Carroll -- unmasked
Carthage -- masked
Elmhurst -- masked
Illinois Wesleyan -- unmasked
Millikin -- unmasked
North Central -- masked
North Park -- masked
Wheaton -- unmasked

The Wheaton @ Elmhurst game tonight was the first one I've seen in which a masked team played an unmasked team. It looked pretty strange.

(For the record, AFAIK all nine CCIW men's basketball teams are playing unmasked, although Elmhurst has yet to play a game.)

[GoPerry]

Yes - not even Wesleyan, with their offense, will win many games giving up 90.

Very impressive game by MU I thought.  Sosa did her thing but Millikin played a confident and veteran game.  Anytime the Titans got close in the second half the Big Blue would come up with a big bucket to hold them off.  The aforementioned MU +10 on the offensive glass and IWU 22 turnovers (Sosa 6) were both big.

Knudsen does a lot of things well.  She is a good ball handler and can create her own shot in a way that's uncommon in the ladies game.  Good court sense and vision too.  With Hildebrand, Staton, Coffman, and Ratsch, Millikin's front court was never going to be a concern.  But their backcourt with Knudsen, Miranda Fox and Jazmin Brown is very solid and completes their package.

[Titan Q]

Another huge one for Millikin...

https://www.news-gazette.com/sports/prep-sports/girls-basketball/second-to-none-rockets-all-time-leading-scorer-knudsen-always-has-hoops-on-her-mind/article_ce5a0f0f-8311-5f90-a080-c09a502014f7.html

An article on Millikin freshman Elyce Knudsen...

https://herald-review.com/sports/college/millikin/watch-now-millikin-freshman-elyce-knudsen-already-making-an-impact-for-womens-basketball-team/article_03bbc8f5-9964-59b5-a657-743d2dd9b44f.html

She is a pretty incredible player.

[Gregory Sager]

Knudsen does a lot of things well.  She is a good ball handler and can create her own shot in a way that's uncommon in the ladies game.  Good court sense and vision too.  With Hildebrand, Staton, Coffman, and Ratsch, Millikin's front court was never going to be a concern.  But their backcourt with Knudsen, Miranda Fox and Jazmin Brown is very solid and completes their package.

I was impressed by Chelsea McCullum off the bench for MU as well.

[iwu70]

IWU over NCC, 77-52.

I think 17 players on both sides got into the game.   

Sosa 16
Lansford 12
Munroe 12

Better defense, fewer turnovers, decent rebounding. 

'70

[RogK]

NCC's IxChel Leeuwenburgh grabbed 16 rebounds in 19:00.