WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Fawkes316]

I'm sorry, but I don't see Rockford on Wheaton's schedule. Are you drawing conclusions from a scrimmage?

Rockford: The nation's No. 1 preseason scrimmage team!

[Fawkes316]

Oops, I didn't even read your post closely enough, regentfan. I thought Wheaton had lost. You're drawing conclusions from the winning margin in a scrimmage? In that case, Wheaton has no chance!

[Titan Scouser]

Congratulations to IWU coach Mia Smith and her Titans on their 80-63 win over a ranked Stevens Point team.  The Titans outrebounded the taller Pointers and countered every attempt at a comeback with tight defense and balanced scoring.  Crystal Dye led the Titans with 18 points.

[True Basketball Fan]

Millikin, Wheaton, and Elmhurst are mopping up the floor in the non-conference season so far (except for the strange and embarrassing Elmhurst loss to CURF, what the #$%!, and Wheaton's loss to Calvin, which isn't that bad actually).  Looking at all three of there schedules until conference, I see a possible combined record of 31-2, which would be quite impressive.  The only two games that are tough, are Elmhurst vs. Rockford, and Wheaton vs. Stout (if they play). 

I'd like to see the CCIW gain a 3rd team in the Top 25.  With IWU's two losses already, the only option right now is Elmhurst.  The problem is that they have played a cupcake schedule and they have one GLARING loss (at CURF).  Take that loss away and win out the rest of the non-conference, they could possibly creep in there by mid-january.

[wbbfan32]

Man...what's goin on at Millikin?  Actually getting the chance to see this team in the beginning of their season, it seemed like they were going to dominate their pre-conference games.  But they already have two loses:  one to Illinois College and the other to Luther.  I'm sorry, but I've seen this team play hard and well, and I don't know what went wrong.  It is a different team than last year, but those that have stepped in are doing very well:  Lindsay Ippel has already been named a CCIW Player of the Week and is doing well, Christi Blackburn who has recently sat out due to a horrific eye incident is doing well, along with Angela Vollmer who has seemed to cut down on her turnover rate from last season.  Andrea Riebock may not be Audrey Minott, but she has taken over Minott's position well for a sophomore.  It's just a little sad to see this team that has great, young talent (you should check out a jv game...they have a very talented squad of freshmen) pick up two losses so quickly within each other to teams they should/could have beat.  I just hope Coach Kerans knows what she's doing down there in Decatur and that the women step it up.  Hopefully, their break before the San Diego tournament will get them to relax and prepare; that tournament is not a walk in the park and it will be a real test for the Big Blue.  Let's just hope it's a test they can pass...

[iwumichigander]

wbbfan32 - You got to be kidding.  If you don't think a coach with her credentials knows what she is doing --
http://www.millikin.edu/athletics/wbasketball/coach.asp
-- you need to get off this board

[Mr. Ypsi]

wbbfan32 - You got to be kidding.  If you don't think a coach with her crednentials knows what she is doing --
http://www.millikin.edu/athletics/wbasketball/coach.asp
-- you need to get off this board

Now Iwum, lighten up on the guy!

I'm sure he recognizes her PAST performance (and she HAS only won 10 of the past 12 conference titles - what's up with those other two!), but c'mon - she graduated from Millikin in 1985!  She's probably, like, 42 years old!  She may be losing it like Joe Paterno!

[iwumichigander]

Yep, Mr Ypsi and I would bet Lori Kearns could pull a "Paterno" this season too.

Coach Kerans owns a 382-120 mark. In her 19 years she has had 18 winning seasons (11 seasons 20+ wins) and owns a .761 winning percentage. Prior to the 2004-05 season, her winning percentage ranked her 17th nationally among active Division III coaches and 12th in career wins. She owns a 204-39 record in games at Griswold Center.

[Pat Coleman]

It has to be tough to break in a new starter at point guard when the rest of the team is returning.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Good grief - two weeks and NO posts!

I initially predicted Millikin, then Wheaton, then IWU.  Has the success of Wheaton and Elmhurst, and the relatively lack-luster performances of Millikin and IWU changed that scenario?

Thoughts?

[wbbfan32]

I DO know of Coach Keran's credentials....it was just an expression.  I know she knows what she's doing at Millikin.  I was just wondering what was happening with the team.  I mean, they've been doing great and then they have some weird loses (weird because they were predicted to beat those teams).  I am in NO WAY commenting on Coach Keran's lack of ability to coach these girls; like I said, I know her stats and records and I know players that have played for her and she is a great coach.  I was just commenting on how the team seems to be hot and cold at very difficult times so far this season.  That's all...

As for the conference title, I think it will be a close one.  I'm picking Wheaton or Millikin for the top; but that all depends on how they handle their first conference game today (MU vs. NP).  If the Millikin I'm used to watching shows up, then I will choose MU or Wheaton for the top.  If not...it's going to be a rough and very surprising season to watch.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 65, Millikin 55

Evie Peterson, 19 pts
Anna Mueller, 15 pts
Laura Mount, 12 pts, 7 asts, 7 stls
Shandrel Young, 11 pts, 6 rebs
Megan Slattery, 6 rebs

Joanna Conner, 19 pts, 6 rebs
Lindsay Ippel, 15 pts, 6 rebs
Lindsay Koehn, 7 pts, 7 rebs

The "just plain awful" Vikings, as True Basketball Fan dubbed them this fall, raised their CCIW record to 2-0 and their overall record to 7-6 with this home win today over the defending national champions. The Big Blue dropped to 8-4, 0-1 on the season.

The Vikings led almost from wire to wire, with the exception of a brief 2-2 tie at the beginning of the game. The Park opened up an 11-point lead in the first half and completely dominated at both ends, ending the half with a 28-19 lead.

After NPU achieved its biggest lead of the day, 32-20, within the first minute of the second half, Millikin began to chip away. They induced Vikings center Megan Slattery into committing her fourth foul, and began to use their considerable size advantage to full effect by pounding the ball inside to the 6'2" Ippel and 6'1" Conner, in addition to employing an effective full-court press. Ippel knocked down a bunny at the 10:27 mark to cut the NPU lead to a single point at 41-40. But then the Vikings began to demonstrate why seniors are such an invaluable commodity in basketball. Seniors Slattery, Young, and Mount have been through this dozens of times before, and they showed absolutely no panic. After trading baskets for a few minutes, Mount knocked down a trey at the 6:18 mark that extended the lead to 49-44, and the Vikings were off and running. Millikin never got any closer than seven points down the stretch.

The Park kept its composure, solved the Millikin press that had gotten the Big Blue back into the game and began converting easy layups against it, and used those layups to build the lead back up. In fact, NPU was so dominant from that point on that they would've salted the game away even earlier than they did if they had made their FTs; the Park went a humdrum 14-22 from the charity stripe in the second half.

Millikin looked surprisingly tentative. Slattery played the last eleven minutes of the ballgame without respite with four fouls, and yet the Big Blue did not go at her and attempt to foul her out of the game. When the ball went into Ippel or Conner in the post, it seemed as though they chose to spin and fade more often than not, rather than take the ball to the hole strong against Slattery. By the final few minutes of the game, they were rushing their inside shots and making frustration fouls when NPU would get the defensive rebound. It wasn't the sort of gut-check performance I would've expected in crunch time from such an outstanding duo.

The key to the game was the NPU guard tandem of Mueller and Mount. They completely dominated Millikin's backcourt at both ends of the floor. Mueller quarterbacked a great game, and Mount was everywhere. Her baseline drives and her knack for finding Peterson for open shots were the difference in the game, as well as her ballhawking defense. She played like an All-CCIW first-teamer today.

A tremendous win for NPU, the kind that this team can really build upon.

Not that anybody cares, but the battle for last place will be Augie and NP.  If they split against eachother, there will be a tie for last at 1-13.

... and yet another brilliant prediction by TBF circles around the bowl and disappears. NPU's now 2-0, and if today is any indication they're going to win a bunch more in conference before it's all said and done. TBF, you should consider changing your Posting Up handle to "Reverse Prophet" or something.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg,

Congratulations to NP for confounding not only TBF but also the conference coaches!

Not to take anything away from NP's win, but clearly something IS amiss in Decatur!  Since everyone is back from the national champion (and pre-season #1) team except the PG, in retrospect perhaps Audrey Minott should be declared last year's CCIW MOP!

[Gregory Sager]

I don't know about that, Chuck, and I don't really care. All that concerns me is the fact that NPU outplayed and defeated a very good team on Saturday afternoon, and they deserve to get credit for it ... and I'm going to see that they do, even if the readership and activity in this room is a little sparse.

[Jim Matson]

Not as sparse as one might think...