WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Jim Matson]

Wheaton sent the game into the 1st OT on a trey with 33 seconds remaining.  Wheaton then hit another trey at the buzzer to send the game into the second OT.  In the second OT, Wheaton took the game in a more conventional fashion.

Wheaton was the 4th seed in this opening weekend and will have an excellent chance to move on against Simpson tomorrow.  Wheaton is playing well right now.

I was surprised by the Wesleyan score.

[Fawkes316]

Wheaton will play Simpson College tomorrow, after they defeated Stout 91-86.

[Fawkes316]

Did anyone notice that the two teams in tomorrow's game at Stout are the Storm and the Thunder?
 
That's the kind of amazing breakdown you only get from me!

Actually, it should be an interesting game. From my understanding Simpson likes to run and gun. Wheaton's not against running, but I guarantee they aren't planning on giving up much more than 70 points (in regulation at least), nevermind 91. They did give up 81 to Olivet Nazerene (still a win), but that was when Elizabeth Fox was still injured.

Should be a good game. Wonder what kind of crowd will be there?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Carroll was a member of the CCIW from 1956-92.  They left after only 6 years of the women being a sponsored varsity sport, but did quite respectably.  While they won no titles, their 62-34 record (.646) is third all-time (behind Millikin and Wheaton).  Such was not the case in men's bball, where their 187-364 record (.339) was the lowest of any current or former member by a sizable margin.

I guess knocking two of our three post-season reps out within 24 hours of each other is a bit of belated revenge!

[buf]

Wheaton over St. Bens in 2-OT

Close game all the way.  CSB did a good job of getting the ball inside and finishing.  Boone was nearly unstoppable, using her size as an advantage.  On the other hand, Wheaton shot pretty decent from the outside and also scored on the inside.  CSB takes a 57-50 lead with less than 2min left, but Wheaton goes on a 7-0 run to take it to OT.  In the OT, Wheaton shoots a 3 and misses but the ball bounces right to another Wheaton player standing at the 3 pt line.  The CSB player guarding her falls down and she hits a 3 just as the buzzer sounds to send it to 2-OT.  Wheaton does a good job of hitting FTs down the stretch.

[RogK]

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[Hoosier Titan]

The Pantagraph's story on the IWU/Carroll game is here:
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/03/03/sports/doc45e8f8922788b617291194.txt

After the game, Mia Smith was straightforward on the radio.  She said that the tapes showed Carroll very accurately, she thought they had a good game plan for both offense and defense, and the team just wasn't able to execute as they needed to.  She is proud of this team and what they accomplished this season, and is looking forward to next year with some new recruits.

So, while the rest of the CCIW turns to thoughts of baseball, golf, and gardening, it's up to the Wheaton ladies!  The matchup tonight sounds like an interesting one.  Good luck!

[diehardfan]

Some great pics of the St. Ben vs Wheaton game up on the d3hoops.com picture site. Here are my favs thus far...

http://www.pictureprints.net/albums.php?gallery=1658&photo=0172
http://www.pictureprints.net/albums.php?gallery=1658&photo=0204

[buf]

Simpson over Wheaton 81-58.  Big 2nd half for Simpson

[diehardfan]

Congrats to the Wheaton ladies on a great season.

[strikingviking]

I would also like to congratulate Wheaton IWU on great seasons, you have so much to be proud of!!  Unfortunately though, I don't think the rest of the conference prepared them for their first round oppenents (other than Millikan,NP , and a well-coached Carthage team).  Whats up with Augie and North Central?   How can North Central be so bad in women's hoops when they are good in almost every sport?  Is their scholarships not as good as their men's.....could be a title IX issue?  Augie used to be one the best teams and now they can hardly find someone on their schedule that they can beat.  They have won a grand total of 15 games the past three years.  I would think that when the program hits rock bottom, they would try to work a little harder to bring in a qualified coach to turn the ship around.  You can't tell me that if the men's job opened up, they would hire someone with so little experience! 

We need to do whatever we can to strengthen the bottom teams in the league so that next year we have someone in the sweet 16!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Women's bball got a very late start in the CCIW (1986?), and we've never been a 'power conference' like with the men.  For years it was Millikin on top, with Wheaton in close pursuit, but no one else a real threat.  IWU seems to have joined the club (knock on wood that it continues!) and North Park is certainly showing signs of life.  Carthage seems to be getting there, and NCC beat IWU with Mallory Heydorn injured (until VERY recently, no one would have beaten a top team even with a key injury). 

I think that the CCIW women are definitely moving in the right direction - we'll know we've reached it when the top teams are still nationally ranked (and a serious threat in the tournament), yet things like #8 Millikin beating #2 Elmhust, or #7 IWU taking #1 Augie to the final buzzer both games are perhaps eyebrow raisers, but no big shock!

[Gregory Sager]

I would also like to congratulate Wheaton IWU on great seasons, you have so much to be proud of!!  Unfortunately though, I don't think the rest of the conference prepared them for their first round oppenents (other than Millikan,NP , and a well-coached Carthage team).  Whats up with Augie and North Central?   How can North Central be so bad in women's hoops when they are good in almost every sport?  Is their scholarships not as good as their men's.....could be a title IX issue?  Augie used to be one the best teams and now they can hardly find someone on their schedule that they can beat.  They have won a grand total of 15 games the past three years.  I would think that when the program hits rock bottom, they would try to work a little harder to bring in a qualified coach to turn the ship around.  You can't tell me that if the men's job opened up, they would hire someone with so little experience! 

We need to do whatever we can to strengthen the bottom teams in the league so that next year we have someone in the sweet 16!

That's a little unfair to the North Central women's basketball program. NCC had ranged between 5-9 and 8-6 for eight seasons in a row prior to this one. That's not bad; that's mediocre. There's a difference. Plus, there are several sports in which NCC characteristically performs worse than in women's basketball. Take soccer, for instance: Neither the men's team nor the women's team won as much as a single match in CCIW play this fall.

It's also a little unfair to lambaste Augustana's Bobbi Endress after only one season. You don't turn around a rock-bottom program in one year. The usual rule of thumb is that a head coach gets four years to make progress in reversing a program's fortunes.

You speak of Wheaton and Illinois Wesleyan not being properly prepared for the tournament by CCIW competition except for when they played Millikin, NPU, and Carthage ... but that's half of the rest of the league right there! As Mr. Ypsi said, the CCIW is not a power conference in women's basketball ... but I'm pretty sure that there are plenty of leagues that are worse. In fact, the Massey Ratings list the CCIW as 11th out of 42 D3 conferences.

Also ...

Is their scholarships not as good as their men's.....could be a title IX issue?

There are no athletic scholarships in D3.

[Illinihoops4]

strikingviking, there's a lot of criticsm coming from a poster who seems to be lacking some information regarding D3 athletics.

North Central's roster was rather thin this season- many players left and many were dismissed from the team. Many coaches are willing to take risks to make the necessary changes in there programs. I think she's one of them and with a solid recruiting class, they'll improve.

Augie used to be one of the best teams. Do you realize that it's been 5-6 years since they've had a winning conference season? That's not the current coach's fault. Did you know that the majority of her kids were not going to return this season? Did you know that none of the kids on this squad are her's? Give her a recruiting class or two. You can't put the blame for what the previous coach didn't do on her. As far as experience goes, she's already taken a team to the NCAA tournament- one that was a below .500 team when she took over. Not all coaches can say they've been there. It'll take time, but no one is going from worst to first in this league.

I agree with Mr. Ypsi. The CCIW women are moving in the right direction. We've got dedicated coaches at all schools and they are working very hard to improve their squads. I give them credit. It's a time consuming occupation and you really have to love what you do to put up with all the headaches that come with it at times.

[Fawkes316]

I think it's evidence of the importance of stability. Kerans and Baker both started coaching the year the league opened and they are still there now (sure some of that is because of their success; chicken or egg?) Elmhurst hired Semper in the midst of a 5-year run that earned a total of 3 conference wins, but they stuck with her and in her fourth season she got them to 6-8 and then 7-7. Mia Smith has been at IWU for a number of years and that stability has been helping improve that program.

My understanding is the Bauer cleaned house last season and I respect her desire to establish the kind of program she wants. Finally, I was actually impressed with the growth of Augustana this season, and Endress was very successful at Edgewood. You could see a much more positive attitude and commitment to defensive effort even when they were playing much more talented teams.

I think the conference is improving and mostly because of the improved quality and long tenure of the coaches.