WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

Started by wheatonc, March 03, 2005, 06:18:19 PM

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iwu70

People closer to the MU programs will have to fill you in, Ypsi.  I think the decline of the city of Decatur surely must have played a part in all this.  But, of course, there must be more to it.

Hope our Titans have a good visit to Decatur this weekend, and keep the good football season rolling by rolling to 4-0.  I'd expect the Titans to win by at least 2-3 TDs, and do even better vs. NPU at Homecoming on the 12th. 

Sorry to miss you at Homecoming this year -- looks a good turnout from Class of '70 comrades -- many coming back to honor Paul Bushnell's 47 years of teaching, mentoring and activism on campus and in the community.  A true, dedicated and loyal "public intellectual" who will be greatly missed in classrooms and in faculty and university forums.

IWU70

Mr. Ypsi

Just checked a couple of other sports of interest to me (don't trust my memory anymore :P).

In baseball, Millikin was a dominant team early in CCIW history, but since their last title (1964), have never really been contenders.  They have never been good in men's soccer; in women's, they were 4-3 as recently as 2009-10, but have never really been contenders.  Are there any sports where Millikin is consistently relevant anymore?

I'm sure Joe Hakes could enlighten us tremendously, but hate to put him on the spot - not sure he would feel ethically correct talking about his former employer.

Gregory Sager

Quote from: Mr. Ypsi on October 03, 2013, 09:52:32 PM
Just checked a couple of other sports of interest to me (don't trust my memory anymore :P).

In baseball, Millikin was a dominant team early in CCIW history, but since their last title (1964), have never really been contenders.  They have never been good in men's soccer; in women's, they were 4-3 as recently as 2009-10, but have never really been contenders.  Are there any sports where Millikin is consistently relevant anymore?

Millikin won the CCIW volleyball title a couple of years ago, and the men's golf program continues to field one of the better squads in the league. Other than that, there's not much of anything going on for Jimmy Millikin in the way of sports.

A decade and a couple of school presidents ago, MU's leadership made a decision to dramatically cut the school's budget in order to reduce debt load and reposition the school's economic health for the long haul. Millikin actually weathered the recession better than most schools as a result of this. But it also meant, if I'm reading the tea leaves correctly, that the school's athletics budget was pared down and the already-antiquated athletics facilities got no upgrades until the new Lindsay Field track was completed just this year. (Joe Hakes hasn't directly shared anything with me about MU's sports woes or the reasoning behind his resignation, by the way.)

Decatur's been a dump for decades, so that hasn't been an acute problem for the MU athletics department in terms of the time frame of this decline. (The MU campus is actually fairly attractive, and the school doesn't appear to be in a bad part of town.) And Decatur's lack of appeal to potential collegians certainly didn't get in the way of Lori Kerans winning the national championship in '05. In fact, reading about Millikin's post-millennial austerity measures only makes me respect her accomplishments in '05 all the more.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

RogK

North Central guard Callie Rezin has transferred to her hometown college (Rockford).
She is a versatile guard, capable of handling point duties well (55 assists, 60 TOs) and can score from inside and out (7.1 pts in 13.6 minutes). She also grabbed a lot of rebounds for someone of her size (22 per 100 minutes), even accounting for the fact that there are a lot of rebounds available in "system" games. She was also NC's best FT shooter last season at .776.

RogK

#3979
Millikin and Elmhurst will have an unusually early opportunity to scout each other. Millikin will play its opening pair of games in Elmhurst's gym, although not against the Bluejays. Westminster (Mo.) and Greenville round out the foursome. Same story for the guys' teams of these schools. There will be 8 games in 30 or 31 hours, all officiated by the same three refs (well, maybe not).


Gregory Sager

North Park's schedule indicates that the Vikings are hosting a tipoff tournament. This will be the first tourney that either the women's or men's teams have hosted at NPU since the late '80s.

NPU will also be taking part in a classic-style tournament at Thomas More in northern Kentucky. Thomas More finished last season ranked #21.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

RogK

Greg, if you've seen any "open gym" play by the NP Viking women lately, how did they look? I didn't get any names of newcomers at the summer league, but I think there are some promising players joining the team. NP will have a lot of playing time "up-for-grabs" considering the numerous graduations off last year's team.

Gregory Sager

I haven't seen any open gyms yet at NPU, Rog, but I'm well aware that Amanda Reese had a pretty good recruiting cycle. My understanding with regard to the NPU newbies is that in particular there's a point guard, a couple of wings, and a big who have terrific potential.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

iwu70

IWU roster is up now, as mentioned, and has 23 players.  IWU also has a schedule of 8-9 JV games listed for this coming year, so some of the newbies will get some good JV games and playing time in game conditions.  See the IWU "women's basketball" pages on the IWU sports website for details.  The program, in terms of numbers and developmental JV games, gets stronger.

Lots of varsity playing time and rotational position up for grabs.  I only see 8-9 names on the roster that are almost shoe-ins for varsity squad positions, so quite a few varsity spots, some PT still up for grabs in pre-season practices, competition.  I expect the Titans to  play substantially the same style of play as in the past, but perhaps be a bit more attacking, fast-breaking team as it would appear this year the team will not be as strong from treyland.  We'll see.  Gardner will be missed -- one of the greatest trey shooters in IWU women's basketball history.  Shelby Jackson returning is very big.  I expect Baltes, MacMahon, Seibring and  Jackson all to have potentially all-CCIW seasons. IMHO.  Development of additional post players, rebounders and some key role players, esp. on "run and jump" -- on the pressing defence, to be key.

IWU70



RogK

Wheaton has a new roster here :
http://athletics.wheaton.edu/roster.aspx?path=wbball&
Missing is Makayla Seibold, whom I was hoping to see more of this season. As a freshman in '12-'13, she hit 10 of 20 3FG att. Not bad. We'll see if she ends up playing somewhere else or not.

iwu70

WC roster looks a little thin, and very young.  Only 2 seniors -- how many returnees?  Any assessment of the newbies?

Seems to be Carthage is the team to beat this season. 

IWU70

RogK

iwu70, Wheaton is youngish, but several of the sophomores played a lot as freshmen, such as Zeller, Considine and Reeves.
Reviewing the team's stats from last season, I noticed something about 3FGs. Seven players connected on threes : Olson 67, Bohlen 55, Lee 13, Seibold 10, Zeller 6, Bri Graham 6, Panaggio 1. Of them, only Zeller and Panaggio are on the new roster.
Of course, some of the 6 newcomers may shoot threes well. And some returning players may have improved themselves in that aspect of offense.
The '12-'13 Thunder held opponents to a composite .310 FG pct. No doubt, Coach Madsen will aim for something similar in '13-'14.

iwu70

Rog, hard to replace Olson.  Just like Titans, hard to replace Gardner.  Teams will have to adjust to the personnel they have for the new go 'round, the new season.  I don't think the TItans will be as strong from treyland this year either.  But, they could be very dangerous, still tough D pressing style, and a more running, slashing style on offense, esp. with Baltes and MacMahon.  If Shelby Jackson and Katy Seibring have big years, the Titans could be very tough.  I think the contributions of role players, rotational players and whoever is the new fifth starter, will be very key to IWU success this year.  Seems starting positions are assured for Baltes (PG), MacMahon (2 or 3), Seibring (4), and Jackson (5).  IMHO.  Of course, I could be wrong -- still a lot of newness and uncertainties to work out.  We'll know the new starting line-up and new rotation soon enough.  Opening games, season opening tip-off now less than four weeks away. 

IWU70