WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

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

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iwu70


Gregory Sager

Speaking of the recently-retired Diane Schumacher, I always thought that it was weird that she was a nationally-recognized star in softball circles -- she was a gold-medal-winning player for Team USA in the World Games and two Pan-Am Games, and she's a member of both the International Softball Hall of Fame and the ASA Hall of Fame -- and yet she had far more success coaching women's basketball for Augustana than she did in coaching the Augie softball team. Her Augie hoops teams won five of the first seven CCIW titles awarded in that sport and went to the D3 tourney five times, but she won only one CCIW title in nine seasons as Augie's softball coach after the league began sponsoring that sport, and she had an overall losing record and was only one game above .500 in CCIW play over the course of her 15 years as Augie's softball coach.

Regardless, she is one of the most illustrious coaches in CCIW history in terms of overall national impact in a particular sport. It just doesn't happen to be the sport in which she found the most success as a coach in the CCIW ranks.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

iwu70

Any recruiting news -- as students begin to make the final college choices?   

'70

Gregory Sager

North Park has four recruits thus far. Three of them are guards: Jackie Rapp (5'7) from Sycamore and Alana Santos (5'8) from Walther Christian will be freshmen, and Angelina Villasin (5'3) from Prospect by way of Harper College will be a junior. Villasin looks interesting; she averaged 19.6 and 19.5 ppg in her two years at Harper, and she's a shooter, which NPU seriously needs; she won the state's Class 4A Queen of the Hill contest as a senior at Prospect.

The fourth recruit is a post player, Josie Summerville (6'1) from Adairsville, GA, who will also be an incoming freshman. Her Hudl video indicates that she's got good back-to-the-basket skills and can run the floor. NPU is going to need more than one new big, though, considering what the program is losing to graduation.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

RogK

Do we know who approved the Watered-Down CCIW Tournament? WBB coaches? Athletic Directors?
With six of nine schools making the 2018-19 tourney, standards have certainly been lowered. And only the saddest inept team(s) will not be in contention down to the final week or so of the regular season. Not much difference in finishing 3rd 4th 5th or 6th.

iwu70

I see now that Rebekah Ehresman, like Molly McGraw, has turned to track and field, throwing the javelin.  As mentioned earlier, Rebekah will be replacing Shelby Jackson as the TA/Assistant Coach for the Titans next year -- likely tutoring whomever steps into the key PG role for IWU next season -- could be Munroe, Shanks, Sosa . . . stay tuned. 

With the May 1st deadlines upcoming for admissions, I'd expect from many CCIW schools quite a bit more recruitment news in the next few weeks.

'70

titanalum94

Quote from: RogK on April 29, 2018, 08:01:37 PM
Do we know who approved the Watered-Down CCIW Tournament? WBB coaches? Athletic Directors?
With six of nine schools making the 2018-19 tourney, standards have certainly been lowered. And only the saddest inept team(s) will not be in contention down to the final week or so of the regular season. Not much difference in finishing 3rd 4th 5th or 6th.

Pretty sure it was coach approved, those 5 and 6 seeds want a chance at an AQ too. It's fairly in line with what other conferences are doing though. The WIAC, MIAC, IIAC all have 6 team tournaments and the OAC has an 8 team tourney for a 10 team league.

AndOne

Quote from: RogK on April 29, 2018, 08:01:37 PM
Do we know who approved the Watered-Down CCIW Tournament? WBB coaches? Athletic Directors?
With six of nine schools making the 2018-19 tourney, standards have certainly been lowered. And only the saddest inept team(s) will not be in contention down to the final week or so of the regular season. Not much difference in finishing 3rd 4th 5th or 6th.

Whether proposed by coaches, ADs, or even team mascots, I believe such a change can only ultimately be implemented after approval by the Presidents of the conference member institutions.

It seems such was the case when the teams went to men's-women's doubleheaders on Saturdays during the conference portion of the season. If I remember correctly, the member Presidents approved the plan after it was put together by the ADs in response to the Presidents' request for a plan to cut down on athletic department costs. If approval had been up to the coaches alone, it would never have seen the light of day. The power to make such changes rests in the hands of those at the top.

RogK

Thanks for the replies!
Another way of looking at it :
in regular season conference play, 72 games will be played to eliminate 3 teams from the AQ. Then 5 teams will get eliminated in 5 games.
iwu70, maybe you should tell Rebekah that if her javelin team wins the opening coin toss, they should not elect to receive! (sorry -- old joke)

duckfan41

This is a change in pace from current discussion, but I was looking at the new schedule for Wheaton next season and they open up against Thomas More at home. You could imagine my surprise seeing this as Thomas More is one of the premier programs in the country and I would not have expected a home matchup with them right away. It will for sure be an early measuring stick for this young Thunder team and I'll be interested to go out and see just how good the Top tier of D3 women's basketball really is.

RogK

While accessing Wheaton's schedule, I got distracted by this :
https://app.box.com/s/otz3inyxd43jmme82uio229ci4s2jjx0
Congrats to Mia Smith and Kent Madsen.

Gregory Sager

#6641
Quote from: RogK on April 29, 2018, 08:01:37 PM
Do we know who approved the Watered-Down CCIW Tournament? WBB coaches? Athletic Directors?

The coaches wanted it, but the nine CCIW presidents had to sign off on it. Keep in mind that this means more time spent off campus by student-athletes (i.e., potentially more missed class time), however miniscule that amount of off-campus time actually is in terms of the broad sweep of the season, so the nine athletic departments couldn't institute the new tourney setup unilaterally. This is an academics-based decision; thus, it's made on the presidential level.

Quote from: AndOne on April 29, 2018, 11:53:17 PM
Whether proposed by coaches, ADs, or even team mascots, I believe such a change can only ultimately be implemented after approval by the Presidents of the conference member institutions.

The presidents were in on the study level of the proposal, so this wasn't just a rubber stamp on their part.

Quote from: AndOne on April 29, 2018, 11:53:17 PMIt seems such was the case when the teams went to men's-women's doubleheaders on Saturdays during the conference portion of the season. If I remember correctly, the member Presidents approved the plan after it was put together by the ADs in response to the Presidents' request for a plan to cut down on athletic department costs. If approval had been up to the coaches alone, it would never have seen the light of day. The power to make such changes rests in the hands of those at the top.

This is true, but I'm pretty sure that in this case it was a matter of academics (time spent away from campus) rather than finances, given that adding two more basketball games to the overall CCIW schedule isn't really a budget-buster.

Quote from: RogK on April 29, 2018, 08:01:37 PMWith six of nine schools making the 2018-19 tourney, standards have certainly been lowered. And only the saddest inept team(s) will not be in contention down to the final week or so of the regular season. Not much difference in finishing 3rd 4th 5th or 6th.

As titanalum94 said, a six-team tourney is in keeping with what neighboring D3 leagues do. And part of the reasoning behind adding those two extra teams is that it enhances playing opportunities, which: a) is in line with D3's credo that sports on this level is all about the student-athlete experience; and b) is a recruiting boost.

Quote from: iwu70 on April 29, 2018, 10:42:11 PMAs mentioned earlier, Rebekah will be replacing Shelby Jackson as the TA/Assistant Coach for the Titans next year

GA, not TA. A teaching assistant is a graduate student who works on the academics side in aiding faculty with classroom and/or research work. A graduate assistant is a graduate student who works on the athletics side in aiding coaches or athletics administrators.

Quote from: duckfan41 on April 30, 2018, 11:24:31 AM
This is a change in pace from current discussion, but I was looking at the new schedule for Wheaton next season and they open up against Thomas More at home. You could imagine my surprise seeing this as Thomas More is one of the premier programs in the country and I would not have expected a home matchup with them right away. It will for sure be an early measuring stick for this young Thunder team and I'll be interested to go out and see just how good the Top tier of D3 women's basketball really is.

Thomas More is moving to the NAIA. It will be an NAIA school for sure in 2019-20, and it may yet opt to move to the NAIA for this coming school year and play as an independent in that organization. So it may not be a "top tier of D3 women's basketball" team after all.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

iwu70

Yes, Greg, thanks for the clarification -- I think she is indeed the GA, her stellar academic career notwithstanding. 

Thanks for all the background on the new tournament set-up.

'70

lmitzel

Quote from: Gregory Sager on April 30, 2018, 11:11:00 PM
Quote from: RogK on April 29, 2018, 08:01:37 PMWith six of nine schools making the 2018-19 tourney, standards have certainly been lowered. And only the saddest inept team(s) will not be in contention down to the final week or so of the regular season. Not much difference in finishing 3rd 4th 5th or 6th.

As titanalum94 said, a six-team tourney is in keeping with what neighboring D3 leagues do. And part of the reasoning behind adding those two extra teams is that it enhances playing opportunities, which: a) is in line with D3's credo that sports on this level is all about the student-athlete experience; and b) is a recruiting boost.

As a refresher, if the 6 team format were in place this past year, here's what the field would have looked like:

Quote from: lmitzel on February 21, 2018, 10:32:30 AM
(6)Carroll (5-11) @ (3)Carthage (11-5)
(5)Augustana (8-8) @ (4)Elmhurst (9-7)

Highest remaining seed vs (2)Wheaton (14-2)
Lowest remaining seed @ (1)Illinois Wesleyan (15-1)

The year before would have been:

(6)Carthage (8-8) @ (3)Elmhurst (11-5)
(5)North Central (8-8) @ (4)Augustana (10-6)

Highest remaining seed vs (2)Illinois Wesleyan (12-4)
Lowest remaining seed @ (1)Wheaton (14-2)

The odds of your 6 seed being 8-8 probably isn't great, but you're also probably not going to see a 5-11 team a ton; probably something more in between the two.
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Dave 'd-mac' McHugh

Quote from: Gregory Sager on April 30, 2018, 11:11:00 PM
Quote from: duckfan41 on April 30, 2018, 11:24:31 AM
This is a change in pace from current discussion, but I was looking at the new schedule for Wheaton next season and they open up against Thomas More at home. You could imagine my surprise seeing this as Thomas More is one of the premier programs in the country and I would not have expected a home matchup with them right away. It will for sure be an early measuring stick for this young Thunder team and I'll be interested to go out and see just how good the Top tier of D3 women's basketball really is.

Thomas More is moving to the NAIA. It will be an NAIA school for sure in 2019-20, and it may yet opt to move to the NAIA for this coming school year and play as an independent in that organization. So it may not be a "top tier of D3 women's basketball" team after all.

No... they aren't moving to NAIA next academic season. They are moving forward as an independent in DIII for 2018-19. They have been making schedules across all sports accordingly. They are also making a last ditch attempt (from what I can tell reading through many comments and reports) to stay in DIII after the upcoming year, but they need a dance partner. They are approved to enter the NAIA for 2019-20 if they cannot find a way to stay in DIII.

But again - they are not leaving sooner than summer of 2019.
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