I believe in the 2004 regional championship Aurora beat Carthage by a score of 21-4.  Team to beat this year:  Wooster College. 

Talent means nothing without performance.  We all know of players who had "all the talent in the world" (sorry for the cliche, but it fits), but struggled to turn that talent into success. 

Give a coach a player with mediocre talent and excellent performance, and he'll love the kid.  Give a coach a player with tons of talent and mediocre performance, and he'll be disappointed and bald by the end of the season (if we wasn't bald to begin with).  That, my friends, is keeping it real.

All of those AU pitchers mentioned were excellent.  However, only one has been named "National Pitcher of the Year."  Enough said.

"as far as i can see it, clarke won the championship, so take that aurora fans!!!!  you finally didn't win the championship for year, the last year..." ~ Crusader

Again Crusader, you really shouldn't act like this is the first championship Clarke has ever won.  Wouldn't it be ironic to see Clarke finally win a NIIC championship but still get snubbed from the NCAA tourney???  I believe it would. 

It's a bad year to be good in the NIIC.  The NIIC championship game may be the last game any NIIC team plays.

Looking ahead, does anybody have any thoughts on the new conference being developed for next season?  (LMC + NIIC = ?)

with only one game left against a decent opponent, I see clarke knocking off aurora, just like last year at home, and walking away with the conference title.  clarke played aurora tough at au without our starting 3 guard, now he's back and they will not be denied. 

The NIIC has always been a three team league, with those teams being Aurora, Benedictine, and Rockford (in alphabetical order).  Crusader, you say that the NIIC has done nothing for Clarke.....how about this:  Clarke has done nothing in the NIIC.  Don't get me wrong, the Crusaders are playing very very well in conference this season.  But don't knock the NIIC becuase Clarke has never won a conference title.  Other than a long, scenic drive through Iowa, Clarke basketball hasn't done much for the NIIC.

I have to question your description of the Rockford squad as well.  Rockford has some very talented individuals, and a similar 12-10 overall record to the Crusaders.  Unexpectedly losing your head coach cannot be easy on any team, in any sport.  "Poor attitude" is a vague term as well, and 40 minutes of basketball is not enough to judge these kids' personalities.  Officials or not, Clarke would not have defeated RC by 30.  Leave the zebras out of the discussion.  They get bad mouthed enough in person, they don't need to get it on the internet as well.

As far as "not being denied" the NIIC title, the Crusaders are already behind the 8 ball.  Let me list the reasons why:

1.  AU's youth has led to some inconsistent play so far, but they always have a good chance to win with Welton on the court.  29.9 points per NIIC game is quite impressive for a sophomore, who didn't play his final two years of high school and sat out his "true" freshman year. 

2.  Even though both AU and CC have 6-1 conference records, AU currently holds the head-to-head tie-breaker.  So Clarke has to beat Aurora to stay in the race for the #1 seed. 

3.  If CC does defeat AU and both teams end up with 8-2 records (meaning Eureka or RC would have to beat CC), AU would hold the tie-breaker of overall record (AU 15-10, CC 14-11). 

Clarke has a quality squad this year.  They lead the NIIC in scoring defense and scoring field goal percentage, and they are second in the NIIC in scoring margin and field goal percentage.  I don't want to be misread, so:  I AM NOT TRASHING CLARKE COLLEGE.  I just disagree with Crusader's comments, and felt the need to respond (which is why we have this discussion board, correct?). 

Hopefully whoever win the NIIC will get a chance to play in the NIIC tournament.  It would be a shame for the conference not to have a representitive in it's final year of existence.