WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

After 2009, with the graduation of Mallory Heydorn and Claire Sheehan (by FAR the best backcourt in the CCIW), I expected a setback.  After 2010, with the graduation of Christina Solari (who willed the Titans to a nearly equal season), I feared a setback.  After 2011, with the graduation of Holly Harvey, Nikki Preston, Hope Schulte, Sarah Cotner, Jessica Hinterlong, and, especially, Stacy Arliss (who willed them to the best national tourney finish ever), have the Titans finally run out of gas, or has Mia Smith made them the sort of team that perennially just reloads?

Beth Baker (Wheaton) and Lori Kerans (Millikin) had those sorts of teams for over a decade, and Diane Schumacher Augie) before them, so no dynasty is forever.  Is the CCIW wide open this year, or is IWU still the big favorite?

[RogK]

Mr Ypsi, the Titans have only six returning players who played at least 100 minutes in '10-'11 (33 game season) :
Olivia Lett (900), Britt Hasselbring (776), Karen Solari (447), Melissa Gardner (404), Lexi Baltes (116) and Shelby Jackson (114). I'd guess that the 5 other than Baltes would be the starters next season. Just a guess. If so, the Titans have a lot less experienced subs to use, compared to recent years.
I'll repost my mediocre analysis from March:
Without knowing anything in regard to newcomers for next season, I'd say the league looks to be weaker overall in '11-'12.
Alphabetically :
Augie : loses their only proven scorer (Kristen Fox) and their 2nd best player (Natalie Runge). Will they be able to score 70 pts often? ever?
Carthage : loses Heather Gilmore (1st team all-conf) and starting point g Taylor Tondelli. At 8-6, they were under-achievers in CCIW play. But, Coach Bernero has much returning talent and is an outstanding recruiter. So, I'd expect Carthage to improve to 11-3 or better next season.
Elmhurst : ended in a bit of a mess at 5-9 and lost some good players. Can they gain at least 3 wins and make it to 8-6 next year?
IWU : it would be stunning if they don't fall back a fair amount, considering how many fine players are graduating.
Millikin : they should be good again, but losing Elise Wildman will make them less formidable.
North Central : like Augie, who is going put the ball in the hoop? Errico in particular will be missed.
North Park : getting better, but more depth has to be developed.
Wheaton : needs several new big players to help Hovee and Potts, to replace Bowen and Brooks.
So, I'd say that things look best for Carthage at this point, with Millikin in the vicinity. IWU and Wheaton have major questions to be answered. Can any of the others climb past those four teams to get into the top half of the league? Many teams need help.

[iwu70]

Ypsi, I take the view that until others in the league prove otherwise, IWU women's program is a situation of "re-loading" as you put it.  Yes, some very good players have graduated, and in good numbers this past year.  But, the Titans basically have three major starters returning and the best sixth person in the league (assuming she's back from injury), so that's almost 4 key players from the nation's #4 finisher last year.  Several good subs are there, and the new recruits are coming in all the time.  I'm of the view that the Titans are actually a pretty substantial favorite again for the 2011-12 season.  Coaching is still strong, Olivia Lett is going to be even better, and Karen Solari will get her chance to start and play many more minutes.  We have an excellent senior point guard in Brittany, so will need to find some rebounding and some additional perimeter scoring.  That has not been a problem in recent years of "reloading" with the Titans.   I'm very optimistic. 

Hope to see you in Bloomington this fall, to check it out yourself, in person.  I'll likely be around Bloomington again for much of the fall, into the basketball season, so look forward to catching more men's and women's games this upcoming season than usual.

Hope you are well.  MLS

[RogK]

Here's an article about recently-retired Wheaton coach Beth Baker :
http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2011/6/23/WBB_BakerFeature.aspx

[iwu70]

Kean grade fixing scandal does sound like DI.  No place for that in DIII.  Hope the whistle-blower gets his job back. 

Hope everyone is having a good summer.

[RogK]

Having seen some of the summer league action, I can offer some observations, Carthage first. They should be very good in the upcoming season.
Diana Jacklin is playing like a 1st team all-conference player, doing a lot of things very well. This is not a surprise.
Fellow senior Dani Ripkey scores in bunches (Dani being Dani, to borrow a line from baseball), from 3 land and closer in. Her varied guard skills would also allow her to take over some of the point guard duties (Taylor Tondelli graduated), but there are at least three other candidates for that category : Stephanie Kuzmanic (310 minutes last yr), Gabby Chapa (155 minutes) and Caris Alan (29 minutes). All three of them are excellent dribblers and can really push the ball up the court through traffic. Chapa had a crummy FG pct in her limited time last year, but made a nice variety of shots last night.
Allison Groessl is another senior who has looked really sharp. Cory Bazany looks improved, too, and will get time as a 4 or 5. Drewann Pancratz is another valuable Lady Red and is an excellent athlete who joins basketball once her all-star volleyball career is completed.
I haven't even mentioned forwards Cailee Corcoran and Kristi Schmidt, both very good. And there are others who could turn out to be prominent contributors. Coach Bernero has assembled a very athletic roster and should enjoy the challenge of making full use of its talents.

[RogK]

straying off-topic a wee bit:
The Big Ten Conference now has 12 schools, while the Big 12 now has 10.

[RogK]

A little more summer league commentary:
A number of IWU players looked good. Before I get to them, I did not see Olivia Lett, Melissa Gardner or Shelby Jackson; they may be participating in the league but weren't there when I was. Karen Solari was there, but is still in the injury rehab process. She was walking fine and expects to be ready for October 15.
Britt Hasselbring has done very well, running the offense (making numerous excellent passes) and playing tough defense. And I got the impression that she has taken on the role of leader, at least of the bunch playing in the summer.
Two players, Michelle Bilek and Amy Burton, have been Titans for a few years and are doing very well in the summer league. I expect they'll be significant contributors to the IWU effort this coming season. They know the system inside out and should be ready to help.
Some other players looked pretty good, some of which I don't know who they are (now there's some good grammar). I'm fairly certain that Lexi Baltes and Taylor Reaber were among the ones who impressed me.
Anyway, Coach Smith will have a good amount of talent again, despite losing so many stars to graduation.

[RogK]

More about the summer games -- (I didn't attend last night, but should next Monday)
Millikin - no one participating as far as I know
Wheaton - a few players. Brooke Olson - doing very well, with her usual high energy. I saw Laura Karsten one night and some guards that I didn't recognize (not sure if they're Thunders or not).
North Central -- saw them only one full game. I think they'll have some helpful new players. I didn't learn any names.
North Park -- same story as North Central. Additionally I learned that Kam Acree is definitely expected back from major injury. If she can be as good as she was in 09-10, the Vikings will be very happy.
Elmhurst -- I haven't watched them much, but will try to learn about any newcomers Monday. I think they've done alright with Ney and Merk present.
Augie -- An interesting tall player or two and a strong confident point guard -- not sure of their identities.
To summarize, each team has reasons for optimism for the new season, although many teams have much work to do.

[RogK]

It seems that I need to use some mental floss : I had the idea that Augie's Natalie Runge and Brianna Skeens were seniors in '10-'11. Brianna's dad pointed out to me last night that those two will be back for next season.
Augie has been playing with vigor in the summer league. Yes, they will need to replace Kristen Fox (2nd team all-conference), but they could get enough help from others.
I also watched Elmhurst, North Central and North Park in games last night. With some promising new players, those teams should all have a shot at contending for a position in the top half of the CCIW. Will it be easy to displace Carthage, IWU, Wheaton or Millikin? No.

[AndOne]

Wheaton College has named Sarah Harris as its full-time assistant women's basketball coach.

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2011/7/7/WBB_0707110900.aspx?path=wbball

[RogK]

Saw some more summer league action last evening.
IWU's Amy Burton unfortunately experienced a leg/knee injury. Best wishes to her. Hopefully this won't have any effect on her upcoming season.
Four teams remain from this week's tournament; semis tonight at 7:30 and a final at 8:30.

[RogK]

The Carthage women (9 of 'em) won the summer league tournament last night with an impressive decision (18 pt margin, I think) over a group of 8 current/recent Div I players. All nine Lady Reds were sharp and energetic, despite playing their 2nd game in 2 hours (as did the opposition) in warm conditions.
Coach Bernero wasn't there last night (attended his daughter's softball game), but he should be very pleased that his team did what he's been guiding them to do: playing smart intense defense, going after every rebound, looking for fast break opportunities, but otherwise working for high pct 2FG shots and good 3FG chances.
By the way, another round of applause goes to Elmhurst's WBB staff for hosting the league again.

[RogK]

2011-12 schedules that I've found:
http://athletics.carthage.edu/schedule.aspx?path=wbball
http://www.elmhurstbluejays.com/schedule.aspx?path=wbball
http://www.iwusports.com/schedule.aspx?path=wbball
http://athletics.millikin.edu/schedule.aspx?path=wbball
http://www.northcentralcardinals.com/schedule.aspx?path=wbball&schedule=79
(if the '10-'11 sched appears, use the Choose box)
http://athletics2.wheaton.edu/schedule.aspx?path=wbball&
I haven't found Augie's and North Park's.

[RogK]

According to this CCIW publication
http://www.cciw.org/custompages/CCIW_Links/WBasketball/Tournament_Programs/WBB_Program11.pdf
page 17 (19 of 29), Kent Madsen goes into '11-'12 with a 0-0 record in CCIW play. I'm certain he does not mind at all that Wheaton's 11-3 record went on Beth Baker's total, but it is a peculiarity that the defending conference coach of the year has 0 conference wins to this point.
As for the upcoming season. I'm still not sure where to place Wheaton in a standings prediction.
I think Carthage is most likely to be on top, followed by some arrangement of Millikin, Wheaton and IWU.