Once More Through the Gauntlet

Bear with me if some of the content seems out of place; I'm trying to work on this in bits and pieces from my iPhone. Obviously I will do some editing after the fact so it should be okay.

With my latest Game Notes done, the CCIW slate is halfway done, with each team playing everybody else once. They have one more date apiece, so I will get to see every school in action.

Men's Basketball

The Cardinals are back where they were last year: right in the title hunt, with Wesleyan only leading due to a better overall record, but the Cardinals hold the tiebreaker due to the head-to-head win. The lone loss came in double overtime at Wheaton, but they were it not for their collapse near the end of regulation they likely would have run the table.

Coach Raridon said after the win over North Park on Tuesday that his team has come out sluggish the last few games, but they've gotten away with it. You can't expect it to work every night though.

The second time through, the Cardinals have to travel to Kenosha and Bloomington, both difficult trips. But I can see at worst 4-3, given those tough road trips, plus home dates against Wheaton and Augie, but it's likely 5-2 or 6-1 en route to hopefully another conference title and the right to host the tournament.

Women's Basketball

Official scorer Tye Thompson said last night that the North Park game would tell us a lot about who this team is. And unfortunately, 2012 is not their year. This team has found just about every way to lose, from blowouts (Carthage, Wesleyan, Wheaton) to not coming out with intensity in the second half (Elmhurst, Millikin, North Park) and even a loss by buzzer beater (Augie).

We know the identity of this team. They play pretty good defense and can do well when it leads to fast breaks, they rebound fairly well for their size (except last night), and they don't perform well in the halfcourt set on offense. This is a first-half team; they always seem to come out with energy and play very well in the first half, only to lose that edge after the intermission. It's frustrating to watch.

For the future, this team will have some personnel that can compete on a higher level. As for the second half, trips to Kenosha and Bloomington will probably see similar results, but this Cardinal team can't possibly go 0-14 in conference play... right?