Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day/Singles' Awareness Day/whatever you end up celebrating on February 14th! It saw the second to last game on the schedule for every team save Carthage's men's team, who has a random game with IIT coming up on Tuesday. With it, this means we are just a couple weeks away from the CCIW Tournament.
Following those games, I'll do a preview of both conference tournaments because of the involvement I've had with North Central basketball this season, even if NCC doesn't make it (which on one side has some danger to it). We've only seen minor changes to the standings on both sides since
the halfway point of CCIW play. Let's take a look at the scenarios.
Women's Basketball
Things have tightened up considerably on the women's side. Where once it was a two-team race, it eventually became a runaway, and now there will be some jostling for position. With one to play, there are a couple ties to break. Carthage and Elmhurst split their season series, but the Lady Reds hold the tiebreaker due to their win over Wheaton on Saturday (Elmhurst lost both of their games against the Thunder). Meanwhile, on the lower end, Millikin holds the tiebreaker over Illinois Wesleyan for sixth place due to an earlier win over Carthage while the Titans lost both games to the Lady Reds.
As for the CCIW Tournament, the field is set, but the order is not. Here's a team by team breakdown of where they could finish. The bullet points represent each possible scenario where a team could clinch that respective seed.
Tiebreakers for each tie scenario are included below the scenarios as an explanation.
-Wheaton: Has clinched the #1 seed.
-North Central: Clinches the #2 seed with:
- A win vs North Park
- Losses by Carthage at Millikin AND by Elmhurst at Illinois Wesleyan
-Carthage: Clinches the #2 seed with:
- A win at Millikin AND a loss by North Central vs North Park
-Carthage: Clinches the #3 seed with:
- A win at Millikin
- A loss by Elmhurst at Illinois Wesleyan
-Elmhurst: Clinches the #2 seed with:
- A win at Illinois Wesleyan AND losses by North Central vs North Park AND by Carthage at Millikin
-Elmhurst: Clinches the #3 seed with:
- A win at Illinois Wesleyan AND a loss by Carthage at Millikin
-Tiebreakers
- Carthage holds the tiebreaker over North Central due to Carthage's 1-1 record vs Wheaton; North Central is 0-2 vs Wheaton this season (Tiebreaker 2)
- Carthage holds the tiebreaker over Elmhurst due to Carthage's 1-1 record vs Wheaton; Carthage is 1-1 vs Wheaton while Elmhurst is 0-2 this season (Tiebreaker 2)
- Elmhurst holds the tiebreaker over North Central due to a hypothetical 6-1 record in the final seven CCIW games; North Central would be 3-4 in their last seven CCIW games in this scenario (Tiebreaker 5)
Basically, the Cardinals control their fate. If they win, they get the #2 seed, though that really means little in the grand scheme of things.
Wheaton's King Arena will be the site of the CCIW Tournament on February 27th and 28th, where North Central has not won since 2009. On Wednesday, once the new regional rankings drop, I'll examine where NCC falls and how it impacts their chances at making the NCAA Tournament.
Men's Basketball
The men's side is much more interesting; while the top spot is locked in, the other three seeds are all up for grabs. Right now, two ties are here, with Elmhurst holding the edge over Illinois Wesleyan due to their head to head win, but that tie will be broken next Saturday, as these two teams play each other. Meanwhile, after
the Cardinals won on Wednesday to open up a two game lead on North Park (who lost), the results flipped, with NCC losing at Elmhurst while the Vikings beat Illinois Wesleyan at home. This sets up a play-in game this coming Saturday for the final spot in the CCIW Tournament, where North Park could become only the sixth 7-7 team ever to make it.
Like with the women's side above, I'm going to run through all of the clinching scenarios.
Tiebreakers will again follow below.
-Augustana: Has clinched the #1 seed.
-Elmhurst: Clinches the #2 seed with:
- A win at Illinois Wesleyan
-Illinois Wesleyan: Clinches the #2 seed with:
-North Central: Clinches the #4 seed with:
-North Park: Clinches the #4 seed with:
-Tiebreakers
- Augustana holds the tiebreaker over Elmhurst due to a 2-0 head to head record (Tiebreaker 1)
- Augustana holds the tiebreaker over Illinois Wesleyan due to a 2-0 record vs Elmhurst; Illinois Wesleyan is 1-1 vs Elmhurst this season (Tiebreaker 2)
- North Park holds the tiebreaker over North Central due to a hypothetical 2-0 head to head record; if North Park beats North Central on February 21st, both teams will be 7-7 in CCIW play (Tiebreaker 1)
When I first started writing this, looking at tiebreakers, I thought Augie would lose a tiebreaker in there somewhere for the top seed; turns out that they have it locked up thanks to their win over Millikin on Saturday. That means there are two games this coming Saturday with implications. The Elmhurst-Illinois Wesleyan game is the second place game, while North Central and North Park have their aforementioned play-in game for the right to face Augie. This actually wouldn't be too bad a thing for North Central; the Cardinals have won four in a row in Rock Island, but lost their last CCIW Tournament game there back in 2007. Again, on Wednesday I will take a look at the regional rankings once more and see how the past week impacted NCC's chances at putting on their dancing shoes.
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