One More to Go: A CCIW Update

Thanks to whoever does the CCIW schedules not making any sense, I am finished with my announcing work for the year. But the season goes on, and we're finally down to the end.

With one conference game to go, five of the eight Tournament spots have been claimed, but a majority of the seeds are still up in the air. With that in mind, I want to go through both the men's and women's sides of the conference and take a look to see scenarios that the games this weekend will bring to the forefront.


Women's Basketball

I've mentioned it before on here, but CCIW women's basketball has been very wonky this season. 11-3 or 10-4 will win the conference, the worst such mark in 10 years. It's still a solid mark, but a down one compared to a decade of 12-2's and 13-1's. However, at this point every seed remains up for grabs. Here are all the clinching scenarios for this week:

-Wheaton: Clinches the #1 seed with:

• A win vs Augustana
• An Illinois Wesleyan loss vs Elmhurst

-Illinois Wesleyan: Clinches the #1 seed with:

• A win vs Elmhurst AND a Wheaton loss vs Augustana

-North Central: Clinches the #3 seed with:

• A win at North Park

-North Central: Clinches the #4 seed with:

• An Elmhurst loss at Illinois Wesleyan

-Elmhurst: Clinches the #3 seed with:

•  A win at Illinois Wesleyan AND a North Central loss at North Park

-Elmhurst: Clinches the #4 seed with:

• A win at Illinois Wesleyan

-North Park: Clinches the #3 seed with:

• A win vs North Central AND an Elmhurst loss at Illinois Wesleyan

-North Park: Clinches the #4 seed with:

• A win vs North Central
• An Elmhurst loss at Illinois Wesleyan

-Tiebreakers

• Wheaton holds the tiebreaker over Illinois Wesleyan due to a head to head sweep (Tiebreaker 1)
• North Central holds the tiebreaker over Elmhurst due to a head to head sweep (Tiebreaker 1)
• Elmhurst holds the tiebreaker over North Park due to a head to head sweep (Tiebreaker 1)

This year's set of clinching scenarios is much more convoluted than last year, though we only have to go down as far as head to head to break any ties. We have the two clinching teams that are locked into the #1 and #2 seeds, with Wheaton in the driver's seat to host the CCIW Tournament for the second straight year. As for the three teams fighting for the final two spots, North Central is most in control of their destiny. All they need is a win to get the #3 seed and avoiding their nemesis until the CCIW Championship game. If they lose, they need Illinois Wesleyan to take care of business at home against Elmhurst, and they can ride the tiebreaker into the #4 seed and a battle with Wheaton. That said, both Elmhurst and North Park have control over their destinies as well to a degree with win-and-you're-in scenarios, but both teams need help in order to get that #3 seed.

This means three of the four games this week have Tournament implications, with the Carthage-Millikin tilt meaning absolutely nothing except pride and sending Millikin's seniors out with a win. If you're a Cardinal fan, you want to root for Illinois Wesleyan just to make sure. Besides, that will be returning a favor on the other side.

Men's Basketball

The tournament field is all but set; the top three seeds are all locked in, but the fourth and final spot is up for grabs, so two games have importance coming into the final weekend of the regular season. Let's take a look at the clinching scenarios and the tiebreakers:

-Augustana: Has clinched the #1 seed

-North Central: Has clinched the #2 seed

-Elmhurst: Has clinched the #3 seed

-North Park: Clinches the #4 seed with:

• A win vs North Central

-Illinois Wesleyan: Clinches the #4 seed with:

• A North Park loss vs North Central

-Tiebreakers

• Augustana holds the tiebreaker over North Central due to a head to head sweep (Tiebreaker 1)
• North Central holds the tiebreaker over Elmhurst due to a head to head sweep (Tiebreaker 1)
• North Park would hold a 7-7 tiebreaker over Illinois Wesleyan due to a hypothetical win over North Central; North Park would be 1-1 against North Central while Illinois Wesleyan is 0-2 (Tiebreaker 2)
• Illinois Wesleyan would hold a 6-8 tiebreaker over North Park due to a hypothetical 3-4 record in the last seven conference games; North Park would be 2-5 in their last seven conference games in this scenario (Tiebreaker 5)

We already knew some of this coming into this past Saturday: Augie had already pretty much locked up the #1 seed and hosting rights for the second straight year, but the North Central-Elmhurst game was going to determine who would wear white in the matchup between the two in the CCIW Tournament. We now know that North Central gets to wear white in that game, but we now have a funky phenomenon for the #4 seed. Only one game matters this weekend, and for one of the teams fighting for that spot, it doesn't matter what happens in their game. Illinois Wesleyan has no control over their fate; they can win at home against Elmhurst to get to 7-7... and if North Park wins it won't matter.

Such quirks in the tiebreakers prompted this tweet from Illinois Wesleyan alum Bob Quillman.

IWU Titan Nation to @NCCBasketball Nation - https://t.co/juXB3zuz24. Let us know if we can get you anything. #CCIW

— Bob Quillman (@IWUhoopscom) February 14, 2016

While the game means nothing for the Cardinals in terms of the conference picture, it's still a very important game for the purposes of the NCAA Tournament. I will have more on that on Wednesday when the NCAA releases its second set of regional rankings.