2016-17 NCC Women's Basketball Preview

Even in the midst of a busy football time where the NFL is still in the thick of the regular season, the FBS is approaching its climax, and D-III begins its playoffs this weekend, one of my great loves begins anew.

It's time for another college basketball season, as I begin my tenth year of paying attention to the Division III level of hoops to some degree. It has stretched from casual following and researching for games I called when I was an undergrad at North Central, to now my being an unabashed NCC homer and ardent disciple of The System. The season officially begins today, but North Central's first game is not for another few days yet.

One feature I decided to add for this year can be found on the right sidebar on the main site (but unfortunately is not available on the mobile site, so phone readers will need to view the full web page) in the form of a standings list for the CCIW. I will try to update it following every team playing games over the course of the season. Last year I started taking screenshots of standings and throwing them in every post following conference games, but I want to have a more permanent, updatable feature on the site for this season.

So with a couple days to prepare for Year Six of the gradual destruction of my vocal cords, let's take a look at North Central's women's basketball program.

North Central Cardinals
2015-16: 14-12 (8-6), 3rd in CCIW; lost in CCIW Tournament Semifinals

2015-16 Recap

I already wrote a full recap of last season back in February, so I won't go into a ton of detail. But the Cardinals followed up their first NCAA Tournament berth in 30 years with another solid season. A tough non-conference schedule helped prepare this team for the always grueling CCIW schedule, but the team got off to a rough start in CCIW play before righting the ship, going 5-2 in their final seven regular season games to steal the #3 seed in the CCIW Tournament. Even with a disappointing loss to Illinois Wesleyan in the conference semis, the team followed up an incredibly successful year with another solid one, and the foundation the team built the past few years continues to be built upon.

Key Returners
The recap piece covered the departing players, though I did miss one in that piece. Guard/forward/who-even-knows-because-the-System-treats-almost-everyone-as-a-guard Therese Pettersson I believe returned to Sweden, as seems to happen after a year or two with most of our foreign exchange players. It takes a little bit of depth away, but much of last year's team remains intact. The three most important pieces are all back:

Junior point guard Mayson Whipple, a second-team All-CCIW player last year, returns her 13 points, 42/32/70 shooting splits, and five-plus assists per game to Merner Fieldhouse as the floor general. Forward Jamie Cuny, a third team All-CCIW forward, is back for her senior season after scoring just shy of ten points a game on 34/29/61 splits all while pulling down eight rebounds on average and throwing nightly block parties. When she's not in the game, senior Anita Sterling takes over and, with no regard for her own body, draws over a charge per game, a number which I thought would have led the CCIW but maybe didn't after having discussions with North Park's Greg Sager, while also adding almost ten points a game.

There are several other guards in play here as well who will be key contributors in Paula Zerante (eight points a game on 32/24/74 shooting splits), Miranda Grizaffi (7.7, 35/35/67), Michaela Reedy (7.1, 29/28/74), Caroline Heimerdinger (5.2, 30/30/63), and Siarra O'Neill (3.5, 37/34/50) who will all be seeing time at one or more guard spots for significant chunks of time. The Cardinals also return key forwards Selena Juarez (2.8 points per game on 57.4 percent shooting, 1.7 rebounds per game) and Kelly Wallner (1.0 points, 1.3 rebounds per game) to help out, with Juarez likely seeing a little bit of an increased role with the graduation of Erica Buck.

New Faces

I had mentioned in a couple places that head coach Michelle Roof was super excited about her incoming recruiting class this year, and with good reason. This year's freshman class consists of ten players, while Roof also scored a couple transfers, the immediate one being Shannon Ryan's defection from Benedictine. When I met the team a couple weeks ago, Roof seemed most excited about a few players in particular. Natali Dimitrova, a six footer out of Buffalo Grove via Bulgaria, played for three straight regional champions in high school, and figures to be a factor at the "4" position. She will be joined by Diamond Calicott, who is only 5'8", but has impressed in the early going. Roof was also very high on Maya Walls, a six footer from Milwaukee who is the heir apparent to Jamie Cuny. Of course, the Cardinals also added a number of guards to the rotation in addition to Ryan, including Maddie McHugh out of Marist, who like pretty much every NCC guard can shoot the ball. Jessica Dahle might also get some significant reps at multiple guard positions as someone who can not only shoot but also attack the basket. Other freshmen include Lyndsey Brennan, a 5'7" guard out of Trenton, Michigan, Veronica LaVia, a 5'8" guard who went to Aurora Central Catholic with my brother, Jordan Bradley, a 5'6" guard out of Lake Park, Hannah Vitkus, a six footer out of St. Charles East, and Meghan Sellers, a 5'9" forward from Grant Park. I'm sure all will see time just based on The System, and it's possible some of these girls will be key contributors as the season goes along.

Non-Conference Schedule
This year's schedule will be a little different from prior years. Normally this weekend would be Tip Off Tournament weekend, but the tournament is no more after North Central made some business decisions that took away a major partner. I'm disappointed, but I respect the decision. Instead, the Cardinals will kick off the season at home against Piedmont College, a school from Georgia, on Friday. The rest of the non-conference schedule is all played away from Naperville, with The Battle of Chicago Avenue getting played in Lisle this year. A majority of the non-conference slate is tournaments: North Central plays in the North Park Invitational on Thanksgiving weekend (avoiding the hosts for obvious reasons), one in Honolulu (which I'm insanely jealous about) the week leading up to Christmas, and one at NAIA Roosevelt University the week after Christmas.

CCIW Outlook

This is going to be a weird year on a couple of fronts. Carroll University, who was a CCIW school for a long time until they left for the Midwest Conference in 1992, returns this year. Their addition makes the CCIW nine schools strong. The double round robin format remains, which means 16 conference games... which means to fit all of the CCIW games in, some need to be played in December. This means the Cardinals will kick off CCIW play on December 3rd at home against Illinois Wesleyan. Overall though, I think the respect factor is starting to kick in. The two teams in the conference that scare me the most are Wheaton, who has won 14 straight against the Cardinals dating back to 2009, and Illinois Wesleyan, who the Cardinals have taken four of the last six from.

The Thunder return All American point guard Katie McDaniels and have a pretty strong, albeit somewhat young, supporting cast around her, though they've added some nice forward talent, which is always the problem going up against The System. I wasn't sure what to make of Illinois Wesleyan going into last year, but they proved that their 2014-15 season was a fluke as they returned to their place among the conference's elite. They have a great guard corps led by Rebekah Ehresman, Molly McGraw, and Shelby Gray, with some excellent forwards in Gabby Weber and freshman recruit Sydney Shanks, who was one of the better prep players in Illinois last year. These two teams are the teams to beat.

Looking at the poll above, I do sense a tiny bit of disrespect among some coaches in the conference given how closer schools like Carthage and Elmhurst are to NCC's third place ranking in the poll. I mean no disrespect to either school, as both are excellent. Carthage had a down year last year, but many of their young players now have experience under their belts, Tim Bernero is a good coach, and Tarble Arena is a nightmarish place to play. With Mandy Hozzian, Morgan Harris, and Morgan Vukovich leading the way, the Lady Reds are a threat to make the CCIW Tournament. Elmhurst is no slouch either; this matchup has become one of the league's best rivalries in recent years with all the defections, but led by Mikaela Eppard, Michaela Kumer, and Kalia Summerlin, the Blue Jays are also likely to be a threat here. I think the Cardinals are better, but both schools field solid teams that will be tough to beat.

North Park is a tough one to figure. They boast a solid core of guards, especially Liz Rehberger, who went off for 42 points at Merner in a game I still see in my nightmares last season, but they're inexperienced at forward with the graduations of Nicole Kruckman and Soly Roman. They got a decent transfer in Clarissa Ramos, but whether the depth will be there has yet to be seen. There's a bit of a dropoff from there in Augustana, who also boast a pretty good group of guards in Olivia Mayer, Victoria Allen, Mikayla Fallon, and Jen VanWatermeulen, but I'm not sold on their forwards. Kaycee Kallenberger is a good start, but I'm not sure what to make of their depth behind her.

Millikin has been at the bottom of the CCIW in recent years, which is weird for a team that won a national title not all that long ago. There are only two seniors in this group, which means there's a lot of room for growth behind Rachael Weber and Francesca Rios, but there's some decent height in the pipeline and a lot of other guard prospects as well. While it might be a rough year in Decatur, they can't be counted out entirely. Finally, the newcomers in Carroll have something of a bare cupboard behind guard Brittany Wald and forward Morgan Lund, though there are plenty of freshmen to give experience to, and playing in a higher caliber conference like the CCIW will pay dividends down the line.

Final Thoughts

I'm high on this year's Cardinal team. Maybe I'm drinking the Kool-Aid a little too much, but the key pieces from prior years are still in place, and the incoming class looks very promising. This might be the year the Cardinals can finally break through and steal one from Wheaton, but I do think the Thunder are better. I think Illinois Wesleyan steals the regular season title and Wheaton finishes right behind them, but the Cardinals are firmly the third best team in the CCIW and make a little noise in the tournament, with perhaps an outside shot at an extended postseason run.

Prediction: 17-8, 10-6; 3rd in CCIW