WIAC 2 CCIW 0

As the non-conference season plays out, I always enjoy the matchups pitting the CCIW vs the other top leagues in NCAA Division III. As it see it, there are really four leagues that stand above the rest year-in and year-out:

1. Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) -- 5 national champions in the last 15 years (Platteville '95, '98, '99, Stevens Point '04, '05)...always a deep, talented league with 3 or 4 All-American candidates.

2. College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) -- IWU has carried the league's flag to Salem four times ('96, '97, '01, '06), taking home the title in 1997, and in only one of those years was the CCIW's champion ('97)...Carthage made it to the Final Four in 2001-02...currently 3 teams in the Top 25.

3. University Athletic Association (UAA) -- Rochester has been to Salem twice in the last last 6 years ('02, '05) and Wash U got there last year...current Top 25 has Rochester #6, Brandeis #7, and Wash U #8. U. of Chicago has had a lot of tough teams over the years, including last year's tournament team.

4. New England Small College Athletic Association (NESCAC) -- two of the last five national champs have come from the NESCAC (Williams '03, Amherst '07)...not as deep as the CCIW and WIAC, but the top half is usually very tough.

5. Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) -- Otterbein won a national title in 2002 and two other teams have been to Salem recently (Ohio Northern '01 and John Carroll '04)...a very deep and balanced league, sometimes without that one standout team, but always with multiple Top 25 candidates.


This past weekend, Augustana defeated then #1 Wash U on a neutral court. Last night #22 Wheaton squeaked by Chicago 75-73...two CCIW wins over the UAA. (Note that Wash U played Augie without All-American point-guard Sean Wallis and Chicago faced the Thunder without their best player, Nate Hainje - both out with injuries.)

Two tough losses for the CCIW vs the WIAC last night, however...

UW-La Crosse 66 #4 Augustana 64 (@ Augie)
UW-Oshkosh 88 #13 Elmhurst 86 (@ Oshkosh)

Augie and Elmhurst were picked 1st and 2nd in the CCIW preseason coaches poll. In the 2007-08 WIAC preason poll, Oshkosh was picked 4th and LaCrosse 5th. I think while we all expected the two CCIW/WIAC games last night to be tough, they seemed like games the Vikings and Bluejays were favored in...especially Augustana at home.

Last year the CCIW took 3 of the 4 meetings:

Illinois Wesleyan 69 @Whitewater 68
@Elmhurst 55 Oshkosh 52
@Elmhurst 98 Whitewater 91
@Stevens Point 71 Augustana 68

Remaining CCIW/WIAC games this year are:

December 15 - Augustana @ Oshkosh
December 22 - Stevens Point @ Augustana
January 2 - North Central @ Whitewater