What happened?

Here is my best guess as to what happened...

The Midwest regional committee knew that Illinois Wesleyan had no chance to be competitive in the Pool C discussion with an in-region winning % of .625 (15-9), even with IWU's great strength of schedule (OWP). So they gave the CCIW its best chance at getting a Pool C bid by:

1) Ranking Wheaton as the region's #2 Pool C candidate, behind Wash U...getting Wheaton to the table for discussion as soon as Wash U got selected (early).
2) Keeping Elmhurst in the regional ranking, which gave Wheaton another 2-0 vs regionally ranked teams.
3) Excluding IWU from the final regional ranking, which saved Wheaton from 0-3 vs regionally ranked teams.Wheaton probably got in due to their 5-1 record vs regionally ranked teams (1-1 vs Augustana, 1-0 vs Loras, 1-0 vs Chicago, 2-0 vs Elmhurst), and this record was due in large part to how I suspect the Midwest region structured their final poll. Again, if IWU is regionally ranked instead of Elmhurst, Wheaton is 3-4 vs regionally ranked teams, instead of that 5-1.

Again, I honestly don't think IWU had any chance - the Titans simply lost too many in-region games (9) - so I think the Midwest region committee gave the CCIW a fighting chance by getting Wheaton to the table with as good of a resume as possible.

It was a wonderful season for the Titans. Congratulations to Ron Rose and his hard-working players!

Stay tuned to IWUhoops.com for complete recruiting information when things start heating up.