By WJBC Staff
NAPERVILLE – The Illinois Wesleyan men’s basketball team was picked to finish third and the Titan women fifth in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin preseason coaches’ polls announced Wednesday.
PODCAST: Listen to WJBC’s interview with IWU men’s basketball coach Ron Rose.
PODCAST: Listen to WJBC’s interview with IWU women’s basketball coach Mia Smith.
Illinois Wesleyan, 20-9 overall and 10-4 in the CCIW last year, was third with 35 points as Augustana was picked to win the CCIW title.
“It’s understandable Augie is picked to win is,” IWU coach Ron Rose said. “They have all five starters coming back. Elmhurst picked second. They have all five starters coming back.
“You can’t worry about the pools. All you can really do is prepare your team to play the best basketball it’s capable of playing and do that over that seven-week period.”
The Vikings (27-5, 11-3 CCIW), ranked No. 1 in the D3hoops.com preseason top 25, won the poll with 48 points including six first place votes. Augustana is coming off CCIW regular season and tournament titles as well as an NCAA championship game appearance last season.
Elmhurst (20-8, 9-5) placed second with 44 points and the other two first place votes after the Bluejays made CCIW and NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since 2009 last season. The Titans were No. 24 and Elmhurst is No. 8 in the D3hoops.com preseason national poll.
North Central (18-8, 8-6) was fourth with 32 points, followed by North Park (15-10, 6-8) with 26 points, Wheaton (11-14, 4-10) with 19 points, Millikin (8-17, 3-11) with 13 points and Carthage (10-15, 5-9) with seven points.
Voting is done by the CCIW’s head men’s basketball coaches.
Illinois Wesleyan, who has made six straight CCIW and NCAA Division III tournament appearances, opens its season on Saturday, Nov. 14 with a 7 p.m. home game against Benedictine.
IWU women
The Titans women, who were 10-15 last season and 4-10 in the CCIW , received 23 points in the poll.
“I’m a little shocked,” Smith said. “A lot of times the coaches utilize how you did last year to predict the future.
“I think it will only add fuel to our fire. If we finished fifth I will not have done me job. We will do better than 5th, I guarantee it.”
The Titans finished seventh in the league last season.
Defending conference champion Wheaton (24-4, 12-2 CCIW) was picked to win the CCIW women’s basketball title, getting 49 points and seven first place votes. Wheaton won its first CCIW regular season and tournament titles since 2007 last year.
Carthage (15-11, 8-6) was second in the preseason poll with 39 points, while North Central (22-6, 10-4) was third with 38 points and one first place vote after the Cardinals qualified for the NCAA postseason for the first time since 1984.
Millikin (14-11, 5-9) placed fourth with 29 points, followed by IWU, Elmhurst (16-10, 9-5) with 22 points, North Park (13-12, 5-9) with 16 points and Augustana (9-16, 3-11) with eight points.
Voting is done by the CCIW’s head women’s basketball coaches. Each coach votes for the seven other schools in the conference in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (seven points for first, six for second, etc.). Coaches do not vote for their own teams.
Illinois Wesleyan opens its season on Friday, Nov. 20 with a game against Oberlin College at a tournament hosted by Albion (Mich.) College. The Titans will play the host team on the tourney’s second day.
