Women get in (duh), so do men (whaaa???)

It was widely assumed that IWU's men's basketball team needed to win the CCIW conference tournament in order to reach the postseason tourney. But despite getting hammered 76-52 by Augustana in the conference tournament title game, they somehow slipped into the bracket and will face UW-River Falls (seriously, how many UW schools are there?) this Friday at St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minn. As essentially a 16 seed, the men have their work cut out for them if they want to match or surpass last year's Elite Eight appearance.

We've known for a while that the women would make the tournament; the only question was whether they would host the first two rounds. The answer, we found out Monday, is yes. The Titans will host Webster and then would play the winner of the match-up between UW-La Crosse and Wisconsin Lutheran. Last year, the women's team won the first two games at home before falling to UW-Stevens Point in the Sweet Sixteen. Looking at the bracket, Stevens Point would be a potential Elite Eight foe this year.

Once again, best of luck to both teams in the postseason!

IWU men making most of tournament opportunity

Pantagraph/Carlos T. Miranda

After a loss to Carthage in the CCIW Tournament final, the IWU men's basketball players had to hold their collective breath and hope for their first bid to the national tournament since 2006. Just over a week later, the Titans find themselves in a Sweet 16 match-up with ... Carthage.

In fact, this Friday's game--which will take place at Wisconsin-Stevens Point--will mark the fourth time the two teams have met this season. The Titans won at home while losing twice in Kenosha. Carthage is led by CCIW's leading scorer Steve Djurickovic, who scored 22, 18 and 26 points, respectively, in the teams' first three games.

IWU (22-7) had to defeat #1 nationally ranked Washington University on the Bears' home floor to get to the Sectional round, and earned a 75-70 victory behind 24 points from Sean Johnson (it should be noted that this win was predicted by Bob Geraty). The Titans are now 4-0 against Wash U in tournament games, and the win ended an 18-game tournament winning streak for the two-time defending national champs.

If coach Ron Rose can lead the team to a win over Carthage, the Titans will face the winner of UW-Stevens Point (25-4) and Texas-Dallas (24-5) on Saturday night.

Titan men's and women's bball teams will go dancing

Congratulations to Ron Rose and Mia Smith for leading their respective teams to the postseason. The men (20-7) will face Central Iowa (23-4) and a win would likely pit them against #1 Washington University (23-2) on their home court. View men's bracket

Though there are no actual seedings, the women (26-1) essentially earned a #1 seed. The Shirk Center will play host to the first two rounds, with IWU taking on Franklin College (21-6) this Friday at 8:00. If the Titans prevail, they will face the winner of Simpson (22-5) vs. Chicago (19-6) Saturday at 7:00. View women's bracket

Franklin won the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) regular season title and claimed the conference tournament title with a win over rival Hanover. As far as common opponents go, the Grizzlies lost to Elmhurst 85-57 back in November and beat North Central 73-61 in December.

They outscored their opponents by nearly 10 points per game and have three players who average double-figures. While they are clearly a solid team, they play in a relatively weak conference and did not defeat any ranked opponents this season (IWU defeated four).

Not to jinx anything, but it's worth noting in case IWU advances to play Chicago that the Titans prevailed 64-57 at Chicago on December 5.

A Tale of Two Titans

Both Titan squads hosted Wheaton on Valentine's Day. The women showed no love for the Thunder, beating down yet another opponent with a 101-57 victory. They are now 22-0 overall and 12-0 in conference play. The win clinches the CCIW regular season title, meaning the Titans will host the CCIW tournament on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 27-28. Congratulations, Titans!
The men, on the other hand, continued to struggle, losing 86-60 and falling to 5-7 in the CCIW. Kent Raymond filled it up with 28 points on 10-17 shooting, including 5-10 from three. Fellow observer Chris Kawakita noted Raymond's impeccable shooting stroke, especially from the free throw line. Raymond is an 89 percent free throw shooter on the season, good for 11th in Division III. Raymond is also 11th in the nation in points per game, averaging 23.5.

The Titans committed 19 turnovers, a category in which they unfortunately lead the conference (14.3 average). The loss leaves them in 6th place.