NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) head women’s basketball coaches picked Wheaton to defend its conference title according to the CCIW’s annual preseason coaches’ poll announced Wednesday.
The Kent Madsen-coached Thunder (22-6, 11-3) won the poll with 63 points and seven first place votes and are coming off back-to-back CCIW regular season and tournament titles. Wheaton has the second most titles of any conference team with eight, second only to Millikin’s 11.
Illinois Wesleyan (17-10, 11-3) was second with 58 points and two first place votes after sharing the regular season title with Wheaton last season. It was the program’s seventh title, which have all come under head coach Mia Smith, and includes a national title in 2012.
North Central (14-12, 8-6) placed third with 46 points and are coming off back-to-back CCIW Tournament appearances under head coach Michelle Roof. Before 2015, the Cardinals had only appeared in the conference tournament two other times (2009, 2013).
Carthage (9-16, 5-9) was fourth with 43 points. The Lady Reds qualified for the CCIW Tournament every year between 2006 and 2015 including regular season and tournament titles in 2013 and 2014 under coach Tim Bernero.
2016 CCIW Tournament qualifier Elmhurst (13-13, 7-7) was fifth with 40 points, followed by North Park (16-9, 7-7) (27 points), Augustana (20 points) and Millikin (9-16, 2-12) (17 points).
Carroll (9-14, 8-10) was picked ninth with 10 points as the Pioneers return to the CCIW after a 24-year absence.
Voting is done by the CCIW's head women’s basketball coaches. Each coach votes for the eight other schools in the conference in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (eight points for first, seven for second, etc.). Coaches do not vote for their own teams.
The CCIW women’s basketball season begins November 15.
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The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carroll University (Waukesha, WI), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2015-16 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,600 academic all-conference recipients, 14 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 36 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients and over 100 all-Americans.