Illinois Wesleyan Picked to Defend CCIW Women’s Basketball Title

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Illinois Wesleyan was picked to win the 2009-10 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) women’s basketball title in a preseason poll conducted by the conference’s eight head coaches Wednesday.

The Titans advanced to the NCAA Sectional final last season, finishing 30-1 and 14-0 against the CCIW. They were predicted to win their third-straight CCIW championship with 46 points in the latest preseason poll including six first place votes. Carthage (18-9, 9-5) finished second in the poll with 42 points including two first place votes.

Elmhurst (14-11, 7-7) finished third in the poll with 39 points, followed by Wheaton (16-10, 11-3) in fourth with 27 points and Millikin (12-13, 6-8) in fifth with 26 points. North Central (12-13, 7-7), Augustana (4-20, 1-13) and North Park (3-22, 1-13) rounded out the poll with 21, 13 and eight points respectively.

Illinois Wesleyan enters this season as the sixth-ranked team in the country according to the D3Hoops.com preseason poll.

The CCIW women’s basketball season begins on Sunday, November 15 as Augustana travels to Washington University and North Park hosts Benedictine.

2009-10 CCIW Preseason Women's Basketball Poll

Criteria
Voting for the preseason women’s basketball poll is done by the head women’s basketball coaches in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin. 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 may not vote for their own team.