WESTERN ILLINOIS LEATHERNECKS 26-5; (18-4 OVC; regular season and tournament champion).
Last season 17-18, 8-12 OVC (7th), 2-1 OVCT, 1-1 WNIT
Massey 117 (UNC 15), RPI (Nolan) 70 (UNC 20), Torvik 106 (UNC 18), NCAA NET 90 (UNC 19), NCAA WAB 69 (UNC 15)
#15/#15 Carolina’s opening round opponent this Friday is Western Illinois. UNC has played them just once in March 1995, in exactly the situation as this year. They were our first round opponent in the 1995 NCAA. #3 seed Carolina won 89-48. Neither school keeps per game records back that far (31 years) but it would be a good bet that prominent on the Tar Heel side would have been Charlotte Smith, Marion Jones, Tonya Cooper, UNC’s tallest ever player 6-9 Gwen Gillingham, and Stephanie Lawrence. Some of the players from that 30-5 1995 team have children in college now. Feel old yet?
There is some disagreement among the prognosticators for this game. Massey favors UNC by 30 points, Nolan by 13 points, and Torvik by 23 points. Pick which one you like.
Western Illinois (WIU) is a public school in Macomb IL. They have about 5300 students and feature 18 sports, including football. The nickname was borrowed from the U. S. Marines, as is the school mascot, a bulldog. Seems that in 1927, the then athletic director, head coach of football, basketball and baseball Ray Hanson (busy guy) got permission from the Marines to use “Leathernecks”. They are the only college to do so.
WIU returned most of the roster from last year’s 17-18 team. By far the star of this one is Mia Nicastro, a 6-2 senior F averaging 24.2 ppg, good enough to rate her as the #4 scorer in all of NCAA D-1. Not to be seen as one-dimensional Nicastro also leads in rebounds (9.9 per game). Her 3-point effort is also decent: 38.8% on 26 of 67.
Other starters are Addi Brownfield, a 5-9 senior G (12.5/6.0); Allie Meadows, a 5-8 senior G (7.5 ppg), Kaylen Reed a 5-5 junior PG (5.5 ppg but leading the team in assists), and for the last 21 games 6-0 GS F Transfer Mallory Shetley (10.7/3.9). Shetley’s impressive résumé is that she started 147 games for Columbia – until a deeper dive reveals that is with Columbia College, a term playing in the NAIA’s AMC (American Midwest ) Conference.
Brownfield is the defensive go-to and leads the team in steals and blocks. She is also the go-to on perimeter shooting with 41% on 50 of 122 threes. Other players appear, including 5-10 sophomore G Madison Davis (6.0/4.2); Shelby Bowman, a 5-8 sophomore G (2.4 ppg), Katelyn Eggena, a 6-1 redshirt sophomore F (1.6 ppg), and true freshman Sidnay Skrobot, a 6-1 F (0.9.).
WIU did take a hit when last year’s leading scorer Raegan McCowan (17 ppg/6.4 rpg) was lost after 10 games. She has an elbow (left) injury involving torn ligaments and while not “officially” season ending her return is doubtful.
From a statistical point, the two teams have reasonable parity in stats – scoring, FG%, 3P% and so on – but it should be remembered that stats at the mid-major OVC level are not the same as those same stats at the ACC P4 level.
While it may not mean anything, WIU does not appear to have a black player on their roster. That is at least a bit unusual for a public school.
The Head Coach of WIU is JD Gravina, in his 15th year as the Leathernecks coach. His overall record is 241-215 (120-104). The 26 wins matches a program high back in 2017. When Gravina led the D-II Quincy Hawks (2007-2011) they had four straight 20-win seasons and he was 2X COY. I do not know what JD stands for but he and his wife Meredith have a son names Dominic James.
Every time UNC has a first round NCAA game, some doofus like me will remind everyone that the opponent, even though they may be a 13-seed is nonetheless a championship team used to winning. Disregarding them as an opponent is most unwise. Back in 2004 as a #4 seed, UNC met #13 Middle Tennessee in South Bend and got handed an embarrassing 62-67 loss. It can happen. At this level it is either win or clear out your locker.
The game is Friday at 5:30 PM. Coverage is provided by ESPNews. Not every TV provider has ESPNews but there is a link on GoHeels plus an audio link and live stats.
Last season 17-18, 8-12 OVC (7th), 2-1 OVCT, 1-1 WNIT
Massey 117 (UNC 15), RPI (Nolan) 70 (UNC 20), Torvik 106 (UNC 18), NCAA NET 90 (UNC 19), NCAA WAB 69 (UNC 15)
#15/#15 Carolina’s opening round opponent this Friday is Western Illinois. UNC has played them just once in March 1995, in exactly the situation as this year. They were our first round opponent in the 1995 NCAA. #3 seed Carolina won 89-48. Neither school keeps per game records back that far (31 years) but it would be a good bet that prominent on the Tar Heel side would have been Charlotte Smith, Marion Jones, Tonya Cooper, UNC’s tallest ever player 6-9 Gwen Gillingham, and Stephanie Lawrence. Some of the players from that 30-5 1995 team have children in college now. Feel old yet?
There is some disagreement among the prognosticators for this game. Massey favors UNC by 30 points, Nolan by 13 points, and Torvik by 23 points. Pick which one you like.
Western Illinois (WIU) is a public school in Macomb IL. They have about 5300 students and feature 18 sports, including football. The nickname was borrowed from the U. S. Marines, as is the school mascot, a bulldog. Seems that in 1927, the then athletic director, head coach of football, basketball and baseball Ray Hanson (busy guy) got permission from the Marines to use “Leathernecks”. They are the only college to do so.
WIU returned most of the roster from last year’s 17-18 team. By far the star of this one is Mia Nicastro, a 6-2 senior F averaging 24.2 ppg, good enough to rate her as the #4 scorer in all of NCAA D-1. Not to be seen as one-dimensional Nicastro also leads in rebounds (9.9 per game). Her 3-point effort is also decent: 38.8% on 26 of 67.
Other starters are Addi Brownfield, a 5-9 senior G (12.5/6.0); Allie Meadows, a 5-8 senior G (7.5 ppg), Kaylen Reed a 5-5 junior PG (5.5 ppg but leading the team in assists), and for the last 21 games 6-0 GS F Transfer Mallory Shetley (10.7/3.9). Shetley’s impressive résumé is that she started 147 games for Columbia – until a deeper dive reveals that is with Columbia College, a term playing in the NAIA’s AMC (American Midwest ) Conference.
Brownfield is the defensive go-to and leads the team in steals and blocks. She is also the go-to on perimeter shooting with 41% on 50 of 122 threes. Other players appear, including 5-10 sophomore G Madison Davis (6.0/4.2); Shelby Bowman, a 5-8 sophomore G (2.4 ppg), Katelyn Eggena, a 6-1 redshirt sophomore F (1.6 ppg), and true freshman Sidnay Skrobot, a 6-1 F (0.9.).
WIU did take a hit when last year’s leading scorer Raegan McCowan (17 ppg/6.4 rpg) was lost after 10 games. She has an elbow (left) injury involving torn ligaments and while not “officially” season ending her return is doubtful.
From a statistical point, the two teams have reasonable parity in stats – scoring, FG%, 3P% and so on – but it should be remembered that stats at the mid-major OVC level are not the same as those same stats at the ACC P4 level.
While it may not mean anything, WIU does not appear to have a black player on their roster. That is at least a bit unusual for a public school.
The Head Coach of WIU is JD Gravina, in his 15th year as the Leathernecks coach. His overall record is 241-215 (120-104). The 26 wins matches a program high back in 2017. When Gravina led the D-II Quincy Hawks (2007-2011) they had four straight 20-win seasons and he was 2X COY. I do not know what JD stands for but he and his wife Meredith have a son names Dominic James.
Every time UNC has a first round NCAA game, some doofus like me will remind everyone that the opponent, even though they may be a 13-seed is nonetheless a championship team used to winning. Disregarding them as an opponent is most unwise. Back in 2004 as a #4 seed, UNC met #13 Middle Tennessee in South Bend and got handed an embarrassing 62-67 loss. It can happen. At this level it is either win or clear out your locker.
The game is Friday at 5:30 PM. Coverage is provided by ESPNews. Not every TV provider has ESPNews but there is a link on GoHeels plus an audio link and live stats.
