Illinois Wesleyan ended up with nearly two weeks off after its big win at Yeshiva, and those backed-up games have come fast and furious in recent days. d3photography.com photo

By Ryan Scott
D3hoops.com

“Basketball is a long season,” says Illinois Wesleyan men’s basketball coach Ron Rose. “To have the games you’re being evaluated on being so condensed is a unique thing.”

“We want to play,” echoes Whitman women’s basketball coach Michelle Ferenz, “but it’s not ideal.”

Both understatements, but understandable given the realities of the 2021-22 Division III basketball season. No one wants a repeat of lost championships the past two years, so they’re willing (and mostly happy) to play whenever it makes sense.

Whitman is coming off a stretch of seven conference games in 12 days. Due to COVID (and sometimes weather) cancellations, many teams are making up games wherever they can. “For us on the west coast,” notes Ferenz, “it’s tough to get a full slate of D-III games to begin with – we’re traveling a lot, because people don’t want to come here and play us – any cancellation is really going to hurt us.”

“The whole rhythm of the season is completely different,” says Rose. “Normally we take Sunday off, practice Monday and Tuesday, play Wednesday, practice Thursday, Friday, play Saturday – and that’s the whole second semester. Now, we can’t take Sunday off, because we have to prepare for our Monday game, so we take Thursday off, but it doesn’t feel like a day off, because you’re going to class, coaches are in the office. We played Elmhurst a week ago; it feels like a month!”

Both Whitman and IWU are loaded with veterans, who’ve been through the grind before, even if it’s not been this particular grind. They have the experience and the familiarity with each other to manage a schedule that doesn’t include much time for prep.

“We played Elmhurst week!” notes Rose. “We probably don’t need too much prep, so long as we don’t confuse what they run with North Park or Carroll or Carthage,” all of whom IWU defeated in between.

That’s the other advantage for Whitman and IWU – both teams have won all of these condensed games. There’s a lot less impact on your overall resume when you win. Elmhurst has played a similar “four CCIW road games in eight days” schedule and finished 1-3, putting a real damper on potential Pool C chances if they fail to win the conference tournament next month.

“[This schedule] would have been very hard if we were not a veteran team,” says Ferenz. “Our players understand what it takes to win a conference title and get to the NCAA tournament, but it has left us vulnerable with mental and emotional fatigue.”

It's been a busy week ... two weeks, really ... for Whitman. Whitman athletics photo

Ferenz has gone all the way down the bench during this run, playing every player on the roster in several games. Rose noted how careful they’ve have to be to balance conditioning and keep people ready. “It’s tough, because guys playing 15-20 minute or more per game, probably stay in shape on their own, but key guys – guys we need – who play less than that, they can get out of shape if we don’t have enough practice. I’ve had to fight my nature – I always want to do more, because there’s a fear of not being prepared – but we’re doing more film, with a shorter time on the court, but still trying to go hard when we’re on the court.”

There’s also the issue of classes. These are student-athletes, after all. The Northwest Conference typically schedules only weekend games, largely to protect class time from the long road trips. Whitman’s first two January games were Tuesday and Wednesday, but they coincided with the first two days of spring semester. “We decided it was better to get them in early, before things really get going,” say Ferenz, of the choice, which the conference left largely up to the schools to make.

It is a different story in the CCIW. “The league assigned the games,” says Rose. “We coaches didn’t want to be making the decision on who to play and when. We did decide that Mondays made the most sense.”

While IWU’s longest conference road trip is about the same as Whitman’s shortest, the Titans also have coursework and other responsibilities to maintain during this busy stretch. “I’m teaching two classes today,” said Rose, as we spoke on the “off” day between road games at Carthage and Elmhurst.

For fans, who aren’t pouring over game plans or watching film, many times the Division III basketball season can run together. You get a barrage of games in January and February and then you’re on to the tournament, but this stretch is really important to teams achieving their goals for the season.

Whitman played six of eight conference opponents in just over a week. They’ll play once through the entire conference in just 15 days. And it’s not like a normal year, when a team might be familiar with conference opponents. The NWC played very few games last year. Ferenz and her team are preparing for rosters they’ve never seen before.

There’s also COVID itself. IWU started this run missing players. “We went 16 days without a full roster,” notes Rose, who had to isolate for 11 days himself, when his test came back positive earlier in the month.

It’s one thing to play an insane schedule at full strength; it’s quite another when you’re piecing a roster together day to day.

Obviously, Whitman and IWU are not the only teams dealing with postponed games and tight schedules. There will only be more and more as conferences seek to get in as many games as possible before Feb. 27. Not everyone has their veteran leadership and Top 10 talent, either. It’s going to feel like a slog and tough decisions will have to be made with regards to health, safety, and academics.

One thing’s for sure, though, every coach and player I speak with – about this or about anything – echoes their pure joy to be playing basketball at all. After two missed championships and thousands of missed games, players want to be on the court and need no reminder to appreciate six games in eight days or countless hours on the bus.