Nick Michael was skinny when he first got to Elmhurst.  But, if anybody still remembers, he was 6'10 240 by the time he was a senior.  That's hardly finesse.  In fact, I predict he would've led the league in rebounding if it wasn't for Chris Martin being his teammate for a couple of years, who was a tenacious rebounder himself.  And then his senior year was when Brent Ruch hit the league by storm.  It's hard to steal all the rebounds away from those two guys, I don't care who you are.  Anyway, he was in the double digits in total dunks his junior year and also his senior year.  Finesse?......kind of, but I would lean him more towards the power side, not a bruiser, but somewhere in between.

Anybody think that Carthage will win 10 games in the league?  I just don't see it, even though they are almost halfway there with 9 games left to play.  Their hot shooting, which most likely will not be sustained at the same pace the rest of the year, and their soft defense suggest that.  However, they are much better than I thought they would be, and should be a factor in the CCIW tourney, as they have a great chance of definitely being one of the four teams there.  I still think it will come down to Elmhurst and Augie.  Wheaton has an outside shot, but they travel to Elmhurst on Saturday, and are likely to be 2-4 after Saturday night.  Ouch!

Quote from: True Basketball Fan on November 06, 2005, 05:59:39 PM
Sorry, Titan Q.  But I think you and many IWU fans are going to be disappointed in most of next year's team, except the Freeman's and Gant.  After that, there is not much.

I had to pull this one out of the archives, especially since I said it before the beginning of the 05-06 season, and that I was right on the money.

Quote from: iwumichigander on April 18, 2007, 12:07:26 PM

Quote from: markerickson on April 18, 2007, 11:32:52 AM
Where did Taylor go after North Central?  I would not necessarily consider going to Chicago State an upgrade.

Blogged in Transactions by Pat Coleman on Wednesday April 20, 2005
Former North Central men’s coach Benjy Taylor was named an assistant coach at Tulane. He was an assistant at Indiana State this past season.
Note: Taylor was also an assistant at Tulane 2006-07.  With the recruiting success Benjy has had in Chicago area; he could do well at Chicago State.

He was an assistant at Tulane when Katrina blasted the gulf coast.  I heard they moved their basketball operations up to Arkansas or something, for the rest of the year.  He's had some tough recruiting venues in his career, but none tougher than a flooded New Orleans that one year.  That definitely makes Chicago State look easy.

Quote from: pcarr on April 17, 2007, 03:30:44 PM
From North Central coach Benjy Taylor has been named head coach at Chicago State.   Apparently improving one CCIW game in three years ('02-'04) eventually gets you a D1 job.  But were his recruits the guys who have helped the Cards move above .500 the last couple years?  Discuss.

90 some percent of the North Central squad the last 3 years have been Benjy's kids.  He can definitely take credit for the talent, but Raridon gave them better direction with a more disciplined approach.  Would Benjy have taken this group to the heights that Raridon did the past few years at NC?  We'll never know.  However, if Benjy gets it going at Chicago State (which is another tough school to recruit, along with NC) then maybe we can say "possibly".   I actually think he will do a good job at Chicago State, even though his history as a head coach isn't glowing.  With the amount of talent on the southside, one would think that Chicago State should be very good all the time.  Maybe he's the guy that can do it.

If everybody's prediction is true, then the CCIW will only get ONE TEAM in the NCAA Tourney!  That is ridiculous!  The league was down very slightly from last year, but I still feel it deserves two teams this year.  Basically, the CCIW should get at least two teams in every year, even in a so called "down year" (Weren't there 4 or 5 teams ranked in the Top 25 throughout the year, what a down year!).   

Quote from: tuvwxyz on January 24, 2007, 05:41:53 PM
The incoming cupboard was left bare by the outgoing IWU coach. He simply refused to do alot of recruiting. If they didnt come to him, he had little interest in them.

Very true, "end of the alphabet guy", Trost did not recruit very well his last few years.  "very well" might be to kind of a phrase, it's probably more like "at all".  I believe I made that observation a while back, I think in the spring before he left for Lewis.  Anyway, it is now apparent to the people who thought the young players at IWU were just as good or better than everybody else's in the league.

Seeing IWU at 8-8 and dwelling towards the bottom of the CCIW standings is definitely odd, but not overly surprising because of the major talent they lost last year (not just players, but coach too.....sorry Trost-haters, he was and still is a pretty darn good coach, he's already got Lewis headed in the right direction again).  Anyway, Zach Freeman, who is one of the best players not only in the CCIW but the entire nation, is throwing up some big numbers.  I know it's early but......One would think that he has a shot at the MOP or MVP of the league, and with those numbers, yes he should.  But seeing the trend of the last several seasons would suggest that he doesn't have a chance unless they win the league.  I hope we are not quick to forget the dominance that Chris Martin had over the league for the last few seasons, and he went MOP-less (and that's with Elmhurst finishing second in the CCIW in both his last two seasons).  In all, if IWU finishes in the middle somewhere or even towards the top, Freeman does not win the MOP no matter what his numbers end up.  Does anybody disagree? 

Quote from: ecdubb420 on January 11, 2007, 02:00:41 PM
Also, the refs were awful, but thankfully were awful to both EC and Carthage players.  As long as they are consistant, you really can't complain.

Bad calls for both teams at least doesn't create an unfair advantage, but it still gives us the right to complain, even if they are consistently bad. 

Quote from: David Collinge on January 02, 2007, 11:42:19 AM
Question:

Quote from: True Basketball Fan on January 02, 2007, 08:20:23 AM
When the new Top 25 poll comes out later today or tomorrow, there will most likely be 4 or 5 CCIW teams in there.  Here is the stunner:  IWU won't be one of them!  When was the last time there were that many CCIW teams ranked in the TOP 25 and IWU wasn't one of them?  

Answer:  Week 4 of the 2006-07 season.  There are 4 CCIW teams ranked right now, and IWU is not one of them.  The CCIW has never had 5 teams ranked in the same week; neither has any other conference.

http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=4592.7907

I mean besides this year. 

NCC will probably not be ranked this week, but Elmhurst most likely will.  They have won 10 straight games and were #29 in the "others receiving votes" when the week 4 poll came out.

How about this one.....if Elmhurst does crack the Top 25, they will be the 6th CCIW team to be ranked at one point during this season thus far.  That's impressive considering there are only 8 teams in the whole league!  When was the last time that happened? If ever? 

When the new Top 25 poll comes out later today or tomorrow, there will most likely be 4 or 5 CCIW teams in there.  Here is the stunner:  IWU won't be one of them!  When was the last time there were that many CCIW teams ranked in the TOP 25 and IWU wasn't one of them?   

Quote from: RodneyKnuppel on December 17, 2006, 09:30:01 PM
Another nice win for the EC BlueJays---- was impressed with them tonight..

Congrats to Ryan Burks for making all tournament team..

P.S. Grinnell Basketball is a joke. It should be illegal.

You're right, Noop.  Grinnell's interpretation of the game of basketball should be outlawed.  I wasn't there but I'm sure it was a disgusting display for anybody with basketball know how.  That's why I still get upset thinking about the Beloit/Grinnell game that was on TV a few years back.

Congrats to the Jays!  7 in a row should probably get them back in the rankings again.  Brian Lee is continuing his outstanding play that started with the Hope game last year.  He is definitely the real deal at point.  Now that Dauksas is gone, I think he's the best in the CCIW.  The Martin-less Jays are still very dangerous, I don't think they will finish lower than 2nd or 3rd. 

Harris Stowe?!?  That might be the most embarassing loss in the CCIW for a LoooooOOOONG time!  D3hoops has them listed as Harris Stowe State University, which makes them sound like they are bigger or something.  This tiny NAIA in the St. Louis area has about 3 or 4 hundred strong in the whole school.  Anyway,  Harris Stowe is annually a bottom feeder, with some startling season records these past several seasons.  They are 4-10 this year, were 4-27 last year, 6-23 the year before, and 1-31 the year before that.  To sum it all up, Harris Stowe is 15-91 in the last 4 seasons, with one of those 15 wins coming against North Central, the defending CCIW Tourney Champs & pre-season favorite to win the conference championship in the ever-so-tough & very proud CCIW.  WOW!  What a blow to the league!  I still can't believe it.

Hey GS, I don't even think North Park has embarassed the league this bad, or have they?  Let us know.

Get ready for a defending rage from cardinalpride, I'm looking forward to reading it.   

It's nobody's fault except for Wheaton.  They should've chartered a plane or ferry, and travelled straight over the lake.  That would definitely solve this problem. 

Who's this Burks guy?  He's tossing in 19 points a game in the early going.  The last time we saw a JV'er do that was..........Amelianovich, I think?  I'm not saying he's going to be as good, but....