hopefan, I don't have any info on why Johnson sat out the tournament but I do know that he has had discipline issues in the past at Millikin which contributed to his departure and transfer.  He is an amazing talent and has huge potential to improve beyond where he is even now.  He didn't start playing organized basketball until his Jr or Sr year of high school. I hope he gets it figured out. I think he's a good kid overall, he just needs to clean up his act a little and get focused on what is important.

There has been a lot of turn-over at Millikin for a lot of different reasons.  I think a big part of it is that you have kids coming into the program that are used to winning and there just isn't much of it going on there.  Nadelhoffer has done a great job of bringing in some really good talent over the last few years but hasn't been able to keep a lot of it.  In the 3 years that I have been around the program I've seen more talent leave than he has on the team right now.  11 players who have started over the last 3 years are no longer with the team along with a complete turn-over in assistant coaches.  The CCIW is a tough conference to rebuild in so I don't think it is all Nadelhoffer's fault but I would say that he is struggling to get a lot of the kids to buy into the program once they are there. If the players aren't buying into the program you can't create something sustainable. I can also tell you that they have told several kids who were unhappy with the direction of the team that they should consider moving to a team in the SLIAC where they could be All Conference players and win more games whereas that wouldn't be possible in the CCIW.  So that may be why you are seeing them show up on SLIAC teams.

Brennan Coltrane is transferring to Webster U after leaving the Millikin program just prior to official practices starting this season.  Still two years of eligibility left. Doesn't help at 4-5 but could create some depth at 2 or 3.

It looks like Millikin will have an uphill battle to win another game this season.  I'm new to the D3 basketball world and the CCIW so I don't know what the definition of success would be at Millikin but does that put Nadelhoffer on the hot seat?  He's obviously improved the program since he came on board but it seems like the CCIW power houses just keep reloading year after year which would make further improvements a monumental task. Nadelhoffer has been able to bring in a lot of talent (including a lot this year) but very few have stuck around.  Only 6 remain from the 18 of his first recruiting class. Is that pretty common everywhere in D3 or does Millikin have a tougher time because they haven't been able to break through to the next level in CCIW play?  I wouldn't want the job of trying to rebuild a team in this conference!  I've been very impressed with the conference as I've tried to follow it over the past couple of years!

What part do you highly doubt? 

Griffin is back and should be giving up point guard duties to a new player of smaller size and the starting two guard should be new team captain Tives Gardner.  Griffin has the ability to fill some of the scoring holes left by Johnson but I don't see one player that can cover the defensive side.

Agnew and Bence didn't play much last year until late.  Owens opened the year as the starting 4 and his back-up was Shaq Edwards.  Both of them left the team late in the season and will not be returning.  Mitch Wilfer quit the team late in the season but never carried many minutes.

He was removed from the team for discipline reasons.  MU has had an issue with that and lost some valuable minutes from key contributors over the last year.  This is a very different team then it was at the beginning of last season.  MU's top 3 post players last year aren't even on the team this year. Yes, official practices start this week. 

Millikin has lost a few of those Junior returners recently.  Deavis Johnson and Brennan Coltrane will not be with the team this year.  Without Johnson (CCIW's leading rebounder, 2nd in steals, 3rd in blocks) I think Millikin is going to struggle defensively. Johnson wasn't a true 5 but did a lot of the dirty work in the middle that has helped Millikin overcome some size disadvantages.  Coltrane played a lot down the stretch last year due to injuries and showed some real grit and talent which will take away from the depth and size at guard.  Millikin will most likely start the smallest backcourt in the CCIW this year.  We'll have to see if some new-comers can catch on quickly and contribute.