It's really great that the Pioneer fans have completely packed their small gym, but I have an unpopular take. Plateville should never be permitted to host another tournament game until someone invests in an elevated platform for the main camera operator. I tuned in to watch Grinnell and what might be one of the more interesting matchups tonight but now I'm switching over to another game. The announcers are good and the camera work is very crisp and well done, but I'm going to elect to not watch a screen where 1/4 of my field of vision is taken up by the backs of people's heads, no matter how good the basketball and production value are on the other 3/4. It's a shame.

Quote from: Captain_Joe08 on March 07, 2025, 06:09:13 PMSt. Norbert up 62-37 on Carthage at half....Well then.

Good thing you stuck around for the second half, wasn't it? So close.

Quote from: Captain_Joe08 on March 07, 2025, 07:18:01 PMSt. Norbert holds on 92-89. Carthage got it down to one with 6 seconds left but SNC sank both FT's and got a defensive stop to run out the clock.

St. Norbert was unstoppable in the first half.  Carthage fell short of an absolutely epic comeback by an unlucky break or two.  Another great crop of CCIW seniors can hold their heads high on what they accomplished this year.

Quote from: lmitzel on February 28, 2025, 10:47:05 PMAnd congrats to NCC on a good season. Going to miss Ethan, Drew, and Terrance.

As a Wheaton fan, I'm required to give the surface impression that I dislike all things North Central, but Helwig, Gaston, and Moncrief were a great senior class to watch.

So many athletic conferences are comprised of haves and have nots. The fact that North Central finished sixth this year with that much talent is a testament to the depth of the CCIW and why I tune in every season to watch this hidden gem of high caliber basketball.

The Drew Gaston & Terrance Moncrief Show was fantastic - but just barely not enough for North Central to upset Carthage tonight. The Carthage MVP was the cameraman who permitted the out-of-bounds call to be overturned on replay.

Quote from: GusD on February 27, 2025, 10:55:45 PMWhen Ethan received the pass the closest defender was about 5 feet away. As he brought the ball up to shoot, the defender jumped  toward him, diminishing the distance by about half before Ethan let the shot go from around 26 feet.

Unless they're bear hugging him, Ethan Helwig will probably still get off a semi-decent shot against any defender.

North Park and North Central are tied 89-89 with one minute to go. This has been an awesome game. One set of great seniors is unfortunately about to end their careers tonight, but they absolutely put on a magnificent final show.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on February 21, 2025, 07:05:24 PMAnd, by the way, I don't think that either one has the highest ceiling as a CCIW player going forward; from what I've seen, Kyan VanderWoude is the member of the class of '28 (four-year player category) most likely to dominate the CCIW over the next three seasons.

I completely agree. VanderWoude has gotten better in just about every game I've watched. The last time I saw a Wheaton freshman end the season playing this well... well, okay it was just last year. But it was Soren Richardson and that should terrify the rest of the CCIW to face those guys playing together for two more years.

It's been tough to watch some of the recent games, but it's about to be fun again to be a Thunder fan.

Steven Schultz was never a major contributor but after Senior Night in Wheaton tonight, I will miss watching his game. In his limited minutes this season, the big guy often made himself Soren Richardson's personal give-and-go assist machine with some smooth passing. Down the road, he's likely going to become well known at his local pickup game spot as the Old Guy Who Totally Knows What He's Doing. Newcomers to the gym will underestimate the middle aged guy with the dad bod, but the regulars will absolutely love playing with him.

2024-2025 CCIW All-Conference Teams

I will admit that I don't watch enough CCIW games to accurately assess defensive contributions, so my selections are undoubtedly weighted toward offensively gifted players.  There's still some conference basketball to be played, but if I had a ballot here's how I might fill it out:

First Team:
Nick Roper, Illinois Wesleyan
Ryan Johnson, Carthage
Soren Richardson, Wheaton
Tyler Knuth, Augustana
AJ Johnson, Carthage
Hakim Williams, Illinois Wesleyan
Tagen Pearson, Elmhurst
Terrance Moncrief, North Central

I predict that Roper, Ryan Johnson, Sorensen, and Knuth will be unanimous selections when the real voting occurs.

Second Team:
Lance Nelson, North Park
Ethan Helwig, North Central
Riley Brooks, Carthage
Rico Powell, North Park
Dominic Trelenberg, Elmhurst
Harrison Wilmsen, Illinois Wesleyan
Lane Thomann, Millikin
Aaron Wafford, Carroll

Carroll doesn't have a standout star, but you could make a case to rank their starters in just about any order for value and production.  I think voters will give a spot to Wafford, but the Carroll starting five is surprisingly well balanced.

Others Receiving Votes:
Mason Funk, Illinois Wesleyan
JT Welch, Millikin
Tyler Swierczek, North Central
Erik Victorson / Jacob Naber / Eckahelo Simpson / Kobe Simpson, Carroll

Discuss...

2024-2025 Fred Young CCIW Most Outstanding Student-Athlete

It's not a runaway race this year, but I still predict a unanimous vote.  I think the voters are going to hold off on anointing Soren Richardson the best player in the conference and will reward Nick Roper in his senior year. As the top scorer and leader on nationally ranked Illinois Wesleyan, Roper was the preseason favorite for the award and never failed to back up his case for the honor.


2024-2025 CCIW First-Year Student-Athlete of the Year

The easiest way to determine the best first-year player is to compare any freshmen on the conference leader board in total minutes. I believe that Devin Martin of Wheaton is the only member of the Top 25 and as of today he is tied for the conference lead in assists. If one was tempted to claim that playing alongside Soren Richardson boosted his assist numbers, the other side of the coin is that Martin's scoring numbers would have been higher if he wasn't feeding teammates. Freshman teammate Kyan VanderWoude made great strides throughout the season and is arguably a greater team contributor today, but Devin Martin was in the starting lineup from Game 1 and quickly looked ready for the college game.

Discuss...

Wednesday, February 5, 2025:

Little brother Soren Richardson scores 53 at North Park.  Big sister Annika Richardson scores 36 at home against Elmhurst.

Each performance is a career high for the Wheaton College siblings.

Each performance is also a season high for all players in the men's and women's CCIW conferences, respectively.

I wonder if another pair of siblings has ever scored 89 points on the same day at the collegiate level.

What a cool achievement for the family.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on February 05, 2025, 10:29:27 PMIt wasn't just The Soren Richardson Show, though. Drew Martin and Kyan VanderWoude were outstanding. I watched those two along with sophomore Richardson tonight, and I couldn't help thinking back as the game was going on to the middle of the last decade when young guns Juwan Henry, Jordan Robinson, TJ Cobbs, and Colin Lake were starting to collectively mature as players and the Vikings started beating ranked teams like Augustana and North Central. It feels as though Wheaton is very much on that road, especially if Mike Schauer can find a better-than-average big or two.

Speaking of Mike, congrats to him on his 400th win. I'd feel worse if he wasn't both a quality guy and a fellow Covie.

It's been a tough to see Wheaton basketball struggle the past two years. I just learned that the 13-game losing streak leading up to Mike Schauer's 400th career coaching victory was the longest in school history.

But I agree that the future is really bright. Wheaton will graduate one starter (Hedrick) and two bench contributors (Clark, Schultz), but the current roster is compromised of just 6 upperclassmen with 4 sophomores and 12 freshmen. It's not a stretch to say that 6 of the underclassmen are CCIW starter candidates already, and history tells us that 2 or 3 more could get to that level by the time conference games start next year.

The glaring weakness is the roster height. I don't know what the recruiting rules are, but if anyone knows a 6'6" or taller evangelical Christian F/C averaging 9 or 10 rebounds for a trash D3 team, would you please tell him how nice the Wheaton College campus is and mention its proximity to the train line to downtown Chicago?

It's unfortunate that Wheaton had a bye game last Saturday instead of tomorrow night, because it would have been extra awesome for Soren Richardson to be CCIW player of the week for a single game performance. Until I read the game recap tonight, I didn't realize that his 53-point barrage on Wednesday was fifth in CCIW game history and third in Wheaton program history. (Aston Francis had a 54-point night in addition to the historic 62-point NCAA tournament game against Marietta.) At the beginning of this year, I hoped that Soren Richardson's career ceiling would look something like Matt Helwig's of North Central.  I have to say that my hopes are now calibrated higher than that.  What a fun player to watch when he's on a hot streak.

Following a 13 game losing streak that stretched past two months, Wheaton coach Mike Schauer finally got his 400th career coaching win tonight in an upset at North Park.