So it's not on the schedule on the website yet, but I can confirm that North Central will be playing a game against UW-Milwaukee on December 22nd. I'm assuming the fact that former Cardinal Mike Winans is an assistant and GM on the Panther staff had something to do with this.

If my digging is correct, this will be NCC's first game against a D-I opponent since Chicago State back in 2003.

Quote from: GusD on August 21, 2024, 06:03:45 PM

Quote from: Gotberg on August 19, 2024, 11:28:26 AMNPU has another assistant coach:  https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-basketball/roster/coaches/andres-marmolejo/1110

I don't think I've seen this posted elsewhere.

Good pickup Gotberg. Hopefully NPU will add some biographical info on this guy.

His info is now updated - seems like a good pickup.

Haven't posted for a long long time.  Now, the campus has come back to life and we can start thinking about the new season.   IWU has many coming back -- only losing Sroka and Yoder.  This year will be a senior-filled team, lots of CCIW experience.  Here's how it looks to me right now.  Don't know anything about the newbies.  Doubt many will see much floor time with this experienced group coming back for Ron Rose and company.

Likely:

PG: Niego and David Williams
2:  Hakim Williams and Bazzell
3:  Roper and Funk
4:  Marko Anderson and Karlo Colak
5:  Wilmsen and Boldt

I'm quite optimistic about the season . . . even more optimistic about the Titan women again. 

Looking forward to the season.

IWU'70

Announced today: IWU is playing an exhibition game at Butler.

Although this is about football, the CCIW commissioner's statement makes it seem as though a new core member could be in the works.

https://www.d3football.com/notables/2024/09/cciw-cutting-wash-u-loose

I think posted elsewhere, but not here.

Carthage has 3 D2 transfers coming in.

https://twitter.com/WisBBYearbook/status/1831111266670428463?t=GUTEpuCe6Rma-bnL-uc4HA&s=19

I visited the U of South Dakota's bball page to see if Kolden Vanlandingham followed Smith there.  USD has FIVE assistant coaches!!  https://goyotes.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster  No KV on the 24-25 roster.

The pipeline of Cardinals to Blue Jay assistant coaches continues. Elmhurst announced its coaching staff under John Baines for this year, and it includes Aiden Chang.

Aiden Chang back in the coaching ranks.  I guess he can reclaim his "best dressed assistant" title now.  We'll see if he can keep it.

Quote from: lmitzel on July 16, 2024, 05:28:18 PMNCC's schedule is available now as well.

Of note, season opener is against Buena Vista at home on November 8th. Big trip this year is a west coast swing to play Whitman and Willamette in mid-November. Pretty much all the rest is the conclusion of home-and-homes from last year.

I do see some conflicts between the women's and men's schedules regarding CCIW play (mainly whether or not we're doing the early window or the late window; the Cardinals will be home for the two December Saturdays of conference play and those are the late window, but both the one date in January and one in February have the women's game at 2pm and the men's game at 7:15. I'm assuming both are TBD in terms of which window we'll actually be in).

Per a source from the ARC, Buena Vista has bought out of its originally scheduled opener with North Central. To fill the vacancy, Loras and NC have agreed to play in Dubuque on 12/12.

Quote from: GusD on September 22, 2024, 06:09:39 PM

Quote from: lmitzel on July 16, 2024, 05:28:18 PMNCC's schedule is available now as well.

Of note, season opener is against Buena Vista at home on November 8th. Big trip this year is a west coast swing to play Whitman and Willamette in mid-November. Pretty much all the rest is the conclusion of home-and-homes from last year.

I do see some conflicts between the women's and men's schedules regarding CCIW play (mainly whether or not we're doing the early window or the late window; the Cardinals will be home for the two December Saturdays of conference play and those are the late window, but both the one date in January and one in February have the women's game at 2pm and the men's game at 7:15. I'm assuming both are TBD in terms of which window we'll actually be in).

Per a source from the ARC, Buena Vista has bought out of its originally scheduled opener with North Central. To fill the vacancy, Loras and NC have agreed to play in Dubuque on 12/12.

Confirmed via my iCalendar (which is linked to the NCC basketball schedule).

I've been enjoying watching North Park practices thus far this fall. It's both fun and instructive to immerse yourself in the process before witnessing the results.

This NPU team carries a very different vibe than the dysfunctional 2023-24 Vikings. That team was beset by bad chemistry, passive-aggressive behavior, and a lot of panic mentality. Ed McGhee has put a great deal of time and effort into vaccinating the 2024-25 team from those illnesses before they can flare up again this season by focusing upon team unity, personal responsibility, and mutual support. It seems to be paying dividends on the court, as I can see their improvement as a unit increasing with each practice I attend. These guys enjoy playing together, and there's no standing around waiting for somebody else to shoot all the shots and be the hero. I sense that this might become one of those teams that has a relatively balanced distribution of shots and points.

Holdovers TJ Gardner, Lance Nelson, DJ Wallace, and Kyren Gardner will play key roles, but I really like the three scholie-level transfers that Ed and his staff have brought in: 6'2 guard Rico Powell (D2 Post), 6'3 guard John Gaines (D2 Midwestern State), and 5'10 PG Tristan Arneaud (D1 Chicago State), as well as 6'9 center Dylan Fuzak (Waubonsee CC) from the juco ranks.

I doubt that the coaches are going to rate NPU very highly in the preseason poll, which is fine with me. The Vikings are sort of back to square one after last season's fiasco in the eyes of rival CCIW coaches and players as well as D3 hoops followers in general, and the program needs to demonstrate to them all that the 2022-23 run to the Sweet Sixteen wasn't a fluke. It's always better to go into a season with fire in the belly, and I can't think of a better way for the Vikings to stoke fire in the belly than to have to prove people wrong about them.

Good to hear from you, Greg. I was told Vanlandingham is back on campus, but not playing.  Curious if he's shown up at practice just to watch or say hi to the guys. Looking forward to seeing what NPU has this year, along with the other CCIW teams...

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on October 16, 2024, 07:28:28 PMGood to hear from you, Greg. I was told Vanlandingham is back on campus, but not playing.  Curious if he's shown up at practice just to watch or say hi to the guys. Looking forward to seeing what NPU has this year, along with the other CCIW teams...

I haven't seen him all fall.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on September 07, 2024, 07:04:42 AMI think posted elsewhere, but not here.

Carthage has 3 D2 transfers coming in.

https://twitter.com/WisBBYearbook/status/1831111266670428463?t=GUTEpuCe6Rma-bnL-uc4HA&s=19

Arnold and Montgomery played a combined 27 minutes last season, so I don't think we're going to see a lot of playing time out of either unless there's an injury, someone transferred out, or, in the immortal words of Herb Brooks, "someone's game goes to 'heck'".

Riley Brooks, on the other hand, played good minutes at NMU and could be just what SteveD needs to replace some of the void left by Fillip Bulatovic.

Looking forward to this season. Carthage returns a lot of pieces. Johnson, Johnson, Nesbitt, Campbell, Sigel, Williams...should be a fun year (just) north of the border.

Now can we do something about those Saturday 4:00 starts??