MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

From the Herald & Review on Tim Littrell...

http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2007/03/02/sports/millikin/1021479.txt

Here's a quote from the on-line article:

"It's true, CCIW schools like Illinois Wesleyan, Carthage, Wheaton and North Park have all fairly recently moved into new arenas. North Central has broken ground on theirs."

Does the sportswriter think North Park is now playing its games in the Helwig?

That's inexcusably poor journalism. Millikin, and by extension the CCIW, is a regular beat of the Herald-Review's sports department. If you're going to make a case for the remodeling of the hometown team's gym, and you don't know whether or not the other schools in the conference have updated facilities -- but you make (erroneous) assumptions in that vein, anyway -- then you've completely lost your credibility.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

From the Herald & Review on Tim Littrell...

http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2007/03/02/sports/millikin/1021479.txt

Here's a quote from the on-line article:

"It's true, CCIW schools like Illinois Wesleyan, Carthage, Wheaton and North Park have all fairly recently moved into new arenas. North Central has broken ground on theirs."

Does the sportswriter think North Park is now playing its games in the Helwig?

That's inexcusably poor journalism. Millikin, and by extension the CCIW, is a regular beat of the Herald-Review's sports department. If you're going to make a case for the remodeling of the hometown team's gym, and you don't know whether or not the other schools in the conference have updated facilities or not -- but you make (erroneous) assumptions in that vein, anyway -- then you've completely lost your credibility.

I guess I'm not surprised at the lack of knowledge in the Decatur story.  When I was actively involved in the league - the Decatur Herald was always the weakest of the dailies that covered the CCIW.  I guess the tradition continues.

During the early eighties I researched the date, location and score of every CCIW football and basketball game and put them in a database.  Believe it or not there were few schools in the league that had much beyond the scores.  I wound up doing most of my research on the microfilm reader at the Bloomington Public Library.

MW 70:3

[veterancciwfan]

Greg: Regarding the poor excuse for a paper for the one in Decatur, the Bloom'ton/Nrml rersidents are worried because Lee, which is the owner of the Decatur rag, recently purchased the Bloom'ton Pantagraph, which has a fantastic sports dept.  Personnel cuts have begun and there is a lot of unrest at the Pantagraph. Already, the Sports Editor left for a PR job with the new Bloom'ton Colosium (civic center). I noticed that the U. of I. beat writer's stories for the Decatur paper (Decatur has a huge U. of I. fan base)are now appearing in our Pantagraph.

One Carroll story. Once at Fred Young Fieldhouse during the Sikma era, the Carroll coach (Dave Fink I think?) began the game with a prank that earned Carroll a technical foul before the ball was even thrown up. One short Carroll player stood on the shoulders of another for the opening jump ball. Sort of like Jimmy Piersall running the bases backwards after a HR. Everyone thought it was hilarious except the refs. IWU went on to demolish the hapless Pioneers.

[petemcb]

Greg: Regarding the poor excuse for a paper for the one in Decatur, the Bloom'ton/Nrml rersidents are worried because Lee, which is the owner of the Decatur rag, recently purchased the Bloom'ton Pantagraph, which has a fantastic sports dept.  Personnel cuts have begun and there is a lot of unrest at the Pantagraph. Already, the Sports Editor left for a PR job with the new Bloom'ton Colosium (civic center). I noticed that the U. of I. beat writer's stories for the Decatur paper (Decatur has a huge U. of I. fan base)are now appearing in our Pantagraph.

One Carroll story. Once at Fred Young Fieldhouse during the Sikma era, the Carroll coach (Dave Fink I think?) began the game with a prank that earned Carroll a technical foul before the ball was even thrown up. One short Carroll player stood on the shoulders of another for the opening jump ball. Sort of like Jimmy Piersall running the bases backwards after a HR. Everyone thought it was hilarious except the refs. IWU went on to demolish the hapless Pioneers.

That story has gotta be worth some +k.  Here's one.

[79jaybird]

Hey all,  been away as I have been fighting a nasty "flu" going around.  Hopefully you all have been able to avoid that bug.  Friday I was feeling terrible, had no voice (sorry Wayne as I had no "power" to broadcast at Lake Forest Saturday)  had that hacking "emphysema" like cough etc.  but glad to say I am back to 100%.
What a March thus far and a disappointing outcome for the CCIW on both the Men's and Women's Tourneys.  On the flipside, what a tournament for Carroll!  I am a CCIW die hard, but you have to be excited for the Pioneers.  The earn their 1st ever NCAA win and then go on to knock out #5 St. Thomas in Minnesota.
I agree it has been difficult to watch the tournament and wonder how EC would have fared, however Carroll has been exciting to watch and wish them well in their next game.

[Gregory Sager]

One Carroll story. Once at Fred Young Fieldhouse during the Sikma era, the Carroll coach (Dave Fink I think?) began the game with a prank that earned Carroll a technical foul before the ball was even thrown up. One short Carroll player stood on the shoulders of another for the opening jump ball. Sort of like Jimmy Piersall running the bases backwards after a HR. Everyone thought it was hilarious except the refs. IWU went on to demolish the hapless Pioneers.

No, that wouldn't have been Fink. The Carroll coach during all but Sikma's senior season was Ed Fleener, so it must've been his prank. The Carroll coach during Sikma's senior season was none other than Rees Johnson -- and there's no way in the world I can imagine Rees going along with a stunt like that.

Fink followed Rees in Waukesha, starting in the 1978-79 season. There is no coach I've ever seen who would've been less inclined to levity on the sidelines than Dave Fink, who was seriously nuts. Grey Giovanine's gonzo predecessor at Augustana, Jim "Jack-In-The-Box" Borcherding, was a Buddhist monk compared to Fink. I have never seen a coach carry on the way that Fink did in all my years of sitting in gyms watching basketball games. I would watch him rant and rave on the sidelines, veins throbbing in his forehead, and I'd wonder if his head was going to explode like the guy in the movie Scanners.

[Mr. Ypsi]

That stunt was so obviously 'over-the-top' for laughs, only severely humor-impaired refs would call a T.  I hope Dennie Bridges had the good sense to instruct his shooter to miss the FTs (though he might have worried about p***ing off the refs).

[Dennis_Prikkel]

This board is like Bruce Ismay getting off the Titanic - everybody's skedaddled.

Where is everyone? 

MW 70:3

[joehakes]

I'm in New England, Dennis. 

Was the iceberg that sank the Titanic one of your ancestors.   The resemblance is striking, except that we don't have 90% of you hidden under freezing water.

[79jaybird]

Talked to Coach Scherrer and Baines today at Elmhurst and both were very disappointed, and have begun reconfiguring the 2007-08 schedule to include more In-Region games.  Coach Scherrer told me that both Aurora and Chicago said no to playing Elmhurst (variety of reasons, but $$ has a big part    ).  Schools like Aurora, Chicago get the same "points" whether they play Elmhurst or Concordia IL,  which is why it is difficult for schools like Elmhurst/North Central to schedule these In-Regional games.  Hopefully this 2006-07 situation never happens again to any CCIW School.

[veterancciwfan]

Regarding the Titanic, would it be fair to evaluate the recently concluded 06/07 IWU Titans' season as "titanic?" And if so, should "titanic" be capitalized?

Greg: You are probably right about the Carroll coach in the Fred Young fieldlhouse prank being Rees Johnson. As I recall, that Carroll coach was getting publicity as the former coach of the Israeli national b'ball team. Does that bio fit Rees?

Getting some welcome relief from the 82 degree Scottsdale sun. Oops, sorry I mentioned that.

[Gregory Sager]

Greg: You are probably right about the Carroll coach in the Fred Young fieldlhouse prank being Rees Johnson. As I recall, that Carroll coach was getting publicity as the former coach of the Israeli national b'ball team. Does that bio fit Rees?

No, I said that I'm almost certain that the Carroll coach behind the prank wasn't Rees Johnson. He likes a good laugh as much as anyone, but he considered coaching basketball games to be as much of a deadly serious business as any coach I know. Just ask Rob Berki, who played for him.

As I said, the coach behind the prank must've been Ed Fleener.

Schools like Aurora, Chicago get the same "points" whether they play Elmhurst or Concordia IL,

No, they don't. The results are the same in terms of being regional wins or losses, but their effect upon a team's QOWI (or whatever they're going to call it next season) can be significantly different. A win over Elmhurst is worth a lot more on a team's resume than a win over Concordia (IL) in terms of the Pool C criteria, believe me.

which is why it is difficult for schools like Elmhurst/North Central to schedule these In-Regional games.

As I said the other day, it's happening to North Park as well. I wouldn't be surprised if every CCIW school is now having trouble finding regional games, particularly in light of the creation of the supersized and tightly-scheduled NAthC.

Hopefully this 2006-07 situation never happens again to any CCIW School.

Amen to that!

[diehardfan]

I thought you guys would appreciate this... turns out our WONC friend is doing the Stevens Point Sectional. Very cool! He's done a nice job all the games I've listened to this year, so this is some nice recognition for him. Since most of you probably aren't headed up there, show Wayne Randazzo some love and tune in.

www.d3hoops.com/audio

I will be personally glad to have another neutral CCIWer up there with me among all those crazy Hope and Pointer fans.  Hope to meet you at some point during the weekend Wayne!

[cardinalpride]

From the Herald & Review on Tim Littrell...

http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2007/03/02/sports/millikin/1021479.txt

Here's a quote from the on-line article:

"It's true, CCIW schools like Illinois Wesleyan, Carthage, Wheaton and North Park have all fairly recently moved into new arenas. North Central has broken ground on theirs."

Does the sportswriter think North Park is now playing its games in the Helwig?

That's inexcusably poor journalism. Millikin, and by extension the CCIW, is a regular beat of the Herald-Review's sports department. If you're going to make a case for the remodeling of the hometown team's gym, and you don't know whether or not the other schools in the conference have updated facilities -- but you make (erroneous) assumptions in that vein, anyway -- then you've completely lost your credibility.

North Central has broken ground on their fine arts center not their new athletic complex.  One more mistake for the poor journalist out of Decatur.

[cardinalpride]

Talked to Coach Scherrer and Baines today at Elmhurst and both were very disappointed, and have begun reconfiguring the 2007-08 schedule to include more In-Region games.  Coach Scherrer told me that both Aurora and Chicago said no to playing Elmhurst (variety of reasons, but $$ has a big part    ).  Schools like Aurora, Chicago get the same "points" whether they play Elmhurst or Concordia IL,  which is why it is difficult for schools like Elmhurst/North Central to schedule these In-Regional games.  Hopefully this 2006-07 situation never happens again to any CCIW School.

Jaybird, I know Aurora traditionally plays NCC and Millikin out of the CCIW.  IMO, it would not be in their best interest to play a third team from our conference.  Especially Elmhurst, they've finished in the top half of the league in recent years. 
IMO, Chicago would be in a similar position since traditionally they play IWU and Wheaton.