MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

For the second time in 3 years, Beloit has backed out of a commitment to play the Titans

... and the funny thing is that it's not even the same Beloit coach that's doing the backing-out.

[Gregory Sager]

Fund Tourney: Wittenberg, Benedictine, and Kalamazoo (so I'm assuming Ben first round and Witt second)

Has Wheaton really decided to discard the tradition of having its home tourney named after beloved former coach Lee Pfund in favor of a truth-in-advertising gesture of acknowledging that the tourney is a moneymaking proposition?

[Gregory Sager]

I'm really looking forward to reports from the rest of the conference as it has been very quiet for the most part elsewhere within the league. As a CCIW supporter, you really would like to see each team get some good recruits.

NPU's off to a nice start by landing Christian Alsing, Phil Schniedermeier, and Illiana Christian forward Nick Hoekstra (6'5, 215), and the Vikings coaching staff has some really exciting prospects in their sights. There could be some pretty dramatic developments in the North Park camp over the next couple of months in terms of newbies ... but I'll simply let it play out as it happens rather than tip my hand.

While NPU fans are no doubt eager to see Brenegan & Co. land another great crop of newbies like last year's, the Vikings are in a position they've seldom seen in recent years in that they have a very solid returning cast for 2006-07. North Park's returning fourteen players who saw varsity time last year, including seven of the nine players in the rotation. The Vikings may be looking at playing some of their best recruits on the JV team for a season or so, which is a luxury that they have definitely not had in many years.

Here's next season's NPU non-con schedule, by the way:

Fri, Nov 16: vs. Milwaukee Engineering*
Sat, Nov 17: @ UW-Whitewater or vs. Eureka*
Tue, Nov 20: EUREKA
Sat, Nov 24: OBERLIN
Sat, Dec 1: @ Loras
Wed, Dec 5: TRI-STATE
Fri, Dec 7: JUDSON
Tue, Dec 11: KNOX
Sat, Dec 15: @ RMC-Springfield
Fri, Dec 28: vs. CSU-East Bay/UC-Santa Cruz#
Sat, Dec 29: vs. CSU-East Bay/UC-Santa Cruz#

*UW-Whitewater tourney
#Bay Area holiday tourney

(The Bay Area tourney in San Francisco is a classic format that also features Dominican, and I'm not sure yet if it's the Vikings or the Stars that get to play the Banana Slugs first.)

[joehakes]

Greg beat me to it, but "Fund?"   Wow, short memories!

[hopefan]

A SLIAC room poster showed us Webster's schedule which includes the Gorlock Classic (Webster Gorlocks) .  Webster and Wash U will each play Platteville and Augustana - that will make for a couple of outstanding doubleheaders, with the Wash U - Auggie matchup being a highlight.

[north central]

wow great info everyone on the new players headed to the CCIW. And Sager I saw that Alsing kid play a few times this year and although I dont think he can step right in and contribute in this conference, I think he can be a very solid CCIW player. One things for sure ,as much as i hate brother rice(almost as much as weslyan) he was well coached in high school.  For some reason I think the chicago catholic league and the CCIW are just a natural fit. Many catholic leagers do really well in the CCIW.

Oh and Sager have you heard of Florentino Valencia (crane) who just finished up at Kent State.

[matblake]

Here's next season's NPU non-con schedule, by the way:
Fri, Nov 16: vs. Milwaukee Engineering*
Sat, Nov 17: @ UW-Whitewater or vs. Eureka*
Tue, Nov 20: EUREKA
Sat, Nov 24: OBERLIN
Sat, Dec 1: @ Loras
Wed, Dec 5: TRI-STATE
Fri, Dec 7: JUDSON
Tue, Dec 11: KNOX
Sat, Dec 15: @ RMC-Springfield
Fri, Dec 28: vs. CSU-East Bay/UC-Santa Cruz#
Sat, Dec 29: vs. CSU-East Bay/UC-Santa Cruz#

*UW-Whitewater tourney
#Bay Area holiday tourney

I think this is a good schedule for the Vikings at this point.  Tri-State becomes a full member this up coming season (I think) so I'm pretty sure this will be an in-region game.  MSOE usually fields decent teams.  I think this will be a good measuring stick of North Park's progress. 

[Pat Coleman]

It's an in-region game regardless of whether they get through their final provisional year. Third- and fourth-year provisional schools count as regional games.

[markerickson]

There's been a couple of posts that related to race and sport.  This can of worms is interesting.

My sister's K-8 school is comprised of approximately 80% kids with brown skin...Pakinstani, Indian, Arab, Asian.  How many kids from the fifth grade at this school went out for tackle football?  One, a Causcasian.  How many players came from the local private Jewish school?  One.  How many Hispanics from the entire community?  One.  On the roster of 35, (while not knowing the exact demographics) I'd wager that non-Jewish Caucasians and African Americans were disproportiantely represented on the gridiron as compared to their school enrollment.  By contrast, Northbrook has a high percentage of Caucasians, which primarily contributed to that community fielding three teams with 30 players each.  

With MLB celebrating #42 this year, some players, including Torii Hunter, have voiced concern about the dirth of African Americans in baseball.  Through my prism, I see very few African Americans participating in youth baseball.  For example, I saw the Evanston HS (IL) varsity team play last week.  E-Town has an African American school enrollment of approx. 40%, but you'll be lucky to see two per baseball team at any level.  The Wildkit varsity squad had one AA player.

People from the SE simply do not participate in certain sports at the same rate as other races.  Other general conclusions can also be inferred.

Oh yeah, last year the travel baseball team got booted out of the fieldhouse by the cricket team.

[petemcb]

Secondly, I don't believe he even made all conference in the Upstate 8. Players who are not all conference in high school often do not make much of a contribution in the highly competitive CCIW.

NPU has two good examples of this among their first three recruits for 2007-08, 6'7 forward Christian Alsing of Brother Rice and 6'6 forward/center Phil Schniedermeier of Loyola. Alsing's statistics were modest last year; in spite of being highly touted in such venues as the Chicago Tribune's prep basketball preview section, Alsing put up undistinguished numbers for the Crusaders this past season and failed to achieve All-Chicago Catholic League status. In fact, he didn't even average in double figures in scoring. But he was thought of highly enough to have been pursued by a large number of very good local D3 programs; North Park beat out Elmhurst, Illinois Wesleyan, North Central, Chicago, and DePauw for Alsing. Schniedermeier didn't have Alsing's preseason hype, but he, too, flew under the radar and didn't make All-Chicago Catholic League this past year. Heck, he didn't even start most of Loyola's games. But he's a big, strong kid (6'6, 225) with a great upside in terms of intelligence (29 ACT) and coachability, and the NPU coaches think that he could turn out to be a very good CCIW big man. Elmhurst must agree with that assessment, since Scherer and Baines were after Schniedermeier as well (so was Gary Grzesk from St. Norbert, a guy whom I think is a really solid D3 coach).

I know that Paul Brenegan is really excited to have Alsing and Schniedermeier, regardless of the fact that neither one made the All-CCL team -- and I know that Mark Scherer would've been excited if he'd been the one to land the two of them instead.

Greg, my own two eyes have watched Schniedermeier at the December Wheeling Hardwood Classic for a couple of years now  -  giving me an eight game sample.  You've got a gem of a sleeper.  He was a solid post player who came off the bench for some of Loyola's more highly touted big men.  There was no perceptible dropoff when he came in.  He was pretty close to starter minutes  -  just didn't start.  Great footwork down low.  Tireless work ethic.  Selfless play.  Physically strong.  Won't get pushed around in the CCIW.  Strong on the boards.  Good low post moves.  Passes decently for a big man.  I had him pegged as a CCIW player.  He is a nice pickup for North Park.  

[Titan Q]

One things for sure ,as much as i hate brother rice(almost as much as weslyan)

So what are your thoughts on someone who is a graduate of both Brother Rice H.S. and Illinois Wesleyan University?  Not good I assume.

[matblake]

It's an in-region game regardless of whether they get through their final provisional year. Third- and fourth-year provisional schools count as regional games.

Thanks Pat. 

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Well our resident guru is back and in usual form after giving us three weeks of bliss.

so now remember gang unless you agree with GS - YOU'RE WRONG !!!

MW 70:3

[Dennis_Prikkel]

There's been a couple of posts that related to race and sport.  This can of worms is interesting.

My sister's K-8 school is comprised of approximately 80% kids with brown skin...Pakinstani, Indian, Arab, Asian.  How many kids from the fifth grade at this school went out for tackle football?  One, a Causcasian.  How many players came from the local private Jewish school?  One.  How many Hispanics from the entire community?  One.  On the roster of 35, (while not knowing the exact demographics) I'd wager that non-Jewish Caucasians and African Americans were disproportiantely represented on the gridiron as compared to their school enrollment.  By contrast, Northbrook has a high percentage of Caucasians, which primarily contributed to that community fielding three teams with 30 players each.  

With MLB celebrating #42 this year, some players, including Torii Hunter, have voiced concern about the dirth of African Americans in baseball.  Through my prism, I see very few African Americans participating in youth baseball.  For example, I saw the Evanston HS (IL) varsity team play last week.  E-Town has an African American school enrollment of approx. 40%, but you'll be lucky to see two per baseball team at any level.  The Wildkit varsity squad had one AA player.

People from the SE simply do not participate in certain sports at the same rate as other races.  Other general conclusions can also be inferred.

Oh yeah, last year the travel baseball team got booted out of the fieldhouse by the cricket team.

Having watched Prospect, Rolling Meadows and Elk Grove closely in recent years - there are very few African American involved in the big three sports at either of those three schools.

And cricket is a huge sport at RM - when they host their tournaments in the fieldhouse the parking lot out front is usually full.

I would hope that the new coach at Prospect will play a more exciting style of ball than I saw under his predecessor, regardless of what race of students he has to work with.  Passing the ball around the  outside for the first 40 seconds of every possession makes for very boring basketball.

and... much like we've seen in college play, the 10 to 15 foot jump shot is nearly a thing of the past - it's either a layup or a three-point attempt.

MW 70:3

Oh - I hope GS agrees with me....
Oh - I hope GS agrees with me....
Oh - I hope GS agrees with me....

Maybe he'll even say something nice about me - or maybe he'll just ....

[joehakes]

If Dale Carnegie never met an enemy, Dennis Prikkel has never met a friend!