MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[njlincolnlion]

April:

You and the Wheaton Family have my sympathy upon the passing of Ruth Graham today.

[sac]

Augie has announced their schedule for the 2007-08 season. Very challenging, with a road game at Wash U. who finished third in last year's national tournament and games against last year's top three teams from the WIAC.

http://www.augustana.edu/athletics/MBasketball/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1181844075&archive=&start_from=&ucat=4&

killer

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

That's quite ambitious.

[hopefan]

one small correction regarding the Auggie - Wash U matchup  -  I believe the game is a part of the 'Webster Classic'  -  Wash U and Webster play Auggie and Platteville  -  all games at Webster.   So the game will be a neutral court game, not home/away -  Wash U and Webster will not play each other in the classic format.

[dansand]

one small correction regarding the Auggie - Wash U matchup  -  I believe the game is a part of the 'Webster Classic'  -  Wash U and Webster play Auggie and Platteville  -  all games at Webster.   So the game will be a neutral court game, not home/away -  Wash U and Webster will not play each other in the classic format.

Thanks for the correction Hopefan. I had assumed the Washington U. game was the return of a home and home setup. Augie beat the Bears at home last year.

[Gotberg]

Another good recruit for North Park...

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/kendallgreer.html

It appears that Paul is putting a nice class together.  Anyone know if they have any recruits coming in that will have an inside presence?

[AndOne]

Another good recruit for North Park...

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/kendallgreer.html

It appears that Paul is putting a nice class together.  Anyone know if they have any recruits coming in that will have an inside presence?

Phil Schniedermeier & Christian Alsing might fill the bill. I have not seen the former play, but have seen the latter play in several pick up games, and I believe he has the potential to become a good CCIW player. However, from what I have seen, there is at least a 50/50 chance the majority of his contribution will come more from the outside than the interior. I say this because I've noticed he is not at all shy about firing up 15-18 footers. In fact, I'd say this is his normal tendency rather than trying either to set up down low initially or to back his man down after receiving the ball further outside. He IS quick and athletic with good jumping ability. Most of the inside scoring I noticed was a result of him following up his missed outside shot for either a short jumper or a layup. To this point in his career, he is NOT a back to the basket player. 

[robberki]

Another good recruit for North Park...

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/kendallgreer.html

It appears that Paul is putting a nice class together.  Anyone know if they have any recruits coming in that will have an inside presence?

Patience young grasshopper, Paul is putting together a VERY nice class.

[petemcb]

Another good recruit for North Park...

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/kendallgreer.html

It appears that Paul is putting a nice class together.  Anyone know if they have any recruits coming in that will have an inside presence?

Phil Schniedermeier & Christian Alsing might fill the bill. I have not seen the former play, but have seen the latter play in several pick up games, and I believe he has the potential to become a good CCIW player. However, from what I have seen, there is at least a 50/50 chance the majority of his contribution will come more from the outside than the interior. I say this because I've noticed he is not at all shy about firing up 15-18 footers. In fact, I'd say this is his normal tendency rather than trying either to set up down low initially or to back his man down after receiving the ball further outside. He IS quick and athletic with good jumping ability. Most of the inside scoring I noticed was a result of him following up his missed outside shot for either a short jumper or a layup. To this point in his career, he is NOT a back to the basket player. 

Having seen Schniedermeier a few times with Loyola Academy, I would definitely describe him as an interior post-type player.  He seems to love the paint and is a very hard, consistent worker.

[Titan Q]

A full day of high school basketball at the Shirk Center this Saturday for any interested hoops junkies.  Pool play in the Titan Shootout takes place from 8:30am to 4:50pm on 5 different courts, and then the IBCA all-star games (Class A at 5:00pm, AA at 7:00)...

http://iwuhoops.blogspot.com/

[Titan Q]

Another Chicagoland college summer league, which will begin play on Thurs, 6/14, is the Joy of The Game Summer League. This league, which is widely referred to as the "Deefield League" is held at the Joy Of The Game facility in Deerfield. Last season this league featured teams from North Central, North Park, Lawrence WI U, U of Chicago, Wash (St. Louis) U, as well as other teams that featured a collection of players from several schools. I know Elmhurst was not in this league last summer, but will be this season.

With all the incoming players from the Chicago area plus some returnees, it will be interesting to see if IWU fields a team this year. They are not playing in Des Plaines.

Last season, the Des Plaines league was better. This year, it looks like Deerfield will probably feature the higher level of competition.
     

A group of IWU's returning and incoming players are on a team up in the suburbs, but I'm not sure where.  I believe it includes Brett Chamernik, Elias Washington, Sean Dwyer (if healthy), Duncan Lawson, Doug Sexauer, Edmond O'Callaghan, Dan Schouten, and Chris Stamas.

FYI, the league these guys are playing in is the "Deerfield League", at the Joy of the Game facility.

[Titan Q]

Chicagohoops.com note on NPU recruit Bruce Durham...

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/brucedurham.html

[Gregory Sager]

Another possibility is a league which I believe plays at an old armory on the north side of Chicago. I think this league has been around for awhile and features several Chi area DI players.

That's the Broadway Armory, an ancient barn owned and operated by the Chicago Park District that's located in the Edgewater neighborhood. It's right next to the Thorndale stop on the Red Line el. The Armory's been a Chicago hoops institution for decades. Back when he was coaching at North Park, Bosko Djurickovic used to hold practices at the Armory during the week that the Vikings were scheduled to play at North Central, so that his players could get used to the lack of a shooting background in the airplane hangar.

The Broadway Armory Summer League is run by veteran CCIW ref John Hodel. I know that it's been a favorite showcase over the years for a lot of DePaul, UIC, and Loyola players. But it's a league that doesn't feature many current college teams; most of the participants appear to be recent grads who played college ball somewhere and are now exploring the yuppie lifestyle in Lincoln Park or Lakeview. F'rinstance, on Wednesday night I had a rare two-hour window open for recreation, so I went over to the Armory. I watched a team made up of a bunch of guys named Dauksas, Jones, Schweer, Freeman, etc. (and some tall dude named Oboikowich whom Adam Dauksas no doubt found on the corner selling Streetwise and hustling expired CTA passes) stomp all over a team led by newly-minted U of C grad and former Maroons forward Jason Vismantas. However, there are a few current college teams in the league. The U of C has one. North Park does as well; the Vikings beat a team on Wednesday by five or six points that mixed in at least one former DePaul player with a few recent-vintage D2 guys.

The Park is also playing in the Deerfield League. Last week NPU handily beat a team that featured a pair of locally-based UAA point guards, Wash U's Sean Wallis (Glenbrook North) and Rochester's Max Kaplan (St. Ignatius), as well as a few other Wash U players (neither of whom was Troy Ruths or Tyler Nading, unfortunately). The Vikings were supposed to play Illinois Wesleyan last night up in Deerfield; I've heard no word on how that came out.

Summer league games are fun to watch, but they give you a somewhat limited window into what to expect from any particular team the following winter. Aside from the obvious fact that it's more or less pickup ball in which most teams don't run set plays, the roster from night to night varies according to who can make it to the game and who can't -- or who is in town and who isn't.

[Gregory Sager]

Another good recruit for North Park...

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/kendallgreer.html

It appears that Paul is putting a nice class together.  Anyone know if they have any recruits coming in that will have an inside presence?

Patience young grasshopper, Paul is putting together a VERY nice class.

That he is. Last year's freshman class was the best crop of plebes North Park has had in close to two decades, going back to the 1988-89 season when Marc Horner, Chris Stanley, Jeff Pearson, and Jason Vukas arrived on campus. The class of 2011 should be very good as well. And it'll certainly take at least two back-to-back strong freshman classes (as well as avoiding attrition, of course) for NPU to get back to contender status.

While the big-fish point guard whom the Vikings coaching staff was attempting to land got away -- and at least NPU is now losing prospects to D1 schools, whereas the previous regime never aimed that high in recruiting -- Bruce Durham makes for a very nice consolation prize indeed. The NPU coaches are not hesitant in saying that Durham should be in the mix for varsity playing time right away, and there's a chance that he could end up being the first four-year starter at the point for the Park since John Born back in the mid-'90s. He's that good. I don't know how much time any of the other freshmen can expect to see on varsity this year. It might be a freshman-free varsity other than Durham. But that's not a reflection upon this year's crop; it's a healthy indicator that the program is adding enough quality depth to ensure that players have to move up through the ranks. Too many North Park teams in recent years have had to throw multiple freshmen on the floor right away because there was hardly anyone in the sophomore, junior, or senior classes who was competent enough to keep the frosh off the floor.

Phil Schniedermeier & Christian Alsing might fill the bill. I have not seen the former play, but have seen the latter play in several pick up games, and I believe he has the potential to become a good CCIW player. However, from what I have seen, there is at least a 50/50 chance the majority of his contribution will come more from the outside than the interior. I say this because I've noticed he is not at all shy about firing up 15-18 footers. In fact, I'd say this is his normal tendency rather than trying either to set up down low initially or to back his man down after receiving the ball further outside. He IS quick and athletic with good jumping ability. Most of the inside scoring I noticed was a result of him following up his missed outside shot for either a short jumper or a layup. To this point in his career, he is NOT a back to the basket player. 

Having seen Schniedermeier a few times with Loyola Academy, I would definitely describe him as an interior post-type player.  He seems to love the paint and is a very hard, consistent worker.

These are both accurate descriptions. Right now Alsing is a small forward and Schniedermeier is a center, in spite of the fact that Alsing's an inch taller than his new classmate. I think that Paul Brenegan aims to have Alsing develop more of an inside game, and that will come with time. Schniedermeier's gonna stay right down on the blocks where he's most useful. And 6'6 Nick Hoekstra from Illiana Christian is another incoming freshman big man who could turn out to have a nice career in the paint at Foster & Kedzie.

North Park has also landed a 6'0 shooting guard from St. Louis prep power Cardinal Ritter named Clayton Cahill. I've seen his highlight DVD, and he appears to have a very high upside. Like Kendall Greer and the incoming big men, Cahill's another guy who will definitely make it worth the while of fans to show up at the crackerbox early for JV games this coming season. The lone Vikings transfer at the moment is 6'6 junior forward John Chimino (Marist) from Moraine Valley, where he was named to the All-Skyway Conference team last season. But, as usual at North Park, there appears to be some interesting transfer possibilities in the pipeline that may or may not pan out until deeper into the summer.

[Gotberg]

The NPU coaches are not hesitant in saying that Durham should be in the mix for varsity playing time right away, and there's a chance that he could end up being the first four-year starter at the point for the Park since John Born back in the mid-'90s.

Greg,

Is he any relation to Keith Born the baseball player from that same era?