MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

Every year I prepare a comprehensive season preview for IWUHoops.com.  In addition to breaking down the Titans, I also try to cover the CCIW a little bit with project lineups and a few notes.

Here is my 2007-08 IWU/CCIW preview for anyone interested...

http://www.iwuhoops.com/prev08.htm

[Dennis_Prikkel]

I think one of the interesting challenges to North Park this year - is their unprovenness.  While, according to all North Park reporters, including several in the NPU administration that I've talked to personally in my recent trips to campus - NPU "has the best recruiting class in the league."

But whether the Vikings can overcome their penchant for losing class games, whether this is the year is that they show they can beat a pressing defense, or whether this is the year they don't "crap down their legs" every time they see Wheaton as their opponent is yet to be proved.

I wish North Park well - I'm looking forward to seeing the much-ballyhooed new talent in action - but as of yet all we have from North Park in 2007-08 is a lot of fan hot air.

DoS

[Dennis_Prikkel]

DGP happened to run into Rob Judson (IWU'84) at church today.  Rob's daughter, Rachel, played a clarinet accompaniment with our sanctuary choir.

After the service I went up to congratulate the father of the musician, and said that "Judson is a pretty famous name in Illinois basketball history".  He said "that was his father and uncle."  I also commented I remember a Rob Judson at Illinois Wesleyan.  He smiled and said "that was me."  I commented to his daughter that her father was an outstanding basketball player in college and that I enjoyed watching him play for the Titans.

After church we spent ten minutes reminiscing about IWU / NPC basketball in the early eighties.

He remembered at shoot-arounds before games at NPC, that as the Titans were warming up the number of balls they had to use kept dwindling as Viking fans took them out of circulation.

Do you want to own up to that GS?

DoS

Rob Judson teaches at Prospect High School in Mount Prospect.

[cardinalfanrochelle]

Dennis,
            Would that be the same Judson who coached NIU lastyear?

[cardinalpride]

I think one of the interesting challenges to North Park this year - is their unprovenness.  While, according to all North Park reporters, including several in the NPU administration that I've talked to personally in my recent trips to campus - NPU "has the best recruiting class in the league."
But whether the Vikings can overcome their penchant for losing class games, whether this is the year is that they show they can beat a pressing defense, or whether this is the year they don't "crap down their legs" every time they see Wheaton as their opponent is yet to be proved.

I wish North Park well - I'm looking forward to seeing the much-ballyhooed new talent in action - but as of yet all we have from North Park in 2007-08 is a lot of fan hot air.

DoS

Wow, and I thought IWU had the best recruiting class in the league this year.

[cardinalpride]

I guess you're making Olson feel good about switching coasts and being so far from the warm climes of CA.

Or for winning the Walnut and Bronze two years running. Oh, and having more assists than the other two combined. It'd be hard to put two shooting guards and no point guard on the first team.

Pat, I think Olson is a 1st teamer, but just FYI, Kent Raymond plays point...a very different different type of point-guard than Andrew Olson obviously, but he is Wheaton's 1.

Well, it would be hard to have a point guard on the first team with a 1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio then.

Raymond is definitely not the "pure point-guard" type (take care of the ball, pass-first)...he is a big-time scorer.  Since the first time I saw him play, I have been comparing him to former Titan Korey Coon ('00). 

Coon's senior year stats:

22.0 ppg
2.9 rpg
52 assists/60 T.O.
.442 FG
.392 3-pt
.963 FT

Raymond's sophomore year:

22.4 ppg
4.0 rpg
84 assists/82 T.O.
.462 FG
.398 3-pt
.877

Korey Coon was a 1st Team All-American as a senior and I think by the time the dust settles, Raymond will earn those honors this year as a junior.  He's just a ton.

http://www.d3hoops.com/tow/toym00.htm
http://www.iwu.edu/~iwunews/sports/menbb00.html

I second that opinion!

[Gregory Sager]

I think one of the interesting challenges to North Park this year - is their unprovenness.  While, according to all North Park reporters, including several in the NPU administration that I've talked to personally in my recent trips to campus - NPU "has the best recruiting class in the league."

I don't know who qualifies as a "North Park reporter" in your book, but not one NPU fan has stated anywhere on Posting Up that the Park has the best recruiting class in the league. Have there been claims that NPU has a very good recruiting class? Certainly. I've made them myself, and with good reason: I've seen the newbies for myself, more than once, and it happens to be true. But none of us have made any claims of the kind you mention.

But whether the Vikings can overcome their penchant for losing class games, whether this is the year is that they show they can beat a pressing defense, or whether this is the year they don't "crap down their legs" every time they see Wheaton as their opponent is yet to be proved.

I wish North Park well - I'm looking forward to seeing the much-ballyhooed new talent in action - but as of yet all we have from North Park in 2007-08 is a lot of fan hot air.

Dunno about the "fan hot air" business, as I have yet to see an NPU fan in here make any sort of a prediction whatsoever as to where the Vikings will finish ... and I've already pointed out on CCIW Chat within the past couple of months that the Vikings have yet to demonstrate that they can win the tight ones or overcome the lingering whammies that Wheaton and Augustana have over the Park (and throw Elmhurst in there, too, for good measure -- NPU hasn't beaten the boys in baby blue in ages).

But there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the possibilities for this season's NPU team, particularly if you've already seen them play in one or both of their scrimmages and have an idea as to what sorts of combinations Paul Brenegan will be using. I don't think that there's anything wrong with showing some preseason enthusiasm about North Park ... unless you're the type to sit on your hands, I guess.

Gauging by the attendance and excitement at Viking Madness and the good-sized student turnout for the Benedictine scrimmage in the crackerbox, my sense is that the NPU student body is going to reconnect with the basketball team this season in a big way. I just think that the program also really needs to start luring back some of the many, many alumni fans who were alienated over the past dozen years, many of whom haven't darkened the doors of the crackerbox since the Vikings were swirling around the toilet bowl during the Keith Peterson era. You'd be surprised at the number of NPU alumni who read CCIW Chat. I'm happy to do my bit as an online salesman for the program, because I'm not trying to sweet-talk those dormant Vikings fans into driving a lemon off the lot. I don't think that it's a stretch to be simultaneously enthusiastic and realistic about this particular North Park team.

DGP happened to run into Rob Judson (IWU'84) at church today.  Rob's daughter, Rachel, played a clarinet accompaniment with our sanctuary choir.

After the service I went up to congratulate the father of the musician, and said that "Judson is a pretty famous name in Illinois basketball history".  He said "that was his father and uncle."  I also commented I remember a Rob Judson at Illinois Wesleyan.  He smiled and said "that was me."  I commented to his daughter that her father was an outstanding basketball player in college and that I enjoyed watching him play for the Titans.

After church we spent ten minutes reminiscing about IWU / NPC basketball in the early eighties.

He remembered at shoot-arounds before games at NPC, that as the Titans were warming up the number of balls they had to use kept dwindling as Viking fans took them out of circulation.

Do you want to own up to that GS?

My friends and I in the endline bleachers were all taught as youngsters that sharing is a good thing, and we figured that the most virtuous gesture we could offer as hosts would be to give the Illinois Wesleyan players an opportunity to enhance their sharing skills. After all, the more that they had to share their basketballs, the more opportunities that they would have for bonding and team togetherness, right?

[iwu70]

Q, as always, a great job on your season preview.  Very thorough and helpful.  I greatly appreciate it.  I've been lurking all along but not commenting much as things have been very busy here in Hong Kong and I've just changed jobs so too busy to be an avid chatster with all of you.  However, wanted to drop a note and wish all the teams, coaches, fans etc. a great CCIW season upcoming.  Obviously, I'll be watching and supporting the young Titans with great interest.  Delighted to see the football Titans have a great season and share the CCIW championship with North Central.  Best wishes to all the friends and comrades on CCIW Chat.  Q, thanks again for the good preview of the Titans and the upcoming season.  Blessed Thanksgiving  to all.  We have alot to be thankful for, not least another exciting DIII basketball season about to begin.  (Gotta love those Illini over "#1" Ohio State, too!!!)

[Gregory Sager]

The opening weekend slate is ready for perusal in the CCIW pick'ems room for everyone who would like to participate this season.

In looking at the CCIW's non-conference schedule, there are some interesting items worth mentioning. First of all, this is the first year I can recall in which there are no D1 or D2 opponents to be found anywhere. That doesn't mean that the schedule has lightened up any overall -- it really hasn't -- but it does highlight how various rules changes have made regular-season games against upper-division NCAA teams really hard to come by.

For those of you who are into playing the comparative-scores game, it's also worth noting the variety and geographical breadth of common opponents. There are five non-CCIW teams that will be playing three CCIW foes this season (or who will have the chance to play them in a tournament) and 17 more that will play, or may play, two CCIW foes this season:

Anderson	HCAC	MU, @ EC
Aurora	NAthC	NCC, @ MU
Benedictine	NAthC	@ WC, @ NCC, EC
Bluffton	HCAC	vs. CC, MU
Calvin	MIAA	CC, WC
Chicago	UAA	@ WC, IWU
Eureka	SLIAC	vs. NPU, @ NPU, NCC
Franklin	HCAC	NCC, MU
Hope	MIAA	vs. WC, vs. CC, vs. EC
Illinois C.	MWC	IWU, MU, NCC
Illinois Tech	CCAC-1	WC, @ CC
Knox	MWC	@ MU, @ NPU
Loras	IIAC	WC, NPU
MacMurray	SLIAC	@ EC, @ MU
Olivet Nazarene	CCAC-1	@ IWU, @ CC
Simpson	IIAC	@ EC, @ AC
Tri-State	MIAA	vs. IWU, @ NPU, vs. EC
Wartburg	IIAC	WC, AC
Washington MO	UAA	AC, IWU
Webster	SLIAC	AC, @ IWU
UW-Oshkosh	WIAC	EC, AC
UW-Whitewater	WIAC	NPU, NCC

There are also some interesting anomalies. Carthage is playing a home-and-home against that legendary basketball powerhouse across the street from Grant Park, East-West University -- except that the home game for East-West won't be played within the rarefied precincts of Michigan Avenue, it'll be played in the comparatively downmarket neighborhood of Grand Crossing at Kennedy-King College (68th and Wentworth). Methinks that Bosko Djurickovic, like Paul Brenegan and Todd Raridon, was hit by the late-cancellation bug and was forced to make an unwanted scheduling change.

Wheaton is playing Rivier College in a holiday tournament for the second year in a row. How weird is it to be playing some low-profile school from New Hampshire two seasons in a row purely by accident?

Only five CCIW teams are taking snowbird trips this season. North Park is going to northern California, Wheaton and Illinois Wesleyan are headed to southern California, Carthage is traveling to southern Texas, and Elmhurst is going to Florida.

[robberki]

Regarding NPU's recruiting class, there were two players that the coaches didn't get that HAD they signed up, would have made the NPU class the undisputed best in the conference, and one of the tops in the country IMO. However, they didn't get either of those players so it's a moot point. Not sure where this class ranks in the conference, but it's probably at least top half, but I say that with only limited knowledge of the other schools classes.

[AndOne]

GS------

With regard to your post #11652 above concerning CCIW school's schedules:

1. Eureka is NOT on NCC's schedule this year. I think they play NPU (maybe twice), EC, and MU

2. Re winter trips. NORTH CENTRAL is also going to northern California. They will be playing in Thousand Oaks on 12/17, and in Pasadena on 12/19

[AndOne]

Regarding NPU's recruiting class, there were two players that the coaches didn't get that HAD they signed up, would have made the NPU class the undisputed best in the conference, and one of the tops in the country IMO. However, they didn't get either of those players so it's a moot point. Not sure where this class ranks in the conference, but it's probably at least top half, but I say that with only limited knowledge of the other schools classes.

Robberki----

I respect your opinion about the possibility of NPU's recruiting class being tops IF they had gotten two recruits that they DIDN'T.

However, the facts are:

1) Even if they had gotten the 2 players, its still just your opinion that it would have been the best recruiting class. I think you would get an argument from IWU, and possibly others.

2) MOST schools can prob say that they would have have had, at minimum, a better if not the best class IF they had gotten a couple of more players that they DIDN'T. For instance, I'm aware of one school that would have at at least a better class If they had gotten 2 players they had a very good shot at. However, despite being excellent basketball players that could play at any CCIW school, they both chose to walk on at D1 football programs.

[David Collinge]

2. Re winter trips. NORTH CENTRAL is also going to northern California. They will be playing in Thousand Oaks on 12/17, and in Pasadena on 12/19

Only a San Diegan would consider Thousand Oaks and Pasadena to be northern California locales. 

[robberki]

Andone -
No question, but that's why I said it is a moot point. It still doesn't diminish the fine work Paul and Steve have done, their last two classes have been quite good. Also, they were very close with both players, and they could actually both end up in the blue and gold someday, so it wasn't just a pipe dream.

[AndOne]

2. Re winter trips. NORTH CENTRAL is also going to northern California. They will be playing in Thousand Oaks on 12/17, and in Pasadena on 12/19

Only a San Diegan would consider Thousand Oaks and Pasadena to be northern California locales. 

My bad David. Senior moment! I was thinking about the game locations being NORTH and NORTHeast of LA which of course is Southern Cal.

The bottom line is that in addition to the schools cited in Greg's original post as taking winter trips this season, North Central is also among the group as they have a very nice trip to SOUTHERN Cal planned. 
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