MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

IWU fans will appreciate the 6-8/215 freshman starting for U. of Portland, averaging 8.1 ppg and 10.0 rpg...

http://www.portlandpilots.com/sports/mbball/rosters/displayPlayer.asp?PLAYER_ID=1007

http://www.portlandpilots.com/assets/sports/mbball/0708teamcume.htm

[Gregory Sager]

Eligibility wise, can't he get a medical redshirt?

The requirements for a hardship waiver ("medical redshirt" - not a NCAA term) are:

1) The student-athlete suffers a season-ending injury.

2) The injury happens in the first half of the season.

3) The student-athlete has not competed in more than 20% of the regular season contests.


Jordan Delp played in 7 games, or 28% of Augie's 25 games. 

Dan Beyer (UWEC), one of the WIAC's top players, had a season ending injury during his freshman year (3 years ago).  He did end up playing in 7 games that season also.  He is currently listed as a senior on the roster, but throughout the past 3 years, coaches and people who are close among the program have been saying that he will definitely get a medical redshirt and thus is only a junior this season eligibility wise.  UWEC had 25 regular season games that season.

Has the rule changed in the past 3 years?  It seems that Delp's and Beyer's situations are identical.

Based upon the facts you've presented, Buf, if Dan Beyer is currently applying for a hardship waiver in order to cancel out his truncated 2004-05 season, he will not get it -- despite what the people around the UWEC program are telling you. The criteria that Q quoted are taken straight from the NCAA manual.

My heart goes out to Jordan Delp. Nobody likes to see a senior end his career like that. Sure, it's a terrible blow to Augustana in terms of the team's chances for success on the hardwood, but to me the really sad part is seeing someone who devoted so much time, effort, and passion to the game be deprived of his last chance to play it while wearing his school's colors.

[gordonmann]

Ha.  The mystery Portland State player sort of looks like his dad.

[Titan Q]

Ha.  The mystery Portland State player sort of looks like his dad.

Yes, but he's not mentioned in a rap song quite yet.

http://www.swearjarshirts.com/mp3s/HurtEmBad_NBARap.mp3

[dansand]

Just to clarify Dansand's misrepresentation of my post, I did not claim that "all" of Augie's opponents were weaker opposition. Any WIAC opponent, even a second division team, is a tough opponent, and certainly Wash U without Wallis is a good win. However, without Wallis Wash U is not a number one team no matter how they were rated in the preseason.

The weaker opponents I refer to are Coe, which lead Augie early in the second half, and more specifically the last two opponents, St. Ambrose, who Augie did not put away until late in the second half, and St. Norbert, which took Augie to two OTs, after having lost to a Knox team that Millikin beat by 21 points.

Sorry augiefan, I wasn't trying to misrepresent anything, just point out that they did win going away in those games. Also, Coe's last lead against Augie was 12-10 with 11 1/2 minutes left in the first half.

So Dan, how do you see the Augie rotation changing now?  Is Alex Washington the logical replacement for Delp in the starting lineup? 

Jordan Delp, Augie's leading scorer (15.2 ppg), was also one of the team's top two 3-point threats - his 10 makes on the season is just one behind Brett Wessels.  Last year Delp was 53-118 (.449) from beyond the arc, which is about as good as it gets.  Alex Washington, a 6-2 junior guard, has played very well off the bench this year (10 ppg in 19 min/game of action), but he's a much different player.  Washington is a very impressive 24-38 (.632) from the field so far, but he has only shot 1 3-pointer.  More of a slasher, correct Dan?

Seems like losing Delp is an enormous blow to the Vikings.

I think you hit it on the head Q. Alex is definitely a slasher, not a 3-point shooter. He's off to a great start this year, averaging double figures off the bench and shooting 64% from the field and I would imagine he'll replace Jordan in the starting lineup. As far as the rotation as a whole, I think, at least early on, Brian Larson will probably see a few more minutes backing up at the "2" and Jeff Becker might absorb some of Alex's minutes backing up at the "3." They have some decent three point shooters, but they're more spot-up types, not nearly as good at curling around screens and getting off quick threes like Delp is.

I also agree with Late nite that Jordan's vocal leadership might be as tough to replace as his scoring. Although it's a cliche, he really is the heart and soul of this team. Much like when they lost Drew Carstens and Rick Harrigan to graduation, I think it will definitely be a collective effort to pick up the offensive slack.

[dansand]

Ha.  The mystery Portland State player sort of looks like his dad.

Except he's not sporting dad's bangs or perm hair-do's. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Q, How did a kid born on my 41st birthday end up so much shorter than his dad (and before anyone says it, yes, I know all about statistical regression to the mean - I taught it forever )?  Good luck to him (and he IS better looking than Jack was back in the day ).

I hope this won't sound morbid (not intended that way), but does anyone want to tackle the question of which team will be hurt worse: WashU minus Wallis or Augie minus Delp?  [I think both are clearly still top 25, but top 10?)

[Titan Q]

Ha.  The mystery Portland State player sort of looks like his dad.

Except he's not sporting dad's bangs or perm hair-do's. 

http://i.cnn.net/si/si_online/covers/images/1982/0503_large.jpg

http://www2.iwu.edu/menssports/basketball/images/74-75team.jpg

[Titan Q]

I hope this won't sound morbid (not intended that way), but does anyone want to tackle the question of which team will be hurt worse: WashU minus Wallis or Augie minus Delp?  [I think both are clearly still top 25, but top 10?)

I have no idea who will be hurt worse, but after seeing Wash U yesterday, they look real good to me.  They certainly don't have that one guy who initiates the offense and gets them in all their stuff, but they're still loaded.  They have a preseason 1st Team All-American in Troy Ruths, Tyler Nading (who is probably their best player), and then two very good guards in Danny O'Boyle and Aaron Thompson.  Neither is a true PG, but they do a lot better than I thought they would.

[iwumichigander]

I hope this won't sound morbid (not intended that way), but does anyone want to tackle the question of which team will be hurt worse: WashU minus Wallis or Augie minus Delp?  [I think both are clearly still top 25, but top 10?)

I'll stick my neck out - Augie.   It's harder to replace a senior guard (Delp) with a 16.1 avg. ppg.

On the other hand, with Wallis (a junior), Wash U gets their offense from Ruths and Nading.  I think Wash U has more depth and experience to help overcome the loss of Wallis.

[Gregory Sager]

Augie gave another uninspired performance against one of the weaker MWC teams tonight. Things are not clicking for Augie so far this season despite great expectations. Right now this looks like a down year in general for the CCIW. Only Elmhurst seems to be playing well enough to impress anyone.

I agree with your next-to-last sentence, Augiefan. I'm not sure that I agree with your last one. The Bluejays have beaten three lower-tier opponents (Simpson, MacMurray, and Eureka), all within the comfy confines of Faganel Hall, and none of the Elmhurst folks here will tell you that the 'jays looked like world-beaters in those games. Elmhurst's backcourt is still very much a work in progress. The other game that the 'jays have played to date had to be considered a push going in with regard to who was the favorite (@ UW-Oshkosh), and the 'jays lost that one.

If there's any team in the CCIW that's playing well enough to impress anyone, it's Wheaton. Looking up and down the composite schedule, I see a grand total of three CCIW wins thus far that are noteworthy: Augustana over Wash U, Wheaton over Loras, and Wheaton over Calvin. The Augie win over Wash U lost considerable luster after Wallis went down three days earlier. Wheaton's win over Loras will look better and better as the season goes on -- I'm pretty sure that the Duhawks are on their way to another 20-win season -- and the Calvin win really looks good in light of the fact that it was in the Knights' home gym and Andy Wiele was a question mark going into the game.

Even so, Wheaton's season has had its share of flaws as well. The Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance blew a 19-point lead with 11 minutes and change remaining and had to hang on by their fingernails to beat a decent-but-not-great Chicago team in King Arena, a Chicago team made decidedly average by the absence of its best player, Nate Hainje. And that Wheaton blowout at the hands of Hope last weekend was absolutely nightmarish, even considering the fact that Wiele hardly played in it at all. Wheaton's logged better wins than anyone else, but that doesn't mean that the men of orange are looking like a Top 10 team.

The CCIW may be 37-14, but it's not a 37-14 that's studded with big wins. I said several weeks ago that I thought the league might be down this year because of the weakness of the CCIW's senior class. Well, that senior class just got a lot weaker with the loss of Jordan Delp.

[Gregory Sager]

I hope this won't sound morbid (not intended that way), but does anyone want to tackle the question of which team will be hurt worse: WashU minus Wallis or Augie minus Delp?  [I think both are clearly still top 25, but top 10?)

I'll stick my neck out - Augie.   It's harder to replace a senior point guard (Delp) with a 16.1 avg. ppg.

Delp was the off guard. Matt Pelton is Augustana's point guard.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park's tall and lean Jay Alexander saw some time at PG versus Judson two nights ago.  He played a very smart game against this improved NAIA squad, passing up a J to repeatedly giving his teammate a better shot.  Pressing the ball upcourt, Jay presents a very difficult matchup for any team, which is something I posted two years ago when Jay had several good games at the end of his sophomore year. 

Greg:  Remember when Michael Starks wanted to play the point?

Jay Alexander wasn't really playing point guard. He just brought the ball up the floor a couple of times, something that ballhandlers other than the point guard will occasionally do. Once he got the ball between the rings, he gave it to whichever PG was in the game (Bruce Durham or Dan Oziminski), so that the PG could set up the halfcourt offense. Still, the fact that Jay is the type of player who can guard a 6'8, 225 guy down in the blocks, collect the defensive rebound, and then calmly bring the ball up the floor without incident speaks to his versatility. And you're right on the money in pointing out that Jay does a great job of making the extra pass to set up a teammate, whether he's down low or out on the perimeter; that aspect of his game is one of his biggest areas of improvement. He had seven assists on Friday night, and I can't remember the last time that a Viking who wasn't playing PG had seven assists in one game.

Jay's been a regular part of the rotation since he first arrived on campus as a freshman three years ago, and a lot of us who follow the Park have been wondering when he was going to move beyond simply being physically talented and would finally put his whole game together. Over the last four games or so, he has at last begun to really realize his potential. He's starting to look like the player we all thought he'd become, and that is a great thing to see if you're a Vikings fan. Given the fact that he's the team's heart and soul, in the same way that Jordan Delp filled that role for Augie, it's even more important that his teammates see his noticeable skills improvement. They already see his work ethic; Jay's also become the kind of player who gives you everything he's got while he's on the floor.

As for Michael Starks ... yeah, I remember him trying to convince Bosko that he could be a point guard. Of course, if he had actually tried to stand out on the perimeter and run the offense, the team's actual point guard, Sonny Parker, would've picked up Starks by his jersey and tossed him into the bleachers -- in spite of the fact that Sonny spotted his teammate ten inches and 30 pounds.

[Gregory Sager]

Good start for Wheaton this season.  I like Wiele's performance tonight on the road - he has stepped up this year and has become a consistent and reliable leader for this Thunder squad.

I'd say that Wiele has been Wheaton's MVP to this point, not Kent Raymond. Heresy, I know, but when you look at how Wheaton has performed on a game-by-game basis, Wiele's the guy who really sticks out. Of course, it could be argued that all of the hoopla attached to Raymond -- and thus all of the focus by opposing coaches and players -- has opened up room for Wiele to shine.

North Park has been a pretty poor shooting team by CCIW standards throughout much of this decade, so now that the team has a number of good three-point shooters in the fold I decided to take a look to see how they measure up thus far on NPU's all-time trey percentage list. The results shocked me:

player	yrs	3FG pct
1. Joe Capalbo	2007-	.480
2. Dan Hill	1989-91	.468
3. Jeff Pearson	1989-92	.467
4. Mike Barach	1986-88	.445
5. Jason Vukas	1989-92	.419
6. Jason Gordon	2006-	.416
7. Nick Williams	2007-	.411
8. Rick Alspach	1997-00	.411
9. Joe Sebek	1988-90	.395
10. Jason Collins	1999-02	.381

Dan Oziminski's actually shooting 'em better than almost anyone else (.478), but he's only attempted 23 bombs in his career to date. And Bruce Durham (.421) has only attempted 19. The other three current Vikings have all put up a legitimate number of attempts thus far in their careers: Gordon's attempted 149, Capalbo's attempted 123, and Williams has attempted 73.

Overall, the Vikings are hitting .389 from three-point range this season, second in the CCIW to Elmhurst's .397. Five of the top fifteen three-point shooters by percentage in the CCIW who currently qualify for the leaderboard (i.e., averaging one made trey per game) are from North Park; Elmhurst, Illinois Wesleyan, Millikin, and North Central have two apiece, and Carthage and Wheaton have one apiece. Last season the Vikings shot .398 from beyond the arc. The six seasons before that the Park was in the .350s every time.

NPU has some guys who can fill it up from downtown.

[AndOne]

Augie gave another uninspired performance against one of the weaker MWC teams tonight. Things are not clicking for Augie so far this season despite great expectations. Right now this looks like a down year in general for the CCIW. Only Elmhurst seems to be playing well enough to impress anyone.

I agree with your next-to-last sentence, Augiefan. I'm not sure that I agree with your last one. The Bluejays have beaten three lower-tier opponents (Simpson, MacMurray, and Eureka), all within the comfy confines of Faganel Hall, and none of the Elmhurst folks here will tell you that the 'jays looked like world-beaters in those games. Elmhurst's backcourt is still very much a work in progress. The other game that the 'jays have played to date had to be considered a push going in with regard to who was the favorite (@ UW-Oshkosh), and the 'jays lost that one.

Have to second GS's analysis of EC to date. I was at the EC-Simpson game, and the Jays had considerable difficulty just getting the ball inbounds and advancing it over the time line.

If you don't want to buy an "outsider's" analysis, consider a conversation I was privy to this weekend wherein Coach Baines of EC indicated that their guards are still having major difficulties including often making careless passes that are intercepted or tipped out of bounds, frequently dribbling the ball off their foot and traveling.

EC's initial and current rankings were due primarily to their having 2 simply outstanding players in Ruch & Burks coupled with the assumptions that their guard play would be decent to begin the season and most likely would be even better by this time.