MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[kenoshamark]

Dennis,

Parks was a player I didn't see play but he certainly should have been considered based on his stats (I believe he is the sixth all-time leading scorer in Carthage history). 

Since you might be the only other person on the board that remembers some of these players I wanted to throw out a few other names of players who weren't on the all-time list but would be on my list of favorite players to watch.

Larry Evans and Hap Ellerby who played along side Rosenbalm and Rich Cary (80)

One other of my favorite players was a more recent player, Greg Ktistou.  I firmly believe that Greg was instrumental in starting Carthage on the path of success they had.  His work ethic and the way he played the game, especially defensively, helped set the tone.  He was a D1 transfer who could have wanted the spotlight but instead blended in perfectly with Wiertel, Garnes, McDaniel and the rest of those early championship teams.

[Gregory Sager]

Another possibility------Current EC player Ryan Burks-----

2nd team all-conference in both 06-07 & 07-08, and quite likely 1st team in 08-09.

In 06-07 he hit 49 consecutive free throws (most in the nation that year), 83 of 86 (96.5 percent) in CCIW play, and 130 of 145 (89.7 percent) for the entire season, including his last 35 straight and 74 of his last 75. 

No offense to Ryan Burks, who is a high-quality player, but I would not put him on the Elmhurst all-time team. Give him another year, and he might earn his way onto it. I'd leave off Brent Ruch as well, although I think he may be a little closer than Burks to making his way onto the all-time Bluejays list. Elmhurst doesn't have one of the more distinguished histories among the CCIW's eight programs, but it's not so threadbare that you can just throw a couple of guys onto the all-time starting five who haven't even finished their careers yet. We shouldn't get trapped in the tyranny of the present and the recent past when we pick all-time teams.

I'd go with Knuppel, Martin, Lira, Simpson, and Woods as the all-time greatest Bluejays, even though I never saw Lira or Simpson play. As Elmhurst centers go, you have to put Pat Lira ahead of Ruch at this point -- I mean, come on, the guy is still his school's all-time leading scorer with over 1,900 points, and he tallied them way back in the Stone Age (aka the mid-1950s), plus he's still fourth all-time in rebounds at Elmhurst. Any guy who can hold his school's career scoring record for five decades (and counting) deserves some love from the listmakers. Charles Woods is one of my all-time favorite CCIW players who didn't wear North Park royal blue and gold. He was a 6'4, 220 double-double machine who was completely unstoppable around the basket, and he was as tough as he was talented.

Like Dennis, I defer to K-Mark's reasoning when it comes to the all-time Carthage team, although I, too, struggle with leaving off a four-time All-CCIW first-teamer. Rob Garnes managed to achieve something exceedingly rare in this league, as has been documented in this room in the past.

IWU All-time:

Sikma
Sheldon Thompson
Crabtree
Keelan
Korey Coon

Off the bench, Kasten, Z. Freeman and Dauksas?

Summertime fun.

I never saw him play, but most longtime IWU fans would have Blaise Bugajski's ('84) name on this list right after Sikma's.

Nobody's ever going to mistake me for any kind of an Illinois Wesleyan fan, but I emphatically agree with Bob that any list of the all-time Titans greats that leaves off Blaise Bugajski is a list that has a serious hole in it. He's definitely one of the top dozen or so CCIW players I've ever seen.

All-time starting five for NPU

Keith Peterson
Dan Mulkerin
Dan Hill
Rob Berki
Chris Nicholson

... and Michael Harper off the bench?

None of those five make my top ten - though Hill would probably be an honorable mention.

MW

Uh, gentlemen, Rob's tongue was planted firmly in his cheek when he posted that Vikings quintet. That so-called "all-time starting five for NPU" of his was actually the "Rob Berki plus four other guys who don't make Rob look slower than molasses in January" team. Frankly, I'm surprised that he didn't name Jason Thurman, Billy Lebeter, or Neil Erb to be among his teammates in that greased-lightning fivesome of his.

I can't believe that I've been reduced to explaining Rob's jokes. We really are in the dog days of summer, aren't we?

For the record, this would be my all-time North Park starting five:

Michael Harper
Justyne Monegain
Modzel Greer
Mike Barach
Michael Thomas

Monegain just edges out Michael Starks, although long-time NPU fans can go back and forth on that one all day long. Caveat: I never saw Greg Crawford, Keith McDonald, or Earl Dorsey play, so I'll leave it to Dennis to sort out where they would belong within North Park's top ten or so players of all-time.

[Gregory Sager]

I haven't seen this posted yet on CCIW Chat, so here's the announcement that Augie has hired a new assistant coach to replace Ray Swetalla:

http://www.augustana.edu/x9721.xml

I had wondered if Swetalla might move on once his sons finished their Augie careers.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Dennis,

Parks was a player I didn't see play but he certainly should have been considered based on his stats (I believe he is the sixth all-time leading scorer in Carthage history). 

Since you might be the only other person on the board that remembers some of these players I wanted to throw out a few other names of players who weren't on the all-time list but would be on my list of favorite players to watch.

Larry Evans and Hap Ellerby who played along side Rosenbalm and Rich Cary (80)

One other of my favorite players was a more recent player, Greg Ktistou.  I firmly believe that Greg was instrumental in starting Carthage on the path of success they had.  His work ethic and the way he played the game, especially defensively, helped set the tone.  He was a D1 transfer who could have wanted the spotlight but instead blended in perfectly with Wiertel, Garnes, McDaniel and the rest of those early championship teams.

I think your memories of Ellerby and Evans are excellent - they were very good complimentary players for Rosenbalm, who was the stud on that team - much like Tom Jooss was the guard that got the ball to Parks and Lutz - and was also one of the best dribbler's I've ever seen in the CCIW.

Barry Bennett and Gordy Zastrow were two Carthage stars who languished when the team was not very good.

MW

[Dennis_Prikkel]

All-time starting five for NPU

Keith Peterson
Dan Mulkerin
Dan Hill
Rob Berki
Chris Nicholson

for those of us North Park fans who are BS (before Sager), an all-time slow team might be too numerous to mention, however, one of the great NPC fringe players of all-time just sent me greetings from Africa! - Wally Coots.  Coots loved to play basketball (hence four years of jayvee basketball at North Park) - he probably holds the NPC/U record for most games dressed for varsity and playing in the fewest (he dressed for four years and perhaps played in five games).

Coots is working for the African Inland Mission in Kenya.

MW

[Dennis_Prikkel]

G Jim Carroll (1970)
F Greg Crawford (1970)
G Keith McDonald (1973)
C Michael Harper (1980)
G/F Modzel Greer (1980)
G Michael Thomas (1981)
G Fred Kruse (1983)
F Justyne Monegain (1985)
G Michael Barach (1988)
C Michael Starks (1988)
G Earnest Hubbard (1985) **

** played only one year

C/F Phil Johnson (1960)
G/F Gerald Baker (1963)
F Ted Ecker (1961) **

I did not see any of the last three play.

[petemcb]

Do any veteran posters recall seeing Dennis Kessel play for Carthage in the late 60's roughly?  My son and daughter have gone to some of his camps over the years.  I've never seen anyone better at breaking down a kid's shot, layup, or ballhandling, and rebuilding it.  I know he is on Carthage's athletic wall of fame '71.

[kenoshamark]

petemcb,

Yes, I remember Dennis Kessell (69 - 71).  He played with two of the guys on my list (Lutz and Butler).  I remember his as a terrific shooter so your description of him as a coach would come as no surprise.

[petemcb]

KM, he can still shoot it better than most of the kids he trains.  His son, Kyle, after being coached by Dennis at Mundelein HS in the northern Chicago suburbs, went on to Texas A & M as their point guard and as a leftie pitcher for A & M's baseball team.  He got as far as AAA and 40 man roster in the Astros organization after being drafted by the Mets, but never made it to a major league game as far as I know.  Dennis is running a basketball training and AAU business.  They compete as the Kessel Heat.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Do any veteran posters recall seeing Dennis Kessel play for Carthage in the late 60's roughly?  My son and daughter have gone to some of his camps over the years.  I've never seen anyone better at breaking down a kid's shot, layup, or ballhandling, and rebuilding it.  I know he is on Carthage's athletic wall of fame '71.

Dennis Kessel was a very good player, sort of a swing G/F, but Johnnie Butler was the star on the teams he played on.

I've seen his name in the Daily Herald for years - running his basketball camps.

MW

[Naperick]

Gregry Sager [/quote]
Charles Woods is one of my all-time favorite CCIW players who didn't wear North Park royal blue and gold. He was a 6'4, 220 double-double machine who was completely unstoppable around the basket, and he was as tough as he was talented.
[/quote]


I am a year older than Charles and watched probably 75% of his games.  He truly was an animal on the boards.  A very physical player.  I bet his true height was 6' 3"  Maybe 6' 2 1/2"  He scored a lot of his points on offensve rebounds that he put back in at close range.  IWU's Darius Gant reminded me a lot of Woods but Gant was more skilled offensively and more athletic.  Both achieved a lot playing against the "bigs" despite being under 6' 4'

[Gregory Sager]

I am a year older than Charles and watched probably 75% of his games.  He truly was an animal on the boards.  A very physical player.  I bet his true height was 6' 3"  Maybe 6' 2 1/2"  He scored a lot of his points on offensve rebounds that he put back in at close range.  IWU's Darius Gant reminded me a lot of Woods but Gant was more skilled offensively and more athletic.  Both achieved a lot playing against the "bigs" despite being under 6' 4'

You're definitely on target in defining Charles Woods as the king of garbage points. And you're probably right about Woods's height, given that coaches tend to add an inch or two to a player's height for game program purposes. Darius Gant was definitely a more talented athlete than was Woods -- in fact, I can think of a bunch of CCIW power forwards who had more athletic talent than Woods -- but what I liked about Woods was that he maxed out his ability every game that I ever saw him play. He had what coaches call a "motor", and he was tough as nails.

[robberki]

All-time starting five for NPU

Keith Peterson
Dan Mulkerin
Dan Hill
Rob Berki
Chris Nicholson

None of those five make my top ten - though Hill would probably be an honorable mention.

MW

hater.

[Gregory Sager]

All-time starting five for NPU

Keith Peterson
Dan Mulkerin
Dan Hill
Rob Berki
Chris Nicholson

None of those five make my top ten - though Hill would probably be an honorable mention.

MW

hater.

[mr_b]

All-time starting five for NPU

Keith Peterson
Dan Mulkerin
Dan Hill
Rob Berki
Chris Nicholson

None of those five make my top ten - though Hill would probably be an honorable mention.

MW

hater.

We stand corrected.

All-time starting five for NPU

Rob Berki
Rob Berki
Rob Berki
Rob Berki
Rob Berki

Honorable mention: Rob Berki