MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Why do I have so much negative Karma -14?  Can anyone tell me why that is?

CP

I dunno - I can't recall anything you ever posted that ticked me off!

Have a karma point!

[Of course, now whoever it is that has it in for you will start hitting me too!  Merry Christmas anyway!]

Thank you Ypsi!  I appreciate that.

CP

Looks like whoever has it in for you struck again!  I can only smite or aplaud every 12 hours - can't guarantee anything on Christmas day, but I'll help you out as soon as I can!

[cardinalpride]

Why do I have so much negative Karma -14?  Can anyone tell me why that is?

CP

I dunno - I can't recall anything you ever posted that ticked me off!

Have a karma point!

[Of course, now whoever it is that has it in for you will start hitting me too!  Merry Christmas anyway!]

Thank you Ypsi!  I appreciate that.

CP

Looks like whoever has it in for you struck again!  I can only smite or aplaud every 12 hours - can't guarantee anything on Christmas day, but I'll help you out as soon as I can!

Thanks once again!

[CardinalAlum]

Another thing about Alexander, who I know and like:  his MOP was also at the expense of an IWU Kuehl and very questionable.  For those posters that were around and can remember it would be interesting to hear who they think should have won the MOP's:

Brown vs Jeff Kuehl
Alexander vs Steve Kuehl.

TH,

I was around then and will admit that Jeff Kuehl was the best player in the conference the year that Rob won it.  Rob was a very good player on a great team of very good players.  It very easily could have been Mike Roy.  J. Kuehl was a great basketball player.  Alexander was very deserving of his award over Steve Kuehl.  Alonzo couldn't be stopped and was the best player in the conference that year.

Merry Christmas to all!

[augiefan]

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

[Titan Q]

Jeff Kuehl was a senior when I was a freshman at IWU in 1989-90.  He was an amazing player.  As Titan Hammer mentioned, JK played a chunk of that season with two casts at the same time - one on his right hand, which he broke (an injury that caused him to miss 7 games), and one on his left wrist, which I think was sprained.  His final stat line that season per IWU.edu was:

20.8 ppg
7.8 rpg
190-304 FG (.625)
118-146 FT (.808)
58 assists/40 T.O.
(24 games)

It was almost beyond belief watching him dominate games against great teams like North Park and North Central with those two casts on.  Jeff's name always comes up when discussing the all-time IWU squad, which I think goes...

G Adam Dauksas (2006)
F Blaise Bugajski (1984)
F Bryan Crabtree (1997)
F Jeff Kuehl (1990)
C Jack Sikma (1977)

[Titan Q]

Jeff's little brother Steve ('93), a classmate of mine at IWU, is probably one of the more underrated Titans of all-time.  Steve's name hardly ever comes up when IWU people talk about great former Titans.  Steve Kuehl's stats from his junior and senior seasons...

1991-92
17.4 ppg
4.4 rpg
178-317 FG (.562)
38-76 3-pt (.500)
93-133 FT (.699)
83 assists/55 T.O.
(28 games)

1992-93
17.8 ppg
4.2 rpg
151-292 FG (.517)
57-115 3-pt (.496)
86-120 FT (.717)
58 assists/41 T.O.
(25 games)

Compare to the All-American junior season of Keelan Amelianovich...

17.9 ppg
4.8 rpg
168-345 FG (.487)
67-147 3-pt (.456)
62-81 FT (.765)
29 assists/32 T.O.
(26 games)

Steve's junior season was especially impressive.  In the opener against Northwestern in Evanston, IWU returning 1st Team All-CCIW player David Kunka tore his ACL.  It seemed like the season was over before it began.  Steve led the 1991-92 Titans to a 14-2 league finish (22-6 overall) and a CCIW title.  While Alonzo Alexander was spectacular that season, I've always felt that Steve was the league's Most Outstanding Player in 1992 for stepping into a leadership role and leading IWU to the title by 3 games over 11-5 Elmhurst and 11-5 North Park.  Alexander's NCC team finished 8-8. 

Alexander did have an amazing season in 1991-92.  Per CCIW.org, he scored 24.4 per game in league play and shot .609 from the field.  (I don't have S. Kuehl's CCIW-only stats from that season.)  It really comes down to the discussion we have late in every season...should the M.O.P. be the best player on the best team or the player with the best individual season?

[iwu70]

Q, Dauksas over Cory Koon?  Cory has a national championship ring.  Hope Adam gets one this year.  For my money, I'd take Tom Gramkow over both of them. 

[Titan Q]

IWU70, my all-time IWU team is constructed to play a real game...kind of like Pat Coleman does the D3hoops.com All-American team.  Korey Coon was one of the best CCIW players I've ever seen, but at the point-guard spot, yes...I'd take Dauksas.  Two totally different players.  Dauksas is as good of a pure point-guard - will probably leave as IWU's career assist record holder - as you will find at this level.  Coon - 19 pts/game as a junior, 22 per game as a senior - was a scorer.  If I'm picking a point-guard to play alongside Bugajski, Crabtree, Kuehl, and Sikma, it'd be Dauksas.  Coon was a very steady and efficient ball-handler...Dauksas is the best I've seen in the CCIW with the basketball in his hands.  (I'd give Adam the slight edge over one of my favorite all-time CCIW players, Wheaton's Matt Nadelhoffer '97.)

So then it came down to Bugajski and Crabtree vs Coon. From what I have heard about Blaise Bugajski, he's the second best player ever to play for IWU - 26.4 pts (.568 FG%), 7.1 reb per game his senior season.  And Crabtree is probably #3 all-time.  So whether Crabtree plays the 2 or Bugajski plays the 2, Korey Coon is the odd man out.

I wasn't around to see Gramkow or point-guard Brad Gregurich, who I hear was really good.

Dauksas, by the way, keeps chipping away at the career assist record...

1. Brian Martin 524 (1989-93)
2. Chat Hutson 449 (1991-95)
3. Adam Dauksas 441 (2002-present)
4. Brad Gregurich 407 (1979-83)

He has a chance to break the school single-season record as well...

1. Chad Hutson 198 (1994-95 season)

Chad averaged 7.1 per game for 28 games.  Adam is averaging 7.6 per game through 8 games. 

Long way to go.  You can bet Assistant Coach Hutson is in Adam's his ear about both on a pretty regular basis.

[veterancciwfan]

Choosing all-time teams is difficult. I place the most emphasis on senior stats. Case in point: David Caldwell, who started only during his senior season, 90/91. Caldwell's 16-game CCIW stats for 90/91 and Jeff Keuhl's senior stats for all of his 24 89/90 games follow:

                PPG  Rebound PG  FG%  FT%  MOP Award?
Caldwell   22.0    8.2             .646   .908    Yes
J. Keuhl    20.8    7.8             .625   .808     No

Caldwell is great story. He didn't play his senior year at Glenbrook North when he began that season at only 6'2". He would be 2nd in IWU career FG% behind only Brent Niebrugge's carrer record on .635 (385/606) but IWU's career FG% record is based on a minimum of 380 made FGs, and David didn't make the minimum. I imagine his career FT% would also be 2nd behind Korey Coon's record of .913 (an amazing stat for a player who started every game for 4 years!). Caldwell is on my all-time IWU Bridges-coached team of 8 players. No need to have more than 8 because that's all he played. When David Kunka tore his knee in the opening game in 91/92, he played only 6!

[veterancciwfan]

Regarding my last post and this is a nit-picky point, but I love to analyze stats. In the IWU 2005/06 Media Guide, IWU's career FG% leader is Brent Niebrugge at .635 (385/606). 380 made FGs made is the minimum for IWU's career record. David Caldwell is not listed at all in the 05/06 Media Guide in the career FG% record. But the 91/91 IWU Media Guide reports that Caldwell at that point time was the IWU career FG% leader at .611 with 382/625. I wasn't a math major, but I think 382 is more than the minimum 380 standard.  Another confusing topic is that there is an asterisk by Niebrugge's FG% numbers (385/606) for the IWU career record of .635. The footnote states that NCAA requires a minimum of 400 made to qualify for career record purposes. I know only IWU fans may be slightly interested in this trivial infomation, so I apolgize to other posters.

[devildog29]

Q, I agree with you about picking a team in terms of 5 guys you would actually play together in a real game, and yes, Adam Dauksas is probably one of the best true point guards to play in DIII maybe all time.  I think he is a much better leader and "creator" on the floor than Koon.  That being said, how scary is it that a guy has a national championship ring and a Josten's trophy as the player of the year in all of DIII and still can't even make his school's all time team?  I guess you couldn't really go wrong with either one of them and I think they both have a great argument to be the point on that team.  Also, how many other great players miss out on that list who would be automatic had they played at another school?  Koon, Lipic, Amelianovich, Simich,...................?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Two old-timers to toss into the mix (though I am NOT lobbying for either to be a starter!):

Steve Laub was one of the most clutch players I ever saw (in fb as well as bb), though since he was a senior when I was a freshman, I didn't see him NEARLY enough!  He appears respectably high on nearly ALL of the career lists, EXCEPT assists - I could have sworn he was the PG, was he actually the 2?  I recall that Dennis Prikkel (hardly a Titans fan!) expressed great admiration for Steve's 'will to win'.

[In terms of Steve as a fb qb, I will never forget one sequence - though I can't recall the opponent, and yardages are only ROUGHLY accurate, I'm sure!  Late 4th quarter, we're down by less than a TD.  1st and 10 on the 21 - sacked!  2nd and 16 - sacked!  3rd and 23 - sacked!  4th and 28 - TD!  Steve Laub didn't know the meaning of the word quit!  My understanding is that he was the last cut in the Dallas Cowboys camp in '67.]

Fred Evans only played one year (as far as I know) and is hardly going to beat out Jack at center(!), but I will never forget the game in Kansas City where (at all of 6'6") he out-rebounded 7'2" (and future first-round NBA pick) Elmore Smith!  The guy could FLY!

And I'll second the motion for Tom Gramkow being AT LEAST early off the bench!

[Titan Q]

Some matchups/stats on the Tom Byron Classic field...

http://www.iwuhoops.com/PREVIEWS.HTM

[Titan Q]

PS  Titan fans, it's Korey Coon.....K.C., as in the Sunshine Band if that helps ya.  As has been discussed here, the kid has a Josten's Trophy and a national championship ring...we should at least get the spelling of his name right!  This has been one of the most misspelled names on CCIW Chat over the years, alongside the likes of Ktistou, Senik, Hamann, Amelianovich, and Kasten/Carstens.

[Titan Q]

Pat Coleman posted the current Quality of Wins Index top 100 here...

http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=2910.45

3 CCIW teams are in the top 100...

1. Illinois Wesleyan 14.000
2. Augustana 11.286
3. North Central 11.000


Elmhurst's in-region losses to Hope and Platteville hurt right now, but nothing a few good CCIW wins can't fix.