MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

since they have upgraded the facilities and they are not finished yet to completing the faclilites!

Benedictine does have excellent athletics facilities that are definitely up to CCIW par. However, the school's endowment is somewhat small by CCIW standards.

BU baseball stadium---probably the best one around
BU football  stadium---prob #2 in the area
BU basketball court---the absolute worst! They need to replace the rubberized floor in the Rice Center, like, yesterday! Perhaps something in that new flooring material just out into the marketplace recently---wood!!!

St Norbert's recruits the Chicago Area very hard. travel wise Benedictine makes the fit with the CCIW!

Actually, Chicagoland is not the primary recruiting ground for St. Norbert athletics. If you look at the SNC website, you'll see that the rosters of the various Green Knights sports teams mostly consist of Wisconsin natives -- and in fact most SNC student-athletes appear to be from towns well north of the border.
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Not quite, Greg
Actually, Chicagoland IS a primary recruiting area for St. Norbert, particularly in basketball. Over the last 2 seasons, it was rare to attend a high school game or tournament in the Chicagoland area, without seeing SNC ass't bball coach Chris Skinkis, now an ass't at D2 Lewis.

SNC may not have many Chicagoland players on its roster, but that doesn't mean that they don't actively recruit in the area.   

[John Gleich]

SNC may not have many Chicagoland players on its roster, but that doesn't mean that they don't actively recruit in the area.   

What's the point of recruiting actively in an area where you aren't getting kids?  It seems like a waste of resources...

[Mr. Ypsi]

SNC may not have many Chicagoland players on its roster, but that doesn't mean that they don't actively recruit in the area.   

What's the point of recruiting actively in an area where you aren't getting kids?  It seems like a waste of resources...

Hope springs eternal?

[petemcb]

since they have upgraded the facilities and they are not finished yet to completing the faclilites!

Benedictine does have excellent athletics facilities that are definitely up to CCIW par. However, the school's endowment is somewhat small by CCIW standards.

BU baseball stadium---probably the best one around
BU football  stadium---prob #2 in the area
BU basketball court---the absolute worst! They need to replace the rubberized floor in the Rice Center, like, yesterday! Perhaps something in that new flooring material just out into the marketplace recently---wood!!!


 

AndOne is right.  The Rice Center would be the worst basketball facility in any reconfigured CCIW.  The rubberized floor is a joke for a college facility, the bleachers are right out of high school, there's a curtain at one end of the court, and the place is stone-cold stark inside.  Merry Christmas, though.

[petemcb]

Looks likely that I will be heading up to DePere, WI for a couple of games after the weekend to see Carthage take on #1 UW-P and then either St. Norbert or St. Scholastica.  Anybody know anything about St. Scholastica?

[Gregory Sager]

Not quite, Greg
Actually, Chicagoland IS a primary recruiting area for St. Norbert, particularly in basketball. Over the last 2 seasons, it was rare to attend a high school game or tournament in the Chicagoland area, without seeing SNC ass't bball coach Chris Skinkis, now an ass't at D2 Lewis.

SNC may not have many Chicagoland players on its roster, but that doesn't mean that they don't actively recruit in the area.   

That's one assistant coach in one sport -- and he's not even at St. Norbert anymore. Hardly a representative example upon which to base your case, AO.

Look at what I said: "Chicagoland is not the primary recruiting ground for St. Norbert athletics." Note the definite article. I didn't say that SNC didn't recruit here at all. I said that this is not SNC's major demographic region for recruiting student-athletes.

Again, take a look at the SNC website and check out where the student-athletes for the Green Knights actually hail from. Out of the 124 players listed on the SNC football roster, twenty are from Chicagoland. The vast majority of the other 104 are 'sconnies. Three of the 14 volleyball players are Chicagolanders. Seven of the 33 members of the men's soccer team, and four of the 27 members of the women's soccer team, are Chicagolanders. Only one of the 15 members of the women's basketball team is a Chicagolander. Only two of the 17 members of last year's softball team are Chicagolanders. And only three of the 28 members of last year's baseball team are Chicagolanders.

I'm willing to bet that a lot of those Chicagoland student-athletes at SNC can be chalked up to normal admissions procedures (e.g., high school student expresses interest in a school, indicates on a form that he or she plays a sport, coach follows up on initial contact) rather than eyewitness pre-contact scouting by a SNC coach, and to the overwhelming demographic footprint of Chicagoland within the upper midwest -- Chicagoland has almost nine million people, whereas our adjoining neighbor to the north has only five and a half million people in the entire state. It's almost impossible for a four-year Wisconsin school of any size in the eastern or southern parts of the state to have at least a residual number of Chicagolanders. We are an inescapable presence in Wisconsin, and not just during summer vacation months; that must be why they like us so much up there.

Does SNC recruit specific Chicagoland student-athletes? I'm sure that it does. In fact, I know of several specific high school student-athletes who were recruited by SNC. We're not that far away from De Pere, and as I said we're an inescapable demographic presence. We have the largest pool of high school student-athletes between the two coasts. But I disputed CCIW ALUM's original statement that St. Norbert "recruits the Chicago area very hard." Of course, "very hard" is a relative term -- but, as PS said, if this was the key area upon which SNC hung its hat in terms of acquiring jocks, the school would be floundering in sports by virtue of the fact that it would be getting very little return for its efforts.

[HCACBBALL]

I thought I was told that the Rice Center was getting a wood floor.  Maybe my source was bad.  It is not like Merner Fieldhouse is a gem.  By my estimation I think their wood floor needs to be replaced and Merner was state of the art in 1920. 

[Gregory Sager]

Looks likely that I will be heading up to DePere, WI for a couple of games after the weekend to see Carthage take on #1 UW-P and then either St. Norbert or St. Scholastica.  Anybody know anything about St. Scholastica?

http://www.d3hoops.com/school/SCHL/mens/2009 

since they have upgraded the facilities and they are not finished yet to completing the faclilites!

Benedictine does have excellent athletics facilities that are definitely up to CCIW par. However, the school's endowment is somewhat small by CCIW standards.

BU baseball stadium---probably the best one around
BU football  stadium---prob #2 in the area
BU basketball court---the absolute worst! They need to replace the rubberized floor in the Rice Center, like, yesterday! Perhaps something in that new flooring material just out into the marketplace recently---wood!!!

AndOne is right.  The Rice Center would be the worst basketball facility in any reconfigured CCIW.  The rubberized floor is a joke for a college facility, the bleachers are right out of high school, there's a curtain at one end of the court, and the place is stone-cold stark inside.  Merry Christmas, though.

Yeah, the Rice Center is nothing special as far as basketball gyms are concerned, although it's not drastically worse than what NPU, NCC, Elmhurst, and Millikin have to offer. NPU and NCC have much older gyms, and Elmhurst's and Millikin's have curtained-off areas as well. I hate the Rice Center's rubberized floor as much as anyone does -- I remember wishing for the longest time that NCC would get its act together and ditch its rubberized floor in the airplane hanger in order to conform to the rest of the league, although my North Central alumni friends insisted that it gave the Cardinals a great homecourt advantage.

That's why I said athletic facilities (plural). On balance, BU has a very good array of athletic facilites. The Rice Center is the weak link, and even the Rice Center is hardly a disaster as far as D3 basketball gyms are concerned.

[petemcb]

Do you think it's possible that I could be a little D3-spoiled spending most of my time seeing games at Carthage and Wheaton?  I'm not sure what it is about the Rice Center, but it goes beyond the floor for me.  Yes, Elmhurst has a curtain too, but maybe it does a better job helping to enclose/define the playing area.  North Park's and Elmhurst's bleachers might not be any better than Benedictine's, but something about them is better.  Maybe it's that at Benedictine the bleachers are set back further from the court.  I just never feel like I'm anywhere near the game out in Lisle.  It is true that their football/soccer and baseball/softball facilities might be unequaled in the CCIW.....but they're partially owned/funded by the Village of Lisle, if I remember correctly.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park's and Elmhurst's bleachers might not be any better than Benedictine's, but something about them is better.

The company.

[petemcb]

North Park's and Elmhurst's bleachers might not be any better than Benedictine's, but something about them is better.

The company.

Depends which section you sit in.....

[AndOne]

I thought I was told that the Rice Center was getting a wood floor.  Maybe my source was bad.  It is not like Merner Fieldhouse is a gem.  By my estimation I think their wood floor needs to be replaced and Merner was state of the art in 1920. 

According to my sources at Benedictine, they aren't getting a wood floor anytime soon unless Santa delivers a sack full of $.

Merner Fieldhouse pulled off a pretty good trick if it was state of the art in 1920----especially since it was built in 1931!   

Also, as far as the actual floor in Merner, you won't find a playing surface that is more conducive to athletes health. Unlike the hard as rock newer wood surfaces, Merner's floor has "springs" and is much easier on the athletes legs, ankles, and shins than the vast majority of courts. High flyers should really love it as it probably adds an inch to their "air space."

Merner is tentatively scheduled for a "retro look" face lift following completion of the construction of the new residence hall-recreation center complex that is now underway just east of Merner. The targeted completion date for that project is Sept/09. The update of Merner might have to wait until the conclusion of the 09-10 season as its doubtful it can be completed between 9/09-11/09.     

[Mr. Ypsi]

To Greg and anyone else who has joked about Mastodons roaming the IWU campus when I was enrolled - my wife apparently thinks you have severely underestimated my true age.

One of my presents this morning was a t-shirt reading "Old School", with a picture of a trilobite wearing a mortarboard!

[iwu70]

Is Elmhurst playing a double-header on January 3rd -- as indicated on the CCIW website?

[HCACBBALL]

AndOne, I had no idea that the floor had springs in it.  I am a graduate and spent many hours in Gregory Arena.  Good luck with the renovation of Gregory Arena.  When I was a Freshman they were in the plans for the recreational center and it has been many years since then.  I hope the renovation comes soon but I am still reluctant to say that a renovated Gregory Arena will be able to compete with the Sherk Center and the gym at Wheaton.