MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Contrary to Bob Sakamoto's report in the Sun-Times, Chicago was very much in the mix for Scarlata as well.

Isn't that Kramer's friend on Seinfeld?

Every time that I see Sakamoto's byline, I think of Kramer's invisible friend Bob Sacamanno from Seinfeld. I'm sure that Sakamoto curses the day that that sitcom was ever put on the air.

In the years that I've visited this wonderful website, I do not recall reading the name of Greg Yess.

Yess was an outstanding power forward. He and center Joel Fruendt (father of former Batavia star and current Northwestern swingman Nick Fruendt) made a very solid inside combo for IWU. Along with Brad Gregurich (and, especially post-Yess, small forward Blaise Bugaski), they made the Titans of our college days at NPC a potent force in the CCIW. Yess had some classic battles with North Park's Jim Clausen.

And missed three-point shots tend to result in rebounds further from the basket, rather than within a big man's reach.

My thoughts exactly. I think that the greatest impact of the three-point shot vis-a-vis rebounding has been to distribute rebounding numbers a bit more throughout the team as a whole, rather than having rebounding be the monopoly of the C and PF.

North Park's 72-54 win at IWU's Fred Young Fieldhouse in 1981 is still memorable.

1- Mike Thomas scored his 2000th point for North Park.
2- The score was tied 54-all with eight minutes to play
3- IWU did not attempt a free throw.

[markerickson]

As an underclassman, I saw Bujaski play.  Someone would need to be very persuasive to convince me that IWU has had a better forward/center since he's played.   

[Dennis_Prikkel]

As an underclassman, I saw Bujaski play.  Someone would need to be very persuasive to convince me that IWU has had a better forward/center since he's played.   

Bujgaski was a scorer, not necessarily a shooter, as we've discussed here before.  He almost always found a way to score.

I don't quite remember, though, if he was around for the 1981 game.

some memories fade.

dgp

[Mr. Ypsi]

Blaise Bugajski (the spelling on IWU.edu) is listed as 1979-84.  Though whether or not he played in that particular game, I have no idea.

[dansand]

As an underclassman, I saw Bujaski play.  Someone would need to be very persuasive to convince me that IWU has had a better forward/center since he's played.   

Bujgaski was a scorer, not necessarily a shooter, as we've discussed here before.  He almost always found a way to score.

I don't quite remember, though, if he was around for the 1981 game.

some memories fade.

dgp

Blaise Bugajski (the spelling on IWU.edu) is listed as 1979-84.  Though whether or not he played in that particular game, I have no idea.

Apparently not:

Blaise Bugajski
Year      GP   FG-FGA   Pct   FT-FTA   Pct  Reb. Avg  Pts   Avg
1979-80   26  141-288  .490   68-93   .731  192  7.4  350  13.5
1980-81
1981-82   21  157-295  .532   87-104  .837  144  6.9  401  19.1
1982-83   28  236-420  .562  101-122  .828  183  6.5  573  20.5
1983-84   28  280-530  .528  178-210  .848  199  7.1  738  26.4
TOTAL    103  814-1533 .531  434-529  .820  718  7.0 2062  20.0

[Gregory Sager]

For those of you who weren't around in the early '80s, the recent CCIW player whose game most resembled Blaise Bugajski's was Chris Martin. Although he was a bit smaller than Martin, like the former Elmhurst star Bugajski did a little bit of everything -- ballhandling, rebounding, leadership, and a lot of scoring. I would say that Bugajski was a better shooter than Martin (although Bugajski was not as good of a shooter as was his bete noire from North Park, Freddie Kruse), while Martin was a better defender. Also like Martin, Bugajski was a true swingman who could play both inside and outside, although the presence of Fruendt, Yess, and Doug Thomas on the Titans kept Bugajski from having to play inside very much.

[augiefan]

Surprisingly the introduction of the 3 point shoot and the shot clock seem to have resulted in lower scoring games. I have no stats to support this. Just an impression from having watched basketball since the late 50s and remembering players like Rick Mount, Jimmy Rayl, Rick Howatt etc. from the B10, who scored a lot of points from the perimeter in the pre-3 point shot era.

I think it is partly a result of better defensive coaching. I doubt that Branch McCracken, Adolph Rupp or arry Combes spen a lot of time coaching defense given their run and gun offensive style of play. It also seems a lot of teams milk the shot clock and then have to force up a prayer shot.

It also seems the better athletes in DI today do not really perfect their outside shooting. You look at today's game and half the guys have trouble making 67% of their FTS. A lot of them are in trouble hitting the basket, unless it's a dunk.

I have no idea if I'm right but I seem to remember a lot of 80 and 90 point per team games in the good old days, and now we have scores in the 60s or low 70s being considered pretty high scoring. At least compared to Illinois holding PSU to 38 points and losing by 5 at home.

[augiefan]

Congrats to Coach G. and Augie for landing Scarlata. Not only is he a terrific DIII prospect, but he fills a real need at Augie by adding a big man to help replace Chandlor Collins and Bertrand on the boards.

Are there any other CCIW commitments that have been announced as yet? I know it frequently is after May 1st before the lists are  at all complete, but there must be a few more commits.

[Mr. Ypsi]

As an underclassman, I saw Bujaski play.  Someone would need to be very persuasive to convince me that IWU has had a better forward/center since he's played.   

Bujgaski was a scorer, not necessarily a shooter, as we've discussed here before.  He almost always found a way to score.

I don't quite remember, though, if he was around for the 1981 game.

some memories fade.

dgp

Blaise Bugajski (the spelling on IWU.edu) is listed as 1979-84.  Though whether or not he played in that particular game, I have no idea.

Apparently not:

Blaise Bugajski
Year      GP   FG-FGA   Pct   FT-FTA   Pct  Reb. Avg  Pts   Avg
1979-80   26  141-288  .490   68-93   .731  192  7.4  350  13.5
1980-81
1981-82   21  157-295  .532   87-104  .837  144  6.9  401  19.1
1982-83   28  236-420  .562  101-122  .828  183  6.5  573  20.5
1983-84   28  280-530  .528  178-210  .848  199  7.1  738  26.4
TOTAL    103  814-1533 .531  434-529  .820  718  7.0 2062  20.0

Thanks, Dan!  +k

I haven't located individual stats for 'old-time' players - where did you get that?

[I had wondered why he was listed over 5 years - anyone know the story for 80-81?]

[dansand]

For those of you who weren't around in the early '80s, the recent CCIW player whose game most resembled Blaise Bugajski's was Chris Martin. Although he was a bit smaller than Martin, like the former Elmhurst star Bugajski did a little bit of everything -- ballhandling, rebounding, leadership, and a lot of scoring. I would say that Bugajski was a better shooter than Martin (although Bugajski was not as good of a shooter as was his bete noire from North Park, Freddie Kruse), while Martin was a better defender. Also like Martin, Bugajski was a true swingman who could play both inside and outside, although the presence of Fruendt, Yess, and Doug Thomas on the Titans kept Bugajski from having to play inside very much.

Bugajski also holds the distinction of being the last CCIW player drafted by the NBA:

Player, School, Year, Team (Round)
Joe Shafer, Wheaton, 1948, Chicago   
Bud Schaeffer, Wheaton, 1950, Chicago (10th)                        
Scotty Steagall, Millikin, 1951, Indianapolis (2nd)
Marv Johnson, Wheaton, 1951, Indianapolis (6th)                        
Dick Gross, Wheaton, 1953, Rochester                         
Norman Pott, Wheaton, 1954, Syracuse (6th)                         
Bill Warden, NCC, 1955, Minneapolis
Mel Peterson, Wheaton, 1960, Detroit (11th)
Don Dobbert, Wheaton, 1960, Detroit (12th)                        
Jack Lutz, Carthage, 1969, Milwaukee (12th)
Tom Dykstra, Wheaton, 1970, Baltimore (8th)                         
Claude White, Elmhurst, 1973, Phoenix (10th)
Gary Deitelhoff, Millikin, 1974, Detroit (9th)                         
Bruce Hamming, Augustana, 1975, Washington (8th)
Jack Sikma, IWU, 1977, Seattle (1st--8th pick)
Mike Harper, North Park, 1980, Portland (3rd)
Modzel Greer, North Park, 1980, Chicago (8th)                         
Keith French, North Park, 1980, Phoenix (9th)                         
Michael Thomas, North Park, 1981, Philadelphia (6th)
George Wenzel, Augustana, 1983, Detroit (8th)
Blaise Bugajski, IWU, 1984, Washington (6th)

..I know, Dennis...I need to get a life.

Thanks, Dan!  +k

I haven't located individual stats for 'old-time' players - where did you get that?

[I had wondered why he was listed over 5 years - anyone know the story for 80-81?]

Here you go, Mr. Ypsi:

www.iwu.edu/~iwunews/sports/MENINDALL.htm

I don't recall why he didn't play in 1980-81.

[Ralph Turner]

Player, School, Year, Team (Round)
Joe Shafer, Wheaton, 1948, Chicago   
Bud Schaeffer, Wheaton, 1950, Chicago (10th)                        
Scotty Steagall, Millikin, 1951, Indianapolis (2nd)
Marv Johnson, Wheaton, 1951, Indianapolis (6th)                        
Dick Gross, Wheaton, 1953, Rochester                         
Norman Pott, Wheaton, 1954, Syracuse (6th)                         
Bill Warden, NCC, 1955, Minneapolis
Mel Peterson, Wheaton, 1960, Detroit (11th)
Don Dobbert, Wheaton, 1960, Detroit (12th)                        
Jack Lutz, Carthage, 1969, Milwaukee (12th)
Tom Dykstra, Wheaton, 1970, Baltimore (8th)                         
Claude White, Elmhurst, 1973, Phoenix (10th)
Gary Deitelhoff, Millikin, 1974, Detroit (9th)                         
Bruce Hamming, Augustana, 1975, Washington (8th)
Jack Sikma, IWU, 1977, Seattle (1st--8th pick)
Mike Harper, North Park, 1980, Portland (3rd)
Modzel Greer, North Park, 1980, Chicago (8th)                         
Keith French, North Park, 1980, Phoenix (9th)                         
Michael Thomas, North Park, 1981, Philadelphia (6th)
George Wenzel, Augustana, 1983, Detroit (8th)
Blaise Bugajski, IWU, 1984, Washington (6th)

..I know, Dennis...I need to get a life.

While you have no life, what not give us the franchise lineages of those franchises listed above? 

1955 Minneapolis would be the Lakers.
1954 Syracuse would be the Nationals and then onto the 76ers in 1963? 
1953 Rochester would be the Royals then on to Cincinnati then onto Kansas City/Omaha Kings then Kansas City Kings and then onto Sacramento.
1951 Indianapolis Olympians -- Defunct after the 1952-53 season.
Chicago 1948 and 1950?

[sac]

Player, School, Year, Team (Round)
Joe Shafer, Wheaton, 1948, Chicago   
Bud Schaeffer, Wheaton, 1950, Chicago (10th)                        
Scotty Steagall, Millikin, 1951, Indianapolis (2nd)
Marv Johnson, Wheaton, 1951, Indianapolis (6th)                        
Dick Gross, Wheaton, 1953, Rochester                         
Norman Pott, Wheaton, 1954, Syracuse (6th)                         
Bill Warden, NCC, 1955, Minneapolis
Mel Peterson, Wheaton, 1960, Detroit (11th)
Don Dobbert, Wheaton, 1960, Detroit (12th)                        
Jack Lutz, Carthage, 1969, Milwaukee (12th)
Tom Dykstra, Wheaton, 1970, Baltimore (8th)                         
Claude White, Elmhurst, 1973, Phoenix (10th)
Gary Deitelhoff, Millikin, 1974, Detroit (9th)                         
Bruce Hamming, Augustana, 1975, Washington (8th)
Jack Sikma, IWU, 1977, Seattle (1st--8th pick)
Mike Harper, North Park, 1980, Portland (3rd)
Modzel Greer, North Park, 1980, Chicago (8th)                         
Keith French, North Park, 1980, Phoenix (9th)                         
Michael Thomas, North Park, 1981, Philadelphia (6th)
George Wenzel, Augustana, 1983, Detroit (8th)
Blaise Bugajski, IWU, 1984, Washington (6th)

..I know, Dennis...I need to get a life.

While you have no life, what not give us the franchise lineages of those franchises listed above? 

1955 Minneapolis would be the Lakers.
1954 Syracuse would be the Nationals and then onto the 76ers in 1963? 
1953 Rochester would be the Royals then on to Cincinnati then onto Kansas City/Omaha Kings then Kansas City Kings and then onto Sacramento.
1951 Indianapolis Olympians -- Defunct after the 1952-53 season.
Chicago 1948 and 1950?

Detroit was founded as the Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons, 1960 was just the 4th year in Detroit.

....and the Minneapolis Lakers were actually founded in Detroit in 1946 as the Detroit Gems, played only one year and moved to Minneapolis and became the Lakers.

[dansand]

Chicago 1948 and 1950?

Chicago Stags!

Unfortunately, my hometown Tri-Cities Blackhawks (who went from Moline to Milwaukee to St. Louis to Atlanta) never drafted a CCIW player.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

I believe Bugajski was inelligible for his sophomore year - but don't quote me - Ancient Titan would know.

dgp

[Titan Q]

IWU received a verbal commitment from 6-2 SG Dan Oswald of Riverside-Brookfield H.S...

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/danoswald.html


I've never seen Dan play, but I know Coach Rose recruited him very hard.  Sounds like a very nice addition to the program.