MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Forgot about the JV part of the matchup.  Two words:  Josh McNaughton.  The freshman made some highlight reel plays that had the varsity up off the bench cheering and the coaching staff wiping the drool off each other's chins.  The lefty displayed a dazzling array of moves, spins, behind- the-back passes off the fast break up the floor, and great energy.  CCIW fans in general, and NPU fans in particular, are in for four years of enjoyable spectating with him on the floor.  I'd be very surprised if he doesn't get significant varsity "tick" ( to use the current and trendy CCIW board vernacular) this season.

The great thing about Josh McNaughton as well as Haris Habibovic, the undersized power forward from Lincoln Park who similarly impressed me in the two intrasquad scrimmages, is that they're two of the more unheralded members of the freshman class, and yet they're the ones that are turning the heads of the coaching staff. While the more highly-touted members of the NPU freshman class may be viewing themselves as all that and more, they're going to find out right away that the coaches will not only praise the likes of McNaughton and Habibovic at their expense, they'll give them JV playing time at their expense, too. Freshmen have to learn that work ethic and doing things the way that the coaches tell them to do it rather than freelancing are what will get them JV starter status and first dibs at moving up the depth chart.

See you at tomorrow evening's scrimmage, Pete?

[AndOne]

North Central will scrimmage Univ of Chicago in Naperville at 7 PM on Thurs., 11/11.
Chicago will face Wheaton, Wesleyan, & Augie of the CCIW this season. \

Plenty of questions still remain for the Cardinals including:
a) One of the starting forwards and the backup at that spot
b) Backup at the other forward
c) Backup at center
d) Backup at PG
3) Backup at the 2G

NCC brought in a large group of talented players this year and thus, the competition for most of the starting positions (only Derek Raridon was assured of a starting spot) and the 1st backup at every position has been fiercely contested since the opening of practice. Furthermore, its my opinion that after the first 11-12 players have been determined, the Cardinals will have some players who will end up of the JV team who will be just as capable as the last few varsity players.

Hopefully, Thursday night will help to sort out the 2nd starting forward position and the 1st backup spots at virtually every position.

Lastly, as we know, injuries, finances, and grades can always alter the depth chart unexpectedly. Fortunately, for the first time in quite awhile and due primarily to the talent of this year's freshmen and transfers, NCC will have a nice player to plug in should an emergency arise. 

[petemcb]

Forgot about the JV part of the matchup.  Two words:  Josh McNaughton.  The freshman made some highlight reel plays that had the varsity up off the bench cheering and the coaching staff wiping the drool off each other's chins.  The lefty displayed a dazzling array of moves, spins, behind- the-back passes off the fast break up the floor, and great energy.  CCIW fans in general, and NPU fans in particular, are in for four years of enjoyable spectating with him on the floor.  I'd be very surprised if he doesn't get significant varsity "tick" ( to use the current and trendy CCIW board vernacular) this season.

The great thing about Josh McNaughton as well as Haris Habibovic, the undersized power forward from Lincoln Park who similarly impressed me in the two intrasquad scrimmages, is that they're two of the more unheralded members of the freshman class, and yet they're the ones that are turning the heads of the coaching staff. While the more highly-touted members of the NPU freshman class may be viewing themselves as all that and more, they're going to find out right away that the coaches will not only praise the likes of McNaughton and Habibovic at their expense, they'll give them JV playing time at their expense, too. Freshmen have to learn that work ethic and doing things the way that the coaches tell them to do it rather than freelancing are what will get them JV starter status and first dibs at moving up the depth chart.

See you at tomorrow evening's scrimmage, Pete?

I wish.  There's an ongoing Wednesday night commitment I have at my chuch that makes half the CCIW season an impossibility for me.  If I can ever miss it, it will be for something more than a Wednesday night scrimmage.  Looking forward to reading your account of it though. 

[Gregory Sager]

Luckily, all my church-related stuff is on Thursday nights now, so it doesn't interfere with basketball ... although I would've liked to be able to go to Naperville to see tomorrow's Chicago @ NCC scrimmage.

[Titan Q]

Heard the following margins from the recent Wheaton/Benedictine scrimmage..

First 20 min: BU by 1

Second 20 min: Wheaton by 3

[Titan Q]

IWU's annual Green/White scrimmage is tomorrow evening @ 7:00pm.  They're going to play 4 10-minute quarters, with different teams for each.

[Titan Q]

Here is my 2010-11 IWU season preview for IWUhoops.com...

http://www.iwuhoops.com/prev11.htm


Towards the end there is CCIW information.  I've tried my best to project starters for each team, realizing some of that effort is a guess.

Enjoy.

[iwu70]

Thanks, Q, for your season preview and all the information on the CCIW teams.  Very helpful.   I'll be attending the scrimmage tonight at The Shirk and see these current Titans for the first time this season.  Hoping to see at least 2-3 games before my sabbatical ends and I head back to Hong Kong.

Ypsi, great to see you at Homecoming and our reunion.  Thanks for coming!

Good luck to all the CCIW teams this year.

mls

[Gregory Sager]

NPU scrimmaged Dominican last night, and apparently the Vikings thought that the proper way to commemorate Veterans Day was to not play any defense. The Vikings barely edged the Stars in an extraordinarily ugly effort, 87-86 (39-40 and 48-46), in which the D was as bad as the score indicates. The Vikings looked as though they'd never seen a screen before, much less had an idea how to counter one. Dominican consistently outworked NPU at both ends of the floor, especially at the beginnings and ends of the two halves (both halves started 10-2 in favor of DU, and the Stars scored the last nine points of the first period), and for the most part the Stars engineered their drive-and-dish game to perfection. The dual big-man look for NPU that features Emanuel Crosby and Phil Schniedermeier on the floor simultaneously was especially bad; the Vikings gave up way too much quickness to a super-quick DU team when that lineup was on the floor, and Crosby and Schniedermeier just clogged up the lane too much when both of them were in there and thereby took away the meat and potatoes of NPU's offense, which is dribble penetration.

If there's any consolation for the Vikings, it's that they're not going to see an opponent like that in the CCIW besides Millikin, and I doubt that MU will be as good as Dominican. (I strongly question whether Marc Smith has anybody in his arsenal that compares to the Turley cousins from DU; he certainly didn't last season.) North Park also happened to catch the Stars on a night when they were ridiculously hot from long range (the Stars made five treys in a row at one point). Nevertheless, it was alarming the way that the Vikings allowed DU to dictate the tempo, beat them to loose balls and long rebounds, and penetrate at will. The Vikings didn't recover and close very well on the outside shooters, either. The reason why the Vikings were able to win was because what Dominican has in quickness it misses in size; Crosby (15 pts, 7 rebs) did his road-grader routine in the low post, while Jorge Gonzalez (15 pts, 7 rebs) was his usual dynamic self on the offensive boards and took the big man guarding him off the dribble with ease. Issa Avery (10 pts) also had his moments, and D.A. Robinson (13 pts, 6 rebs) was the one guard about whom the coaches had anything good to say afterwards. Nick Hoekstra only hit one trey, but along with Robinson he looked like the only guy who was really doing anything technically sound on defense.

The Vikings' junior varsity also played two full halves against their Stars counterparts. The NPU JV looked somewhat more interested in playing defense than the varsity did, as they downed Dominican's JV, 66-58 (32-27 and 34-31). Mike Henley, Josh McNaughton, and Rob Robinson all looked solid, but the star of the show was Deon Lockhart (18 pts, 9 rebs, 3 asts, only one turnover). That kid's got serious CCIW potential.

It was dismaying to see the Park play so poorly a week before the season starts, especially since it was against a team picked to finish way back in the NAthCon South pack while the first two opponents that NPU faces next week, Concordia (IL) and Edgewood, are the teams picked to win the NAthCon's two divisions. The Vikings need to seriously get on the stick over the next week, especially at the defensive end of the floor.

[markerickson]

North Park has been giving opponents far too many uncontested treys for years.  Nothing new there.  Greer looked lost on D and Russell disappears on D too much.  I do not believe I saw D.A. Robinson play last year.  Maybe it was the mohawk/shade hairstyle.  He's got strength too.  Gonzalez could lead the league in scoring if the CCIW was the CCI.  He gets to the rim faster than anyone I can ever recall.  He's got great timing as well.

[Gregory Sager]

I do not believe I saw D.A. Robinson play last year.  Maybe it was the mohawk/shade hairstyle.

It's probably the hair. Robinson played in 23 games last season and started 19 of them. Sometimes he's identified by his given name, Davone, but he prefers to be called "D.A." He's an education major, but with those initials you'd think that he was a politics and government major with an eye towards law school.

NPU may lead the league in exotic haircuts, although, from what I've heard, Carthage could give the Vikings a real run for the money in the funky coiffure department.

Gonzalez could lead the league in scoring if the CCIW was the CCI.  He gets to the rim faster than anyone I can ever recall.  He's got great timing as well.

The ironic thing is that Carthage was a member of the league back when it was the CCI. Of course, the school was located in Carthage, IL back then.

Rob Berki's got the best line about Jorge Gonzalez: "He's already up in the air when everybody else is still thinking about jumping."

[Gregory Sager]

The D3 preseason All-American team has been posted. Steve D. is on the first team (natch), McCrary's on the second team, Raridon and Sexauer are on the third team, and Nelson's on the fifth team.

It's a prestigious recognition, but the expiration date on its value is coming up in five days.

[Mr. Ypsi]

The D3 preseason All-American team has been posted. Steve D. is on the first team (natch), McCrary's on the second team, Raridon and Sexauer are on the third team, and Nelson's on the fifth team.

It's a prestigious recognition, but the expiration date on its value is coming up in five days.

One name that intrigued me was Jared Jenkins (UWSP) on the 3rd team, since there is persistent speculation on the WIAC board that he may skip to season to try to make it in the NFL.

Another familiar name to many here is Peter Bunn of Hope (5th team).

[Gregory Sager]

Bunn's hurt right now, too, and will miss what sounds like it could be a substantial amount of time for Hope. Don't know what sort of impact that'll have on his season when it's all said and done.

[Titan Q]

Dan Schouten was the leading scorer in IWU's Green/White scrimmage tonight, with 23 points.

The Titans open Monday @ Benedictine.