MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

Here is Korey Coon's 3-point breakdown by season...

Freshman, '96-97: 49-97 (.505)
Sophomore, '97-98: 57-111 (.514)
Junior, '98-99: 74-152 (.487)
Senior, '99-00: 65-166 (.392)


It is interesting to watch as soom of these guys go from being the guy on the receiving end of kick-outs as the result of double teams on guys like Bryan Crabtree (1997 M.O.P.) and Brent Niebrugge (1998 M.O.P.) to the primary scorer.  The way Korey Coon was guarded as a senior, his 22.0 points per game average was really something.

Coon's overall field goal attempts and points:

Fresh: 103-187 (.551) - 10.1 ppg
Soph: 122-220 (.555) - 15.0 ppg
Jr: 155-317 (.489) - 19.7 ppg
Sr: 164-371 (.442) - 22.0 ppg

[CardinalAlum]

Why does everyone's favorite memory seem to involve beating Augie, be it FB or BB? We actually are a pretty nice group as a whole. Maybe we party a little more than some of the other schools but that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

Actually, NCC beating Augie in football last year was one of my favorites along with Beating Wheaton in Football in 1987 and ANY victory over ANY IWU team!  Take it as a compliment.  We always strived to beat Augie in football because they were the best!

[robertgoulet]

My favorite though on that team was reserve Lane Pitzer. He worked as hard as any kid I can remember to maximize his talent. He was a pretty good starter the following year, but Augie lost too much talent to contend for the title that year.

ah, a lane pitzer reference. i went to the same high school as him....although many a year later. he was the same way in high school....scrappy and hard nosed. he was the first person i could remember from my HS going on to play in college (it was a VERY small school).....other than tim dillon, who went to niu even years before that.

[Gregory Sager]

Why does everyone's favorite memory seem to involve beating Augie, be it FB or BB? We actually are a pretty nice group as a whole. Maybe we party a little more than some of the other schools but that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

If it makes you feel any better, Augiefan, my favorite memories involve North Park beating three other teams: Upsala in 1980, Potsdam State in 1985, and Clark in 1987. Strangely enough, each of those games took place on the last night of the D3 basketball season those years.   

I do have to add, however, that my favorite CCIW-only memory does involve beating Augustana. In 1982 Augie came into the crackerbox undefeated and ranked #1 in the country. This was back in the days when Augie used to bring a couple of busloads of fratboys to CCIW road games, and those three-hour busrides were the perfect opportunity for them to maintain that barley-based reputation you were mentioning earlier.  Anyway, with three seconds left in the game and the score tied 48-48, Augie center Dave Anderson was fouled and went to the line to shoot a pair. He made the first, but missed the second. North Park's Justyne Monegain rebounded the miss and threw the ball across the court to PG Mike Gordon, a good field general but one of the worst shooters that the Park has ever had in the starting lineup. Gordon took two dribbles and launched himself at the basket, heaving a desperation bomb from just behind the midcourt line.

The buzzer sounded just as the ball went through the basket. The ensuing delirium as the fans rushed the floor was as close as North Park ever got in its home gym to one of the national championship celebrations.

A tenacious competitor, Gordon was a surly sort who maintained a somewhat less-than-charming demeanor both on and off the court. After the game, those of us North Park undergrads who used to sit in the portable bleachers at the west endline had business cards printed up that announced our membership in the Mike Gordon Appreciation Society. Our motto, printed on the card as well, was "47 feet of bad attitude".

Mine's still in my wallet. 

[Gregory Sager]

Knuppel was 79-176 (.449) from 3 as a senior and 105-115 (.913) from the FT line.  (I don't have his career stats).

Fortunately, there's a whole Ryan Knuppel section in the Elmhurst media guide, so I'll spare Ol' Number Four the indignity of having to post his own career stats on CCIW Chat. For his four years as a Bluejay, the pride of Manito was .437 from behind the arc and .909 from the FT line.

[joehakes]

Greg,

You left out the best part of that whole story.  The last time you told the story of the Mike Gordon half court heave, which I never grow tired of, you added a great line.

You said that the NP fans stormed the court and lifted Gordon on their shoulders and carried him around for about 20 seconds until they remembered how much they disliked him personally.  They proceeded to just drop him onto the floor like a sack of wheat.  When you mentioned that a year or so ago I remembered that same thing exactly as you had described it.

I was doing the PA for that game and had a great view of the whole sequence.  The PA spot for NP was up in the third row and the Gordon-carriers had come right up toward the scorer's table with their prize and then he just disappeared in the sea of blue and gold.  It was really funny.

Gordon also played baseball and the other players used to have over/unders on how many consequetive profanities Mike would string together after he struck out.  He really was a tough and hard nosed competitor but a hard guy to like.

[joehakes]

The other thing about the Gordon shot was the change in noise from the visitor's side of the gym to the home side.  The Augie fans were celebrating early and when the shot went in the direction of the noise went from my right to my left instantaneously.  It was like the old demonstrations of stereo when that first became popular, which none of you youngsters will remember.

[dansand]

One small correction, Greg. Augie was 19-3 overall and 12-1 in the CCIW going into that game, but they were ranked #1 in the nation.

[usee]

Actually, NCC beating Augie in football last year was one of my favorites along with Beating Wheaton in Football in 1987 and ANY victory over ANY IWU team!  Take it as a compliment.  We always strived to beat Augie in football because they were the best!

Cardalum,

one small problem....you didn't beat auie in football last year!!

[cardinalpride]

Actually, NCC beating Augie in football last year was one of my favorites along with Beating Wheaton in Football in 1987 and ANY victory over ANY IWU team!  Take it as a compliment.  We always strived to beat Augie in football because they were the best!

Usee, I'm sure CardAlum was talking about the 2004 season.  NCC 31 Augie 10.  We were robbed in 2005 at augie.  Giving them a second opportunity at a FG was just brutal.

Cardalum,

one small problem....you didn't beat auie in football last year!!

[CardinalAlum]

Cardalum,

one small problem....you didn't beat auie in football last year!!

ok USee, you got me on a technicality, I did mean 2004 and was still referring to 2005 as THIS year.  Either way, the 2004 game was one of my favorites!

[Brick]

Are you seriously standing by the fact that you got robbed here this year...your guy was offsides...get over it

[Gregory Sager]

One small correction, Greg. Augie was 19-3 overall and 12-1 in the CCIW going into that game, but they were ranked #1 in the nation.

After posting the Gordon story I looked in the old North Park record book that Dennis put out in the mid-eighties and noticed that that Augie game had been the 22nd game of the season for the Park. Knowing that Augie went 13-3 in the CCIW that season, and that the Gordon game must've been their 22nd or 23rd or 24th contest of the year as well, I figured out that they must've lost at least once before they hit the crackerbox. But I just didn't get around to fixing my post.

Greg,

You left out the best part of that whole story.  The last time you told the story of the Mike Gordon half court heave, which I never grow tired of, you added a great line.

You said that the NP fans stormed the court and lifted Gordon on their shoulders and carried him around for about 20 seconds until they remembered how much they disliked him personally.  They proceeded to just drop him onto the floor like a sack of wheat.  When you mentioned that a year or so ago I remembered that same thing exactly as you had described it.

I was doing the PA for that game and had a great view of the whole sequence.  The PA spot for NP was up in the third row and the Gordon-carriers had come right up toward the scorer's table with their prize and then he just disappeared in the sea of blue and gold.  It was really funny.

Gordon also played baseball and the other players used to have over/unders on how many consequetive profanities Mike would string together after he struck out.  He really was a tough and hard nosed competitor but a hard guy to like.

I knew how much you liked that story, Joe, so I let you tell that part of it. 

Whenever the other team would score a basket in the crackerbox, Gordon would inevitably let loose a string of curses as the Vikings inbounded the ball. From our endline vantage point we had front-row seats for this long-running salty ritual of his. It would absolutely mortify any North Park coeds who happened to be sitting with us at a game. I can remember one year during the Covenant's Midwinter Conference, when the gym was loaded with Covenant pastors, and Gordon was in a particularly nasty mood. After every basket by the other team he'd let loose a loud string of epithets that made every pastor sitting behind the Viking bench blanch in dismay. My sense of humor is perverse enough for me to get a chuckle out of that story as well. 

I saw Gordon at a game three years ago -- the Carthage @ St. Xavier game that the Cougars won at the buzzer, whereupon an irate Bosko chased after the refs as they fled the Shannon Center floor. I didn't say hello to Gordon. He never struck me as the type who would get all nostalgic about bumping into a former schoolmate.

[79jaybird]

Greg, with regards to # 4 ( Ryan Knuppel), there was serious consideration in the years following his graduation, to retire his jersey and have it hang from the ceiling at EC.  I was one of the guys that voted for it, and talked to (then AD  Chris Ragsdale) about it.  Ol' number 4 was something special.
Coming to bball games at most ( not Wheaton of course)  schools is nothing new.  2001, I was the mascot, we would pound the (choice) beverages  hard before the games.  I think rowdy, crazy, cheering fans at bball games is exciting and adds to the overall environment of the games.  As long as they don't get destructive and belligerent.

[Titan Q]

Sounds like IWU will be without key reserve Chris Jones (knee) for the second consecutive game, but Cory Jones (infected blister) is expected to start.  Andrew Freeman will probably get most of Chris' minutes, but Andrew is really more of a face-the-basket player.  Chris (6.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, .611 FG) has become such a dependable low post player that it definitely throws off IWU's rotation when he is not there.  I wouldn't mind seeing Darius Gant get some time again...he was forced into action Wednesday with A. Freeman and Steve Schweer in foul trouble.

When IWU lost its third game back on Jan. 25 (Augustana), it forced the Titans into a very genuine "one game at a time" approach.  They've done a good job since then of getting things going the right direction again.  The 4-game winning streak includes a 34-point win over Carthage, a big victory at North Central, the OT win vs Elmhurst at home, and then Wednesday's 19-point win over Millikin.  I expect Wheaton to come to play tonight, but I also expect IWU to be very focused on the task at hand.  As Adam Dauksas was quoted as saying in today's paper:

"You can't really look ahead. Wheaton is a good team. They played very well against us the last time," said Dauksas. "They have a great coach and they run great sets."

There is a lot of mutual respect between these programs.  Player for player, Wheaton does not match up well with Illinois Wesleyan, but these same two teams played an overtime game in Bloomington just 3 weeks ago.  And Wheaton is coming off the big win over Augie and the confidence level should be high.  It wouldn't surprise me if this is another close game.

Ways you can listen/watch online...

Radio: WJBC, AM-1230

Radio: WETN, Wheaton College

Video Stream: WETN TV, Wheaton College