MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[newCCIWfan]

A couple comments regarding the signing issue:

From my understanding NCAA legislation regarding D3 signing days is all directed at the schools rather than the prospective student athlete.
- It is illegal for schools to write up anything which would resemble a letter of intent and give it to their prospective student athletes to sign.
- It is illegal for coaches to be present at any signing day

However, legislation is fairly loose in allowing prospective student athletes to host their own event or participate in an event at their high school. Frequently, HS seniors will want to have a signing day, no doubt to fit in with their peers who are going to D1, D2, NAIA and JUCO schools that do have signing days. There is no legislation prohibiting participation in a signing day from the student athletes perspective.
- Often at these signing days D3 students will sign some sort of form granting schools permission to release their name as an official recruit (though often, as professor Sager has stated, schools will want some other indication of the recruits intentions before releasing names such as a housing deposit, registration for classes, or acceptance of financial aid).

Merrigan was from Tennessee,

I seem to remember that Merrigan played at Glenbrook North. Must have been a different recruit out of Tennessee. http://athletics.millikin.edu/roster.aspx?rp_id=197

I think that some of this might be regionally oriented as well. I remember when former Millikin head coach Marc Smith recruited Matt Merrigan to play for the Big Blue back in the spring of 2010. Merrigan was from Tennessee, and there was a "signing" announcement in his local paper that came complete with a pic of the kid signing a piece of paper with his beaming parents and Marc Smith hovering over his shoulders in the standard signing pose. I commented on CCIW Chat at the time that Merrigan was from a part of Tennessee that didn't have a lot of D3 schools nearby, so perhaps either the newspaper in question wasn't familiar with D3 policy or Merrigan and/or his folks wanted to have some sort of ceremony like that of all of his local peers who were going off to play for nearby NAIA schools.

As mentioned above, I believe this would be a recruiting violation if it occurred today. However, I'm not sure what rules were on the books when Marc Smith attended Merrigan's signing day.

[iwu70]

Some great awards given out to IWU athletes -- both women and men -- and both academic and sporting, in the Tommy Awards night at the Shirk.  Check out the full story on the iwu.edu sports pages.  A really good event, emphasizing both the athletic and academic achievements all all Titan athletes for the year.  Zman named Titan Athlete of the year . . . and many other good awards.  Each teams' top academic performing also gets an award/recognition and invites their mentor faculty member to the dinner.  Well done IWU Athletic Department.  Some good pictures of the event all over FB today too.  IWU has had, is having a great sporting year -- with golf, basketball, baseball, softball, track and field -- individual performances and national titles . . . all in all a great sporting year for the TITANS! 

Heading for the upper Midwest next week.  Can I expect more snow?  I thought it was Eastertime now and time, truly time for SPRING. Hoping to catch some baseball and softball and, yes, perhaps yes, some Lacrosse at IWU.   

Will catch graduation for sure, May 4th on the "Springtime" Quad.

IWU70

[Player#50]

I stand corrected with the Thompson name.  It was actually Michael Harper who was probably the best player who played at North Park.  I am surprised you did not have that name in your memory as it seems quite vivid.  He played from 1978-80 on some great teams. 43 - 5 in conference during those 3 years.  Thanks for the welcome.  What bothers me most in my RANT is that a lot of people who have never played a college game nor ever seen a particular player, seem to think they are qualified to judge players skill levels. 

[Pat Coleman]

Michael Harper is assuredly emblazoned on Gregory's brain. He's just not named Thompson.

Welcome to the board. It's like talk radio. All sorts of people feel they are qualified to judge other people on all sorts of things, whether they are or not.

If only former college basketball players were allowed to talk about college basketball, this would be a quiet board indeed.

[joehakes]

I think that Greg Sager has probably earned the right to rank North Park (College or University) basketball players.  I began working there in the 1980's and Greg never missed a game as a student, and my guess is that he hasn't missed many as an alum.

For what it's worth, I was guessing that you were referring to Michael Thomas who was a pretty fair player back in that era.  Also, I did not play in the CCIW but saw Mel Peterson, John Pfund, Wayne Dunning and a few others along the way.  Hopefully, I might be worthy of a comment every year or so.

[sac]

Colin Lake 5-7  G  Ottawa Lake-Whiteford (Michigan, near Toledo)  will attend North Park

Apologies for not knowing if he has sent his deposit in yet.  This will have to do, http://monroecountybasketball.com/2014/04/17/lake-to-play-at-north-park-university/

Lake was named Class C player of the year by bankhoops.com.

Lake scored 47 against one of the best teams in Michigan this past year, Detroit Consortium.  He has range, lets say.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHrcKfI-Soo

[havej]

Player#50 - welcome to the board and totally agree on your assessment of the talent level of the league back in the 60s / 70s.  Back then I believe there were less than 200 NCAA Division 1 universities compared to the current 300+ so the talent pool was excellent at the D3 level.  Harper no doubt the man at NPC, but Bud and Mike not far behind. 

[Player#50]

Thanks to all who have made me feel welcome.  I am not a writer, athletic director, or casual fan, but someone who has played at every level.  The point I have been trying unsuccessfully to make apparently is that every player who puts on a uniform and puts themselves out there for someone's entertainment is worthy of the respect the difficulty it takes to do that.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and thank heavens we don't always agree on whom is the best player, team, coach or whatever.  History is a fair judge of talent and at the end of the day will bring balance to any opinion.

[newCCIWfan]

Thanks to all who have made me feel welcome.  I am not a writer, athletic director, or casual fan, but someone who has played at every level.  The point I have been trying unsuccessfully to make apparently is that every player who puts on a uniform and puts themselves out there for someone's entertainment is worthy of the respect the difficulty it takes to do that.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and thank heavens we don't always agree on whom is the best player, team, coach or whatever.  History is a fair judge of talent and at the end of the day will bring balance to any opinion.

Out of curiosity, what brought on this topic of conversation? Was there a perceived slight to past CCIW players? I've been reading this board for the last 4/5 years and posting sparingly for the last 2/3 and all I have ever seen is respect for CCIW history and tradition. I guess I am not sure where this is all coming from, though perhaps I missed a post.

[AndOne]

Wesleyan recruit

Evidently John Carroll of Ottawa will attend IWU.

http://www.mywebtimes.com/sports/carroll-commits-to-illinois-wesleyan/article_9a7f9748-5995-5d4f-8e85-72f1185e485a.html?mode=jqm
(You need a subscription to view the article)

Heard that he was also considering Illinois Valley Jr. College. 

[bopol]

Wesleyan recruit

Evidently John Carroll of Ottawa will attend IWU.

http://www.mywebtimes.com/sports/carroll-commits-to-illinois-wesleyan/article_9a7f9748-5995-5d4f-8e85-72f1185e485a.html?mode=jqm
(You need a subscription to view the article)

Heard that he was also considering Illinois Valley Jr. College. 

The community colleges in Illinois provide an excellent and cost-effective education.  There is a system in place to ensure that the courses taken can be transferred to any public college or university in Illinois and I can attest that most are taught at a high level.  Given how expensive higher education has become, more students take this route than in previous decades and they are often students that you wouldn't expect (students of means as well as students that are quite intellectually capable).

Many athletes end up at a community college because they get hosed over by college coaches.  There is a kid near where I live who seemed to have an inside track to a D1 baseball scholarship, but lost it late when the coach told him that he had offered it to a junior college pitcher that had accepted.  He is currently playing at an Illinois community college and likely will play baseball at a 4 year college eventually.

[Titan Q]

Ron Rose and the Titans have landed 6-6 SF Jaylen Beasley from Bloomington H.S.  Beasley is a long and extremely athletic wing who can shoot it.  He averaged 15.0 points and 11.2 rebounds as a senior and was named to the Pantagraph All-Area 1st Team.  Beasley had 16 double-doubles this year.

Really nice addition for IWU - some big upside here.


http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/high-school/basketball/boys/pantagraph-boys-basketball-all-area-team/article_3a447d58-d40a-5110-8ee6-029aadc22bfc.html

http://cihoops.com/?page_id=168

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHy79nmwXcs

[Gregory Sager]

I stand corrected with the Thompson name.  It was actually Michael Harper who was probably the best player who played at North Park.  I am surprised you did not have that name in your memory as it seems quite vivid.

Michael Harper was an R.A. in my dorm during my freshman year at North Park. As Pat and Joe said, I'm pretty well aware of him. In fact, I interviewed him on the air during an NPU game a few years ago (I'm the play-by-play broadcaster for North Park).

He played from 1978-80 on some great teams. 43 - 5 in conference during those 3 years.

I was there for the third one, which was NPC's third straight national championship season. Harper and his fellow stars Michael Thomas and Modzel Greer formed the core of those three national title teams. To this day, that team from my freshman year at the Park remains the greatest D3 team I've ever seen.

Thanks for the welcome.  What bothers me most in my RANT is that a lot of people who have never played a college game nor ever seen a particular player, seem to think they are qualified to judge players skill levels.

As Pat said:

If only former college basketball players were allowed to talk about college basketball, this would be a quiet board indeed.

I don't think that you need to have been a college basketball player in order to be able to say something informed about college basketball players. Otherwise, Anderson head coach Owen Handy would be in the wrong profession.

For what it's worth, I was guessing that you were referring to Michael Thomas who was a pretty fair player back in that era.

That thought crossed my mind, too. But he was talking about big guys (Laing, Gobo, Hamming, Sikma), and Harps was both the big man and the standout among the three Vikings stars of the threepeat era, so it seemed to me that he might've been talking about Harps. (Turns out I was right.)

Also, I did not play in the CCIW but saw Mel Peterson, John Pfund, Wayne Dunning and a few others along the way.  Hopefully, I might be worthy of a comment every year or so.

I'd be willing to make a motion to up your permitted quota to two comments per year, Joe.

Thanks to all who have made me feel welcome.  I am not a writer, athletic director, or casual fan, but someone who has played at every level.  The point I have been trying unsuccessfully to make apparently is that every player who puts on a uniform and puts themselves out there for someone's entertainment is worthy of the respect the difficulty it takes to do that.

I think that all of the regular posters here have plenty of respect for the time, effort, sacrifice, and talent that it takes to play college basketball at this level, #50.

Out of curiosity, what brought on this topic of conversation? Was there a perceived slight to past CCIW players? I've been reading this board for the last 4/5 years and posting sparingly for the last 2/3 and all I have ever seen is respect for CCIW history and tradition. I guess I am not sure where this is all coming from, though perhaps I missed a post.

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing.

[Gregory Sager]

Colin Lake 5-7  G  Ottawa Lake-Whiteford (Michigan, near Toledo)  will attend North Park

Apologies for not knowing if he has sent his deposit in yet.  This will have to do, http://monroecountybasketball.com/2014/04/17/lake-to-play-at-north-park-university/

Lake was named Class C player of the year by bankhoops.com.

Lake scored 47 against one of the best teams in Michigan this past year, Detroit Consortium.  He has range, lets say.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHrcKfI-Soo

I held off on posting this, for precisely the reason you mentioned. (His deposit may actually be in by now, but I haven't heard about it yet.) NPU beat out Albion, Adrian, and Millikin for Lake. Aside from all the honors and statistical accomplishments he earned, Lake also had a workout with a MAC school, Toledo. Tod Kowalczyk and his staff loved Lake's game, but just couldn't see their way to offering a player that small a scholie to a MAC school.

Small or not, this is a kid who appears to have some nice CCIW potential.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Colin Lake 5-7  G  Ottawa Lake-Whiteford (Michigan, near Toledo)  will attend North Park

Apologies for not knowing if he has sent his deposit in yet.  This will have to do, http://monroecountybasketball.com/2014/04/17/lake-to-play-at-north-park-university/

Lake was named Class C player of the year by bankhoops.com.

Lake scored 47 against one of the best teams in Michigan this past year, Detroit Consortium.  He has range, lets say.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHrcKfI-Soo

I held off on posting this, for precisely the reason you mentioned. (His deposit may actually be in by now, but I haven't heard about it yet.) NPU beat out Albion, Adrian, and Millikin for Lake. Aside from all the honors and statistical accomplishments he earned, Lake also had a workout with a MAC school, Toledo. Tod Kowalczyk and his staff loved Lake's game, but just couldn't see their way to offering a player that small a scholie to a MAC school.

Small or not, this is a kid who appears to have some nice CCIW potential.

MAC coaches didn't learn anything from Earl Boykins if they are afraid to recruit a player just because of a height deficiency!