MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Also, is NPU really playing Manchester Univ (IN) on both 12/19 and 12/30?
Home and away in the same year! Very creative scheduling. Anyone who can pick up two games in the same year over a team that has gone 28-80 since 2012-2013, including 1-6 this year, should get a raise!

That was not planned, Mark. NPU was going to play UW-LaCrosse up in Wisconsin on that date a week and a half from now. That contract had to be voided at the eleventh hour -- in fact, I had even posted the North Park non-con schedule with UWL on it here on CCIW Chat a few months ago -- and that late cancellation left Tom Slyder scrambling to find a 25th game. Fortunately, Manchester had a late cancellation as well, so NPU and Manchester agreed to play a second game and turn it into a home-and-home. It certainly beats having to add a meaningless game against a non-D3 team such as East-West or Silver Lake or RMU-Springfield.

[hopefan]

Good bounce-back game for the Titans, 88-57 over EC.

Seibring 15
Rose, really improving as a PG, 15
Others, 9, 9, 8, 7, 7, and 7 
You get the picture -- depth and balance for the TITANS.

Now 6-2, 1-2.

Hope this team continues to improve, figure it all out.

IWU70

D3hoops.com Version of final score... which had me in a state of shock:

No. 16 Illinois Wesleyan    80    Elmhurst    86    Final

This score was still up this morning!!

[Titan Q]

D3hoops.com Version of final score... which had me in a state of shock:

No. 16 Illinois Wesleyan    80    Elmhurst    86    Final

This score was still up this morning!!

It's even in the scoreboard wrap up article...

Elmhurst sent No. 16 Illinois Wesleyan to its third straight defeat and pulled itself into a five-way tie for first in the CCIW standings. The Bluejays defeated the Titans 86-80.

[Gregory Sager]

That's a not-infrequent mistake when two teams play a women's/men's doubleheader. One problem is that there's typically only a pause of a half-hour or so between the two parts of the doubleheader, so the SID or the member of the SID's staff who reports the game often doesn't get the chance to get it done in that small amount of time. Or, at the other end, it's easy to confuse two results from the same two schools that are coming into d3hoops.com at close intervals on the same day.

[ChicagoView]

Don't paint with too broad a brush as it relates to AAU coaches.  Most attempt to do what the player and parents want.  Don't feel slighted but almost every kid that plays D3 that I come across feels, at the beginning, as if they settled or somehow missed out on playing at a higher level.  I can also say that four years later most see it differently than they did as a 17 or 18 year old.   Most parents are very much like their kids.  They want D1, sometimes as much or more than the player.  It's pretty startling to be a part of the process. What I tell kids is that I will do whatever I can to get them where they want to be, while at the same time being as honest as I can with the reality of their circumstances.  We discuss academics, etc., but all the kid hears is level.  I have had kids go D1 having never been on the campus or spending more than 5 minutes with the coach.  It's scary.  I tell my kids all the time don't make a decision that has 40 year implications for 40 minutes of Twitter glory, but it doesn't help. 

Right now I have about 30+ kids playing college ball on all levels (only 1 in D2).  Even when kids go D3 about half of them reach out and ask is there a way to still go D1.  Then when the season starts, ball is ball. 

One of the reasons D3 is so strong in IL is because the 13 D1 schools seem to be pretty clueless about kids in their own backyard.   Just got one of my kids to Houston, final schools were UAB, Whichita St. & W. Virginia.  Never received a single call from a D1 in IL.  Kid would have loved to stay closer to home never got the chance. 

As it relates to Bob/Windycity, if he says he got a kid an offer, he did.  Bob no longer coaches and truly just helps kids who are often overlooked... and he asks for nothing.  There are actually more people who just are in it for the kids in AAU than most know.  The shoe company teams get the pub, but programs like mine, Mercury Elite and countless others do a lot for kids on and off the court.  And yes our first conversations with kids are about D1 and the prospects of playing at the highest college level.  This conversation is unavoidable because for most kids it's the main reason they play AAU. 

Occasionally both the kids and the parents get it.  One of my current D3s received a D1 offer right before the start of school,  tough call, because the kid could easily play D1.  But the family made a decision and locked in with the D3. 

Finally, this whole issue about D3s being able to play D1 is silly.  Of course there are many kids on all levels who could contribute on D1. In my humble estimation after doing this for almost 30 years it works like this....  There are about 900 D1 scholarships each year.  The first 600 are easy calls, height, athleticism, connections, etc...  But there are probably a couple thousand kids that are talented enough for the last 100-200 scholarships.   That's where folks like Bob come into play to get your kid seen with those coaches as they give out those last few scholarships.  Then it becomes need and fit.  Coach may be looking for a shooter, defender or a GPA booster, you just never know.  A couple of my D1s are clear cut D1s and doing great.  I have some who would have the same struggles they are having at D1 if they played D3.   My D1s currently play at Louisville, IUPUI, Albany, SIUe, Chicago St., Incarnate Word, and a couple of other places that escape me.  A round robin of my D3s, D1s and JuCos would be fun to watch.  D3s would have edge shooting, D1s would have edge athletically, JuCos would have the most "game".  Take care....

[Titan Q]

I tried to rank the Central Region as things stand here on December 11.  I found this hard to do...this picture is pretty messy.

My main takeaway here is that the CCIW is not in great shape right now in terms of the regional picture.  Of course, it is still very early and this can change.

IWU's next two games are at Wash U and vs Chicago -- those games are huge for the Titans.  IWU's neutral court game vs Middlebury (at Staten Island) could be big too.

Projected Central Region Ranking (12/11/16)
1. UW-Eau Claire, 8-0  (wins vs St. Norbert, at Wash U)
2. North Park, 6-1 (wins at Augustana and IWU)
3. St. Norbert, 5-1  (win at Benedictine)
4. Chicago, 6-1 (win vs Carroll)
5. Wash U. 6-2 (win at Augustana)
6. UW-Platteville, 5-2 (win at North Central)
7. Ripon, 6-0
8. UW-Whitewater, 5-0
----------
In the picture:
* North Central, 5-2 (wins vs IWU, at Benedictine)
* Augustana, 7-2
* Illinois Wesleyan, 6-2
* Benedictine, 6-2
* UW-Stevens Point, 4-2 (win at Hope)
* UW-River Falls, 5-1 (win at St. Thomas)
* Carroll, 5-2 (win at North Park)


http://www.d3hoops.com/teams/region/central-men

[Greek Tragedy]

+1k, TQ

[Greek Tragedy]

Greg,

What was the cause of that NP/LC cancelation?

[Gregory Sager]

Greg,

What was the cause of that NP/LC cancelation?

I honestly don't know if it was an NPU decision or a UWL decision. Perhaps it was even mutual. All I know is that it happened very, very late and that NPU was lucky to find another D3 opponent on such short notice.

[GoPerry]

Not a particularly great game played by Wheaton last night in their 74-65 win over Calvin.  But a win is a win and grateful for it.  Even as we look for Aston Francis to score (18pts, 4 reb, 4ast), it's really nice to see someone else step it up as Luke Peters did with 24 pts, 4 rebs.  Both Peters and Kobe Eichelberger made some nice plays down the stretch and they both hit their free throws finally.

Calvin's Cam Denney sure has a nice game about him as he scored 19 really easy points.

The Thunder travel to Alma next Saturday as the Scots play their 5th CCIW team this year. 

Really surprised by the NPU loss.  I was looking forward to seeing them inch closer to a top 10 ranking.  From only looking at the box, yes the Vikes hurt themselves at the free throw line.  However, the difference seems to be Carroll shooting 59% from three-point and 57% overall.  Tough to beat anyone shooting that well on any given night.  Credit to Carroll.

[4samuy]

As Augustana found out when they faced NPU.   NPU. 59% FG, 64% 3 pt FG% and 84% FT%

[D3_Commenter]

Don't paint with too broad a brush as it relates to AAU coaches.  Most attempt to do what the player and parents want.  Don't feel slighted but almost every kid that plays D3 that I come across feels, at the beginning, as if they settled or somehow missed out on playing at a higher level.  I can also say that four years later most see it differently than they did as a 17 or 18 year old.   Most parents are very much like their kids.  They want D1, sometimes as much or more than the player.  It's pretty startling to be a part of the process. What I tell kids is that I will do whatever I can to get them where they want to be, while at the same time being as honest as I can with the reality of their circumstances.  We discuss academics, etc., but all the kid hears is level.  I have had kids go D1 having never been on the campus or spending more than 5 minutes with the coach.  It's scary.  I tell my kids all the time don't make a decision that has 40 year implications for 40 minutes of Twitter glory, but it doesn't help. 

Right now I have about 30+ kids playing college ball on all levels (only 1 in D2).  Even when kids go D3 about half of them reach out and ask is there a way to still go D1.  Then when the season starts, ball is ball. 

One of the reasons D3 is so strong in IL is because the 13 D1 schools seem to be pretty clueless about kids in their own backyard.   Just got one of my kids to Houston, final schools were UAB, Whichita St. & W. Virginia.  Never received a single call from a D1 in IL.  Kid would have loved to stay closer to home never got the chance. 

As it relates to Bob/Windycity, if he says he got a kid an offer, he did.  Bob no longer coaches and truly just helps kids who are often overlooked... and he asks for nothing.  There are actually more people who just are in it for the kids in AAU than most know.  The shoe company teams get the pub, but programs like mine, Mercury Elite and countless others do a lot for kids on and off the court.  And yes our first conversations with kids are about D1 and the prospects of playing at the highest college level.  This conversation is unavoidable because for most kids it's the main reason they play AAU. 

Occasionally both the kids and the parents get it.  One of my current D3s received a D1 offer right before the start of school,  tough call, because the kid could easily play D1.  But the family made a decision and locked in with the D3. 

Finally, this whole issue about D3s being able to play D1 is silly.  Of course there are many kids on all levels who could contribute on D1. In my humble estimation after doing this for almost 30 years it works like this....  There are about 900 D1 scholarships each year.  The first 600 are easy calls, height, athleticism, connections, etc...  But there are probably a couple thousand kids that are talented enough for the last 100-200 scholarships.   That's where folks like Bob come into play to get your kid seen with those coaches as they give out those last few scholarships.  Then it becomes need and fit.  Coach may be looking for a shooter, defender or a GPA booster, you just never know.  A couple of my D1s are clear cut D1s and doing great.  I have some who would have the same struggles they are having at D1 if they played D3.   My D1s currently play at Louisville, IUPUI, Albany, SIUe, Chicago St., Incarnate Word, and a couple of other places that escape me.  A round robin of my D3s, D1s and JuCos would be fun to watch.  D3s would have edge shooting, D1s would have edge athletically, JuCos would have the most "game".  Take care....

I think that is a pretty fair assessment of the recruiting scene in the Chicagoland area.

Another issue I think that is facing the recruitment of high school players is their high school coaches lack of reach. I think there has been a large shift in the past 10-15 years in which, high school coaches are losing connections/ reach (bar major hs programs) with college programs. In these cases, AAU allows the athletes a vessel to reach college coaches of all levels through showcases, tournaments, work outs.

There are a lot of players in the Chicago land who could play in the CCIW that do not end up playing college athletics because of lack of visibility!

[John Gleich]

I tried to rank the Central Region as things stand here on December 11.  I found this hard to do...this picture is pretty messy.

My main takeaway here is that the CCIW is not in great shape right now in terms of the regional picture.  Of course, it is still very early and this can change.

IWU's next two games are at Wash U and vs Chicago -- those games are huge for the Titans.  IWU's neutral court game vs Middlebury (at Staten Island) could be big too.

Projected Central Region Ranking (12/11/16)
1. UW-Eau Claire, 8-0  (wins vs St. Norbert, at Wash U)
2. North Park, 6-1 (wins at Augustana and IWU)
3. St. Norbert, 5-1  (win at Benedictine)
4. Chicago, 6-1 (win vs Carroll)
5. Wash U. 6-2 (win at Augustana)
6. UW-Platteville, 5-2 (win at North Central)
7. Ripon, 6-0
8. UW-Whitewater, 5-0
----------
In the picture:
* North Central, 5-2 (wins vs IWU, at Benedictine)
* Augustana, 7-2
* Illinois Wesleyan, 6-2
* Benedictine, 6-2
* UW-Stevens Point, 4-2 (win at Hope)
* UW-River Falls, 5-1 (win at St. Thomas)
* Carroll, 5-2 (win at North Park)


http://www.d3hoops.com/teams/region/central-men

To further muddy the waters, UWEC lost at Wartburg, which is 8-1 as well (though in the West). They play North Central next week in Florida.

[Gregory Sager]

D-Mac had a great interview with Tom Slyder last night on Hoopsville. You can hear it via the medium of your choice here.

[Gregory Sager]

Congratulations to Grey Giovanine upon the announcement of his impending induction into the IBCA Hall of Fame.