MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[mr_b]

NPC became NPU in '95 or thereabouts.

North Park became a university in 1997.  There was quite a bit of discussion in faculty meetings over what the new name would be -- North Park University or the University of North Park.  One faculty member proposed a clean break -- "Nyvall University," re-naming the school after its first president. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I saw a game one time where the Varsity Assistant (as is common) was coaching the JV team and for this particular game the Varsity Head Coach was serving as assistant.  He spent most of the game sitting quietly on the bench, jotting notes on a clipboard.  After one particularly atrocious call, he simply smashed his clipboard on the ground between his legs without saying a word.  Unfortunately the force of the blow smashed the clipboard into dozens of peices and the Head Varsity Coach was given a double T and sent out of the gym.  The major problem came when the same refs stuck around to do the Varsity game and wouldn't allow the Head Coach back into the gym to coach the varsity team.  There was quite a shouting match and, I believe for the sake of legality, that game began with the opposing team shooting four free throws for the two phantom technicals the coach got before the game even began.

That was quite an evening.  Luckily his team won both games and I don't think it went farther.

[True Basketball Fan]

I saw a game one time where the Varsity Assistant (as is common) was coaching the JV team and for this particular game the Varsity Head Coach was serving as assistant.  He spent most of the game sitting quietly on the bench, jotting notes on a clipboard.  After one particularly atrocious call, he simply smashed his clipboard on the ground between his legs without saying a word.  Unfortunately the force of the blow smashed the clipboard into dozens of peices and the Head Varsity Coach was given a double T and sent out of the gym.  The major problem came when the same refs stuck around to do the Varsity game and wouldn't allow the Head Coach back into the gym to coach the varsity team.  There was quite a shouting match and, I believe for the sake of legality, that game began with the opposing team shooting four free throws for the two phantom technicals the coach got before the game even began.

Wow!  What a rare situation!  Amazingly, it probably happens a few times a year, somewhere.

Here's a good one:  I saw the boy's coach get a technical during the girl's game.  He was standing down on the end of the court with his team waiting to play the next game.  The refs were calling a poor game, and the boy's coach was barking at them accordingly.  They technically gave the technical to the "bench", and fortunately the women's coach had not received a tech that game, so there really wasn't much harm done.  Anyway, those same refs called the boy's game, and were actually pretty sharp, and did a good job.  I think they started calling the game better after the boy's coach crawled into them during the girl's game.  I definitely wouldn't suggest this strategy, but it worked in this case. 

[kenoshamark]

The Carthage basketball schedule has finally been posted:

http://www.carthage.edu/athletics/index.cfm?page=19

Nine of their eleven non-conference games are on the road including a trip to Vegas.   Only home games are with Hope and Calvin and the road swing includes tough games with Carroll, Lawrence, Gustavus Adolphus and a tilt down in Romeoville against Lewis University and Coach Trost.

Season starts on the road against Grinnell.  At first I didn't like the idea of having to start the season playing against that unorthodox style of play but guessing Bosko prefers to get that game over with immediately and then concentrate on a "normal" style of play.

Nothing to report yet on the roster for this year....hopefully that will be posted soon as well.

[diehardfan]

excellent... las vegas is less than five hours away 

[Gregory Sager]

NPC became NPU in '95 or thereabouts.

North Park became a university in 1997.

Good thing I remembered to include the words "or thereabouts".  All I know is that it happened sometime after my brief sojourn as a school employee.

There was quite a bit of discussion in faculty meetings over what the new name would be -- North Park University or the University of North Park.  One faculty member proposed a clean break -- "Nyvall University," re-naming the school after its first president.

I still think that David Horner and the Board of Directors (now called the Board of Trustees) should've put out feelers to various Forbes 500 billionaires and offered to rename the school after anyone willing to pony up enough dough for it, a la Rowan.

As some may remember I worked a few Jayvee games during Bosko's tenure as head coach when the officials he had ordered didn't show up.  One night I T'd up a NC guard for trying to draw fouls by grabbing his opponent's jersey and having them fall on top of them.

That's an old basketball trick that still works from time to time. I remember Kevin King of Illinois Wesleyan doing it to North Park's Dan Mulkerin on an inbounds play during the NCAA tournament game between the Vikings and the Titans in 1987. I'll bet that Mulkerin is still mad that King got away with it.

[Gregory Sager]

Registration for NPU's fall term starts a week from today (Friday), and Orientation begins this coming Monday. As per North Park tradition, there are still a few last-minute recruiting possibilities in the hopper, as the coaching staff is waiting on several potential Vikings for a late decision or for a tuition deposit or transcripts to arrive.

Nevertheless, there are some in-the-fold newbies that I can add to those previously discussed (guards Joe Capalbo of Crystal Lake Central, Dan Oziminski of Johnsburg, and Lukas Dahlstrom of Hanover, NH; forward Nick Williams of Niles North; and center Frank Theodorakakis of Niles West) over the past several months on CCIW Chat.

The four that I can announce are: 6'6, 220 senior forward/center Anthony Lenoir of Evanston Township HS via Redlands Community College and Western Illinois University; 6'3, 175 freshman guard Antonio Stevens of Mount Carmel HS; 6'4 junior guard Mike Church of Beloit (WI) Turner HS via UW-Rock County; and 6'0, 190 sophomore guard Johnny Lauer of Kouts (IN) HS via Lindenwood University.

Lenoir was a standout wing player for the Wildkits who was instrumental in leading them to the supersectionals as a senior, and I think it was widely assumed that he'd end up somewhere on a D1 scholarship. When that didn't happen, he went off to Oklahoma to one of those juco basketball mills that dot the Great Plains and gained some more size. He finally got the D1 scholie he'd wanted, but after a year at Western Illinois (where he was the sixth or seventh man) he left the program and the school.

Most coaches are wary of bringing in a senior transfer, and Paul Brenegan is no exception. They can pose a risk in terms of coachability and team chemistry. Sometimes, through no fault of the player, it's simply a problem of just fitting in and reorienting one's established way of doing things on the court. While some senior transfers have worked out famously (North Park's Ernie Hubbard, Illinois Wesleyan's Bill Braksick, and Wheaton's Jermaine Ellis), others have not (Carthage's Jarobi Kemp, North Park's Cal Ecker). But the NPU coaches are confident that Lenoir will bring a positive attitude and a good work ethic to the team. He's a very strong inside scorer and a solid rebounder and defender, and his athleticism gives him the versatility to play either big-man position, thus opening up different lineup possibilities for Brenegan. Based upon what I remember of Lenoir at Evanston and what the NPU coaches tell me, he should be a legitimate inside force in the CCIW in 2006-07.

Antonio Stevens sounds like he's going to be a very exciting player to watch. He was an IBCA All-Stater at Mount Carmel in '05 and was at the top of NPU's recruiting list last year. After a year away from basketball he's at the Park and is ready to compete for a starting position in the backcourt right away. While he was a big-time scorer for the Caravan, it's his defense that has the Vikings coaches raving. In this summer's Rising Stars league, North Central tattooed the Vikings by twentysomething points, largely because incoming freshman NCC guard Reid Barringer lit up the Vikings from beyond the arc. When the two teams met in a playoff-game rematch last week, Stevens took on the assignment of guarding Barringer -- and he put him in a total lockdown as the Vikings won the game (and this was the real-deal Cardinals of Simmons, Walton, Krumtinger, Valker, etc.). I can't wait to see Stevens in action.

For the past several seasons the Vikings have been The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, finishing at or near the bottom in every CCIW shooting category. Brenegan and assistant coach Steve Schafer went to a lot of trouble to correct that this past recruiting cycle, bringing in Lake County's two best prep bombers in Oziminski and Capalbo. Add Mike Church to that list of sharpshooting recruits. Church made a number of all-star teams in Wisconsin during his days at Beloit Turner, and apparently followed that up with a very successful career at the Wisconsin state juco in nearby Janesville, UW-Rock County. He almost accepted a ride to play at NAIA-2 Waldorf, but instead sat out last year. Defending D2 national champion Winona State, of all teams, was after Church this summer (why they still had a free ride to give out the summer after winning the Walnut and Bronze is a mystery), but he's coming to the Park instead. He apparently put on quite a shooting exhibition during his visit to NPU; I'm told that he made a perfect fifty out of fifty free-throw attempts, and nine out of ten trey attempts. It's been a long time since the Vikings had someone who could shoot like that.

I don't know much about Johnny Lauer. The coaches describe him as a classic fundamentally-sound, game-savvy Indiana basketball product. He was another one of the high school seniors NPU pursued last recruiting cycle who didn't end up in a Vikings uni in 2005-06, electing instead to follow the money to NAIA-2 Lindenwood in Missouri. He did see some court time for the Lions as a freshman; how much, I don't know. He could be in the mix for what should be a very crowded varsity backcourt depth chart this coming season.

It's very hard to say anything definitive about any of these guys; the only one I've ever seen play was Lenoir, and that was when he was a high-schooler half a decade (and two inches and at least 20 pounds of muscle) ago. I'm going on what I've been told by the coaches and what little I've been able to read about these guys from my web searches, and I claim no firsthand expertise on any of them. But it sounds to my admittedly biased ears like the Park just went from having a very good crop of newbies to a great one. Time will tell, of course. But I'm excited to at least get to see these new faces at an open gym in the next week or two.

[Gotberg]

Greg,

Thanks for the update - sounds like the program is heading in the right direction.  Next step is to translate the talent into wins.

How about a similar summary for incoming soccer players

[matblake]

That preview does sound good for the Vikings.  Translating it into wins is a definite must.  In basketball, it is easier to field a team no matter what your recent record is simply because of the number of players as opposed to say football or soccer.  However, you run into coachability issues (attitude, not running the offense, etc.)  or talent issues (can compete and the effort is good but just a 25% shooter instead of a 40% shooter) when teams in recent memory are below .500.  Rarely do you have a Larry Bird situation where one standout guy is able to carry a team on his back and take it to a level they have never sniffed before.  I think that with a couple .500 seasons NP can be back in contention regularly. 

[mr_b]

Thanks for the season preview on some key newcomers to the Vikings, Greg.  I'd love to see North Park competitive again.  It's been hard to watch the team the past few years.  I know how hard Coaches Brenegan and Schafer work to bring in the right players.

[veterancciwfan]

Just saw the U. of I. Schedule and the Illini open with an exhibition against Lewis U., I think on Nov. 1.  So a Scott Trost coached team gets to play the Illini two years in a row. Lewis also plays a regular season game at ISU on Dec. 19 when IWU plays on the road at Hanover.

There was another old Titan game on the local telecable channel last night. It was the game that preceded the IWU/NPU game I posted about earlier. This was an IWU vs. Augie game, the first league game of the 1999/2000 season. Augie was up 15 during the first half, IWU makes a serious run and cuts the lead to 6, Korey Coon is at the line and Grey is shouting so loud you can hear his screams on TV. I wonder where he learned this very irritating (to say the least) gimmick of trying to disrurb an opponent who is trying to shoot free throws while he is yelling as loud as he can. The refs stopped Coon from shooting and went to Grey and told him to stop.  He's a very good coach but he sure picked up some bad habits from his days in Div. 1 (I'm assuming).

[Gregory Sager]

Matblake, I agree that coachability and talent level are the two question marks that hover above any program that's been mired at the bottom for awhile. NPU has certainly had more than its share of problems in both categories in recent years. Furthermore, people are going to raise questions (fairly or unfairly) about the coachability quotient of any team that's featuring a substantial number of transfers, as NPU usually does and will again this season. There's always a certain sense of "guilty until proven innocent" as far as transfers are concerned with regard to their ability to fit in with their teammates and to do things the way their new coaches want it done. Frankly, I think transfers get tarred with a broad brush in that regard ... but there have been enough malcontent transfers at various programs over the years to keep that stigma fresh in people's minds.

I'd add a third question mark that the Vikings need to address this season, and that's cohesiveness. North Park's transfers are blending into a very young base of sophomores and freshmen. I think that at the moment the coaches are expecting 28 basketball players to show up on campus over the next seven days, and the only one of them who has two full years of varsity experience at NPU is junior forward Jay Alexander. This group of Vikings not only has to figure out how to play the way that Paul Brenegan wants them to play, they also have to learn how to play with each other.

Talent is the irreplaceable and ultimate ingredient necessary for NPU's return to success, however. You can have all the cohesiveness and coachability in the world on your roster, but if you don't have the horses you can't pull the wagon.

Greg,

Thanks for the update - sounds like the program is heading in the right direction.  Next step is to translate the talent into wins.

How about a similar summary for incoming soccer players

Wish I had one. All I know is that I'm over the moon about the fact that Isaac Lee is going to be back in an NPU soccer uni this fall. How many Olympians have ever competed at the CCIW level? And I'm not talking about Colombian shot-putters or Cameroonian golfers or anything spurious like that. If you're on the South Korean Olympic soccer team, you're legit.

I did talk to John Born briefly this past week -- and he's as ambivalent about being picked #1 in the CCIW preseason poll as I am. Like I said on the CCIW soccer page, it's more fun to be the hunter than the hunted ... especially when getting promoted to the top spot thereby makes Wheaton one of the hunters.

Incidentally, the new Helwig Rec Center will be officially dedicated on September 15. Having peeked in the windows when I was over on campus last week, I strongly doubt that it's going to be finished in time. But when it's finally open for business, it should make a big difference for NPU athletics. The facilities gap between North Park and the rest of the CCIW has been a huge burden for Vikings teams to overcome over the years, and Helwig will go a long way towards ameliorating that burden. It won't be a performance facility, but it'll be an outstanding practice facility for any number of sports, from football to baseball to softball to track -- and the fact that it'll have two basketball/volleyball courts means that the ridiculous scheduling pressure that plagues the crackerbox will be lightened, making it easier for the men's and women's basketball teams to operate as well.

[matblake]

Frankly, I think transfers get tarred with a broad brush in that regard ... but there have been enough malcontent transfers at various programs over the years to keep that stigma fresh in people's minds.

I agree with you about transfers, I used to be a stigmatizer.  That was until I really came to an understanding that I viewed transfers through a Division I mentality.  For most college players, there are plenty of reasons for transfers to exist that lie outside the scope of playing time and media exposure.  Cost, choice of academic program, family obligations are just some of the reasons.  Nobody questions someone who makes a job change that will potentially make them be able to achieve their long term goals, but I guess when it comes to athletics our perceptions of someone are a little more suspicious.

[robberki]

Those darn transfers ruin everything, if I was in charge I'd outlaw transferring schools.

[mr_b]

Incidentally, the new Helwig Rec Center will be officially dedicated on September 15. Having peeked in the windows when I was over on campus last week, I strongly doubt that it's going to be finished in time.

I'm guessing it will be fully operational by mid-October.  Everyone in Athletics is thrilled with the new facility.  In addition to the fitness center, weight room, track, volleyball, and basketball courts, there is a turf area for football, softball, and baseball practice indoors.  This will be a huge step up from taking infield practice on the hard wood floors of the Crackerbox.  There are also four classrooms, which will go a long way to alleviating the classroom crunch.