MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

At halftime of the IWU/Elmhurst women's game Saturday, I had a chance to speak with Elmhurst men's assistant coach John Baines about several topics, including:

* The 2007 CCIW race
* North Park's resurgence
* Nick Michael & Brent Ruch
* Zach Freeman
* Ron Rose's style
* 10-year anniversary of IWU's national title

That interview is here:

http://secure.stretchinternet.com/archive.php?user=wjbc&event_id=18290
(start at 1:03:20)

[veterancciwfan]

I need help. Should I take a leap of faith, assume the Titans will again be in the Final 4 in Salem in March and preregister for the Shamrock 5K on March 17 in Roanoke, VA (I just received the race app)?  Please vote using the following choices:

1) Forget it, unless Zach Freeman is cloned before Sunday
2) Forget it, even if Zach Freeman is cloned
3) Yes, miracles happen all the time

For CCIW fans who might get lucky and wind up in Salem on that weekend, the St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Roanoke on Saturday is a great parade, especially is you like bagpipe bands (which I don't). I think the City of Roanoke must pay every bagpipe band east of the Allegheny Mountains to march in the parade. If you attend, please wear green for me, OK?

[Gregory Sager]

Greg on question,  how come Brenegan didn't put Jones back in during that last segment.  EC had trouble with Jones inside most of the night, so why not put your "big guy" in the game, when it is "do or die" time?

In a must-score endgame situation with limited time left on the clock, Paul Brenegan wants to spread the floor and create multiple options for the Vikings and thus make it more difficult for the opponent to zero in on anyone or anything in particular. That means putting players on the floor for NPU who can both drive to the hole and knock down an outside jumper. That's not really Stephano Jones's game; he's strictly a classic, back-to-the-basket, low-post center with no handles and limited range. The endgame situation is tailor-made for Anthony Lenoir, Jay Alexander, and three guards, which is what Brenegan had on the floor.

Besides, working the ball into the low post is time-consuming. When you have less than twenty seconds left in the game and you have to bring the ball all the way up the floor from your own endline, you drastically reduce your set of options if you immediately attempt to force the ball into the post. Perhaps if the Vikings had Troy Ruths or Zach Freeman or Anthony Simmons it'd be worth considering. But they don't. Brenegan had the right personnel on the floor, and he called the right play. Hey, it worked; the Vikings got a point-blank, potentially game-winning shot for Joe Capalbo out of that play. It didn't go in, but you can't make the ball go into the basket with a whiteboard and a marker.

(P.S. I hate to keep hanging Capalbo out to dry by mentioning his miss over and over again. As I said last night, the NPU freshman played a terrific game. I'm excited at the prospect of having him in uniform at Foster & Kedzie for the next three-plus seasons.)

[Gregory Sager]

Very impressed with North Park they are much improved from last year.....looks like they have picked up some juco talent.

The only Viking who played in last night's game who is a new juco pickup is Stephano Jones. The other new transfer who played, Anthony Lenoir, came to North Park from D1 Western Illinois. The other newcomers who saw action last night -- Joe Capalbo, Nick Williams, Antonio Stevens, and Dan Oziminski -- are all freshmen. Julian Boyd may appear to be a new face as well, but he's actually been at NPU for four years now (he's the last remaining holdover from the Rees Johnson era). He's finally worked his way up from the end of the bench to the rotation over the past few weeks.

Nice bits on Elmhurst and U of Chicago in the Around the Nation.    King Arena is a nice place to see a game.  OK, that is a good prompt.  After the Shirk Center, which is in a field all by itself, what would you all say is the next best place(s) to see a game in the CCIW.
1) Shirk
2) Carthage's PEC
3) King Arena
4) Carver Center

Worst place to see a game
1) Elmhurst
2) North Park- yes I know the Crackerbox has history, but it is so small!  What if NPU was to host the CCIW Conf. Tourney?  Where would everybody sit?

Can't agree with you at all, 79jaybird, but this is of course a strictly subjective topic. As much as I wish North Park would do something with its gym -- either expand it considerably or replace it altogether -- if for no other reason than to shore up a recruiting liability, it's still a fantastic place to see a basketball game. You're right on top of the action, and many, many people who have no connection to NPU have told me over the years that they can feel the history in the place. When the crackerbox is full and the team is good, the homecourt advantage for NPU can be tremendous, as was demonstrated by the 62-game home winning streak the Vikings enjoyed back in the 1980s, a D3 record that stood for the better part of two decades.

And there's the rub: Great fans and a great team are what makes a gym. And it's almost always the case that fans come out to see a great team play. As ecdubb said, you can take the worst arena in the world and put a winning team on the floor and turn it into a great place to watch a basketball game.

As for what would happen with regard to seating if NPU were to host the CCIW tourney ... well, that wouldn't be North Park's problem, now, would it? To the victors go the spoils. If you earn the right to host, then you host ... period, end of story.

The CCIW does not disburse conference tourney tickets on an apportionment basis the way that the NCAA does in its postseason tournament. The only guarantee that CCIW schools have is that all eight of them will receive twenty tickets apiece, to be disbursed at the discretion of the teams themselves. As for everyone else, it's first-come, first-served, with adults paying $5 apiece (and the money goes to the CCIW, not to the host school) and students from the eight CCIW schools getting in for free with a valid student ID.

[AndOne]

I just spent 30 minutes reviewing all the messages over the past week over this debate thing.  As Moleman said to Apu "You stole 5 minutes of my life and I want them back..."  I'd say the same.

Congrats to Wheaton for a nice win against Freeman and the Titans.  Freeman reminds me a bit of Luke Moo in the way he can become unstoppable in certain games, and really charge up his team emotionally, providing needed leadership.

Wheaton really confuses me this year.  It will be interesing to see how they do over the next 3 games.  Can we be effective away from Kent Raymond?

NO!! Wheaton cannot win without Raymond - they run the offense around him, he creates off the dribble, hits the lane and dishes, has energy on defense in which he can stop dribble penetration.

Wheaton is NOTHING without Raymond only because they have no talented BIG guys and one smaller additional guard who cannot drive the lane but only hit 3's (anyone can do that)....if Raymond does not play, Wheaton is garbage!!

my 2 sense

Our House, I've heard it said that you get what you pay for.

If hitting 3's is so easy that "anyone can do that", which of the NCC guards has been opening things up for their vaunted big men with long range missiles?  Imagine NCC with Mohan  -  who I believe might be the guard you're referencing above. I'm thinking those 3's might have some significant value in Naperville this season.

Could the guard "referenced above" be Panner? To me, he has not been very impressive this year. Perhaps I just saw him when he was not at his best? Before the season began I heard and read about a new guard at Wheaton who was originally supposed to play at Texas, but then went to Wheaton instead. Based on what I've seen, he is kinda frail and not real fast, and appears to have no intention of driving the lane. I can't imagine him being able to play at Texas which has been a good D1 team in recent years.

Additionally--------IMHO, if you are good enough to play, and especially to start on ANY CCIW team, there is no way in heaven or hell that you can be considered "garbage." The CCIW is likely (some would say definately) the best DIII conference in the country. Even the guys who rarely play were stars in high school. I think saying someone has "not been very impressive" is a long way from calling someone "garbage." And, how would you feel if someone described you as "garbage" or worst yet, your son?

[John Gleich]

Great fans and a great team are what makes a gym.

This is so true.  It doesn't matter how flashy the scoreboard is if the home team scores fewer points most of the time or how nice the arena is if the comfy seats are always empty.

[Gregory Sager]

Additionally--------IMHO, if you are good enough to play, and especially to start on ANY CCIW team, there is no way in heaven or hell that you can be considered "garbage." The CCIW is likely (some would say definately) the best DIII conference in the country. Even the guys who rarely play were stars in high school. I think saying someone has "not been very impressive" is a long way from calling someone "garbage."

Thank you, AO. Truer words were never said. The word "garbage" has no place in here when it comes to describing CCIW teams or CCIW players ... not because it's unkind, but because it's inaccurate.

[AndOne]

Or maybe unkind AND inaccurate!

[tjcummingsfan]

North Central is hands down the worst arena I've been in in D3. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

North Central is hands down the worst arena I've been in in D3. 

Don't take a trip to New England in February.

[David Collinge]

Great fans and a great team are what makes a gym.

This is so true.  It doesn't matter how flashy the scoreboard is if the home team scores fewer points most of the time or how nice the arena is if the comfy seats are always empty.

To each his own, I guess.  I absolutely love going to Kenyon to see games, and it's not because the fans are good (they're okay, the students are a bit ruder than I'd like, and it's never full) or the home team is good (it's not, but they do play a lot of close games), but rather because the gym is so amazing and wonderful. 

I actually find it hard to concentrate on the game in a full and boisterous gym.  If the game is exciting, I'll get into it, and I don't need a crowd to remind me.

[ecdubb420]

Wheaton-EC promises to be a great game tomorrow, but if I'm an Elmhurst fan, I would be concerned over who will guard Raymond.  I would love to put Burks on him and let his long frame annoy the crafty guard, however you have to worry about Standard if that happens.  
As highly as I think of Sayre, guarding Raymond would be a tough, tough task.  It looks that either Pat Bacon will be getting a ton of playing time (and guard Raymond), or Elmhurst may play really big and put Burks at the 2 with Strzemp (who I still don't think will be on the floor more than 10 minutes), Ruch and Michael up front.    

[joehakes]

North Central is hands down the worst arena I've been in in D3. 

Don't take a trip to New England in February.

Hoops,

C'mon, you know the Bennett Center isn't that bad.  Plus we have had about 2" of snow this winter.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Hey, I didn't say there weren't good facilities in New England, I just meant to infer that there were a whole bunch of bad ones.  Honestly, the fact that you can refer to any d3 facility as an "arena" says it's not that bad.

Try watching a game at Anna Maria's airplane hangar or Curry's gym with three rows of seats on one side of the court.  Colby-Sawyer's playing surface is some mix of clay and rubber that allows them to play tennis indoors when they're buried in snow.

[ecdubb420]

Does North Park have season tickets? 
I ask because unless they are selling about 1000 tickets in advance, only to have most of those people not show, there is no way their attendance figures have been accurate.  If there were 500 people at the EC game, I would be surprised.  The 1600 figure leads me to believe some attendance inflation is going on.
Perhaps they are taking a page out of the Nixon-Kennedy election and stuffing the ballot box in hopes of living up to that vote early, vote often Chicago moniker.