MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[CCIWFAN3]

I forgot one other thing.  Since I'm getting hung out to dry becasue I labeled a player as a 5 instead of 4...look at the offense (set plays:))...the 4's and 5's are interchangeable.  It's a continuous offense.  Most of 4's and 5's shots are from the same location...in paint, at the block...maybe the free throw line, or elbow a time or two.  If the 5 starts strong side block and the ball is reversed a time or two...the 4  could end up shooting the ball from the exact location where the 5 started from.  It's called spacing...ball movement...moving without the ball, and playing within your ability and within the framework of the team's.

[AndOne]

The November 15 IWU vs Benedictine game (season opener) has been moved from Lisle to Bloomington.  I guess BU is putting a new floor in and it will not be ready on 11/15.

Just FYI.

About time! The sponge rubber floor at Benedictine was a very poor excuse for a basketball floor at any level. It always seemed like an ankle or knee injury was only a step away from happening.

[Hardwood]

Here we have some actual stats....not 7'0", but 6'7" is close: 

Hmm... I think 5 inches is a significant difference in a basketball terms.

[CCIWFAN3]

Nay...what's 5 inches when your an athletic 5, or is it a 4...I get confused.

[Titan Q]

Here we have some actual stats....not 7'0", but 6'7" is close:  1-9 from the 3 point line (shoots the 3), and 52 turnovers (2nd on the team)...so he must have at least tried to handle the ball.  So there you have it: a 5 man that shoots the three and handles the ball:)

He started 25 games ....Chamernik only started 14....O'Callaghan started 5.  So Doug did play the 5 spot quite a bit.  If not starting at the 5....he played a lot of minutes at the 5.

Notice the 2nd leading rebounder on the team...Koschnitzky....he will be playing the 4 and Zimmer starting at the 3.  K. is very physical and has quite a vertical too.  The three guards of Travis, Sean J, and Zimmer make a fine trio.  Zimmer has one of the best if not the best 3 point range in conference.  If there's a potential all region...look at the three guards.

As a junior, Brett Chamernik started all 27 games for IWU at the 5, averaging 25 minutes a game.  He had a solid year, averaging 10.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and shooting .588 from the field.  Darius Gant was IWU's starting 4.  Doug Sexauer averaged 18 minutes per game off the bench as a freshman and played a traditional "4"-type role.  (He shot 32 3's as a freshman, for example.)

Unfortunately, Chamernik was slowed by a stress fracture in one of his feet all of 2008-09.  His missed 3 games and played sparingly in others (like @NPU 8 min, @ Elm 14 min, @ NCC 14 min, @ Aug 16, vs Elm 18).  Due to his injury, he only started 14 of IWU's 25 games as a senior.  To fill the void, Ron Rose started Edmond O'Callaghan 5 times (at the 5).  In the other 6 games without Chamernik, Rose started  Sexauer at the 5, with Duncan Lawson starting at the 4 twice and John Koschnitzky starting at the 4 3 times. 

Doug Sexauer can certainly play the 5 (again, he started there in 6 of IWU's 25 games last year), but his skill set is really more 4 than 5 – he is good facing the basket and has nice touch out to 18 feet or so.    I know Ron Rose would prefer him at the 4 and  I've mentioned a few times already that IWU is looking for someone to step up and grab that starting 5 spot.  There are certainly options - 6-9 Ryan Connolly and 6-7 Edmond O'Callaghan probably being the two leading contenders.  If that doesn't happen, I assume Plan B is to start Sexauer at the 5 and Koschnitzky at the 4 (and Zimmer at the 3).  For right now, my money is on Sexauer being the starting 4 coming Nov. 15.  We'll see. 

[Gregory Sager]

Can't help on the 'handle the rock and shoot the 3', but as far as 'strong and athletic', ya think anyone in the CCIW would recognize Ben Strong if I get him a Titan jersey?

Otherwise, as far as actual CCIW players, we surely have someone since Jack Sikma, don't we?  Would the NPU (then C) AA count (Michael Thomas? or was it Michael Harper?  I always forget which was the big guy. )

Michael Harper was the big guy, Chuck. Harps was alternately listed at 6'10 or 6'9. He was strong in a wiry sort of way, and was of course extremely athletic -- to the point where he was able to move to forward and play for the Trailblazers for a couple of years -- but I suppose that it all hinges on the question of whether he qualified for that extra inch or not.

In thinking of the league's 6'10-or-taller players over the past thirty years, I can't think of any who were both notably strong and notably athletic. Most of them fell into the skinny finesse player category (Nick Michael of Elmhurst, Brandon Donaldson of North Park, Andy Boyden and David Caldwell of Illinois Wesleyan, David Little of Wheaton, etc.), while a couple of them fell into the category of big bruisers for whom "athletic" would not have been the adjective of choice (Adam Rue of Augustana and Bill Bracksick of Illinois Wesleyan come to mind).

[Titan Q]

while a couple of them fell into the category of big bruisers for whom "athletic" would not have been the adjective of choice (Adam Rue of Augustana and Bill Bracksick of Illinois Wesleyan come to mind).

I'd throw Titan Hammer into this category too (even though he was only 6-7 and not the required 6-10)...bruiser for whom "athletic" would not have been the adjective of choice.

[John Gleich]

They guys who fall into both of those categories typically are snatched up by D-I or D-II schools.  Scholarships are dangled in front of them early and they snatch them up.  And because they're as gifted as they are, they typically do well on that level (and don't transfer to a D-III). 

Guys that size don't slip through the cracks if they can walk and chew gum at the same time.  And we're talking about guys who can whistle while doing it too.

[Gregory Sager]

They guys who fall into both of those categories typically are snatched up by D-I or D-II schools.  Scholarships are dangled in front of them early and they snatch them up.  And because they're as gifted as they are, they typically do well on that level (and don't transfer to a D-III).  

Guys that size don't slip through the cracks if they can walk and chew gum at the same time.  And we're talking about guys who can whistle while doing it too.

Yep. And it's also worth pointing out that the situation you describe is not a recent one -- it goes back several decades. The only reason why Michael Harper slipped through the cracks and wasn't snatched up by a scholarship school, f'rinstance, was because he was only 6'4 when he graduated from high school. He grew five or six inches taller during his freshman year at NPC.

[dansand]

Can't help on the 'handle the rock and shoot the 3', but as far as 'strong and athletic', ya think anyone in the CCIW would recognize Ben Strong if I get him a Titan jersey?

Otherwise, as far as actual CCIW players, we surely have someone since Jack Sikma, don't we?  Would the NPU (then C) AA count (Michael Thomas? or was it Michael Harper?  I always forget which was the big guy. )

Michael Harper was the big guy, Chuck. Harps was alternately listed at 6'10 or 6'9. He was strong in a wiry sort of way, and was of course extremely athletic -- to the point where he was able to move to forward and play for the Trailblazers for a couple of years -- but I suppose that it all hinges on the question of whether he qualified for that extra inch or not.

In thinking of the league's 6'10-or-taller players over the past thirty years, I can't think of any who were both notably strong and notably athletic. Most of them fell into the skinny finesse player category (Nick Michael of Elmhurst, Brandon Donaldson of North Park, Andy Boyden and David Caldwell of Illinois Wesleyan, David Little of Wheaton, etc.), while a couple of them fell into the category of big bruisers for whom "athletic" would not have been the adjective of choice (Adam Rue of Augustana and Bill Bracksick of Illinois Wesleyan come to mind).

Greg, or Dennis, or anyone else, remember a guy at Elmhurst named Brozek (or something close to that) in the late '70's and maybe early '80's? I think he was listed at 7-2. He obviously wasn't very good. Anyone else remember him?

[Gregory Sager]

Greg, or Dennis, or anyone else, remember a guy at Elmhurst named Brozek (or something close to that) in the late '70's and maybe early '80's? I think he was listed at 7-2. He obviously wasn't very good. Anyone else remember him?

You're right, he wasn't very good -- but he did block one of Harper's shots in the EC @ NPC game my freshman year (1979-80), and the entire crackerbox went "Oooooooh!", as in, "How in the world did someone manage to swat away a shot by Harps?"

[True Basketball Fan]

Nick Michael was skinny when he first got to Elmhurst.  But, if anybody still remembers, he was 6'10 240 by the time he was a senior.  That's hardly finesse.  In fact, I predict he would've led the league in rebounding if it wasn't for Chris Martin being his teammate for a couple of years, who was a tenacious rebounder himself.  And then his senior year was when Brent Ruch hit the league by storm.  It's hard to steal all the rebounds away from those two guys, I don't care who you are.  Anyway, he was in the double digits in total dunks his junior year and also his senior year.  Finesse?......kind of, but I would lean him more towards the power side, not a bruiser, but somewhere in between.

[Titan Q]

Some preseason dates of interest for IWU fans...


* October 15: First day of practice (3:30pm)

* October 27: Scrimmage vs Olivet Nazarene (7:00pm @ Shirk Center)

* November 5: Green/White scrimmage (7:00pm @ Shirk Center)

* November 10: Scrimmage @ Aurora (time TBD)


Hard to believe practice starts tomorrow...wasn't it just 4th of July?

[clemac]

Thanks Q, I knew I could count on you.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Talking about big-men in the CCIW brings to mind the "epic" junior varsity battles between Jon Christenson of North Park and a player named Seebrooks or Middlebrooks for Elmhurst in the early seventies.  Talking about those games always brought tears to the eyes of Dan McCarrell.

Jon Christenson is still a good friend, but he was nick-named "The Tree" and was the only player I know whose hands had nicknames as well "The Paddles".  Jon was 6-9/6-10 and could pick dimes off the bottom of the net.  The player from Elmhurst was his Bluejay twin.

There jayvee confrontations were the things legends were not made of, because neither one was very good – in fact..., but they played with an élan and intensity against each other which always gave a false promise of better things that never materialized.

Dgp