MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Dennis_Prikkel]

I regret never having been in the old gym. Sounds like it was quite an interesting place. I think my first Augustana game was around 1974, so I missed it by about three years.

Old Gym circa 1917

the last season they were in the old gym was 1970-71.  On a bitter cold January night then assistant coach Dave Langrock took us in to his office.  There was a one-inch crack in the brick work and we could see outside without looking through the window. - lol

[Dennis_Prikkel]

I regret never having been in the old gym. Sounds like it was quite an interesting place. I think my first Augustana game was around 1974, so I missed it by about three years.

Old Gym circa 1917

I've collected post cards for 45 years.  I have a much-better picture of the old gym in a postcard.
dgp

[Gregory Sager]

actually there were 3 rubber floors in the cciw at one time: North Central's, Augustana and Millikin (through much of the seventies and eighties).

Augie's was replaced in 1991.

Yeah, I'd forgotten that Carver used to have a rubber floor. Strange, that, since one of my favorite college memories took place on that floor back in 1980.

Perhaps the most unique floor was in Augie's old gym.  It was a wooden floor over a swimming pool. 

They built Carver Center after Donna Reed and Jimmy Stewart fell in.

Don't forget Alfalfa!

(The gym/pool used in the film is that of Beverly Hills High. It's still around today.)

Combine that with a new year's tourney at Cal Lutheran and you have a pretty good pre-season schedule.

Wiseguy.

[usee]

Combine that with a new year's tourney at Cal Lutheran and you have a pretty good pre-season schedule.

Wiseguy.

YES! I win $1 from Mugsy. I had you pegged for a response within 90 minutes and I had almost 7 minutes to spare.

[Gregory Sager]

Mugsy should've known better than to take that bet. Rookie mistake, Mugsy.

[petemcb]

Wheaton is definitely playing a great schedule.  

Below is what I posted about CCIW non-conference schedules a few weeks ago.  I'd probably change a few things below now, but I think I'm still comfortable with the overall ranking of schedules...

Looking at CCIW non-conference schedules, and trying to evaluate who has the toughest and who the weakeast.  

Everyone plays at least 4 "weak teams."  In an effort to rank the schedules, I threw out what I considered to be each team's worst 4 and evaluated based on the toughest 7 non-conference games.  Note, I did not do any research on these non-conference opponents, but just ranked based on what I know about each...I certainly could be off.  (I also had to make a few guesses with tournament pairings.)  But I came up with...


Millikin (#6)
1 Missouri Baptist
2 Mary Hardin-Baylor
3 Maryville (Mo)*
3 Maryville (Mo)*
5 Franklin
6 Aurora
7 Rose-Hulman
* will probably play twice

(Eureka, Adrian, Webster, TBD)

North Central (#7)
1 Mississippi College
2 Albion
3 Benedictine
4 Franklin
5 Aurora
6 Lake Forest
7 Illinois College

(Oberlin, Indiana Institute of Technology, Rockford, Adrian)

Bob, is one of the things you'd consider changing maybe ranking NCC's schedule ahead of Millikin's?

[petemcb]

actually there were 3 rubber floors in the cciw at one time: North Central's, Augustana and Millikin (through much of the seventies and eighties).

Augie's was replaced in 1991.

Yeah, I'd forgotten that Carver used to have a rubber floor. Strange, that, since one of my favorite college memories took place on that floor back in 1980.

Greg, there is an uncharacteristic paucity of detail regarding that memory.  Are you done?

[wheels81]

Wheaton's first gym floor is now used as the Art Dept. floor in Adams Hall.  The architect left the floor in several areas with all the markings from its time as a basketball court. 

Best game I remember in old configuration (N/S) was vs. IWU when Matt Nadelhoffer inbounded to himself off the back of Titan guard (Korey Koon?).  Gym was packed to ceiling and louder and hotter than any Wheaton game since.  Helps with 500 more people in there.  No obstructed views either.

Bulls have been playing over a hockey rink and dodging circuses spanning 2 buildings, pre-, circa, and post Jordan eras.

[Titan Q]

NCC @ Albion, live video/stats links (tipoff at 6:30pm Central)...

live video tonight from Kresge

http://media.albion.edu/sportsvid

and live stats

http://www2.albion.edu/sports/stats/xlive.htm

[Gregory Sager]

Albion beat North Central in overtime, 84-79.

[Titan Q]

Albion 84
NCC 79 (OT)

- Reid Barringer: 28 pts
- David Twyman: 17 pts, 9 assists
- Derek Raridon: 16 pts, 6 reb

NCC led almost he entire game, but gave up the lead in the final 30 seconds.  The Cards were down 2 with 1.3 seconds to play in regulation, inbounding the ball with the length of the floor to go...and in the boneheaded play of the season, Albion fouled Kyle Julius, who was trying to receive the in-bounds, before the ball was even thrown in.  In a one-and-one situation, Julius knocked down both clutch FT's to tie the game.  NCC, playing in its third overtime game in a row (3 OT @ Aurora, OT vs Illinois College, tonight), got down early in the extra 5 minutes and never recovered...it also did not help that Derek Raridon fouled out early in OT.

North Central looked very good offensively during most of the game tonight @ Albion.  The Cardinals are a much better basketball team than I expected them to be in 2009-10.  A few random thoughts from the video stream I watched...

•   Shooting guard Reid Barringer is a player.  He reminds me so much of IWU's Sean Johnson.  Johnson is probably an inch or two taller, but they're so similar on the offensive end.

•   I think NCC freshman Derek Raridon is going to be an All-American someday.  I don't throw this name around lightly, believe me, but Raridon sure looks like a Bryan Crabtree (IWU '97) in the making.  Raridon not only has terrific size for a perimeter player (6-6), but he can put it on the floor already and get to the basket...something Crabtree couldn't do until his JR year.  

•   Kyle Julius has to be one of the best 6th men in the CCIW.  He reminds me a lot of Ryan Burks (Elmhurst '09, now a distinguished poster here).  Julius is 6-4, can shoot the heck out of it, but like Raridon, can handle the ball very well.

•   North Central has no low post presence.  6-7 freshman starter Brandon Stanciel should develop into a nice player, but at the present time he's not much of a factor.  Senior David Twyman does a nice job slashing to the hoop and is a good player, so the Cards do score points in the paint, but I think NCC's lack of low post presence is going to be their achilles heal in CCIW play.

•   I also think NCC will really struggle to defend the good low post post players in the CCIW.  Albion didn't seem to have much inside, but several CCIW teams are strong down low.  

[Titan Q]

For NCC, where did 6-8 freshman Joe Meyerhoff go?  After noticing he hasn't played a minute this year I checked the roster, and he's not there...

http://northcentralcardinals.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball

[Gregory Sager]

actually there were 3 rubber floors in the cciw at one time: North Central's, Augustana and Millikin (through much of the seventies and eighties).

Augie's was replaced in 1991.

Yeah, I'd forgotten that Carver used to have a rubber floor. Strange, that, since one of my favorite college memories took place on that floor back in 1980.

Greg, there is an uncharacteristic paucity of detail regarding that memory.  Are you done?

Here's the detais, Pete.

Wheaton's first gym floor is now used as the Art Dept. floor in Adams Hall.  The architect left the floor in several areas with all the markings from its time as a basketball court.

North Park's original gym, built in 1910, is now a modest-sized formal meeting center called Hamming Hall that gets intermittent use by the school. The Carlson Tower classroom complex and the current NPU gym were later built adjacent to it and attached to it. Hamming Hall still has the balcony that served as the seating area for basketball games (the backboard at the court's north end was attached to it) prior to the construction of the crackerbox in the late '50s. The basement, which used to house the oldest indoor swimming pool in the city of Chicago, was converted into locker rooms a decade ago, round about the time that it was formally named for a benefactor to the school. During my era, it was always called "the Old Gym."

[Gregory Sager]

•   Kyle Julius has to be one of the best 6th men in the CCIW.  He reminds me a lot of Ryan Burks (Elmhurst '09, now a distinguished poster here).  Julius is 6-4, can shoot the heck out of it, but like Raridon, can handle the ball very well.

He didn't shoot well tonight, though; he went 2-12 from the field (1-5 from downtown) for seven points, and he fouled out in overtime.

I've always thought that NCC would not be a patsy in the CCIW this year, even with the losses of Rogers and Drennan, because Todd Raridon always gets his teams to play great defense, and that's a tremendous equalizer. I also knew that his younger son would be a very good CCIW player, but I think he's ahead of schedule.

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton beat Chicago, 72-54. Tim McCrary had a monster night: 19 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists. Ben Panner chipped in 15 points, and Spencer Schultze added 11. Chicago center Steve Stefanou, who was the only Maroon in double figures, had a double-double of 12 and 10, but was severely hampered in the second half by foul trouble.

Weird game. Started with almost no scoring -- it was only 15-10, Wheaton, with six minutes to go in the first half -- before the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance went on a run to finish the first half up by a score of 34-13. In the second half the offenses took over, with Chicago scoring 39 and Wheaton scoring 38.

Chicago's strength is its backcourt, and Wheaton did a great job of suppressing the guard trio of Sustarcic, Pancratz, and Kinsella. They went 4-14 from the field and only scored 16 points between them.