MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Dennis_Prikkel]

OY

and to think that North Park once had a 33-game win streak against both Elmhurst and Carthage!

[Naperick]

Switching gears, does anybody know if former Elmhurst star, Brent Ruch, is currently playing basketball professionally?

No he is not.

Thanks for the info.

[Viking Blue]

Revitalizing the North Park men's basketball program means breaking some pretty odious streaks, and I feel that it's a matter of due diligence for me to report them. We've already talked about the twelve-game losing streak to Wheaton that NPU snapped on Saturday night. But that victory also marked the first time since the 2001-02 season that the Vikings have won three CCIW games in a row.

A win over Elmhurst in the crackerbox tomorrow night would snap two more of those odious streaks. First and foremost, it would break a nineteen-game losing streak to the 'jays that dates back to the 1999-00 season. Second, it would mark the first time since 1991-92 that the Park will have won four straight CCIW games.

Oh my....my first year on campus was 95-96.  It's remarkably horrible that I have never seen these guys win four straight games.  It also speaks to the annual firepower in this conference...

[iwu70]

Koschintzky to return to play for IWU at Wheaton.  See Pgraph article today.  Apparently, he will not start but will begin to play a role in the rotation again.  This gives IWU some additional speed, rebounding and defense amongst the "bigs" of the IWU frontline. 

[markerickson]

Over the last several days I've read the observations about North Park defending the perimeter and penetrating on offense.  While I'm not a basketball whiz, I do recall my laments over the last several years that North Park failed miserably at defending the trey and having four guys hanging around the trey line as an offensive scheme.  I'm happy for the current win streak, no doubt, but defending/penetrating must become the norm instead of a phenomenon in order to continue breaking the odious streaks.

[Mugsy]

Case in point, Wheaton fans:  Watch the tape of Saturday's last second layup by McCrary.  The Wheaton player who inbounded the ball and chucked it 70 feet for the assist CLEARLY moves his feet before throwing that pass....an inbounds play which did not come after a made basket.

Ah yes... the best way to start any argument/discussion/debate.  Throw in the "watch the tape" comment like it is supposed to add credibility to what follows.  There is no answer to "watch the tape".  Case closed, end of discussion.   

You all knew I'd respond to this, right?   

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Case in point, Wheaton fans:  Watch the tape of Saturday's last second layup by McCrary.  The Wheaton player who inbounded the ball and chucked it 70 feet for the assist CLEARLY moves his feet before throwing that pass....an inbounds play which did not come after a made basket.

Ah yes... the best way to start any argument/discussion/debate.  Throw in the "watch the tape" comment like it is supposed to add credibility to what follows.  There is no answer to "watch the tape".  Case closed, end of discussion.   

You all knew I'd respond to this, right?   

OY   

[REDMENFAN]

Here's preview in kenosha news about Carthage's game at NC today.  Article is titled "Cards' phenom awaits Redmen."

http://www.kenoshanews.com/sports/cards_phenom_awaits_red_men_7169340.html

[Gregory Sager]

Case in point, Wheaton fans:  Watch the tape of Saturday's last second layup by McCrary.  The Wheaton player who inbounded the ball and chucked it 70 feet for the assist CLEARLY moves his feet before throwing that pass....an inbounds play which did not come after a made basket.

Ah yes... the best way to start any argument/discussion/debate.  Throw in the "watch the tape" comment like it is supposed to add credibility to what follows.  There is no answer to "watch the tape".  Case closed, end of discussion.   

You all knew I'd respond to this, right?   

Every time I see those three words together I immediately think of you, Mugsy. I'm the "non-conference, not preseason" guy ... you're the "watch the tape" guy.

In this case, however, I don't want to dissuade anyone from watching the tape, because my voice is on that tape. It's a beautiful thing when information-gathering and ego come together.

[WUPHF]

Please forgive me for a non-basketball related post.  It is CCIW-related in that it is about Wheaton. 

Wheaton is one of the more interesting institutions for students of higher education and I thought the essay, as well as the effort to kill its publication, might be interesting to a few of you: http://whitherwheaton.org/.

Incidentally, I did not realize that the Thunder used to be known as the Crusaders. 

[Gregory Sager]

Please forgive me for a non-basketball related post.  It is CCIW-related in that it is about Wheaton.  

Wheaton is one of the more interesting institutions for students of higher education and I thought the essay, as well as the effort to kill its publication, might be interesting to a few of you: http://whitherwheaton.org/.

I couldn't even get past the opening page. The title alone -- "Whither Wheaton? The Evangelical Flagship Charts a New Course" -- made my eyes roll so strongly that it made me dizzy.

[Titan Q]

If anyone is available to keep the in-game updates board active tonight it would be greatly appreciated.  I'll be flying home from Phoenix tonight, not arriving in STL until 8:15pm or so.  For some reason, I can pull up a few of the live stats pages on my iphone, but not others.  (I believe Sidearmstats is the software package that does not work...and I know Wheaton uses that one.)  In-game updates will be my only way to follow things, so if anyone is around and can do it I'll thank you in advance!

Speaking of Sidearmstats, I had the IWU/Elmhurst livestats up Sunday from here in Tempe.  Edmond O'Callaghan made a basket before halftime and it said he "silenced the crowd with that basket".  Another possession Sean Johnson "dialed up a trey from long distance."  What's the deal with the color commentary from the software?

Been out of the CCIW loop since arriving here last Thursday.  Glad to hear John Koschnitzky is returning.  Coming into the year, I would have said he was IWU's 2nd or 3rd best player.  His loss from the starting lineup and rotation was big, but the Titans have survived it fairly well.  It will be interesting to see how the Koschnitzky situation plays out the next few games...how many minutes he plays, and where he is used (the 3, the 4, or both).  Down the road, having Koschnitzky back should really help the Titans on the defensive end, as he gives them someone who can guard a mobile 3/4 type.  And on the offensive end, John can be a tough matchup.

Good luck to the Titans tonight.  Seems like almost every IWU/Wheaton game @ Wheaton for the last 15 years or so has been a barnburner.  I don't expect anything different this evening.

[WUPHF]

I couldn't even get past the opening page. The title alone -- "Whither Wheaton? The Evangelical Flagship Charts a New Course" -- made my eyes roll so strongly that it made me dizzy.

Really?  What part?  As long as you do not read Whither as "Wither," it seems like a reasonable question for an institution that is getting a new president after twenty years or so.  I am sorry I posted it.

[Gregory Sager]

Speaking of Sidearmstats, I had the IWU/Elmhurst livestats up Sunday from here in Tempe.  Edmond O'Callaghan made a basket before halftime and it said he "silenced the crowd with that basket".  Another possession Sean Johnson "dialed up a trey from long distance."  What's the deal with the color commentary from the software?

That was brought up last week after the NPU @ NCC game:

Does anyone else find the North Central live stats page kind of annoying with terms like "rain maker" and "cleans up the glass" and "dials up a three from long distance" to name a few? 

It is annoying, and if I ever meet someone from Sidearmstats it'll be the first thing I mention. However, I do think that Sidearmstats is an upgrade over the software and format used by North Park, Carthage, Augie, Millikin, etc., in that the Sidearmstats format is much more comprehensive and gives vital game info (team fouls per half, timeouts left, etc.) that the other format doesn't.

I couldn't even get past the opening page. The title alone -- "Whither Wheaton? The Evangelical Flagship Charts a New Course" -- made my eyes roll so strongly that it made me dizzy.

Really?  What part?  As long as you do not read Whither as "Wither," it seems like a reasonable question for an institution that is getting a new president after twenty years or so.  I am sorry I posted it.

Don't be sorry. The article you linked is actually interesting reading, including the backstory behind CTI's refusal to publish the piece in Books and Culture. The reason behind my eye-roll is rather involved, and I'd be willing to discuss it with you in a different venue (i.e., it would bore the heck out of most CCIW Chat readers). Let's just say that many of us who hold an allegiance to other evangelical colleges and universities, or other philosophical models of Christian higher education, or both, take a dim view of that whole "evangelical flagship" and "evangelical Harvard" nonsense attached to Wheaton College.

[Mugsy]

I couldn't even get past the opening page. The title alone -- "Whither Wheaton? The Evangelical Flagship Charts a New Course" -- made my eyes roll so strongly that it made me dizzy.

Really?  What part?  As long as you do not read Whither as "Wither," it seems like a reasonable question for an institution that is getting a new president after twenty years or so.  I am sorry I posted it.

What you do not recognize is the severe rivalry between Wheaton College and North Park students/alum (particularly from the perspective of North Park).  Wheaton has often (and many times rightfully so) been perceived as arrogant, haughty, proud, puffed up, etc...  Mr. Sager and other NP alum could add more adjectives, I'm sure.    

This article was written by a Wheaton alum and the title alone will not resonate well, particularly with alum from other Evangelical institutions.  As Mr. Sager points out, just the title alone was stomach-churning to him.

I would point out that as a Wheaton alum I find the article very interesting, but the title (and perception) and self-declarative as "Evangelical Flagship" is nauseating.  While I don't like the labelling of one institution as superior to another (particularly Evangelical institutions - so much for humility  ), it is even worse when someone associated with the said institution is the one boasting.

(Besides... my North Park wife jabs me with her pointy North Park elbow anytime I get too puffed up about Wheaton - exception when it comes to football, because... well... 30 straight years of dominance is worth a little pride.  )