MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

IWU's recently-taken 2011-12 team picture...

http://www.iwusports.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball&


I see a lot of off-season weight room work there.  Victor Davis (#32) looks like a beast, and John Koschnitzky (#34), Eric Dortch (#30), Nick Anderson (#55), Kevin Reed (#50), Jordan Zimmer (#25), Mike Mayberger (#45), and Andrew Ziemnik (#35) look quite a bit stronger as well.

That should help the Titans.

Attention, attention. Tonight's movie features the Titans of Illinois Wesleyan starring in a remake of the classic 'Muscle Beach.'         

I know I've been scolded by one of our posters recently for referring to some players by their nicknames, but it appears TQ may have coined a new moniker for one of his beloved Titans---Now starting at the 4, Victor "The Beast" Davis!   

[USee]

As longs doesn't chang his number to #666 we should be fine.

[iwu70]

And, "the beast" is such a nice guy, too.  Looking forward to Victor's second year as a Titan.  Rebounding and defense should be much better for the Titans this year.  I'm looking forward to the line-up that as a Zimmer on each wing, with 3s raining down from all over the place!  Hoping for big "move up" years from Dortch and Anderson.  It's gonna be interesting to see how it all comes together.  First scrimmage this Wednesday at Shirk. 

IWU70

[izzy stradlin]

Wheaton preview:

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2011/10/31/MBB_pre.aspx?path=mbball

Augie preview:

http://www.augustana.edu/x37877.xml

[Titan Q]

Unfortunately IWU is dealing with a significant injury.  6-4 sophomore guard Brady Zimmer has a shoulder injury that he is trying to rehab through, but could very possibly end his season.  Zimmer was expected to play a lot of minutes this year on the perimeter for the Titans and provide scoring off the bench.  (Again, not a done deal that his season is over but doesn't sound good.)

Two of the logical candidates to replace Brady in the rotation are also injured - freshman Connor Wheeler (shin splints) and junior Dan Oswald (still recovering from the knee problems that sidelined him all of last year).

I assume all of this creates an opportunity for Stephen Rudnicki at the 2 and in turn, freshman David Molinari at the 1.

[CCIWFAN6]

Unfortunately IWU is dealing with a significant injury.  6-4 sophomore guard Brady Zimmer has a shoulder injury that he is trying to rehab through, but could very possibly end his season.  Zimmer was expected to play a lot of minutes this year on the perimeter for the Titans and provide scoring off the bench.  (Again, not a done deal that his season is over but doesn't sound good.)

Two of the logical candidates to replace Brady in the rotation are also injured - freshman Connor Wheeler (shin splints) and junior Dan Oswald (still recovering from the knee problems that sidelined him all of last year).

I assume all of this creates an opportunity for Stephen Rudnicki at the 2 and in turn, freshman David Molinari at the 1.

Every team deals with injuries every year, but IWU seems to have a problem getting players to the season healthy in the past couple of years.  Injuries in the preseason have plagued this team.

This is a concerning injury to me.  My biggest fear for the Titans this year is being unable to find consistent scorers.  I look at the roster and don't see players that can put the ball in the basket with regularity.  I hope I am wrong.

[CCIWFAN6]

I have been very critical of the NCAA as an organization on this board in the past.  I am glad to see it is not just me who has taken exception with their hypocritical nature.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7177833/illinois-congressman-bobby-rush-compares-ncaa-mafia

[cciwrabblerouser]

I have been very critical of the NCAA as an organization on this board in the past.  I am glad to see it is not just me who has taken exception with their hypocritical nature.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7177833/illinois-congressman-bobby-rush-compares-ncaa-mafia

Hey, being compared to the Mafia is brutal.  But, it COULD be worse... at least he didn't compare the NCAA to the Obama administration.

[AndOne]

Unfortunately IWU is dealing with a significant injury.  6-4 sophomore guard Brady Zimmer has a shoulder injury that he is trying to rehab through, but could very possibly end his season.  Zimmer was expected to play a lot of minutes this year on the perimeter for the Titans and provide scoring off the bench.  (Again, not a done deal that his season is over but doesn't sound good.)

Two of the logical candidates to replace Brady in the rotation are also injured - freshman Connor Wheeler (shin splints) and junior Dan Oswald (still recovering from the knee problems that sidelined him all of last year).

I assume all of this creates an opportunity for Stephen Rudnicki at the 2 and in turn, freshman David Molinari at the 1.

Every team deals with injuries every year, but IWU seems to have a problem getting players to the season healthy in the past couple of years.  Injuries in the preseason have plagued this team.

This is a concerning injury to me.  My biggest fear for the Titans this year is being unable to find consistent scorers. I look at the roster and don't see players that can put the ball in the basket with regularity.  I hope I am wrong.

CCIWFAN6--

I don't think you have to worry that much about about consistent scorers for Wesleyan. Right off the bat, I'd say Jordan Zimmer and John Koschnitzky will provide plenty of scoring consistency, and we all know that Victor Davis is going to be a star.
Rather, I think one of Wesleyan's main problems will be on the defensive side of the ball.

Also, I've previously joined you in criticizing the NCAA so I hear you on that. 

[AndOne]

NCC will scrimmage with Concordia tomorrow night @ Concordia @ 7 PM.

This scrimmage, plus the one next Thursday vs. U of Chicago, will go a long way in determining the starters at 3 positions, the remaining regular rotation (8-10 total?), the remainder of the varsity roster, and the JV starters and rotation.

[iwu70]

Sorry to hear about IWU's injuries, this early.  Does seem like we've had rather more than our share of pre-season and early season injury problems in recent years, with J. Zimmer and Kman last year, others in previous years.  I share the views that it is uncertain at this point where the consistent scoring is going to come from.  With this injury report from Q about the younger Zimmer, there's goes my wish for a Zimmer on each wing shooting 3s with a high percentage.  Gonzoles and Rudnicki are not known as scoring type of guards, so it does seem that the Titans will have to find points mostly from the 3, 4 and 5 . . . or off fastbreaking.  All the more reason I've been saying that it is important for Davis, Dortch, Ziemnick, and/or Anderson to step up, have a break out, move up season and be a second or third consistent scorer, at least in double figures, with 8-10 rebounds per game, consistently.  We need strong consistent "work horses" banging the boards and getting second chance points, offensive rebounds.  No one seems to be talking about Kevin Reed or young Mssr. Molinari as a major scoring contributor.  Yes, Kman and Jordan Zimmer are likely the first two scoring options, but the Titans will surely need more than that, unless they really, substantially prove and improve to be a stronger defensive team than Titan squads have been in recent years.  More of a report after tonight's scrimmage. 

[pgkevin]

Sorry to hear about IWU's injuries, this early.  Does seem like we've had rather more than our share of pre-season and early season injury problems in recent years, with J. Zimmer and Kman last year, others in previous years.  I share the views that it is uncertain at this point where the consistent scoring is going to come from.  With this injury report from Q about the younger Zimmer, there's goes my wish for a Zimmer on each wing shooting 3s with a high percentage.  Gonzoles and Rudnicki are not known as scoring type of guards, so it does seem that the Titans will have to find points mostly from the 3, 4 and 5 . . . or off fastbreaking.  All the more reason I've been saying that it is important for Davis, Dortch, Ziemnick, and/or Anderson to step up, have a break out, move up season and be a second or third consistent scorer, at least in double figures, with 8-10 rebounds per game, consistently.  We need strong consistent "work horses" banging the boards and getting second chance points, offensive rebounds.  No one seems to be talking about Kevin Reed or young Mssr. Molinari as a major scoring contributor.  Yes, Kman and Jordan Zimmer are likely the first two scoring options, but the Titans will surely need more than that, unless they really, substantially prove and improve to be a stronger defensive team than Titan squads have been in recent years.  More of a report after tonight's scrimmage.

Is K-Man an acceptable nickname?

[petemcb]

Sorry to hear about IWU's injuries, this early.  Does seem like we've had rather more than our share of pre-season and early season injury problems in recent years, with J. Zimmer and Kman last year, others in previous years.  I share the views that it is uncertain at this point where the consistent scoring is going to come from.  With this injury report from Q about the younger Zimmer, there's goes my wish for a Zimmer on each wing shooting 3s with a high percentage.  Gonzoles and Rudnicki are not known as scoring type of guards, so it does seem that the Titans will have to find points mostly from the 3, 4 and 5 . . . or off fastbreaking.  All the more reason I've been saying that it is important for Davis, Dortch, Ziemnick, and/or Anderson to step up, have a break out, move up season and be a second or third consistent scorer, at least in double figures, with 8-10 rebounds per game, consistently.  We need strong consistent "work horses" banging the boards and getting second chance points, offensive rebounds.  No one seems to be talking about Kevin Reed or young Mssr. Molinari as a major scoring contributor.  Yes, Kman and Jordan Zimmer are likely the first two scoring options, but the Titans will surely need more than that, unless they really, substantially prove and improve to be a stronger defensive team than Titan squads have been in recent years.  More of a report after tonight's scrimmage.

Is K-Man an acceptable nickname?

well-played.  +k

[augie77]

Augustana will play an exhibition game at Division 1 Valparaiso tomorrow night at 7:00 CDT.  Information about the game and a link to the Horizon League webcast is available on the Augie web site at

http://www.augustana.edu/x11824.xml?eventid=7177

Augustana will have s significant size advantage, a rarity in D3 vs D1 matchups. 

[petemcb]

This is the first chance I've really had to even think about the NPU @ Dominican scrimmage that I witnessed last Saturday, I think it was.  And it is likely to be a little less structured, less Sagerian, than we've become accustomed to with the NPU analyses on this board.

First impression, right off the bat, is that the Northside Vikings look to be well-coached.  Every timeout, it seemed like Coach Howard hard a purpose.  He never lost control.  He always seemed to know exactly what he wanted to address.  He spoke to the Vikings with respect.  And they listened.  They seemed to be working hard to execute a plan, something they had been working on in practice so far, rather than the loosey-goosey one-on-five kind of play we've come to expect out of North Park for some time now.  There were guards working it in to the bigs who were posting up the way you hope for a group of 6'6" to 6'8" bigs to do.  Both Crosby and Gabriel were staking out their piece of the post and showed some nice moves in the paint for what then ended up being pretty easy lay-ins.  I say pretty ease because there seemed to be little need for a display of power because of what I saw as vastly improved footwork by those two in the paint.  I'm not sure, but maybe some of that can be attributed to the presence and savvy of new assistant coach Kevin Holmes who was a significant contributor to DePaul's post game back in the late 80's (?)/early 90's (?).

I had to leave the scrimmage part way through the second half and didn't get a chance to see Phil Schneidermeier's progress.  I'm not sure if he was one of a few injured Vikings (including Christian Alsing) who sat this one out, but I've heard that he's been very effective in practice, presumably going up against Crosby and Gabriel.  But the guy who makes North Park noticeably bigger and  better is Mark Holmes, the 6'6" seemingly all-purpose player who came with Dylan Howard from Mississippi Valley State.  He appeared to be an instant all-conference player and will clearly play a significant, if not the significant role for the Vikes this year.  He is a go-to guy on offense, displaying both an inside and an outside game.  He looked comfortable  out on the break, around the perimeter, and slicing in to the basket.  He has nice range on his jumper and shoots at the top of a serious jump, making his perimeter shot, at a very elevated 6'6", very difficult to even alter at this level, much less block.

Ro Russell, who has frustrated many of us since his sophomore season, finally displayed a take-charge mentality and ran the team like you want a point guard to run a team.  There was a stretch either late in the first period or part way through the second, I can't remember which, where NPU had gone out to a double-digit lead and maintained it for several minutes before starting to sputter and stall.  After Domincan had climbed back into the game, Ro took the team on his less than considerable shoulders, re-ignited them, and carried them back towards a more comfortable lead.  He demanded the ball following a defensive rebound, pushed the ball up the floor, and either made the best pass  -  not just the safest one  -  or took it hard to the hole for a lay-up and free throw.  He looked as impressive as I've seen him look since the potential he flashed his freshman year.

Where the Vikes looked untested, unproven, and unsure was at the 2 guard spot.  In the time I was there, nobody really stepped up and seemed ready to claim the job.  I'm not sure if the Viking coaches are looking at Kendell Gill at the 2 or the 3.  There were some games last year where it seemed like he was the only guy willing to play with any energy on the defensive end of the floor and times where he helped to turn some games around with his defensive toughness.  Maybe he'll fill a Keith Bogans kind of role for the Vikings where his points will be a bonus to his hard work on the defensive end.  If he can minimize the effectiveness of the opponents' shooting guard, he's made a significant contribution, and he did that in several of the games that I saw last year. 

Based on what I saw at this scrimmage, NPU fans have more to be excited about this year than they have in a long time.  I'm sticking with my 4th place prediction for them in the CCIW this season.