MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[izzy stradlin]

Also, as of the conference tournament, Aaron Garriott was not planning on coming back.   It is possible this may have changed following a two weekend NCAA run, but I don't think he saw eye-to-eye with Schauer on the offensive side of things.

I knew that he was mulling over returning as a grad student, but it struck me as strange that a married guy like Garriott would think about basically re-orienting his life just to play an extra year of basketball.

From the same reliable source that gave me the scoop above, I can confirm that Aaron Garriott is not coming back to Wheaton for his senior year of eligibility. He has a pastoral internship at Coral Ridge Pres Church in Ft. Lauderdale and will also be attending Knox Seminary School at the same time.

Perhaps he didn't see eye-to-eye with Schauer on the theological side of things, rather than the offensive side of things.

Mike Schauer: Motion offense. Man-to-man defense. Arminianism.

Good one.

[Gregory Sager]

This puts two questions on the table for me: should the perception of the conference be colored by Millikin's recent performance?  If you argue top-to-bottom matters, then yes, but IMO, taking this all the way to #8 misses the forest for the trees.  Looking at the top six is a reasonable perspective IMO.

You can't simply jettison the league's bottom quartile because it's convenient for your argument. For one thing, you're calling for an arbitrary cut-off point. Why the top six? Why not the top seven? Why not the top four? Why not the top one?

Second, and more importantly, the CCIW is an eight-team league, not a six-team league. In other words, you can't re-shape the forest to your liking by chopping down one-quarter of its trees.

BTW, very nice job on the number-crunching, kiko. I especially liked the way that you compared the various positions 1 thru 8 over the last dozen years.

[bopol]

This puts two questions on the table for me: should the perception of the conference be colored by Millikin's recent performance?  If you argue top-to-bottom matters, then yes, but IMO, taking this all the way to #8 misses the forest for the trees.  Looking at the top six is a reasonable perspective IMO.

You can't simply jettison the league's bottom quartile because it's convenient for your argument. For one thing, you're calling for an arbitrary cut-off point. Why the top six? Why not the top seven? Why not the top four? Why not the top one?

Second, and more importantly, the CCIW is an eight-team league, not a six-team league. In other words, you can't re-shape the forest to your liking by chopping down one-quarter of its trees.

BTW, very nice job on the number-crunching, kiko. I especially liked the way that you compared the various positions 1 thru 8 over the last dozen years.

I'd say that if you are saying two teams are not doing well, then my question is: are they on the path to improvement?  Millikin was awful this year, but I think we all expected that.  Will they improve?  North Park had a new coach.  Sure, it wasn't a good year, but is he building a foundation to get the team back in the right direction?  I don't think there is a problem with bottoming out, but whether or not the teams are on a path to be contenders again.

Greg, what's your feeling about NPU?  Will they be competitive next year or two years from now?

[AndOne]

I'm not Greg, but I'll venture a guess.

NPU returns 2 former D1 players in Mike Gabriel, and Mark Holmes. At that point, the Viking ship sails off the edge of the world and into the Laurentian Abyssmal.

The 3 and 4th best players from this year's team will graduate.
Josh McNaughton shot .369, including .143 on 3s
Trent Kucera shot .255 and .258
Reggie McGee's numbers are .345 and .373
Mike Rice comes back at .267 and .095!
Brent Peterson's numbers were .206, and .000.

NPU had 90 less assists than their opponents, and 59 more TOs than their opponents.

Unless NPU brings in a very talented freshman class, they might actually be worse next year. Gabriel & Holmes need a ton of help.

[kiko]

You can't simply jettison the league's bottom quartile because it's convenient for your argument. For one thing, you're calling for an arbitrary cut-off point. Why the top six? Why not the top seven? Why not the top four? Why not the top one?

Second, and more importantly, the CCIW is an eight-team league, not a six-team league. In other words, you can't re-shape the forest to your liking by chopping down one-quarter of its trees.

I would submit that I am not reshaping the forest -- I'm painting a more accurate picture.  Was the conference down?  No, Millikin was down.  North Park was down.  Suggesting something more is to some extent just projecting guilt-by-association on the schools who were right where you would expect them to be record-wise in the out-of-conference schedule.

[NCF]

You can't simply jettison the league's bottom quartile because it's convenient for your argument. For one thing, you're calling for an arbitrary cut-off point. Why the top six? Why not the top seven? Why not the top four? Why not the top one?

Second, and more importantly, the CCIW is an eight-team league, not a six-team league. In other words, you can't re-shape the forest to your liking by chopping down one-quarter of its trees.

I would submit that I am not reshaping the forest -- I'm painting a more accurate picture.  Was the conference down?  No, Millikin was down.  North Park was down.  Suggesting something more is to some extent just projecting guilt-by-association on the schools who were right where you would expect them to be record-wise in the out-of-conference schedule.

Great points, beside the fact that the conference was not competative from top to bottom sure didn't seem to hurt the three that made it to the tourney.

[A Lover of the Game]

Great points, beside the fact that the conference was not competative from top to bottom sure didn't seem to hurt the three that made it to the tourney.

More importantly, it's about how they performed once they got there. A basketball game can go either way on any given day, which is why the players need to consistently bring their A game. Heck, the NBA goes by the best out of seven in the playoffs. In the collegiate playoffs it's a one and done deal. With that said, I guess one could come to the deduction that all else doesn’t really matter once the last game in March is played.

[NCF]

Great points, beside the fact that the conference was not competative from top to bottom sure didn't seem to hurt the three that made it to the tourney.

More importantly, it's about how they performed once they got there.

They all had a good tournament run. Looking forward to next season to see which teams surprise and which teams don't do as well as advertised. It's a long season, anything can happen.

[A Lover of the Game]

They all had a good tournament run.

Yes, they did.

Looking forward to next season to see which teams surprise and which teams don't do as well as advertised. It's a long season, anything can happen.

Me too, and so true.

[NCF]

They all had a good tournament run.

Yes, they did.

Looking forward to next season to see which teams surprise and which teams don't do as well as advertised. It's a long season, anything can happen.

Me too, and so true.

However, first things first-outdoor track and then football. Don't want to jump the gun!

[pgkevin]

They all had a good tournament run.

Yes, they did.

Looking forward to next season to see which teams surprise and which teams don't do as well as advertised. It's a long season, anything can happen.

Me too, and so true.

However, first things first-outdoor track and then football. Don't want to jump the gun!

False start newcardfan.

[iwu70]

Come on, NewCard.  Softball and baseball first . . . our Titans will be very good in these too.  Both teams off to a great start during their Spring break southern tours.  I guess outdoor CCIW track/field championships are at IWU Tucci Field at Wilder Stadium later this Spring, right? (May 4-5?).   I'll be there to have a look.  The IWU women are really good!  NCC always hard to beat.  Great track/field tradition, incredible record, no doubt.

Springtime on the IWU Quad is glorious . . . just such lovely warm days now. 

IWU70

[NCF]

Come on, NewCard.  Softball and baseball first . . . our Titans will be very good in these too.  Both teams off to a great start during their Spring break southern tours.  I guess outdoor CCIW track/field championships are at IWU Tucci Field at Wilder Stadium later this Spring, right? (May 4-5?).   I'll be there to have a look.  The IWU women are really good!  NCC always hard to beat.  Great track/field tradition, incredible record, no doubt.

Springtime on the IWU Quad is glorious . . . just such lovely warm days now. 

IWU70

Sorry IWU70, I don't have a "vested" interest in either, now that my youngest joined the track team(and she cheers in the fall and winter so basketball is out ). But I'll keep an eye out for your Titan baseball/softball teams, if you really show up at the track meet. The conference meets are great!!! Especially if it's warm and the "vested" interest does well (Hahahahaha). The date is correct. I will be there both days.

[NCF]

They all had a good tournament run.

Yes, they did.

Looking forward to next season to see which teams surprise and which teams don't do as well as advertised. It's a long season, anything can happen.

Me too, and so true.

However, first things first-outdoor track and then football. Don't want to jump the gun!

False start newcardfan.

Hahahahahaha! I had to take a second look to get it (and I should know better ) Good one!!!

[iwu70]

NewCard, I'll likely make the CCIW track meet in early May, esp. if it's a beautiful sunny two days out there.  Nice place to hold it, great facilities now in the revamped football/track area of Wilder Field at Tucci Stadium.  I'll watch for you.  I'm tall, grey/silver-haired, and look something like a slightly chubby Abraham Lincoln (yes, with the beard!).  IWU and NCC women will surely be in a dogfight for the top trophy.

For IWU coming back, we'll have a pretty good, more experienced, but still pretty young group.  Only seniors next year are Reed and Oswald.  Good, experienced upcoming Junior group:  Davis, Ziemnik, Anderson, Dortch, and Mayberger.  This means of the frontline players that featured majorly in this year's deep tourney run, we only lose Kman.  So five (including Reed) of the six IWU bigs in the rotation are coming back, can fit into the lineup, take on new or similar roles.  Will depend greatly on style of play and, of course, improvement over the summer, weight work etc. IWU is again going to have to find scoring and a good point guard, hopefully all folks who can play good D.  Key surely is how healthy Brady Zimmer will be next season, for a shot at the 2, with perhaps Oswald backing him up, taking the trey bombs . . .and how the potential PGs develop -- Overstreet or Molinari?  Other pine-sitters, JV guys coming back:  Overstreet, Azuogu, Molinari, Heyen, Wheeler, Musselman and Wiggs.  Possible future bigs in the rotation would be surely Musselman, perhaps Heyen and Wiggs.  Again, depends on off-season work, training, lifting and skills development.

If I were guessing (without any newbies, recruits in the picture), I would say:

1- Overstreet, Molinari, Wheeler
2- Zimmer, Overstreet, Azuogu
3- Ziemnik, Dortch, Heyen, Mayberger
4- Davis, Musselman, Wiggs
5- Reed, Anderson

Good depth again a feature of the Titans in 2012-13. 

Of course way to early to really mean much, but just guessing:  Starting Lineup of:  Overstreet or Molinari, Zimmer, Ziemnik, Davis, and Reed.  Key questions, issues are on the perimeter, at the 1 and 2.  Can the defensive intensity stay as high?  Not so many issues in the front court.  Sure will miss Gonzalez and Rudnicki . . . and J. Zimmer's shooting stretching the floor.  Let's hope Brady is a worthy successor.  Key issue is how much improvement these guys can make in the off-season, in skills development, strength and conditioning.  Still tremendous upside to a number of these players -- esp. Molinari, Anderson, and Dortch, IMHO.   I would expect Anderson, Dortch and Musselman to get more minutes next year.  Ziemnik is not a traditional 3, in my view, so there might be some other options, possiblities tried out there . . . perhaps.

Surprise performers next year, IMHO, =  Overstreet, Musselman and Heyen.  Best returning defender = Dortch.  Most in need of offensive improvement = Dortch.  Further big improvement likely = smart guy Anderson.  So glad he's still on our side = Victor Davis.  (and, of course, Coach Rose).

Enough of my nonsense.  Q, you can tell me where I'm all wrong.

IWU70