MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

Yup, Titan baseball came back from 6-5 down in the 8th today, too, to win 8-6 and take the series with NPU, 2 to 1.  Now tied at the top of the CCIW race.

Titan softball won two close ones with NPU today as well, 2-1 and 3-1.   Now 29-4.  Wowza.   More key conference games in the coming week to ten days.   

Track and Field both men and women placed 1st this last weekend too, tuning up for the CCIW championships in two weekends. 

A great day on the sports fields of IWU . . . sunny, cold and very windy.  We all got sand-blasted by the infield dirt of the softball diamond today.  A little grit in the teeth . . .

IWU70

[iwu70]

New AD in Decatur, at MU.  Good luck to him.  He's going to need it.  Seems a Decatur native with alot of DI experience.  Full story on CCIW.com

Any further recruitment news?  May 1st deadlines for admission's decisions now upon us, so recruiting classes should start to become more and more clear.

IWU70

P.S.  Congrats to Titan softball for winning a share of the CCIW crown today, sweeping Wheaton in a doubleheader.  IWU shares the crown with Carthage at 11-3. Stay tuned on hosting the conference tournament.  Baseball all up in the air with 5-6 teams still close enough to get into the CCIW tournament.  NPU leads four or five other teams by one game or two, with three to play.  ms

[iwu70]

Attended IWU Graduation yesterday, held indoors at The Shirk, due to rain and cold.  Warm congrats to Kman, Rudnicki, Gonzalez and Zimmer . . . as they walked across the Shirk Center stage one last time and into IWU basketball history.  Good luck and good wishes to them, . . . and all the Class of 2012, a most talented and accomplished class, athletically, artistically, musically, and academically.  Jordan Zimmer was the last class member to receive his diploma and walk across the stage, down the aisle and out the Shirk Center door.  He and the other seniors will be missed.  To the four Titan roundball seniors, thanks for the memories . . .

IWU70

[AndOne]

Attended the NCC basketball banquet yesterday held at a very high class establishment in downtown Naperville. The surroundings and food were 1st class all the way, and the mood very celebratory in light of the Cardinals' CCIW regular season and tournament championships, plus their advancement to the final 16 of the national tournament.

Among the awards presented were the team MVP award to Landon Gamble, and both the top defensive player and the scholarship award to graduating senior PG Kevin Gillespie.
Anyone who knows anything about either NCC and/or CCIW basketball knows that replacing Kevin will be NCC's greatest challenge next season. Kevin displayed superlative senior leadership both on the floor and in the locker room. He quarterbacked a team which advanced further nationally than any team in NCC history, and was one of the league's most accurate shooters. Additionally, he earned the nickname "Ironman", leading the league in minutes played, and frequently playing all 40 minutes, especially toward the end of the conference schedule and in the conference and national tournaments.

Also got a glimpse at NCC's tentative schedule for next season. In addition to the conference home and away portion of the season, the Cards will host their annual Tip-Off Tourney (all teams not determined yet), as well as games against Aurora, UW-Platteville, and Simpson. They will travel to Trine, Kalamazoo, and Benedictine, and to a tournament in Las Vegas Dec 26-30. One non-conference game remains to be scheduled.   

I'm glad to see the weekday conference games return to Wednesdays. 

[Pat Coleman]

I was not aware there was another tournament in Vegas that week besides the D3hoops.com Classic, but as of the last update they weren't on our list.

There are definitely other tournaments and there is another venue -- they play at a local high school. Maybe if the scheduling works out we can slip away to see it.

[NCF]

Carthage men's volleyball was the runner-up in the inaugural D3 volleyball championships. Congrats to them!

[unanimous22]

Anyone have info about PG Michael Orris from Crete-Monee possibly looking at IWU after decommitting from the Illini? 

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Anyone have info about PG Michael Orris from Crete-Monee possibly looking at IWU after decommitting from the Illini?

I hope not.  Michael Orris' parents are both Covenant pastors and were members of our church recently.  His parents recently took over as co-pastors at Crystal Lake Covenant Church.

Michael also had a scholarship offer at Creighton, before he accept the Illini offer.  I saw him play as a high school sophomore at Palatine and remarked to his father that he could have started for North Park right then.  He transferred to Crete-Monee for his junior and senior year, while his mother tried to start a church in that area (it fell through).

Great kid - and as long as he doesn't go to Wheaton (his father's alma mater) I'm fine where he winds up.

dgp

[robertgoulet]

Anyone have info about PG Michael Orris from Crete-Monee possibly looking at IWU after decommitting from the Illini?

I had heard whispers of the same thing.

[Titan Q]

Anyone have info about PG Michael Orris from Crete-Monee possibly looking at IWU after decommitting from the Illini?

Sounds like someone was the victim of a late April Fools joke.  It's not often kids decommitt from the Big Ten and end up in the CCIW!


http://www.nwitimes.com/high-school/crete-monee/men-s-basketball-michael-orris-granted-release-from-illini/article_142526c8-9665-5852-bd56-4ada336696a2.html

Among the schools showing interest are Kansas State, where Weber is now the head coach, Pitt, Boston College, Missouri State, Valparaiso and Wisconsin-Green Bay.

[AndOne]

This should be worth a visit from my new "friend."
It was previously reported that Kevin Honn from Downers South, and Ryan Coyle from Wheaton St. Francis had committed to North Central and IWU respectively.

I believe both reports were prior to the announcement of the IBCA All-State teams.
The subsequent announcement revealed that Kevin was selected to the Class 4A All-State Special Mention team, and Ryan was selected All-State Special mention at the 3A level. Congrats to both.

[iwu70]

Q, anything further on the recruiting front, now that the admissions deadlines have passed?

I saw the pieces earlier about Nelms and Coyle. 

Titans have alot of good players coming back, especially front court players, but will need to find some new pieces in the backcourt, some new intense defensive play on the perimeter, and perimeter, trey scoring . . . IMHO.  The four seniors will be missed, for sure.  Seems clearly that Davis, Dortch, Zeimnik, Anderson and Reed will play big parts again next season.  Let's hope Brady Zimmer is back, healthy and ready to go, along with the untested guards:  Overstreet, Molinari, Wheeler etc.  Not sure about Mayberger and Oswald. . .  I'm high on Musselman and Heyen to move into some varsity minutes. 

IWU70

[dansand]

With recruiting news starting to bounce around, here's a rundown of Augie's class so far:

Jake Gylten, 6-6, 220, Iowa City, IA (West HS)

IC West HS       GP-GS   FG-FGA   Pct 3FG-FGA   Pct  FT-FTA   Pct  Off Def  Tot  Avg  PF   A  TO Blk Stl  Pts  Avg
2009-10 (So.)... 12-0    10-22   .455   2-8    .250   9-13   .692    7  11   18  1.5  22   1   9   0   2   31  2.6
2010-11 (Jr.)... 26-24   72-142  .507  14-33   .424  28-51   .549   23  68   91  3.5  44  31  52  11  11  186  7.2
2011-12 (Sr.)... 26-23   82-140  .586  16-30   .533  32-59   .542   38  71  109  4.2  44  49  25  10  30  212  8.2

*Iowa City Press Citizen Player of the Year honorable mention
*2012 Undefeated Iowa Class 4A State Champs
*2012 2nd team All-MVC Valley

His team went 26-0 and won the Class 4A (big school) state championship...Beat Marion Linn-Mar and Marcus Paige (North Carolina recruit) by 20 in the semifinals...Guarded 7-1 Adam Woodbury (Iowa recruit) of Sioux City East in the championship game, which ICW won 67-52.


Hunter Hill, 5-9, 165, Byron, IL (Byron HS)
2009-10 (So.): 7.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.5 spg
2010-11 (Jr.): 11.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 4.8 apg, 1.9 spg
2011-12 (Sr.): 10.5 ppg, 77% ft, 3.3 rpg, 4.9 apg, 2.9 spg

*2012 AP Class 2A Honorable mention All-State
*2012 IBCA Class 1A/2A 2nd team All-State
*2012 Co-MVP—Rock River Valley Senior Classic All-Star Game
*2012 Rising Stars All-Star Game
*2012 Unanimous All-Big Northern West
*Byron's all-time assist leader (395)
*2011 IBCA Class 1A/2A 3rd team All-State
*2011 Unanimous All-Big Northern West

Led Byron to a 28-1 record this year...Also played football and rushed for 280 yards and seven TD's in his final game.

Hunter Hill feature


Tayvian Johnson, 6-5, 190, East Moline, IL (United Township HS)

UTHS              G   FG-FGA   FG%  3P-3PA   3P%   FT-FTA   FT%  Reb.  RPG   TP  PPG
2008-09 (Fr.)... 10    6-12   .500   0-0       -    5-11   .455   20   2.0   17  1.7
2009-10 (So.)... 28   75-145  .517   0-0       -   44-70   .629  129   4.6  194  6.9
2010-11 (Jr.)... 29  144-280  .514   1-14   .071   69-97   .711  220   7.6  358 12.3
2011-12 (Sr.)... 26  181-318  .569  14-45   .311   74-112  .661  202   7.8  450 17.3

*2012 Champaign News-Gazette Honorable mention All-State
*2012 AP Class 4A Honorable mention All-State
*2012 IBCA Class 3A/4A Special mention All-State
*2012 Dispatch/Argus 1st team All-Metro
*2012 Quad-City Times 2nd team All-Metro
*2012 All-Western Big 6
*2011 Pontiac 2nd team All-Tournament
*2011 IBCA Class 3A/4A Special mention All-State
*2011 Dispatch/Argus 1st team All-Metro
*2011 Quad-City Times Honorable mention All-Metro
*2011 All-Western Big 6 Honorable mention
*2010 Pontiac Honorable mention All-Tournament
*2010 Dispatch/Argus 1st team All-Metro

Conference triple jump champ as a junior...1st team All-Confrence and All-Area in football (WR) also.

News release
QC Times coverage
Video links


Brandon Motzel, 6-6, 200, Buffalo Grove, IL (Carmel HS)
2010-11 (Jr.): 9.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg, .585 fg%
2011-12 (Sr.): 14.0 ppg, 58% fg, 9 rpg, 3 bpg, 61 ast, 65 stl

*2012 Pioneer Press Lake Shore 3rd team All-Area
*2012 Daily Herald Lake County Honorable mention All-Area
*2012 All-East Suburban Catholic Conference
*2012 Lake County Senior Shootout
*2011 McDonald's/Pioneer Press Senior Athlete of the Month for December
*2011 Wheeling Hardwood Classic All-Tournament
*2011 Daily Herald Lake County Honorable mention All-Area
*2011 Pioneer Press Lake Shore Newcomer of the Year
*2011 Pioneer Press Lake Shore 2nd team All-Area
*2011 News-Sun Honorable mention All-Lake County

32 ACT...Planning on pre-med and physics majors.

Sun-Times coverage
Daily Herald coverage
Video links


Jake Norcia, 6-0, 170, Highland Park, IL (Highland Park HS)
2010-11 (Jr.): 7.5 ppg
2011-12 (Sr.):  14.5 ppg, 50% 2p, 58 3pfg, 75% ft, 2.5 apg, 2.9 spg

*2012 IBCA Class 3A/4A Special mention All-State
*2012 Pioneer Press Lake Shore 2nd team All-Area
*2012 All-CSL North
*School-record 80 steals in 2011-12

Jake Norcia feature
Video links


Griffin Pils, 6-4, 195, Libertyville, IL (Libertyville HS)
2010-11 (Jr.): 7.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg, led team in assists (86) and steals (43)
2011-12 (Sr.): 17 ppg, .862 ft%, 4 rpg, 6.2 apg, 2 spg

*2012 IBCA Class 3A/4A Special mention All-State
*2012 Daily Herald Lake County All-Area
*2012 Daily Herald Lake County All-Senior & All-Sharpshooter
*2012 Pioneer Press Lake Shore 1st team All-Area
*2012 All-North Suburban Conference
*2012 Lake County Senior Shootout

Daily Herald Player of the Week after 40-point, 12-rebound game...Also had 34 (20 in the fourth quarter) in his final game...Scored a goal in the 2010 3A state championship game in soccer...Finished in the top 48 in the state in tennis as a sophomore.

Chicago Hoops.com article
Illinois Prep Bulls-eye piece
Sun-Times feature
Video links


Ben Ryan, 6-5, 205, Washington, IL (Washington HS)

Washington HS    GP   FG-FGA   Pct 3FG-FGA   Pct  FT-FTA   Pct  Off Def  Tot  Avg   A Stl  Pts  Avg
2009-10 (So.)... 26   69-147  .469   0-4    .000  53-73   .726   32  65   97  3.7  24   5  191  7.3
2010-11 (Jr.)... 32  107-242  .442   4-15   .267 113-165  .685   70 119  189  5.9  69  40  331 10.3
2011-12 (Sr.)... 32  211-375  .563   7-35   .200 123-179  .687   80 161  241  7.5  40  37  552 17.3

*2012 Champaign News-Gazette Special mention All-State
*2012 AP Class 3A Honorable mention All-State
*2012 IBCA Class 3A/4A 2nd team All-State
*2012 Pekin Times Class 3A-4A Player of the Year
*2012 Peoria Journal Star Large School All-Area
*2012 1st team All-Mid-Illini Conference
*2011 Pekin Holiday Tournament MVP
*2011 State Farm Tournament of Champions All-Tournament
*2011 IBCA Class 3A/4A 3rd team All-State
*2011 1st team All-Mid-Illini Conference
*2010 State Farm Tournament of Champions All-Tournament

MVP of this year's Pekin Holiday Tournament...30 points in a four-overtime sectional semifinal win over Peoria Manual and 17 points and 12 rebounds in an overtime loss to Peoria Central in the Class 3A sectional finals.

Pekin Times Player of the Year
Peoria Journal Star All-Area
Washington Times Reporter season review
Video links

[iwu70]

Congrats to the NC men and the IWU women on their CCIW Track and Field Championships yesterday.  Congrats to NP on winning the CCIW baseball regular season championship. 

And, that "team that shall not be named" also won in Softball over Carthage, for the CCIW tournament championship.  The IWU men won the CCIW Golf Championship yesterday, as well, making it nine championship crowns overall since 2001. 

Congrats to all the TITANS -- three CCIW championships in one day!  Lotta talented and dedicated Greenies!

IWU70

[NCF]

If you were outside all week-end watching IWU sports you've got to be as "red" as I am right now. Great weather for track and beautiful facilities as well!